CHAPTER THREE
So far, marriage was an above average experience.
Being a female in a fairly unexciting house, married to the second son of the king, and living in a time of peace certainly helped Liliyana with settling in.
For the past three months, her days followed a set series of events:
Wake up to her handmaids. Get dressed and find a beautiful bouquet of flowers on a table waiting for her. Walk to Aemond's quarters (she had moved shortly after the wedding to the same tower as him). He'd already be awake, reading in his outdoor chair and waiting for her. A breakfast feast was prepared for her every morning. They'd smile and greet each other. If Liliyana was feeling brave, she'd kiss his cheek. Aemond would then pull out her chair.
"A drink before we eat?" he'd ask. She always said yes and he poured her juice. Only then, when he knew she was content, did he sit back down.
Her recent book was always placed at her seat each morning.
Liliyana learned her husband's quirks. Though he did not have many, and they were almost all subtle. Her favorite was how he sat. A large hand splayed on the table and body straight. One day, during breakfast, she reached out to hold his hand while he ate and read. His only reaction was a shuddering exhale (another quirk) and he clasped her hand tightly. She enjoyed feeling physically connected to him; he was a distant man and hard to read most days.
He had changed after the incident with his eye. For the worse, Liliyana felt. Uneasiness often crept along her skin when she managed to gain the advantage in a room--he was quick to notice her when she entered. But that awful feeling cracked and fell away when Aemond showered her with his brand of affection. He did love her...and she learned to love him. But still the uncertainty remained.
Sometimes, his aggression did have the opposite effect on her. It made her aroused. To see him capable of physical violence when sparing, or hear his cutting voice at dinner when speaking to his brother or mother. Her devoted husband was a behemoth of a man in public and a submissive kitten in private. Liliyana's favorite moments were when both personalities clashed.
It was one of those moments that led her to lose her innocence to him.
She had been tasked by her brother to bring Aemond to a meeting. According to Tyland, her husband was in a particularly disagreeable mood. The entirety of the Red Keep were well aware of the second prince's attachment to his wife, and she was often used to lure him out of his brooding moods.
Liliyana snuck down to the training grounds without issue and watched as her husband clashed with a soldier. He moved like a snake around the poor boy, sword colliding like a hammer. Something displeased Aemond greatly...
"Agh!" he yelled as he struck another blow. It brought the soldier to the ground, surrendering. "Get up!"
The supervising soldier took a nervous step forward. "My prince, this is the fourth man--"
Aemond kicked the downed man. "Get the fuck up!"
Liliyana stepped into the light, her heart pumping a mix of nerves and adrenaline throughout her body. Her knees and toes curled in her boots with pleasure. Now was not the time to be turned on--her duty right now as a wife was to make sure her husband was alright.
Aemond, who's back faced his wife, pressed his sword against the man's throat. "You defy an order from a prince, boy?"
But the boy in question was the first to notice the Lannister woman, pretty as a painting in her red and gold dress. Her husband finally turned at the distraction. The sword pressing against the soldier was lifted and he scrambled to his feet and bowed.
Liliyana offered a kind smile. "Please give us a moment, gentlemen." She waited for them to leave before approaching Aemond. "You stormed out of my brother's meeting. Is everything alright?"
Aemond's breathing was labored from training. In a fluid motion, he broke eye with her and hung his sword back on a nearby rack. "Your brother did not tell you the nature of the meeting."
Liliyana did not know if his words were meant to be a question or a statement. All she knew was that he bit them out like poison. "Only that you were displeased." As you often are with Tyland, she wanted to add. The two men bickered frequently--mostly about her. Her brother's sense of humor clashed with Aemond's lack of. Liliyana was certain she was the only person to see the man smile.
"A raven this morning arrived from Dragonstone. Rhaenerya has asked for your presence."
Liliyana's dark blonde eyebrows pulled together at the news. "M-me?" She had not spoken to the princess since she left with her family to Dragonstone eight years ago. Rhaenerya and her were close...as close as two women could be given their age difference. Duty and family prevented letters from arriving--at least for Liliyana's case. Certainly the heir to the Iron Throne had a similar experience. "Whatever for?"
