Chapter Text
Humiliation. That was what awaited Aemond in the Storm Lands. What should have been a simple task, an easy victory, ruined because of the bastard boy that had waltz in the room. Aemond had learned nothing during the dinner that took place right before his father died. Once again his common sense and decorum fled in the wake of Lucerys Velaryon. He forgot all about the audience, drawn to Lucerys and Lucerys alone.
It should have been a warning sign, how often Aemond’s world narrowed down to Lucerys.
Now he sat within a cell at Dragonstone. Delivered straight to his sister, bound and gagged, by the order of the very man that had so recently sworn loyalty to his brother. Aemond’s memory of that night had blurred, he remembered chasing Luke into the storm. Getting to him before he could reach his dragon.
Then- the smell of the sea and the taste of salt. The electric thrumming of a mating bond sliding into place without Aemond’s will or consent.
“You could bend the knee,” Daemon offered. His voice bland as if the thought bored him. Aemond was sure it did. Daemon’s soul was not one to be soothed by peace. Aemond knew because he felt the same restlessness within his own.
Aemond had not stood when Daemon graced him with his presence. He was on the stone ground, his head tilted back at the wall to look Daemon in the eye. He was miserable but he still had his taunts, “To her…or to you?”
Daemon’s fingers caressed the handle of Dark Sister in a way that looked vulgar. “You are aware of your place. Your dragon cannot reach you here, nor can you reach your precious mother’s arms.”
“I’m more aware of my place than you seem to be. The fates have decided to bind Lucerys to me. That means if I die, he dies.” It made him sick to think about. The audacity of Lucerys to take even more from him than he already had. He was a vile greedy thing and the Gods must have thought themselves hilarious to give another piece of Aemond to him.
“I’ve been around quite a bit longer than you, boy. There are many ways in which I can make you miserable that won’t bother our Lucerys in the slightest.”
Our Lucerys . The shared possessiveness in Daemon’s tone irked him. He said, “Not as miserable as his next heat will be, hmm?”
Daemon’s ire flooded the room.
His left eye had almost returned to its normal brown hue. It’d taken a full six nights to fade that much. Lucerys still feared if he blinked his eye would rise violet once more.
It’d been a century since the last time fate had decided to take the choice of mating out of mortal hands. Knowing the last pair of fated mates in the Targaryen bloodline were Aenys and Maegor was not a comfort. Lucerys knew which of the pair he aligned with more and could only hope that the theory that claimed fated pairs were reincarnated souls, doomed to relive the same story, was not accurate.
The other notable theory was that fated mates came from a competition between the goddesses Meleys and Tessarion, to test whether love was strong enough to overcome a person’s destiny. It explained why fated mates usually bloomed on opposing sides.
Lucerys was less than impressed by the maesters that had studied the rare occurrence and hadn’t given any thought on how to correct it. A knock at the door prevented him from doing something childish, like ripping the useless papers to shreds. He placed them gently down on the wooden desk and said, “Come.”
The door swung open and a guard announced, “Queen Rhaenyra.”
Lucerys stood quickly for her. She often had a tired, harried look about her and today was no different, but she had a smile for him when they clasped hands. “Lucerys.”
“Mother.”
She leaned in close to him and Lucerys fought to keep from blinking, knowing what she was looking for. After a few moments she said, “You can hardly tell.”
“Does this mean I can leave my rooms now?”
“I think that would be wise,” Rhaenyra said. “Between Rhaena and Joffrey, I’ve had few moments of peace where they have not asked after you.”
The thought of Rhaena made his heart sore. They’d only been engaged so recently, and yet he’d been happy. So happy every time he imagined the soft and sweet life they would have together. Arrax had even accepted her, as skittish as he was, and allowed her to brush her fingers along the scales of his neck once.
Whatever was showing on his face had his mother pulling him into an embrace. “Oh Lucerys. The anger I have for myself for allowing you to go to that awful place. You’re just a boy.”
Lucerys’s laugh was bitter. That wasn’t true at all. He was no longer just a boy, if he had ever been one. As he had been a bastard, a prince, he was now an omega as well. A mated one at that.
He could still feel the fire that had burst behind his skin that night, as he presented. Could still smell the copper tang of blood after Aemond had bitten into his neck like a wild thing. Could still hear Aemond’s muttered disbelief as he pulled off Lucerys, the look in his remaining eye like Lucerys had plotted this all along, like it was entirely his fault.
