𝓔𝓵𝓪𝓮𝓷𝓪 𝓣𝓪𝓻𝓰𝓪𝓻𝔂𝓮𝓷
Three days pass and they blend together like the tides, my short time away from Aemond feeling almost like a voyage that was never ending. No light or land at the end of the treacherous journey only storms and rocky waves.

Every night I've been plagued with nightmares, once or twice needing Addam to shake me awake and when I do, I'm reminded when I see his face and not Aemond's that this is no part of my nightmare... it was real.

When I haven't been able to fall back to sleep I visit the little dragon in the cells beneath the Red Keep, singing him songs of our histories and bringing him warm food to eat when Addam hasn't taken notice I've left.

Thankfully the past couple of nights our dinners have improved considerably and Addam had gone into town to get me extra clothes that didn't swallow me whole.

At first he'd tiptoed around me but as time went on he reminded me more and more of Jace, giving me a false sense of home and stability.

Tearing apart a piece of bread I feel his violet piercing eyes gazing at me from afar.

Turning to face him I scoop another spoonful of soup into my mouth.

"Well? Say it."

Rolling his eyes he plays coy with me, "Say what?"

"That I've made him wait long enough... that I should go back."

Since I'd left, the city watch never let up their search for me and I expected as much but I'd be lying if I didn't say once or twice I'd hoped to get caught so they'd take me to him... my husband.

"Well now I don't have to say it." He shrugs, a sly smile playing at his lips as he continues at his bowl of steamed soup.

"You don't know what he's done..."

"Maybe not but that's only because you've yet to tell me..." he sighs, leaning back in his chair.

Running my hands through my rats nest head of hair I think it over, glancing up at him wondering if he was trustworthy enough with this kind of information.

I'd trusted him with my life the past few days, and the secret of my pregnancy... perhaps I could tell him one more.

"There's a boy. They're saying it's his bastard son..." I just spit it out, the words like a rotten taste in my mouth when I say them aloud.

Watching for Addam's reaction he looks confused, shaking his head not believing it.

"But what do you think?"

Looking at him bewildered I struggle for words, unsure what to say to such a simple question.

"I... I don't know what to think. But he lied about it, I had to hear about it from the cursed mouth of his brother." I cringe, never loathing Aegon as much as I did right now for allowing me to find out the way I had for his own entertainment.

"And what did he say?"

Biting at my chapped lips I stare into the flames, his last words hanging in the air around me like a soft whisper in my ear.

'It's impossible, Elaena'

"I didn't give him much of a chance to say anything. I just... ran." As I speak, the wounds still so fresh throbbed in newfound pain.

"Do you think it's true, Princess? Or... is it worth your marriage and family to find out the truth?" Leaning back in his chair Addam stirs the ale in his cup before taking a sip.

"He lied. How am I supposed to believe anything he says now?" I reply, my voice hoarse when I feel the hope bubbling up in the dark depths of my heart.

Even in all this despair and betrayal I missed him so desperately I couldn't even sleep, my nightmares plagued with twisted versions of our memories.

"As a man whose known love, I know the Prince would only want to protect you... even if he makes a mistake or two along the way." Kicking his feet up in front of the fire he smiles sympathetically. A sadness shimmers in his violet eyes and I realize he just as I, understands the white hot sting of heartbreak.

"Besides, I recall a time most recently you secretly left him to fight in a battle that could've taken both of your lives... and the Prince, despite you're foolishness still went after you."

Arching an eyebrow he chuckles and for the first time in days I have the urge to laugh along with him the both of our laughter filling the tiny space we'd shared.

"So, are you saying its I who should go after him this time?" I mumble, peering out into the night sky through the cracks in the window.

"Maybe... even if it's to show him his mistakes."

Alicent and Aegon must enjoy my absence even if it tore apart their own brother, their own son.

If the boy truly wasn't Aemond's than the both of us had played right into their hands and I couldn't let them win, I wouldn't.

My mother had warned me before I left not to trust anyone in Kings Landing and I'd taken the word of Aegon over my own husband even if he made the stupid, idiotic mistake of keeping it from me he'd attempted to breach the subject earlier that day but I wouldn't let him, I'd wanted to live in my married life bliss.

After I'm sure Addam is snoring peacefully in his side of the apartment I'm careful with filling a basket of warm leftover bread and making my way back to the castle under the cover of night fall.

When I find an empty cell I think my eyes are playing tricks on me but the cell door is open, and there's no sign of the child inside.

It was only a matter of time.

