The Realm's Fright | HOTD S1 | Fem!OC x Aemond Targaryen Fanfiction

Chapter Twelve

Dragonstone

When Alysanne left for King's Landing, she thought she had left Dragonstone behind for good, the only place she had ever felt truly at home. She had imagined herself never again riding a dragon, bound instead to a man she despised, someone who returned her hatred with equal passion. She thought herself imprisoned in the Red Keep, her wings clipped, a bird in a gilded cage, destined to bear dragonriders for the rest of her days, nothing more, nothing less.

Never had she imagined herself riding a beast as monstrous as Vhagar. Sitharax, her serpentine dragon with eyes like cymophane, was the largest she had known, and she had once thought no dragon could compare. But Vhagar... Vhagar was a creature of ancient power. It was said that dragons were mirrors of their riders, but Vhagar was unlike any other. Her great, leathery wings beat with a force that seemed to shake the very air, and her will was as unyielding as her rider's. Aemond was not always the master of Vhagar, and Alysanne could see why. The dragon had known centuries of war, from Aegon's Conquest to the War of a Hundred Candles. She carried wisdom with her, a wisdom born from age and battle, one that few humans could ever claim, no matter their station.

"Why did you bring me here, Aemond?" Alysanne asked as they dismounted, the enormous dragon settling behind them with a low, rumbling growl. "This isn't like you."

"What do you mean?" His voice was guarded, the quiet undertones of wariness threading through it.

"You're being rather kind," she said quickly, though the words left her throat with a touch of disbelief.

He removed his black leather gloves slowly, his gaze steady on her, a frown tugging at the edges of his lips. "I am good to my family. It matters to me, even if it is hard to believe. I protect those I love, and find ways to make them happy."

"But not my brothers and I," Alysanne said, her words cutting through the air like a blade.

"You started it with the pig," Aemond replied, his voice lowering, darkening. The memory struck her like a forgotten thunderclap. The Pink Dread, and the laughter of boys echoing in her mind from years past.

She had never truly understood the depths of the cruelty in those days, but now the shadows of it seemed to linger, clawing at the corners of her thoughts. Aemond, sulking in the Dragonpit while they were still learning to bond with their dragons, had been the subject of their mockery.

"I had no part in that," Alysanne said sharply, a sudden bitterness in her voice. "Nor any of the antics my brothers and yours played on you. But remember, Aegon made fun of you as well, didn't he?"

Alysanne clenched her fists at her sides, but she said nothing. There was no winning against him on this point. She had seen the way Aegon had mocked him, just as she had seen the way her own brothers had stood by and let it happen. Aemond was not wrong, but she was tired of reliving it.

Aemond's gaze shifted, turning toward the looming silhouette of Dragonstone. The castle stood like an ancient beast atop the island, its towers carved in the likeness of dragons, its walls crowned with gargoyles. It was a place steeped in blood and fire, where the past never truly let go. Alysanne couldn't help but feel that she, too, was a part of that past now.

"He still does," Aemond muttered, his voice rough, raw. "It is normal among brothers, you should know. You have brothers yourself."

The mention of her brothers brought a sudden pang to her chest, one that she could not shake off. She thought of Jacaerys and Lucerys, who had left the feast, their expressions dark and unreadable. Her mother had said they would return to Dragonstone after her wedding, leaving her behind with her new husband in King's Landing, and Alysanne could not help the uneasy feeling that gnawed at her.