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TWELVE;
『 A DREAM OF THE FUTURE 』

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ㅤ THE FOLLOWING DAYS ARE CHAOS. There are seven kingdoms to rule, yet only two people to rule them. There are demands far more complicated than expected, yet only yet people to answer them. There are threats lurking around every corner, inching to punish those in power.

The nights are sleepless and the days are long. My mother and father refuse to look at me or see me. They have been invited to dinners every night for the past three evenings and yet they do not show. It is just Aemond and I at these dinners, alone. His family is not welcome to dine with us, not after everything they have put us both through. The winter grows colder every day.

I press my knife into the meat and cut it firmly. The meat rips from the bone with ease. I take the chunk in my fork and slide it off with my teeth. The meat is tender and bathed in the perfect amount of sauce. Aemond studies me from across the table. I ensure that he can see the tiredness stretched all across me.

Suddenly the doors wing open. A knight enters. He bows and address the room. "Princess Rhaenyra and Prince Daemon." He says. I set the knife and fork on my plate with a bit of clatter. They enter the room. The doors close behind them. They take a seat at the side of the table, across from one another. How funny it is to have them sitting at the sides and Aemond and I sitting at the heads.

"Kind of you to join us." I say, simply, harmlessly. I wave my hand and a servant delivers two platters in front of them. They are each poured a cup of wine to ease their minds.

"We are here on business, I'm afraid," Daemon says. My eyes snap to him. "Your bother and I have decided to return to Dragonstone. I presume Lucerys misses us dearly." He takes a swig of wine from his cup.

The two of them leaving would mean my allies and trusted people of King's Landing will fall almost entirely. All that is left is Aemond and a few other highborns. Jacaerys will likely leave with them as well. He has already mentioned to me how much he misses home and how he wants to get back to his studies from our teachers at home.

"You will leave me here?" My voice sounds childish, nothing like a Queen's should. My throat is dry and scratchy. I will be even less likely to sleep at night now. I will have neither my mother or my father to make sure I am safe. I am only eighteen and now I am to be ripped from my mothers side to fend for myself in an incredibly deadly position.

"I am afraid so, Alerhya," my mother says. "Dragonstone needs us. Lucerys and Ser Harwin will be here in a days time, to act as Hands." Her words are cold but the meaning behind them are comforting. There is no longer warmth in her voice. Though, the thought of having two people in which I deeply trust here at King's Landing will bring me piece of mind. I just hope that they are safe here.

       Daemon gets up to leave, followed by Rhaenyra. I get up as well. I stand by the door. They're about to walk through the doors when I extend my arms for a hug, my mother shakes her head.

      "There is no need." Rhaenyra says plainly. She and Daemon walk through the doors which shut loudly behind them. My arms still hand in the air, unmoved. I'm shocked, confused. I've been denied the touch of my mother and my father.

      Aemond gets up from his chair and wraps his arms around me. My hands fall around his back. I could not have the love or affections of my parents before they traveled across the sea away from me, but at the very least my husband is kind enough to hug me and comfort me. He strokes my hair gently and I trace a circle around his back with my finger.

      "We should go to bed. The hour is late." He suggests. I sigh.

       "There is still so much to do," I breathe. "I need to find the old accounts, have a hearing for crimes, plan the wedding..." I trail off as my thoughts begin to jumble. That isn't even a fraction of the things that require my immediate attention. Aemond pulls back and takes my chin in his fingers.

      "My love, those are things that both of us can attend to. All of these things are not supposed to fall on your shoulders alone." He whispers. I nod in his hand. He takes my hand and we walk down the hall to our chambers. A servant is already filling the bathtub with warm water. She places new cloth on the stool and exits the chambers, knowing I do not need her to bathe me; I have Aemond.

       We step into the bathing chambers. Aemond helps me to strip off my dress and undergarments. His hands unbutton and untie the different parts of my dress. He slips the sleeves off my shoulders then the dress falls to the floor. He removes my undergarments and tosses them aside as well. He helps me into the bath then takes off his own clothes. This is new. Once he's undressed, he climbs into the bathtub opposite me. He's even removed the patch over his eye, revealing the scar stretching across his skin and the purple gemstone in his socket.