Perhaps they decided he was of no use to them anymore. Would they have thrown him to the streets? Or maybe they were going to kill him...

I'd promised to protect him and I'd failed but maybe there was still time. The little boy had been here just hours ago when I visited last.

Throwing off my hood it doesn't matter who finds me now, I was out for blood.

The Queen and her schemes had costed me my husband and now what could be his son and I wouldn't allow another thing taken from me.

Pushing open the doors I take the stairs, letting my voice carry through the empty halls.

"AEMOND! ALICENT! What the hell have you done with him!"

The freedom of my loud voice shakes the castle and I know it's a matter of moments before I'm face to face with my lying son of a bitch... handsome, loving, protecting husband.

Despite the swirling conflicting emotions that threatened to rumble up my throat I push it all down when the first door thrown open is his.

I falter in my confident stride, my strong protector a ghost of a man and it's heartbreaking. His long blonde hair is thrown up in a loose knot atop his head and he's bare chested, as beautifully sculpted as if remembered.

When I come closer it's clear he hasn't gotten any sleep, his cheeks are sunken in and dark circles deepen under his eye. He was suffering even more than I, that much was clear.

Good.

"Elaena?" He breathes, his voice cracking when his tired gaze finds me at the end of the hall, "Elaena," his knees buckling when he realizes this is no dream.

"Where is he? Did you kill that little boy?!" Keeping my intent clear I fight the tears that burn in the back of my throat.

"What? No, Elaena-"

"Than where is he?!" Coming to stand just a few feet away from him he goes to reach out a hand to me but knows better, letting it fall to his side instead and I try not to notice.

"He's sleeping peacefully in his own room a few doors down. You'll wake him and the whole castle if you're not quiet-" He looks around for any other people that I might've woken, widing his door to urge me inside.

"Let them hear me! I've got a bone to pick with every single one of you!" I keep on my assault, all of my built up rage bubbling to the surface now that I'm here face to face with him and if I didn't cling to that I'd fall right back into his arms as if nothing's ever happened.

Going to walk around him Aemond takes hold of my arm.

"That makes two of us. So, start with me, Princess." The intense emotion his eye holds stops me from yanking away from him and I'm frozen in place.

Staring up at him I'm struck with his comforting scent and my mind goes blank of all rehearsed agressions I'd planned to dish out against him entranced by the vulnerable sight of his bare face.

"I wish to see him for myself. I don't trust you."

His gaze darts away from mine, flinching as if my words granted him physical pain.

"Right, of course." Gazing down at me he blinks slowly and his attention shifts to his own hand wrapped around my arm.

Noticing his lingering touch I pull away, turning from him to start down the hallway.

Without a word Aemond leads the way to a small room a short distance away from his own.

Carefully he turns the door knob, opening the door only slightly so I can see with my own eyes.

The room was dark besides the bright white light of the full moon just outside his window. Rolling over in his sleep it's clear he's been bathed and fed, sleeping like a newborn baby in a comfortable bed with the finest of sheets the Red Keep had to offer.

"He's safe, I've seen to it. He's under my protection now." Aemond's husky whisper fans across the back of my neck and I shiver at his closeness.

Pulling away from the crack in the door I let him close it, "And what's taken you so long to accept your own son?" I quip, keeping my back to him so I can't be weighed down by the look of despair his face held.

"Elaena," He sighs, scratching at the growing stubble that was working its way up his defined jaw.

"Why can't you admit it? Even now? You lied to me and this poor little boy is suffering because of it! Because of you!"

"Elaena," He growls, this time a warning, but I wanted him mad. Our marriage has fallen apart all because of him and his deception, he should be angry.

"What!" I spit, turning around to burn him alive with my eyes of fire but he's right behind me, wrapping his arm around my waist to lift me from where I stand and carry me back to his chambers.

Hitting whatever skin of his I can reach I struggle to get down but he's too strong, manhandling me like I weigh nothing.

Ducking to make sure I don't hit the doorway he tosses me back onto the bed and slams his door shut behind him with so much force the walls threaten to collapse.

Narrowing my eyes at him in confusion he kneels in front of me, taking my hands in his as his features soften watching me.

"I know all things considered it'll be near impossible to trust me but please just listen..." He waits for my interruption but this time I give none.

Aemond looks to our interlocked hands and I follow his gaze, my sight shifting back from black and white to saturated beautiful color as his warmth spreads through me, and I through him.

