The Dragon and the Rose // Aemond Targaryen

Chapter 17

When morning came Viserra could not find it in herself to feel happy or excited. Dawn was gone. Her dragon was gone and she was right back to where she started. She was no Targaryen. A real Targaryen's dragon would never run away. No. It must have been her. She must have done something wrong. Viserra spent hours in the early morning trying to work out what it was. Was the meat not right? Did the light in the Keep hurt her eyes? She was such a small dragon too. Her wings barely flapped. So, so small. Yet capable of causing so much pain. 

Viserra rung the bell by her bedside and waited listlessly as maids rushed into her room to dress her and attend to her. Their laughter from the previous night had not gone unnoticed. They all mocked her. Viserra did not move an inch from the bed until a maid took her by the arm and pulled her out. 

She did not speak as they dressed her. Some pink dress. What did it matter? Viserra stared out blankly not bothering to respond to their idle chatter. Her anger, her fury from the last night had ebbed away. Now, Viserra felt only a sickening numbness. 

Once they finished dressing her Viserra ordered the maids to leave the room. She ran to her bathing chambers and watched herself in the newly replaced mirror. Her eyes were puffy and red from endless crying and her hair was all knotted and matted. She sighed she thought of everything that had happened. Though it pained her she made herself go through everything all over again. She needed to remember, so she could forget. 

She recalled how Nadia had come in, her expression already bearing bad news. And when she told Viserra that Dawn was nowhere to be found Viserra panicked. She screamed and yelled attracting the attention of Tristane, the other guards and the maids too. She had felt like such a child. She was a child. But still the memory of her antics made her feel so embarrassed. No doubt her grandfather would have something to say about that to her. Still she could not find it in herself to be angry at him. He was the one after all to demand the entire castle be searched for her little dragon. At the time Viserra was so angry she wanted to kill Nadia. To take a knife and stab her pretty chest over and over till the pain went away. Viserra shook herself, was she going mad? This entire week Nadia's face was the one that reminded her of everything that went wrong. It was Nadia who brought her the letter from Dragonstone. It was Nadia who told her that her dragon was gone. So when Nadia had tried comforting her, she snapped. 

Viserra hated herself for being like that. For acting like such a child despite trying to show everyone that she had changed and that she a mature woman, worthy of being a princess. But she knew from last nights debacle that nobody truly saw her that way.  

Breakfast was sullen and miserably dull. Though conversation flowed Viserra took no part in it, she picked at her food listlessly while getting pitying looks from her grandfather and father. 

That day she did not visit court, she did not speak to Yerene or Tristane or Nadia, though she'd apologize to the girl eventually. When Dawn was with her Viserra had felt so complete. It felt like everything she had done had been worth it. Losing her had made Viserra feel stupid. So gods damned stupid she hated herself. Why couldn't she keep a dragon? Why was it her that was cursed? 

It wasn't fair. Viserra thought as she curled beneath her heavy blankets in her chambers. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. It wasn't fair. Viserra just wanted to scream again. To scream so loudly they'd hear her all the way till Dragonstone. 

Perhaps then her bitch of a sister Rhaenyra would have a care. Didn't she know what Viserra was going through? Didn't she feel guilty after completely shutting her out? And the fact that neither Luke nor Baela had written to her. After so many false promises. 

Was that why Aemond hated them all so much? Because they were all liars? No. Aemond's hatred came from a deeper place than Viserra's. He had far more reason to hate them than she did. Still Viserra grew angry. And angry and angry.