The question triggered Aemond's rage. His jaw ticked and a visible vein in his neck formed. "Lucerys' name day."
Her husband's nephew. The very boy who scarred him. Despite wanting to see the princess, Liliyana had to decline. Agreeing to attend would be a tremendous disrespect to her husband. "Aemond--"
"Your brother refused to let you go. I told him it was your decision."
Her husband's obsession with letting Liliyana do as she pleased backfired at times. She sometimes wished he'd make decisions for her, like every husband in Westeros did. If he did, he wouldn't torment both himself and the innocent soldiers in the Red Keep.
"Why would I attend the name day of the boy who cut out your eye, Aemond?"
Aemond shook his head. "Because you enjoy Rhaenerya's company. You miss her. Your face when I told you confirmed as much."
"And you despise the boy and worry for my safety. Going would be disrespectful, Aemond. Asking you to come is also out of the question. Why would I risk another fight between you two?"
"Mother has forbidden me to go." He walked past her and into the Red Keep. She followed, needing to take long strides to match his speed. "The decision does not need to be made until this evening. You have time to make a choice."
~
Dinner that night had been quite dreadful.
Not only was Liliyana still undecided, but her desire to go was only heightened by the family's behavior. The king no longer supped with them; his declining health left him confined to his bed. The children were free to speak ill of their half-sister and her family as they pleased.
"A spoiled cunt," was Aegon's favorite drunken description of her. "And her bastard sons!"
Aemond did not engage, as always, but she knew he approved. The slight uptick of his lips was proof enough.
She retired to her chambers without an appetite. For food, at least.
Her stupid heart replayed Aemond in the training grounds over and over like a windmill. Since arriving in King's Landing all these years ago, she had never left its borders. Never spent a single day without her doting husband. She wanted to visit her friend, to taste the sea air. And she also wanted her husband.
She wanted him now.
Her guard escorted her to Aemond's chambers. They were down the hall from each other. Not a dangerous or long distance, but protocol demanded highborn ladies be escorted at night. The man knocked once on his door and was met with silence. Was he already sleeping?
Another knock before his voice called from behind the door. "I am not taking guests!" He was still bitter about earlier...maybe this was a bad idea.
But before Liliyana could begin her trek back to her room, the guard tried once more. "It is your lady wife, my prince. She is here to see you."
The door burst open. Aemond stood before them with parted lips. The guard bowed and left the couple.
"Is everything alright?" Aemond asked her once they were alone in his room. She did not miss the way he looked over her form, his eye piercing like a snake's.
"Yes. I am...uhm." She looked everywhere but him. Liliyana knew just one one look at him, in his room, she would chicken out and run back to her quarters. "I have decided to see Rhaenerya. And I have also decided that I-I--that I want you, Aemond."
Her husband did not have the reaction she was expecting. In fact, he had no reaction. Only a cock of his head. "I'm afraid I'm not following, Liliyana. Do you need something brought to your room? Assistance with pack--"
She shut him up with a kiss. Their first.
Aemond deepened it further and moved them toward his bed. When she felt the mattress on her legs, she broke away from him and sat. A smile lightened her face when he instinctively pushed himself forward, greedy for her.
Liliyana linked their fingers together and pressed them to her covered breasts. "Touch me, Aemond."
Aemond smiled and closed his eye, pressing his forehead to her own. "Gladly," he whispered.
~
"Are you alright, my lady," Ser Hannes asked Liliyana.
Her carriage hit another rock. The pain between her legs made her monthly cramps feel like nothing. The pain of sex, or lack thereof for some women, depended largely on how active she was. Liliyana did not know how to ride a horse--she had never been on one. Mother forbade her; it was unladylike. Nor did she partake in sword fighting for those same reasons.
But Liliyana's stories failed to describe just how painful the experience could be. Pain was not sexy...not that kind of pain, at least.
