KING'S LANDING 

When dawn broke, they found themselves waking up to harsh sunlight, wrapped up in each other's arms on the hardwood floor of the library. There was a stiffness in Hira's neck, but other than that, the sleep was peaceful.

"I must return to my chambers," She murmured into Aemond's chest, "before we're found out."

"Stay." He pleaded, voice low and raspy from sleep. His hold tightened. She settled into his arms once more, unwilling to part.

They agreed to wed the following week, witnessed by her ladies and guards, with Helaena present too. She wouldn't wed Aemond without her family close by. The decision to wed by Lengii fashion was imminent, foreseen by her gods rather than the Valyrian ones. A union witnessed by Lengii blood and the wrapping of the yugal would be enough to force her mother's hand. Though, a Valyrian ceremony would do them well against Daemon's obstructions, especially after he learns what they've done.

The first act of this scheme was Jacaerys. Aemond had scowled when she mentioned his name yet Hira was firm, Jace deserved to know the truth. Mayhaps he'll understand, or he won't, she doesn't know, honour only goes so deep. A scorned man is a dangerous one, an entitled man even worse. Hira prays he'll understand, lest Aemond kills him in cold blood. His hatred stemmed from his mother's own hatred for Rhaenyra and the incident with the pig and the eye all amount to Aemond's need for revenge against the Velaryon boys. On this, he was unmoved. Hira will change his mind sooner than late and tame his thirst for vengeance.

Daemon and Rhaenyra would be informed only after the wedding was consummated, that way no one would question its validity. Hira knew it was going to be hell and Daemon might actually kill Aemond, but need Hira remind him that he set the precedent for secret weddings, without the leave of Rhaenyra's father and king.

Daemon led by example and she was ever her father's daughter.

The last was her mother, the greatest obstacle they have yet to face. Yhatia would surely fume at the disgrace and disrespect her daughter gave to the boon that was gifted to her, throwing away the title of queen consort.

Part of Hira feared it.

The other part, the one encouraged by Aemond, knew whatever they faced, whether good or bad, they would face together.

Better to ask for forgiveness than permission, Aemond had said. They were words to live by.

"The next time we see each other we'll be wed." Aemond said.

She propped herself up, straddling his waist, fingers playing idly on the hem of his untucked shirt.

Her sapphire was beautiful on him. There was something to be said on seeing her jewel on her betrothed, the feeling was gratifying, territorial even. Cut perfectly to fit the socket and glistening. It was a piece of her that he kept close during the two years of their separation.

"We need only survive a week." She answered. "Don't get into any trouble before then."

He grinned, leaning up to pepper kisses along her neck. "I could say the same to you."

She grabbed his face and stared into his eye, the gem twinkling against the sunlight, almost blinding her when the beam hit right. Her tone was tense. "I mean it, Aemond. There is much to risk."

"I would hardly jeopardise us."

"Promise me." She begged, a wave of something foul entering her heart.

He laid his mouth on her, sealing the vow. Warmth consumed her as she leaned into the kiss, Aemond's lips impossibly soft against her own. Sighs passed between their mouths, joining together into one sound, becoming completely lost in themselves.

Hira whined in displeasure when Aemond pulled back for a moment to catch his breath. He quickly closed the distance, meeting Hira once more and pulling her tighter against him. His hand travelled to her thigh to her ass, gripping the covered flesh. The strain against his trousers was evident. Hard and thick against her body and her hands reached down to stroke it. He bucked as she rubbed the heel of her palm down his length. Aemond gasped, the sweetest sound to be ever sung.

The door burst open, the frame slamming against the wall.

"Good morning." Helaena interrupted cheerfully, clapping her hands. "I thought I'd find you both here."

Hira yelped, quickly withdrawing her hand and stumbling off Aemond.

"Sweet sister, must you?" Aemond groaned, hands covering his face.

"The servants are up and so will the rest of the Keep. If we wish for your union to remain a secret, Hira needs to be ready before her departure back to Dragonstone."

Hira and Aemond shared a look. "You know?"

She hummed. "I saw it in a dream. Among others, more sorrowful. Blue and green collide and the sky burns red."