      He grabs a cloth from the stool and dips it in the water. He gestures for my leg. I lift it out of the water and plant it on his shoulder. He grins. He scrapes the cloth up and down my leg, allowing the warm water to trickle down it. He asks for my other leg and does the same thing. Once he's finished cleaning me off, he drapes the cloth over the side of the tub.

      I grab a clean cloth from the stool and gesture for him to come closer. He does. He sits a few inches in front of me. I motion for him to turn. He does. I run the cloth along his back and shoulders, cleaning off any dirt and debris that may have accumulated over the past day. The cloth runs down his arm to his elbow.

       Now we're both clean and we lay in the tub across from one another, staring. The candles are dim but they allow just enough light for us to see each other. I have been able to study the scar on his face for longer than I have any other time before. The purple gem in his socket reflects the candlelight in an almost mystic way. I still wonder why he chose to put a gem there and why he chose that one specifically. Perhaps I will know one day.

       "I believe I would like our wedding to be private, to be just us and a few others that we trust." I say to him. He tilts his head to the side and his eye narrows, as if taking in what I said.

      "I believe your idea is best," he agrees. "That way, there will be less people whom want to kill us." That was my exact reasoning behind the decision.

       "Lucerys and Ser Harwin will arrive in the morning. We can have it at dawn in the valley behind the dragon pit." I offer. A slow smile spreads across his face. He seems to be quite fond of the idea.

      "The less I have to wait, the better." He agrees. I smile. We get out of the bath and dress ourselves for the evening. We climb into bed together. I must admit, the bed here is much more lush than the one in Dragonstone. The pillows are fluffier and the bedding is much more agreeable.

We lay beside one another on our sides, sharing more gazes, as if we hadn't just been staring at one another for the past hour. I stretch my hand to the side of his face with the scar and gently run my finger over the bottom of the scar, near his cheekbone. He shudders but he does not back away nor remove my hand.

"How badly did it hurt?" I ask. A foolish question, I'm afraid, but also a curious one. I've never seen a scar so gruesome in my life therefore it is only natural for me to be at least slightly interested in the pain factor.

He blinks slowly. "I believed I was surely dead," he answers. "But it was not the physical pain that hurt the most. It was the fact that it was my own brother, my own flesh and blood, who had done it." He explains. My heart thuds. I cant imagine my brother doing something like this to me, nor can I imagine ever forgiving him for it. Aemond must have a true heart- or perhaps it was Alicent that forced the two of them to meet on equal terms.

I remove my hand, deciding I've tormented him enough for the past few minutes. My eyes begin to close slowly as the weight of slumber takes over. My bones have seemed to become weaker in the past days from my lack of sleep. The nightmares I have been having are horrid and quite real. They do not feel like dreams until my eyes snap awake.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

SNOW STICKS TO THE GROUND. There is nothing but an endless view of snowed-over ground before me. The fog blocks most of my sight. I turn to my right. I see Aemond standing beside me. He holds a sword. I look down at my hands. I hold a sword as well. I look over my shoulder. Men are all I can see. Men on horseback, men standing with shields, men standing with bows and arrows.

There is nothing but silence, until I hear the sound of footsteps. Through the fog emerges men with shields the same as my own; the sigil of House Targaryen. There does not seem to be a clear leader of the army. No one pokes out in front. The line is straight and clear-cut. The men begin at a walk at first, then the horses are kicked into gallops and the men begin to sprint, shields blocking and swords pointed.

A shriek echoes across the sky. The clouds are blocking the blue of the sky and the sun, but through them I see a golden dragon flying across the sky. The dragon is flying from the opposite side, the side in which the men running towards me are on. I know the dragon is Syrax, but I do not know why she flies from the wrong side of the troops.

       "From my blood come the princess that was promised and his will be the song of ice and fire." I hear my mothers voice and my grandfathers voice in synchrony. They are no where to be seen but their words seem so close.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ- 

        I BOLT AWAKE WITH A SURGE OF ENERGY. I sit up in the bed, chest heaving. I place my hand to my ear, having just heard the voices of my mother and grandfather. The room is empty of any souls aside from Aemond beside me. Their voices sounded so near there was no way for that to have been a dream. I swear I could feel their warm breaths as they spoke to me.

