Ashes In The Castle ||| Aemond Targaryen

twenty-seven

Even for the first few weeks, that stretched into months, Naerys was fine in the Red Keep. Because she was being satisfied by Aemond, she was with him. There wasn't truly a way for her to escape, not with a guard posted by her door and unclimbable windows. She took what she could get.

Her only other visitors were handmaidens sent to clean the room or give her food. Naerys would never harm them, they didn't have much choice in who they served.

The Prince Regent wouldn't let anybody else in her room, wouldn't let anyone else question her. He was asked about it, why that was. But he excused it as him trying to exploit her, gain her trust.

Truthfully, he had her. The woman he wanted to make his wife. He would not risk it, risk something happening to her in his care. When they were married, he could truly protect her. Give her what she yearned for.

Aemond was her constant. That's what his questioning was. Whenever he went to her under the guise of getting information. And at first, it was delicious, heaven. Nothing more she could ask for.

He took her differently each time, even depending on his mood. Sometimes he took her bent over the desk, sometimes he was rough, sometimes it was the couch. And sometimes he needed reassurance. To go slow and soft.

The stress of being Prince Regent obviously affected it all. Everyone was asking different things of him. When all he really wanted was Naerys leading by his side. Not to worry about his brother who couldn't feed himself.

Sometimes he never took her at all. He would only lay with her, lay his head in her lap.

But even Naerys had a limit. It had been months of her being confined to quarters, never seeing the outside, unable to exercise or train. She felt terrible.

The guilt was eating away at her, no matter what Aemond said or did. Rhaenys, Jace. Promises broken on her end.

He'd brought up the prospect of him betrothing himself to her to the council. They claimed they had to talk it over, if it was the right thing. Could they spin it as a peace offering, use her as leverage? Or would it throw Rhaenyra into a rage and have her attack King's Landing directly?

Naerys knew he cared for her. Despite the trouble he had expressing his feelings of care, the words came out in moments of desperation. No matter their past or the hatred, even if it wasn't love, if it wasn't what Naerys felt for him, he cared.

But she'd been his prisoner for months. And she began to feel like nothing much rethan his bedmate. He was out leading a war effort and she was stuck in her room waiting for him to fuck her if he had time.

"If they agree—"

"When," Aemond corrected, smirking as Naerys rolled her eyes.

"—will I be allowed out of my quarters? Or do I just become your official bedmate?"

He knew she was very clearly over being locked in her room. But the council was hesitant because they were well aware she would not bend to Aegon.

"The moment the council agrees and we marry, you will be by my side. That is a promise."

Promises. They were just words. Naerys wanted her freedom. So she could protect her brothers and be happy at the same time. Was it too much to ask for?