Chapter Text
Prologue – Camyla I - 3rd Moon 129 AC
The flames flickering in the fireplace threw strange shadows onto the walls and ceilings of the room. Camyla had long ceased to see them as she lay in bed, eyes hazy and mind racing. Visions of death and destruction danced across her mind’s eye: Storm’s End in flames, her sisters fleeing and getting crushed by the falling debris, her mother and father being put to the sword and her husband falling from his dragon to be swallowed by the roiling waves of Shipbreaker Bay. Over and over again until she was too exhausted from terror to do anything but blink up at the ceiling.
Her only saving grace was her daughter. Alyssa’s even breaths, deep and heavy with sleep, soothed her soul.
Soon she would wake, angry and indignant with hunger, and Camyla would be able to put her mind to something other than her fear.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
She had been born a Baratheon and had married a Targaryen – war was the language of her ancestors.
So why was she so scared?
Helaena hadn’t been able to stop crying since Aemond had left. Aegon had led her to their rooms, face unusually solemn. Camyla had left not long after, unable to handle the palpable tension radiating from Alicent.
Alyssa had been difficult to settle too. Whether it was because she could feel the tension Camyla couldn’t contain or because she missed her father, Camyla didn’t know. Thankfully, she was young enough that her discomfort couldn’t win over her tiredness for long. Alyssa had calmed in Camyla’s arms eventually, a frown so like her father’s on her little face.
The soft mattress, usually so comforting, felt like a pit trying to swallow Camyla up. Her limbs twitched with restlessness, feeling like an army of ants was marching through her veins. Even her hair, something Camyla usually took so much pride in, was annoying her – it felt too tight along her scalp and pulled in random places.
BANG
Camyla sat up so quickly, her head swam with the suddenness of it. She instinctively started to throw herself to the side, to reach Alyssa as quickly as possible, when her brain caught up with her eyes and she realised what it was that had disturbed her.
Aemond was back!
Alyssa released a furious wail at being woken so unceremoniously but she was snatched up by her father before her first cry had ended.
‘Aemond?’ Camyla asked uncertainly, getting off the bed and making her way towards him.
Something was wrong.
The ground was wet where he had tread and she could see a small puddle growing where he stood. His normally silky hair was plastered to his face and clothes, which were in turn plastered to his body. He was soaked.
Most worryingly of all, he was hunched over Alyssa, holding her desperately but still oh so gently to his chest. His face was buried in her short tuft of hair and he seemed blind and deaf to her struggles and cries.
Alyssa was clearly incensed at not only being woken up, but by also being held by someone cold and wet.
Camyla felt her blood run cold as she neared them and heard what Aemond was muttering into Alyssa’s head.
‘I’m sorry my sweet girl, I’m so sorry,’ he said over and over again.
‘Aemond,’ Camyla said softly, voice breaking with fear, ‘Aemond please, you’re scaring me.’
‘I damned my soul,’ he replied lowly, still holding onto Alyssa tightly, ‘And in doing so condemned our daughter.’
‘Aemond, speak clearly,’ the bone-deep terror Camyla felt sharpened her plea into a sharp command.
He turned towards her, face curled up in a snarl. His eyes were wide and almost crazed, the sharp lines of his face harsh and cruel.
‘I killed Lucerys Velaryon,’ he spat the words out like poison.
Kinslayer
When Camyla had first been learning how to ride her horse, she had been thrown accidentally when her horse tripped while cantering. There was no sensation of falling, no fear or anticipation. She had simply been on her horse one second, and within the blink of an eye, she was lying on her back, in pain and staring wide-eyed at the sky.
That shock was nothing compared to this.
Camyla let out a gasping breath, holding onto the bassinet as her knees almost buckled beneath her.
‘Kinslayer,’ the word was torn from her.
Aemond’s face crumbled and he hunched further over Alyssa, as if to protect them both from the blow.
‘I didn’t – I wasn’t -’ Aemond cut himself off with a growl of frustration.
Alyssa let out a furious wail.
‘A – Alyssa,’ Camyla stammered, ‘You need to change her out of those clothes, they’re all wet.’
Her mind was spinning, thoughts flying from one direction to another but one thing was clear: Alyssa, Alyssa needed to be protected.
She couldn’t – her father couldn’t be a kinslayer, that stain would never leave her, her future would be – no, no, Camyla couldn’t let that happen.
