Despite the tensions you knew it was sure to cause, you refused to be escorted with the rest of the royal family to the Dragonpit to attend Aegon's coronation, telling your lady in waiting to inform Queen Alicent that you'd fallen ill. The entire Keep must be there now, watching as former King Maegor Targaryen's crown be placed upon Aegon's head, crowning him king of the seven kingdoms.
The usurper king, you thought to yourself bitterly.
Rumblings of war breaking out between the two sides of the Targaryen family had run rampant for years. Your grandsire, King Viserys, attempted to reunite the two sides of his family through your marriage to Aemond after he lost his eye the night he claimed Vhagar, but the union did little to quell your mother-in-law's thirst for her eldest son to sit upon the Iron Throne.
That night your mother, Princess Rhaenyra, moved your family out of the Red Keep and into Dragonstone as she refused to let her children face the cruelness of a bitter Alicent Hightower. She fought her father for you, arguing you were but a child, though you had celebrated your third and tenth nameday months before Laena Velaryon's death, and there was no need to marry you off so soon. But the king refused his daughter and kept you with him in the Keep.
That was many years ago, however, and now your marriage held strong despite the tension between your family and Aemond's. The last time your family had truly been together as one was the weeks of celebrations surrounding your wedding. Your brothers Jacaerys, Lucerys, and Joffrey, had grown into fine young princes in the years they spent away at Dragonstone. You spent as much time with your younger brothers as you could while they stayed in King's Landing because you knew your mother had no such plans of keeping her boys out of her reach anytime soon, as she'd had no say in letting her firstborn and only daughter go.
Though you truly loved your husband and have even found a close friend in Helaena, you missed the bond you had with your own siblings and your mother. Being the firstborn of your mother's children gave you the wonderful advantage of watching your siblings grow up, and you treasured the time you had with your baby brothers before you were separated from your family.
"The queen is quite unhappy with you, my darling," Aemond says firmly from behind you.
You gasp, your hand instinctively flew up to your chest in a hopeless attempt to calm the now rapid beating of your heart.
"Aemond! You should not scare me like that!" You scold, but reach out with one hand to grasp one of his. "This heart of mine is fragile, you know."
He grips your hand just as firmly as you do his as you take him in. Aemond is dressed in his finest clothes, hair elegantly pulled back into a silver veil over his broad shoulders. No doubt some of his finest clothes had been pulled for his brother's coronation. He couldn't stop the cheshire grin from spreading across his face, his blue eye sparkling with mischief.
"Have you been hiding here all day?"
"Hiding? I would not call it hiding," you mutter, softly biting your bottom lip before letting it go. "If I wish to stay in the comforts of my husband and I's chambers for an entire day, who is to tell me I cannot?"
Unfortunately for you, Aemond sees right through you. In the time the two of you have spent with each other over the past year the two of you have become quite close for an arranged marriage. Most women in your position only marry out of duty and never find genuine love. Your marriage may have begun as an arranged one, but it didn't take you long to develop genuine feelings for your betrothed.
"I expect word has reached Dragonstone by now," Aemond measures against you, eye carefully studying your face.
"I suppose it has."
You turn around to gaze out the window of your chamber. From this side of the castle you have an almost perfect view of King's Landing that extends as far as the large dome of the Dragonpit.
Aemond says nothing as he steps forward to envelop you in his embrace, pulling you flush against his chest. He kissed the side of your head, then gently pressed his face into your hair. "You have nothing to worry about, my love. You know I would never let anything- anyone hurt you."
"It is not I that I worry for." You admit to him before bringing your hands up to grasp his toned arms. "I worry for my mother, for my brothers. I fear what Aegon might do to them. I..."
He straightens up and turns you around in his embrace. You bring your arms up to wrap around his neck as his grasp fixates on your waist. He brings one hand up to cup the side of your face.
"What troubles you so, my darling?"
You find yourself unable to meet his gaze and you close your eyes. Fear bubbles in your chest as your mind races through the many different reactions Aemond is capable of having. Would he offer you the comfort you so desperately needed, or would his temperment take hold of him?
"I cannot stay here," you finally admit in one rushed huff. "I love you, husband. More than I should, more than my mother would care to hear. If you asked, I would mount Rixende and burn all of Westeros to the ground, but I cannot remain in the Red Keep so long as Aegon is king."
Aemond's brows furrow together, "What are you saying?"
"I wish to return to Dragonstone, my love. I want to see my family, to be beside them once more," you confess. "And I want you to come with me. Join me by my mother's side and we shall take back the Seven Kingdoms from those who would see House Targaryen in shambles. You know as well as I that Aegon has never had any aspirations for the throne, that your mother is behind his becoming king."
He says nothing, facial expression unchanging as he listens to you plead your case.
"If you come with me now, mother is sure to show you mercy, Aemond. We can be a whole family on Dragonstone with all of us together. I have no doubt mother will not settle for Aegon's ascension to the throne and she will claim her rightful place as Queen of the Seven Kingdoms."
Aemond's hold on your waist finally releases as he takes a couple steps back from you. Your heart sinks, fearing you'd lost him already. Silence overtakes the typical warmth of your chambers as you wait for Aemond to give you any sign of what he's thinking.
It takes a minute or two, but eventually Aemond breaks the silence. "If I do not go what will you do? Leave me here in King's Landing and abandon your vows to me?"
"No!" You assure, reaching for his hand once more but he evades your grasp. Hurt from his blatant rejection, you bring your arms around yourself in an attempt of holding yourself together. "Do not mistake me, I plan to travel to Dragonstone regardless. I will be reunited with my family as I cannot even pretend to support your brother. But I will never abandon our vows, Aemond."
His blue eye meets your gaze at last. "There is nothing I could say to change your mind, then?"
"No," you confirm.
He looks down to the floor beneath your feet and your heart sinks. He will not join you on Dragonstone. You knew asking him to abandon his family, specifically Helaena and Alicent, would be difficult because of his undying loyalties to both women. After claiming Vhagar and losing his eye, Aemond despised your younger brother Lucerys, and through extension the rest of your brothers as well. You knew trying to convince Aemond to join you would be a difficult task, but you still believed somehow that he would in fact join you.
Aemond pulls you into his arms as he pressed a firm kiss upon your forehead. "Pack everything you cannot live without, my love. I doubt we will be welcome here until Rhaenyra is queen."
You pull away, shock written across your face. "You mean you'll-"
"I'd never allow my sweet wife to go unhappy, force you to reside in a place you have no desire to be in. If it is your wish to be reunited with your family on Dragonstone arm in arm with your husband, who am I to deny you?"
Without another word you grasp Aemond's face and pull him down to you just enough to press your lips together firmly. Aemond pulls away first with a devilish grin painted across his lips.
"Go wife, collect your things. We shall leave before Aegon sends for us to join him for the feast."