"Yes, Ser Hannes, thank you." She adjusted in her seat once more. "We are almost there, yes?" The small array of guards (mostly Targaryen and some Lannister) took a ship to reach Dragonstone. Once arriving on the beach, a carriage had been waiting, to make the trip less tiring. Walking would have been much preferred.
The carriage suddenly stopped. The door opened and Dragonstone loomed above her. Ser Hannes exited first and offered his hand to assist Liliyana. She managed to step down onto the ground without falling. The embarrassment, in front of Rhaeynera and her family, would mortify her.
The princess smiled and approached her old friend. "Liliyana," she greeted. "Thank you so much for coming."
Liliyana was not told the full extent of her invite until early this morning. She was not, actually, invited. Not initially, anyway. The raven was meant for the immediate family to come: the king, his wife, and the princess's half-siblings. But Queen Alicent declined. She had to take care of her husband and his duties. Then came Liliyana's invite. She did not want to feel slighted about it, but failed miserably. She hoped her friend wanted to see her, not just because everyone more important declined.
Liliyana curtsied and hid the physical discomfort between her legs with a smile. "Thank you for inviting me, princess."
Prince Daemon stood beside his wife, quietly observing the Lannister girl with curiosity. "Your husband is not coming?" he asked. "I understand he follows you like a shadow."
"Oh," Liliyana's cheeks began to heat. "He could not, unfortunately." She had no excuse for Aemond not being with her. She did not fully know what duties her husband had, but she did know that as a prince, Daemon would. She would not risk angering the Rogue Prince with her lies.
Rhaenerya led them inside. The celebration would not be until this evening. Liliyana hoped to maybe rest before then.
~
But rest she did not.
Thoughts drifted to Aemond and last night. And as the handmaidens began to dress her, and touch her legs and hips, Liliyana thought of Aemond's body. Of his hips gently rocking inside her. Of the stifled gasps that left his mouth as he laid on top of her. Her fingers digging into his forearms. His long hair tickling her breasts.
The faraway look in his eyes when they looked at each other. She saw, for the first time, his face without the covering. A deep blue, almost otherworldly sapphire sat in the socket. He did not want to frighten her, but he struggled with positioning his face between her legs when they first laid down. Aemond was determined to make her feel at least a little good before they "made love" as he called it. Her husband had a thirst for knowledge, as was evident by a book always in his hand. He studied how to and how to not pleasure a woman. Especially for the first time.
Liliyana did not know how long it took before he finished inside her. Eternity, honestly. But she wanted to do it again, to get to a point where the pain turned into pleasure. She enjoyed how she made him feel.
"Happy name day, Lucerys," Liliyana told the boy when spotting him in the dining hall. The boy was a precious little thing with curly brown hair and big eyes. Liliyana saw warmth in those brown orbs. Surely the fight with her husband years ago was an accident. She could not imagine this child capable of violence.
He bowed. "Aunt Liliyana--my lady, Liliyana, I mean. Thank you."
She bent to his level. "You may call me Aunt Liliyana, though it does make me feel dreadfully old."
They giggled before Liliyana sent the boy on his way to greet more guests. The rest of the celebration was uneventful. It was not until the next morning did an incoming raven send Dragonstone into a frenzy.
Liliyana was awoken early and told to pack--her stay to be cut short. None of the handmaidens had information for her, only that the princess desired her appearance once dressed.
She met with the princess in the foyer. They were also dressed to depart.
"Princess," Liliyana greeted.
"My family and I will travel alongside you back to King's Landing. A raven from Driftmark reports Corlys Velaryon has been seriously wounded. The claim to Driftmark is being called into question by Vaemond. He believes himself the rightful heir instead of Lucerys."
Liliyana was left temporarily speechless. The deceptions of court frequently disturbed her. Her house lived a quiet life on Casterly Rock. Now, not only would tensions be high from the question of heir, but from her husband being in the same space as Lucerys. She wanted to be sick.
But she fought to portray a clean face. "To King's Landing, then."
Author's note:
Next chapter kicks off the show's timeline of events. Thank you for reading!!