"Please be safe, my love. Storm's End has very ill-tempered weather." Alyarra would tell her husband as she got his long coat from his wardrobe. She draped it over his shoulders and smiled at him through the looking glass, a smile he returned with a small faltering one.
"I will be fine, my darling. Storm's End is very close by, and I will be only gone a few days. My grandsire wants me to secure Lord Borros to us, you know. Intimidate him with Vhagar and such." Aemond told his wife, turning to her and bringing his hand to caress her cheek. Alyarra leaned into his touch, sighing.
"I know... I'll miss you sleeping by my side." She spoke softly whilst he smirked. "I'll be back so soon, you won't even notice me gone." Aemond told her softly. She was glad he was in a better mood than the last few days.
"I'll be waiting eagerly." She told him as she fixed his doublet and grabbed one of his patches from his vanity. Aemond sat down as Alyarra brought the patch around his head and fastened it perfectly. He stood back up and took a breath, glancing down at his wife.
"I love you. Do not ever forget how much I love you." He whispered lovingly, making her swoon. "I love you too." She replied, stars in her eyes as she looked at the man that she loved the most. There was nothing that she wouldn't do for Aemond.
"When I get back, let us try to make more siblings for Baelon, yes?" Aemond smirked, and Alyarra smiled but she really didn't want another pregnancy. Atleast not yet. It was extremely traumatizing and awful. And her body was not ready for it. She felt a sense of doom nestle in her stomach but she ignored it.
She didn't want to worry Aemond. "Yes my love. An army I'll birth for you if you so wish it." He grinned at her words. And she smiled back, happy to make him smile. She would break her back just to see him crack a smile.
A knock was heard at the door, and then Ser Criston came into the chambers. "Prince Aemond, Vhagar is ready for you." He announced. Alyarra pressed her lips together and embraced her husband.
"Be safe, Aemond. Remember to lead with a cool head." She whispered as he slowly planted a kiss on the top of her head. "I will, love. Please remember to stay with your protector at all times." He told her, and she nodded.
He gave her once last kiss, and then out the door he was. As soon as the door shut behind him; her act faltered. She rushed to take off her tight dress. She was hurting in all of her body, the dress only adding to her pain. She shed all of her clothing and stood before her looking glass, staring in disgust at her body.
She gulped, bringing her fingers to trace the many bruises that Aemond had left the day before, and she could only wince in pain as her own fingers made contact with the bruised skin. Two nights had gone by of him taking his daily frustrations on her with reckless and ruthless sex, and she didn't complain. This was her duty, right? To relieve him of his worries? She wanted to think that, but a part of her wanted to yell at him. To slap him, and to tell him that he was killing her.
Tears formed in her eyes as she looked at her beaten and bruised self, she took a deep breath choked a tear back. The door to her bedchamber opened, and she was going to rush to cover herself but stopped when she noticed it was Catherryn. As soon as her eyes landed on her best friend and lady, she broke down in tears.
She was going to plummet to the floor, but Catherryn rushed to grab her before she could fall. Catherryn lifted Alyarra into her arms, like she always did. It was in her nature to protect the innocent.
"What happened?!" Catherryn asked as Alyarra leaned on her for support. She was embarrased, and broken. "He beat you?!" Catherryn was appalled at the appearance of her best friend.
"No... of course not. He would never... he just.. he likes it rough." She replied in between heartbreaking sobs. Alyarra didn't really mind that he did, she usually did like it rough too.
Before she got pregnant, they would have sex a few times a day, and even when she carried Baelon, they still had sex. Having rough sex was not what bothered her. She was used to it and enjoyed it. What broke her down was the fact that she had just gotten out of labour, and he didn't even care. She asked for gentle and he took her suggestion and threw it down the balcony.
"You are jesting. Surely... you just had a babe a few weeks ago..." Catherryn trailed off and her heart broke when Alyarra simply shrugged. "I'm sorry." A hug so tight that Alyarra felt her bones crushing, but it was what she needed.
"I am fine. It hurts, but I need to be there for him. He's going through so much." Alyarra assured Catherryn, and the lady simply scoffed.
"Oh he could be going through the Seven Hells and back and that still doesn't give him the right to maim you like this! He is your husband! You are his wife! He's supposed to protect you, not use you like a whore from the streets." Alyarra's face fell at the statement, and Catherryn realized the gravity of her words and hugged her again.
"I'm sorry. I am just angry, seeing you like this... it makes me angry." Catherryn whispered, and Alyarra reached around and wrapped her arms over Catherryn's neck.
"I love you. I do not know what I would do without you here." Alyarra replied, and she meant each word. In King's Landing, Catherryn was the only person she could trust with her eyes closed. She was the only person that knew Alyarra through and through.
"I love you much more, Alyarra. You're my sister." Catherryn assured her. The girls stayed in their embrace but then a swift knock was heard at the door of Alyarra's bedchamber. "My lady... it's the King. He wishes to speak with you." Benjamin could be heard through the wood.
Catherryn frowned and turned to look at her lady, clearly confused. Alyarra was just as confused, she hadn't spoken to Aegon in moons. Every interacaction he tried was shut down by Aemond, and she was grateful.
