The True and The Brave

𝔒𝔫𝔢: ℑ𝔱 ℭ𝔬𝔪𝔢𝔰 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔊𝔬𝔢𝔰 𝔦𝔫 𝔚𝔞𝔳𝔢𝔰

[AN: Without further ado, this is what we all waited for. I hope you like the twists and finality of the consequences of the actions that have been changed. I owe this chapter's inspiration to Ms.Ruelle and a Spotify playlist a friend of mine recommended (if you want the link I can gladly give it to you). Now, here comes badassery and literal chills. Remember... When is a mastermind not scheming?] (Remember to always give this love and I always enjoy your comments, truly)

Aemma could not get enough of Driftmark, the sandy beaches with hidden sea shells, or the devastatingly beautiful sunrises such as the one she was seeing at the very moment. Aemma reveled in the sea breeze. This was her home. This was the place she had been promised to.  She had sent Aemond in the middle of the night to see that the children were safe. Needed this to work. 

Aemma had not slept. She had spent her night looking at a resting Aemond. But her mind was restless. It had to work. This could not fail. 

Aemma held four letters in her hand. Each one with an unbroken seal. Her seal. 

"You know, grandmother, you are not as stealthy as you once were...", Aemma jested, feeling the soft lilac eyes of her grandmother pierce her back. 

"Now, Aemma, are you calling me old?", Rhaenys smiles, sitting beside her, watching as Seafyre unabashedly basked in High Tide bay, whining happily. "It's been nearly six years since I last saw my lord husband. The Maester said he led his sailors into an ambush. A ship made to look as if it were abandoned. In the fighting, his neck was slashed by a corsair's dagger. He fell overboard into the sea. The wound was severe. Much blood was lost. But the greater concern is the fever that followed. The ship's maester said he burns from within".

Aemma let her head fall. She brandished the ring worthy of all Velaryon lords. The ancestral sword. Her grandfather could not die like this. She would not let him. Her grandfather. The man that raised her when her father couldn't. The man put a sword in her hand and commanded her to be strong and brave. 

Vaemond spoke with Maester Kelvyn, dispatching the orders that his lady had entrusted to him, "I love my brother... but we must be honest with ourselves. We may greet his ship to find him gone. Aemma Velaryon was chosen to take the Driftwood throne.  My brother cares only for the history books. But what of the Velaryon line? Is it to be snuffed out, supplanted by the pups of House Strong? Driftmark is Aemma's by all rights. The winds have shifted, Maester. There is a force King's Landing hasn't yet seen. A force that can bring empires to their knees. Only one will stand at the end of it all— one that has the will of the tides in her veins"

"Send word to my brother, good Maester, tell him who is our new lady. Tell him that house Velaruon stands behind its chosen lady and princess— Aemma Velaryon". 

Aemma looked beside her at Rhaenys, "If this doesn't work, everything we had worked. Everything I have fought for. Everything I am. It will be ripped away from me. I can't fail, grandmother, I won't. You've been my true mother, raised me as such. I am scared... I am afraid to lose myself". 

Rhaenys's eyes watered, but hers was a steel glaze, unyielding, "only a fool wouldn't be afraid, Aemma. I am honored by your words. I love you, my sweet child, and I will always stand behind you. Now, I see that your usual overprotective shadow is not here, pray tell, where have you sent him?"

Aemma snorted softly, "My husband has a part to play too. He is to go back to the keep to stand behind his family. I entrusted him with what will happen to our children. The dragons are ready to fly. Laenor is almost seven name days. If blood is shed, they must be safe".