Blood of Old Valryia (Aemond Targaryen FF)

Chapter Twenty Six

Despite the cold and dark, Aesira and Aemond had raced through the night on horseback to a little town between King's Landing and Rosby.

Choosing to forego sleep until they were wed, they spent all morning setting up what would be their wedding.

And yet, as the Inn Keeper's owner—an old man namely Gerard Wys—stood in for her father and walked Aesira towards the enamored Aemond beside the beaming Septon, she knew the travel had been worth it. Fashioned in an ivory dress with silver and gold lacework, and a red-on-black cloak draped across her shoulders, Aesira paced atop the scattered rose petals. The dress had been a temporary gift from the Inn Keeper's wife, she felt it complimented the circlet atop Aesira's brow, but also it was all that she had that fit Aesira.

She'd even gone so far as to let the old man's wife and daughter paint her face with coal to line her eyes, a touch of shimmering crushed pearl on her eyelids, a dab of soft pink on her lips, and a strong pinch to her cheeks for colour, and warmth.

Gerard Wys had been both flustered and honoured when she'd asked him to aid her, seeing as he'd never actually met either of them beforehand. But when old Gerard Wys glanced over at his own daughter—just a year younger than Aesira, of marrying age herself—and saw the adoration the girl wore in her eyes for the love between Aesira and Aemond, he found himself unable to refuse her.

There was no anxiety on Aemond's face or hesitation in his eye, he wanted this. He wanted to wed her and seeing that surety made all the difference to Aesira.

The Septon, ever excited to see two young people joined together, gestured to the old man as they reached him. Aesira kneeled slightly as she turned her back to the old man, and waited as he removed the cloak from her shoulders. She welcomed the chill that lasted less than a heartbeat before Aemond draped his own red-on-black cloak over her shoulders.

Aesira hadn't understood the custom but the old man's wife had been kind enough to explain that it signified moving from her father's protection to her husband's. She would remove the cloak with her father's House colours and be adorned in her husband's. She bit back the giggle at her leaving the House Targaryen and joining...well...the House Targaryen.

Aesira stood tall and then faced Aemond. He towered over her as he stepped closer, clasping their hands together between them.

The Septon began, "With this kiss, I pledge my love, and take you for my lady and wife..."

"With this kiss, I pledge my love, and take you for my lady and wife," Aemond began. The Septon had said he would start their vows to each other, and they would finish it. "I vow that we will create a home with no bursts of rage, no drunken nights, no broken glass, and no vying for the loudest words thrown. Our home will be filled with compassion, understanding, and warmth neither of us grew up in. My Lady, My Love, I will keep you safe and you will me still. There will be no trepidation, no pain, and no agony. You come from a dark and aberrant place, and I from a cold and calculating one, but together we will build something whole and safe. I will hold you close on the nights when your monsters hound at your heels and fight them when you grow weary. My Lady, My Love, My Wife, My Aesira...we will heal as one and then raise a family that will want for nothing, need for nothing, and have the world at their whims."

With his words and his sincerity, Aemond had crawled inside her heart and built a house for them, and them alone. He wrote his name on every inch of her soul, every dark crevice and punched-in nook. She'd once teased him for his poetry and he'd said there were many things she didn't know about him. She believed it now, and she couldn't wait to explore it with him.

The Septon cleared his throat, choking up too at Aemond's moving words, "With this kiss, I pledge my love, and take you for my lord and husband..."

"With this kiss, I pledge my love, and take you for my lord and husband," Aesira began, ignoring the tears of joy that pooled in her eyes as she gazed at the man who would be hers in every way that mattered, "From this day onward, you and I will be one in heart, body, and mind. I vow that each kiss will be filled with more love than the last and that our days together will grow in love and devotion. This union binds us together as one unbroken path, on which I vow never to deviate, never to falter, and to always be by your side. Nothing will divide us because I know, with your love, I will always find my strength. This, my dearest, my husband, is the beginning of forever: forever kisses, forever loves, forever together as one."

In the small gathered crowd of five people—Gerard Wys, his wife, their daughter, the Inn Cook, and the Stable Hand—sniffles sounded, amidst the gasps and the 'awww's. They blurred into nothing as the Septon took their clasped hands and said, "With this kiss, I declare you one flesh, one heart, one soul, now and forever."

Aemond had barely waited until the Septon had declared them before he leaned down to kiss Aesira. The kiss was delicate and tender and everything she'd come to expect from Aemond when they were alone. And then all at once, she could feel his hunger and yearning for more but also the respect he would always show her when they weren't alone.

The applause that sounded from the crowd was raucous as they rose to toss dried rice at the newly wedded couple. Aemond pulled back to rest his forehead on hers, his hands on either of her cheeks as they held her closer to him. They stayed that way until the adoring crowd grew too much and they were forced apart.

"And now, for the gifts." The Septon said in a matter-of-factly voice.

Instead of turning to the crowd still throwing rice, Aesira looked at the Septon, "Gifts?"

"The wedding gifts, from bride to groom, and groom to bride." He clarified.

Aemond looked as confused as Aesira did and then she remembered what she held in her back, it seemed fitting. Still holding Aemond's hand, Aesira leaned down and called the old man's daughter, "Leena, would you retrieve my rucksack, please? It is in the room your mother set up for us."

The young maid giggled before bounding out of the chilly afternoon sun and skipping into the Inn. Aesira wriggled her brows at Aemond, without words informing him to ready his own gift for hers was on the way. In response, he rolled his eye, chuckling under his breath.

Minutes passed before Leena returned, the heavy bag in her arms. She wordlessly passed it to Aesira, who ruffled through it until she pulled out the brown-wrapped parcel. As she unwrapped it, she whispered in words only he would understand, "A forged gift from me, and mine. May we turn what is now stone in appearance to gem in stature."

Gasps echoed around them as they beheld the shapeless sapphire stone. Whether they knew it to be real or simply a blue-coloured stone, the sapphire was breathtakingly beautiful as it twinkled in the sunlight. Aemond, with more care than she'd seen in a while, picked up the stone and then slid it into the breast pocket of his black leather tunic.

Aemond unsheathed a dagger the length of Aesira's forearm and offered it up to her, "A gift forged by mine own hand. To protect our new life and our budding family."

Aesira wrapped her fingers around the leather-covered hilt and twirled the dagger around her hand, as if she had any idea what she was doing, and then lowered it to her side, accepting his gift. Aemond unbuckled the sheath, and tied it around her waist before letting her slide the dagger into its sheath.

"My dearest, my husband, my Aemond." Aesira said tenderly.

"My Lady, my Love, my Aesira." Aemond said wickedly.