"That little boy is not mine. He's the product of an affair between Aegon and that woman you saw us with-"

Stopping to run a hand through my hair his usual vibrant eye is dull, a frustrated expression on his face.

"Dammit, I'm so sorry, Elaena... there's so much you don't know." Instinctively he reaches to cup my face in his palm but I jerk away from him.

"Only because you haven't told me. I've been alone in this darkness of unknowing!" I cry, and he's already shaking his head.

"You haven't been alone. I've been with you all this time, my love, just listen-"

"NO! You haven't! You haven't been there as I wondered if all of this was a lie, if every move you've made was a strategy to get yourself closer to the throne! You haven't been carrying our child wondering if this was all some terrible mistake-"

"Don't, please don't say such things." He struggles but the unshed tears in his eyes stop me cold.

"This is real, this has always been real. Those oaths I made to you were made with my whole being, Elaena. I made a mistake of the worst kind trying to protect you from all of it but I was wrong, I was so wrong... but he's not my son." Turning my chin gently to look back at him his gaze darts between my mouth and my eyes his struggle evident on his pained face.

I want to believe him, I truly do with every fiber of my being but my heartache tells me otherwise. It tells me that I shouldn't trust him so blindly when he's wronged me so deeply.

Desperately I wanted to crawl into his arms and sleep these pains away and Aemond would welcome me with open arms, letting everything fall back into place but it was impossible at least for now.

"Did you hear me, Elaena? He's not mine, I swear this to you."

Stopping every thought in its wake Aemond reaches for my face once more, but this time timidly as if to ask for my permission.

Not denying him this once he works the pad of his thumb against a dirty patch on my face, rubbing away the dirt tenderly.

"You should've been home... I drove you away," He whispers.

Home used to be with you.

"Home is Dragonstone." I mutter, hardly the energy to fight any longer, at least for tonight.

Dropping his hand his sorrowful violet eye holds me, unneager to ask his next question.

"Is that where you'd like to go? Is that what you want?"

Waiting a few moments, I think it over but I'm not sure of what I want. "Would you allow such a thing?"

Cocking his head to the side he's ashamed I'd have to ask him such a question but also heartbroken at the thought of me leaving him.

"Of course. You're my wife, not my prisoner, Elaena."

Blinking tiredly at him I say no more and he understands, the hour late and both of us were exhausted in every sense of the word.

Sliding one of his hands up the back of my legs he sweeps me into his arms, tucking my head beneath his chin.

"Where are we going?" I mumble tiredly against his neck as he nudged his door shut behind us.

"Your old chambers. A day or two ago I had the handmaidens make the bed with fresh sheets just in case you came back. I figured you'd want to keep away from me." He replies softly and the small act warms my heart and at the same time breaks it.

Perhaps I didn't have to run away for a bit of space. Even though I'd come back Aemond respected my wishes of distance no matter how painful.

He hadn't forced anything, not even as we stared lustfully at one another's lips in the hall. Aemond knew what lines not to cross and even better, he attempted to make me feel my most comfortable on the other side.

I must fall asleep for a few short moments until I hear him open the door softly, bringing me inside.

Laying me gently on the bed he brings the covers up and over my body and I'm surrounded by the very smell that brought me such comfort the first night I spent away from home.

"Thank you," I manage tiredly.

"Of course," he nods, taking a seat at the end of the bed as far as he possibly could from me.

Letting my eyelids drift shut I lean into the comfort he offers, his delicate touch tracing the lines of my face despite his distance.

When he thinks I've fallen asleep he whispers to himself, moving my stray hairs away from my face.

"This is my fault and I'm so sorry, my song... I'll make this all right, I promise you."

Pressing a kiss to the top of my head I listen to his footsteps as he walks to the door, hesitating when he opens it to look back at me.

Stay.

I want to tell him, and beg him to sleep besides me just in case the nightmares come because they always did.

Aemond must feel it too, hovering by the door just a moment longer before walking away and shutting the door behind him.

As soon as I hear the door close I open my heavy eyes, staring at the very spot he just stood, willing him to come back but he never does and I fall asleep just like that, wishing.

***

I introduce to you who I think would make a wonderful Ser Addam Velaryon!

Pictured above is; Kit Young from Shadow and Bone!

Buttttt I've already mentioned he's got the same white blonde Velaryon hair as his father 👀 so if I plan on making any edits for tik tok, it'll include our younger Laenor featured as Addam.

If you don't already follow me on tik tok, check out the many edits teasing what's to come ♥️

TIKTOK Account; SEASMOKED