"That doesn't bold well, Hel." Hira commented.

"Nezha is a lovely name, no?" Helaena mused as an afterthought.

A Lengii god? Hira wondered, shaking her head. No use making sense of Helaena's prophecies, but she stored the information to the back of her mind.

She pulled Aemond up, returning his eyepatch, silently disheartened to see the sapphire hidden once more by the black leather.

They intertwined their hands, whispering goodbye and shared one last kiss before Helaena shoved Hira out the door.

The next time she'd see Aemond, a veil would be draped over their heads and a yugal would be wrapped around them in a figure eight, binding their souls as one.

Helaena bid her farewell, with parting words that left her cold.

"Beware the eye of the storm."

[ x ]

DRAGONSTONE

During the boat ride to Dragonstone, Hira suffered Daemon's stares. Rhaenyra had not bothered to moderate his temperament, knowing it best to leave father and daughter to their own devices. Jace tucked himself into a corner with Luke, Rhaena and Baela by their sides. Joffrey found himself in Hira's company, with Shouta napping in the corner.

The eldest Velaryon ignored her presence all morning. No one said anything regarding last night's events. Joffrey was the only one who wasn't clued into the tension that surrounded them like fog on a chilly morning.

When they disembarked, Hira grasped Jace's arm. At his protest, she dug her nails into his sleeve and tugged him along until they reached the beach.

"Apologies for the harsh treatment, but it was warranted considering your glares all morning."

He sulked, kicking bits of sand.

Hira sighed, the fight suddenly leaving her. "Jace. Jacaeyrs, please listen to me."

He lifted his head, motioning her to continue.

"You deserve the truth. Old Ones, you deserve far more than that. I didn't expect Aemond to do what he did during supper."

Jace shook his head. The grey skies were a contrast to his hair, to his dark clothes. "He laid his hands on you and kissed you. If it were another - Seven Hells if it were Aegon the realm would be down one prince. The fact that Aemond lives still proves more to me than you admit."

"The fault is not mine. I had no hand in provoking Aemond to kiss me."

"And yet you kissed him all the same. You may not have encouraged it but you were damn well pleased by it."

"Yes." She admitted, no ounce of regret. "Yes, I was pleased by it."

Albeit, without the audience. Or betrothal.

"How long has that been going on?" A hint of disgust sweeped in his tone.

Hira shrugged, trying to find the words. "Truly, I don't know. Perhaps when he claimed Vhagar. I was there that night, as you know, encouraging the idiot to tame a beast such as the she-dragon. In King's Landing, he was persistent with his presence and attention. Then we shared secrets and relieved trauma from our childhood. I resonated with him, grew to care for him above friendly affection. I killed a man who sought to take my maidenhead and life. Aemond held me like glass but looked at me as if I was made of steel."

Hira stared out to sea. A storm was brewing on the horizon. "The Aemond you had privy to is vastly different to the one who I know. He is gentle and soft and fierce all at once."

Jace rolled his eyes. "Spare me the details, Hira. I don't want to know how you crave my uncle any more than he wants our betrothal to take place. Soon we're to be in a loveless marriage. History repeats itself, as it did with my mother and Ser Laenor."

She reached for his hand, gripping it tightly lest Jace pull away. "It need not be like that. We need not marry at all. It's not my intention to cuckold you, now or later in life."

His expression blanched, as if he couldn't quite believe Hira would suggest such a notion. "And how would you go about that?"

"We dissolve the betrothal, with your agreement. I marry Aemond under Lengii law, my mother can be placated."

Jace stood rigid. There's a hint of something desperate in his eyes. "And what of mine? What of my wants, Hira? It's so easy for you to carelessly throw away my feelings for you."

She argued, "You said it yourself, it would be a loveless marriage. Unrequited. In what hells would you want that torture? That we would take lovers into our bed and give the realm another reason to question your standing? Your legitimacy?"

"You look at Aemond and it's like you're gazing out at a sunset."

Hira's brows furrowed. "What does that have to do with anything?"

Jace looked at her with sadness in his brown eyes, most likely the same shade as his father's. "You love sunsets."

