FIRE AND BLOOD [Aemond Targaryen]

8: A getaway

The next day, Visenya planned to leave the Red Keep through the secret passages of the castle to go meet Aemond at the Hill of Rhaenys. She was taking the one that leaded from Maegor's Holdfast to the Dragon Pit.

She hoped no one would see her and make questions. But her hopes were destroyed when she saw Aegon sprawled on the floor with his back rested on a wall. Visenya knew the moment she saw him that her brother was drunk and the vomit pool next to him confirmed it.

"Oh, Aegon." She murmured before kneeling in front of him. The mentioned raised his head and that was when she noticed the red on his swollen eyes that indicated he had been crying. She looked at him with pity. "Come on, we need to get you to bed. I'll call a guard."

"No, no." Aegon quickly stopped her. "I don't want anyone to see me like this."

"What happened?" She softly asked putting her hand on his shoulder.

"They refuse to see the good in me, Visenya." His voice broke as he spoke. "They only focus on my faults and mistakes and I can't take it anymore."

"Whom?"

"Father and my mother. I'm not a good person and I don't think I'll ever be what they want me to be." Aegon answered with such a broken tone that for a minute Visenya forgot all the things she knew he had done. She knew her brother was not a good person. She knew what he did with woman and how he treated Helaena. But to see him like that really moved something inside her.

Aegon was her brother, after all.

"Do you think you're not loved enough?" The girl wondered.

"Somewhere between 'not enough' and 'not at all'. I've always been hungry for love. Just once, I wanted to know what it was like to get my fill of it. To be fed so much love I couldn't take it anymore. Just once. But they never gave that to me. Never, not once."

"Aegon, I understand but..."

"No, you don't!" He bursted and grabbed her shoulders to get her up as he raised. "You've always been loved, Visenya. By father, by the masses, by Rhaenyra, by my siblings. Especially Aemond. And I envy you so much for it."

"Aegon, you're hurting me." She mumbled looking at his grip around her shoulder. He hadn't even realized how strongly he was pressing and when she said that, Aegon quickly let go of her.

"I'm sorry." He said as tears fell down his cheeks. He looked like a little lost child. "I am so sorry."

"It's okay." Visenya hugged her brother. "Come on, I'll take you to your chambers."

When they arrived there, the girl put Aegon on bed and tucked him. He was already half asleep when he asked:

"Could it be so hard?" He stared at her waiting for an answer.

Visenya looked over at him, furrowing her eyebrows slightly.

"Could what be so hard?"

"To love me. Could it really be so hard to love somebody like me?"