Sworn Fate // Aegon Targaryen II

Chapter 10

Over the past few weeks Aerion had gone over every aspect of his plan multiple times, but his preparation did little to quell his nerves as he slowly approached Daemon's bedroom door. It was late, but not late enough for Daemon to have already retired to his room. After returning from his trip to King's Landing, Aerion had devoted weeks to watching Daemon and memorizing his usual movements, allowing his final plan to come together.

To be honest, it wasn't the plan Aerion truly wanted to enact. In his dreams, he waited for Daemon to fall asleep and simply slit his throat with a dagger, watching as his blood painted the white sheets beneath him in sprays of red. But Aerion had made a promise, so this would have to do.

He paused outside Daemon's door, glancing back and forth down the corridor to make sure he was truly alone before quickly pushing the door open and ducking into Daemon's room, closing the door behind him.

Inside, it was dark. The windows were shuttered closed against the wailing wind from the storm that raged just outside them. Aerion didn't need any light to know exactly where to go. His preparations had involved learning the entire layout of Daemon's room.

He crossed the room with his hands outstretched, stopping when they encountered the lush softness of Daemon's bed. He dropped to his knees and crawled underneath, resisting the urge to cringe at the feeling of dust and grit beneath his hands. Clearly the servants didn't find cleaning underneath the beds a priority. Then again, nobody was supposed to ever look down here, much less crawl underneath.

Aerion adjusted himself into the most comfortable position he could manage on a hard stone floor and settled himself in to wait. It would be about an hour before Daemon arrived for bed, but he hadn't wanted to risk Daemon arriving before him. Aerion was running out of time.

The night before, his mother had announced her intention to marry Daemon. He'd hardly been able to believe the words leaving her lips, using all his control to sit at the table stoically as his mother spoke. He'd been expecting the announcement to come eventually, but he'd never imagined it would be this soon. Laenor had only been dead a month.

Jace had shot him a worried look after the announcement and attempted to pull him into a conversation about it later when they'd been alone. Aerion had brushed him off. His entire family thought he was spiraling because of Laenor's death. He was, but not for the reasons they thought.

The only person he'd trusted with his suspicions about what Daemon had done was Aegon. He'd considered telling Jace the truth, but eventually he'd decided against it. There wouldn't be a point and perhaps a part of him had worried Jace wouldn't believe him. He knew his theory sounded crazy, especially when he didn't have any actual proof.

Everything pointed towards Ser Qarl. A servant had testified that he'd seen Ser Qarl sword fighting with Laenor in the moments leading up to him falling into the fire. Ser Qarl had disappeared after Laenor was found dead. It seemed like a simple case, but Aerion knew a servant's testimony could be bought. It wasn't impossible someone had killed Laenor and then killed Ser Qarl to cover up what they'd done before disposing of his body in the sea surrounding Driftmark.

A part of Aerion realized his version of events was the more complicated and unbelievable one. People in love fought and sometimes they killed each other. But, whenever Aerion doubted himself, he always came back to the one truth he felt deep in his bones. He simply didn't believe Ser Qarl would have ever done anything to hurt his father. Ser Qarl had been a knight, but he'd also been gentle. He'd helped Aerion learn to sail and comforted Luke whenever he was upset about making a mistake during sword practice.

Aerion kept thinking about the days leading up to his aunt Laena's funeral. Ser Qarl hadn't left his father's side throughout the worst of his grief. He'd encouraged him to eat and allowed Laenor to lean against his side whenever the grief overtook him and he needed someone to hold him up. How could Ser Qarl have changed from that gentle and loving man, to the monster who killed Laenor only a month later? It didn't make any sense.