Without another word to Aemond, she hurried to the door where Lord Harbert was standing guard.
‘My Lord, I need you to bring the King, the Queen and the Queen Mother urgently,’ Camyla said.
‘Are you alright, my Lady?’ He asked her, eyes wide with concern.
Despite her best efforts, Camyla must have looked as harried as she felt.
‘I – yes I am,’ Camyla replied distractedly.
Her gaze sharpened as a thought occurred to her.
‘With the outmost discretion Lord Harbert. No-one can know of this,’ she added firmly.
‘Of course, my Lady,’ he replied, turning to leave.
Breathe in. Breathe out.
‘Who else was there?’ Camyla asked, striding over to her desk – she had a letter to write.
‘Your family and some Baratheon guards,’ Aemond answered, rocking Alyssa to soothe her.
His voice was hoarse and there was a dark undertone to his voice which Camyla had never heard before.
But he wasn’t her priority, Alyssa was. Alyssa and the future he had single-handedly destroyed for her.
‘How did he die?’
‘Vhagar – Vhagar tore Arrax to pieces in the air.’
Aemond’s voice hitched as he spoke but there was a layer of satisfaction in his voice that incensed Camyla.
‘How wonderful that both rider and dragon are kinslayers,’ she snapped, turning to look at him.
To her satisfaction, he flinched back at her words.
What she was going to ask her family to do would paint a huge target on their back.
Her dragonless family.
Camyla closed her eyes and sent a prayer to the Mother. She asked for forgiveness for what she was going to ask of her own mother and her mercy and understanding.
Mother,
‘What happened?!’ Alicent cried as she strode into the room, hair messy and dressing gown askew.
She was quickly followed by a yawning Aegon and a tired-looking Helaena.
‘Whatever this is, could it not have waited until the morning?’ Aegon asked surly, nodding at Aemond and then throwing himself on the settee next to the dying fire.
‘Lucerys is dead,’ Camyla replied tonelessly, looking back down at the parchment in front of her.
‘Good.’
Surprisingly the word didn’t come from Aegon, but Helaena.
Or perhaps it was not surprising; Camyla remembered how angry Helaena had been when she had recounted the tale of Aemond’s lost eye.
Aegon laughed carelessly,
‘So you called us here to plan a celebratory feast?’
‘I killed him,’ Aemond admitted hollowly.
Camyla clenched her free fist at Alicent’s horrified gasp.
‘No Aemond, tell me you didn’t,’ she pleaded tearfully.
There is no man as accursed as a kinslayer in the eyes of both gods and men.
Aegon however, seemed unconcerned.
‘So my brother is to be the guest of honour at the feast then?’ He asked gleefully.
‘Do not be foolish Aegon!’ Alicent snapped, turning her back to Aemond.
Despite her anger, Camyla couldn’t hold back a wince at Aemond’s face when his mother turned away from him.
‘Mother have mercy,’ Helaena sounded terrified, ‘Kinslayers on both sides – the Lords will not support either of us.’
‘Aemond will not be a kinslayer,’ Camyla stated firmly, ‘At least not in the eyes of men.’
The gods would keep their own counsel.
‘What do you mean?’ Alicent asked, hope and horror vying for dominance in her tone.
Camyla wordlessly handed her the letter she would never forgive herself for writing.
Mother,
For the sake of my daughter, the events that occurred tonight at Storm’s End must be as follows.
Lucerys Waters, natural born son of Princess Rhaenyra Targaryen and Ser Harwin Strong, approached Storm’s End on his dragon on this night. He carried no flag of peace or envoy nor did he display the golden dragon of our most beloved King Aegon, second of his name.
Having been warned by your good-son, Aemond Targaryen, of the actions of war undertaken by Princess Rhaenyra and her husband-uncle Prince Daemon, and betrayal by our own cousin Princess Rhaenys (those being the murder of Vaemond Velaryon and the slaughter of the smallfolk of King’s Landing during King Aegon and Queen Helaena’s coronation), you set the guards seeing to our keep’s defence into high alert after my beloved husband left Storm’s End to return to my side and that of our newborn daughter Alyssa.
Seeing an enemy dragon approaching Storm’s End, the guards used the scorpions we had affixed to our outer walls to fire on Lucerys Waters and his dragon Arrax, until both dragon and rider sank below the waves of Shipbreaker Bay.
