The Dragons and Their Sun (aemond/oc)

rhaenyra II

She was walking back from a visit with her father when she heard low groaning coming from around the corner. Her first thought was that her husband had gotten too bold with his endeavors. She quickened her pace, wildly looking around her to make sure no one else was there to see. She was going to beat him to bits if he was truly engaged in what she thought he was. She thought he was smarter. She almost slid to a halt due to her speed, but she managed to gracefully catch herself.

It wasn't Laenor, her shoulders sagged with relief. Confusion (no concern whatsoever) quickly took its place, though, as she saw the groaning was coming from her young half-brother, Aegon. There was no love lost between the boy's mother and Rhaenyra, but truth be told, she held no ill will towards the boy himself. He was a bit of a dick, yes, but he was young. She blamed his attitude on his parentage.

She stood over him, blocking him off from the entrance of the alcove he was huddled in, "Aegon? Are you okay?"

He let out another groan, curling up into a fetal position on the ground. She was tempted to leave him. Yes, she had no ill will for him, but she wasn't his keeper. She didn't want to drag him through the halls. She's seen many servants do it when he got like this, and she felt no envy for them. She took a quick glance around, trying to find someone to carry the drunk boy. There was no one.

She, physically, couldn't carry the boy, so she tried to wake him. She knelt down beside him and shook him lightly, "Aegon, you need to walk."

His groan was quieter this time, more of a deep exhale mixed with a whine. She, annoyingly, felt a surge of protection flow through her at the sound. Jace made that sound once, and it had broken her heart to pieces. Jace was so incredibly sick at the time, no one was quite sure he would pull through. It was the hardest night of her life. The memory made her eyes widened as she surveyed the boy in front of her. She's seen him deep in his cups, more than once; this wasn't it. She reached forward, ignoring his flinch; she would deal with that later.

He was so warm she had to snatch her hand back the moment they touched. She cupped his cheeks, "Aegon? Can you hear me?"

His eyes opened the slightest as he muttered out a "Nyra?" before his head fell limp in her grasp. She called out his name one last time before she maneuvered him, so she could grip his underarms. She started to drag the sick boy as quickly as she could, her mind forcing in the memory of Jace. She bit back her tears as she moved; she would not cry. Not until she made sure her brother was okay. She made a mental note to find his parents and scream until her face went blue. A figure appeared down the hall and she almost dropped her little brother in pure relief, "Help! The prince has collapsed!"

Her relief only grew when the, now running, figure turned out to be Harwin Strong. He skid to a halt, "Princess! What happened!?"

She saw his eyes scan over her, intently looking for wounds she did not have. She shook her head, "My brother, Harwin. Take him to my chambers."

She saw him do a double take at the unconscious prince she had been dragging through the halls, like he didn't even notice him. Oh, how her heart raced for the knight. She pushed that feeling away, there was time for that later. She pulled her brother forward a bit, urging her knight to take the sick boy. He knelt, easily picked him up, and started rushing to her chambers. She knew Alicent's would be a better choice, but her own were closer and they needed to get him laying down sooner rather than later. She scanned the halls as they rushed through them. Of course, the one time she needed people to be in them, they were vacant. The thought of 'what if no one found Aegon?' ran through her mind before she could stop it. The image of her young half-brother struggling alone in the dark on the cold ground made her heart hurt. She blamed it on her maternal hormones.