The Mouth of the Dragon, The Eyes of the Lamb

Chapter 33

Fear. Aemond realized, with dawning horror, he had been feeling fear. He was chilled to the bone, wanted to vomit, and was clammy. The only time, until today, he could remember feeling fear was that night at Driftmark. He wasn't fearful of the fight, or even the knife because it happened too quickly. No, he had been fearful at seeing the blood trickle from Lucela's scalp. He had been fearful that she had seen the monster he truly was.

Now, he was fearful all over again. It started when Lucela confronted him after her nightmare, and he admitted that Alicent truly did want Aegon on the throne. Then again when Alicent made the thinly veiled threat against Rhaenyra and her children. And now it was happening again.

The moment he had returned from his ride with Vhagar, two guards stopped him at the Dragonpit. They told him he needed to report to the guards outside of the King's chambers at once. He thought for sure the old man had died, but no. The two idiots in front of him were rambling on about how they couldn't find his mother, and Aegon was always too drunk to be a help.

He had apparently been their last hope. They rambled on about how Prince Daemon and Princess Lucela forced their way into his father's chambers and left almost as quickly. Lucela had seemed shaken, and Daemon seemed angry. Then again, Daemon always seemed angry. It was the fact that they had heard Viserys shout no shortly before the two emerged again that had Aemond concerned.

"I'll find my mother and share your findings with her."

Aemond walked off and waited until he was out of sight before he bolted to Lucela's chambers. He needed to know if she told his father about Alicent's plan. Aemond knocked quickly and barely waited before he pushed the door open. A single glance around let him know that Lucela wasn't inside.

It took everything in him not to slam the door and walk like everything was fine. He didn't know where she would be, so he decided to check her favorite places in the Red Keep. The gardens were next. The smell of flowers assaulted his nose, but Lucela was nowhere to be seen. With a sigh, Aemond headed back inside.

He was torn between the library and the nursery. Lucela loved being with her younger siblings, Visenya especially, but Aemond also knew that she loved her alone time as well. They were in opposite directions from each other, and the nursery was slightly closer. Aemond decided to see if she was there first and walked in that direction.

Aemond wanted to ignore the nobles that said their hellos and bowed to him, but his mother would have his head on a pike, so he nodded and muttered quick hellos back. It felt like an eternity had passed when he finally opened the door to the nursery.

A startled nanny looked at the door, as did a curious Viserys. Visenya, Jaehaera, Jaehaerys, and Maelor were all on the floor playing with one another and didn't even turn at the intrusion.

"Have you seen Princess Lucela today?"

"No, my Prince."

Aemond nodded his thanks before he shut the door quietly behind him. That left the library. If she wasn't in there, he didn't know where she could be. Her dragon was never in the Dragonpit, but her brothers' were. It was possible she went out flying without them, but he didn't see her. It was also possible that they flew in opposite directions. Aemond ran his hands down his face before he stalked to the library.

The guards opened the door for him rather quickly, and Aemond strolled in silently. Lucela was sitting at the far end with a book in her lap. She was wearing a dark purple gown that was off the shoulder with flowing sleeves he had never seen her in before. Her dark hair was pulled back from her face using four braids, two on each side of her head, and the rest was left to tumble down her back. The relief he felt at finding her was immediate. The longing, however, took him by surprise. Most of all, anger was quickly spreading like wildfire in his body.