It made sense he would look for her after Aemond was sent away, he didn't really have anyone standing in his way to get to her. "I'll be just a moment." Alyarra called and pressed her lips together.
"Help me get dressed." She told Catherryn who rolled her eyes. "You're really going to talk to him?" She asked as she moved to grab Alyarra's dress off the floor.
"He's the King now, who am I to refuse the King?" Alyarra asked Catherryn as the girl moved to help her lady into her dress. "He's the usurper King, and an asshole too." Catherryn hissed, making Alyarra give her a stern look through the looking glass.
"Do not ever repeat that outside of my chambers, Catherryn. Those are the kind of phrases that get one killed." Alyarra warned her lady. Catherryn pressed her lips together and laced Alyarra's dress back on. When she was ready, she exited her bedchamber to find Aegon sitting in her living chamber. Criston stood behind him, and Benjamin moved to stand by Alyarra.
"Your grace." Alyarra curtsied, her face cold as she stared right at Aegon. "You requested for me?" She asked coldly, she tried to stay composed but her heart was threateningto beat out of her own chest.
"I uh-I wanted to speak with you... privately. Ser Criston." Aegon nodded his head to the door, urging him to leave them alone. The knight complied and left the chambers, then Aegon looked at Catherryn and Benjamin. He eyed them and then looked back at Alyarra. "Um..." He didn't know how to tell her to order them away.
"Anything you wish to say to me, your grace, you may say in front of them." Alyarra urged him. Her tone was sharp and precise, she just wanted Aegon far from her.
"I will not harm you..." Aegon's tone was low, and embarrased even. Alyarra rolled her eyes slightly and sighed.
She looked at her knight and at her lady and gave them a nod towards the doors of her chambers. Catherryn did not want to budge, but she ultimately had to. Benjamin and Catherryn left the chambers, and only Alyarra and Aegon remained.
Aegon stood up, and Alyarra took a step back from him in fear. This only made him cower back from her. "I came here to... apologize. For what I did all those months ago... I was blind with jealousy, I wasn't thinking right. I-I am so sorry." Aegon spoke up.
"I have been wanting to apologize since that night, but Aemond doesn't let me near you... I really am sorry." Alyarra remained stoic as she listened to him.
"Right." She answered and pressed her lips together. "You won't say anything else?" Aegon asked her, and the tone he used made her angry. She wasn't the villain here, he was.
"What did you think was going to happen here, Aegon? Did you think you would come in here and we'd be fine? You know I still have scars on my back from your knife whenever you betrayed me and tried to rape me." Alyarra forgot she was talking to the King, and only saw her old friend.
"We were friends. I was fond of you! Do you remember? When you took me riding the stallions, or when you took me to see Sunfyre? Do you remember all the times we went hawking?" She asked frantically, and Aegon only gulped and hung his head.
"I trusted you, Aegon. And you violated my trust, you violated your brother's trust. You've done horrible things... I-I- know you sired a bastard girl, because I used to visit her... I... I thought you were a different kind of man. I wish the Aegon that I first met was the real one." Alyarra told him, and she could see the tears form in his eyes but she cared little. Dragon
"He is the real one! What I show you is who I am." He contested fiercely. "Stop. The boy I first met who was eager to be my friend was not real. You were just playing a part, trying to fuck me. And then when Aemond married me, you showed your true colors. And they are ugly." These words were months of pent up disdain that bubbled towards him.
"I wish I never did that but I was in love with you and hurt! I-I still am! I love you." Alyarra wanted to grab him by the hair and fling him off the balcony of her chambers. How dare he come here and proclaim he loved her?
"I know you are the King now, but fuck off! You don't fucking love me! You are obsessed with the idea of having the one thing that you can not! You are infatuated with snatching the one thing your brother gets over you!" Alyarra burst out, then she remembered her station and laid down her banners.
"No! I love you! What does Aemond have I don't?" Aegon asked, getting as heated as her. The question was laughable.
"He is a hundred times a better man than you! He is righteous, he is kind, he is studious, and he loves me for all that I am..." Aegon laughed at her words.
"You do not know my brother like you think you do." Aegon told her and Alyarra rolled her eyes. "Leave Aegon. Now." She ordered, and she didn't care if he was the King. He could be all of the the Old Gods himself and she still would want him far from her.
"I just want your forgiveness... do you think... maybe time can heal?" Aegon asked slowly, and she cringed at his words. He was delusional, clearly. Maybe the crown had been too heavy on his head and made his brain stop working. She didn't know.
"Time can heal, but this won't. These kind of wounds they last, Aegon." Alyarra told him, her face stoic, yet the anger was more than evident. "Leave." She ordered him. The green King slumped his shoulders, and left her chambers. It took barely one minute for Catherryn to rush in to Alyarra's side.
"What did he want?" Catherryn asked Alyarra, helping her lady take a seat.
"For me to feed his delusions of grandeur."
