#you think aemond and daemon has anger issue

[farity]

Longing

Pairing: Aemond Targaryen x you

Summary:  A ward of Rhaenyra’s, you are present on that fateful night when Luke’s being a little shit.

Warnings: Smut.

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“Luke, no.”

You whispered to your half-brother.  He had been smirking and laughing at his uncle across the table, and the longer it went on, the more you could feel Aemond Targaryen’s anger radiate off of him.  

You knew the story well, even though you hadn’t been around when it had happened.  Your father, Ser Harwin Strong, had never known of your existence, but when your mother became gravely ill, she went to the Princess Rhaenyra, begging her to take you in.  Rhaenyra could see Harwin’s eyes in yours, the same unruly hair, the same determined demeanor.  She promised the dying woman to care for you and in exchange, you tutored her children.

You had found Rhaenyra to be kind, her husband Daemon to be unpredictable, and the children to be close.  You also knew well what had happened just before you joined the household.  The fight that culminated in Aemond losing an eye.

Once again, Luke made a small sound, amused at his own private joke, and again, you walked up to the table from where you stood a few feet away, kicked his chair and whispered.  “Stop it.”

Too late.

Aemond struck the table with his fist and rose, and your heart sank.

“Final tribute,” he said.  You saw Rhaenyra look up at him, and even though you didn’t yet know what else the prince would say, you felt nothing good would come of this.

* * * * * 

“All of you, go to your chambers, go now.”

Rhaenyra sent her sons and Daemon’s daughters to their rooms.  She didn’t oversee how you spent your free time, trusting you enough to let you manage your day as long as the children’s lessons took place as scheduled.  You nodded at her and followed, catching up with Luke.  

“You’re an idiot.”

He turned, ready to argue, but you kept going.  “Why the hell would you provoke him like that, Luke?  Do you never think beyond the next three seconds?”

You rushed past him and went into the chamber you’d been given, closing the door.  

At least the dying king had already left before the evening went to shreds.  Poor soul, he didn’t even realize most of the family problems were of his making.  In wanting everyone to tolerate the simmering issues, he had only created a cauldron full of roiling hatred, and it was about to spill over.

Stupid, stupid Luke.

Restless, you paced from hearth to bed over and over until you realized you would never fall asleep like this.  Some reading might help settle you down.  You had finished the small volume you had brought with you, but you knew where the library was here.

You opened the door as quietly as you could, looking around before slipping out and taking the hallway that led to the library.  There was no sound and you hoped everyone had settled down in their rooms.  

In the library, several candles were lit on the main table, and you walked towards the closest bookcase to look at some of the titles.

“Here to apologize for the whelp?”

“Mother save me!” you slapped a hand to your mouth, your heart jumping into your throat.

Prince Aemond sat on the far corner, fading into the surrounding darkness.  Now that your eyes had adjusted, you saw him more clearly, long silver hair, a book in his elegant fingers, long legs extended in front of him.  Were he anyone else, you would be besotted.  Were he not someone who hated your family, you would allow yourself improper thoughts.  Were he not who he was, you would admit to yourself that the tall man in the dreams that tormented your nights was the same man sitting in the library with you.

“I doubt the Mother has the time for the likes of us, my lady.”

Heartbeat going back to normal, you grabbed a candle.  “I am not a lady, as you well know, Prince Aemond.  And no, I am not apologizing for Luke, although I did tell him he was an idiot.”  You turned to examine the titles on the shelf, and to escape his stare.  Mostly history books, it seemed.

“Are you seeking something in particular?”

“Travel stories, anything on Essos?” you turned to find he was not ten feel from you.  

“Do you wish to see the world, then?” he asked, taking another step towards you.  

You wanted to run, to lock yourself in your room and avoid talking to him.  Avoid longing for those hands to be on you, for that hair to be wrapped around your fingers, for that mouth, usually so severe unless curved into a cruel smirk, to be on yours.

Steeling yourself, you met his gaze.  “Someday, yes.  I must make my own way sooner or later.”  His eye bore into yours, the pale blue shimmering in the candlelight.  He said nothing, and the seconds stretched between you.

You’d heard Daemon say once that silence was the best way to get someone else to speak.  That people were unused to silence and rushed to fill in the void with careless words. That when he wanted to find out something, he simply waited for the other person to speak.

Aemond said nothing and you became more and more uncomfortable.  You would not speak.  You would not move.  You would not look away from that intense scrutiny.

He took another step toward you.

You could smell the leather of his jacket, the soap used on his shirt, and some kind of earthy scent you couldn’t quite pinpoint.

You bit down on the inside of your lip to force yourself to remain quiet, and you saw his usual smirk appear.  He was so close.  He reached up past you, never breaking eye contact with you, and brought down a book, holding it up for you to see.  

You took it, not bothering to look at the title, curtsied, and as casually as you could manage, turned and walked out of the library.  Every step seemed to take an eternity but you would not give him the satisfaction of hearing you run from him.

Then you heard it.

One step, two.  Leaving the library.  

Following you.

Forcing yourself to keep your steps slow and steady, you headed to your rooms.  The steps behind you matched your pace, and your heartbeat picked up.  

What was this torment?  What was he doing?

Blessedly, you reached your rooms, opening the door with shaking hands.  Stepping inside, you turned, finding yourself almost nose-to-nose with him.

“Lost your way, Prince Aemond?”

“I am exactly where I wish to be.”  He watched you closely.  “Well, maybe not exactly where I wish to be just yet.”

“Then I wish you luck in finding your way, good eve-”

He took your arm, pushing you inside and closing the door smoothly before taking your face in his hands.  “I find myself craving your company, my lady.”

You couldn’t make yourself push him away.  It was difficult enough to remain impassive when those hands you’d dreamed of were cradling your face so gently.  “Your memory seems to be failing as well as your sense of direction, Your Highness, as I must repeat that I bear not the title of lady.”

His breath was warm on your lips as he pulled you closer.  “And yet there are those who bear noble titles who are not entitled to them,” he mused, his eye roving over your mouth.

“I am sure I have no idea who you could possibly be referring to,” you replied, tired of the never-ending talk about your half brothers.  In response, he smiled, almost gently, surprising you.  Gentle was not a word you associated with Aemond.  He was fire and fury wound tightly, ready to unleash, as he had earlier after Luke’s provocation.  “Would you unhand me, I wish to go to bed.”

“A delightful suggestion.”  He didn’t move.  If anything, his fingertips had started to rub tiny circles high on your cheeks.  You wondered if he was aware he was doing it.

“Alone.”  

When he still didn’t remove his hands, you reached up to take them off your face, realizing too late that touching him was a dangerous idea.  You placed your hands on top of his larger ones, and he immediately took your fingers in his, bringing them to his lips.  You watched as that cruel mouth kissed the back of your fingers, taking each one in turn.  “What is this, I wonder,” he murmured, switching to your other hand, “retribution? Punishment?  I despise your brothers, their very existence is an insult to the realm, but the thought of you occupies my thoughts to distraction.”

“Prince Aemond, this is most improper,” you whispered, clinging to the last of your sanity.  You had to stop this, stop him, and you nearly laughed at the thought of anyone, let alone you, stopping Aemond Targaryen.

“You know not the meaning of the word.”  

“Please, Your Highness.”

He’d turned one of your hands over, and was now kissing the sensitive pads of your fingers.  “Please . . . what?”

Each brush of his lips against your fingertips made fire spark inside you, and there was a heaviness low in your belly that was becoming impossible to ignore.

“Stop?” he asked, switching to the other hand, “or continue?”

“Please,” you managed, but could not make yourself say another word.

He stilled, and looked at you.  “There are signs,” he said quietly, “when a woman’s desires are awakened.  The breathing speeds up, the lips become redder,” he smirked, and brushed his thumb over your lower lip, “the skin warms and the pulse quickens.”

You became acutely aware of your breathing, of how overheated you felt, and summoned your will.  “And what about men?”

His eyebrow rose at your question.  “Much the same, except for one or two differences.”  He brought your hand down until you felt your palm brush against something impossibly hard and warm.

You gasped, trying to pull your hand away, to no avail.  

“Undeniable, hmm, the effect you have on me.”  His eye was icy fire and you felt the smallest sliver of power begin to thread to you.

Foolish girl.

Ignoring your quickly disappearing sense of self-preservation, you flexed your  fingertips, the tiniest movement, and felt him pulse against you.  Aemond gasped, hips jerking against your hand.  

More.

You squeezed gently, and this time he moaned, his free hand still cupping your face.  

“Stop now, or I shall have my turn,” he whispered harshly.  “Choose.”

You raised your chin, your eyes meeting his gaze, and slowly moved the backs of your fingers up and down his leather-covered length.  Aemond made a low noise deep in his throat and pressed his forehead against yours.  Before you could do it again, he swiftly grabbed your wrist and began walking you back toward the bed.

You stopped when you felt the edge of the bed hit the back of your legs.  Still looking at him, you found the ties to his breeches, tugged on one.  

“You will be my ruination.”

You grabbed the other tie.  “Someone should be,” you replied, and tugged, letting the breeches become loose on his slim waist.  Emboldened, you slipped your fingers into the waistband, feeling the muscles in his stomach tense at your touch.  His skin was so warm and smooth, and you began to slide your palm up beneath the tunic he wore, fingertips tracing a map as you explored.

“The skin warms,” you murmured, and pressing your palm against his chest, felt the fast beating of his heart.  “And the pulse quickens.”

A muscle twitched in his jaw and he pulled you in, mouth on yours, tongue demanding entrance.  You gasped and he took advantage, deepening the kiss, and you wrapped your arms around his neck.  The taste of him was unexpectedly sweet, with some dark spice you could not name. He placed a knee on the bed, pulling you with him to lay down in the center.  

“Tell me,” he whispered, “tell me you want this.  I will not have you unwilling.”

“I am not unwilling,” you managed, dizzy from his kiss.  “I want, I-”

“Name it, and you shall have it.”

“I don’t know,” you said quietly, “I don’t know what I’m asking for.”

“Then I shall spend all night finding out.”

#aemond targaryen fanfic #aemond fanfiction #aemond targaryen #aemond x you #aemond smut #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond x reader #hotd fanfic #hotd fanfiction #hotd smut

[haziwritesstuff]

My little rose, part 3

"You are meant to be the love of my next life."

Pairing | Aemond and Aegon x reader Wordcount | 4.2k Warnings | Medieval misogyny, Aegon isn't the nicest Previous chapters | Part 1, part 2

You make your way to Dragonstone, landing on the stone steps of the castle. Your family isn't there yet. It's quiet as you approach alone. You feel like you're walking into an empty castle, with nothing but your own footsteps echoing in the vast halls. The air is still and you feel like you're walking through a desert of stone and silence. You find it oddly peaceful and tranquil in a way, despite the solitude. The change in environment was refreshing and cleansing, after the tense atmosphere that you've just exited. You feel like a weight has been lifted off of your shoulders, a sense of calm and contentment wash over you as you look around at the vast halls and empty rooms.

You find yourself wandering through the gardens, your attention being drawn to the roses as the vivid colors and sweet smells fill the air. You feel your heart skip a beat as you take in the sight of the lush foliage and vibrant petals, and you can't help but feel a jolt of nostalgia. These were the roses that you've always loved, the ones that used to bring you joy and peace when you were a child. Bittersweetness washes over you as you remember those years growing up in solitude, with only Silverwing and the roses for company. You feel like the roses were like your faithful companions, always there to bring you comfort and joy during those times when you felt lonely and isolated. The  roses remind you of those comforting moments of companionship and the bittersweetness you feel is a reflection of the mixture of feelings that those times brought to you. You feel a bit of anger and resentment towards your father for keeping you hidden away from the world for years. You feel like he robbed you of a proper childhood, leaving you alone and isolated with no real friends in your life, he deprived you of so much, he was selfish and callous in his treatment of you. Although you made peace with it, you haven't forgotten it either. You've learned to accept and come to terms with your past, but you haven't let go of the bitterness and resentment that you feel towards Daemon for what he did to you. You've learnt to live with this injustice, but the anger and hurt still remains deep inside your heart.

You've been so deep in thought that you haven't realized someone else has joined you in the gardens. You're startled by Rhaena's sudden appearance and you feel a surge of relief as you realize it was her. "Where have you been? We almost started a search party!” "I'm sorry, I was just..." you stop short, realizing that you don't have an explanation for your absence. You feel like Rhaena's sudden appearance has caught you by surprise and you feel a bit embarrassed to explain why you were away. Rhaena’s staring at you and she’s not willing to let this matter go. There is still more to be said, but there is a certain level of awkwardness and tension and between you two right now. You didn’t want to make a bigger deal out of it than it already has been, so you keep your answer brief and simple. "I just flew alone, I wanted some time to be alone with my thoughts..." Rhaena nods her head, seeming to accept your explanation and she doesn't press the issue any further. “So what did you think of King’s Landing? And what did you think of your other family members?” "Well... it was certainly an experience..." you respond nervously, not sure exactly how to answer the question.

“Mmh. Did you manage to fix your issues with Aegon?” You feel a wave of awkwardness wash over you as Rhaena brings up the topic of Aegon. You're not sure what to say, or how you would even begin to explain the situation between the two of you. “Sort of.” You whispered, feeling like you haven't really fully resolved your issues with Aegon. The two of you still have some things to work out, but the tension is not as bad as it was before. Perhaps kissing him wasn’t such a bad idea after all. Rhaena's observant and perceptive, noticing that you're holding something back when you give your answer. You're not sure if you should give more details to her, you wanted to. You wanted to scream that you’ve kissed Aegon, that you hugged Aemond. That you were utterly confused. This was your first ‘experience’ with the other sex and you weren’t sure what to do now. You wanted to tell her everything that’s going on inside your head, but you decided against it.

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

It's been a couple of weeks since you had your experiences with Aegon and Aemond in King's Landing. A lot has happened since then, and things have shifted and changed in your life. Viserys is dead and they have crowned Aegon as King, stealing Rhaenyra’s throne.

"You're going to King's Landing and you're going to give Aegon this.” You are caught off guard by the sudden declaration of your father. You're not sure what he's referring to, but you feel your heart beating faster at the prospect of meeting King Aegon and giving him something. You struggle to contain your anxiety as you look at your father, wondering what he has in mind for you. You're being thrown into a dangerous situation, and you're not sure if you can handle it. There are so many ways this situation could go wrong, you're being pulled into a situation that is bigger than you are ready for. “I don’t think I’m ready… For th-“ his eyes narrow and his voice becomes more demanding. "You must go. It is your duty as my daughter." He stares at you intensely, his eyes sharp and piercing. He's not giving you a choice, you must do his bidding. Daemon's eyes narrow even more as he glares at you. "I am not giving you a choice," he says harshly, "You will go to King's Landing and you will give Aegon this." He leans forward and holds up a small black pouch. "This is the message that I want you to deliver to him. Do you understand?" The intensity of Daemon's gaze leaves you feeling scared and intimidated, as if he's determined to not let you refuse or refuse his demands. You realize that you have no choice but to go, and are left feeling like a pawn in this game of power and politics. “Yes, I understand." you say softly, having no choice but to comply with his orders, since he is your father and you have been raised to obey him. Daemon doesn't respond. Instead, he hands you the small black pouch and begins to walk away, his walk slow and measured.

Daemon's words leave you feeling scared and uncertain about your upcoming trip to King's Landing, where you are expected to deliver a message to the new king. You don't know what the message contains, and you feel a sense of anxiety and unease about the situation, as well as a sense of trepidation about the journey ahead.

It turns out you weren't the only messenger. You learn later that same night that Rhaenys, Jace, and Luke were also sent off with messages of their own. Thinking about the message you're carrying, you can't help but wonder what it could be. It's a heavy burden, with your life potentially hanging in the balance. Every step you take on the road to King's Landing is a step closer to danger and potential confrontation with the new ‘king’. The gravity of the situation suddenly sinks in, and you feel like you're walking into the unknown. Aegon wouldn’t hurt you, would he?