Having seen to the defence of your keep, you sent us a raven which will arrive later this morning telling us of the news. You will also send a raven telling of this unprovoked attack and your valiant defence to the Lord Paramounts of the Seven Kingdoms.
Burn this letter after you read it.
Love,
Your daughter
‘Will your Lord father and Lady mother do as you ask?’ Alicent asked, looking as if she didn’t dare hope.
‘I am my father’s heir and Alyssa is mine,’ Camyla replied, ‘The future Lady of Storm’s End cannot carry the taint of kinslaying.’ She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
‘But we will need to make sure that it is known that Lucerys Waters and his two brothers are bastards with no blood from Leanor Velaryon,’ she added.
‘Rhaenyra will argue that your father is a kinslayer through his relation to Rhaenys Velaryon,’ Helaena said as she reached out to hold Camyla’s hand.
‘So we will have to ensure that her infidelity is well known,’ Alicent said.
‘Yay, more songs,’ Aegon drawled sarcastically.
Camyla turned to glare at him venomously. He raised his hands in surrender in response.
She looked away and said to the room in general,
‘I have a personal raven trained to fly through thunderstorms and to do so quickly. I’ll send this now myself.’
Without giving anyone a chance to reply, Camyla strode from the room.
Having sent Lord Harbert ahead of her to ensure there was no one in her path, Camyla was unable to escape the whirlwind of her thoughts.
Her husband, a kinslayer in the eyes of the gods. Anger built inside her like a thunderstorm, anger at his thoughtlessness and stupidity. That she didn’t know the exact actions and circumstances that led to Lucerys Waters’ death was irrelevant. Aemond was intelligent and cunning – Camyla was sure that there was a way out of whatever the situation was that wasn’t kinslaying. Besides, she knew her husband, knew how hotheaded he could be. In the back of her mind, she had hoped that having a wife and daughter would temper him. A fool’s hope as it turned out and she was the fool.
She worked herself up to a fine fury, so much so that she was practically stomping her way back to her room after sending off her raven.
Don’t make me forgive the unforgivable
What a joke. The gods must have laughed at her naivety.
‘I don’t want to talk,’ she snapped when she entered their room and saw that Alicent, Aegon and Helaena had left and that Alyssa was settled in her bassinet again.
‘Am I not even allowed to explain myself?’ Aemond asked defeatedly.
He was sitting on the edge of the bed, slumped in on himself, the picture of a dejected man. Camyla’s ire only grew at seeing him.
‘Is there anything you could say that would remove the target I have placed on my family’s back and the stain on your soul?’
He flinched. Good.
‘It wasn’t planned.’
May the Mother grant her patience because if the Father gave her strength she was going to strangle him with her own hands.
‘Well I am glad to know that you didn’t plan on damning your soul and condemning our daughter,’ Camyla replied sarcastically, ‘It warms my heart that destroying your family was an impulsive decision.’
‘I wanted to scare him!’
Aemond stood up suddenly, grabbing at his hair and pacing the room erratically.
‘I wanted him to feel the fear I did when he took my eye! When the pain was so bad I feared I’d die from it! But that useless bastard couldn’t even control his own dragon. Arrax attacked Vhagar and she retaliated.’
Camyla’s heart, which had softened at the reminder of what Aemond had suffered through in his youth, hardened at his final words.
‘Why in the seven hells would Arrax attack Vhagar? What were you doing?!’
‘We were just chasing them!’
Camyla wanted to shake him. The room felt hot and stuffy and she couldn’t breathe through it.
‘For fuck’s sake Aemond,’ Camyla hissed, ‘What did you think would happen?! You know dragons better than I ever will! What. Did. You. Think. Would Happen?!’
Aemond opened and closed his mouth, blatantly unable to defend himself.
Alyssa let out a loud cry, waking once more.
Camyla felt the anger drain out of her. All that was left was disappointment and weariness.
‘I need to feed Alyssa,’ she said tiredly, picking up Alyssa and lowering her nightgown, ‘Just go to bed Aemond. I have no interest in talking to you further.’
She turned her back to him, sitting on the settee and cooing at Alyssa as she nursed. He could do whatever he wanted – to her, Alyssa would always be the priority.