The King's Whore - Aegon/Aemond

Chapter 3

“Working today, girl?” Becca asked, pouring out a cup of water for herself.
Fern glanced over at her, fiddling with the splintered edge of the wooden table. “Depends how much is being paid.” She answered.
The other whore laughed, tossing her a bruised apple. “That's the spirit, little lass.”
“Look at you, already more of a head for business than some of these girls.” Cedra said. “You're one of us now, girl.”
Fern smiled.
It was nice to belong. To be a part of something. To have a place.
Even if what she belonged to was sin and misery.
It had been a week since she'd joined their ranks. A week of being bought.
A week since Aegon had last visited her.
After a few rounds with some of the other patrons, she decided she was glad that he'd been first.
The rest were not nearly as considerate of how she felt.
There'd been an old man who'd bounced her on top of him until he found his own pleasure, never once hitting her own spot.
There'd been a bald man who'd been so rough that she still wore the bruises. So rough that it had made her bleed afterwards.
There'd been a slender man who'd told her he loved her within the first three thrusts and the first three minutes of knowing her.
And there'd been a woman that she'd almost been tempted to allow for free. Almost.
“Go get yourself dressed. Men love unlacing that dress of yours.” Cedra said.
Fern begged to disagree. They loved ripping it off of her and pretending they were having their way with some innocent little flower.
The only one who'd taken any time to unlace it had been Aegon, and she'd not seen him since.
It had been eight long days, and she'd started to reach the conclusion that she was never going to see the prince again.
She probably should've guessed.
Princes didn't hang around gutter rats like her. He had lines of girls waiting for him. She was nobody.
More likely than not, Aegon had only been interested in her for one reason.
Still, she didn't regret it.
If it meant her first time didn't leave her bloody and sobbing on her bedroom floor, she was glad.
Fern finished lacing her dress, moving instead to comb through the honeyed locks of her hair.
The door opened behind her.
“I'll be out in a moment, Cedra.” She said. “Do we have men already?”
“Just one man, actually.” Aegon said.
Fern stopped the comb in her hair, looking back at him in her mirror. “My Prince, what are you doing here?”
He looked away, his jaw tightening. “I came to see you.”
“Really?” She asked, turning to face him. “For how long? Cedra will take your coins.”
“Fern.”
“Yes, my Prince?”
“I tried to come back. I'm sorry. I haven't been in King's Landing. And then my brother– I have only just returned. I came directly to you.”
She wanted to roll her eyes at him, but she'd known him long enough to know when he was lying and when he was telling the truth.
Fern sighed, sitting down on her bed. “What happened to your brother?”
Aegon shifted from one foot to the other. “Our nephew, Lucerys, took his eye.”
“What?”
“It was gruesome. Aemond has barely left his chambers since.”
Fern frowned. She didn't know what to say.
Aegon often talked about his little brothers. Even though he spent a fair amount of time teasing them, she knew he loved them.
But she'd never had siblings.
She didn't know what the right thing was to say or do.
What did a person even say to a boy having his eye cut out? It was terrible even for King's Landing. Especially for a boy of such noble birth.
“I brought you something.” The Prince said again, still stood on the other side of the room. “I heard a saying about whores and trinkets.”
Fern laughed despite herself. “Shut up.”
He'd been waiting for that.
That laugh. That roll of her eyes. The smile that refused to leave her lips no matter how hard she tried to fight it.
He pulled a necklace from his pocket. A beautiful thing of emerald and gold that Fern knew was worth more than the whole building around her and then some.
“It was my mother's.”
“Will she not miss it?”
Aegon walked over to her, shrugging his shoulders. He gestured for her to move her hair from her neck and she immediately did as bid. “She has lots of jewels. She was going to be rid of this so now it's yours.”
“Aegon, I can't wear a Queen's jewels.”
He fastened the clasp around her neck, fingers brushing against her skin and leaving goosebumps in their wake. “And yet you are.”
She looked up at him, blue eyes bright. “Is this your payment?”
“Do I have to pay for every visit now?”
Fern bit her lip, pulling him down onto the bed beside her. “My time is precious.”
“I'm sure it is. You seem very busy.”
“I have been.” She said. “While you were away. I was put to good use.”
Aegon bit the inside of his cheek so hard that it drew blood.
He knew what Fern's job was. And, given that he'd had her, she was bound to start working full time.
But for some reason, some foolish reason, he'd thought that she'd wait for him.
That she wouldn't see anyone else.
It was an idiotic idea.
Fern had no more choice in who she bedded than he had choice in where he'd been sent off to for the week.
“Did they hurt you?” He asked, touching the emerald necklace on her neck.
She leaned down, lying next to him with her hand on his chest. “They paid well to hurt me. At least it lined my pocket.”
He scoffed. “They didn't pay to hurt you. They paid to fuck you.”
“It doesn't matter what they do. They bought me for an hour, I'm theirs to do as they please.”
Aegon huffed, rolling his eyes.
Outside, people were laughing and, for some reason, it made him pull her in a little closer.
“We're going somewhere.”
She lifted her head, smiling at him. “Where?”
“Anywhere. Away.”
She laughed. “You want to run away again?”
“Why, are you propositioning me?”
Fern shoved him. “I hate you.”
“No, you don't.”
“Yes I do.”
He pulled her in and kissed her. She immediately melted into it, pushing him back against the bed.
As he pulled away, she sighed and rested her head against his.
“Alright, let's go on this mysterious trip then, my Prince. If that's really what you want to do.”
“Put your cloak on.”
“You know, usually when men buy whores, they want us to take clothes off. Not put them on.”
“You can take your clothes off if you want, Waters. I won't stop you. But I think you'll be cold walking the streets of King's Landing without anything on.”
“You would know from experience.”
Aegon rolled off her bed, offering a hand out to her.
She stared up at him, raising one curious brow, before taking his hand.
“right, my Prince. Whatever you want. You did pay, after all.”
“You're becoming an expensive habit, Perzītsos.”
She grinned, looping her arm through his. “An expensive whore for an expensive boy.”
“A perfect match, I'd say.”