DRIFTMARK
124 AC
Hira recalled the Elders in Leng, the ones who lived deep in the forest where no sunlight touched the ground, for the trees were too tall and the leaves too wide. Those Elders spoke of how yearning for something so desperately was a risk, because you would pay whatever cost to gain it.
When obtaining something as mighty as a dragon, there was always a price to pay.
"It will heal, will it not, maester?"
For Aemond it was his eye.
Hira couldn't look away from the silver haired boy whose face was blooded and swelling. At every wince and scrunch of his face, Hira felt the guilt dig deeper inside her.
Am I at fault? Did I encourage him too far? By the Old Ones, he's lost an eye!
When he entered the room, carried by the Lord Commander, he didn't scowl at her or lay the blame at her feet. Instead he sent a single nod, one she was still trying to unfold its meaning.
As Jin and Hira were about to head back to her chambers for the night, the ruckus led by the children erupted from the hall, gathering their attention. Hira made sure to order Pilak back to her room, before following the crowd.
Her scattered thoughts had her scratching at her neck, a terrible habit that her mother tried to end to no avail. With careful hands, Jin withdrew hers before she could further damage the skin.
"What happened Baela? Rhaena?" she interrogated her sisters, who trembled beside her. "I thought you were in your chambers asleep."
"He stole Vhager," Rhaena hissed, her face scrunched in anger. A look she had never seen in her sister.
"Therefore you decided the best course of action was to attack him?" Hira asked, tone tense.
All four of them ganging up to just one. How was that fair?
Rhaena drew back, detaching herself from Hira. "Vhagar was mine to claim, not his!"
"Vhagar is not a possession, Rhaena," she argued, recalling all the texts on dragon bonds and riders. "She's a dragon, not a toy you or Aemond owns simply because it pleases you!"
"He almost killed Jace with a rock!" Baela cried.
"And Lucerys mutilated his eye," she shot back bitterly, before uttering under her breath in Lengii, "What in the hells is wrong with these children?!"
Jin gently tapping her shoulder, discreetly whispering in Lengii, "Let us leave them to their business, Princess."
She shook her head, glancing around the packed hall, before setting her sights on Aemond again. "I can't leave."
Not when I may be partly to blame. If not for encouraging the Prince, then for letting the girls be attacked. Damn it to hells, Laena, your children will be the death of me.
"Don't go!" Baela urged.
"Shh, I'm not leaving."
Aemond wasn't the only one with injuries. The girls took a beating, as did the Velaryon boys. Hira questioned why the boys were even involved in this. She understood children banding together, but against a defenceless child?
Though, from what Baela had said, Aemond wasn't all defenceless. All Hira knew was that this was a scuffle will eventually become something more, something worse, and that this was only the beginning of something tragic.
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The Passion of a Thousand Suns | Aemond Targaryen
Fanfiction❛❛ Aemond yearned for her, that much she knew. It was a pity duty held a crown over her head, for Hira would have gladly fallen into his desire. ❜❜ - Hira, known to the Seven Kingdoms as Daemon's bastard daughter. In Leng, a Princess, a daughter of...
