Innocence// AEMOND TARGARYEN ✔️

Chapter Forty-nine

Eirlys was sitting in front of a warm fire in her daughter's chamber. She missed her dearly but she knew that it was for the best that she didn't have to live in this hostile environment at court.

She was informed a few hours earlier by Daeron that Aemond had arrived back to court which took her by surprise since she wasn't aware he had left in the first place. Upon further inquiry, he told her that Aemond had gone to Storm's end as Aegon's envoy.

Eirlys was upset that he never even bothered to inform her of this before he left, unknown to her that he did want to tell her but his mother had promised that she would inform the princess on his behalf which she never did.

She asked Daeron to leave her and to let her husband know that she wanted to be left alone for the time being and that he should not try and find her.

Eirlys sat on the ground as she watched the fire, a distant memory making its way to her mind.

She was on her way to her chambers when she heard someone softly crying when she passed Aemond's chambers. The little girl, only three, pushed open the door to find the boy huddled near the fireplace of his room, quickly trying to throw in logs and coal to keep the flames burning.

"Can I help?" she innocently asked "It is rather cold tonight"

Aemond wanted to tell her to go away but when she spoke with that shrill voice of her's laced with concern, he found it hard to do so.

"The fires aren't for me" he sniffled as he wiped away a tear, trying to stop his crying. The soot at the back of his hand left a black smudge on his cheek that Eirlys went and wiped away with her own hand.

She then saw the little bundle of blankets he had placed close to the fireplace and nestled in it was his dragon egg, that never hatched.

"Oh" she simply said as she sat cross legged next to him, gently tracing the blankets "perhaps if I sing to it, the dragon sleeping inside will wake up"

Aemond was willing to try almost anything at that point, even if he had to be Aegon's servant for an entire day.

Eirlys sang one song, then two, then three but it didn't help.

Both kids sat huddled up together that night, shivering as they used their blankets to warm up the egg instead.

The sound of the musicians playing a lively tune snapped her out of her nostalgic thoughts as she stood up and left the room to see what called for such celebration.

For how long had she locked herself away?

In the throne room, a bunch of lords were laughing about while the servants poured wine. Aegon too was present, ranting about something that Eirlys only heard when she walked closer to him.

"...and our spies tell us that Borros turned him away so the bastard had to leave" Aegon laughed along with the other men, his wine glass already half empty "let us drink to the kinslayer and to the death of the traitorous Lucerys Velaryon"

Eirlys' breath hitched in her throat.

"Aegon!" she yelled, unsure of what to say afterwards.

"Pour the lady a cup" Aegon snapped his fingers at one of the servants, failing to see that it was the princess calling out to him "you shouldn't address the king by his na-"

Eirlys was trembling with rage as she pushed past the drunken men to reach Aegon and slapped him hard across the face, the impact was quiet powerful as it sent him stumbling back a few steps, his grip on his chalice lost as it fell with a clatter to the ground.

The room went silent.

"Who dares- oh" Aegon went pale when he saw who it was he'd spoken to. She wasn't supposed to hear any of that "Eirlys.."

"You drunken cunt!" Eirlys screamed as she lurched at him, retrieving the dagger Daemon had gifted her on her name day that she kept strapped around her thigh. She did not care about the stares that followed when she lifted her skirt to unsheathe the blade. She brought the daggger upto his neck, pressing the cool metal against his skin until she saw droplets of blood arise on the surface.

Valerian steel was sharp.

The king's guard rushed to the scene with their swords unsheathed but Aegon raised his hand.

"No one touches the princess!" he demanded whilst quiet literally trembling. He had never seen her this enraged before.

"I should've let Rhaenys burn you and your entire fucking family" She snapped while Aegon tried to hold her hand away from him "how could you kill him? He was only a boy, he never did anything to you!"

"It wasn't me!" Aegon yelled over her "l..let me explain-"

"Then explain!" angry tears streamed down her face as she struggled against his grasp to slit his throat and end him once and for all.

Aegon didn't know how to tell her. There was no easy way for him to let her know that it was her husband who had done it.

"Eirlys!" Alicent rushed into the room, already made aware of her daughter-in-law on the verge of ending her son's life "gods have mercy, let go of him!"

"Aegon tell me!" she ignored the dowager queen and continued her plea, now sounding defeated "tell me its a lie, mere gossip you made up to entertain the court"

Aegon's silence was heartbreaking. It simply confirmed what he said was nothing but the truth. He turned to look at his mother who looked just as dejected, at a loss for words.

"It was Aemond" he sadly told her as he watched the dagger fall from her hands. She began to tremble at the mention of his name being attached to the murder of her brother.

Aegon tried to reach out and comfort her but she flinched away from him.

There could not have been a worse time for Aemond to enter, for when he did he instantly locked gazes with Eirlys.

Her eyes were brimming with tears as her expression shifted from betrayal to resentment.