The Prince and the Falcon | Aegon II Targaryen

15

Leysa had stormed off after Aegon offered Ghost to protect the Eyrie. Disregarding the implication that he had also offered his own dragon Sunfyre to do the same, she didn't think he's in the position to offer a wild dragon to protect something that she held so dearly. If she had to be honest, she was glad and relieved to see Ghost again, she wasn't heartless enough to not even think about the beast every once in a while. But any elation she had felt was quickly washed away when she realized it was Aegon who brought him to the Eyrie.

He didn't follow her and she was glad of his choice because she wasn't sure she could stop herself from smacking him across his stupid face. And he had the audacity to command her to train the dragon, when he knew from the very beginning she didn't want to.

Instead of going to her room and locking herself however, she went to find her aunt. Leysa wasn't sure what she wanted to say to her and she knew complaining about Aegon to her would just make her look like a child throwing a tantrum.

But even then, she was the only one she could speak about the matter. She found Lady Arryn in the gardens, looking at the statue of the woman in the middle of it.

"My lady," she greeted, walking towards her. Jeyne turned and smiled but didn't move from her place in front of the statue. The sun was shining although the air was still crisp and cold. It was almost fall and the Eyrie will only get colder. During the winter, Lady Arryn would bring her court down to the Gates of the Moon as the Eyrie would just be too cold for its inhabitants.

"I'm assuming from the look in your face the conversation with the prince didn't go well?" she raised a brow at Leysa. She wasn't chiding but Leysa felt as if she was a child caught quarreling with the other children again.

Leysa pursed her lips and didn't say anything.

"You'd think after all these years, with both of you older, you'd also become wiser and stop bickering with each other."

"I highly doubt the prince had any more room to grow wiser, he had exhausted whatever capacity he may have at that," Leysa answered, squinting her eyes at the statue. She briefly remembered a memory of her and Aegon fighting in the very same spot during their betrothal banquet. That seemed ages ago.

"And what is your decision? Or have you failed to even discuss that to give way to your fighting?"

"We weren't fighting."

"You have angry lines between your brows, dearest niece," Jeyne pointed out. "Tell me what has he said this time to make you cross."

She snorted. "He doesn't have to say anything to make me angry."

Jeyne sighed and turn towards her, both hands clasped in front of her. "The king has not broken the betrothal, Leysa. And he may not have much time left, Aegon is his second eldest child and with the Princess Helaena getting married, he'd expect us to honor the betrothal soon."

"I know that is bound to happen," she hesitated. "It's just Aegon being insufferable that's not sitting well with me. He hasn't changed at all."

"Is it? I could've sworn I thought you looked excited when you walked into the solar to see him."

"Excited? Me? That's ridiculous." She rolled her eyes at the absurdity of the accusation. She wasn't excited to see him, they weren't friends. And whatever they had shared because of their common secrets and promise, she was sure it would not affect how she felt about her betrothed. How she still felt about him.

"The king would have you marry him in King's Landing," Lady Arryn said matter-of-factly. "He's ill and frail, he couldn't honor our agreement to wed you here in the Eyrie."