Midnight Blades [Aemond Targaryen x female!reader]

Part 12

The sun had long since gone to slumber when you woke cold and alone on a cot. The air reeked of the dead and dying, and your stomach churned at the putrid smell until you rolled to the edge of the low bed and vomited to the straw covered floor. The scent only grew stronger as the tent flap opened and Nathaniel, the Crown Prince of Scythe, swaggered inside.

"Ello, little sister," he said with a shake of his head. "You have been on quite the adventure."

You wiped your mouth with the threadbare sheet and winced as it touched your tender nose and came away with flakes of blood. If your legs didn't feel like a newborn foal you would have jumped to your feet and thrown yourself into his arms but as it was you could only extend your hand that wasn't bandaged with a choking sob.

"What are you doing here? What happened? How are you even here?" you asked through your tears as he stepped around your mess and knelt at your side to take your hand.

"In good time," he reassured gently, looking over the large bandage that covered your burnt arm and at the blood that covered your face. "First, there is a foolish prince who refuses to let the maesters tend his wounds unless he sees that you have been treated first."

You smiled at the thought of your stubborn husband and groaned as you pulled yourself up to sit. "Can you call for water?"

Your half brother didn't need to as there was already a servant boy walking in with a bucket in one hand and clean clothes in the other. The water was cool and refreshing as you filled your stomach before using the rest to clean the blood from your face, using the sheet once again to gently pat it dry.

"I am too weak to change on my own," you murmured as you looked longingly at the clean clothes.

"Let me find a lady, though they are in short supply at present," Nathaniel offered before ducking out of the tent and greeting someone stiffly, not at all the charming prince he was known as. You quickly found out why when it was Alicent who stepped into the tent and waved the servant boy out. Nathaniel was not accustomed as you were with facing the people we were raised to hate, and he would find facing the silver hairs even harder.

"Queen Dowager," you greeted with a painful nod of your head. "I thought you would be sitting vigil with Aemond."

"I was," she said as she picked at her fingers, the nail beds red and raw in a manner you had not seen before. "He is being...difficult and I realised with most of the guests returning to the city, you may find yourself without appropriate assistance."

She picked up the plain dress and hung it over her arm before stepping closer, reaching for what remained of the threaded lace on your bodice. "May I?"

You nodded and let her untie the bow, gently loosening the tattered gown until it fell to the floor. "Why are you helping me?"

Her eyes were fixed on the blood that had dried upon your skin and the bandages that covered your arm. With a shake and a deep breath she tore her eyes away and held the clean dress open for you to step into. "As a mother the greatest fear we have is that we will fail our children, that we will not be able to protect them in this life. I nearly lost all of my children this day, and their children too." She brushed her hand over your stomach as she gathered the laces and began to thread them through the eyelets. "I owe you and your people a debt that you will only understand when you hold that child in your arms."

She tied the bow off and flattened the skirts, nearly teetering over as you suddenly swept out of the tent impatient to see your husband. Every step reminded you of the aches in your body but Aemond's voice called to you, barely recognising the people lowering their heads as you passed.