When Rhea Royce died, the noble house of Royce blamed the Rogue Prince. Daemon Targaryen was the culprit for the downfall of the House, no matter what was said. Leaving Runestone with no Lord or Lady at its helm, a decision was made to promote a min...
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HE did not expect to see Donella Royce again. He didn't expect her to show up to her training session after outing their innocent kiss to the castle, and yet here she was.
Aemond stood in the shadows as she approached the courtyard; invisible to her eye for now. She hugged her arms closer to her body to preserve warmth, before warming up with some basic exercises on the cobbles. He had taught her those exercises when he thought that they were still on the same page. What was he still doing here?
"I thought you'd be too busy with your betrothed," Aemond spoke; Donella's head snapped up to meet his eye,
"Aemond," She spoke, her voice rougher than he was expecting. He ignored the pleading tone of her voice - probably asking for forgiveness, for him to take her as his bride. He picked up one of the training swords from the rack of weapons and tossed it toward her. She caught it mid-air, and readjusted her grip to match the weight of the dulled blade, "Can we speak?"
"I don't know what I would want to say to you," He admitted a little more truthfully than he'd anticipated as he gripped his own training blade and turned towards her.
She took up a defensive position immediately, as though noticing that he was not his usual self. She wasn't sure if he wanted to train her or beat her down.
The answer became clear as Aemond spun towards her, giving Donella barely enough time to raise the blade to defend herself. She parried it as she was taught, but wasn't quick enough for his next move when he moved to jab the blade into her leg.
She crunched down onto the ground with a thud and a small whimper, and he wasn't there to offer her his hand before he called, "Again!"
Donella rose to her feet once more, regaining the position she'd been taught. This time, she was the one to attack first. She watched his remaining eye for the tell of his position and ducked under the wide swing he made to catch her off guard. He was still too quick, clipping the top of her head and sending her back into the stone ground,
"Again."
Again and again and again and again. Donella ended up on her back each time, pulling herself back off the ground. She was sure that her thigh had a bruise from where he struck out with his blade before she even had a chance to defend herself.
It was the twelfth time of being pushed down when she threw the sword at his feet,
"What the fuck is wrong with you?" She yelled, not caring if she alerted any of the guards who would be patrolling the area, "Do you find some sort of amusement in beating me down?"