•─────⋅☾ ☽⋅─────•

It's a long journey to King's Landing, but after countless hours of flight, you finally make it to the city. You land in one of the city's landing spots, feeling both relieved and exhausted as you finally made it. That sense of relief and exhaustion is quickly replaced with a sense of anxiety and uncertainty as you realize that you still have the task left: to deliver the message to the new King, Aegon II.

You make your way to the castle in King's Landing, walking up to the gates. There are guards stationed on both sides of the gate, who keep watch over the castle grounds. You feel anxious and fearful as you approach them, they keep an watchful eye on you as you draw closer. Eventually you find your way to the throne room of the castle. Aegon is sitting in his throne, his piercing eyes looking down at you. He is flanked by a handful of guards and advisors, forming a circle around him. As you enter the room, the quiet conversations and whispers stop instantly, and all attention is focused on you. His gaze is like a blazing flame, his look burning into you as he waits for you to speak. The guards and advisors stand close by, as if they are ready to spring into action at a moment's notice. Everyone in the room is watching you intently, and you feel the pressure of everyone's eyes bearing down on you.

“I brought you a message from Queen Rhaenyra.” Your voice sounds small and strained as you speak, the weight of so many eyes upon you is overwhelming. The atmosphere in the room is thick with anticipation. After a pause, Aegon speaks, his voice calm and measured. "And what is the message?" "The message is personal and private, and it is to be delivered only to you and no one else." Aegon’s eyes narrow and his expression becomes more intense, as if deep in thought. He's silent for a moment, before finally speaking. "I see. If the message is personal and private, then why are you delivering it instead of Queen Rhaenyra herself?" The tension in the air increases as he speaks, his tone is stern and his face is fixed in a serious expression. He's awaiting a good reason for him to accept this message as legitimate and not a trick or ruse. "There must have been some reason for you being sent here, rather than Queen Rhaenyra coming herself," he says, "Is there a reason why she wouldn't have come here herself? If this message was so personal and private, why didn't she come herself to deliver it?" “I’m not sure.” Aegon raises an eyebrow, his expression becoming even more skeptical. "You're not sure?" He asks in a skeptical tone, "That's a rather unsatisfactory answer, don't you think?" After a few moments, you finally speak again. “My father sent me as the messenger.” “And why would he have done that, I wonder?!”

Aegon stares at you for a few more moments, with a stern and intense expression, before finally speaking again. “Well, I suppose we shall just have to read the message for ourselves, and see what Rhaenyra has to say.” He finally reaches for the small black pouch in your hands, and begins opening it. He removes the message inside and examines it, reading what is written on it. After a few moments, he looks back up at you. "That cunning bitch," he mutters under his breath. His fury seems to be reaching a boiling point, as he speaks again. "Everyone out!” As the room falls silent, you look at Aegon, who is now standing in front of you, still clutching the message in his hands. His face is contorted with fury, and his expression is like the face of a raging bull, ready to charge at a moment's notice.

After a few moments of uncomfortable silence, he speaks again. "How dare she send you here with a message like this!" He shouts, his voice full of rage and anger. "She thinks she can tell me what to do? Who the fuck does she think she is!?" He stares at you for a few moments, his eyes narrowed and his face full of rage. "And does she think I'm just gonna let you walk away after this?!" "Pardon me?" Your face began to grow darker. "I will not let this pass. I will not let her disrespect me in such a manner. And I'm not going to just let you walk away either. I will not let you go. You're going to be my prize of war, and you'll stay here with me, where I can take my time with you." The threat of violence is now very evident in the king's tone. He continues to stare at you, his expression growing darker and more intense.

This was probably a big mistake. You can feel the weight of his glare digging deep into your skin, and you feel like he's considering what he's going to do to you even more seriously now. After a few moments of silence, Aegon takes a deep breath and starts to speak again. "You're going to stay here with me, and I'm going to take my time with you. Your queen might think that she's being clever and making a request, but I'll show her just how foolish she is." "The fuck I am! You can't keep me captive!" Aegon takes a deep breath and nods his head slowly. "Oh, can't I?" He responds calmly and politely, but his tone is one of pure menace. “I can keep you here for as long as I like, and there's nothing you can do about it.” His face grows even darker, and he slowly steps towards you. He moves in closer and closer, getting right into your personal space. He's so close that you can feel his breath on your neck, and it's an unbearably intense feeling. His face just a few inches away from your ear. You feel his breath tickling your neck, and it sends a shiver down your spine. His voice is like a whisper, but it's a whisper of pure threat and power. "You're mine now." His breath tickles your skin, you feel like you can't move, like your body has frozen up and you can't even scream.

Aegon’s breath continues to tickle your skin as he pulls you close to him, his lips just brushing against your skin. You feel powerless to move, as if your body has been frozen in place by the fear he is instilling in you. "Worry not sweetling, we'll have a good time." He whispers into your ear, his voice is like a snake slithering its way into your head. "N-no..." His breath continues to whisper into your ear, and his voice is full of a predatory kind of sensuality. "Oh, yes.." He replies slowly, dragging his next words out for a long time. "You are mine, there’s no running from me now. I’ll take good care of you..." You try to break free from the his grip, but it's hard to get away from him. He holds you close to himself and his hold on you is tight. He seems to be enjoying himself far too much at the prospect of taking you for his own. Your body is filled with fear and trepidation, but you also feel a strange sense of excitement and arousal. Your body is responding to his touch in a way that is both terrifying and pleasurable at the same time. Aegon’s hands are caressing your skin softly as he pulls you closer to him, holding you even tighter and not letting you go anywhere. You let out a whimper as the caress of his touch sends a tingling sensation down your spine. You're being consumed in a very intimate way, your body being overwhelmed by his presence and you feel yourself melting in his grasp. Your attention was completely focused on Aegon that you didn't notice Aemond entering the room.

Aemond sees the two of you, and you can tell from the look in his eye that he is absolutely furious. He walks up close to you, and you feel the heat of his anger radiating off of his presence like a fire. Aegon finally notices Aemond's presence and looks over at him with a dark expression, his mouth curled up into a sneer. His grip on you becomes even tighter, and you can feel the heat coming off his body like a furnace as he stares at Aemond. He seems very protective of you, and he is not going to let anyone interfere with his plans. Aemond's eye was burning with fury, staring down at Aegon, his voice is a low and menacing growl. "What do you think you're doing with her?!" Aegon looks up at Aemond with a dark and menacing expression, he continues to hold you close to himself. "I'm taking her for my own." He replies in a cold voice. Aemond's eye is still fixated on Aegon, and the two men seem to be locked in a fierce staring contest. You can feel the tension in the air increasing as both men glare at each other, their hostility and aggression rising even higher. Aegon’s grip on you tightens even more, and you feel like you're being smothered.

"I will not let you touch her!" Aemond snaps, and you can tell he's barely holding back his anger. His face is a mask of fury, his body is tensing up, as if he's preparing to attack at any moment. He seems absolutely determined to protect you, and you can feel the raw power and aggression coming off of him like a storm of fury. Neither man wants to back down in this stand off, and they continue to glare at each other with a sense of simmering fury. You're trapped in the middle, with all of this tension and hostility growing around you. Your body is being overpowered by Aegon’s grip and you can't move away. "Please let me go..." Your voice is completely being ignored by both men as their confrontation becomes more intense and heated. You try to plead with both Aegon and Aemond to let you go, but they both seem to have lost all rationality and their sense of logic. Now all they're focused on is fighting over your possession. You’re trapped, scared and helpless as you continue to plead with him to let you go. But his resolve is like iron, and you can't help but feel like this is the endgame for you, and that you're going to be carried off in the king's arms at any moment now.

Aegon finally releases you from his grip, and you fall to the floor at his feet. You can feel him looking at you with a cold and menacing glare, but you're also relieved to be free from his grasp. You have a few seconds of hesitation and fear before Aemond pulls you behind him. You cling onto his back as he faces Aegon and you can feel his anger overflowing like an overflowing cup of wrath. "A-aemond..." you whimper, clinging onto him for support. He's the only thing in this room that seems like it could protect you right now. You feel like you're safe with him, but you still can't help but feel terrified at what might happen next.

"I am going to escort her to a guest room and then I’ll deal with you, Aegon." Aegon stares at Aemond with a deadly look of fury, but he doesn't resist. He lets Aemond lead you out of the room, and you're still clinging onto him for support. You feel safe and protected in Aemond's arms, but you still can't help but feel a bit of hesitation and uncertainty. Aemond's tone is stern and authoritative as he leads you out of the room. He doesn't look back at Aegon, and he keeps his eyes focused on the task of safely getting you away from him. You can feel him breathing softly next to you, and you can feel his muscles flexing slightly with each step he takes as he leads you out of the room. He leads you through the halls of the castle. Your body still clinging onto him as a source of protection and comfort, and you’re slightly trembling with fear and nerves. Despite being stern and authoritative, he's also being very gentle and careful with you.

The two of you finally arrive at a room, and Aemond closes the door behind you. He turns to face you, and you can see the intense look in his eye as he stares at you for a moment. You feel like you're being scrutinized by that penetrating gaze, and it makes you feel a bit uncomfortable. He's not smiling or being friendly like before, but instead he seems to be assessing you in an oddly intense way. Aemond stays silent for a minute, continuing to look at you with that intense gaze. You feel like he's looking at you like a stranger, and you feel like he's judging you based on what happened back there. You feel a bit nervous under his intense stare, and you feel like he's not being friendly at all. You have no idea what sort of reaction he is going to have to this situation, and you feel very vulnerable as a result. You still feel like a trembling nervous mess under his stare. After a minute of silence, he finally speaks in a stern voice. "So...what happened back there?" His tone is very serious and stoic, there's no hint of friendliness in his voice. His eye is penetrating, looking into your soul. You don't know what to say, and you feel like your words are being scrutinized heavily. "I, I gave him a message from Queen Rhaenyra." Aemond’s face remains stoic and unchanged, and he waits for you to say more. His face show no hint of a reaction to what you've said, and he continues to stare at you with that piercingly intense gaze. "I have no idea what it says... But I can only imagine... Aegon isn't the rightful king." His face still remains expressionless, studying you intensely. He still seems very cautious and distrustful. He seems suspicious of your reason for delivering the message in the first place. "So, you're trying to steal my brother's crown?" Aemond finally spoke, and your heart skipped a beat when you heard his voice. His tone filled with a suspicious kind of disdain. His words were loaded with malice and anger as he accused you of trying to steal his older brother's crown. You could not help but feel your heart beating in your throat at his accusation. "Your queen is a usurper, and a thief. She is trying to steal my brother's crown."

Your heart skipped a beat when Aemond moved closer and caressed your cheek gently, your body shuddering slightly at the touch. You could feel the heat of his breath and his touch on your skin, and your whole body felt like it was trembling under his grasp. "I'm afraid your our prisoner now, dove." His touch made you shiver and tremble in a way that you found both thrilling and frightening. The way he caressed your cheek with his thumb was so tender and gentle, his touch was like a gentle caress sending butterflies through your whole body. "My father will have your head for keeping me hostage!" Your words seem to be have a profound effect Aemond's stance as he stops caressing and backing away slightly. His eyes are filled with a sudden flash of anger and hostility, and he seems to be glaring at you with a mixture of distrust and fury. He then speaks in a harsh and stern voice. "My brother will also have your so called queen’s head for being a traitor to the throne! You should be grateful that I have chosen to keep you safe." His sudden outburst of anger and hostility took you off guard, and you had no idea how to handle his sudden change of mood. You felt like a small and powerless creature facing off against a giant beast. His tone was menacing and he seemed so much stronger and more frightening than you remembered him to be. As he spoke, his anger and hostility made you feel even more vulnerable and scared. This was not the gentle and friendly Aemond you remembered, this was a whole different beast entirely. "I am protecting you. Your so-called queen would never treat you with such care as I have." He took one step closer again, his tone sounding more insistent and authoritarian than before. You could feel the heat of his breath and the intensity of his gaze, and your heart was beating out of your chest. "I will take care of you. I will protect you." He spoke softly this time, almost sounding like a whispering voice. You felt like your whole body was trembling with fear and nerves, but you felt a strange sense of comfort underneath the intensity of his gaze. You felt like a small animal being held tightly in the grip of a predator, but in this predator's eyes you found a hint of kindness and tenderness. "Do you see how I am treating you? Like a precious jewel. Like a delicate flower. Like my little rose."

#aemond targaryen x reader #aemond x you #aegon targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen #aegon x you #aemond targaryen x you #aegon targaryen x you #aemond x reader #aegon ii targaryen #house of the dragon #aemond one eye #aemond fic #aemond x oc #aegon x oc #hotd

[asoiafsworld]

STAND BY ME.

pairing; aemond targaryen x original female character (alysanne velaryon)

summary; alysanne velaryon, jacaerys velaryon's twin sister and daughter to queen rhaenyra targaryen, has been betrothed to aemond targaryen since she was a little girl and has loved him since then too. king viserys dies however and war breaks out between their families. when alysanne learns of her brother's death caused by the man she loves, she does the only right thing.

warnings; hotd 1x10 spoilers, mentions of stillbirth, mentions and descriptions of self harm, major character death, very sad and painful, alysanne has bad anger issues, and she has psychopathic tendencies, my oc is really a emotional rollercoaster, blood, violence, revenge, sad ending

author's note; this fic is very painful to read at times so i just want to warn once more and its not all about her relationship with aemond, theres a lot of stuff about alysanne with her family too. i was going to make this a reader imagine but i felt that an oc would suit this more since its so angsty and gets pretty violent, i hope u guys still enjoy <3 jacaerys and alysanne are aged up here and are both only two years younger than aemond (jace and alysanne are 18, aemond is 20) and alysanne referrs to daemon as her father but hes not. also i imagine a young jodie comer as alysanne but u can imagine whoever u want! and everything that is written in cursive is a flashback an anything that is only in bold is alysanne's thoughts!! pls tell me what u guys think

masterlist

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"Shh! We need to be quiet!"

Aemond tried to look at her as sternly as possible but couldn't hold on to his giggle as she looked at him as apologetically and sweetly as she could. Before he could think any longer about how beautiful she looked as only the fire in the dungeons illuminated her face, he grabbed her hand and went further down the stairs to the underground room where the skull of Balerion the Black Dread was kept.

Alysanne gasped at the sight and was sure she had never seen a head this big from the dragons that lived still. She was small, a growing girl of four and ten and was definitely dwarfed even more as she stood in front of the skull of a creature that lived not too long ago.

"What a huge skull... He must have crushed people just by laying his head on them! Do you think Vhagar will be so big too one day?"

Aemond smiled at her and cupped her cheek with one hand, softly brushing his thumb over her temple.

"I know she will. And when she is that big, you will be in the skies with her, with me. Right by my side where you belong."

Alysanne smiled shyly, her cheeks red from how sweetly he was holding her and looking at her. She had liked Aemond for so long even though their families were so opposed to each other. To their luck, her grandfather, King Viserys announced on Aemond's eight nameday that they would be betrothed and no one else was delighted except the two of them. She remembered her mother pleading with her father to still wait and to not rush into betrothals and Queen Alicent had said the same but the King would hear none of it. He saw how the two of them spent most of their time with each other after all.

Aemond was closer to her now, his breath on her lips, his hand going from her cheek to holding the back of her head in place. His forehead found its place on hers and even though he had only one eye, it stared at her in intensity and adoration.

"You look beautiful like this... Just the fire that gives me a sight of your incredible, gorgeous face. How do I deserve a betrothed like you? Tell me, what Gods did I please for you to be mine?"

She blushed even more at his words, so sweet and unrelenting in making her see that she was the most beautiful woman that ever lived, in his eyes. She brought up her hand to his cheek, the one that bared his scar. She softly admired how brave it made him look, how it proved that he was the bravest warrior of them all with the scar to prove it.

