cruel gods [aemond targaryen]

XI

*please note that there is implications of suicidal thoughts or self destructive thoughts in this chapter!!! They are in paragraph 23.

Please look after yourselves and contact someone if you are having these types of thoughts*

The knife had been placed on the stand beside her bed when she returned. Maellery placed her headpiece beside it, inches apart from each other, never touching. The hand had requested a meeting with her again on behalf of the Queen.

Maellery's nails were stuck into the palm of her hand as she awaited his arrival, only parting to wipe the sweat on her dress. Her eyes were fixated on the small desserts placed neatly on the table, one more look and she may spew, she turned and instead looked at the carvings in her bed frame.

"Lady Maellery" His voice made her sickness worse, she smiled, the pain evident on her face. He leeched onto this distressed lamb, a confused child he would mould to fit his desires. Desires that may lead her into sacrifice, sacrifice for the ultimate gift, fatherly love that would be entirely one sided.

He sat beside her instead of taking the chair that was prepared for him. He offered a small smile, his eyes purposely filled with sadness. "There's been a discussion between the small council" He began, sorrow dripping off the words he spoke.

He watched as her chest rose, puffed out for a few seconds before it retrieved back to its normal state. Her fingers feeling each bump and ridge on her lips.

"The king is not getting younger and concerns about your marriage are beginning to arise. The king.... he is sick" Maellery took another breath, though not for the king and his health. For herself and Aemond.

"The Queen has decided that the marriage between you and Prince Aemond will take place sooner than expected, the King is delighted about the betrothal and wishes to attend the ceremony. We would like to grant him that."

Her eyes were shut, her teeth sinking into her lips. She was supposed to have more time before she gave up her girlhood. She had not yet fully processed the ideas of Aemond, the burden of their partnership still weighing on her heart.

Now it felt as if her heart had been ripped out, passed around and mended by the multiple men in her life, eventually being given to her father who would give it to who he deemed perfect. The blood of her would plague the hands of those who handled it. Not with care or love, the marks of those still fresh, but with duty and desire for control.

With that, she began to weep. Silent tears which burned her skin, the saltiness slipping into her wounds ripping them open but healing them at the same time. Her eyes still remained closed, imagining the horrors of being his wife. Her brain repeating his words, she wanted to reach up and claw it, ripping out the part of her brain that made her feel that way, that reminded her of the words he had used against her.

"Forgive me, i thought i had more time." A hand on her cheek made her open her eyes, Otto Hightower sat across, wiping the tears that never stopped flowing.

"It's okay, child. I understand this is a bitter time for you, but if you marry the prince, you will be apart of my family. Me, the Queen, Helaena." At the mention of her friend, she sucked in a breath. "We would never do anything to harm you."

In that moment, Maellery had been freed from the chains of her father, only to be held in a cage of fatherly love by the hand of the king. He had spoke more affections in a simple moment then her father had bestowed upon her since she had entered the world.

He held her face in his hands. Maellery thought it was genuine, watching his granddaughter go through a similar experience may have bought him his understanding. His hands cradling her misery for her. Maellery failed to notice his hands were bruising her pitiful face, engraving his presence.