masquerade | house of the dragon

the wedding bells

20 DAYS BEFORE THE DISASTER

"So she's been here for what? A month or so and you talked with her only once for five seconds?", Aegon rolled his eyes. "We made a plan, you made a plan, brother. You said that we should stop the wedding by seducing the girl and making her cancel everything together. That would put the Blacks into a war with the Triarchy and we would be the winners. What has changed?"

"I actually met with the girl.", Aemond simply answered.

"And?"

"And she is no idiot.", Aemond said after a few seconds. "She guessed my intentions, she is more than a pretty face. Tell me, how could I strike if my opponent is aware of all of my plans? And Helaena was our biggest weapon to get inside of her life-"

"Do not bring her into this.", Aegon said with a low voice and a sad expression covering his face. "She is still trying to get back to her daily schedule."

"I know it is hard for her.", Aemond looked hurt. "She is my sister too, of course, I care about her more than anything. I just made a point. She should've become friends with her to give me easy access, it all got ruined when Daemon became too eager for his own good. And the wedding was supposed to happen months later, not this early. How could I seduce the girl on this short notice?"

"Daeron could.", Aegon shrugged but then grimaced. "His eagerness makes me uncomfortable. He is only 16, still a child. He is destroying himself and not even aware of it."

"Daemon feeds his issues. Wine and whoring... He is trying to make a mini version of himself."

"Daeron is smarter than that and is twice the man Daemon ever could hope to be."

"Yes but then again, as you said, Daeron is still a child. I do not like his relationship with Daemon, and I most certainly do not approve of it."

"You think he would betray us for Daemon?", Aegon stopped and made Aemond stop too. "He insults him every chance he gets, and you doubt his loyalty? We cannot fight within ourselves too Aemond and he is our brother."

Aemond rolled his eye. "The moment I doubt Daeron's loyalty the moment we lose this war. I do not think he would betray us under any circumstances and most definitely not for Daemon. But his addiction gets worsens each and every day. And I fear it will be unstoppable if we do not take caution for it."

Aegon chose silence. He was in his shoes once, worse than him while younger than him. It took countless hours of physical and mental torture to get rid of that addiction. Not because he didn't want to drown himself in his cups anymore -'cause he did, but because he was not able to silence the world anymore. He gave up on everything. Except for Helaena and the children, it was them who he was fighting for and they needed a stable figure, not a drunken addict.

"So what will you do about the girl now that the wedding is in two days?", Aegon changed the subject.

Aemond took a deep breath. "After the wedding, she will go to the Dragonstone and live there. I cannot leave the castle grounds. So that plan is over."

"Aemond-", Aegon closed his eyes and pinched his nose with his left hand. "-it was your plan. We all disagreed and you had convinced us. I was poisoned, Helaena was basically assassinated, and even Lysaro almost died. Daemon is unhinged and not in a good way. He will not stop until he gets rid of us all including the Strongs and Rhaenyra. I am okay with their demise, Gods knows they deserve more than that but I cannot bear to see any of you dead. And in order to stop all we need allies.", when Aemond didn't react and kept watching the bushes he continued, whispering. "I know that our uncle has closed his borders and is actively trying to build an army and Jason Lannister is doing the same in Casterly Rock. I know the Reacher Lords are angry beyond imagination and they all secretly helping him but Daemon is a war criminal. He knows no borders and he would burn the realm down if it means he'll become the king of the ashes, we both know that. Father knew that, that's why he named Rhaenyra heir in the first place; to keep him away from the throne. And she went and willingly gave him everything on a silver plate and it will be the end of us all. We need Rogares."