"You deserve it by simply being you, Aemond. I am yours and you are mine and in due time, we will marry and it will be official. I will be yours as you are mine, now and always."

His heart clenched at her words and he pressed the softest of kisses on her lips, his touch as gentle as if he was holding a flower... His little flower, forever his.

Alysanne's heart feels as it's ripped apart in two. She is confused, she is angry, she is sad but does not know at what or whom. The gods are playing tricks on us, she thinks as she helps her mother in wrapping up her dead little sister. Cruel and selfish tricks.

It does not make sense to her, none of it. Her grandsire dies, the Greens crown a usurper and tell everyone a lie, that the King had wished for Aegon to be King in his last breath and Alysanne and her family sit at Dragonstone, unbeknownst of the horrors that were going on in the capital. She does not understand it, none of it. Does not understand why Aemond is letting them do this, letting them crown anyone else other than her mother... He could never marry Alysanne like this.

Her hands are covered in blood, in her dead sister's and mother's from the wrapping. She does not wish to wash it off, wants to keep it on her hands, fly to King's Landing at this moment and present her bloodied hands to the Queen Dowager and her father. Look at what you have done, she wants to scream. She wants to take the bundled up baby on the table and present it to them, make the bitch of a Queen look at it. Look at how you've killed my sister. My little Visenya.

"Alysanne." She hears her mother's voice clear up the fog of anger in her mind and wonders how many times she had called her already. The princess of eight and ten looks up at her mother and sees the grief and sorrow in her eyes but mostly concern. "My darling, do not let your anger take you over again, it is unneeded at this moment. Come, wash the blood of. We need to... do the burning."

"I do not wish to wash my blood off, mother. I want to smear it in her face and tell her that she deserves death for what she has done. Letting grandsire rot in his place for days before telling anyone he was even dead, killing my sister in cold blood and putting Aegon on the throne. She will pay for this... she will."

Rhaenyra knows she can say nothing to sway her mind at the moment, her only daughter's bloodlust and want for revenge mirroring something that Daemon would probably be proud of. She wonders when this happened, wonders when her own daughter became such a hardened woman, when the love she had for her family turned into protectiveness and when that turned into anger. No one except for Rhaenyra knows that everything Alysanne does is out of love for her family, not even Jacaerys who is the girl's own twin realizes this. She wonders if that anger will be reflected at Aemond too, the only person she holds any love for outside of her family. Alysanne has not uttered a single word of him ever since Rhaenys told them of what had happened.

Alysanne listens to her all the same because she could not be mad at her mother, the woman who loves her so much and lost everything. She may be a bloodthirsty, angry woman but she is still her mother's child, nothing changes that, ever. So she washes the blood off of herself, gets dressed in an all black dress and attends her sister's funeral. She stands next to her brothers and her face remains stone cold but a few tears slip past her cheeks as her sister's tiny, small body burns. She has to breathe in and out through her nose to control her emotions from overboiling and does not know what would happen if she could not control herself.

They stole my mother's crown and her throne. They stole her and my brother's birthright. They stole me of my sweet sister... And for that, the Hightowers will burn, she thinks. Otto, Alicent, Aegon. Otto, Alicent, Aegon. Otto, Alicent, Aegon.

She repeats their names in her head. She would not kill Helaena, the sister wife of the usurper had done no harm to her or her family, just like Aegon's children.

She does not think of Aemond, of what will happen to him, of what she will do about him... or what her father will do to him. She wonders if he's trying to find an excuse in his head for betraying her like this, if he tells himself that him and his brother will make sure her family will be gone before long and force her to marry him... But that is not Aemond's way.

She can not think of Aemond. She does not want to think of Aemond. She still loves Aemond.

They stood on opposing sides of the throne room, so close yet so far away. Aemond studied her closely, how much taller she had grown, how her beauty could not match that of a single lady in the Seven Kingdoms. The sun was she to him, feeling as if he could stand and live with her in his presence. The air was she to him, needing her to breathe and to calm himself down when his mind was plagued by his demons once more. Life was she to him, something worth fighting for and the sole reason he put up with her rather annoying family.

Alysanne could tell that her betrothed had eyes for no one but her, he was not listening to the Hand when he sat the throne, nor did he look away from her when the King marched up to his throne and settled matters. She only stole a few glances at him but had to hide her smile at the way he did not stop staring at her all the same. To him, none of what was happening mattered... He only cared about meeting his lovely betrothed again.

To her however, it was not so unimportant. Her brother's legitimacy was being questioned and ever since the accident at Driftmark where her brother had taken her betrothed's eye, tensions were as high as ever between the two families. She remembered that night, when she was called upon from her bed and had to look at her brothers' bloodied faces and wondered how foolish they could have been to do something like that. If she thought back on it, it was probably the moment that made her into the cold, hardened woman that she became over the years, realizing that no one but her family would be there for her, care for her and protect her... and she strived to do the same for them.

Aemond only ripped his eyes away from her when Daemon sliced Dark Sister through Vaemond, a move that shocked most people in the throne room. She was glad to see him gone and dead for calling her brothers bastards and her mother a whore... he deserved it.

Everyone in the throne room left as the matter was settled. Lucerys would inherit Driftmark as was his birthright and the young princess was glad of it because she would not have the Hightower snakes get their way, no matter what it was.

She had been told that the King had requested a dinner with the entire family and she wondered how well that would pass but Alysanne got ready for it nonetheless. She wore a beautiful black and red gown, accentuated with the dragon sigil of her mother's house that she had always been proud of. After the handmaidens had left, there was a knock on the door and when she turned around, it was Aemond entering through the door.

She looked at him with wide eyes and walked up to him, pulling him into the room by his arm and closing the doors before anyone else could see him. Her mind was reeling from where she had touched Aemond's skin and she hoped that the effect he had on her was not so apparent to him as she turned around. But Aemond clearly did not care for not showing his feelings as he caged her against the door, so close to her again like the first and last time they kissed. His hand came up to hold her chin and made her look up at him and oh, how the touch burned under his gentle fingers.

"Tell me, my little flower, has anything changed between us?" Alysanne knew that he did not wish to show his insecurity to her but it was reflected in his voice all the same, sounding scared of her feelings not being the same as they were before. She knew that he still very clearly felt just like four years ago when they had last seen each other, his love just as she always knew it... Resistant, powerful and undying.

"Well, I have changed in the years since we last met. I am a woman grown now, did you know? My nameday was a few moons ago. I have grown colder, harder and stronger in every way. It may be that even my heart has turned to ice for I do not wish for anyone in my company except the people I love." Alysanne leaned closer to him, their lips almost touching, the distance between them able to be closed in less than a second.

"But whatever part of my heart holds it's love for you has clearly not turned into ice... because I look at you and see you standing in front of me so closely, see you looking at me like you'll never love someone like you'll love me. And I realize that yes, I do love you still, have loved you for so many years and might never love anyone else except for you. I do not believe I could ever be with another man."

Aemond did not show it but she saw the relief take over his body, his shoulders releasing it's tension and he sighed deeply, closed his eye and leaned his forehead against hers. She placed a small, featherlight kiss on his lips and furrowed her eyebrows at how little it did to satisfy her. She tried to press her lips to his again but he held her back with a thumb on her lips and his eye opened again, looking at her with hunger and resistance.

"I wish to kiss you until you are breathless and beg me for more but we can not, my love. If we do, I could not stop and control myself from doing something so sinful that would have our mothers marry us swiftly in the sept tomorrow. Which of course, I would not oppose to but I shall not risk things with you. I want to do it properly, have a feast for us and have everyone in Westeros celebrate our union. With you, I will do things right. You deserve no less, my dragon."

Alysanne hated how her heart swelled at his words, hated how he spoke so gently and softly with her like he had when they were children. When she was a different woman, a girl still, she would have embraced and loved the way he made her feel and how he confessed his love for her and his wish to marry. But as it was, Alysanne was a changed woman and hated that she had so long ago fallen for a man that she was supposed to hate... One day, war would break out and they would be on opposite sides.

She did not have to think about it much longer as Aemond had to leave to get ready for the dinner himself. He pressed a small kiss to her lips that stirred things in her heart that she could not explain, a turmoil of emotions in her heart and mind after every word and every kiss of his lips. She composed herself and decided to visit her sickly grandsire since he had asked her to come see him before they would have dinner when she was there with her mother, father and siblings this morning.

Alysanne always had a special bond with King Viserys. It was widely known that Rhaenyra was his favorite child and that he loved her very dearly and therefore loved her grandchildren as well. When he held Jacaerys and Alysanne for the first time in his arms, he cried and blessed them both, her mother had told her. When she was a child and still lived in the Red Keep, she had often played with him, let him help her learn to read and write. It pained her to see him so weak and in pain but she would still go to see him, simply because she loved him so dearly.

She entered his chambers just as he had seemingly gotten ready dressing with the help of maids and servants. He seemed clearer in his state of mind than he was before, a crooked smile on his lips as he saw her entering. The maids and servants left them and Alysanne sat down next to her grandsire in front of the fire place. He looked at her lovingly and gently grabbed her hand, his grip weak but still full of adoration for his oldest granddaughter.

"My dearest Alysanne, my pride and joy. I know they say that we should not pick favorites, in children or grandchildren... but I think you know that I have loved you so much since you were placed in my arms, as if it was Rhaenyra put in my arms all over again. Because I love you so dearly, I need to ask you this and want to give you a choice, something that I sadly could not do for Rhaenyra."

The King spoke slowly but he still commanded presence even in his weakly state. Alysanne wanted to cry at how he looked, so breakable and ill, as if he could die at this very moment but she continued to listen to him attentively. He looked up with the one eye that was visible and she saw all the love he held for her, just like when she was a little girl.

"Alysanne, please be truthful when you answer me this. Do you love Aemond?"

Alysanne's breath hitched at the question and she felt a lump so heavy in her throat that the words would not come out at first. She knew that the only reason for his question was to possibly confirm a future marriage and maybe even set a loose date for a wedding and knew that if she said no, her grandfather would not hesitate in calling the marriage off. It was his hope for Alysanne to marry Aemond so that an inevitable conflict in the future could be avoided... besides that, Aemond had demanded since Alysanne's most recent nameday to plan the wedding. She knew that if she said no, her parents and brothers would be more than pleased and happy about it. She knew that if she said no, she could avoid having to live with the awful, other side of her family. She knew that if she said no, she would avoid the inner turmoil inside her that told her that she could not love, that she was too cold and unloving for marriage.

"Yes."

Alysanne knew of the dangers that would come if she said yes. She did it anyway.

Alysanne had claimed the Cannibal at the mere age of four and ten to everyone's great surprise. When her, Jace and her younger siblings were born, they had all received dragon eggs from Syrax as their mother wanted her children to have a lifelong bond with their dragons as well. Jace, Luke and Joffrey's eggs all hatched and all three of them, respectively, had Vermax, Arrax and Tyraxes as their bonded dragons. Alysanne's egg however had turned into stone when she was still a babe and in that entire time, Syrax did not hatch more eggs for the young princess to claim.

To be truthful, Alysanne did not care much for having a dragon. The bond and the care for a dragon was not something she deemed herself to have and having three brothers who rode dragons was surely enough in the family. However, after the incident at Driftmark, Alysanne changed her mind about it. She loved Aemond back then, knew he would not hurt her but him having Vhagar would make things difficult for her in the future, she knew that.

She had thought about claiming Sea Smoke whilst she was still at Driftmark then but knew that she needed a dragon that would match Vhagar not just in fiercness but in size. So when she was back at Dragonstone, she tried her luck first with Silverwing, the dragon that ironically belonged to her namesake once before and followed the advice of the Dragonkeepers at Dragonstone. Alysanne had tried to claim her in a duration of many moons but the Dragonkeepers deemed it a hopeless cause. She tried Vermithor next, the largest unclaimed dragon that had been ridden before by the Old King, Jaehaerys I. She tried to claim him for almost a year, sang to him in Valyrian as he liked it, didn't show her fear in front of him. The Dragonkeepers decided to observe her the last time that she went to tell her what she was doing wrong.

"You are too fierce for them, my princess. Dragons can feel our emotions, our feelings and our true ambitions and they bond with whoever they match best with. And I'm sorry to say it, my princess but you are simply too angry for them, even for Vermithor."

She was frustrated at that and wondered how she was ever supposed to have a dragon when she remembered the three wild dragons that still resided on Dragonstone that were never claimed by anyone. Surely, I must be angry enough for them, she thinks. One of them has to be as hateful and angry as me.

The first two wild dragons that she came across in the more abandoned areas of Dragonstone, Grey Ghost and Sheepstealer fled her as soon as she came closer, there was no real chance at getting close to them which disappointed her greatly. She was in all seriousness not considering to approach the Cannibal so she just wanted to leave the dragon be that was feasting on a poor animal just in her line of sight. The beast however had other plans for her, letting off of the dead animal and focusing on her and coming closer at a speed that she did not expect. He stopped right in front of her and his eyes studied her closely, circling her from left to right as if asessing if she was worth to be eaten. She was not scared however and only looked him in his eyes bravely. After a few more minutes, he stopped and gave her a nudge with its big head. From that day on, she understood what was meant with that bond, knew that he had assessed her and let her claim him because she matched his anger

The Cannibal was overall the second largest dragon that still lived but the size difference between this dragon and Vhagar was so small that most people assumed that they were the same size. Besides, the Cannibal was suprisingly quick, in the sky and on the ground which was an advantage against Vhagar who, due to her oldness, had become rather slow.

Neverthless, it was a miracle that the beast had accepted Alysanne as it's first ever rider, Alysanne, who was only four and ten and still a tiny girl, rode the second largest dragon in the world and a wild dragon at that, the first one to tame it. She was of course scolded greatly for it by her mother but Daemon could only look at her proudly.

It was ironic, really. Alysanne was scolded all night by her mother who kept asking her why she did it, why she was so obsessed with having a dragon, one that was impossible to claim and terrifying as well. To prepare for war, she thought. To prepare for a war to defend you and my family. A war I have been preparing for since I was a child.

Holding council is truly a dreadful thing. Counting out who would support their side, who would hold honor their oaths given to her mother many years ago and which dragons could fight for their side.

"My prince, we may be in the lead with dragons but Prince Aemond still possesses the largest dragon alive. It will be a hard task to defeat Vhagar." The other lords around the table seem to agree and she cuts Daemon off before he can reply.

"Leave Vhagar to me, my lord. I'm sure that me and Cannibal can handle her." The table falls into silence at that and she sees from the corners of her eye that her mother and father are not agreed on that statement. The silence is interrupted by Ser Erryk who informs the council that a ship from the Greens had been seen on the shores and the council room is quickly cleared, leaving only Alysanne, Jace and Luke in the room.

She continues to assess the table and what allies they have when Luke places his hand on hers on the table. She looks over at him and sees that he looks concerned for her, his hand soft and warm on hers and so small. She pulls her hand out and places it on top of his, softly brushing her thumb over his. Sadly, her change in personality had also affected her relationships with her brothers. She spent so much time training Cannibal for possible fights with other dragons and herself spent more time into training with a sword as well. Still, she never acts cold towards them, never lashes her anger out at them because she lives for them and for the affection and love she receives from them. Luke still looks concerned but doesn't voice his worries. Instead, Jace does.

"Alysanne... If you mean to 'take care' of Vhagar, you mean to kill her... But for that, you will need to kill Aemond too."

She knew that it was exactly what all the lords around the table had questioned because Aemond's affections and love for his long time betrothed were so well known by everyone in the realm. She sighs deeply and knows deep down in her heart that it rebels at the thought of having to kill her one true love, the one man she loves. She hides her turmoil and problems under a practiced mask and puts on a smile that fools Luke and almost would have fooled Jacaerys. She softly grabs his hand and holds it tightly, needing to feel her twins' presence next to her.

