𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐄 ~ aemond targaryen (discontinued)

20 ~ The Phantom ~ 20

I was listless as I trudged back into the halls of the Red Keep. It should've been relief I felt in this moment, I should've known the feeling of vengance, of finally freeing my Mother's spirit to rest peacefully. But I was unsatisfied. And I was angry. I was so godamn angry it caused me pain, enough pain I wanted to cry.

But there was one word, one name, that chanted loud and clear in my mind, wrapping around my entire awareness and honing in on him.

Helios.

Helios.

Helios.

I wanted my dragon. I wanted to mount him and take to the skies and disappear amongst the clouds. I could feel him, his bright fiery spirit above, calling out to me along the bridge of that strange bond that had been woven between our two souls since the moment he hatched in my cradle and became my own. I felt him reaching for me, yearning, searching, calling out desperately. He knew of my distress as if it were his own and wished to mend it.

But another name broke my determination to leave the Keep and get to the nearest clearing and sing for my Sun God to come down and swoop me away.

"Khaelyra." It was my own.

I ignored the voice that beckoned me, continuing onwards, planning to find my chambers and bathe. Gods, a bath would be amazing right now, with lavender salts and a temperature so scalding perhaps I would stop feeling all together. I wished to scrub the blood from my flesh until it was raw and fresh.

"Khaelyra. Stop." The voice called again, believing it owned some right to command me. In protest, I did not stop.

A hand tugged on mine and I rounded, fingers shooting to my hip and with a sharp pull, I held the lethal, shimmering tip of my blade to Aemond's throat, right by his adams apple that bobbed beneath my weapon.

His eye was wide and unblinking. He didn't dare to move, knowing best not to challenge me whilst I was consumed in this state of empty rage. Rage which no longer belonged anywhere or owned an output to release. A rage that tempted me to go on a spree for blood just to make up for the right of executing my father, of watching the life drain from his eyes, that had been lost to me because Aemond had distracted me.

"If I have chosen not to respond then take the hint. I dont want to speak to you, Aemond." I think it was the anticipation of his cruelty that I wished to avoid. That, and the horrified look he held now as he saw me. Saw me trully and whole. Saw me for what I was.

"I don't care. You can't just runaway after..." he trailed off and his gaze grew distant. I knew his mind returned to that cell. Perhaps, like me, the image of that split corpse would never vacate his memory. He blinked it away for now. "You've killed before today." It wasn't a question. It was the truth.

Pressing my lips together, I scanned our surroundings. There was no one in sight. And yet still, whatever words fell from my mouth wouldn't only be received by his ears. The whole Keep would hear them by the end of the week.

"Who?" He took my silence as confirmation. "Who have you killed? How many?"

Huffing, my tightly strung muscles sagged and I sheathed my blade. I would not escape the Princes questions and perhaps it was time I stopped running away from them. I was no coward but yet, my avoidance had been cowardly.

"Follow." I turned heel, storming away without a care if he could keep pace. Though, of course, with his long legs and long strides, Aemond stepped beside me, mimicing my speed.