Wild Dragon ࿐ House Of The Dragon

━━━━━━ (𝑓𝑜𝑢𝑟)

It had been years since Laena Velaryon was laid to rest.

Her mother and Prince Daemon had hastily remarried after the sudden death of her first husband. Aemma tried not to think about that too often, for the same reason that she tried not to think about her father's own untimely and suddenly death. It raised too many questions she did not wish to find answers to.

Her father was finally blessed with a son. The day Aegon was born, Aemma thought she saw Daemon smile. Not a smirk, but a genuine smile.

It had also been two years since she had seen King's Landing. She had begged to return to her old life after the funeral on Driftmark, but her father had forbid it. It's about time we acted like a proper family, he had said.

It had been years since she had looked upon Helaena's smile, heard her laughter.

It had been years since she had seen Aemond's face, held his hand.

Aemma was with Daemon in the library studying Valyrian's stories when Maester Gerardys interrupted them, the Maester held a letter out to her.

- What is it? - Daemon asked.

- For the Princess Aemma, my Prince. - he said, as she took the letter from him, examining the broken seal.

- Will there ever come a day when I read them first? - She said with a scowl.

Prince Daemon snorted.

- No. He still reads mine.

- I'm just doing my job. Whilst you both live in the Princess's household, you are subject to how that household is run.

- Strange that it is I, the husband who lives in my wife's household, Maester. And Aemma is her heir. - Daemon continued to argue as Aemma unrolled the parchment.

My darling Aemma, it began, in Helaena's unmistakable curling and unsteady script. She zipped through the contents with haste.

- The wedding. - she said, above the bickering of two of the Princess's most senior advisors. - Aegon and Helaena are to wed within the month.

Prince Daemon looked as though there was little else in the Seven Kingdoms that he couldn't care less about, but that did not surprise her.

- Congratulations to my niece and nephew. What do you have to do with it? - He asked, narrowing his eyes at the letter in her hands.

- I am quite close to your niece, father, surely that can't have totally escaped your attention?

His jaw tightened, and Maester Gerardys was beginning to look increasingly awkward caught between the two of them.

- No, daughter, it has not. - Daemon said - Try as I might to forget your unfortunate taste in friends.

- Princess Helaena has invited me to attend.

Daemon let out a cold laugh.

- That is truly kind of her, Aemma. Be sure you send her a nice set of silverware as a wedding gift from us when you politely decline. - he said

- What? - Aemma asked sharply. - Father, I am going. You can't chain me up in this wretched place forever.

- Wretched? Is that how you view our family's ancestral home? - He said

Aemma scowled.

- Wretched because you are here and Helaena is not. - she said, and Daemon barked a laugh. - I will attend, Father. I am a dragon rider. You cannot stop me.

- Your inflated idea of your own self-importance makes my head ache, Aemma. You are not attending because I said you are not, and you are my daughter.

- Why?