He still couldn’t be sure that it wasn’t. “What’s to be done with him? Aemond?”
Rhaenyra turned from him toward his balcony. Her hands pressed to her stomach and Lucerys wondered if it still pained her. He still remembered her pain throughout her labors with his late sister. The way she’d grieved and birthed at the same time while having to secure her throne.
“I have given Daemon permission to see if he can be convinced to bend the knee,” Rhaenyra said. “Perhaps his bond to you will make him more likely to see reason.”
“It won’t,” Lucerys said. “If anything it’ll make him more insufferable.”
Rhaenyra spared him a smile with a glance over her shoulder. When Lucerys stepped up in her space she wrapped an arm around his shoulders, keeping one firm around her stomach. The warm weight of her next to him gave him the courage to ask his next question.
“And what’s to be done with me?” he asked quietly.
His mother looked down at him, frowning. “What do you mean?”
“There were already doubts of my claim to Driftmark before all of this,” Lucerys said. “Now not only am I omega, but I’m an omega that cannot have heirs unless it’s with an alpha that would have me mutilated.”
“You were supposed to be resting these past few days, Lucerys,” Rhaenyra said. “Not stressing.”
“Have you been able to rest?”
“No,” Rhaenyra said and squeezed him tightly. “I suppose I hadn’t thought of our circumstances being so similar. Both of us denied our birthright by our primary and secondary genders. At least we’ll have each other in the fight, yes? You’ll always have my support, no matter the outcome of all this.”
“Will Grandsire denounce me?” he asked plainly.
“We have not spoken of it as of yet, but he loves you, Lucerys. This hasn’t changed his heart,” she said.
They both knew that wasn’t much of an answer at all.
The first thing Lucerys did with his newfound freedom was check out the commotion going on in the outer bailey. Jace was still gone but Joff and Rhaena kept him proper company. Rather than join the crowded outer bailey, Rhaena suggested they watch from the archway leading to Windwrym tower. It would put them a story above the bailey.
Guards trained there, it was normal enough that the audience was normally small. Today lords and ladies of the castle alike were gathered around the crowd at the very center of it. Rhaena’s suggestion was wise, Lucerys only had to lean slightly across the rail to peak at the crowd.
“I can’t see,” Joffrey fussed before Lucerys had registered what he was looking at. His tiny hands curled around the stone ledge and even on tiptoes he could not reach his nose over the dark stone. Lucerys knelt and lifted Joffrey, settling him on his hip.
Beside him Rhaena said, “Oh no.”
With Joffrey comfortable, Lucerys turned alarmed to her and found her staring down at the bailey with a grim expression. Lucerys shifted his attention down.
Armor separated the guards from the spectators. At least twenty of them made a complete circle, an arena for fighters in the center. They were both shirtless, with ratty pants and skin covered in sand and blood. One of them moved wildly, untrained and yet desperate. The other-
The other was Aemond. Lucerys’s mind twisted in a flashback while still being conscious of what was happening in front of him. Aemond in the bailey advanced on the other man as echoes of his shouts chasing him at Storm’s End rang through his ears. He caught the frantic man and threw him onto the ground as Lucerys felt echoes of mud and rain and pain along his skin.
In the bailey Aemond raised a first and delivered one swift blow to the man’s temple and rose once more as soon as the man was limp.
At Storm’s End, Aemond had to be dragged off him.
“Are you alright?” Rhaena said, her hand came up and slid over his knuckles, warm and kind.
Lucerys’s breath came out shaky. “Yes. I just didn’t expect him to be here.”
“I didn’t either,” Rhaena said quietly. “Oh look, he’s fighting someone new.”
“Why?” Lucerys said, angrily. He hadn’t wanted to see Aemond again so soon. He hadn’t wanted to see him again ever.
“If I may, my Prince,” a voice came from further along the bridge, from the man that stood watch to the entrance to the Windwrym tower. Ser Steffon. “It seems Prince Consort Daemon has offered a half-sentence to the prisoner that can bring Aemond down.”
Lucerys looked back toward the fight. The new prisoner Aemond was up against was twice his size and held a stance that told he was well practiced in a one-on-one. Aemond went for the knees and took a hard hit to his shoulder in return. His skin was sun- red and his hair didn’t show its usual shine. It stuck to his face and neck and more than once Aemond would shake his head like a wild dog to get it out of the way.
“That’s cruel,” said Rhaena.
