The Serpent's Fangs (Aemond x oc)

Chapter 16

"Lord Gentry had called the engagement into question following Princess's Visenya's death." Otto Hightower spoke from his seat on the large dining table. He was sat next to his daughter, the Queen Mother who shot a warning look towards her father.

Despite his grandfather's words, the One Eyed Prince continued to cut into his meat, lifting the precisely cooked pork into his mouth.

The King gave a short snort like laugh from the head of the table, picking up the wine glass from his table and taking a sip. "I am surprised it took my brother becoming a blood traitor in order for the maiden to realize her mistake."

"Aegon." Alicent warned sharply before turning to her father. "It has been four days."

"Four days of relentless letters sent by the greedy Lord, a fool he must be. The death of the Princess merely solidifies our standing."

"Solidifies? It barely made a difference. I'd rather it had been the bastard son-"

"What are your thoughts, Mother."

The room quietens as the man spoke, for the first time that morning lifting his eye off of his plate. Maids scurried to leave the room, posture stiff as they made their escape. No one was blind to the Prince's changed after his visit to Storms End.

Before, he was a calm storm. Always collected despite having the looming aura of danger around him though now, the Prince was more of a thunderous ticking bomb.

The first day he had locked himself in his room, buried in books or busy swinging his sword at the other guard in the name of practice, injuring more than half. It had taken his mother for him to take a breath and distance himself enough to contain all the emotions threatening to pour.

They were in the middle of a war, Aemond knew that. He could not let his actions burden his family any longer.

He would not make another mistake.

The prince's heart squeezed once a pair of fiery brown eyes flashed through his mind. Roughly grabbing the glass beside him he drank the wine all in one gulp.

"We must assure them of our intentions. Quicken the gathering of supplies and allies, the war must end before your engagement and for that to happen it'll need to be fast." Alicent stated, dabbing the corner of her mouth with a cloth. "Rhaenyra is past reason, we must make haste before she unleashes Daemon upon us all."

"Rhaenyra was never going to agree to your terms. If for even a second you have had genuine hope in your heart you'd been a fool, child."

"The sooner that whore's head rolls at my feet the faster I can properly enjoy my life as a King."

The Queen Mother ignored her father's words, not even bothering with her son as she stood, getting up from her seat. "I'll have to be excused."

Aemond's eye silently trailed along his mother, watching as her shoulders dropped while she walked and without another word he stood, pushing his chair back and made his way out of the dining room.

Completely occupied with his mother's state, the Prince had walked blindly past the open window in the castle wall, missing the ways the civilians below had started to shatter, and the familiar dark outline of a dragon approaching from the clouds.

---

Visenya had never flown so harshly.

It was completely different from being on Arrax's back, where the beast was small and agile and although fast, Vermithor was a force of his own. Laying low on the dragon's back Visenya's leg still stung with sharp pain though it was mostly overwhelmed by the burnt skin sticking to tattered pieces of cloth on her arm.