Kingdom Fall : Aegon II Targaryen

Love and Duty.

Jaecerys quickly says "But will he not be angered that you have not asked for permission?"

Annerys doesn't hear anymore as the room grows soundless and all she can hear is blood rushing through them, she squeezes hold of her delicate wine glass as she attempts to keep her anger hidden as she concludes why her mother won't do anything to stop her marriage. She feels Jace's hand on her shoulders as faintly hears him calling her name as she regains clarity "Anne! Anne your hand. Anne, you're bleeding." She hears him say so she looks down at her hand and see's the shattered glass on the table and in her hand, coated in blood. It isn't until she sees it that she feels the warm blood trickling down her fingers or the sharp pain across her palm but once she does she lets go of the remaining glass still clutched tightly in her hands and it clatters against the shattered glass as it lands on the table.

She can hear Joffrey crying across from her as her mother crutches down beside her and gently pulls her hand into hers so she can look at it "Gods. Anne, how has this happened. Luke quickly go fetch a maester."

She looks up from her bleeding hand and stares into her Mothers eyse "You are selling me to my Uncle so that you may marry yours unencumbered by Grandfather's ire." She says coolly.

"Annie, no..." Her mother begins to argue.

Annerys pulls her hand from her mothers "I won't do it. Perhaps I shall follow your lead and marry someone without anyone's permission; you'll have a hard time profiting from my misery then."

"Annie doesn't mean that she's just mad." Jaecerys intercedes.

"I can speak for myself, Jace."

"Well maybe you shouldn't." he replies.

"Oh you can shove your self inflated ego right up..."

"Annerys please enough." her mother says and there is a hint of desperation to her voice." Her mother pulls her napkin from the table beside her and begins to wrap it tightly around Annes hand to stop the steady flow of blood that's beginning to darken the already red silk of Anneys' dress. Still furious and therefore unable to be in her mothers presence any longer, Anne pulls her hand out of her mothers and storms out of the room.

Even after her mother had wrapped her hand in a napkin she was still bleeding quite heavily and in a lot of pain so she makes her way to the maester where she finds Luke frantically telling him about her injury.

"I'm here, you can go back to dinner Luke." she says as she sits down on one of the chairs in the Maesters room.

"No, I'll stay with you." He tells her as he grabs a hold of her uninjured hand.

The maester tells her altogether she will need three stitches across her palm and that she still had glass lodged in the skin that would need removing. Luke stays there through the entire procedure and holds her hand tightly the whole way through. Although she isn't sure whose benefit that is for as she watches as Luke squeezes his eyes shut.

The maester is just about to bandage her hand when Daemons figure blocks the door "Annerys may i speak to you."

She nods and Daemon steps into the room, takes the bandage from the maester, tells him to leave and tells Luke to return to his mother.

Daemon knees on the ground and gently takes Anne's injured hand in his. "You have quite the grip. Those were very rare and very expensive cups that you just broke."

She goes to apologise before she realises that she's not sorry at least not yet so she silences herself and only speaks up once Daemon begins to wrap her hand in the bandage "What are you doing?"

"I was at war for three years and have two daughters. I'm sure I can be trusted with bandaging a scrape." he says and then smiles at her.

"You're clever. I doubt your brother would have realised as quickly as you did. And it is what is happening even if your mother doesn't want to realise it, we are exchanging your marriage for ours." He tells her as simply as if he was telling the time.

"Am I supposed to just accept this?"

"No. Your mother has indulged you and it has made you willful and spoiled but you are nearly a woman grown now so you must make a choice Annerys. If you continue in this manner your mother will undo your betrothal and it will weaken her but if you allow for this marriage to take place and you play your part it will strengthen her."

"So I have to choose between love and duty?"

"Love and duty go hand in hand, you can't have one without the other because what is duty without love? Why be dutiful if not for the sake of love? And what is love if not a duty? The love you feel for your family and your blood is a duty to each other and the duty you have for your family is borne from love." He tells her and it sounds a bit too fanciful coming from him but perhaps he is right.

"And what if I love my husband then where does duty lie for me?" She asks him.

"That's up to you, Annerys. But I think you already know where your loyalty lies." He says as he finishes off her bandage.

He stands and is about to leave before Annerys asks "Do you love my mother then."

He smiles at her before he leaves the room.

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