She swallowed.

Shame overcame her like a tidal wave.

"I'm eternally sorry, Jace. It wasn't meant to be this."

Had Aemond left her alone during the dance, her future with Jace would be concrete. Now all that was left was rubble.

Exhaustion pooled on his shoulders. Jace slumped onto the sand, Hira kneeling beside him. Her fingers played the rings that adorned her fingers. A few days ago they were walking the same path, speaking with enthusiasm on their upcoming wedding day. How it has all changed, slipping through their fingers like grains of sand.

"Could you have learnt to love me?" His tone a whisper, afraid to hear the truth.

Her heart fractured into pieces. She had not known the extent of his affections. Hira prayed to the gods that his heartbreak was swift.

"Why would you pain yourself with that question?"

"Please."

She hesitated.

"I could have learnt to love you, yes, but it's Aemond who holds my heart and there is no force in this world that will change that."

Jace nodded once.

"He sent letters throughout my banishment and Daemon had them burnt." Hira revealed. "We were meant to exchange letters, Aemond and I, as well as Helaena yet Daemon thought it best to hide them from me. Rhaenyra knew and kept it secret. Some time after that, when I had given up hope, your mother offered up the betrothal and I accepted. Partly to appease my own mother and to gain political favour for Leng. In truth, I agreed because I thought Aemond saw me as only a dalliance to play and throw away once its usefulness was fulfilled. I was stupidly wrong."

"My mother?" Jace grimaced. "She would never do such a thing."

"This union offers armies and warships and an alliance with the East, it benefits Westeros greatly, brings them into Essosi politics and power. A Targaryen son backed by a Lengii daughter, with dragons stronger and greater than any sword or bow. You can see the picture I paint, yes?"

Hira imagined the wheels turning in his head.

"If we wish it, House Targaryen could rule over Essos."

"Daemon would see himself as Aegon the Conqueror. To have domain over Essos, much like your ancestors did with the Freehold."

"It's a pipedream."

"Of course it is." She scoffed, "Leng would never bow to dragons. The Free Cities, the Triarchy, those of noble blood would fight tooth and nail before they bend and break. But the threat is there, under their nose. Which is why Rhaenyra pushed for our marriage. It protects her claim. The reason why she was complicit in Daemon's actions."

"Is that your argument then, an acceptance made until false pretences?"

"I want a happy life for you, yet that is something I can't give. That is my argument."

Jace brought her hand to his lips. She felt nothing. "I can give you a happy life. Why can't you try? Why are you giving up before it's even begun?"

She pulled away, pressing a fleeting kiss to his hair.

Hira left Jace on the beach.

And that was answer enough.

[ x ]

KING'S LANDING 

AEMOND

The Street of Steel smelt of metal and soot. The forge was heaving with young Sers and would-be-knights, yet when the blacksmith saw Aemond's silvery hair and a Knight of the Kingsguard, the Prince found himself discussing material and weight.

"This exact layout and design, nothing more, nothing less." Aemond tapped the parchment. "If there are changes, I will cut off your hand."

"Yes, my Prince, understood."

It was the glare in Aemond's eye that frightened him. Fear and respect lived on two sides of the same coin.

After paying the smithy, Aemond returned to the Red Keep.

It was well known on the Street of Steel that Mattias was the best in producing trinkets and heirlooms. Hira deserved the best of the best. He had plans to gift the hairpin to his betrothed on their wedding day. He was counting the days until they were reunited, when he would call her wife and kiss her under the stars.

Hira brought out a giddiness in Aemond that he had long forgotten, something lost in his childhood when his eye was taken, only reclaimed when Hira made herself home in the Keep.

Helaena beamed when he walked into the nursery. He gave the twins a pat on their heads and for Maelor his finger to nibble on. He offered a smile to his sister.

Helaena dismissed the nanny and called for tea. Aemond plucked a green grape off its stem, his lone eye watching the children fondly as they played.

