his rose || aegon ii targaryen

Chapter 22

He grabs her hand, trying to draw her attention. "What is happening with you?" he whispers-yells.

"What is happening to me?" she asks, smiling at him.

"You should tell me that."

"Nothing." she sips from her wine again.

"Since when do you drink?"

"Since when can I not drink?" she slams the cup down on the table, gaining weird looks from the others that sit around the table.

Aegon nods and turns back to his plate, not wanting to argue with her again, knowing how sensitive and irrational she can become.

•••

Reina combs Helaena's hair the next morning, in her sister's chambers.

"Do you know High-Valyrian?" Reina asks her, braiding her hair in multiple braids.

"Kessa." the younger woman says, excitedly.

Reina's raises her eyebrow in curiosity, not understanding what Helaena's said.

"I said yes." she smiles.

"Can you teach me some words?" the redhead asks, hoping the answer will be affirmative.

Helaena nods and starts speaking. "'Avy jorrāelan', means 'I love you.' It's my favourite thing to say."

"Do you think Aegon will be impressed if I say this to him?" Reina laughs, finishing her hair.

The Targaryen woman turns around and smiles. "You can try. I do not believe he will really understand. He never liked talking in High Valyrian, therefore I do not think he put much effort into learning it." she explains.

"Tell me more."

"'Muñnykeā', means 'mother', while 'Kepa' means 'father'. Reina nods, signalling the silver haired woman to continue. "'Gevie' means 'beautiful'. 'Rytsas' means 'hello'. 'Geros ilas' means 'Goodbye'".

The Targaryen woman continues teaching Reina more words, but one catches Reina's attention.

"What did you say 'Dracarys' means?" she asks Helaena and she frowns sightly.

"It means 'dragon fire', it is a command for dragons, the riders uses these words when they want their dragon to spit fire. It is not an important word for you to know since you do not own one." the woman smiles and sits up. "I believe it is enough High Valyrian for today. You should go back to Aelon and Aegon."

Reina stands up and heads for the door, "You are right. Thank you, Helaena. Geros ilas." she smiles and shuts the door after her.

Helaena continues watching the door moments after Reina was already out of the room and whispers, "Fire will turn the rose into ash."

•••

The night came and Reina got out of the bed, trying to not wake Aegon up. She pulled a pair of his trousers and one of his tunic on, before putting her cloak around her body, concealing her face with the hood.

She grabbed a candle and the small dagger that rested on her mirror table and left their quarters, locking the door after her, making sure her husband could not follow her even if he wished to. And even if he will manage to get out, she will be long gone.

No guard was at their door that night, she made sure of that. Sending them to her son's door instead.

She walked through the halls of the Keep, looking with caution in every corner.

She arrived at the doors of the secret tunnels Aegon told her about after they got married. He was drunk and he started telling her about all the tunnels he used to slip out of the Keep and into the crowded city.

She tries to walk quietly, afraid someone will find her. Reina looks back one more time, before stepping into the darkness. There is no turning back now. She has to do this.

She has to avenge her mother.

As she sees the city lights, her smile grows wider. Hope fills her body and she starts to relax. She managed to escape the castle without anyone seeing her.

Her feet takes her towards the Sept and into the Dragonpit. This place always makes her tremble in fear, but not this time. Tonight, she will make others tremble in fear.

She walks further into the cavern and tries to remember the path she and Helaena went on the very first time she was here.

The keys from the keeper of the pit dangles in her hands with every step she takes towards the golden beast.

Sunfyre wakes up and looks at her small figure and rises up to his feet. Reina touches his nose and caress it gently.

The chains are open and the dragon is now free. The woman smirks at him before going to his side.

She mounts him, finding quite difficult because of his constant movements. "Shhh..." she whispers and succeeds climbing on his back, it is rather uncomfortable because of the lack of saddle.

Reina leans on him and breathes heavily, hoping the beast will not throw her off him and burn her alive.

After some minutes of waiting, Sunfyre moves and flies out from the Dragonpit towards Highgarden.

(I know the road from King's Landing to Highgarden is long and it takes around 10 hours to get there by riding a dragon, but please pretend it is shorter)

•••

The dragonkeeper wakes up and sees that his keys are missing from his belt. He must have lost it.

He stands up and enters the giant stable, looking at every dragon that lives there.

"Oh no..." he whispers as he notices the empty chains and that one dragon is missing.

He runs towards the Red Keep and enters the council room, knowing that is where the King is, along with his Queen.

"Sunfyre is missing." he manages to get the words out, breathing heavily from how fast he had to run there.

"Reina is missing." Aegon bursts into the room and shouts, looking suspiciously at the dragonkeeper.

•••

As the dragon flies throughout the scary dark sky, Reina begins to calm down and enjoy the moment. The wind blows through her red hair and the view of the ocean fills her with dread once more.

It had been a few hours since she left King's Landing and surely, by now, Aegon noticed her absence, but she couldn't care less.

The towers of the Highgarden castle can be seen as Sunfyre and Reina approaches the regional capital of the Reach.

Tears fill her eyes and she sighs, trying to erase any regret from her mind. She has to do it. She has to do it, she tells herself before uttering that word.

"Dracarys."

A/N: OHHHH NOOOOO! I CANT WAIT TO WRITE THE NEXT CHAPTERRRR (it must be a little weird for Sunfyre to listen to Reina, but it's fanfiction so everything is allowed here)