CRUEL GODS [aemond targaryen]

XVIII

The night brought many terrors, it was filled with shadows of disguise and the second blood spilt. The dance of the dragons had been commenced.

The Dowager Queen had been gagged, witnessing the murder of her bed maid by a much larger man and a small rat for a partner. They waited, Alicent begged the gods not to let her sweet daughter visit her this night. She did.

An eye for an eye, a son for a son.

A skin curdling scream filled the keep, disrupting the peace that it once held. Footsteps of metal were running, faster and faster and then, nothing. Maellery and Aemond sat up immediately, Aemond moved quickly and positioned herself in front of her, watching the door.

Maellery recognised the scream, the pain that was gutted in grief, longing. "Helaena" she half muttered, half cried, not caring to wait for the prince to escort her. She moved, rapidly, toward the group of guards. She could hear Aemond's protests as she ran.

The screams were diminishing now and the crying had began. A set of guards approached the prince and the princess, slightly pushing them away. Aemond did nothing, pushing his way to his sister, his mother.

The sight made even Aemond feel sick, The Queen, now maddening with grief was sat rocking her sons body, his head nowhere to be seen. He could not reverse the sight, could not tare his eyes away from her face. 

He could feel Maellery next to him, also taking in the sight of Helaena and Jaehaerys. Jaehaerys, a boy of six. A small boy, becoming nothing more than a lamb offered to slaughter.

When the guards flooded the room, the Queen did not move, instead clutched her son harder and screamed in the faces of the guards as she rocked his small frame.

Aemond swallowed, his throat becoming too dry. Maellery beside him froze, he snapped out of the trance he had been forced into, clutching one side of Maellery and slowly pushing her back to their chambers. She did not put up much of a fight, in shock Aemond suspected.

She did not speak much, Aemond could hear the desperation of her trying to fill her lungs with air. When she was sat in a chair, Aemond had begun to stroke her hair, adding some sort of comfort to her and she stared into the fire.

"We did this. We caused this!" She began, standing up and avoiding his touch. He moved toward her but her mad ramblings did not stop. "We have cost her a son! Her son! We have done this, we have done this Aemond." She muttered over and over, now pacing around the room as she fluttered her hands in the air.

Aemond had tried to protest her thoughts but to no avail, she was too wound up, too frightened. After a few moments she walked up to him, clinging to the collar of his shirt. "We have done this to Helaena, she is- she is innocent. Her son was innocent." She cried and Aemond took her face into his palms, his thumb stroking her temple softly.

"You have done nothing. I have caused this, a son for a son. This was me Mae, i swear to you." He began, whispering to her as she looked at him, the sorrow present in her eyes, her beautiful eyes now shadowed by tears. "But i also swear to you that this will not go unnoticed, they will pay. He'll be avenged for this."

Maellery nodded frantically, giving Aemond approval for whatever hell he would raise down upon them. Aemond pulled her into his embrace and felt as his organs tangled once more. He could feel the rising and falling of her chest against his as he held her, kissing her hairline softly as they stood, embraced by the fire and the rotten scent of death.

"Tommen." she muttered, against his chest and Aemond knew what she meant. He pulled a small bell the pair had installed, signalling if the other needed the other. Aemond should hate his wife's devoted maid, he should feel jealous of the bond they shared and yet he did not. He recognised the same look they gave each other as the look he bestowed upon his sister.