Ashes In The Castle ||| Aemond Targaryen

thirty-two

The moment Naerys was able to see her brothers again was one she would never forget nor be able to replicate. Because she was able to see them again. Every time she'd left her brothers, someone died.

It had been days after they took King's Landing, things were moving ahead, plans were being made. Naerys had a place on the small council as the heir and she realized how boring much of it was. But she was being involved.

But they were interrupted from their stone twirling by a knight. "Your Grace, your sons, Prince Joffrey and Prince Aegon have arrived."

Naerys didn't wait for the clear from the Queen. She couldn't.

She jumped up and gently placed, tossed, her stone in the middle of the table and ran from the room through the halls. Naerys didn't care she was wearing a dress and didn't care that people gawked as she ran past.

The girl took every twist and turn as it came about until she found them. Two smaller boys standing with a knight. She would know that brown curly hair.

Just being able to see them almost had Naerys sobbing in the middle of the Keep. To see their faces again. That they were alive and breathing. She hadn't failed totally as their oldest sibling.

Joffrey saw her first. His eyes a replica of the brothers that were dead, his hair the same. He didn't care to hold in his tears, though. Because he hadn't seen his older sister since she was captured.

"Naerys?" His voice was high, breaking at the end of her name. Aegon turned to look, he was so much older. He probably didn't even know her.

She couldn't wait, Naerys didn't have any restraint with her brothers. She ran for them.

First was Joffrey. He was taller, much taller. He still didn't rival Naerys but the boy was growing. She scooped him up off of the ground and squeezed him as tightly as she could. Naerys loved him more than words could express. He was her last Strong brother, her last connection to the brothers from Laenor.

Joffrey was trying to stifle his sobs into her shoulder. He was just a boy, he feared he was going to lose his sister after his brothers.

"I-I thought you were dead—" the boy hiccuped and wrapped his arms around his sister's neck.

"I'm not. I'm not. We're all together now." Naerys held the back of his head and sighed.

Rhaenyra was there a moment later, gathering her youngest son into her arms and kissing his head. Those three were all she had left.

They switched sons, Rhaenyra passing Aegon to Naerys and Naerys setting Joffrey down to hug his mother.

Aegon knew his sister. He knew she was the oldest, knew she was the heir. And Naerys held just as much love for him as she did her fully biological brother.

She would keep those boys alive no matter what it took. For Jace, Luke, and Viserys. Naerys wouldn't let them die. Not if she could do anything, anything at all, to prevent it.

***

Being officially named heir was incredibly nerve-wracking. Naerys would stand in front of a hundred people, maybe more, and wait while they vowed themselves to Rhaenyra and her as the heir.