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CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
"Liliyana," Aemond whispered, "I'm more concerned about you right now."
"W-what?"
Aemond's words sobered Lilyana.
Concerned with her? She was alive. A child was dead.
Perhaps he did not hear her. "Aemond, your nephew—"
He stood from his crouched position. His leathers adhering to his tense movements and her shuddering breaths were the only sounds in the room. The rest of the castle still slept, though he knew it would not be for much longer.
"Knowing that a child is dead does not change my priorities, Liliyana." He curled his fingers around the front of his eyepatch and removed it, revealing the glowing sapphire wedged inside his eye socket. "I understand that you are upset—beyond anything I can ever imagine. But I ask that you understand, even if for the smallest degree, how—" His voice caught behind his lungs. A cracking of his tone. He did not want her to see him crying. He needed to be strong for her.
Liliyana's heart slowed. A quiet gasp left her lips. With her good hand, she reached for his face, but he stopped her.
"No," he told her, "I am fine. I must be fine." He let her go.
Liliyana grabbed hold of his parting wrists. Her fingers tightened when he tried pulling away. "You mustn't, Aemond. You are allowed to feel." She thought back to her silly romance stories—where the men always show the world their strength but in private, with their lovers, they were like the sweetest honey; soft, approachable, and most of all, willing to share their feelings. "You love me, Aemond. I am not blind to the pain you are in with seeing what happened."
"'Love...' Love goes beyond what I feel, Liliyana. There exists no word. It has not been created." He looked down to her fingers still gripping his wrists. Something akin to awe took over his features. Her willingness to touch him never ceased to drive him mad. "I thought for the longest time that the intensity of what I felt for you was common. That all husbands felt this way for their wives. Lovers. But seeing my mother and father... Even my sister and uncle. I realized that I am alone."
