(please do not ghostread)

"Have you always seen them? Have they ever come true to you, as you dreamt them?" Helaena asked Aelyna, sat across her chamber floor surrounded by the scent of wildflowers and candles. 

It all still felt too surreal for Helaena to believe. As a child, when learning her accessorial history she knew many Targaryens to be dragonriders, but very few possessed the gift of being dreamers. If one could even call it a gift. Between her brother, despite the fact that she was the youngest daughter, it was her dreamlike state that made her so feel so isolated. She held little care for swords like Aemond or wine and raging through the streets of Fleabottom like Aegon. She kept herself and her mind at bay with the tiniest things that brought her a sense of comfort. Her children, her bug collection and embroidery- anything that could keep a mind busy.

"Yes." Aelyna replied as she sat crossed leg across from Helaena, playing with the millipede crawling over her hand. "I sometimes think my first memory was a dream. It never existed, at least not to me."

"How do you mean?"

Aelyna smiled looking back to Helaena. Her eyes filled with a deep interest and awe of her older cousin "My first memory I dreamt myself on dragonback. On a fearsome beast. His roar echoed through the skies as I clung to the saddle's restraints for dear life." She chuckled softly "A tiny child, riding on Balerion the black dread.

The young girl leaned in closer, her eyes widened with awe "What did you see?"

"I saw Old Valyria, before the doom." Aelyna answered setting the bug back into her cousins hands "I saw it in all of its glory. I saw towers and spires soared high into the sky, connected by massive arches and bridges, with grand avenues lined by statues and fountains. I saw the skies decorated in dragons and flames, as though they were the clouds and sun. Dragons so fierce, they would make ours look like insects." Aelyna continued as she fondly remembered the memory "I was so disappointed when I woke up. I had thought to tell my uncle about the extraordinary memory I had, but it was to no avail. He laughed and brushed it off- said I must have read too many tales on Daenys Targaryen."

"But it didn't feel like a dream, did it?" Helaena grinned as she sat herself forward and closer to Aelyna. 

Aelyna shared the same grin "No, but when do they ever only feel like dreams."

Helaena breathed in deeply, finally the words in her mind could be plucked out and spoken without her having to say a word "When I was younger, I used to think I had gone mad. I would be present with my family, but always so-"

"Disconnected?" Aelyna wondered out loud. 

Helaena nodded "Sometimes it's difficult to see it as a gift. Sometimes I see the most awful things, things that make me cry." she shrugged.

Aelyna's heart sunk at her cousins words. The two girls could not be more different. Helaena was a gentle soul, one who seemed to move through the world with a quiet grace that was all her own. Her presence was like a soft breeze, unnoticed until one felt its comforting touch. There was a kindness in her eyes, a warmth that made one feel that she should only be held by the gentles of hands. And she-

she was nothing but Daemon and Malena's filth.

"But you do not seem as trapped inside your mind." Helaena noted "Have they become less for you?"

Aelyna felt her skin dirtied and soiled. She felt disgusted by herself at the thought of the scars she slashed into her skin, in rituals to be rid of her gift. She more than anyone understood what it was like to only see these visions. When they were beautiful, they were enchanting, but as of recent years they have become nothing but a curse to her. Aelyna shook her head as she could feel the freshly cut scars itching against the sleeves of her gown.

"No, they have not. And no amount of wine could keep them away. Some night I wake up in a cold sweat from one of them, I see a lurking being prowling underneath floor boards. The air rotten of the smell of charred meats, smoke hanging in the air around me and a tiny babe, crawling to my legs."

Helaena's eyes widened at surprise "The beast beneath the boards." she muttered to herself

Aelyna eyes widened. Her breath paused as Helaena's words made the back of her hairs stand. "The beast beneat- You've seen this too?" she quickly asked back. 

Helaena nodded her head.

Suddenly, the sound of the front door crashing open shattered their focus on each others gaze, followed by a loud, unsteady laughter. Aegon, barely able to keep himself balance, stumbled into the room, his cheeks flushed and his eyes glassy. His hair was disheveled, and his coat hung open, as if he had tossed it aside in his haste.

"AELYNA, THE GREAT BEAUTY!" he announced, his voice louder than necessary, with a kind of triumphant glee that was jarring for Aelyna to see.  At the door Aelyna recognized Ser Criston Cole and Ser Erryk Cargyll at the door, standing guard. Aegon drunkenly swayed slightly as he tried to steady himself, gripping the door frame for support. 

