𝐖𝐇𝐎 𝐖𝐄 𝐀𝐑𝐄 - 𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐫𝐚𝐠𝐨𝐧

𝐎𝐍𝐄 - breaking peace

merilla never knew she could miss casterly rock as much as she did in that exact moment. she twisted the rings on her fingers nervously, pressing her lips together as she tried to come up with a conversation starter. aemond targaryen was never the talkative type, but he always used to talk to her. when she had been younger and sent to live at the red keep, he wouldn't talk to anyone but her.

perhaps it was their time apart, or maybe aemond had just simply changed. he seemed colder, he intimated her, he almost scared her. and he had barely said a word.

they walked through the red keep gardens in deeply uncomfortable silence. merilla's mind going slowly insane from the dead quiet. hundreds of thoughts must've raced through her mind, the most prominent one being 'why the fuck would my father allow this betrothal to go through.' she knew the reason, power, money, influence. that was more important than all, including his own daughter.

"so..." she dared to speak, almost stopping when aemonds head snapped toward her, "i hear you have claimed a dragon."

"yes, vhaegar." he answered shortly.

she nodded with a fake smile, wanting nothing more to slap him and remind him he was speaking to the jewel of the lannister family. instead she just cleared her throat, "she was the queen visenya's dragon, if i remember correctly."

"she was," his monotone voice answered, "a true war dragon."

"that's..." she searched for words to charm him, "very impressive, my prince."

"hm" was all aemond said back, she looked down at her shaking hands, with anger or anxiety even she didn't know. she twisted her gold bracelets around her wrist, desperate to take her attention away from him. her dress hit her legs with each step, her nicest dress, in the colors of her house with the finest fabrics casterly rock could ship in. her father insisted on it, she needed to impress aemond. merilla was starting to think aemond wasn't a man who could be impressed, not by her at least.

her dark eyes darted around the garden rapidly, praying that anyone would interrupt, or at the very least walk by. that anyone would save her from this uncomfortable moment, just for a moment so she wouldn't have to force herself to speak to aemond another time. her prayers were unfortunately answered.

"lady merilla," alicent hightower's sweetly sick voice cut through the silence, "i heard you had joined us once more, i was hoping to see you."

merilla looked down as alicent grabbed her hand, physically fighting off the strong urge to push her away, "queen alicent" she forced a smile, bowing her head "how lovely to make your acquaintance."

"we must have tea soon, i believe we have much to talk about," alicent was smiling, but merilla could see the darkness in her eyes, filled with spite and years of suffering, merilla almost felt bad for her, she even almost started to like her. but merilla lannister didn't like anyone.

"yes, we must" merilla agreed, nodding her head with a small smile before taking in a deep breath, "i apologize but i must retire, my father will be expecting me."

"go ahead, sweet girl" alicent thankfully moved away from her and to her son, "we will spend much more time together, i am sure of it."

"looking forward to it" merilla gave aemond a bright smile, that she knew he would not return. before turning, allowing her face to fall and gracefully walking into the keep. she took deep breaths as she walked faster through the castle, realizing there was nowhere to go. if she were to go back to her chambers, her father would actually try and speak to her. even if she knew all of the family as a child, she had no friends in the keep.

all she needed was quiet, well she needed to scream and perhaps punch a mirror but she couldn't do that now. so, she settled for silence. no matter how unladylike it was, as soon as she was out of anyone's sight, merilla began to sprint. feeling her heeled shoes dig into her feet with every stride but she couldn't stop, she couldn't risk being forced into yet another conversation.

she slowed as she got to the library, taking a break to collect herself before opening the heavy door. merilla got the silent she so craved, not a single other soul in the library. rarely anyone ever was, the royal family had all the books they could've dreamed in their own chambers and anyone else was too focused on climbing their was up to have any free time. she stalked around the library, eyes grazing over each aisle, the sunlight peaked in through the windows, illuminating her and all of the books she looked over.

she eventually settled on one, just a romance novel, nothing she hadn't read a million times before. however, there wasn't much else for her, anything else was history so dull you'd pull your eyes out. she pulled out a chair at the furthest table from the door, sitting down to forget the world around her and pretend just for a moment that she was lucky enough to steal these silent moments commonly.

time passed quickly, sun just about to began setting, but she didn't notice. too engrossed in the story of a young princess and the knight she could never have. their love was pure, it was true and unbreakable, merilla was so invested in the fiction, a love she wasn't even sure could exists. so deep into her reading she failed to notice when the library doors opened once again. she more so failed to notice the man who was just a shelf down, carefully picking out his book and hesitantly walking towards her table.

she didn't even register his presence until he spoke, "my lady" she almost flinched, looking up at him before her, "is this seat taken?"

merilla looked at rhaegar, her lip slightly agape at the sight of him, "no" she mustered out eventually. she looked away from him at the countless empty tables in the large room, he could've sat anywhere, across the library so she would never even know he was there.

he smiled politely, pulling out the chair and taking his seat next to her. she forced her attention away from him, the two reading in silence. merilla didn't understand it, rhaegar didn't like her. or at least he didn't when they were children, he couldn't stand her actually. he was never cruel but she could just tell even as a child that the prince could not stand to be in her presence. so why go out of his way to be in it now? so lost in her thoughts she realized she had scanned the entire page, her mind too far away to actually read the words on the page. resisting the urge to sigh in frustration, she started the page over as rhaegar flipped his. the two stuck in silence and she realized, she hadn't actually minded him breaking her peace.

a/n
my babies omg

wow aemond what a weirdo 🙄

i always hate my first chaps but this acc isn't that bad so 😛

with love,
sades 💗