       I take a gulp of air and step out of the bed onto the cool floor, careful not to disturb Aemond in his sleep. He rests peacefully. The windows in the room tell me that dawn is not yet hear. The moon is low but not quite low enough for dawn to break. I am unsafe in roaming the halls at this hour, considering everyone except for a few souls desire my head, therefore I am stuck in my chambers, although the thought of sleeping seems distant.

       I run my fingers along the books on the shelves. I pull one out and dust off the cover. It seems as though it has not been touched in decades. The pages seem to croak as I open the book. I take a seat at the desk and light a candle. The bed is far enough away for Aemond not to be disturbed by the light, I ensure. I begin to read the writing on the pages, digesting the ancient story.

       Not long after I crack open the book, the first signs of dawn happen to make themselves known. I shove the book away in eagerness and dress before the sun even emerges completely. I'm rearing to see Lucerys, and of course, for the wedding. It will be small and it will be simple, but what else would I need? I'm marrying Aemond Targaryen, someone I love, someone I cherish, and someone who seeks the best interest of me and the realm.

       The dress I put on was the one made for my wedding day years ago, when I stopped growing. My mother thought we may as well get it out of the way then. The dress is long and a dusty white. There are red flowers at the train and details of red along the shoulders and sleeves. I make my way to the vanity and brush through my hair. I apply pigment to my cheeks and as I'm doing so, Aemond suddenly stirs and gets up from the bed.

       "Can't wait, hm?" He asks in his rather scratchy morning voice. I grin and nod, looking at him through the mirror. He approaches me and helps me know a few braids into my hair in the spots on the back of my head that I cannot reach. After he helps me, I help him into his clothes. It was finished yesterday, in preparation for our wedding ceremony event, but now he gets to wear it just for myself and those close to us.

      "I have asked my mother to come, but I have request that Aegon stays behind." He says. I nod. Having Alicent attend the wedding would likely be a given. Though she is certainly my favorite person, she deserves to see her son, the King, get married.

      "Let us go." I smile. I run my fingers through his hair to get rid of any knots. He takes my hand then we depart through the doors of the chambers, heading in the direction of the valley.

-ˋˏ ༻❁༺ ˎˊ-

        A BLADE SLICES THE PALM OF MY HAND. The same blade scratches Aemond's skin, opening his skin. The blade cuts me again, this time my other hand. The skin opens easily because it is the hand that had been cut just a few days before, at the naming ceremony. Both of our palms drip with crimson red blood. I dip my thumb into the blood on his palm and make a line across my forehead. He does the same with my own blood.

      Our hands join, our blood mixes. I look into his eyes and he into mine. The daylight has just begun to climb over the valley. The sky is painted a darker pink mixed with a deep orange, nearly red.

       "Forged in the fires of the ancient, two dragons emerge from the fire. They join their blood as a sign of strength and love. Their fires have joined into one. They now burn together." Thindrel's voice booms out across the land. Our foreheads press together and we stay like that for a few long moments. The wind whips at my hair as it falls into a series of braids behind me.

      A few minutes pass before we back away. Our hands fall to our sides and I look over our audience. Lucerys, Ser Harwin, Alicent, Helaena, and Thindrel. Aside from Alicent, these are the only people that I trust here. My circle has grown small. My allegiances are thin. I narrow my eyes at Alicent as I swear I see a tear fall down her cheek. Her eyes are not red nor her lips puffy as if she may be crying, but unless my eyes deceive me, I do believe I saw a tear stream down her cheek and fall to the ground.

      "Congratulations sister," Lucerys says, hugging my side. "I can't believe you found someone to put up with your games." He says with a grin. I extend my hand and mess with his hair. He stumbles off back to Ser Harwin, who offers a generous nod and begins walking back down the path with the company of my brother.

Thindrel also departs down the trail, after offering his congratulations and best wishes to Aemond and I. To my surprise, Alicent also has something to say. She stands before us with her hands together and a shockingly calm expression.

       "My best wishes to you both," she says. "I hope your rule and your marriage comes easy." Her words don't house a treat, which shocks me even more. Usually hidden behind her words there tends to be some sort of threat, but I do not sense one, to my surprise. She gives a slight bow then heads off down the path. I exchange a look with Aemond.

      "I don't know whether I should be flattered or terrified." I say I say quietly, as Alicent isn't quite out of range.

      "I suggest you be both." Aemond answers from my side.

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