For as long as Aelyna had been in Kings Landing she avoided her cousin like the plague. When she thought of Aegon, all she could think of was his pathetic proposal on the beaches of Driftmark. How unsatisfied and fearful he was of marrying his sister, being used to squeeze out heirs to satisfy Otto Hightowers commands. And for a moment Aelyna did want to pity him, but then she remembered how he trapped her in his arms and forced his wine rotten lips onto her.

She remembers her fist cracking from punching him in the face, how he cowered and screamed at her. He was the first to call her a bastard cunt. 

The drunken man before her, was far from the babe who used to sit in her lap and play with her.

"Aegon, what are you doing here?" Helaena asked as she stood up, taking a few steps to the back as she recognized the drunken state of her husband. Aelyna's eye caught this too as she protectively stood in front of her cousin, her hand behind her as she urged Helaena to take her hand.

"Have I-" Aegon pursed his lips, staring between his wife and the girl he always deemed should have been his wife "Have I interrupted something?"

They both remained silent. Aelyna's eyes shifted to Ser Erryk, who only shook his head with disappoint in the prince.

"I actually hoped to find you, my sweet cousin." Aegon laughed, his arms outstretched as if he were performing an elaborate dance. "If I hadn't known any better, I would say you have been avoiding my sweet-" he hiccupped. Drunkenly circling the two. The wine so sweet on his tongue he could see a younger Aelyna on his wife's face. "It's good I have found you, I have been dying for us to have a moment alone actually." He corrected followed by a drunken laugh that rang in Helaena's ears.

It was then when she took Aelyna's hand.

"You wait until you've guzzled all that is wine to see me?" Aelyna snapped back. Aelyna looked back to Helaena, out of the corner of her eye she could see her cousin shaking her head. A silent plea for her to stop.

Aegon drew a breath, a sly smirk on his face. One that looked all too familiar to Aelyna. One she hadn't seen since he had taken her first kiss. "Big words from such a -" he said "You think of yourself so highly, that I would want to see you wh- what? Sober and kissing the fucking ground you walk on?" He rhetorically asked turning back to Ser Criston and Erryk. "Is she not the funniest!" he cackled

Aelyna could feel the bile rising to her throat, the necessary need to mind her tongue slipping farther away from her. Her chest tightened as she could feel the irritation boiling over her. Through open windows the roars of Vermithor could be heard as it echoed through the sleeping city of Kingslanding.

"You think me a fool?" Aelyna argued back, gripping Aegon's forearm as she twisted him back facing them. Aegon so drunk, nearly fell over his own feet "You forget yourself boy. You should tread carefully Aegon." She spat back. 

Aegon leaned closer to her face, the smell of fish, ale and wine retched on him. As though it poured out of his skin. His brows furrowed, but a boyish amusement on his face "And what will you do if I don't?" he boldly asked back "Will you put a curse on me?"

"Aegon, please." Helaena quietly pleaded stepping out from behind Aelyna. Her head sweetly titled to the side as a moment of silence was shared between the brother and sister.

"No matter." Aegon rolled his eyes, stepping back. "Ser Erryk, have my cousin escorted back to her chambers. My wife deserves to be in better company, than this." His face scrunched up in a visceral reaction. Eyeing Aelyna up and down, as though she reeked of ale. His nose wrinkled as though he had just caught a whiff of something revolting on her. Suddenly the smell of copper and wine in his nose and his mouth twisted into a tight, downward curve.

"The hour has grown quite late." Helaena muttered "Do you not think so?"

A look vile hatred and disgust on Aelyna's face as she looked back to Aegon. "Yes, but you and I are husband and wife, sweet sister." The corners of lips turned upward "Our cousin is the only one who does not belong in here."

Aelyna could not sleep. She felt pathetic to ache for someone that it felt her body could cry out. All she could think of was how much she missed Winterfell. How every fiber of her soul wished to be held in Cregans' arms. 

In the room, the air is imbued with a gentle, sweet fragrance of Snowdrops. She had specifically requested her room to be filled with cinnamon scented candles and flowers. Just as Cregan had made her chambers in Winterfell to be. The sweet and gentle scent, was of her closest attempt to bring him back to her. It reminded Aelyna of the light and airiness he brought to her. The comfort of turning her head and being faced with him in her bed.