"Don't worry about me, brothers. We aren't officially at war yet but when it comes to it, I will do what I must to defend us and to fight for our mother's and your birthright."

"I may not live for much longer... but I wish for one last thing before I might leave this earth forever." The King looks at Aemond and then at Alysanne at the dinner table with something that she assumed was a smile on his face. She realized then that this was it, that she had sealed her fate forever with the words she had uttered just hours ago in his chambers... She just didn't know that it would happen so soon.

"To mend the estrangement between our families, I have decided that Prince Aemond and Princess Alysanne shall be married to each other swiftly and soon, possibly after Rhaenyra gives birth. Then, we will celebrate the biggest wedding the Seven Kingdoms have ever seen. Then the gods can happily take me away."

The news of the wedding was a shock for everyone at the table and Alysanne swallowed the lump that had formed in her throat for she could feel the stares from both sides. Pretty much everyone either forgot the betrothal or opted to ignore it, knowing it still existed but not truly thinking of what would further happen with it. So to hear the King's words made both of her parents look at her in confusion and shock and Jace was almost uncontrollable with anger, wanting to punch the one eyed Prince right in his face. Before anything further could escalate, Aemond stood up with his cup in his hand, looking right at Alysanne who only had her cold gaze on the table.

"I wish to toast to my betrothed and soon enough, my wife. It has been twelve years since we were engaged and throughout our shared youth, you didn't fail to make me fall in love with you. Every time that I have seen you since only further proves that my love for you never dwindled or disappeared but simply resurfaced when I saw your evergrowing beauty through the years. I have loved you for years and will continue to love you until my dying breath. To You, my love."

Even though Alysanne felt sick at the looks that her family was giving her, she still had a tiny smile on her face and looked at Aemond lovingly, unable to hold her stoic, cold expression any longer. He smiled at her, genuinely and she wished he didn't.

Nothing in this world was more difficult for Alysanne than loving Aemond Targaryen.

Her father is furious as he comes back from their meeting with Otto Hightower, her mother as unreadable as ever. Alysanne thinks it was a good idea that she did not come for she would have ripped him apart, whether her mother commanded otherwise or not. The Council is only reconvened for a few moments before everyone is told to leave the room except for Alysanne, Jacaerys and Lucerys. The oldest daughter watches Daemon walk up and down the fireplace as he thinks hard about something she does not know. Her mother is across from her on the other side of the table, her brothers are next to her.

"Otto Hightower also mentioned your promised betrothal to Aemond. He said that we should go through with it and that it would mend the drift between our families and prevent war."

Alysanne's mind reels as she thinks about those words and wonders if a simple marriage between a second son and an eldest daughter would really mend anything... her mind immediately answers her, clear and aggressive. She does not believe she can marry Aemond with how he had betrayed her. Suddenly, Daemon turns around and looks at Alysanne, almost menacingly.

"If you had never said a single word to my brother no one would care for this stupid betrothal anymore. But you had to go through with it, didn't you? Why, because you love Aemond so much? Because you wanted to be with him? I am happy to know that you never will. You were stupid to think that you could ever marry him when you know the positions our families stand at. I don't know if you even care about your family when you were willing to marry your own enemy."

His fury is one that she had not ever seen directed at her and his words sting, just like he wants them to. Daemon has been a father to Alysanne ever since he had married her mother and he had never said anything so vile and hurtful to her. Her mother looks at him in a certain way that is silently trying to tell him to stop, to tone it down but he does not listen and keeps staring at her with anger that makes her furious in return.

"Yes, I know it was stupid, of course I knew! I knew what could happen, what the dangers were to wanting to marry him but believe it or not, at some point, I did love him. It was stupid and I let him love me and that was even stupider. But don't ever tell me that I do not care for this family, Daemon. Do not act as if that is true when you know it isn't."

"How would I know? You can not even outright say that you will kill him when you eventually face him and Vhagar with Cannibal! No, I do not believe you care for your family, Alysanne, not with the way you behave."

She sees her mother's mouth form words, something that looks like she's saying stop but it is too late for Alysanne is as angry and mad as anyone could ever be. She's hurt, she's sad, she's furious. In this moment, she feels like driving a sword through Daemon's chest.

"You liar! I have always cared for my family! Every single moment of my life, I have wanted to protect my family! Ever since Aemond lost his eye at Driftmark I have known and understood the consequences of the separation between our families. Why do you think I wanted a dragon the moment we got back? Why do you think I spent two years trying to claim and bond to dragons? Why do you think that, out of all the wild dragons, I claimed Cannibal? Because I knew none of the other ones stood a chance against Vhagar! Why do you think I have been obsessed with learning how to fight with a sword? Why do you think I always worry about where my brothers and sisters are? Because I have been preparing for this war since I was a child! I have been scared of it, of what would happen to my family and about what would happen to Aemond, yes, I worried over him because I love him. But don't ever tell me that I do not care for my family when I know deep down in my heart that I would kill Aemond the moment I get my hands on him. Don't ever make assumptions and accusations like that ever again, Daemon."

Alysanne is screaming at him in fury and her hands are shaking from how angry she feels. She starts crying at some point too but she does not care and later on realizes that confessing all her insecurities and worries to her family is an awful thing. Her grip on the table makes her feel like it will break apart soon and she feels like she will break apart in a similar way. She knows her brothers are staring at her in shock next to her, her mother looks at her with concern and her father remains unreadable. Before anything else can be said, she storms away from the painted table and out of the room, furiously wiping her tears away as if they were poison to her.

She hears her mother calling after her but no one follows her which she deems as good. It's good, she should be alone. She loves to be alone. She needs to be alone. She does not want to be alone.

Anger and sadness rage inside her in a tandem and she keeps having to stop herself from throwing a punch at the wall just so she would be rid of this agonizing feeling. She hears a distant roar that echoes out, Cannibal feeling her emotions through the bond and most likely trying to pick a fight with one of the other dragons now. With this fury inside her and Cannibal, she thinks she could burn King's Landing down at this very moment.

She walks back to her chambers quickly to prevent herself from actually going to Cannibal's nest and take off with him. Once she is inside her room, she practices the calming breathing techniques that the Maestar had taught her. Breathe in, hold, breathe out. Breathe in, hold, breathe out.

She feels like it works although she is never so sure because her rage never truly leaves her, only retreats and waits to come back in the worst possible times. She walks around in her room, closing her eyes and wills herself to be normal, be normal, be fucking normal.

She hears the door open behind her and it's Jace. She does not say anything as he comes closer to her and stops right in front of her, his face etched in concern and love. She wonders what he possibly could love about her. He closes the distance between them and takes her in his arms, holding her close and hugging her tightly like he used to when they were small. She hugs him back and wonders how long it has been since she hugged her own twin because her heart aches at how much she missed this. Her face is buried in his neck and she smells his scent on him, undeniably her twin. She wishes she would cry in his arms and tell him that she's sorry but she doesn't.

He breaks away from their hug and stares into her eyes. She wonders if he can see how broken she truly is, how incredibly awful and terrible she is at her core but she does not think of it, not now. Maybe in the dead of the night under the covers when she can cry herself to sleep. She takes Jacaerys's face into her hands and hopes to make him understand how she feels.

"Everything I have done... Claiming Cannibal, learning how to fight, closing myself off to anyone who is not my family... I have done this for mother and for her birthright because I knew that someday, we would go to war and have to fight for it and we have arrived at that day. But I want you to know that by extension, I do not only do this for mother but for you too. I believe in you, Jacaerys. Your reign over the Kingdom will be peaceful and good because you are a kind man and have learned all your life how to rule, unlike Aegon. I will breathe, live and die to put mother and you on the Iron Throne. I swear by this, nothing will ever change that, not even Aemond."

Alysanne sees his eyes gather with tears and she wonders if her brother knows that she would really do anything for him to have his birthright, which was promised to him all his life. His hands hold her wrists and his tears fall as if a waterfall had opened and she tries to control her emotions so she won't cry. He is taller than her but she goes up on her toes and plants a soft kiss on his forehead and wipes the tears from his face. She holds onto him so dearly, so tightly because she's scared of losing him, scared of what will happen during the war. People die so quickly and easily and her heart aches at the thought of having to lose a single person in her family... Mother, Father, Jace, Luke, Joffrey, Baela, Rhaena, Aegon, Viserys. Nothing can happen to them. Nothing, not ever.

"I will make sure you will sit on the throne after our mother, trust this, Jace. I will forever be by your side."

"I know you are worried about our families but please, set it aside for now. I just want to be with you and not worry about their stupid problems for once."

Alysanne continued to stare into the fireplace, hoping for an answer to her worries and fears. She basked in the closeness she was enjoying with Aemond, his arm around her and her head on his shoulder, leaning onto him. She played with the string of his shirt as she contemplated on anything and everything, whatever that was.

"The reason I worry is because they hate each other. I don't know how this will work out... But at least it is set in stone now. Only a few moons until we are to be married... It doesn't feel real."

His hand was so gentle as it went through her hair, so loving and caring, attributes that no one would ever think of Aemond. No one but Alysanne. She wondered if she was cursed for it in the end, if her love for Aemond would be ill-placed and she wanted to forget about it just now. She was in the arms of the man she loved, a man she maybe should not be marrying but she could worry about that later. She broke herself away from her cozy place only to sit on his lap, her legs on either side of his body and she looked at him with nothing but love. He looked down at where Alysanne was sitting on his thigh and looked back up again, the smallest smile on his lips.

Alysanne reached up and took the eyepatch off to reveal the beautiful blue sapphire that was in the place of his eye. She brushed over his scarred cheek and studied his hidden eye closely, Aemond was not phased by this in any way. He liked that Alysanne did not feel uncomfortable about seeing him without the eyepatch and his heart clenched once more at how carefully she was touching him. She was everything to him, his beautiful Alysanne, his perfect girl, the sun to his moon. He wished to have her in his arms forever like this. She studied the years old scar as if it would rip open and tell her all of Aemond's secrets and thoughts.

"Don't worry. I'll get back at your brother for this one day."

She glared at him but didn't say anything since he laughed right after and it made her heart skip. He brushed a lock of her hair behind her ear and held one side of her face with his hand. He knew that many thought of her as a brute, cold woman but she was never like that to him, always so soft and gentle and he wished he could keep her right here forever, in his arms, until the world crashed and burned around them.

He knew it would not bother them. They would be happy together, for the rest of their days.

Alysanne hates it, she lets everyone know by making a show of protesting it. She tells her mother that it's foolish to send Jacaerys and Lucerys away to be messengers, that the ravens would be enough, that she could go to the Vale, Winterfell and Storm's End to deliver the messages on Cannibal. Her mother immediately renounces that idea, telling her that sending Cannibal and her would send the wrong message to these lords. She would remain at Dragonstone with her and father to continue plans and be present at the council.

The nervousness strikes her, her worry for her brothers immense and unrelenting. She stands by their dragons as they swear to not act as warriors on their journeys but as messengers. Alysanne knows they will be fine because they have to be. They have no other choice but to come back to her safe and sound.

They leave mother with one last hug and approach her now as they are about to fly off. She is clearly worried and nervous as they come closer and Jace is the first to hug her, holding her close just like last time. She closes her eyes at how familiar it feels to be held by him and presses him close. She leaves a small kiss on his cheek before they part and she holds onto his shoulders, wondering if she can keep him here if she holds on strongly enough. He sees the worry in his twin's eyes and squeezes her shoulder.

"I will come back, sister, do not worry."

Alysanne thinks he's foolish for telling her not to worry but lets him leap onto Vermax either way. She is then faced with Luke who looks up at her with wide, scared eyes from the nest of brown locks on his head. Alysanne's heart hurts at how small he looks and she wants to pick him up like she used to when they were younger and hide him in the castle, wrap him in a blanket and never let him see the horrors of the world. He is almost as tall as her and it frightens her that her younger brother is growing up so quickly. She never gave him permission for that. She cups his small face in her hands and wants to cry at how much more it dwarfs him, so small and yet so brave to fly to Storm's End all on his own.

"My little brother, I'll miss you but you'll be back in no time anyway. Either way, be careful. I wish I could go instead but maybe I can secretly follow after you on Cannibal."

Luke lets out a small laugh at that and smiles at her, his nervousness not so bad now. "I think mother would kill you if you did."

Alysanne smiles at that too and agrees. She ruffles his pretty locks and leans down to be closer to him and kisses his forehead as gently as ever. He had always loved when his elder sister was sweet to him, always felt safe and secure with her. Luke then turns to approach his dragon but comes running back just a few seconds later and hugs Alysanne tightly.

"Don't blame yourself for Aemond. It's alright for you to love him, you can't choose over it but please don't blame yourself, sister. I know what you have done for us and I'm happy that you're my sister and protect me from everything. I love you, Alysanne."

The princess is startled by his words but she smiles at them nonetheless, her heart bursting at how sweet her brother is. Her smart boy, her little Luke.

"I love you too, sweet boy. Don't worry about me, you make sure that you come back safely to me."

My dearest Alysanne,

it has been only a day since you left but I miss you so terribly already. I hope you arrive safely at Dragonstone and think of me as much as I think of you. Soon we will be wed and everyone will see that we are bound and meant to be together, in the eyes of god and men.

It almost pains me physically to not have you by my side now, to hold you close to me and to let you see me as I am. There is no one in the Seven Kingdoms that I have ever met that has made me feel like you do. There is no one in the Known World, living or dead, that will ever enthrall me like you. I could not explain it, can not tell you why I love you so much, just that I do. I am yours and you are mine until the end of our days. I wish to get on Vhagar and fly after you and Cannibal to Dragonstone just so I can be with you, hold your hands, your face, tell you that my heart desires no one but you and that you will forever have me trapped, that I chase you like the moon chases the sun, forever.

I hope to meet up at our spot soon. The little island will always be there and I will be there too, waiting for you.

I love you. Now and always.

Forever yours, Aemond

She hates him. Now and always.

She doesn't believe it when she's told, only shakes her head when her mother comes into her room, tears all over her face. She tells him that Lucerys had died, attacked by another dragon. Her mother is silent when Alysanne asks which dragon and who it was. Did it matter? She does not believe her anyway because it's not true. Lucerys is still alive, just on his way back from Storm's End.

She's completely still as her mother tells her that it was Vhagar who had attacked and killed him. She doesn't move, doesn't breathe, doesn't see anything but red. She did not believe it because who would hurt her Luke like this? Who? Her sweet little brother who was only a child, a little boy still so young and unaware of the horrors of war. But now she believes it because she sees the way her mother continues to sob and cry.

Alysanne believes it now.

I'll get back at your brother for this one day.

A loud dragon roar is heard outside, Cannibal is so loud that it almost deafens her. It must have been heard to King's Landing.

Good, she thinks. Let them hear the roar of a dragon.

She wants to throw the chair she leans on at the wall, wants to take her sword and break her bed with it, wants to scream and pull her hair and bash her head on the ground and punch herself and punch her fist at the wall until it breaks-

She feels arms envelop her and it's her mother that had been crying so bitterly at the loss of her son, holding her close, so close because she's scared of losing her. Alysanne's mind swallows her anger automatically with her mother so close in her vicinity. She can not be violent towards her mother, she would rather die. Maybe her mother senses that she's feeling awful and that she wants to hurt herself to make the pain go away and hugs her so she won't. Alysanne doesn't know. She holds onto her mother either way, like a child she wails in her arms and screams for him. She screams for Lucerys to come back, she doesn't understand why he's not coming and running to her at her distress, doesn't understand that the little brother she held in her arms and kissed on his forehead just hours ago was dead.

The Gods play tricks on her indeed.

Her mother leaves her alone a little while later at her request and Alysanne goes to Lucerys' room because maybe he'll be hiding somewhere, waiting for Alysanne to find him. She looks around the room and wonders how it can suddenly feel so empty, so void as if no one lived here anymore. She takes a few more steps into the room, looks at the strewn and messy books on his study table and remembers that she told him once to keep his mess organized. He never listened to her.

