The Serpent's Fangs (Aemond x oc)

Chapter 27

The sun glared down on her from above, the heat of it making the princess's chest heave against the tight corset underneath her gown, struggling to breath. Visenya an arrow pulled against her, the wooden bow for practice held steady in her hands as she kept her eyes on the target.

With a loose breath she releases the arrow, letting it slice through the air. Just like the past two days, the arrow landed no where near the middle, plunging itself into the wooden edges outside. The princess let out a sigh. It has been three days since she had returned to dragon stone and she had spend two of those days sneaking onto the training ground, practicing the art of archery herself.

Visenya would always wait for the time when the training grounds would be the most empty, practicing on her own without a mentor to guide her. She was not blind to the looks of servants she had started to receive. Some were looks of pity, glancing at her limp or the burn on her arm whenever her gown were to have their sleeves short. Others were looks of concern, or admiration for her feats.

Even the servants were going out of their way to serve her, doing more that what she had asked no doubt on the command of her mother. Everyone was treating her like a wounded fallen soldier.

But she has not fallen, quite the opposite, really. The princess was starting to emerge from the shadows she usually abides in.

Heavy footsteps sounded behind her, ones she recognized as her father's and Visenya did not stop, merely picking up another arrow and pulling it onto its strings. She shot it quick and confidently yet the arrow still missed its target, landing on a different wooden edge this time.

"You are horrible at this." Daemon's voice emerged just as he closed in. His shadow loomed over her, giving her a short moment of rest from the never ending heat.

"Would you like to try, father?"

A small snort. "I have no desire in the art of a coward." Meaning, he was as horrible as she was at it and therefore too prideful to give her any guidance.

"Ser Erryk says that the archers are known to be the backbone of an army." Visenya replied, sighing as she placed the bow down on the wooden box beside her. The knight had come up to her on the evening of the first day of her training, offering his advice. Ser Erryk, like most knights was not as efficient with the bow as he was with the sword, though the Princess welcomed any piece of advise she could get. "One day it may very well be mine that saves your neck from an enemy's sword."

"Doesn't change the fact that you'll be hiding behind the walls. A true place for a warrior is out there on the battlefield. Your talents are wasted on such trivial things." Father continued, hand gripping the hilt of his sword as his eyes glanced down towards her leg. "If only you weren't a cripple."

His words weren't said out of mockery or pity, but with underlining guilt of having not been there to protect her, as a father. Yet he had never stopped her from trying to learn archery, ever since he had seen her one morning practicing on the brink of dawn before any soldier were awake. Daemon merely watched, and that alone was enough for her.

"I heard an interesting rumor." Visenya started instead, ignoring her father's words with a small smile. "That you were to have assassins sent to the Red Keep in my stead?"

"Had your letter not arrived, those usurper bastards would have grieved for their own lost by the next moon."

"What would mother have said?"

Daemon scoffed, looking up at the target with squinted eyes. "She wouldn't have known."

"She would have killed you."

Dangerous eyes flickered back towards her. "And they had killed you." Before the princess could respond to what felt like an unusual emotional confession her father had forced the conversation to move on, not acknowledging his own feelings. "The cunt is refusing to eat."