𝖇𝖑𝖔𝖔𝖉 𝖉𝖞𝖓𝖆𝖘𝖙𝖞, 𝐚. 𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐫𝐲𝐞𝐧¹

𝟎𝟎𝟖. AN EYE FOR AN EYEᶠᵇ

𝟏𝟐𝟎 𝐀𝐂

      BLOOD.

      There was so much blood.

      Alysanne stared at her pale, trembling hands as she sat on her balcony, the salted, worn stone rough against her skin, the tangy rainwater soaking her to the bone. Her fingers were coated in blood. Her nails were caked with blood. There was blood everywhere.

      But none of it was hers. Not a single drop of the sticky crimson substance that coated her body came from her own veins.

      She closed her eyes, tucking her trembling hands beneath her thighs, pinching her lips shut as she desperately tried to banish the memories of what happened that night. She still felt ill from when she lost her composure earlier, the remnants of which still bitterly coated her tongue.

      So much had happened that night...so much horror.

      She would never be able to rid her mind of the sight of the gash that ripped open Aemond's face. She could still see the way his lilac eye had been split down the middle, the way it oozed and seeped as Aenora pressed her robe against the wound, hoping to staunch the bleeding, neglecting her own wound, which bled mercilessly as she cradled her screaming twin.

      Alysanne wasn't supposed to be there. She should not have been there. But she was. Like the foolish little girl she was, she found her way to that cavern, trailing after Aenora and the Velaryons as they rushed to intercept whoever had claimed Vhagar.

      Alysanne had seen the events unfold, had watched with wide eyes and a slackened jaw as Vhagar took to the skies, taking with her a small figure who clung desperately to the worn leather saddle, their shrill screams cutting through the night sky. She would never admit it now, not with all that had happened since that moment, but when Alysanne caught a flash of moonlight gleaming on silver hair, pride swelled in her chest.

      He did it, she had thought to herself as she rose a hand to cover her burgeoning smile. He claimed a dragon!

      But at what cost?

      She had watched from the corner as Aemond and Aenora grappled with the Velaryons. She watched as Lucerys produced a blade the size of his own little arm and inadvertently sliced open his aunt's arm when she shoved the young boy, prompting Aemond to charge the boy. That was when...

      Alysanne shook her head, squeezing her eyes shut tighter and tighter, fighting those terrible images as they once again took hold of her mind.

      She could still hear the shouting across the castle as the Targaryens and Velaryons fought over the incident. Alysanne had already given her teary-eyed testimony, but when it became evident that she was in no state of mind to be of much use, her father requested that she be returned to her quarters for the evening. To rest, he had said, his blue eyes gleaming with worry as Loren grasped Alysanne by her shoulders. She didn't need rest. She was hysterical and she was of no use to the queen's tirade against her step-daughter's children.