The next day, Visenya planned to leave the Red Keep through the secret passages of the castle to go meet Aemond at the Hill of Rhaenys. She was taking the one that leaded from Maegor's Holdfast to the Dragon Pit.
She hoped no one would see her and make questions. But her hopes were destroyed when she saw Aegon sprawled on the floor with his back rested on a wall. Visenya knew the moment she saw him that her brother was drunk and the vomit pool next to him confirmed it.
"Oh, Aegon." She murmured before kneeling in front of him. The mentioned raised his head and that was when she noticed the red on his swollen eyes that indicated he had been crying. She looked at him with pity. "Come on, we need to get you to bed. I'll call a guard."
"No, no." Aegon quickly stopped her. "I don't want anyone to see me like this."
"What happened?" She softly asked putting her hand on his shoulder.
"They refuse to see the good in me, Visenya." His voice broke as he spoke. "They only focus on my faults and mistakes and I can't take it anymore."
"Whom?"
"Father and my mother. I'm not a good person and I don't think I'll ever be what they want me to be." Aegon answered with such a broken tone that for a minute Visenya forgot all the things she knew he had done. She knew her brother was not a good person. She knew what he did with woman and how he treated Helaena. But to see him like that really moved something inside her.
Aegon was her brother, after all.
"Do you think you're not loved enough?" The girl wondered.
"Somewhere between 'not enough' and 'not at all'. I've always been hungry for love. Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it. To be fed so much love I couldn't take it anymore. Just once. But they never gave that to me. Never, not once."
"Aegon, I understand but..."
"No, you don't!" He bursted and grabbed her shoulders to get her up as he raised. "You've always been loved, Visenya. By father, by the masses, by Rhaenyra, by my siblings. Especially Aemond. And I envy you so much for it."
"Aegon, you're hurting me." She mumbled looking at his grip around her shoulder. He hadn't even realized how strongly he was pressing and when she said that, Aegon quickly let go of her.
"I'm sorry." He said as tears fell down his cheeks. He looked like a little lost child. "I am so sorry."
"It's okay." Visenya hugged her brother. "Come on, I'll take you to your chambers."
When they arrived there, the girl put Aegon on bed and tucked him. He was already half asleep when he asked:
"Could it be so hard?" He stared at her waiting for an answer.
Visenya looked over at him, furrowing her eyebrows slightly.
"Could what be so hard?"
"To love me. Could it really be so hard to love somebody like me?"
She bit the corner of her left cheek and squeezed her eyes shut in hopes of it maybe stopping her from saying anything she'd regret. Visenya knew the truth would only anger him on his state.
"Perhaps." She whispered, but he was already sleep.
...
"You're late." Aemond said as he stood with his back rested on Vaghar. "I was starting to think you wouldn't come."
"I know, I'm sorry." She approached him and then looked at the sky, knowing Rhaegor would appear any minute. "I had a small incident with Aegon."
"Did he do anything to you?" He asked as he looked all over her face looking for any sign of damage. He knew what his brother had done before to women.
"No." She answered and sighed. "I found him drunk and took him to his chambers so he could rest."
"You know he doesn't deserve you helping him, right?"
"I know." Visenya slowly nodded to then look at the man in front of her. "But he was so lost and broken... I just couldn't."
"You're too kind." He softly smiled putting his hands on both sides of her face.
"Father taught me to always be kind first. You can always be mean later, but once you've been mean to someone, they won't believe the kind anymore. So it's a good thing to be kind, until it's time to stop being kind, then destroy them."
"This conversation turned incredibly dark." He mocked with an amused look. "But I wish father would have bother to teach us those lessons as well."
Visenya was about to say something when they heard a dragon roar in the sky. Before they noticed, Rhaelor was standing in front of them.
"Hello, boy." Visenya moved away from Aemond to greet her dragon with a smile. Rhaelor leaned his head so the Princess could pet her.
"We should go somewhere with more privacy, Princess." Aemond spoke climbing to his sit above Vaghar.
"Where to?" She mimicked him as she got on top of Rhaelor.
"Just follow me." He answered with a mysterious look.
...
"I don't think I have ever been here before." Visenya admired the view.
They were standing in the middle of a forest. She closed her eyes, feeling the nature surround her. She could hear the sound of the water falling from the waterfall in front of her mixed with the roars of Vaghar and Rhaelor flying in the sky above them. She smelled the scent of wild flowers and felt the soft breeze against her face.
With her eyes still closed, she felt Aemond's presence behind her. He pulled her closer to his chest hugging her from behind with his hands resting on her hips.
"Do you like this place?" He asked whispering at her ear, which sent her goosebumps.
"There are plenty of flowers." She pointed opening her eyes to stare at the view again briefly before turning back to face him. "I love flowers."
"I know you do." He smiled. She raised her hand to softly pass her fingers through his face.
She had always believed him to be good looking. Even now with that patch.
"Why do you use this stuff?" She asked him. "You don't need it. I'm pretty sure it's uncomfortable."
He was quiet for a moment. "You don't think I need it?"
"Of course not. Why do you...? Are you in pain? Does your scar hurt?"
"Sometimes." Aemond confessed and Visenya could see the torment on the blue of his good eye. The memories of that night at Driftmark. She could feel how much he sought revenge. "But not as much as it used to."
"I'm so sorry this happened." The girl spoke softly as she touched the patch. "Can I...?"
"You won't like it, Visenya." He groaned as he stepped back. "Without it, you will think I look like a monster."
"Do not tell me what I think or feel, that is for me to decide." She said firmly.
The young prince sighed in surrender and took the patch off, showing his full eye scar. But, instead of a hollow space in the place his eye used to be, there was a blue sapphire.
"Did you really put a sapphire there just to have it covered with an awful patch, Aemond?" She furrowed her eyebrows in confusion as she grinned.
"What is so funny?" The boy demanded to know with a serious look.
"You are the stupidest person I've ever met, did you know that?" She teased him.
"I get that a lot, especially from you." He rolled his eyes in annoyance as he walked away. Visenya chuckled and grabbed his arm, making him turn around to face her again.
"You should know I think you're handsome with and without the patch." She admitted. "And that I could never think of you as a monster, because I love you."
And that was all Aemond needed to hear to press his lips against her one more time, as if she was the only air he needed to breath to stay alive.