wicked games | aemond targaryen

𝚝𝚑𝚒𝚛𝚝𝚎𝚎𝚗

CHAOES ENSUED IN the great hall, voices yelling over each other as people flooded through the tall doors. Valaena watched her sisters run to their grandparents with whom she shared no blood, feeling out of place as she subconsciously wrapped her arms around herself. A tug on her skirt reminded her she was not alone. She glanced down to find Lucerys still clinging to her tightly with his brother beside him.

Her eyes wandered to the other side of the room, where maesters swarmed a chair holding a small boy with white hair, who no longer screamed in agony at the wound inflicted on his face. The bleeding had long stopped, patched by the stitches covering half his face. Valaena felt her stomach flip as she quickly looked away, aware of the fierce glare the Queen sent the group of bastard children huddled together.

The doors swung open again, Rhaenyra rushing in as she flew to her sons' sides to check on them. Valaena stepped back as Rhaenrya embraced her sons, feeling herself fade into the background as the tension brewed in the room.

"Are you both alright?" Rhaenyra questioned them, her eyes running over their bodies for any injuries. 

"We're fine," Lucerys mumbled as he tried pulling away from his mother's worried grip to no avail.

"They called us bastards," Jacaerys muttered under his breath, but Valaena had heard him. Rhaenrya inhaled a deep breath at his words before seeming to shake them off as her eyes snapped over their shoulders onto the small figure of Valaena.

"You're bleeding," Rhaenrya reached out, turning Valaena's face to reveal the cut on her forehead.

"I'm fine," Valaena mumbled as she reached up to touch her wound, which had stopped bleeding minutes ago and was nothing more than a stinging cut.

Rhaenrya seemed less inclined to believe her but seemed to relent as she reached up and held Valaena's head in her hand for a brief moment before dropping it back to her side.

"Who did this?" Rhaenrya demanded as she turned to the rest of her room, her eyes quickly landing on the culprit across from them.

"They attacked me first!" Aemond defended, and from there it descended into chaos.

"He attacked Valaena!"

"He broke Luke's nose!"

Excuses were hurled by each other as Valaena felt herself shrink as chaos descended upon the room. She simply wanted to run away and forget the whole ordeal had occurred.

"Enough," Viserys' soft voice was ignored by all as her eyes wandered over to the poor man as the shouting continued. Valaena watched the King repeat himself multiple times before he finally lost his patience. "SILENCE!"

The hall fell silent, not a single whisper to be said as everyone exchanged worried glances with each other. Valaena felt herself move in front of the boys protectively as Alicent once again turned her gaze towards them. 

"Aemond, I will have the truth of what happened," Viserys demanded as he walked over to the chair he sat upon, seemingly uncaring that his son had a gaping wound where his eye should be. "Now."

"What else is there to hear?" Alicent was incredulous at the attitude her husband had about the situation. "Your son has been maimed."

"It was a regrettable accident," Rhaenyra brushed it aside as if a minor inconvenience, something that Valaena was taken aback by. She wondered if Rhaenrya thought she was protecting her sons, or if she knew Valaena was whom everyone believed to have maimed her cousin's eye.

"Accident?" Alicent struggle to restrain her voice was evident as her anger was clear. "The Lady Valaena brought a blade to an ambush. She meant to kill my son."