Driftmark, Queen Alicent's Chambers.
The hearth fire flickered, casting long, nervous shadows across the face of Otto Hightower, Hand of the King.
"Aemond! Do you have any idea what you've done?" Otto's voice was thick with suppressed rage.
He felt a deep, gnawing powerlessness.
The boy's recklessness threatened to ruin everything; his carefully laid plans to secure the throne for his grandson, Aegon, were unraveling before his eyes.
Queen Alicent, ignoring her father's reprimand, sat close to her son.
She used a handkerchief to wipe the blood and grime from Aemond's face gently.
"Does it still hurt?" she asked, her voice trembling with pity.
"It doesn't hurt, Mother. With you here, I don't feel any pain," Aemond said softly. He turned his head to look at the Hand.
"And, Grandfather, I've already told you. I wasn't the one who blinded Jacaerys."
"Who would believe that?" Otto scoffed, his voice low.
"Even if it is as you say, and Lucerys drew his dagger first, every witness present claims it was you."
Silence settled over the room, heavy and suffocating.
Aemond felt a bitter helplessness rising in his throat.
It was like swallowing bile, unpleasant and impossible to spit out.
"I believe you. I saw everything that happened, Aemond..."
A soft, timid voice broke the silence.
Everyone turned their gaze toward Helaena Targaryen.
She was Aemond's older sister by a year, born with an ethereal, almost otherworldly beauty.
Her silver-gold hair fell to her waist like a waterfall, and her large purple eyes shone with the innocence of stars.
Aemond looked at her.
'Was this the sister his original self had secretly loved?'
Helaena noticed his gaze. The intensity of it made her cheeks burn, and she quietly lowered her head, hiding behind a curtain of hair.
"Helaena, were you there at the time?" Otto asked, surprised.
Queen Alicent looked equally incredulous.
Her daughter was as gentle as a lamb; how could she be involved in such violence?
"I... I saw it in a dream..." Helaena whispered, her voice barely audible, like the hum of a mosquito.
"It was Lucerys who took out the dagger first..."
Otto rubbed his temples and exhaled a long, weary breath.
He turned to look at his daughter, Alicent, who remained silent.
Aemond understood. This was Helaena's burden as a Dreamer; she saw truths invisible to everyone else, yet no one listened.
"Pfft."
An ill-timed sneer cut through the solemnity.
Everyone looked at Aegon, who was slouching in a chair in the corner.
"If you ask me, they're right, a brother who wants to murder his own kin," Aegon drawled.
"Besides, Aemond's nature is just that solitary and unsociable, isn't it?"
Aegon finished and looked at Aemond, expecting a reaction. Aemond didn't bother to give him one.
Otto stared silently at his eldest grandson, fighting the urge to slap some sense into him.
Alicent suppressed her own anger, glaring at the boy who was taking the side of their enemies.
Aemond knew this game. Aegon had mocked him for years, joining Jacaerys and the others in calling him 'pig-rider' and 'freak.'
'This is my own brother,' Aemond thought, the old humiliation surging back.
'He led those nephews to bully me. And when we came to Driftmark for Lady Laena's funeral, I was naive enough to want to play with them.'
That old Aemond, the one who would eventually become a Kinslayer, was forged by Aegon's cruelty as much as anything else.
Aegon, oblivious to the tension, spread his hands.
"What kind of brother am I stuck with? And this freak sister..."
Thud.
Before he could finish the sentence, Aemond's fist slammed heavily into his face.
"If you want to mock me, I don't care," Aemond snarled, pointing a shaking finger at him.
"But I won't allow you to speak of Helaena that way."
His violet eyes flashed with a fierce, chilling light.
Aegon, clutching his nose, surged up to fight back, but he froze when he met Aemond's gaze.
The killing intent was real.
This wasn't the easy target he used to bully.
Remembering the blood in the Dragonpit, Aegon's cowardly nature took over. He shrank back.
Helaena raised her head. She saw Aemond standing between her and Aegon, fists clenched.
She covered her mouth with a small hand, her eyes shimmering with emotion.
"Mother! Grandfather! Did you see that? This kid..." Aegon whined.
Slap!
Before he could finish, Queen Alicent's hand cracked across his face.
"Mother! Why are you hitting me, too?!" Aegon cried, clutching his stinging cheek.
Tears of genuine shock welled in his eyes. He had done nothing tonight, yet he had taken a beating from both his brother and his mother.
"They are your brother and sister! As the eldest son, you don't protect them, and now you kick them while they're down?" Alicent scolded, her voice trembling.
