The Art of Love & Hate

Chapter 33

A little continuation of the previous chapter. I hope you guys like it 🥰

Her head was throbbing and her mouth felt weird, it took her longer than she cared to admit to open her eyes and immediately snapped them shut when the light made her head explode with pain. She was nauseous and had to take several deep breaths to stop herself from being sick. She lay there and tried to remember what had happened and where she was without calling attention to herself. She was sure she was safe as long as whoever had taken her believed she was unconscious. By the rocking and the small window on the other side of the room, she could tell she was on a ship. Things were a bit confusing and it took her a few minutes to put her thoughts in order. She remembered retiring to her chambers and her maid bringing her tea. She had drank about half the cup before things started to feel strange and she could not remember much after that.

She heard footsteps but did not move from her position or give any indication that she was awake. She kept her eyes closed and her breathing even, for some reason she knew things would not go well if she gave them any indication that she was awake. The door opened and two sets of footsteps moved closer to the bed. She could feel the men's gaze on her.

"That tea was more powerful than we thought." The man's voice sounded familiar, but she could not place it. "Maybe we will be lucky and she will sleep the entire way."

"I am not sure." The second man also sounded familiar. "Maybe we should wake her and make sure she is not ill."

"No, she appears to be fine and this way is better." The first man sounded a bit annoyed. "I do not want to have her fight us all the way. After a while it will get tiresome and the maesters want her alive."

The men talked for a few more minutes before leaving her alone and closing the door behind them. Darya opened her eyes and sat up, trying to fight the tiredness in her body. She ran her hands over her belly and her eyes filled with tears when her babe did not move. Before she had prayed that they would stop moving and allow her to get some rest, but now she would give anything to feel the child move again. What if the tea had harmed her child?

She took deep breaths and tried to calm herself down, it would not do her any good to become hysterical. She needed to find a way to get out of this alive and make sure her child was safe. She closed her eyes and searched for the connection she and Aegarax shared, it did not take her long to find it and she tugged on the strings, letting her dragon know she was in trouble and needed his help. Aegarax's response was immediate and she could feel his anger. Her dragon was not pleased that someone had taken her. She knew Aegarax would come for her and so would her father and husband. She just needed to stay alive long enough for them to find her.

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Aemond slammed his fist on the woman's face, enjoying the way blood spurted out and he felt some bones break under his hand. It had not taken long for them to realize someone had taken Darya after drugging her. Aemond had been paralyzed by fear before anger took over and he wanted to tear the entire kingdom apart. The first person he had gone looking for was Tara, the poor woman had been terrified when Aemond had grabbed her by the throat and slammed her against the wall. He promised her a painful death if she did not tell him the truth. It had taken less than ten minutes for him to realize Tara had nothing to do with what had happened. The woman told him that she had noticed how tired Darya was and had gone to the kitchens to prepare her some tea. One of the women who had worked for his mother as one of her maids had offered to prepare the tea while Tara went to look for honey. The maid had told him that the tea had been ready by the time she returned and the only thing she had put in it was honey.

Aemond had left two guards with Tara, not letting her go until he was able to confirm her story. The woman whom Tara had described tried to run away from him as soon as she saw him, but she did not get very far. Aemond had grabbed her by the hair and dragged her to the black cells where he questioned her. The woman had been tight-lipped at the beginning, but after a few broken bones, she had started to talk. She had been paid four gold dragons to put a drug that would render Darya unconscious in her tea. She then kept watch as two guards who worked for the Hightowers had taken her. The woman had given him all the information she had, but Aemond was not satisfied with that. He wanted her to suffer, to know pain like never before. He wanted the woman to regret ever agreeing to betray his wife.

"I think that is enough." Daemon entered the cell and Aemond stopped before punching the woman again and turning to look at his uncle. "Either kill her or leave her locked up so you can have more fun with her once we return. Right now we need to find Darya."

Aemond looked at the woman, who was sobbing and her face was unrecognizable. He pulled out his knife and slit her throat without giving it a second thought. He would not let her live one second longer than he had to.

He walked out of the cell, not paying attention to Daemon, who followed after him. He did not miss how worried the man looked and how worried his sisters and nephews were too.

He stopped walking and turned to Daemon, his eyes wide with fear. "How the fuck are we supposed to find out where she was taken? No one knows what happened and that woman did not know where they were going or how they were supposed to get there."

"We will find her." While he did not like his uncle, he was glad that the man was with him. Aemond felt like he would lose his sanity at any moment. "It would make sense that they are taking her to Oldtown."

Aemond frowned. "Would that not be too obvious?"

Daemon shrugged. "It is the only lead we have. Even if she is not there we can question the people there."

Aemond nodded and he walked quickly to where Vhagar was, he needed to get to Oldtown as soon as possible. He was praying that Darya would be there and that she and their child would be well. He did not know what he would do if he discovered that she or their child had been harmed, what he knew for sure was there would not be Hightowers any longer.

He and Daemon made their way down the halls when the sound of angry roars reached their ears. Several soldiers were running towards the beach where Vhagar and Aegarax were known to rest, the two dragons were too large to stay in the Dragon pit. They made their way to the caves and found several knights looking at the angry black dragon with fear in their eyes.

Daemon narrowed his eyes. "What is happening?"

"We do not know, your grace." One of the gold cloaks gave them a wide-eyed look. "He was fine one moment and then he just started roaring and breathing fire. We do not know what is wrong."

"Darya." Aemond knew it could only be his wife causing that reaction. "He must know Darya is in danger."

"That means that she reached out to him." Daemon looked at one of the gold cloaks. "Get me a horse."

The man nodded before running to do as Daemon asked. Aemond did not wait, knowing that Aegarax would be taking flight at any second. He had barely managed to climb on Vhagar when Aegarax took off, his wings flapping strongly in the wind as he tried to reach his destination fast. His chain was barely secure when he ordered Vhagar to fly, holding on as his dragon launched herself in the air and followed after Aegarax. He was hoping that the dragon's insistence to get where he was going as soon as possible meant that Darya was not too badly hurt.