-
Alyarra layed down on her and Aemond's bed, and it felt extremely odd laying there without him. She hadn't slept alone in many moons, and all that she wanted was for Aemond to come home and craddle her in his arms. She loved him the most, even when he hurt her the most. She stared at the canopy as she thought of her husband and she prayed in her mind for him to be safe and sound.
She tossed and turned but finally drifted off to sleep.
"Catherryn! That is not fair! Cregan told me I was the one that would get to hold the wolf cub!" Alyarra would chase her best friend through the snowy field of Winterfell castle.
"Catch me if you can!" Catherryn bounced around, her blonde curls flowing in the wind as she held the pup close to her. "It's my turn!" Alyarra whined and finally caught up to her.
The two little girls topped to the snow, Catherryn letting the little pup go and run around as they laughed. Alyarra grabbed snow and formed a snowball, hurling it to her best friend.
Catherryn retaliated and the both of them were laughing as they hurled snowballs at each other. But Catherryn stopped suddenly, slowly turning to look at Alyarra. "My neck... it hurts." Catherryn whispered, her hands grabbing to rub her neck.
"What happened?" The little girl would aske her best friend, rushing to her. Catherryn remained stoic as she rubbed at her neck. "My neck hurts so much, Al." Catherryn told her.
Catherryn looked at Alyarra and reached for her cheek, her hands were cold and wet. Too wet. Soaked. "Wake up." She whispered.
"What?" Alyarra asked.
"Alyarra." She jolted awake to find her husband staring down at her. Aemond was wet... more like soaked. Her mind was cloudy from her weird dream and now her husband was sitting on their bed with his face looking as if he had seen something awful. Alyarra was well confused.
"A-Aemond? What are you doing here? You weren't due back for some ti-" He cut her off, his face remaining cold and emotionless. Alyarra reached for his cold hands, and she imagined this was what holding a corpse felt like.
"He is dead." She was even more confused now. She squeezed his hand as she tried to read his emotions, but there were none on his face.
"Lord Borros? H-He didn't wish to bend the knee? That's unfortunate but the-" Aemond cut her off once more, and his response made her blood run cold through her veins.
"Lucerys is dead. I killed him." She blinked at Aemond. One, two, three, four, five times. Before her mind could truly and fully process the words her husband had spoken. Her face remained stoic as she stared at him, her hands going limp in his. Aemond stared back at her, his face as cold as hers.
Her mind was racing. Lucerys was dead? Aemond had killed him? Her husband killed his own nephew? Her husband killed his kin? Her husband was a kinslayer? What did this mean? Had Aemond started a war? Why did he do this?
Then his face finally caved, his eyes fell to her lap and his head hung low. Defeat. Maimed. Bruised. Those words described Aemond Targaryen in that moment. And Alyarra could see he needed her so instead of berating him, like she wanted to do, she wrapped her arms around his neck and engulfed him in the tighest of hugs.
"I-I-What happened?" She whispered into the crook of his neck. Silence. She caressed his disheveled wet hair and took a deep breath, kneeling in their bed to be able to reach for him better.
"What happened?" Alyarra asked once more, pulling away from Aemond and cupping his face with her hands. He was soaked, his clothes cold, and his hair a tangled mess.
"I lost all control. I did not mean to do this." His voice was low, lower than Alyarra was used to. Aemond was always so confident, so sure of himself and the person in front of her was everything but.
"How? Aemond, what happened?" Alyarra pressed. She had not yet accepted the reality that Aemond had killed his younger nephew. In her mind, this was not really happening. He shivered, the coldness of his damp clothes taking a toll on his limp body.
Alyarra got up from the bed and moved to grab him a fresh set of clothes. She helped him off his wet coat and his doublet, then watched as he moved to unbutton his pants. He looked devastated, yet so calm and collected. He looked sad yet so cold and distant. His eye had no emotion. He stopped fumbling with his pants and looked at her, his eye falling to grace over her body which was only covered by her thin nightgown.
She knew already what it meant. Aemond grabbed her arm and was going to pull her into a kiss but stopped himself when he felt her flinch under him. Alyarra looked up at him with fear stricken eyes, and Aemond felt his heart be ripped from him.
"I'm sorry. I didn't mean to kill him." He croaked out, turning to face away from his wife. Alyarra moved to hug him from behind, nuzzling her head into his back. She was scared, but she loved him. No matter what he did, she loved him. The man she hugged felt foreign, like a stranger. But it mattered not. It was her Aemond.
"I know you didn't." She was lying. She wasn't sure she believed him. She knew he meant to kill him.
-
Author's note:
Aemond needs to find some other coping mechanisms, because destroying his wife is not it. Guys i swear he loved her he's just going through it.
PSA!!! I'm starting a one shot book, so if you have any scenarios you would like for me to write for HOTD then feel free to message me here or comment!!
Another PSA tysm for more than 50k reads, and for loving Al like I do her too.
ANOTHER PSA my girl has her one shot book and she posted an aemond one that is just so good so do check it out her tumblr is elegantsplendour diam_1021
ANOTHER PSA here's a pic of Alyarra and Catherryn, the best girls. (staring at aegon because they look angry)
One last PSA check out my other books for aemond!