𝓛𝓾𝓬𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓼 𝓥𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓻𝔂𝓸𝓷
The black cells of Dragonstone weren't a place I frequented, in fact, I avoided it at all costs.

When Aemond takes a sharp turn down the staircase my suspicions are confirmed the deeper we go.

We'd all felt the loss of our grandmother but the girls had taken it particularly hard. When Baela and Rhaena left for Driftmark, Aemond had worked day and night to bring a smile back to my sister's face.

"Why exactly have we waited this long to dispose of Ser Arryk?" Jace asks, ever the self-righteous brother between the two of us.

"He hasn't told us anything useful yet," Aemond leads us down a dark hallway and the overwhelming smell of death lingered in the air.

The smell knocks us both speechless but it doesn't seem to affect our Uncle who'd already spent hours in these cells prior.

Aemond reaches into his pocket to reveal the cell key but pauses a few doors from the end of the hall to turn and lock eyes with us.

Taking a deep breath my Uncle looks between the both of us, but his gaze falls to Jacaerys as he doesn't need to explain himself to me, not anymore.

"Your sister has made me a merciful man but as forces of my own blood seek to tear our family apart I must do what's necessary. We must do what's necessary." Aemond's rough tone with us was far different than the soft-spoken voice he used with Elaena but nevertheless, this was his way of being vulnerable even if every second of it pained him.

Even if the loss of our grandmother hadn't affected him as it had Elaena, he would do everything within his power to save her that pain again.

"Understood." Jacaerys agrees and it seems at least for now my brother and uncle had a common cause to fight for.

Aemond's taken aback by Jace's enthusiasm but he clears his throat, nodding before turning the key in the lock and opening the door.

Ser Arryk's lifeless body was hunched over in a brittle chair with his hands shackled behind his back, and by the looks of it, he was hanging on by a thread. He's battered and bruised but he was alive, more than he deserved. He doesn't even acknowledge our entrance, and it doesn't play out well for him.

Grabbing a fistful of his long brown hair, Aemond rips Ser Arryks head back almost sending the chair backward onto the floor but my uncle catches it, holding him up on the back two legs.

Once Ser Arryk realizes who it is that's paid him a visit his dead eyes go wide with fear and I notice the deep cut across his face, exactly like mine.

It wasn't only revenge for my sister he wanted, he would seek justice for all of us.

Aemond clears his throat and the darkening of his eye reminds me of the night we'd almost been captured by Daeron. "Ser Arryk, I'd have to say I'm disappointed. I thought we had come to a bit of a... understanding."

Arryk's malnourished chest rises and falls hysterically in panic, but he doesn't reply, bracing himself for what comes next.

Pulling his hand away, Aemond lets the chair fall back, crashing the back of Arryk's head against the dirt floor and the man barks out in pain.

"You spoke nothing of scorpions and my brother's involvement in Rooks Rest. The information you gave me was useless!" Aemond's raw rage is expressed in his hits, returning his foot to land a blow to Arryk's rib cage.

The traitor sputters for air, the dirt from the ground clinging to his sweaty face as he spits for a bit of relief but it's short-lived.

Aemond kicks more dirt into his face practically blinding him and I cringe, even if he might've deserved it.

Jace notes my discomfort turning his head slightly with an uncharacteristically cold expression to look at me. "He tried to kidnap her, Luke. He would've killed her had that been the order." He whispers as Aemond turned, crouching to listen to Arryk's response.

"I-I didn't know, I was only a knight, my prince. I did as I was told and that was all. I told you all I knew-"

"Yes you were a knight weren't you, hm? But that ended the moment you killed your brother in cold blood did it not?" My uncle chuckles darkly, toying with him and he seems to be enjoying it thoroughly.

"And what is it you expect your Queen would ask of you if the Blacks won this war?" He spits back and it throws Aemond for a moment, his hold on Arryk slackening.

"Aegon has committed treason. He's killed one of us and he's threatened the rest with each breath he takes." Jace ponders over the board of weapons and torturing tools, picking out a dagger much like Aemond's own and flipping it in hand for him to grip the handle.

Admiring the choice of weapon Aemond twirls its weight between his fingers, a sly grin returning to his face as he nods to my brother in thanks.

"And you've taken every son he's ever had. Innocent blood on your hands runs darker and purer than his." The moment he mentions the death of Aemond's other nephews his grin falters and though he's hidden it well I know it must've been eating at him.

"The only blood on my hands will be yours and any other man who threatens what I hold most dear. So, let's start shall we?" Aemond cocks his head to the side, pushing it all deep down as he plans his next move, and without even flinching he drives the dagger into Arryk's foot, lodging it to the leg of the chair.

The prisoner screams unable to move and he grits his teeth, his resolve just as strong as before until Jace steps in, holding his own dagger.

Just as Aemond, my brother jams the knife between Arryk's other foot, his screams multiply tenfold as he comes to the realization that he would likely never walk again if he were to ever leave this cell alive.

From the corner of my eye, I notice Aemond watching for my reaction so this time I don't flinch, my expression passive.

He would've killed Elaena had he been given the order.

"You'll answer my Uncle," Jace tells him, helping Aemond with heaving him up in the chair, blood seeping from the tops of his feet as they ignore his screams of agony.

"I've told him all I know! I'm but only a knight, my prince, please!" He begs.

Aemond uses two fingers to massage the bridge of his nose, growing impatient. His lip curls back and he raises his authoritative voice, demanding the silence of our prisoner, "YOU'RE LYING! You're the most trusted of their knights now that Cole plays Hand to my brother."