She grabbed Aegon by the collar, shaking him.
"Where were you at the time?"
"Me?" Aegon blinked, dazed.
Smack.
Alicent delivered a backhanded slap.
"Why did you hit me again?!" Aegon wailed.
"Where were you when your brother was being ganged up on by five people!" Alicent demanded sharply.
"If you had been there, perhaps this tragedy could have been prevented!"
She spared him the indignity of mentioning where he had actually been, in a maid's bed, drunk on Arbor Gold.
Aegon fell silent, terrified that another slap was coming.
Aemond watched coldly. He turned to Helaena, who looked at him with gratitude.
When their eyes met, she lowered her head again, shy.
"Aegon," Otto broke the tension, his voice stern.
"I don't care what you think of your brother and sister. But remember, they are your blood. No matter what happens, you must stand by their side. The wolf pack survives, but the lone wolf dies."
Aegon nodded, cowed and ignorant.
Alicent released his collar, smoothing her dress as she composed herself.
Just then, a soft knock echoed on the door.
"Enter," Otto commanded.
A King's attendant slipped inside, bowing low.
"Lord Hand, His Majesty commands everyone to gather in the Great Hall."
The attendant stepped closer and whispered a few words into Otto's ear.
Otto's furrowed brow relaxed slightly. Once the attendant withdrew, he sighed.
"That child... isn't dead."
"Thank the Gods..." Alicent breathed, sagging with relief.
Aemond remained silent, but the knot in his chest loosened.
If Jacaerys had died, there would be no coming back from this. It would be war.
"But a price... is always unavoidable," Otto muttered with a bitter smile.
"Be prepared. Let's go."
He pushed open the door.
Outside, Ser Criston Cole of the Kingsguard stood sentinel.
He bowed his head respectfully as the Queen passed.
As Aemond walked by, Cole's gaze lingered on him. There was a flicker of something new in the knight's eyes, admiration.
The Prince had done what Cole had always wanted to do: he had drawn blood from Rhaenyra's brood.
Aemond noticed the look.
He knew Cole's history. Once Rhaenyra's sworn shield and lover, now her bitterest enemy.
Cole's mind was twisted by hate, but he was a dangerous weapon and an indispensable Kingmaker for the Greens.
----------
Rhaenyra Chambers.
Rhaenyra sat by the bedside, weeping uncontrollably.
Jacaerys lay pale and still, his face bandaged, finally granted a reprieve from pain by the Milk of the Poppy.
Only Prince Daemon, Lord Corlys, and the children were in the room.
"Mother, it's all my fault..." Lucerys sobbed, hiding his face in his hands.
Rhaenyra knew the truth now. Lucerys had confessed that he drew the dagger first.
The maiming of her firstborn was a horrific accident born of her second son's panic.
She burned with rage, but it had nowhere to go. She could not hate her own son.
"Mother... I don't want to be blind..." Jacaerys murmured in his drugged sleep, thrashing slightly.
Rhaenyra broke down, her tears flowing like a flood.
"Mother, hit me! Execute me! I didn't want this..." Lucerys wailed.
The other children wept silently in the corner.
"Aemond did this matter."
Lord Corlys's voice cut through the grief, cold and absolute.
Rhaenyra fell silent.
She loathed Alicent. She despised the way the Hightowers had clawed their way into her father's bed and his council.
But her conscience whispered that Aemond was not the primary culprit here.
Daemon saw her hesitation. He placed a hand on her shoulder.
"The Greens must pay a price before this matter can be settled," he said solemnly.
Rhaenyra looked up at him, her vision blurred.
"Use this opportunity," Daemon urged softly.
"Disqualify the Greens. Ensure they cannot contest your throne."
"Rhaenyra, listen to us," Corlys added, stepping closer.
"We will use this incident to force the King's hand."
"Jace has lost an eye," the Sea Snake continued.
"We must ensure that eye buys him the throne. Don't forget, Vhagar has been claimed by Aemond. The balance of power has shifted. The Greens must be made to bleed for this."
Rhaenyra hesitated, looking from her husband to her greatest ally, and finally back to her maimed son.
'This isn't about Lucerys anymore,' she realized.
'This is about survival.'
Aemond had claimed Vhagar, the largest dragon in the world. If she showed weakness now, the Greens would devour them.
Jace could not have lost his eye for nothing.
Rhaenyra wiped her tears. Her face hardened.
"Yes," she whispered. "They will pay."
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A/N:
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