Ser Steffon made an amused noise. “For the traitor or the criminals, princess?”
“ Both .”
Lucerys turned away as Ser Steffon’s face pinked, Aemond had managed to defeat the large one and Lucerys regretted missing how he’d managed that with Ser Steffon’s distraction. A breeze picked up from behind them, cool enough to make Joffrey tuck his face into Lucerys’s neck to hide from it. Lucerys’s hair and cloak whipped wildly around, the wind messing them both before moving on.
It caught the crowd below them moments later, ladies gripping their skirts fiercely to avoid a scandal. It came upon Aemond hard enough that it picked his silver hair in the breeze. It must have felt divine, because Aemond tilted his face toward the sky as if to bask in it.
Lucerys did not expect it when he turned away from the line of prisoners to look up toward Windwrym tower. Lucerys nearly stepped back out of surprise before he grounded himself. Aemond had surely already seen him, and Lucerys wasn’t going to show himself being afraid of him. He could not make out the expression on Aemond’s face, could only imagine the ire and fury on it as he allowed his new opponent to come for him with his back turned.
A blow to the back of Aemond’s head sent him down to his knees. His opponent took the chance to kick Aemond squarely in the ribs and was about to a second time when Aemond caught his foot and dragged him down into the sand with him.
This time Aemond did not stop once he had achieved victory. He stopped only when Daemon had pulled him off by a fistful of hair, leaving trails of blood in the sand behind him.
“He’s rather scary, isn’t he?” Rhaena said. “Even without his dragon he’s-”
“A problem,” Lucerys said.
They leave soon after, not staying to watch the conclusion of the baileys events, and take their lunch in Aegon’s Garden, hiding behind a large hedge in order to maintain some form of privacy.
“Your mother was the one that told me you and I were no longer promised,” Rhaena said. “She said you wanted me to know before anyone else.”
Joffrey had eaten his portion and the sweets from Lucerys’s plate before nodding off, curled away from Lucerys with his back pressed firmly to Lucerys’s leg. Lucerys ran his hand through his curls.
“I didn’t want you to find out along with everyone else,” Lucerys said. “I didn’t think that would be fair.”
The council meeting to let everyone else know was likely going as they spoke. Lucerys’s stomach twisted. His fate was being discussed by a group of people and he had not even been invited to the meeting.
“I told Baela,” Rhaena confessed quickly, shame in her voice. “I should not have, but I just needed- I needed-“
“It’s alright,” Lucerys said, hand twitching to take hers before stilling. “I wish Jace were back. It would have been nice to talk to him about this. And nice to have him in the council meeting today.”
“I made Baela promise she would stand for us in the meeting. She said she’d send Moondancer crashing into the great hall if they attempted anything either of us would hate.”
Lucerys looked over at her to find her blinking quickly down toward her lap. For all his worrying about himself he hadn’t really considered the consequences this would have on Rhaena as well. She was now free for engagement and unlike Luke wasn’t burdened by a fated mate. There would be many alphas that would pledge to his mother’s cause in exchange for her hand. Alphas that she might not have the chance to get to know the way she had with Lucerys before being wed to them.
They had kissed twice and once, while drunk on sweet wine, picked out the names they wanted for their children. Lucerys’s hand crossed the distance to hold hers, intertwining their fingers and she gripped him tightly.
Baela found them as the sun was beginning to set. Her pheromones filled the little clearing, strong enough that Lucerys felt his head begin to get woozy. Even putting out the protective scent like she was, it overwhelmed him. He couldn’t imagine being around an alpha that was angry. He’d crumble surely.
Beside him, Rhaena seemed not as affected by her sister's hormones. She patted the grass beside her and held up a cut of custard she’d yet to finish. She sat down beside Rhaena, taking the food from her but not eating it. Instead, she leaned toward Lucerys slightly and blatantly sniffed the air.
“Well!” She said as Lucerys gaped at her, trying to decide whether to be offended or not. “So that part is true at least. And you have a bite already too?”
“ Baela, ” Rhaena said as Baela narrowed her eyes at the neck of Lucerys’s high tunic, like she might be able to see through it to his flesh.
There was a challenge in her words. After a quick glance around the clearing to check that no one was watching, even though Lucerys knew within a day everyone would know his situation anyway, Lucerys revealed the space where his collarbone met his neck.
It only showed it for a second, because as soon as the girls saw it they both gasped like he’d shown them something terrible.