Aemond waits for a response but never gets one, grunting and returning to the weapons rack, where he waves his hand over all the different-sized blades, ropes, saws and more for gods knew what.

Tilting his chin to the side my uncle notes me watching him then nods, motioning me over.

"If you're uncomfortable, go, I should've asked you-"

Shaking my head I grab a knife of my own but Aemond is still stunned by my reply, standing up a bit straighter as Ser Arryk continues.

"Your older brother is cunning and he-, he hates the princess. He's named her..." He trails off looking around at the three of us unwilling to say out loud what Aegon's branded my sister.

"Well, then?" Jace urges him on.

"Dragonstone's nādrēsy līve" Ser Arryk isn't quite sure what it means, fumbling over the language but he knows it's terrible by the look on our faces. Aegon would see to it that not only my mother's reputation was set ablaze but my sisters as well.

"Dragonstone's bastard whore is it?" Aemond twirls his knife in his hand before clasping them both behind his back, teetering back and forth on his feet, silently fuming, with his eyebrows furrowed in, daring Ser Arryk to confirm what he'd just called Elaena.

Refusing to verbalize it Ser Arryk nods and a growl-like sound comes from my Uncles chest whose face twitches up in anger but he's not the only one who's enraged.

"He's told your grandfather he'll never stop coming after her. Aegon doesn't want peace he wants revenge," Ser Arryk holds his breath but has realized the more he speaks the more distracted they are from causing pain, at least for now.

"He meant to torture her... have our babe killed didn't he?" Aemond barks but when he gets no response he repeats himself, but this time louder with more force making both Jace and I flinch.

"DIDN'T HE?!"

See Arryk closes his eyes in shame as he nods, but just moments ago he didn't seem at all remorseful.

"I beg of you, my prince. Kill me and let my soul rest. I've told you all I know." He hangs his head, avoiding the eyes of all of us until our gazes meet for a split second and I know he's lying.

Aemond takes a deep breath looking between the both of us and Jacaerys nods from behind Ser Arryk, agreeing silently to end his life but I step forward before my uncle takes the final blow.

"Ziry pirtra" I tell them and judging solely by the frozen expression on Ser Arryk's face my theory is all but confirmed.

*He lies.

My brother and uncle share a look in confirmation before both leaning down to withdraw their knives from the top of his feet and in unison drives them down into the tops of his hands.

"AHH! PLEASE!" He cries but this was all his own doing. Ser Arryk had chosen the wrong side and the wrong enemy when he'd attempted to take Elaena.

"YOU'LL TELL US THE WHOLE OF IT!" Jace commands as Aemond withdraws his sword, the singing of its steel a warning within itself as he brought the tip to rest on Ser Arryk's chest.

The once-appointed knight takes a look at the sharp blade, watching the pools of blood trail down his dirtied skin and his lips tremble, the words on the tip of his tongue but he changes his mind in an instant to plead once more, "M-my hands, my p-prince, please!"

"Hmph. Of course, let me help with that." In one swift movement, Aemond gracefully swings his sword and cuts every finger off of Arryk's right hand at the knuckle sending blood through the air and his screams of horror reflect the sight. 

My uncle seems unfazed, almost entertained with a cocky grin while Jace and I both fight the nausea, overwhelmed by the screams and blood.

"HE WANTS TO TAKE DRAGONSTONE!" Ser Arrk finally admits and the cell goes quiet with the exception of his ragged breathing. "H-he knows you outnumber them with dragons. Aegon's insisted they must surprise you within," He sputters.

Ser Arryk has finally given up, all light and life gone from his body as if he's accepted the very pain he's been trying to escape but he's the least of our worries.

If it was true... Aegon and Daeron could descend down upon us at any moment. They could very well destroy the place we called home as we slept inside and all hope for our cause would be gone, our family buried beneath rubble and ash.

And what was stopping them?

"It's all I know, my prince, I swear this." He breathes, leaning back his head against the chair for a bit of relief but it's short-lived as Aemond raises his sword again but this time to strike his final blow.

"Erryk may have died the weaker man, but it's his Queen who will live to tell the tale of his loyalty. And you? You'll be remembered as the traitor brother, just as Aegon when I take his head as well as yours." Aemond's voice is cold and calculated, and as Arryk opens his mouth to reply Aemond swings his sword expertly, taking the knight's head clean off his shoulders.

Though I see it coming I still gasp, turning away in shock as his decapitated head falls to the floor, rolling at our feet.

Jace and I can't look away, watching the blood seep into the dirt but Aemond wipes his blade of the blood, his stare distant as he sheaths his sword at his waist.

For a few moments that felt like a lifetime, we stood in silence, my gut churning with the inevitable of war. 

I'd escaped death once, but my brothers? My sister? There we so many we needed to protect but now even our home was a place of terror and unease. 

Opening my mouth to speak my voice cracks but I force it out, "Uncle... we must tell-"

"I'll speak with my sister. Find Baela and Rhaena, tell them. No one's to go anywhere without a company of guards. Is that understood?" My Uncle commands, his violet eye burning with anger or fear, but I decide it's both.

Jace and I nod at his demand, both eager to leave the cell as we follow him out, shutting the door behind us with what remained of the last Cargyll.

***

Hiii I was initially going to skip over this part but thought it would be important to see this moment between the three of them before the next chapter where all hell breaks loose. Thankfully I've already started working on it hence the wait with THIS chapter so thank you so much for all the kind words and patience! I read everything and it means so much to me! <3