Burn me • Aemond Targaryen

First step

Chapter Twenty-eight~ First step

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Rhaella waited hours for the sun to rise in the sky. When the morning star made its way up to the dawn, she climbed from her bed, leaving her husband asleep within the sheets.

Her chest of dresses was one that would make anyone jealous. All of them rich with silks from far away lands, embedded with threads of gold and jewels of heaven. But at the bottom of the chest was a dress, plain and practical and a cloak, which was unlike her other capes, that were usually lined with furs.

She pulled on the garments, making sure to pull her hair back so that it was hidden by the hood.

Avoiding the servants was harder than she originally thought it would be. They were rushing in and out of rooms with hot water for baths and fruit for a morning sweetness. But she did not want to be seen, to be seen, was to be caught and if someone saw her and reported that the Princess was sneaking around the castle back to Aegon, or worse back to her mother, she would have to answer questions she did not wish to.

She left through the main entrance, with the other servants who were off to fetch foods and necessities from the market stalls.

The streets of flea bottom were already bustling with life, many of the inhabitants continuing their endeavors from the night before.

But the boatmen of westeros were always straight minded in the mornings, ready to catch the school of fish that had been brought closer to the shores of black water bay.

"I am looking for a man by the name Finan." She said to the first boatman she saw.

"Who's asking?" The man was young, his voice gruff and low.

Rhaella rolled her eyes, why was everyone so difficult? "I am." She told him. "Obviously."

"I am finan." He looked at her, eyes studying the part of her face he could see.

"I have been told you are to sale across the narrow see on the weeks end?" She said it as more of a question instead of a statement. "To make trade with the people of essos, as you have done for decades against the wishes of the king."

Finan sighed. "Ye' speak of me Father." he informed her. "I haven't sailed to essos under any king yet."

"Yet?" She said quickly.

Finan couldn't of been any older than she, his hair was dark, his eyes darker. "I plan on trading on the weeks end yes, but whoever told ye' I had sailed there before was mistaken."

Rhaella didn't care for the details of his life. "I wish to buy passage." She pulled a pouch of gold from her pockets. "On your ship, for myself and my family."

"Running away from something are we?" He smirked, lifting another wooden crate to what appeared to be one of his shipmates. "Who are ye'?"

"I work the tavern by cobblers square." She lied. "I just need a new start."

"We all need a new start, nobody ever dares make the move." He laughed. "Surprised you're brave enough to leave."

Rhaella needed to hasten things along, soon enough her absence would be noted. "A place on your boat, and a place for my four children." She pushed the pouch into his hand.

Before he took the pouch into his own cloak, he gripped her hand, rough thumb running over her delicate skin. "You've soft hands for a bar maid, lady." Finan dropped her hand. "And I've never seen ye' pouring ale in that place."

Rhaella internally groaned, he was irritating her beyond belief. Never had she met anyone so interested in something when they'd just been given fifty gold pieces. "Will you have me on your ship or not?"

"Will ye tell me who ye really are?" He answered her with a question.

"No." She replied.

Finan sighed, instead of helping her with her plan he continued his interrogation. "My guess is yer a noble lady, done something bad to upset her husband and now yer fleeing with his children."

Rhaella scoffed. "You don't know the half of it." Finan intrigued her. Perhaps it was because he didn't know who she truly was, but Rhaella could barely count on one hand the people who dared question her. But something told her that Finan wouldn't care if she was the princess or not. He seemed one to speak his mind. "I ask you one last time, before I take my golf elsewhere."

Finan let out another laugh. "Aye I'll have ye on me ship, but if ye' toss up on me deck, you'll be the one moppin' the floor."

"Thank you." She sighed. "I will see you here then?"

Finan nodded. "No later than the first hour on the weeks end lady." He told her. "There's a storm on the way."

Rhaella gave a single nod before walking away.

The first step in her plan was complete.

~

"Really Aegon." Aemond sighed. "There's no need for celebration." He wished to forget what he had done, Bringing more attention to the fact he had killed his nephew would not do well for him. Whether Aegons supporters favored him over Rhaynera mattered very little, Aemond was a kinslayer.

And although the title was one feared, it was also one that was untrusted.

And Aegon was rinsing it for everything it had. He'd said people should know how ruthless Aemond was, willing to kill anyone for his brother.

"Nonsense." Aegon dismissed, he had been drowning in ale and wine over the past week. "Everything is already in motion, and my wife is happy when she is busy drawing and decorating." To any other it would seem as though Aegon was a hood husband, but his efforts to make Helaena happy was just an excuse to keep her out of his way. "Be there brother!" He punched him playfully in the arm. "It is held in your honor."

Aemond nodded. Perhaps a feast was a good idea. Rhaella needed something to take her mind of things. And if she saw the children enjoying themselves, dancing and eating treats, perhaps she would take a moment to relax.

But the prince wondered what his brother would think once he found out that his brother and most reliable fighter had fled the kingdom. Nobody knew how Aegons mood ever faired. And Aemond pondered on whether he would dismiss Aemonds disappearance or would he send someone to find him.

Drag him back to westeros along with his wife and his children, and have them forced to play a part in the war that Aemond may have single handedly started.

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