“Fucker,” Baela muttered and it shocked Lucerys enough that he laughed.
“What happened at the meeting?” Rhaena asked. “Was anything decided?”
Baela scoffed. “No. A lot of things were suggested, but nothing was really decided other than that Aemond would stay hostage here and the Queen would reach out to Alicent to renegotiate from an advantage.”
“Why not Aegon?” Lucerys asked, frowning.
“Come on,” Baela laughed. “We all know that drunk wasn’t in charge of this. It’s Otto and Alicent we have to worry about.”
“And what about us?” He asked.
Baela’s smile fell. “Nothing was set in stone for either of you.”
“But what of the options, Baela,” Rhaena insisted.
Baela took Rhaena’s hands to stop them from the stressed fiddling with her skirts she’d been doing. “Lord Borro’s daughters were mentioned. All of them are betas, and with Aemond’s humiliation of them so recent, he’d likely be eager to accept a proposal in exchange for his men. That was the option the Queen seemed most interested in, but she’ll talk to you before she agrees.”
Rhaena nodded again, looking both appeased and unhappy with that answer.
“If it comes to that, you’ll still be close enough that we could have lunch everyday if you wished,” Baela said softly. “And we’ve met his daughters before, remember? Ellyn was quite funny.”
“Yes, that’s true,” Rhaena said. “And Marris was fond of the same books I was.”
“See? If they have any sense at all they’ll be grateful to be even considered by the grand Rhaena Targaryen,” Baela teased.
“And me?” Lucerys said. Hating to interrupt them but anxious all the same.
“Oh gods, Lucerys. I thought your mother was going to behead some of those men for the suggestions they were making.”
Lucerys grimaced. “That awful?”
Baela wrinkled her nose as she said, “Greyjoy was mentioned because he ‘has enough wives he won’t expect an heir of you’.”
Lucerys felt cold. “Who said this?”
“Lord Gormon, but don’t worry about that. The Queen rejected him immediately,” Baela said. “There were two she was considering; Lord Cregan Stark and Lady Sabrina Frey. They are both widowed alphas, with heirs already. It would be a bond of companionship rather than to strengthen a line.”
The Vale or the North. They meant to send him away.
“Did they say outright that I’m no longer an heir to Driftmark, or did they dance around that too?” Lucerys asked, feeling hollow inside.
“It wasn’t mentioned during the meeting,” Baela paused. “Luke, you should know grandsire approached me after the meeting. And I swear to you I told him no. That I didn’t want it and I meant it, but he asked me-“
Lucerys stood sharply enough that it jostled Joffrey into waking. Despite having asked, Lucerys found that he was not able to sit and listen to the confirmation Baela was about to give.
“Where are you going?” Joffrey asked, oblivious and sweet.
“To see mother.”
“Aemond?” Lucerys’s voice, hesitant, pulled Aemond out of his sleep.
He thought he’d been asleep, at least. His eyes were dry and crusty, and the stone wall in front of him was dark enough that it could have made him believe his eyes were closed in his hazy state. The stone wall against his back was the same, and he’d been pressed against it too long because his back felt hot when he pulled away. He scrubbed a filthy hand over his filthy face.
“Aemond,” Lucerys said again, his voice louder. “I’ve brought you food and water.”
It was enough that Aemond didn’t feel inclined to ignore him anymore. He stood and slowly made his way over to the cell door with his aching body. As he got closer, the light from the torch behind Lucerys fell upon him. He must have been a sight because a flash of disgust came across Lucerys’s face before he smoothed it out.
The food was already placed on the ground on Aemond’s side of the door, along with it a thick deerskin. Aemond went for that first and drank deeply. His gulps were loud in the otherwise silent cell. Aemond’s cell was well away from the other Dragonstone prisoners, closest to the mouth of the cave. Likely to make it more convenient for Daemon’s frequent visits.
He felt Lucerys’s stare on him as he drank half the deerskin, unbothered by the water that flowed down his chin and his bare skin. Once his mouth no longer felt dry, he poured some water over his hands and scrubbed them. It barely made him feel any cleaner.
A generous helping of meat pie sat on the plate. Aemond would have been worried about it being poisoned if Lucerys wouldn't have been doomed along with him. He took a large bite and made himself chew slowly, despite his temptation. He'd been eating tasteless slop for days now and it’d turned something as simple as meat pie into a delicacy.
He finished it and turned away from Lucerys, intent on getting some actual rest with his stomach now full.