In a few years he'll have children of his own. He imagined they'd look like Hira, dazzling lilac eyes, shaped almond with long necks and high cheekbones. Those who said Targaryens were the height of godly beauty were wrong. Valyrian beauty was overrated, Aemond wanted as many children who looked like Hira, who carried her strength and compassion, fireborn yet soft and unyielding.

"You are chirpy this afternoon." He remarked.

His elder sister wore the ji in a tight bun at the base of her neck, the gems clinking with every turn of her head. He used Helaena's hairpin as a foundation for Hira's, before customising it into a design that suited the Lengii Princess and his future wife.

"I had new fabrics brought to my chambers this morning." Helaena announced. "And thread and hems."

"What lovely dress do you planned to make for the wedding?"

"Not for me, silly, for you! You'll wear blue, won't you? Hira would like that, I believe."

"Blue, black, green, whatever it may be. I'll wed her in rags if I have to."

Helaena frowned. "Lucky for you, you won't have to."

"I'm not fussed, sister. Only eager."

"It's good to see you smile, you should do it more often." Helaena commented, cradling Jaehaeyrs close. "Soon the castle will have no reason to smile. No joy or laughter ringing the halls, only bells and a repulsive smell that lingers even after the servants clear it out."

Aemond studied his sister as she tucked her son into her arms, mumbling into his hair. She rocked back and forth, lost in her dreams.

Hira mentioned Helaena was a dreamer, much like Daenys who predicted the Doom. Lately her words were bold and worrisome, speaking of ill intent and death.

Aemond recalled Hira's own worry and the promise he made that morning.

Jaehaera tugged on his trousers and he pulled her up. She played with the metal clasps on his jacket.

"Worry not, little princess, Aemond is here."

He stared at Helaena as he said the words.

A lone tear rolled down her face.

[ x ]

DRAGONSTONE

HIRA

When she reached her chambers Sunniva was already inside, sitting on the table lined with parchment and ink bottles. Pilak rushed towards her. Her hand caressed his nuzzle, giving it a kiss. His licks were boisterous, hinting that he missed her. She returned his love tenfold.

Her aunt's frown was telling.

"What do you know?" Hira asked, removing her cloak.

Sunniva tutted, as all mothers do when faced with a problematic child.

"You are as insolent as Yhatia was when she was your age. Have you no shame, girl?"

Hira kept her displeasure to herself. Why was it that everyone thought she goaded Aemond? As if his actions weren't of his own. Why was she to blame for another's misdeeds?

"Just how long did it take for Rhaenyra to scurry over and tell on me?" Hira snapped.

"Child-"

"I am not a child!" Hira slammed her hand against the tabletop, the ink pot tipping over. "Why can I not make decisions for myself? Is it not enough that I left my home to fuel my mother's ambitions?! That I'm a pawn for everyone to use and discard until there is nothing left? Why is my happiness not enough for you, for mother, or father?"

Sunniva was wide eyed.

The rage, the sadness, the betrayal of Daemon and all the desperation leaked out as quick as it arrived. Even Hira was surprised by it, not knowing the depth of her emotions, to which she kept under lock and key.

The words effortlessly spilled out.

"Why was it so easy for Daemon to disregard my feelings? That my mother sent me across the sea and has not once asked for my return, content to ignore my existence until I have fucked up and made an embarrassment of myself?"

"Oh, Hira." Her aunt grasped her face, wiping away the tears that threatened to fall. "Is that what you truly think?"

"Is it not the truth? I am mother's greatest stain. I will never be enough for her, so I give and give and I accept and I say yes like an obedient little princess, until I am torn and weary and old with a lifetime of regrets."

"Your mother loves you."

Her voice broke. "Not enough. She wouldn't even let me have a lantern. I was a child begging for her love and she sided with her eldest, her precious Atarah who does no wrong."

Atarah who was pure Lengii, she who followed the rules and was perfection incarnate. The first choice, the favoured daughter, the one Yhatia kept.

Hira giggled hysterically, a seed of madness entering in her mind, "And yet Aemond, sweet Aemond lit two lanterns on my seventeenth nameday and it healed something in me."

Hira had given and given. They have taken and taken. There is nothing left of her.

Nothing besides that what belongs to Aemond. The light, the encouragement, the passion to determine her life and embrace herself.

