Born to Die

Chapter 28

Aemeryn watched silently from the bed as Aemond tugged his armor on. It was the same dark green one that he had worn to Rook's Rest, and she made a mental note to have him armor commissioned in black. The sun was setting rapidly under the horizon, and Aemeryn finally stood and went to her husband.

"Let me braid your hair," she whispered as she took his hand in hers. Aemond followed as silently as his armor would allow and sat in the chair that she pointed to. She braided his hair quickly and was humming while she did it. Aemond didn't think she even realized that she was humming, and she was doing it because she was secretly nervous.

Two braids were on each side of his head, one starting in the middle of his scalp and the other right above his ear. Aemeryn left those down and pulled the top of his hair back into a half ponytail. The rest of his hair was left down. It would be out of his face, but it was the quickest war braid she could do currently.

Aemond stood and towered over Aemeryn's small frame for a moment before he slid his hand on her jaw and kissed her softly. He didn't think that the fight would be too horrible, but he also didn't know if he would ever see her again. He wasn't about to leave without a kiss.

"Avy jorrāelan," he whispered as he looked at her face and soaked in every detail.

"Avy jorrāelan," Aemeryn whispered back. She had to force her expression to remain sad as she watched Aemond leave the room. Once his footfalls could no longer be heard, Aemeryn jerked her door open and ran down the hall.

Daemon was pacing the room in a huff. She was late and simply shrugged her apology as she sat and handed Daemon her hairbrush. He gave her a look before he stood behind her and tugged the brush through her hair and began to braid it.

"You're late."

"Be angry with Aemond. He seems to believe he is going to die in this battle." Daemon scoffed and shook his head as he finished one braid and began to work on the other.

"He should have been worried about that at Rook's Rest. Instead, Rhaenys is the one that died." She knew he wasn't wrong, but the comment stung anyway. Aemeryn still hadn't learned what truly happened to Rhaenys, and at this point she was too afraid to ask. She knew that Aemond and Aegon had been circling her, but she had lost sight of them once she began to fight.

Daemon had braided two small braids at her scalp and one larger braid to pull her hair out of her face. The rest of her hair was left down in her soft curls. His own hair had already been braided in its typical double stacked braid by Rhaenyra some time earlier in the day. Daemon walked over to the wardrobe and pulled Aemeryn's armor out.

She took it from him, and Daemon walked to the door. He was going to say goodbye to Rhaenyra and meet Aemeryn at Dragonmont in a few minutes. Her armor was slightly tighter than it had been in the past, and she knew that this would probably be the last time she wore it during her pregnancy. She grabbed her helmet from the bed and snuck out of the room and into the hallway.

The castle seemed to be deserted, but Aemeryn knew differently. Rhaenyra, Baela, Rhaena, and Jace were all locked inside of Jace's chambers. The servants had either fled the island until the battle was over or were locked in the guards chambers below. The guards themselves were gathered in the courtyard with the men Daemon and Harwin had brought over.

No one saw Aemeryn sneak out and make her way to Dragonmont quietly. She could hear marching along the bridge and knew that Baratheon was already here. Aemeryn looked up and saw Aemond and Harwin standing on the wall looking below. Her heart was in her throat as she stared at her husband, but she continued on to her father.

"Baratheon!" Aemond called as the men finally came to a stop. He wasn't sure how this fight would go down. The bridge was too narrow to battle on and having them swarm the courtyard seemed to be a horrible idea.