Ser Erryk was standing guard at her door, but her need was too strong. Under the covers, in nothing but Cregans fur cloak Aelyna tossed and turned in her bed. Aelyna pressured herself under her bedding. All she could think of was Cregans smokey grey and blue eyes, with dark curls she tugged when his face was between her legs. His lips kissing the insides of her thighs, as his hold on her was so firm it would leave bruises on her skin. Aelyna felt herself suffocating from the pleasure as the hot air under the blankets was enough to make her head spin. On her knees, her ass in the air as she bit down on her pillow pleading herself not to moan so loud that Cregan Starks name would not echoed through the halls.

As her hand ached from strain she closed her eyes, imagining the picture of Cregans lips roaming every part of her skin, nipping and kissing spots that had her eyes rolled back. Him breathless and panting as he mounted his dragon in front of the firewood of his chambers on a black furs.

The candles in Aelyna's room were lit, only her silver locks stuck out from underneath her bedding. The ends of a black cloak hung at the side of her bed as she silently moaned pleasuring's herself until she could not hold anymore. Her body fell flat as she pulled the bedding from her head. Flustered and blushing, she caught her breath as she lay to her side wrapping the black fur cloak around her naked body.

But as Aelyna knew of the secret twists and turns of the Red Keep so did Aegon. In a hidden passage connecting the bedroom chambers, he stood behind a painting hung on Aelyna's walls. Drunkenly watching her as she pulled the covers off of her body as she covered herself in what he thought was a hideous wolf skin. Even drunk, his cock still ached for more as he watched her fall asleep.

In the murky darkness of the hallway the only source of light that of Aegons silver and dampen hair. The passage seemed to stretch endlessly, shrouded in an oppressive silence broken only by the occasional creak of old wood.

Aegon turned his head, making sure that he was alone, before he pulled his pants down. His head to airy from wine and ale that he couldn't hear the clicking hills walking down the passage. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, a shadowy figure began to emerge from his shadow. A cold and damp hand on his shoulder, startled as he whipped back to see a black haired woman behind him. 

Terrified as he hurried to pull his pants up. The air cold filled with a sense of dread, as though he was standing in front of the face of death. Violet eyes looked back at him as blood spilt from her freshly cut neck covering her chest. A slow, dark smirk spread across the woman's lips, the kind of smile that sent shivers a freezing cold shiver down his spine. It was not a friendly or amused expression but one that hinted at something far more sinister. She smiled back at with with teeth stained in blood. 

Her lips curled into a smile that was both cruel and mocking, barely touching the corners of her mouth. The woman's fingers ran down Aegons chest, staining his green and gold dressing in her blood. Her hand rested at the waist of his trousers as she looked up and down his body. Finally her bloodied lips inched closer to his, her breath cold and rotted on his 

"You don't belong here." her voice flowing effortlessly creating a soothing lullaby that engulfed him. 

The sight of the bloodied women made every drop of ale vanish out of Aegons body. Suddenly he was sober, and he was scared at the sight of the woman. With a slow, deliberate movement, Malena drew closer to her victim, who stood frozen in a state of fear.

"You don't belong anywhere." Her breath was cold against the exposed skin of Aegons neck. A final bloodied smirk was given to the prince before her teeth sunk into the skin of his neck.

Aegon wanted to scream, his mouth gaping open but no sound could be heard. Her teeth sunk deeper into his skin, he could feel his blood be drunk out of his body as though he were water. His voice red from the attempts, throat burning and hoarse but still he had no voice to scream. He tried to grab the woman by her arms to push her way, but every time he tried to grab hold to her, her skin vanished out of his touch like smoke.

"You don't belong here." Malena whispered against his bloodies skin.

With a slow, deliberate movement, Clara drew closer to her victim, who stood frozen in a state of fear and helpless anticipation. Her breath was warm against the exposed skin of their neck, sending a shiver through their body.

Aegon jolted awake, his heart pounding against his ribcage as if trying to escape. His breaths came in ragged gasps, the remnants of the nightmare clinging to him like a cold sweat. He glanced around the dim room, alone in his chambers in pure white silk, eyes darting wildly as though expecting the horrors of his dream to appear in the shadows.

The nightmare's echoed still as he covered his neck with sweaty palms. Searching for the mark the dark haired women left on him— He could still hear her voice in his head 

"You don't belong here. You don't belong anywhere."

☆ ࣪ ִ AUTHORS NOTE :l 𝆬 3

I'm having wayy too much fun writing Malena. I promise Baptism is not being put on hold or neglected- 

I had a crazy three weeks of exams that took up a lot of time and energy, but I am still planning to finish writing this book. But thanks to everyone whos still actively reading baptism I appreciate it so so much yall.