Midnight Blades [Aemond Targaryen x female!reader]

Part 19

"You are not dead, you fool."

The chain holding Aemond to the wall snapped beneath the blows dealt by Dark Sister and he struggled to rise to his feet. His clothes were in pieces and showed his skeletal frame beneath, the weeks of scraps they had been feeding him leaving him scrawnier than the hungry dogs that ran wild in the street.

He looked like death, and smelt even worse.

"Put your arm around me," you ordered as he swayed unsteadily, still not quite believing you were there in the flesh. "We need to leave, Aemond."

He draped his arm heavily over your shoulder and you wrapped yours around his narrow waist, feeling the bones of his hips jutting from his skin. If you could go back in time you would have made sure Rhaenyra suffered for longer, the quick death you gave her far more than she deserved.

"You shouldn't have come in your condition."

You frowned and looked up at Aemond, his eye blurred and unfocused. "Fret not now, your daughter is safe. It is you I worry for, will you be able to climb up Vhagar?" He was already panting and the length of the hall had barely been covered. "Do you need rest?"

"No," he huffed as he gritted his teeth and stubbornly put one foot in front of the other, slowly climbing the stairs that would take him to fresh air and freedom. He hurried as he saw the doors to the castle wide open and Vhagar's silhouette perched upon the bridge, the dragon watching the burning horizon tiredly.

The bridge was crumbling under the weight of the dragon as she inched closer at the sight of Aemond and you leaving the castle. "He will be fine," you reassured the old dragon as her eye followed Aemond's limp past her, his fingers brushing over her scales.

It was slow to climb the netting up to the saddle and though your stubborn husband would never admit it, the hisses and groans that escaped him told you the immense pain he was in. Your fist was twisted in the back of his ruined tunic and you pulled with each of his steps up the netting, ignoring the dirty look he gave you with your help.

"Get over it," you muttered as you sat him in front of the saddle and took the space behind him.

"You're angry."

You scoffed and whipped the reins, spurring Vhagar to take to the skies. "Angry doesn't begin to cover what I feel right now. Our daughter is at home waiting to meet you and my breasts have not stopped leaking since I left her. I am tired, engorged and fucking furious."

Aemond chuckled weakly as Vhagar climbed higher with each circle of Dragonstone until she was above the roof. You felt the urge to hit him but given he was already hurting you couldn't add to it, and you quietly enjoyed the fact he was able to laugh at all.

" Dracarys! " you cried out and Aemond flinched at the order in his ear.

" Daor! " Aemond countered as his dragon unleashed a rain of fire over the castle, the heat melting the mortar that held the stone together until they began to crumble. "No...why?"

"Because I swore Dragonstone would burn, for what they did to you."

He looked at your hands gripping the reins and saw his ring on your finger, next to his lock of hair that you had cut from him on your wedding day. All over the island he saw the evidence of your rage but he knew it for what it was - love.

"Thank you," he murmured as he struggled to stay awake, his body recognising it was somewhere safe and could finally release the fear and tension that had left him sleep deprived.

"Don't thank me, you are mine and I am yours," you said as his head fell to your shoulder. "You would not have let the message go unanswered."

"They said Helaena died."