"Of all the powers of the Old Ones, even the gods do not know the extent of your distress. How have I missed all this?"

(Sunniva mourned the little girl she was. Running barefoot along the shore, chasing butterflies in the gardens, face painted with sweat and a gleeful smile. Dutiful daughter, who woke at dawn to dress in Yhatia's colours and learn the scripts and tongues. Hira, who ignored insults and woke up to spiders in her bed yet smiled with grace at her bullies. The hurt she hid, the anger trembling under her skin, the longing to own herself. Gods, Yhatia has wronged this girl since her claiming, since she shipped her daughter across the Narrow Sea to barter and sell like cattle.)

"A lifetime of obedience does this to a person."

Hira had reached her limit.

"It's not fickle love, it is real, Sunniva. I know it deep in my bones, in my soul. If it be my downfall, then I accept it."

"You love this boy?"

"I would kill for him. I would die for him. Is that not love?"

Sunniva brushed a piece of her hair. "Yhatia born again. Oh, how you hate the comparison but it is true. There is more fire in your blood, the world curses you for it."

"Aemond and I are to marry next week. I need not your acceptance, only your attendance."

Sunniva pulled back, distress lining her forehead. "Hira!"

"It's decided." She was stern, like a tree rooted to the earth. "I have broken the betrothal with Jace. I have chosen to wed Aemond."

"And what of our people stationed at Dragonstone?" Sunniva challenged. "Do you think you could sneak all five hundred warships under the dragon's nose?"

"I will find a way. I always do."

"And who will you sacrifice in the process? My daughter, your cousin? Emica or perhaps Raki, he's young and easy to mislead."

"I won't let anything happen to them."

"Who are you trying to convince?"

Hira ignored the attack. "Do I have your attendance?"

Sunniva huffed. "Is it a request or an order?"

"You hold higher power than I do, I can't force you. But my mother will bend if a Babaylan witnesses the union."

"This is madness. There is no bending Yhatia, there will be a fallout, rest assured. Are you prepared for it?"

Hira stood tall. "I have the blood of the dragon. Han flows in my veins as freely and wildly as Old Valyria."

"If you think that will save you, you are wrong." Sunniva's words wash over her. "This is a grave mistake, niece. I need no invitation to your wedding, for I will not bless this union."

Hira accepted the dismissal with decorum.

[ x ]

Exhaustion is the best word to use to describe Hira's ailment. Dark circles lingered under her eyes and the trembling from her fingers leave shaky after effects. The impulse to drag her nails across her neck was high, until she drew blood and the pain left a cruel satisfaction.

Emica had not taken kindly to the announcement, willing Hira to rethink on the consequence of breaking the betrothal and the outcome of the alliance. Jade's reasoning was one of bitterness and resentment for the Hightowers, though she knew it would not change Hira's mind on Aemond. Linh, ever the romantic, clasped their hands and congratulated Hira, as did Ming who offered to produce her ceremonial gown.

Shouta remained neutral. In his gruff exterior he told it didn't matter who she wed, so long as Hira wanted the marriage. Raki exchanged money with Linh, grinning at his luck.

When faced with a glare from Hira, he answered, "We've all seen the way he looks at you. Men such as Aemond Targaryen wouldn't stand for this insult."

In the dark of her chambers, alone, Hira fears the worst has yet to come. She has broken the betrothal with Jace, set to marry Aemond and yet the feeling of something wrong sits in her stomach.

There is a dark feeling brewing in her. She prays to gods that night, begging for Aemond's safety and a blessing for their union. The Babaylan had rejected them, that blow was hard to accept.

Pilak curled next to her, whining at his mistress' worry. She stroked his scales, tucking her head over his.

"All will be fine, Pilak, gods will it."

Her Lengii tongue was a touch of comfort.

Only a week. Just one week.

[ x ]

In King's Landing Aemond sleeps with his hand clenching his sapphire gem.

With a beetle wrapped under her palm, Helaena crushed the creature.

"The King is dead, long live the King."

That night, Viserys breathed his last, the name Aemma on his lips.