Of the Blood of the Dragon

Chapter Twenty

Both Luke and Jaehaerys turn around at the sound of Aemond calling out to them.

"Did you really think that you could just fly about the realm trying to steal my brother's throne at no cost?"

"Does my mother know you're here?" Aemond drew his focus back to Jaehaerys. "Betrothing yourself to another while she is imprisoned in the Red Keep."

Anger was apparent on the One-eyed prince's face as Lucerys interrupted whatever he was about to say. "I will not fight you. I came as a messenger, not a warrior."

"A fight would be little challenge." Aemond muttered to himself. "No. I want you to put out your eye as payment for mine." Aemond stopped, then he tore off his eye patch and flung it to the floor, to show the sapphire beneath. Aemond pushed aside his coat, unsheathed his dagger and tossed it across the room. "Put out your eye, and I will let you leave. One will serve. I would not blind you."

Prince Lucerys recalled his promise to his mother. "No, I will not fight you."

"Then you are craven as well as a traitor."

At that Lord Borros grew uneasy, "Not here," he grumbled.

"You need not fight." Jaehaerys muttered to Lucerys before stepping forward.

"My mother-"

"I did not make the same vow you did, Lucerys." Jaehaerys tells him.

"I will have your eye or your life, Strong."

"You will do no such thing." Jaehaerys declared, coming to stand in front of Lucerys. They stared at each other for a moment before Aemond straightened, putting his arms behind his back.

And there it might have ended, but for the girl Maris. The second born daughter of Lord Borros, less comely than her sisters, she was angry with Aemond for preferring them to her. "Was it one of your eyes he took, or one of your balls?" Maris asked the prince, in tones sweet as honey. "I am so glad you chose my sister. I want a husband with all his parts."

Aemond turned once more to Lucerys and Jaehaerys. "Give me your eye or I will take it, bastard!" Lucerys takes a few steps back as Jaehaerys unsheathes his sword pointing it at Aemond who rushes towards them with his dagger. "If I cannot have his eye, yours will suffice." Aemond said, smiling at Lucerys cruelly before turning to Jaehaerys. "You are after all the one you gave him the dagger that took my eye."

"Not in my hall!" Lord Borros bellowed, standing from his throne. "The boys came as envoys. I'll not have bloodshed beneath my roof. Take Prince Lucerys and Lord Jaehaerys back to their dragon. Now." So, his guards put themselves between the prince and the future lord of Harrenhal and escorted Lucerys Velaryon and Jaehaerys Strong from the Round Hall, back to the castle yard where his dragon, Arrax, was hunched down in the rain, awaiting their return.

Aemond Targaryen's mouth twisted in rage, and he turned to Lord Borros, asking for his leave. The Lord of Storm's End shrugged and answered, "It is not for me to tell you what to do when you are not beneath my roof." And his knights moved aside as Prince Aemond rushed to the doors.

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Outside the storm was raging. Thunder rolled across the castle, the rain fell in blinding sheets, and from time-to-time great bolts of blue-white lightning lit the world as bright as day. It was bad weather for flying, even for a dragon, and Arrax was struggling to stay aloft when Prince Aemond mounted Vhagar and went after them. Had the sky been clam, Prince Lucerys might have been able to outfly his pursuer, for Arrax was younger and swifter... but the day was "as black as Prince Aemond's heart," says Mushroom, and so it came to pass that the dragons met above Ship breaker Bay. Watchers on the castle walls saw a distant blast of flame, and heard a shriek cut the thunder. Then the two beasts were locked together, lightning crackling around them. Vhagar was five times the size of her foe, the hardened survivor of a hundred battles. If there was a fight, it could not have lasted long.