𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐄 ~ aemond targaryen (discontinued)

15 ~ Final Tribute • I ~ 15

I stood next.

To whom I planned on toasting to, I didn't know, but I allowed my words to simply carry me along, see where it went.

"I- would like to raise a toast to my family." I decided. "This day is the first I have reunited with you all in the last six years. Four for some. I have truly missed the sight of friendly faces. I have truly missed each of you." I inhaled deeply, enacting a short, internal debate. The better, more compassionate part if me, however small, won. I looked to Aemond, my best friend once upon a time. "All of you." I hoped he could read the sincerity in my gaze.

It was true, even if most of the time I wished it not to be. I had missed him. In those lonely dark hours after battle, especially on those nights where ghosts of the fallen leered over me, forbidding sleep, I thought of him, wished for his company, wished for his comfort.

I do not believe that comfort in company will ever return.

Aemond saw me, rolled his one, violet eye and looked away. It was better than being gutted with a butter knife, which I had half expected as a response. A relief, I guess, if not completely soul destroying. I shrugged it off for now.

"To my father," I began, "The King Viserys. A time before now, I admit, I was bitter and ungrateful for all you had given me. But now, I see what others don't. What I once could not." I held the frail, dim gaze of the King. He listened to my every word. "Father, I thank you. You may not have given me life. But you gave me my name. You gave me my family."

"This family has always belonged to you, Khaelyra. It was yours before we met."

I smiled, true and wide. "I know that now." By this table, my blood rested upon its seats. Mine. Distant or no.

"To my sister, Rhaenyra," I continued, "who found me in my lowest moment and offered me a chance. I would not be who I am now if it weren't for you."

The princess beamed.

"I extend the same sentiment to my Uncle." I looked to Daemon, made sure he saw my gratitude. "Thank you for the legacy you have allowed me to reap. My promise remains until I shed my final breath."

Daemon dipped his chin, holding my stare with an unbreakable intensity and drank deep. Your promise remains, he seemed to say without words. An oath is an oath. A heavy pride, settled upon my shoulders. I refused to disappoint.

I turned.

"To the Queen Alicent. Whom I have not missed," I chuckled. As did my Uncle and eldest nephew, "but hope to share a middle ground with one day. Oddly enough, I wish you happiness."

"To you too." She spoke quickly, looking everywhere but me and sipped.

"My Darling Helaena," I bowed extravagantly, she reddened. "Who has never steered me wrong. I have missed your wisdom and foretellings. I know they would bid me well fortune for where I must soon return. I will miss your voice the most." The truth. Some found her musings irritating. I found them to be a comfort, like a lullaby.

But my sister and I shared a long look. I knew she didn't like what I had become or the lives I had stolen, but she respected my choice still. I wondered if, perhaps, she knew of my fate. It scared me that Helaena may already know the conclusion of my story. But still, I would not back down from conquest. Each story ended, it was what made them a story rather than an eternity, but what mattered was if that story meant something. Mine would. It had to.

"I bid you safety atop the Phantom." Helaena bowed her head gently, lips flat. She did not smile. No. Instead, she saw something. Within my eyes, within her own, it was difficult to desipher and hardly mattered.