wicked games | aemond targaryen (currently being rewritten)

𝚝𝚠𝚎𝚕𝚟𝚎

VALAENA WOKE TO the sun's kisses on her face, her eyes squinting at the bright light as she wiggled in her bed. Except it wasn't her bed, Valaena realized as she sat upright. It wasn't even a bed, she noticed as she sat in a pile of blankets on the ground.

"About time," Aemond's annoyed voice carried over to the disoriented girl on the floor, whose head snapped over to her cousin sitting on the other side of the room. She barely cared about her cousin though, as nightmares from the day before filled her head. She lifted her hands in front of her face, the dried blood making bile rise in her throat. 

"If you're going to throw up, do it elsewhere," Aemond muttered as he watched the panicked look take over Valaena's features.

Valaena forced her hands back down to her side, trying to ignore the variety of emotions swirling through her as she focused her attention on something to distract. That something just happened to be Aemond. Her annoying, brat of a cousin who was acting strange. No, strange wasn't the right word for it. Valaena couldn't put her finger on it as Aemond scowled at the girl.

"You look like shit, cousin," Valaena wondered if she was dreaming as she discretely pinched her arm. "I had the maids draw up a bath."

"I think it's best I take my leave," Valaena didn't want to stay any longer than she had to as she stumbled onto her feet, her legs weak beneath her as she fought to stay on her feet.

"Don't be stupid," Aemond rolled his eyes, wondering if everyone in his family was an idiot. "You'll be caught the second you leave looking like that."

He wasn't wrong, Valaena had to reluctantly agree as she glanced down at her bloodied figure. If she wanted to travel home unnoticed, she'd have to take Aemond's offer. That didn't mean she had to like it. 

The bath room was quiet as Valaena entered the bath as she wondered where all the maids and servants were. Most likely sent away from Aemond, Valaena concluded, to make sure no one really knew of her presence. It was a kind act from her cousin, and it made her suspicious. 

She shook the thoughts from her head as she grabbed the brush from beside her. Valaena scrubbed until her skin turned red as the blood she washed off, and even then she didn't stop. Pain prickled against every inch of her body as she stayed in the bath until the water turned cold.

Stepping out, Valaena was surprised to find clothes laid out for her. It wasn't her usual style at all, a pair of simple pants and shirt. She liked the comfortableness of it, even though it was a tad big on her small figure.

Walking back into Aemond's room, Valaena barely caught the satchel thrown at her head as she grunted at the heaviness of it. She glared at Aemond, who didn't even spare her a glance as he strode to the other side of the room. Opening the flap of the satchel, she was surprised to find money and food stuffed inside.

"You'll have to sneak out through the tunnels," Valaena turned her attention to Aemond, who had opened the secret entrance leading to his room. "Just follow the torches and you'll reach the outside of the castle."

Valaena nodded as she threw the satchel over her shoulder and joined Aemond at the exit of his room. She felt like she should thank her cousin, but something about it seemed wrong. She prompted to say nothing as she took a step towards the tunnel.

"Valaena?" Aemond's voice stopped her as she glanced over her shoulder at him.

"Hmm?"

"Don't come back," His words were final, a small threat behind them.

That's when Valaena realized something about her cousin.

What she thought had been done out of the kindness of his heart was quite the opposite. Everything had been thought out, each outcome evaluated until he chose the one he liked the most. He saved her because of duty to his family, that was all.

Everything after that was calculated. He hid her away from his mother by letting her sleep on his floor. He sent the maids away so no one else knew she was in Kings Landing. He must've know about Alicent's liking towards the girl, and he hated it. Aemond didn't want Valaena meddling with his family any more than she did.

He was more cunning than others gave him credit for, something Valaena noted in the back of her head.

"That was the plan," Valaena's words seemed to satisfy him as she slipped into the secret tunnel, hurrying to put as much distance between herself and her cousin.

Aemond Targaryen would be a force to be reckoned with the next time Valaena saw him. She hoped for her own sake it would not be for a long time.