He'll never listen to her ever again.

Her eyes go over his bed and she spots a small plush toy that she knows all too well. She approaches the bed and takes it in her hands, almost feeling like it will dissolve when she picks it up. She had made it for him, years ago when she still had lessons with a septa, she learned how to make these small plush toys. When she was young, she had made one for each of her brothers and made them look like their dragons. She sits there with a toy version of Arrax and her heart hurts, screams, burns like a wildfire. Their bodies are gone, she realizes. Lucerys and Arrax are both lost somewhere in the sea. They can not even be burned.

Another loud, angry roar is heard from Cannibal. She's never heard him sound this angry.

She's never been this angry.

She puts the plush toy back and swiftly walks out of the room, her face stone cold as she marches to her room. All she takes is her sword and small dagger, nothing to protect her from the cold.

Good, she thinks. I shall feel what Lucerys felt when he died. Cold, scared and frightened.

She passes guards as she makes her way outside but they pay her no mind and pass by her quickly because they are scared of Cannibal's roars and know that he is only so loud because of her anger. Her dragon is already perched right outside of the gates. He looks as black and dreadful and menacing as ever, his roars still sounding all over Dragonstone. The guards that stand outside are terrified, not willing to get any closer to him but Alysanne does not care. She approaches him and climbs onto his back, the huge dragon is not at all phased by this.

As soon as she is in her saddle the dragon shouts out another menacing roar and takes off, not having to listen to his rider's orders. Alysanne believes he can read her mind and knows where to go without her having to say anything. She loves him for it.

It's a short flight to the island that they called theirs, somewhere in the middle in between King's Landing and Dragonstone. It was just large enough for Vhagar and Cannibal to reside on and for Aemond and Alysanne to have time for themselves when they could.

Yes, she thinks. We'll be by ourselves with no one to hear his or Vhagar's screams and roars.

She does not know for sure if he is there but behold the gods, he is. She spots the large dragon figure on the island and a figure of white long hair in black clothes sitting on the beach. His head is downcast when she comes closer but he does not raise his head even though Cannibal is more than loud. He lands her a safe distance away from Vhagar, the older dragon staying at her spot with her snout next to Aemond. Alysanne gets off of Cannibal and approaches Aemond who is crying into his hands. She doesn't concern herself with it, only pulls her sword out towards him and the sound of the metal finally makes him turn his head. He looks horrified at who's standing in front of him but Alysanne remains cold, stoic, hard. His tear streaked face and his tired, sorrowful expression do not hurt her.

He is frantic to come closer and she lets him but only until the tip of her sword touches his chest. He looks at her beggingly but she only shakes her head. He feels cold and awful at the empty eyes she's looking at him with and it seems to terrify him that she held no love for him in her eyes. Before he can say anything, she cuts him off.

"I thought about killing Aegon first, you know? An eye for an eye, a brother for a brother. That's what all this was about after all. But then I realized that you do not love Aegon nearly as much as I love Lucerys. In fact, if I killed him, you would be better off since the crown would fall to you, his children are still so little after all. Then I thought and thought about whose death would pain you as much as Luke's pains me... That's why I thought of killing myself in front of you."

Aemond looks horrified at her words and does not believe that this is really his Alysanne. He had never, ever felt any of the anger or animosity she held inside of her directed to him so this hurts him deeply, cuts his heart in half so painfully. He shakes his head at her word and falls on his knees, powerless and defeated by the murder he had done and by the hatred of the woman he loves.

"Please, Alysanne, I beg you, do not hurt yourself. Please, I'm sorry, I swear it was an accident. I lost control of Vhagar, I didn't mean to do it! I never wanted to kill him, I just wanted his eye! Please, you have to believe me, please, I will do anything for you, please don't hate me."

Aemond sobs and cries like she did earlier and it satisfies her to know that he is in pain. She does not think that he deserves to cry like this just because she wants to hurt him. She lost a brother, he only lost his love. Unfortunately however, she still loves him and a small part of her is in pain at seeing him so distraught and hysterical. She wants to hold him, comfort him, hug him...

And then she remembers that Luke is dead. And all those feelings are gone immediately.

"Don't worry, I won't kill myself. I still have a war to win, a mother to put on a throne, a birthright to restore for my brother. My family needs me and Cannibal so no, I can not give myself the pleasure of killing myself for your misery." Alysanne then smiles, a tiny smile but it is so scaring and horrifying that Aemond shivers from where he's looking up to her.

"But I'm happy that you mention Vhagar. I was going to kill her anyway for killing Luke and Arrax but now, I want you to watch her die. I want you to watch me take away the one only thing that has ever given you power in your life and want you to feel what it's like to lose everything."

Aemond only looks at her in disbelief and horror and watches as if he is trapped in his body as Alysanne commands for Cannibal to attack and kill. Vhagar is still lazily lying there, clearly exhausted from the turmoil of emotions her rider is feeling. Because of this, she is weak and her already old state makes her slow to move. It's almost funny that Cannibal is almost as old as her but so much quicker and more brutal. Even Aemond had once admitted that Cannibal was a better war dragon than Vhagar, simply because he was large but because of his long body, still quick to move. Besides, wild dragons are truly ruthless creatures, taking whatever they want and being used to much more brutally by themselves and without a rider.

Alysanne smiles as Cannibal bites the old dragon's tail and simply rips it off, tossing it on the beach next to him, never one to waste his food. Vhagar roars out but it's weak, lame and it takes a long time for her to move, so long that Cannibal is already bursting his massive fire at the old creature. The pain from the fire only makes it worse for the she-dragon and just as Vhagar is about to attack and spew fire of her own, Cannibal grips his teeth around her neck. They struggle back and forth for a few seconds and Alysanne sees the blood drip from Vhagar's neck. Eventually, Cannibal bites all around her neck completely and the dragon's head slices slowly to the ground, making a wet, disgusting sound as it lands on the sand. The huge body of the dragon sacks down in itself and Cannibal begins to feast on her carcass. He will have plenty of food for at least a week.

Alysanne turns back to Aemond who had just watched in horror this whole time, did not say a single word or command Vhagar to attack back. His mouth is open in shock and tears fall down his face as he watches Cannibal feast on his dragon. This is what it feels like, Alysanne thinks. You should feel even more.

Aemond turns back to her and his expression is unchanged, only shock and disbelief in his eyes. She only holds her sword up and points it at his chest once again. She doesn't know how stupid he is but clearly, he is very stupid because he makes no move to get away or attack her. She hardens the grip on her handle and holds the sword right where his heart is. She looks down on his chest and then back up again into his eye. She reaches forward and rips his eyepatch off in anger. Her expression is just as cold as before but her heart beats in fear now and she does not know if she can bring herself to slice it into his chest.

For him, she thinks. For Luke. Your little Luke who only ever wanted to be held by you and talk to you about his worries over ruling one day. Luke who only ever wanted to know that he was loved. Luke who did not wish to go, did not wish to fly into a trap to his own death.

Her inner demons make the decision for her and she pushes the sword in with all her strength and feels it go through his skin, his blood spilling out like a fountain. She doesn't stop pushing in until she feels the sword come out at the other end and only then does she rip it out. The blood flows out even more and Aemond doesn't scream at the pain, only holds his chest in shock and falls backwards on the sand onto his back. Alysanne throws her sword to the side and pulls out the dagger as she falls to her knees next to his body. He looks at her, has been looking at her this whole time and still does not say anything, does not attack her or tell her to stop. He has accepted his demise, so it seems.

His blood covered hand from his chest reaches up with all the strength he has left and he touches her cheek, so softly and gently. Alysanne is crying now and can not hold her emotions at bay anymore as she feels his warm, almost hot blood cover her cheek. He wipes away her tears and she drops the dagger that she had planned to take his eye out with as he cries too but strangely, there's a smile on his face. She leans down now and lies next to him, half her body on his as she continues to cry over her lost love. She puts one hand on his where it's holding his wound and smiles back at him. She feels happiness but sadness, sorrow and relief, darkness and light all at the same time. She sees how much harder it gets for him to breathe and the blood continues to come out of his chest, staining her dress but she doesn't care.

"Will you... come back here? Sometimes, just to remember me? When you have found... someone else you will love and be with and marry, will you still.. remember me?"

He talks slowly and his voice is almost at a whisper, taking breaths in between his words and Alysanne cries and cries and cries. She sobs for him and at what she had to do and asks why in hell he had to kill her brother but she nods all the same, can not let go of her first and only real love she ever had. Her heart feels just like Aemond's wound, bleeding and pierced with a sword and she leans her head on his, her tears falling on his face and mixing with his tears.

"No, I won't ever take anyone else. I can never love anyone like I love you, Aemond. I do not understand it... I despise you and I adore you. I hate you and I love you. I kill you and cry over you dying. What have you done with me, Aemond? What is this spell that you have put on me? I can never love someone again, never in my life. And I will think of you in every breath I take, with every turn of the sun, with every time I wake and go to sleep. You will never leave me, Aemond Targaryen. In death and in life. I love you, now and always."

Alysanne sobs and cries so bitterly, so painfully that she feels like she can not breathe from her sobs. She looks at Aemond and can see the life slowly leaving his eyes and she only holds on tighter to his hand on his chest, sobs and cries as if she had not done this to him. She reaches down and kisses him, one last time and wishes she had kissed him more in the past so she could remember what it really felt like. He looks at her with still so much love and smiles at her.

"I love you, Alysanne. Now and always."

She feels his hand on her cheek slowly slip away, the strength leaving his body and it pains and fills her with joy in a way that she does not understand. She only cries more as his hand falls down, his other hand turning motionless too. She sees the moment life leaves his eyes, that his soul departs from his body. Alysanne screams now and sobs and cries and can not stop her emotions from overflowing. She leans closer to him, her head on his chest right next to where his wound is and holds onto his hand with both of her hands as she lies there next to him. Her love was gone, forever perished by her hand and would never wake up again, tell her that he loved her, hold her so gently and speak of their wedding and how happy he would finally be to not be apart, to have her at his side at all times. He would never feel that happiness again, he would never feel his love for her again, he would never feel anything ever again. She sobs and cries next to his body for some time more, knowing that what she had done would haunt her for the rest of her life. It was terrible. Terrible but necessary.

Aemond Targaryen is dead.

Lucerys Velaryon is avenged.

When she comes flying back on Cannibal hours later her family is standing at the gates, seemingly worried for her. She sees her parents waiting for her and wonders if they will judge her for what she has done today.

Cannibal lands and Alysanne quickly gets off of the dragon. Her mother and father rush to her but stop when she sees that the blood she is covered in is not hers. She must look as insane as she feels, her white dress covered in blood at almost every part, her face and hands covered in it even more. She doesn't look at either of them as she gets off, too ashamed for how they would see her now. She gives Cannibal two pats and Aemond's body rolls out of his jaw with a horrifying splat and her dragon flies off to his nest, resting from the emotional and physically turmoil he had felt today. Rhaenyra and Daemon both look at him in shock and then at Alysanne. She only looks at Aemond, his eyes now closed but his body grotesquely bloodied all the same. Her mother steps closer and holds her by her shoulder, begging her to look up but she does not. She needs to remember Aemond's face, one last time before he's truly gone.

"What happened to Vhagar?" Her father questions, his shock now over but he still seems hesitant about how he feels. She looks up now and looks Daemon in the eyes, nothing but coldness in her eyes.

"Dead, lying on an island not far from here where I found her with him. Cannibal gave her a quick death and ate half her carcass already. He'll go back for more in the next few days until there's nothing left."

She now finally looks at her mother, who looks horrified at what she has done. She wonders if her own mother might not see her in the same light anymore but she brings the hand from her shoulder to her cheek and softly holds it there, uncaring about the blood.

"You did not have to do this, my little one." Her mother has tears in her eyes and she doesn't stop them from flowing out, in sadness over how her little girl had to go through so much pain just because of the man she loved. She looks at her mother and tries to soften her gaze. She does not know if it works or if she will ever be able to feel something again after what she has done.

"But I did. I loved him but I had to kill him at the same time. I could not let him live knowing what he had done to Luke. I just couldn't."

She looks away and back down at Aemond, his face so at peace now with his eye closed and almost a ghost of a smile on his lips. She stares at him for a few seconds, tries to memorize every detail about his beautiful face and feels herself crying again without sobbing this time. The tears just fall down her face without her wanting them to, just like everything else feels out of her control. She then bends down to him and leans his head in her direction, his body already growing cold and it pains her, burns her to feel that there was no more dragon blood in his body. She reaches her hand up to his face and softly cradles his cheeks and then takes the sapphire out of his eye socket. She does not look at him after that anymore, knowing he would not have wanted her to see him without it. She stands upright again and looks at the small blue sapphire in her hands, her last memory of him. She balls her hand into a fist around the sapphire and wishes she could just be at peace in her life, for once. She does not get peace, will never get it.

She walks past her parents and into the castle, the guards she passes looking at her in horror and shock. Now they see me as I am, she thinks. A monster.

She wants to start crying again when she remembers that Aemond had once said the same thing to her about himself. She wishes to hold him again, one last time just like on the beach, hold hands with him and tell him that she loved him and could never forget him. She wishes to hold him, to be with him but she does not wish for him to be alive again because it would then rip her apart to know that the man who had murdered her brother still lived. But she wished to turn back time for the rest of her life, lay in his arms again on the beach, kiss him and tell him that she will never forget about him. But she can not.

Aemond Targaryen is dead. Lucerys Velaryon is avenged.

Alysanne Velaryon brought justice for her brother and for her family. It was justice for the world and a small consolation prize for her pain of losing Luke.

An eye for an eye, she thinks. A life for a life.

Alysanne wishes justice for herself too. She wishes death for herself too.

#house of the dragon #hotd #aemond targaryen #aemond targaryen x reader #aemond targaryen x oc #aemond targaryen x original character #aemond targaryen x you #aemond targaryen x ofc #aemond targaryen imagine #aemond targaryen fic #house of the dragon imagine #house of the dragon spoilers

[lemonhemlock]

You have a point about Driftmark’s writing, because to this day I’m baffled at people not finding Alicent’s anger valid, I can’t blame that on the writing. What I can blame the writing and the framing for besides the “Aemond stole Vhagar” thing is the “But now they see you as you are” *mic drop* moment, and the scene where Rhaenyra gets her stitches, meanwhile Aemond was literally blinded and that’s barely given any attention and ends with “but I gained a dragon so it’s fair” when it would’ve been fair only if it was Vhagar who took out his eye. Like again, I understand that Aemond was de-escalating the situation, but I do think it was purposefully framed as if that was the truth of it (especially seeing as the stealing comments never get corrected)

you see, when i first saw the scene, i interpreted alicent's speech to rhaenyra as being pretty explicit - "you do whatever the hell you want all the time (i.e. even have children out of wedlock with no consequences), you are so privileged that nothing is off limits for you and you even feel entitled to maiming my son like it's your birthright, you care about no one other than yourself while the rest of us have to play by the rulebook". i would say it's a pretty accurate dressing down of rhaenyra, to which she had a projecting reply - "now they see you as you truly are" - supposedly violent and cruel for demanding luke's eye in return, when a couple of minutes ago, rhaenyra was asking for her little brother to be tortured. not to mention that rhaenyra was actually the socially & legally transgressive one with skeletons in her closet

and i have to say that even emma d'arcy sided with alicent in this scene in interviews and didn't seem to think rhaenyra had the right of it. i think that if team discourse hadn't degenerated so much, people would have been able to VAR replay the scene and accept that rhaenyra should have been carded. but the stan-ification of hotd has left many with worms for brains.

that being said, i think the main issue is NOT clarifying that dragons cannot be stolen - a mistake in an otherwise solid episode. the dialogue should have made clear that aemond was within his rights to shoot his shot at claiming vhagar AND that it was the right decision bc vhagar accepted him (if VHAGAR didn't have a problem with it, why should anyone else? that's how dragons work, they are not pets). it would have been a welcome addition because the public are not 100% familiar with asoiaf dragon lore, so it's basically a piece of exposition that's missing. so if another character is shown on screen claiming it's theft AND they're not ever corrected or challenged in any way, then our brains automatically assume that's the correct assessment bc that's how the medium of storytelling in film works. so if the viewers got that extra information - that aemond was jumped by 4 other kids and maimed basically for shit talking - then they would have been more primed to see through rhaenyra's bullshit.

as for the scene with rhaenyra receiving stitches, perhaps that could have been balanced with one of aemond being comforted by someone, congratulated for gaining a dragon and reassured that what happened to him was not justified. i hesitate to add more, bc i do feel like there's a point where you can make things too explicit and you should trust your audience to piece 2 and 2 together without spoonfeeding them everything. rhaenyra should be allowed to be hypocritical on screen without big red signs pointing at her. the problem is more of an accumulation, not necessarily in this episode, but overall throughout the season. too many of her bullshit statements go unchallenged. once in a while, someone should pop up to contradict her or at least have passers-by give her the side-eye or something. (maybe in season 2? hopefully)

for example, a cool retort after rhaenyra said she was wandering bc she couldn't sleep would have been for someone to say that she and daemon arrived at the same time because they must have both been mourning laena together. thus, you bring back to the forefront of the audience's mind that team black can't be arguing that aemond disrespected laena's memory when daemyra are out there fucking on her grave. is it absolutely necessary? no, i think viewers should have arrived to that conclusion on their own, but apparently a large chunk of them are incapable. at the end of the day, you can't solve everyone's media comprehension problems, you can just try to make good art and hope for the best. however, i would include such a comment at least in later episodes, bc it's too good of an objection to let go

#ask #anon #anti rhaenyra targaryen #alicent hightower #aemond targaryen

[syraxesrevenge]

i don't usually get involved with team stuff but mini rant (im low-key losing my fucking mind)

I don't understand people who are Team Green, and not because of their opinions on the characters. I find Team Green as some of the most complex, interesting characters in the whole lot of asoiaf.