“You’re welcome.”
Those two words, spoken in a haughty tone, were enough to spark anger. He turned back and stalked toward the cell door. Taking a deep nosy inhale.
Lucerys’s eyes went wide and he took a step back, even though he must have been wearing oils to block his scent. “What are you doing?”
“I was curious if your heat was near and you were trying to sweeten me up to beg for my knot.”
Lucerys’s cheeks went red, his lips parting in a quiet gasp. “You’re disgusting.”
Aemond shrugged, more entertained than he’d been in weeks. “You must not be, but you can practice if you’d like. I think I’d be more generous if you were on your knees.”
Lucerys pitched forward quickly. Aemond thought he might be about to throw up, but then Lucerys straightened and reared his arm back. Aemond jerked out of the way in time to avoid the rock Lucerys threw at him.
“Fucking-” Lucerys bent and picked up another. “Asshole!”
Aemond made the mistake of catching the next rock thrown and dropped it immediately as his hand burned with pain. He shook his hand out, hissing. Lucerys throw was stronger than Aemond had been expecting. With his tiny frame and clear lack of training.
“Are you finished?” Aemond asked.
“Are you?” Lucerys said.
“For now.” Only because his hand smarted and he didn’t want more rocks inside his cell. “What did you come here for?”
“I wanted to offer you a deal,” Lucerys said. “You wouldn’t be let go, but it’d likely grant you more comfort. A room instead of a cell maybe.”
“I’m plenty comfortable here.”
“You stink, Uncle. I can smell you from here. Are you going to spend the rest of your days without a bath?”
Aemond scowled at him. “What’s your deal, then?”
“My mother plans on sending orders to Jacaerys to inform certain alphas that I’m available,” Lucerys began.
“But you’re not,” Aemond said, frowning. The mark on Lucerys’s neck claimed him as Aemond’s alone. “Does she plan on lying to them about your mate-bond like she does your heritage?”
Lucerys frowned at him. “She’s not going to lie. There’s widowed alphas with heirs already. Lord Stark-”
“So you’d be a convenient place for an alpha to warm their cock.”
A sigh exploded out of Lucerys. “Why are you so crude?”
“It’s true though, isn’t it? What good would you be to another alpha now?”
It was harsh, Aemond in part venting his frustrations with his own situation. His best option was joining the Kingsguard, and the thought of spending his days ensuring his idiot brother was safe sounded dull.
“My mother offered me a choice to pursue that option or to keep it a secret for now,” Lucerys said. “I figured that wouldn’t last very long. Especially if any Hightowers got ahold of the information.”
Likely true, but Aemond was focused on the first part of Lucerys’s comment more. “What did you tell her?”
Lucerys watched him, his gaze strangely intent. “What difference does it make to you?”
Aemond bared his teeth. “You know very well the difference it makes. Will I take Vhagar to the Vale, or the North once I’m free?”
“Why? Wouldn’t it be better for you if I were someone else’s problem?”
“No,” Aemond said and then gritted his teeth because he could not find the logic in why he was arguing against it. Some sort of base alpha instinct, surely.
Lucerys hummed. “So you’ll work with me, then? I’d rather not be a convenient place for an alpha to warm his cock.”
It was strange hearing Aemond’s own words spat back at him. Strange to watch Lucerys’s lips from around such vulgar words. “What do I get out of it?”
“You’d get out of this cell.”
Aemond shook his head, grinning. “Not good enough.”
“Then, what do you want?”
“You know what I want.”
“My eye? You’ve already taken something from me in return.” Lucerys gestured to his neck. “Aren’t we even?”
“Even? No. This bond is as much a shackle for me as it is to you.”
“You bit me!”
“You presented!”
Lucerys looked very much like he wanted to stomp himself. “I couldn’t help that.”
“Nor could I.”
Lucerys made an ugly, exasperated sound. “Fine! My eye. When it’s all over you can have it.”
Aemond felt every inch of his body freeze. He wasn’t breathing. If his body could function without his pulse, he’s sure his heart would have frozen as well. “What.”
“When everything is settled, and my mother takes her rightful place on the throne, you can have my eye.”
Oh. “You want me to fight for her?”
“I wouldn’t trust you not to turn on us the instant you’re back on Vhagar,” Lucerys said, smiling slightly. “No, I want you to lie with me. And lie with me well.”
Aemond tilted his head. “Very well. What lies shall we tell?”
“That I am in love with you.”