PYROPHILIA ▸ Aegon the Conqueror

chapter iv.

AFTER THE FEAST had ended, Lyarra returned to her chambers, thinking about what her brother had said. Targaryens are not to be trusted. Somehow she couldn't shake that thought. Elric was always overreacting and he had made it clear how he disliked Aegon, but he was her brother still and he loved her, even if it was in his own cruel way and he would never lie to her.

But even if that was true, she couldn't put her head around that. Rhaenys did not seem like someone possible of hurting anyone and in her own words, she had grown fond of Lyarra in the little time thay had spent together. Visenya was of course, a different case, but she appeared uninterested in common people, unlike her siblings. And Aegon... Aegon was a mystery she could not solve. He was right. She did blame him. She had been blaming him since she first heard his name, for all misfortune that followed and would come to follow in the future. But she would be unjust not to admit he was nothing like she had imagined him. Even when she was dragging his name, he remained calm and contained. He understood her. He accepted her anger without judging her for it. She had done more than simply disrespect him, but Aegon had acted not like a King with a wooded ego, but someone who understood the war they way she did. Perhaps that was what he meant about taking responsibility. Perhaps accepting people's anger and hate was the way he did that.

However, Elric's worries were only partly misplaced. Lyarra was still unmarried, a woman bloomed and being seen with a man could harm her reputation. What Elric failed to realize still was that Aegon wasn't just any man. Aegon was her King and also married, not with one, but two women, which he always seemed to respect. Even if he obviously never developed feelings for Visenya, she would only disrespect her when she would turn her spite agains their sister. And Rhaenys, sweet Rhaenys was loved by him in every way possible. Lyarra might not know much about love, but even she could see that clearly.

I am lucky to marry a man I know. Most women don't have that luxury. Her sister's words still echoed in her head simce that day. Lyarra had learned to accept them as reality, to take them as a way of life, but seeing the way Aegon stared at Rhaenys that night, the way he admired her every move, the way a smile brighter than the sun itself formed on his face everytime she was near, that was love and without even realising it, Lyarra had found herself believing in it once again, even envying what the King and Queen had.

And so that night, she fell asleep with the notion of love vibrant in her head, wishing that one day, maybe, she would be lucky enough to do more than just observe it. Maybe one day she would be lucky enough to experience it.

"She did what?" Elric was furious and he was certain his voice could reach all the way up to Lyarra's bedroom who had resigned early, right after the feast ended.

"It is an honour for us." Torrhen Stark announced, but Elric wouldn't have any of it.

"How dare he? How dare he come into our home, eat our food and sleep in our beds and have the audacity to ask for more than that." He realized that Aegon was King now and that he could have anything he wanted with a simple motion, but never did he think his sister was part of that deal.