1: First of all, the treatment of the strong boys. They act like Jace and Luke are absolute monsters; which, I don't necessarily agree with, but without bias I do agree they are not pure and cherubic angels. Lucerys is impulsive and childish, making jokes about actual trauma and maiming a ten year old who was influenced by his older brother. Jacaerys has extreme anger issues which lead to him acting arrogantly and stubbornly to the respite of his elders.

This does not mean they are *demons*, though, and do not deserve to be treated as such. I've seen people say that they were horrible for not showing a horrified reaction to Vaemond's death, that they should've felt remorse; what choice was for them to make? Lucerys was openly against the thing, wishing his own birthright upon the person who tried to usurp him; Jacaerys heard only the words "whore" and "bastards", which set him off. I do not blame him for this in the slightest; those words have been used his entire life to demonize him, villainize him and his mother.

Other people say Rhaenyra was terrible for making her sons believe they were real Targaryens, not admitting they were bastards and trying to persuade them from the throne. This take is just - abhorrent, imo. Jacaerys was taught by his grandsire, his mother, his father that he was going to inherit the throne just like his mother would before him. Lucerys and him obviously knew they were bastards - it is hard to ignore when everyone looks at you in the street, points you out, suggests you are not what you say. Jacaerys also spent his entire life, especially in the Dance, trying to prove himself a worthy heir. His traits of being well-studied and righteous were given to Aemond, because there would be no debate on who to choose if not.

"Team Green writers should've written the show! They're making the Blacks too sympathetic!"

The blacks are supposed to be the sympathetic ones. They are the tragedy of the war; the close-knit family that, in their pursuit to stay together, were torn apart and murdered by themselves. Joffrey died alone. Lucerys died alone. Jacaerys died alone. Daemon died alone. Rhaenyra was the only one who died with her son. They were the epitome of a caring, loving family - and what did that get them? Their reluctance to be ruthless resulted in the cold murder of a child. Lucerys was 13 in the book - 14/15 in the show. His death should be as hard hitting and as sympathetic as Jaehaerys, but somehow, it is not. To make a joke about Vhagar ripping Arrax to pieces is funny, to make a joke about Blood and Cheese is horrible. The double standard is just *baffling* to me.

Another thing - most of TG loves Jon Snow. They think that Daenerys was mad, that she deserved to die, that she was evil. By this precedent, if you can accept a legitimized bastard on the throne in the form of Jon, why is it *so hard* to picture Jacaerys on the throne?

"They have no personality!"

They had absolutely no screentime. The writers gave a scene to a fucking *foot fetish*, and they could not give us a scene of Lucerys, Jacaerys, or Joffrey. Especially when Lucerys was going to die in that season - he had a total of 23 minutes of screentime, and near 6 minutes of lines. That is not even half of an episode worth - especially for him to just be sitting in the background. And the times when he is talking? He is made to be the most unsympathetic character, ever. Laughing at Aemond, attacking Aemond - he is used mainly as a plot device, and it's sad, because I truly believe he deserved better than that, bc Elliot Grihault is a great actor :D

might make a part 2 if this idiot in a discord RP keeps insisting tg is righteous and perfect and amazing and MY fav characters suck ass

#house of the dragon #hotd #asoiaf #pro team black #team black #anti rhaenyra antis #anti aegon ii targaryen #opinion #rant

[where-theres-smoak-2]

I've been thinking about the driftmark episode again, there is so much debate and argument over who was at fault and who the 'bad guys' where in both the fight between the children and in the following chaos in the hall after, here's how I see it.

When it comes to the fight between the children there is a lot of discourse, on one hand you have people arguing that well Aemond was the victim because it was four against one, Rhaena struck the first blow and because in the end he lost an eye which was a permanent and traumatic injury. One the other side you have people argue that actually Jace, Luke, Rhaena and Baela were the victims because Aemond stole their mother's dragon at her funeral, he threatened to kill them both verbally and then literally when he tried to bash Jace's head in with a rock and that Luke was only acting out of self defence. The thing is, every one of these statements is true. I don't think this fight was ever supposed to be about which child was in the right and which was in the wrong, it was a fight between children that got out of hand. It was a storm of events that lead to Aemond tragically losing his eye.

Aemond claimed Vhagar, Laena's dragon at her own funeral, there is no denying that this was a disrespectful and shitty thing to do. I am also not sure what the legalities around it were. I've seen some say that dragon's are a free for all once their previous rider is dead but I still think it is considered disrespectful to do it, especially without the family's permission/ blessing. It reminds me of when Daemon stole the egg that was meant for Baelon. Both Viserys and Rhaenyra were very upset by the action and this was six months after Baelon died, it was disrespectful even though the egg was obviously no longer going to be used by Baelon who was gone, its why Daemon took that specific egg because he knew it would anger his brother enough to get his attention. And this was just an egg so I can see why Laena's daughter's would be so upset when a living, breathing dragon that had belonged to their mother was claimed by someone else so soon after her death. It's also worth noting that when Rhaena says Vhagar was hers to claim, Aemond doesn't deny that, he doesn't say well anyone can claim a dragon or you don't have an exclusive right to Vhagar, he says that she should have claimed her then. Which to me suggests that maybe there is some custom where family members have a right to first claim so to speak. Anyway I feel like I've gone on a tangent here but it was wrong and very insensitive of Aemond to claim Vhagar the way he did.

Then that leads to the situation where the girls, who are now upset about Vhagar and their mother's death, confront Aemond, who is very likely on a high after claiming and riding Vhagar, and he responds very coldly, callously telling them their mother is dead and saying they should get Rhaena a pig to ride, which in turn angers Rhaena and so she throws the first hit in anger. There is one thing I do want to address though about this moment. I see a lot of people talk about how Aemond was desperate for a dragon, he was mocked for not having one and had self worth issues and felt left out because he didn't have a dragon when his sibling and cousin's did. But you know who else had self worth issues and felt left out because they didn't have a dragon? Rhaena. It does confuse me how everyone will try and justify Aemond claiming Vhagar because of his want to have a dragon and his issues around not having one and will villainise Rhaena for throwing the first punch, but will look over the fact that Rhaena herself has the same issues around not having a dragon. It was obvious that she herself was planning on claiming Vhagar, just stop and think for a moment what that would've meant to Rhaena, not only would she have gained a dragon but it would have been a way for her to honour her mother's memory, to be the rider of the largest and oldest dragon in the world, just like her mother. Only all her dreams are crushed because on the eve of her mother's funeral someone else claims Vhagar before she gets the chance. I understand Aemond's motives behind claiming Vhagar, but I also understand why Rhaena (and Baela) were so angry and hurt by Aemond's actions, especially when his response to their confrontation was to further antagonise them.

When it comes to the other kids, Baela, Jace and Luke, they all only attack Aemond in defence of each other. Baela hits Aemond in defence of Rhaena when Aemond throws her aside, Jace hits Aemond when he hits Baela and then Luke jumps in after Aemond hits Jace. I'm not saying that their actions were right, just to be clear, but they are understandable, of course you are going to jump in and retaliate when you see your younger sibling or your cousin get hurt.

Talking about the whole four on one thing though, I do have some thoughts on this too. One is that I do think this is kind of a mirror for team black vs team green. What I mean by that is, in my opinion team black are much more united than team green who seem to have a distance between them, I might make a more in depth post about the contrast between the two sides at some point. But that's not to say that team black don't have issues and disagreements or that team green don't have love for each other, more that the way they are presented, team green seem much more at odds with each other. Aemond in this moment is standing alone, he doesn't have any one at his side helping to protect him like the other four do. He's alone because he snuck out to claim a dragon in an attempt to prove himself after being bullied for not having one, a bullying that was instigated by his older brother. On the opposite side of this you have Jace, Luke, Baela and Rhaena who all banded together to go look for the dragon thief, they are one unit and they are all looking out for and fighting for each other. The stark contrast between the two sides actually does make me have alot of sympathy for Aemond.

However another thing to point out is that despite it being four on one it is very clear that it is an uneven match in Aemond's favour. He is able to overpower all of them relatively easy and quickly gets the upper hand over them so that they are the ones in a position of danger. I mentioned this in another post but what I did find a bit disturbing on a rewatch is that when Aemond is standing over Jace with the rock, ready to smack him with it, he has this smirk on his face and is clearly enjoying the fear he is instilling in the others, he is enjoying the violence of it all. I also said that I mostly blame Cole for this behaviour along with Aegon's enjoyment for watching children fight. I really do believe that Cole fed this enjoyment for violence to them through his training sessions.

Luke slashing out at Aemond and taking his eye was very clearly self defence, or rather an attempt to stop Aemond from killing Jace. I have seen some argue that well the rock wouldn't have killed Jace, which again really confuses me because an episode earlier Daemon used a rock to kill Rhea, so obviously, yes a rock would kill a person, and yes Jace was in very real danger. Also whether the rock would actually have killed Jace or not (it would have) the important thing is that Luke and the others believed Aemond was going to kill Jace, and we know they truly believed Jace's life was in danger because when they were all yelling at each other trying to explain what happened you can hear one of them shout 'he tried to kill jace.'

As I said above what this fight ultimately was about was the consequences of the adults fuelling this feud between the children, how their own rivalry was trickling down into their children who were too young to fully understand what the conflict was truly about. The adults are the real culprits here. Not only for not watching the children closely enough but for creating such a toxic environment around them. The important thing to me is that Luke did not act out of true maliciousness or hate, he acted out of defence for his brother when he feared for his brother's life. I also don't think that it was Luke's intention to maim Aemond, again he was a very young boy who just wanted to protect his brother. I've seen so many people say, well Luke didn't even apologise for maiming Aemond and yeah he didn't, but I don't recall Aemond ever apologising to Rhaena and Baela for claiming their mother's dragon at her funeral, or to Jace and Luke for attempting to you know murder them with a rock, either. Unfortunately this fight could have been avoided if the adults in these kid's lives one, hadn't encouraged the feud between the children in the first place and two had actually been keeping a closer eye on them, the result is that Aemond has to live with this injury for the rest of his life and it only made tensions between the children even worse.

But now let's talk about the aftermath in the hall. Honestly, whilst I am not Alicent's biggest fan, I did understand her frustration and anger in this moment. Like I cannot imagine what it must be like for a mother to learn that her son has gotten into a fight with his nephews and has now lost an eye, for her to see her son in pain and that stitching across his eye, she had my sympathy and I can understand why she lost it. That being said, her demanding Luke's eye in return was insane, that was made clear by the way the entire room gasped when she suggested it.

I also understand why Alicent felt frustrated that Luke wasn't punished for it, though to be clear I agree that Luke shouldn't be punished for what was essentially an accident. But also there is a very good reason why Viserys didn't punish Luke besides that it was an accident. I feel like Viserys gets alot of stick from the fandom for not acting in this instance but I also think the reason why he doesn't act is overlooked. If Viserys punishes Luke then he also has to punish a whole lot of other people too. He'd have to punish all of the children for striking each other, Rhaena, Baela, Luke and Jace all struck a royal prince, but so too did Aemond, Jace is heir to the throne so it was against the law for Aemond to strike him and it was definitely against the law for him to attempt to strike him across the head with a rock. So that's all four children that would need to be punished to varying degrees. On top of that, Jace and Rhaenyra announce to the hall that Aemond called Jace and Luke bastards, which truth or no, Rhaenyra is right, to make an accusation like that could be considered treason. It is obvious again from the reaction of those in the hall, including Alicent's own, how bad this is. Aemond then throws Aegon under the bus to protect his mother so that means Viserys would also have to punish both Aegon and Aemond for at best spreading slander and at worst literal treason. So punishing Luke like Alicent wants could lead to Rhaenyra demanding that Aegon and Aemond also be punished for spreading the rumors about her sons, and Viserys wouldn't be able to punish one without the other because that would just cause more discord and anger. After Alicent then decides to take matters into her own hands and try to take Luke's eye herself, well we're just adding to the crimes to be punished, because now Alicent has disobeyed a direct order from the King, stolen a weapon, tried to maim the grandchild of the king and in doing so proceeded to injure the heir to the throne. Like maybe its just me, but surely people can see how impossible this situation is. Asking Viserys to act is asking him to severely punish two of his grandsons, two of his nieces, two of his sons and his wife. Not to mention that punishing Luke, Jace, Rhaena and Baela would likely anger Corlys and Rhaenys which we've already been there, done that, and realised the consequences suck. Punishing his own sons would likely anger the Hightowers, again not a good idea. So lets all be honest with ourselves here, Viserys response of would you all just stop fighting and make good will with each other was the best option for everyone involved, it was the only option really.

Like I said above I really and genuinely do feel for Alicent in this moment, for Aemond, for Jace, Luke, Rhaena and Baela, for Rhaenyra who people seem to forget also was fearful for her children, and also for Viserys who was having to deal with all this family drama where there really wasn't any reasonable solution other than commanding them to all get along. Basically this situation sucked for everyone that was involved.

#hotd #house of the dragon

[bbygirl-aemond]

i think a very interesting aspect of aemond's character is how much is built around him, in a sense, being raised with the understanding that he's "for" aegon. like, in stormbreak when he thinks about how he knows exactly what aegon needs from him, how to cover his defects, and how he sees it as being a given that he will always provide those things. like it goes well beyond normal familial love and it's been so baked into him that it doesn't even occur to him to resent it

(very interesting that part of what freaks him out about rhaenyra is that he can't do or be that for her as things stand, but that's a whole OTHER issue)

and i mean, generally, aemond's definitely a massive people pleaser, even if it would shock most to hear it, and so much of him goes into being whatever any given member of his family needs him to be in a particular moment, right? it's why he seems to be literally everyone's favourite. aegon even directly points it out in that first kl scene where he talks about aemond speaking and otto's words coming out, and i do have to wonder about it. it's quite a lot to have someone's entire identity built around yours, especially when you feel so unworthy of it, and i wonder if any part of him resents it. resents alicent and otto for doing this to him, resents aemond for letting them, all the while feeling so guilty for being relieved that at the very least it has turned aemond into the one person he feels can truly understand him. god FASCINATING stuff

i NEED to watch daemon and rhaenyra slowly unpick at this tabgled mess of many fucking profound psychological issues. like if they didn't hate otto, or even alicent, before..

