The Gathering Storm | Aemond Targaryen

Chapter 21

When Haera awoke the next morning Cregan was gone, the half of the bed he had occupied for most of the night now vacant and cold. She could have slept for much longer if it had not been for little Elyse knocking on her door and entering swiftly with a tray in her hands before Haera could even lift her head from the pillows.

It was only when Elyse peek her head into view over Haera did she startle. "Are you awake yet?"

"Good morning to you too young one." Haera peeking open her one violet eye to look at the little girl besides her bed.

"I brought you breakfast." Elyse throwing out her arm to point at the tray on the table across the room.

"Thank you Elyse."

"You're welcome! Lord Stark also had me bring you some tea. It smells really bad though."

Lifting her head up from the fur pillows she currently was swimming in, Haera eyed the small teapot besides her breakfast. She knew without a doubt what kind of tea it was, and she silently thanked Cregan for thinking of it and sending it up to her.

"I'll make sure to add some honey to it, thank you." The Princess gave a tired smile to the young girl before her. "Elyse might I have the room for a moment, I'd like to get changed."

Elyse titled her head, "you don't want any assistance?"

Haera shook her head, knowing that the girl curious girl would without a doubt ask why she wasn't wearing any clothes beneath the furs piled around her.

"I'll be quite fine on my own. Now go on, go find some breakfast for yourself now." Haera nodded towards the door, watching as Elyse sent her a gapped tooth smile before dashing back out of the chamber.

Once the door was sensibly shut, Haera slid from the warmth of the bed, her bare feet curling on contact with the stone floors. Still tired from the eventful night before she lazily pulled her discarded dressing gown back around her naked form. Ignoring the ache between her legs she moved across the room, setting to the task of putting more wood into the fireplace, the coals still smoldering from last night.

Her breakfast was still hot as she ate it. Savory sausage and roasted potatos smothered in a thick sort of gravy and topped with fried eggs with dripping golden yolks. She didn't realize how hungry she had been until she was dragging a finger along the empty plate to gather what remained and popping it in her mouth.

The moon tea was less appetizing. Despite adding a spoonful of honey it still left a terrible taste in Haeras mouth to the point in which she had to plug her nose in order to staunch the flavor and get it down.

In her short time in the north she had grown to love the warm pelts and furs that often lined her cloak and other articles of clothing, it reminded Haera of when she was little in wrapped in the warm embraces of her mother and when it was safe to do so; her father.

Now nestled deep in the comforts of the cloak Cregan gifted her on her first night, Haera slipped from her room. Servants and maids bowed and curtsied as she passed before hurrying off to continue whatever task needed to be done. From the outside Winterfell looked like a cold and lonely place but it was anything but. The halls were always bustling with life and there was always the scent of something cooking in the air. There wasn't a corner in the castle where warmth did not reside.

It was the coziest of places and Haera wished that Dragonstone was the same. . . But it wasn't. She loved the island that she called home but when the summer storms and colder months came the stone castle on the side of the Dragonmont could become cold and damp. Sure with the fires and torches it could become comfortable but it didn't even compare to Winterfell. Here it felt like resting in the very belly of a dragon. Always warm.