Sun and Fire ~ Aemond Targaryen

11. A See you Soon.

Of all the people, Daemma never imagined finding Prince Aemond at his worst moment. While she sat under the tree with a jumble of feelings and thoughts swirling around the awful news she had heard, the young man stood in front of her with a distant and serious look as always. But despite that, he could tell that Daemma wasn't well because he wasn't a fool and for better or worse, he knew her quite well. They both stared at each other for a while and at the same time decided to break the silence.

"What's wrong?" 

"What are you doing here?"

Both asked at the same time and Aemond spoke again, more impatiently.

"Answer first."

Daemma looked at him nervously, but she tried her best to hide what she was holding at that moment. She tried to force a relaxed and indifferent smile.

"I have nothing... What are you doing here?"

"Are you crying?"

"Of course not."

"Your eyes are red."

Red eyes? Daemma didn't understand how she could have red eyes if she knew she wasn't crying, although she probably longed for it deep down. She lowered her gaze immediately and after a moment she noticed that Aemond had knelt down to her level and brought his face close to hers. They both met in the blue of their eyes and the boy gave a mocking smile.

"Yes, you have red eyes... Are you going to cry?"

"Shut up, idiot."

Aemond finished sitting on the grass in front of her with a curious expression. For a moment, there was a small silence, but the boy asked again.

"Is it because they are leaving?" When he pronounced the word "they" he said it in a disdainful tone and Daemma could understand what he was talking about.

"Are you talking about Jace and Luke...? well... yes... I'm sad for them, why?"

Although the prince made a disdainful grimace, he gave her a suspicious look.

"I doubt it's because of that... but if you don't want to say it, it doesn't matter."

Aemond stood up immediately and started walking back to the palace. He wasn't good at consoling people and always avoided such situations, but deep down he did it because if he knew Daemma as well as he thought, he guessed she would call him back or maybe throw a stone at his head to end up confessing what was happening.

Aemond walked convinced that he would soon hear his cousin's voice calling his name and that he would have to return to her out of insistence, but it didn't happen. Aemond stopped in his tracks to turn around and see the girl sitting with her head buried in her knees while using her arms to surround them. At that moment, he understood that if it was something really bad.

Aemond sighed in annoyance and went back to where Daemma was sitting to sit next to her under the tree, but keeping a few inches of distance to avoid touching her. He watched her as she continued with her head bowed and covered by her arms without looking at him. There was a long awkward silence, and when the boy finally gathered the courage to speak, Daemma made a whispered comment.

"I think they're going to betroth me to your brother, the oaf."

Only the sound of the wind was heard. The prince rolled his eyes, thinking it was another of her jokes, but soon realized it wasn't, and a hint of concern settled in him.

"How do you know?"

"I overheard it... a lady of your mother said it."

"A lady? That's not a reliable source." The boy spoke mockingly, but his cousin finally raised her head with a completely serious look.