GOD yes i have so many thoughts about aemond and aegon, always. i think such a big part of aemond and aegon as siblings is the curse of being each other's mirror; of aegon seeing everything he is not and everything he could have been every time he look at his brother. there's a lot of potential for things like envy, and resentment, and anger. but being siblings also means aegon has this unique, unparalleled understanding of what about his childhood caused aemond to be this way-- because he lived it, too.

so aegon looks at aemond, bad parts and good, and knows: if things had been a little different. just a little. that could have been me. and he knows that if they had been born in a different order, each would have fallen into the other's roles in a heartbeat.

so i think for all that aegon envies aemond terribly for his talent, disposition, and status as the "perfect son," when he looks at him all he REALLY sees is tragedy. his anger is never truly directed at aemond; only his irritation, because he recognizes aemond is no less trapped than he himself feels. and he understands the heavy price that aemond pays for his family's favoritism. his anger instead gets directed at the adults, like alicent, since he's been pretty resentful of her throughout this fic (which makes his desperation for her love and approval all the more tragic; just because you know someone fucked up doesn't mean you can simply stop yourself from loving them).

this is part of why i said in a comment that i think aegon and aemond understand each other the best out of the greens, and why they can be honest around each other in a way they can't around anyone else. aegon is the one person who is capable of understanding just what aemond has sacrificed, every day of his life.

if you reframe the narrative of this fic around aemond and aegon's relationship, i think it'll become clear just how much this is a story about brothers, even over the romance aspect (though this might only make more sense once we get into the actual crux of the power struggle haha). house targaryen broke apart because rhaenyra and alicent's friendship did not survive alicent's paranoia; their relationship was not strong enough to do so. but it will mend again because aemond and aegon's brotherhood is.

there's a whole other post to be made about the parallels between rhaenyra and alicent vs. aegon and aemond, but i'll save that for another time!

#fic: stormbreak: spoiler free #fic: stormbreak #fic #stormbreak #aemond #aemond targaryen #aegon #aegon targaryen #aegon ii #aegon ii targaryen #rhaenyra #rhaenyra targaryen #alicent #alicent targaryen #daemon #daemon targaryen #hotd #house of the dragon #daemyra #daemond #rhaemond #aemyra #hotd meta #meta

[stormbxrnbaby]

The more I think of Rhaena, the more attached I become to her (and Baela’s) character.

Her quiet, somewhat sensitive and compliant nature existing because of daemons neglect (in the show) and Laena’s suicide so she has people pleasing tendencies. She probably just doesn’t want to be left (I think Baela’s abandonment issues bc of laena manifest more in her anger).

She seems like she lives a lot of her life in her head like yeah the show didn’t give her lines and shit but with the way Bethany played Baela it’s like she’s constantly holding her tongue. While Phoebe played rhaena like it was natural like she keeps her thoughts to herself. She even holds Baela back at one point, like you can see how much Baela restrains herself in most of her limited scenes. While Rhaena has a more subdued presence, quick to obey and listen but she doesn’t seem like she’s one for confrontation unlike the rest of her family.

Mind you, everyone of the kids except she and Helaena were ready to fight but while Helaena kinda just sat back Rhaena stands up to stop her sister from lashing out in a way that could get her hurt. I think Baela’s desire to protect manifests physically while Rhaena’s is seemingly more of a verbal, mental kind of manifestation like she’d rather prevent the problem so there’s no need to solve it whereas Baela would face the problem head on once it’s present. I just really love the way Phoebe and Bethany played their characters.

This isn’t like me saying I prefer one sister over the other but I just wanted to like show how their duality is almost always present despite the limited material given in the subtle micro expressions each actress showcases.

The feast showed that Rhaena and Baela are both protective but like while Baela is offense rhaena is defense. I also kind of think their differing nature stems from Rhaena’s upbringing on dragonstone after Laena’s death must’ve been one where she took a backseat. Whether or not it was intentional, she was overlooked because of Jace and Luke who needed more guidance as future leaders then Joffrey was born and then came Aegon and Viserys. I feel like she got used to the lack of attention, used to the neglect and in a way shrunk into herself.

I think she wasn’t completely neglected and I think she and Luke found comfort in one another as the second born children meant for greatness but not as much greatness as their older counterparts. anyway, baela was raised on driftmark after Laena died so she was the only focus of her grandmother. She’s used to being heard and speaking her mind because of that attention provided by rhaenys who took pride in raising her. It’s why baela is the one who speaks up against vaemond at driftmark like she’s very bold and vocal bc she’s always been allowed to be.

This isn’t a slight against her it’s just the truth, like even in show canon you can see how Rhaena and Baela are quite similar when they’re younger bc they both recieved an equal amount of attention. Even though Rhaena talks about daemons neglect, her mother is there to validate her so she feels seen and significant up until her death. Rhaena was equally as bold as Baela if not more so, she was the first one who was quick to run at Aemond after he insulted her after all. Lemme stop the dissertation but yeah I just like them a lot.

#rhaena targaryen #baela targaryen #jacaerys velaryon #lucerys velaryon #lucerys x rhaena #laena targaryen #daemon targaryen #rhaenyra targaryen #show analysis #hotd #team black

[thesilverlady]

Aegon and Daemon having this obsession with Viserys's approval is so annoying because why would Daemon want the approval of the man who caused his unborn child's death or why Aegon would be soo fucked up in the head because the man who never cared about him doesn't love him? I mean i could get it since Viserys is his father and his fixation of his father's love is not as bad as Daemon's since according to Ryan Daemon is "in love" with his brother lmaao

considering we're talking about show version since you mentioned Ryan's comment of daemon being "in love" with his brother (God i remember the day this dropped 😭), we gotta rethink some of the changes they made in the show.

for instance, daemon never loses his unborn child because it doesn't exist. They had mysaria not being pregnant ('cause heaven forbid if daemon dared to have a life outside of Rhaenyra and Viserys) so what was a big turning point of his relationship with his brother is... no longer there

they also really toned down the ambition daemon had in canon. I know lots of people love rolling with the idea that he's uwu family man. But in my opinion he just wanted both. I'm his early years he definitely wanted power aka the throne and that's okay. it's not the end of the world. He tried to go around to gain it in a way that wouldn't necessarily hurt anyone (for instance courting his niece who he already cared about), but in the show we don't have that. They tried to do something with the stepstones but that got lost. Show daemon comes across as very needy and desperate for his brother's love and it's even worse if you consider how much of a shitty brother show Viserys even is.

Daemon doesn't really have lots of things going on. He's been made to be this pathetic man child who can occasionally be an "agent of chaos" who thrived under attention and was desperate for his brother's attention

As for Aegon, his need for Viserys's attention is a bit less bad in comparison as you mentioned but it's still very... exaggerated. Like, whining about it when he's supposed to be a grown man is a bit late? Anger, and hate would make more sense and I think given how Ryan has mischaracterized Alicent already, he doesn't understand the role she also played in her children - in this case most especially to her sons.

in the book she had been fixated and antagonistic towards Rhaenyra since her stepdaughter was 9. All the children she births are used as a weapon against Rhaenyra. I imagine Aegon and Aemond would also have certain issues with her obsession.

In the show the antagonism doesn't really exist and Alicent character is all over the place 'cause in one episode she's like "in this world we defend our own" and at the same time she does nothing to easy up the animosity that seems to exist between her own two sons? And she continues to reject political advantages out of some childish pettiness against her "former bestie". idk she's still a bad parent that has detrimental affect on her own children.

#ask reply #f&b vs hotd #anti alicent hightower #anti daemon targaryen #the whole relationship between Viserys and Daemon is just weird. it's like Ryan ready about aenys + maegor and tried to kinda copy that? #Aegon's whole crying about his father should have happened when we hard young Aegon on screen 💀 #there's a serious issue here with taking the agency away from every single character if you think of it 🤔

[tinfairies]

So you know how people blame Aemond or Luke for the Driftmark incident? Okay, well I have a slightly h popular opinion (at least I think so, I haven’t seen it anywhere else).

I don’t really blame the children. Like, the adults should be blamed but if any of the children should carry any of the blame I think it should be Jace. We’re shown over and over again that he has anger issues and yeah Aemond picked up the rock but Jace never should have brought a fucking knife to that confrontation and when he pulled it out I think Aemond either hadn’t picked up the rock or wasn’t holding it up yet. He pulled it out when Aemond called them bastards.

Jace shouldn’t have brought that knife. No knife = no lost eye.

(I really think season 2 should delve into his anger issues and his relationship with Rhaenrya because he really carries the war for her after Luke’s death up till his death. I think it’d be interesting because I headcanon that he has some repressed anger or unpleasant feelings towards his mom and Daemon. Rhaenrya because he seems to have a sense of duty and he seems to sense the position his mom has put them in and won’t even let him talk about his problems I.e when Harwin dies. Like that has to build some sort of feelings, right?)

Anyways, this turned into a rant/vent. Sorry and thanks for listening to this lol.

Oh 100% it's the adults fault. The kids are repeating things they heard their parents say, they hold that anger towards each other because of their parents feud.

I think Aemond would still be bullied bc kids are fucking mean and he didn't have a dragon. But there'd be less animosity there if the bastard comments weren't so ingrained into both of their heads.

Jace absolutely holds resentment towards his mother and Daemon. He hates the fact that they just "got rid of" Laenor, didn't allow him and his brothers to mourn Harwin and a whole fight broke out while Daemon and Rhaenyra were having sex on the beach after a fucking funeral (we're not even going to get into the disrespect of that. That shit pisses me off so bad)

Basically when Jace needed his mother the most, she was off with Daemon. So I feel he has anger and resentment, but he also wants to prove himself and make his mother proud of him.

#tin talks

[lya-dustin]

Someone will remember us

Chapter 71

Cw:murder,mentions of murder, blood and some sibling incest(you know just good ol' Targ shit)

Taglist:@stargaryenx @mercedesdecorazon

Gif by @dreamfyrie

He is covered in blood by the time each Strong by blood or name is dead.

Alys had been the first, Larys’ bastard son the last.

The children had cried, a sound that rang in his ears even after it ended, but it had to be done.

If he let the children live they would rise against him.

It had to be done.

Besides, this house was as treacherous as their lord. Many crimes were admitted by the now dead Strongs.

Some had worked with Larys to kill Lyonel and Harwin, some had conspired with Aemond’s family to have the Riverlords side with Aegon and one admitted letting Larys Clubfoot take his daughter’s maidenhead for a place in Court.

Unsavory people who are better off dead. Or so he tells himself when he sees Aemma’s disappointed face in his mirror as he washed the blood off himself.

----

Kingslanding fell the day after he and Aemma met for the last time, word was that Daeron had rallied the Reach and was heading to save their mother and Aemond found himself thinking this is the best chance to change his loyalties.

After all, Rhaenyra promised to forgive him should he bend the knee.

It has been nearly two moons since they have taken the throne.

They are officially out of mourning and preparations for the coronation have already begun.

They do not talk about the Slap or Daemon’s attempt at killing her, and Aemma is at a loss as to how to proceed from there.

Gods, she needed someone to guide her through the waters and help her find the way out of them.

She loves her mother, she hates Daemon, but in the game of thrones feelings go on the shelf and knives are hidden behind your back at all times.

“My sources say Prince Aemond took his anger out on House Strong.” Daemon smirked as he briefed the council on their enemies.

Hugh Hammer and Ulf White were to fly to Tumbleton and kill Daeron who refuses to bend the knee and Daemon would be taking Nettles to do the same to Aemond.

“He was rewarded with a wench for taking the castle and when he was told about how we took the throne from his brother, he ended an entire house before evening fell, including the wench.” The Rogue Prince is smug, enjoying how it hurts her to know Aemond had been disloyal to her.

Aemma couldn’t give a rat’s ass about House Strong. They had been very odd during their time there and according to the Riverlords joining court, changed their loyalty like one changes stockings.

Aemma was angry that her mother had used this possible infidelity to go back on her word.

Aemond would not be getting a chance to bend the knee and expect a fair trial or even a trial by combat as they had agreed when they took the city.

“He is not a good man, Aemma, the sooner you learn that, the easier it will be to move on from him.” Her mother had said when Aemma asked her why they believed Mysaria’s whisperings.

Mysaria had told her Talya had been her spy, same Talya who had misled her into believing Alicent meant to kill her.

Of course, mother didn’t like the distrust Aemma had about the woman wanting to sell Alicent like a cheap whore in revenge for the girls and patrons who died inside her brothel the night Viserys died.

“I propose Nettles and I go end this threat before he knows he is king now.” Daemon had no plans of staying here, this was a man born for war. Needed battle just like Aemma needed to fix all the issues with the shithole the city had become.

“Perhaps we should wait until the Northmen take care of the Lannister host, Bloody Roddy does best when left to his own devices, your highness.” Torhen Manderly said with a touch of pride.

His grandmother was a Dustin by birth, making him Roddy the Ruin’s great nephew.

“Yes, he will have the great honor killing the Kingmaker and whatever is left of the men they took to Harrenhal.” Aemma would love nothing more than to be rid of Daemon, but she is not ready to lose her husband yet. “Let him clear the roads for you else you’ll find yourself unnecessarily detained.”

Even if it were true that he fucked that old she-cow of Harrenhal ---Aemond was too scarred by Aegon and that brothel too look at other women except her--- Aemma knows that if she can delay his death a little longer, she may be able to save him.

Even if it means going against her mother.

There were more cuts and scrapes now, the Throne had rejected her and the court was abuzz with said gossip.

Six cuts on her arms, six moons in her reign, some whispered.

She is still thinking about that when she finds Addam in the library of all places.

He knew how to read and write, of course, but she hadn’t expected him to be here.

This was her safe haven.

In fact, he had beat her to her favorite nook.

“I am sorry about what happened, sister.” He said with a sympathetic look and tries to make her feel better. “If I had a copper for every time a sweetheart played me false, I would have enough to trade it for a silver stag.”

“Liar.” Aemma took her book and settled near him. After all, he was her brother and it was perfectly proper to sit by him to read.

A brother who she knew fancied her since they were five and ten. She should leave and heed the part of her warning her, but she doesn't.

“No, really, the first girl I ever liked promised to come back for her spinning top and I never saw her again until she was a married with a baby.” Addam was charming, not quite the lady killer like Alyn, but had that charm boys who you know wouldn’t drop you for the next light skirt that comes around have.

“She tried to go back, but unfortunately she asked why the boy looked more like her than her brothers and her family forbade her from ever returning to the shipyard.” Aemma had cried over that fucking top, it had been loaned to her by Yekemi of Jhala.

“I still have the top, if it makes you feel better.” He leans closer, a little too close than it is proper and she pretends she didn't know it would happen, as he takes it out of his pocket. “I keep it for good luck, gifts from a princess always are.”

“I hate to tell you this, but I’m bad luck, you should have just tossed it off the boat the first chance you had.” She tried not to sound too bitter as she reached for the spinning top she gave him when they were both nine.

“You aren’t bad luck, Aemma.” He assured her as their eyes met and Aemma finds herself thinking about the spy who claims to have heard Aemond accepting the wine and the whore Simon Strong sent him.

She shouldn't do this, this is wrong. She loves her husband and would never do this to him.

Surely the spy was wrong, or was she?

But the part of her that is hurt by Aemond's alleged infidelity because she has been nothing but loving and loyal to him wins in the end because she stays instead of stopping it before disaster strikes.

Both are unsure when both lean in, knowing she is doing this to hurt the man she will never stop loving and yet they do it anyways.

