Enigmas | Aemond Targaryen

EIGHT

"Please. Jace." again and again I pleaded. "For the love you bear me. Please."

"Mother's order is clear." Jace put a plate of food on the table then turned on his heel, thoroughly avoiding eye contact with me. "You must be confined in this room until we set sail for Dragonstone. There's nothing I can do about it."

"Don't you dare turn your back on me!" I cried out. "Else I throw myself from this window!"

"What happened, Senya?" After a frozen moment of shock, Jace walked up to me, sitting beside me, one hand stroking clumsily my arched back. "You come back with Blackfyre and mother all of a sudden wants us to Dragonstone. Why? What is it, Senya, did someone hurt you? You know I would kill—"

"No." My voice sounded weak as I curled up like a kitten in Jace's embrace. "Nobody hurt me. Nobody could ever hurt me again. But I need your help, Jace. Please—"

Jace carefully wiped away a tear from the corner of my eye with his thumb, his voice soft and inquiring. "What would you have me do?"

"What is mother's whereabouts?" I slightly straightened myself, asking in a rasping voice.

"She's heading to the Pit to check all the dragons we are going to take with us. Also lord Hand and Ser Harwin will be setting out for Harrenhal so everyone except you will be feasting with them." Jace said. "I can sneak you out then, but not for long."

I took a deep breath to gather my thoughts. I obviously couldn't just bluntly go to Aemond. The Master of Whisperers would have a thousand more spies within the Keep walls than that of beyond. But Lord Larys was no blood of the dragon, he cannot know all the secrets of this fortress that our kindred Maegor built......

"Can you deliver a message to Helaena, alongside some gifts?" I clung to Jace's arm, looking up at him appealingly. 

"Anything for you, sis." Jace leaned over and kissed me gently beside the ear, and I hugged him, purring. "Thank you, Jace. I know I could always count on you."

The next few hours I paced the floor of my chamber silently, restlessly, clasping Blackfyre tightly in front of my chest, absorbing strength from the ancient steel sheathed inside, imagining the heroic spirits of Aegon the Dragon and Jaehaerys the Conciliator whispering to me. It made me feel stronger, braver, firmer.

Yet, each moment proved more maddening than the last. Almost I was tempted to throw myself from the window all the same. Jace came back, and helped me into the disguise of a page boy, then he got me out of my room, finally. I kissed him and promised I would be right back before going down a shadowy secret passageway. As I descended the stone steps, the blast of cold wind and the musty smell of mold chilled me, cooling the sweat on my body. I kept counting the turnings and the forking of ways, prowling only in the darkest part of the passageway. What seemed to me an endless journey led me to the chamber I was looking for and I rushed to the door.

"By the Conqueror, Visenya! Have you any idea of the risks you are taking—" I lunged at Aemond, putting my arms around his neck and pressing myself into him. "Risks be damned! Besides, you don't get to chastise me! Bigger a fool than Mushroom you are. Lying before your king, lying before your gods—"

I leaned my forehead against Aemond's, a sudden surge of tears coming to my eyes. "It should be me. Let the gods strike me instead if they are real and they are just."

"Don't cry, Visenya." Aemond cupped my cheeks in his hands, thumbs caressing my dampened face. "What's there to cry about? I'm still in one piece, am I not?"

"You're a fool." I said, chewing on the inside of my lips. Aemond tried to kiss me but I gently pushed him away, wiping my tears away with the back of my hand. "I have to go. Jace jeopardized himself for letting me out. I have to get back before my mother finds out."