𝐁𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐊 𝐎𝐅 𝐒𝐀𝐏𝐏𝐇𝐈𝐑𝐄 ~ aemond targaryen (discontinued)

22 ~ No Reward in War ~ 22

The Prince Aemond hadn't received my calling upon our wager well. The stare he delivered was beyond loathing, beyond hatred. Words were not required for him to communicate his wishes and pleads for death to find me quickly and painfully.

But I shrugged it off. I was stealing him away from his comfortable, princely lifestyle afterall, forcing him to join a war he had no interest in. But I owned no room to sympathise. My priorities lay with the war effort, I cared little of Aemond's appreciation towards me. However, I will admit, his reaction to the revelation of what I had been involved in these last four years was rather... pleasant. I expected him to become volatile and maybe even violently jealous over what I had worked to achieved but strangely enough, Aemond's first shared thoughts were of my safety, of my vulnerable youth.

It warmed me slightly, until he, of course, chose to undo his decency by swearing upon his reluctance to mourn me were I to fall in battle. I didn't think he spoke the truth. Mostly because I would mourn him if the roles were reversed and so he must have felt even a morsel of the same way. But perhaps my soul was just a little softer than his.

I couldn't help but chuckle at that.

Aemond Targaryen, who I had recently, shockingly discovered was squeamish at the sight of blood, so averted to the sight of human organs removed from their husk, more wicked than myself? Impossible. My kill count told the opposite.

"You will regret this." The Prince's words were blistering.

"Perhaps..." I shrugged, a relaxed grin spread wide across my face. "But Vhagar will indefinitely prove to be a nice addition to my army. She may even turn the tides of war."

I pointedly removed Aemond from the equation, making it clear that it was not him who I needed, it was not him who I chose to join me. If it was possible to steal Vhagar away, claiming her as my own, then perhaps I would, merely to keep Aemond apart from the dangers of war. But they were a pair, not as close as Helios and I, but still woven together until one or the other left this world.

A smirk smeared across his face, cruel and nasty. "No. You asked for a squire." Aemond said. "Not a dragon. Vhagar will not fight in your war. It is not apart of our wager." I knew he thought he had discovered a loophole. I burst his hope quickly.

"So you would prefer to ride at my back, atop Helios?" I kept my stance casual, crossing my arms. Helios yawned awake to the sound of his name. "What is the use of owning a dragon bred by war, who flew beside the Dread, the Conqueror, and refusing to actually return her to her purpose?"

Aemond did not speak, his gaze was of stone.

"Consider the legacy I am offering you, Aemond." I continued, speaking to him softer now. "Curse me all you like for this ensnarement, but I am offering you a chance to be known as someone other than simply the One-Eyed Prince." He flinched gently at the use of his title. I knew that look, that feeling, all to well. I stepped closer. "I know you can be something more. Someone bigger, greater, stronger. Aemond, I know you better than any other soul could ever even try to, I know you are due grander prospects. You are owed more. And so- allow me to offer it to you. More."

His pale throat bobbed, eye shifting to Helios who stretched out long like a cat, to the rising sun, to the saffron heavens.

And then he inhaled the brisk air in deep, slow lungfuls, eye falling shut.

It seemed he was considering my offer as if he owned a choice in the matter. Yet I had decided hours ago that he would be following me to the Stones.

"You can either accompany me as my Squire, as a man beneath me, my understudy, a Prince without authority." I said, "Or..." I completely preferred the first offer but sometimes compromises must be established in honour of the greater good, "...you can accompany me as an equal. As a soldier, as a fellow dragon rider. As my ally. My comrade." I bit the inside of my cheek. "Follow me Aemond, as my friend."