Before they knew it, there was a kiss, small and inconsequential, and then another one because her recklessness and desire to hurt Aemond just a little for fucking Alys Rivers had won over her reason and commitment to her husband.

He was a good kisser, unfortunately, tasted of the sea and freedom.

If he had been mother’s son, perhaps she would have gladly wed him.

But it is Aemond who has her heart and soul, Aemond who has bound himself to her with fire and blood who she loves and would marry in every lifetime.

“I’m sorry, I should not have done that.” He pulls back and moves as far away as they can. Apologizes like the gentleman he is and she feels sickened

“It's my fault, I should have never used you like that .” Aemma said wondering to herself why she fucking kissed him.

She was married, she loves Aemond, why in the seven hells is she using her brother this way?

Gods, what was wrong with her?

----

Another moon passes and with it comes news that gnaw at her insides because she has not taken the baby to see Alicent ever since she arrived and because for a moment she considered paying Aemond back with the same coin by letting herself be guided by her attraction to her own fucking brother.

Maelor had been torn apart by a mob in Bitterbridge, Roddy the Ruin had cut through the Lannisters like a knife through butter and Aemond had styled himself as King Aemond, first of his name.

In fact, he intended to give his new crown to his sister in exchange for the list of demands he sent in his letter.

“To my sister, Queen Rhaenyra;

I, Aemond Targaryen, first of his name, will bend the knee and pledge my sword and loyalty to you, our father’s heir, if you would only agree to my conditions.

The first, that you pardon our younger brother, Daeron, he is young and was led astray by our grandfather and his treacherous kin.

The second, that before I am tried for my crimes, I be allowed seven days and seven nights with my wife and son. I ask that you do not deny a dying man the chance to meet his only child.

And the third, Harrenhal passes to Ser Osferth Whent, the only man in this castle who did not have a hand in the murders of Lord Lyonel Strong and his heir, Ser Harwin.

Your brother,

Aemond Targaryen.”

Short and to the point, her husband was not one of many words and loathed having to speak or write in the florid way of the Reach.

“Will you accept his terms, your grace?” grandfather voices the question all had.

“I will need to think on it.” Mother had said enigmatically, but inside her heart, Aemma knew the answer was no.

----

“He made no mention of me?” Alicent feels hurt by the lack of inclusion in her son’s demands.

“I’m afraid not.” Mysaria, the White Worm, the woman who Daemon had at his beck and call said sadly.

Lady Misery had been the one Daemon used to have her sweet Jaehaerys killed.

He made me hire them, I would never hurt a child, the Lyseni Whore had said as she came to apologize for her sins.

“What other news do you have for me?” the queen in chains had.

“Prince Maelor was murdered. I am sorry, your grace.” The whore said softly, as if she too was afflicted by the pain of her grandson’s death.

“How?” if Alicent had not been so desperate for news, she wouldn’t have trusted the whore’s words so easily.

“Torn to pieces by Queen Rhaenyra’s orders.”

#aemma velaryon #someone will remember us fic #aemond targaryen x velaryon!oc #ocappreciationtag #fyeahhotdocs

[writingsofwesteros]

I imagine to keep Daemon from fucking everything up isn’t as difficult as you think…. There’s a large possibility he might 100% betray any deals. But nevertheless, Aegon can try.

The best idea he’s got honestly is through his children. He can TEMPORARILY pacify the Velaryons by letting one of the girls be the Lady of Driftmark. Either Baela, Rhaena, or their sister. Of course, this isn’t without exceptions…. They may be lady of Driftmark, but he will choose either Aemond or Daeron to serve as lord. And their husband. He can’t just let former traitors have free rein, what kind of kingly move is that? He thinks he’s being fairly generous.

Alicent of course is the most paranoid about Daemon. On one hand as long as his daughters are safe, he could be manageable. But on another, Alicent has a feeling Daemon would prefer them all to go down in dragon fire before any child of his is at the whims of the greens. She cautions Aegon against this plan, she’s certain it would only anger Daemon. But Aegon goes ahead with it regardless.

Of course he does have one issue. Heirs. Even if his reign is secure, heirs are needed.

And he decides of course….. to use the opportunity to be a petty asshole about it.

The best punishment he can think of…. Is Rhaenyra. All that work to be Queen…. Maybe he will make her Queen. Just not in the way she wanted. And since she’s so used to having bastards, he may take his sweet time waiting on marriage. At least once.

The deal he tells her…. Is simple. If she lies with him, and becomes pregnant, he will bring her daughter home. The North is busy as of late, surely her husband won’t have infinite time to spend trying to fill her with an heir. If Rhaenyra is with child and her daughter isn’t, Aegon will annul her marriage on (false) grounds of infertility. She’ll be sent to the Starry Sept in Oldtown.

And if Rhaenyra has a son… her daughter will be free to live as she chooses. Still under a watchful eye, but not required to become a Septa. And with no pressure to marry again.

Of course…. If her daughter is with child before Rhaenyra…. It will be very difficult to convince the Boltons to let her leave….. Aegon can only do so much…. So Rhaenyra had better hurry.

Alicent thought making a show out of Rhaenyra renouncing her claim and endorsing Aegon’s now would be a peaceful way to wrap this mess up. Aegon took it further…. if she marries him and renounces it at their wedding.

If she fights to renounce it, he’ll wait on the wedding. The more she argues the longer he’ll wait. And he wouldn’t stop from trying to impregnate her. So on a technicality, she would give birth to a bastard if she waits too long. And even if they’re a boy, and even if her daughter isn’t pregnant, the deal won’t apply.

Of course the deal is rigged.

There are a few details Aegon intentionally left out. One being he’s instructed his maester and spy to begin dosing the Princess with concoctions to aid in conception. Along with things to encourage…. Lustful feelings. Steadily increasing the dose so she won’t notice.

And despite the North indeed having much to rebuild, it seems her new husband rather enjoys her company…. In a manner of speaking. That “attention” along with what the maester is slipping her, certainly won’t let the princess continue to be rational or defiant. He’s sure her husband is already finding specific ways to keep her… managed.

Aegon doubts the girl will even mind soon when she’s with child. If she isn’t already.

Of course Rhaenyra doesn’t need to know this! He can just say he forgot to mention it!

Alicent doesn’t entirely approve of his methods, nor the way he goes about these things… but even she’ll admit in a strange way it works. So she says nothing. If Rhaenyra is hoping for help, she won’t find it

ALL OF THIS I also thinking keeping Corlys calm (as he does not care about Daemon's daughters having the throne...he asks Aegon to 'force' him to marry the eldest daughter of Daemon and his own daughter.

Alicent truly is no help, bless her. She just wants peace and its the most relaxed she's been.

Aegon is so cruel, he is playing everyone like a fiddle thank you very much. Rhaenyra's poor sweet daughter is just being bred every day and night

#sons for sons green verse

[fromtheboundlesssea]

do you honestly think Rhaenyra didn't care about her children?

No. I think she loved her children. I do. Its just that the show did a piss poor job of showing her thinking about their feelings when it came to Harwin and Laenor.

The boys seemed to deeply care about Harwin, but when one of them (Jace or Luce, they were really not distinguishable) asked if they were a bastard she just said it only mattered that they were her kids and a Targaryen. This boy’s entire identity was just shifted but she brushed it off and the show went no further than that until he was saying they should be at his funeral instead of Laena’s. Rhaenyra again brushed it aside because they were in public and there was no mention of really talking about it later.

And then their public father is murdered (we have no indication that they are told he is still alive) rumor is that he was murdered on their mother’s orders and seemingly in the same day she is remarried to a man they don’t know.

We were allowed to see a full episode of Rhaenyra dealing with the death of her mother and what that meant for her emotionally and even from a political standpoint. But we are never given the opportunity to see her have any care in how her sons and their emotions about their two father figures dying very violently because it isn’t convenient for the writers to paint any of Rhaenyra’s decisions as bad (marrying Daemon was a bad move and the show frames it as being the same day Laenor was “murdered” and the first time she and Daemon have sex is ON the same day of Laena’s funeral).

Just think about what Alicent said in the first episode, those kids probably just wanted SOMEONE to say they were sorry about their pain that they went through with Harwin and nothing was said. Heck, I do not think what happened to Aemond was justified at all, but him telling them that they would die screaming like Harwin pricked at the storming emotions they had from his death and that led to the knife being properly drawn and used.

That anger and frustration should have been allowed to come out in private with Rhaenyra because she is their mother and understands what it is like to lose a parent very suddenly. But we don’t get that at all. We don’t even have the promise of a discussion later.

The show did a really bad job of characterizing Rhaenyra’s children and their relationship with their mother. I haven’t seen the last episode because of the ENORMOUS amount of hate that l got from my live blogging.

But just look at how much we got of Alicent being a mother, good and bad.

She engages with Helaena despite not really understanding her fascination with bugs. She isn’t zoning out but having a conversation with Helaena and asking questions to further the conversation along. She hugs her daughter when she realizes the sort of person Aegon is. She instantly tried to shield Helaena when Vaemond was murdered in front of them. She tried to comfort her daughter about Viserys. She sent her most trusted knight to protect Helaena when Rhaenys popped out of the ground with a dragon.

When Aemond is brought by the Dragonpit, she instantly starts disciplining him, but only stops when she realizes an issue has happened and she comforts him when she realizes he has been bullied and she hugs him and assures he will have a dragon one day even though she said at the beginning of the reprimand that she didn’t understand the obsession with dragons. She tried to get the verbal bullying felt with by approaching Viserys but he just brushed her off. When he loses his eye she demands that something be said and she fights for him in a way that is almost reminiscent of how Viserys defended Rhaenyra against Daemon after the brothel incident). She doesn’t feel comfortable with him going to search for Aegon, but it’s so very clear that Aemond utterly adores his mother and still remembers her calling for Lucerys’ eye.

With Aegon, she reprimands him a lot and hits him, sure. When he was young, before the brothel incident, Alicent was raising Aegon to not covet his sister’s throne. She is also very aware that he is not taking any of her worries seriously when he’s older. She reprimands him for bullying Aemond and says that they Ned to be on a united front because of what will happen with Rhaenyra. When he is found by the twins he says he wants to be taken to his mother and he and Aemond stop fighting when their mother is mentioned. She gives him his father’s dagger, which you can see means a lot to him. And she steps in front of a freaking dragon for him.

Morality-wise, the Greens have been given less grace than the Blacks, whose wrong-doings get brushed away by the writers and visual framing of the story. However, it is the Greens that have prospered in terms of being written as a family.

Just look at Baela and Rhaena. They are not treated as Rhaenyra’s nieces/step-daughters, instead, they are treated as the girls her sons are going to marry. The Blacks are not given familial interactions that show strong bonds. The Greens are.

I’m sure Rhaenyra loves her sons, do not get me wrong. However, the show simply does not let Rhaenyra be a mother to them.

The first episode we have of Rhaenyra as a mother (even though she previously stated she was uninterested in children), she just had a baby so she’s naturally a little hands off with her children. The next episode she’s too busy fucking Daemon to really take care of the emotional needs of her children who just lost Harwin. The next episode we again don’t really see her interact with her children at all. And I haven’t seen the finale so I won’t comment on that.

The writing for Rhaenyra has simply not been good.

#keep the asks coming

[simplynotcapable]

Do you think that in an AU where Baelon exists but somehow the Targtowers also do, Otto tries to outright bump Baelon off?

I talked to one of my mutuals about this a little awhile back, and I just genuinely do not know.

For one, I think a lot of it depends on whether Visenya exists. Because if she doesn’t, it’s more likely Otto initially tries to get Baelon married to Helaena or another Hightower (one of his granddaughters from Gwayne, possibly? I can’t remember if he has any in canon, but we’ll say he does) which is just objectively easier than war.

More than likely, though, Baelon doesn’t marry a Hightower because his father already did, and marrying into the same family two kings in a row is obvious favoritism

What it comes down to is that, if they kill Baelon off before Viserys dies, I still don’t think he’d name Aegon heir. I think he’d name Rhaenyra’s eldest son, who would be Aegon III most likely because again I don’t think the Strong boys and Baelon exist at the same time. Viserys does not care about the Targtowers or particularly think Aegon would be any good at it. So, the question is, does Otto know that? I think he most likely would, because Targaryens have such a high death rate that undoubtedly the small council has raised the issue of what happens if Baelon dies.

Naming his grandson over his son is still breaking precedent and it isn’t a popular decision, but I don’t think anyone is going to care enough to go to war about it even if Otto wants them to. They hate Rhaenyra because she’s a woman, but, honestly, what is the difference between one blond dragon-riding product of incest named Aegon and another? Aegon II already doesn’t want the throne, and Otto loses a lot of power if Aegon III gets put on the throne because it’s really likely Daemon finds a way to get rid of him.

If he kills Baelon after he becomes king, Aegon’s probably already either a) dead or b) at the Wall and no longer an option. And while Aemond is not a good person and is totally fine with usurping his sister, he doesn’t have the same anger or fear towards Baelon. He knows Baelon only got rid of Aegon because of Helaena, he knows Baelon loves Helaena and him and even Daeron, and I’m not sure he’d be on board with killing his brother to steal his throne. I mean, in canon, he won’t kill Aegon or let him run away so he can be heir, and he has more respect for Baelon than he does Aeg. So then it falls into: what does Aemond know? Is he aware of Otto’s plans, is he willing to betray Otto to tell Baelon about it?

There’s just a lot of variables about it all, and I don’t think I’m really going to be able to come up with an answer unless I actually write the whole thing out and see how it develops, which I will not be doing anytime soon lol

[cassianandfenrysaremyboyos]

Hi! Love your blog sm. Most of the fandoms you share content of happen to be a fav of mine and i love reading your thoughts. (Also finding a fan of Fenrys and Chaol from ToG is so refreshing 😭)

Just curious, What's your opinion on Team Green from Hotd? I initially disliked them to some extent but rewatching the series made me realize that there's more depth in the characters. I also found to be interesting which is funny because i didn't care much about them at first, but now they are this bunch of chaotic family that are messy and intriguing at the same time.

Thankyou so much that's so nice! 💕😄 I'm very happy to find another Fenrys and Chaol lover, especially Chaol as lovers of his character are few and far between!

I love Team Green! They're just so messy and interesting in a way Team Black can't match. And don't get me wrong I love Team Black as well. Daemon is on his own whole level of messy and chaotic which makes him a really interesting character. And I love Rhaenyra and her kids. But overall Team Green are just more interesting and I have such a soft spot for them.

And what you said about disliking them at first makes sense because the show is Team Black leaning. You know, we're introduced to Rhaenyra as the main character, so it's a natural progression to root for her from the start, so when you get to the point where sides emerge you're kinda automatically already Team Black and therefore against Team Green. But then you really think about it (or in your case you rewatch) and you come to love Team Green more and more. And realise just how much more depth they have. Especially the kids. They have mummy issues they have daddy issues. Just the generational trauma these poor kids have from the adults around them. And they're all so different and deal with it in different ways. Aegon has a whole depth of issues which we've only seen the tip of the iceberg of. Helaena is sweet and wonderful and I love her but she is often ignored/discounted because she's different. As well as being put into a unhappy marriage just like her mother, and you wonder how Alicent really feels about doing to her own daughter what was done to her. And then Aemond. Who is so different from Aegon and so much like his mother and has been left to stew in his anger and bitterness and trauma of losing an eye and no one (except Alicent) caring.

And then there's Alicent. Who is a character I have such complicated feelings for. Who even when I don't always like her actions I can't help but feel for. She was manipulated and used by her own father. She was a child forced into marriage, who lost her only friend (and so did Rhaenyra, I'm sad for both of them) who's children are the product of marital rape. And she loves her children! But you can love your children but still feel a resentment and disconnect from them and pass your trauma onto them.

And anyway this got long and I just rambled buy yeah Team Green are so messy and so interesting and I love them!

#asks