audacity || aemond targaryen

chapter 7: quiet

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THE DOORS CLOSED with a loud slam behind maelina and immediately the people present in her father's chambers turned her heads towards her. she pushed past the maesters, barely taking notice of aemond and merther who were also in the room, or lupin who layed beside her father on his bed. she knelt next to her father's bedside.

the maesters had been working on his leg, which appeared to be broken, with the bone sticking out, and he had a deep wound on his forehead like he'd fallen, as well as bruising and cuts from stones or branches all over his torso. maelina had to hold herself back from gagging at the sight of her unconscious father, who had no colour left in his face. she started whimpering pathetically, stroking his hair and whispering, when suddenly she was grabbed roughly from behind and pulled away from her father's side. she scratched and screamed bloody murder, trying everything to free herself from the man's grip, to the point that another guard had to help restrain her, so she wouldn't hinder the maesters while they treated ser gabryael. but even two guards were not enough and maelina managed to free herself, stumbling back, tears brimming in her eyes. she couldn't keep watching the scene and she was definitely not about to start crying her eyes out in front of witnesses, so she did the next best thing she could think of: she ran.

when noone in the room made any attempt to follow her, merther looked to aemond for help. though neither of the boys liked each other, for varying reasons, they both knew that merther, who was the only one who could truly comfort maelina at this moment, wouldn't be able to leave the maesters, as he too was responsible for ser gabryael's health.

after a few seconds of silent deliberation, aemond gave in and left the room to seek his betrothed. he figured she would most likely not wish to be found, so he didn't bother checking her chambers.
walking through the corridors, the prince nearly collided with the queen as they turned a corner at the same time.

"aemond! what has happened." alicent held his elbows and he immediately reciprocated the gesture, his eye softening when it met his mothers'.

"ser gabryael has sustained grave injuries, but the maesters are treating him as we speak." alicent looked scared, because even if she never got to know gabryael as well as she probably should have, he meant the world to both of the strabron women that she loved so dearly.

"why are you not with maelina?", she asked, scolding her son for his inattentivness.

"do not worry mother, i am looking for her. she fled the chambers, now you must let me continue my search." alicent nodded and let go of her son.

"of course." a sad smile appeared on her face, "i can see how much you care for her." aemond nodded at his mother, not willing to give up on their agreement even now that he was immensely annoyed by maelina's game of hide and seek. he graced his mother with a slim smile and continued on his way. of course he was aware that not everyone fell for their little trick, princess rhaenyra and prince daemon seeing through the façade almost immediately and even helaena and merther being suspicious, but the majority of the people who mattered believed the lie, and that was good enough in aemond's books.

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HE COULD NOT EXPLAIN WHY, but aemond's feet lead him straight to the library, the one place he always sought refuge in, and, much to his dismay, often spent his afternoons in along with maelina.

opening and closing the library doors silently, aemond made his way through the rows and rows of shelves until finally, he spotted a mop of red hair, and approached the girl cautiously.

maelina was sitting against a shelf in a corner of the library, arms hugging her knees and her face buried in them. she was sobbing and only noticed aemond's presence when he announced himself by clearing his throat. she looked at him like a child who'd been caught stealing, and grimaced, turning her face away in embarrassment. surely she had not expected for anyone, especially him, to follow her, but as much as she tried, she could not stop the sobs escaping her lips as tears kept falling from her eyes. aemond's gaze fell on the dress she was wearing, one he had never seen on her before, not that he payed much attention to her wardrobe. he couldn't help but raise his eyebrow at the ivory and green gown.