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"I took your eye," Lucerys reminds him, voice trembling. As if Aemond ever forgets that pain. "I'll take your other one."
Aemond hums. He doesn't feel threatened. Lucerys is all but his now, Aemond just has to finish the claim. He presses his cheek against Lucerys's sweaty temple and says, "If you try to run, I will let the next alpha have you."
It's a lie. Aemond would hunt and chase and pin Lucerys a hundred more times before he let anyone else have him. He pulls back from Lucerys, sitting back on his knees. He's still out of breath from the chase and he's hard. His cock knows the warm clutch that waits him and suffers impatience and tight leathers for it.
"Maybe I'd rather one of them takes me," Lucerys mutters. Despite this he does not take off running once Aemond's weight is off him. He gets up on his hands and knees and looks sullenly back at Aemond. His cheeks are red from the run and his lashes are thick with old tears.
He must know what a temptation he is. "On your back."
Lucerys whips his head back forward. His shoulders tense and he crushes poor leaves as his firsts curl. Aemond isn't overly bothered by his hesitation. He takes his fill of the sight of Lucerys's rear. It's rounder than Aemond expected, as Lucerys's normally thigh length tunic has slid up enough to reveal the pale skin of his lower back in their struggle.
Aemond drags his knuckles up the back of Lucerys's thigh. As soon as he reaches one of his round cheeks Lucerys reacts like a startled steed, with a high sound and a jump. Aemond hooks his hand at Lucerys's hip and uses Lucerys's skittish movements to encourage him to turn over like he'd originally commanded.
Once flat on his back, Lucerys glares at him. His mouth is open like he has words for Aemond but hasn't found them yet. He begins, "You-!"
"Me," Aemond purrs. His hand, still at Lucerys's hip, hooks into his pants and begins to tug. "Lift your hips."
"No," Lucerys says in a near whine.
"If I have to cut your clothes off, you'll walk out of here naked for all to see."
Lucerys takes a moment to really consider this, as if cooperating with Aemond is such a difficult task for him. In the end though, he lifts his hips and Aemond slides his pants down to his feet. He's careful with Lucerys's ankle. It's already swelling and will need braced before Lucerys can travel very far. Aemond isn't too worried about that now. Lucerys won't need to be on his feet for quite awhile if Aemond gets his way.
He's good about ensuring that he does.
Lucerys uses the moment Aemond is fussing with his ankle to tug his tunic back down. The fit is modest when paired with his leggings, now that they're off it's obscene how much of his pale legs show. The tunic is flimsy, white, and Lucerys has gotten damp at some point in his trails tonight because Aemond can nearly see right through it.
The woods are alive with sounds, close and distant from the wild and the hunt. Aemond barely hears it above the blood rushing to his ears. Lucerys must hear it all better, because he is looking everywhere but at Aemond above him.
"The alphas from before," Lucerys starts.
"I killed them," Aemond says. Offended in a way that Lucerys is worried of far off threats when Aemond is right here.
"Who? I mean, there were alphas earlier. That's how I hurt my ankle. Otherwise you wouldn't have caught me." The end of that is said in a mutter, annoyed and childish with the delusion that Aemond wouldn't have caught him either way.
"I killed them," Aemond repeats, irritated. He crawls back over Lucerys and grabs his chin. "Pay attention."
To me, is unsaid. Lucerys may be comfortable pitching his words like a child, but Aemond will not lower himself so. He gets Lucerys's attention either way. Gets a glare.
"There were five of them and you don't have Vhagar. This isn't your tourney ground, Aemond, and I'm not one of the fluttering omegas in the crowd eager to faint at your feet."
"Who do you think you're talking to?" Aemond scoffs. He's killed in tourneys before simply for the opponent having the audacity to challenge him, and Lucerys thinks that he wouldn't do worse for someone trying to sneak Lucerys from him. Also, what omegas? Lucerys himself has ensured that no achievement of his could make the sight of him more appealing.
It's a good things hunts could be called.
He leans down and presses his face into Lucerys's neck. Their bodies match and Aemond knows Lucerys can feel his intent between them when Lucerys lets out a broken sound. His hands come up to Aemond's hair and pull roughly. The ache it leaves in Aemond's scalp is pleasant.
"The first one caught my dagger to the neck on his way back from taking a piss," Aemond says. He feels Lucerys's pulse against his lips speed up. "The second took an arrow to the eye. The third and fourth were caught in a duel with me and my blade. And the fifth was the one that ran after you when you escaped. I took his head."
"No," Lucerys denies it quietly. Maybe he thought his savior was an alpha more kind and caring. If it had been, Aemond would have killed a sixth tonight.
"No?" Aemond mocks. "Call for help if you don't believe me. See if someone else dares come for you now. There are plenty of omegas running tonight and the alphas mad enough to want a bastard that already has his own keep he can't be taken from are a sad few."
"Then what are you doing here?"
What a stupid question. Aemond lets his fangs drop.
He bites down.
Lucerys keeps touching the bite mark. He stares at Aemond as he does it, pouting. Aemond's shrugged off his shirt and uses his bloodied teeth to tear off one glove and the next. The bond between them calls him to finish the mating. He wonders if Lucerys feels it as well, or if his dread is too strong.
His legs are still spread, likely to keep his ankle far away from an accidental hit. His thighs shake as Aemond slides his hands up his legs. Lucerys's ran quite far tonight.
"I've never done this before. What?" Lucerys snaps when Aemond makes a noise as close to a laugh as he's capable of.
"Saying I'll be the first to touch you is not going to encourage mercy from me."
"Fine, then. Fuck me, hurt me, then. Enjoy your revenge, Aemond. Let it satisfy you because you won't touch me beyond these woods."
Aemond can picture Lucerys's imagined future. Survive one night of Aemond's brutal attention and then stray from him forever. With Driftmark and the Queen wrapped around Lucerys's finger he would be able to banish his own mate's presence. Aemond suspects Lucerys has enough beastly pettiness inside him that he might even be able to resist the call of his instincts to seek his mate.
The solution comes to Aemond. His head dips down to keep it secret. "Alright."
Lucerys sucks in a sharp breath as Aemond kisses down Lucerys's chest and stomach until he gets into the prize that all alphas were hunting for tonight. He doesn't want to bother with the extra care for Lucerys's ankle again so he pulls the thin cloth he finds there to the side instead of sliding them off.
Lucerys breathes again.
Aemond does as well, once more before he stops worrying about air himself for awhile.
Lucerys tastes sweet. There's a moment of concern as Aemond has only heard of this from Aegon's drunken tales. It fades quickly. By sound alone Aemond can tell Lucerys is enjoying the touch. Even if he couldn't hear, the wetness that soon soaks his chin is tell enough.
Eventually Lucerys's moans become words, "What are you doing?"
Ensuring that Lucerys won't find it so easy to send his own mate away from his bedroom after all. Aemond takes the little nub he found that makes Lucerys squirm in between his teeth and sucks. Lucerys makes a noise that startles the wild around them. Birds fly furiously from the surrounding trees as Aemond's hair is grabbed once more. This time he's pulled toward and not away.
By the time he comes up, alas he can only last so long without a lung full of air, Lucerys looks like he can't catch a full breath as well. Aemond wipes the slick off his face with the back of his hand and takes him in once more. "Think you're wet enough?"
Aemond almost ends the sentence by calling him a bastard, but the taste of Lucerys's slick on his tongue persuades him against it.
"There's something wrong with me," Lucerys says instead of answering. "I think I'm dying."
"Why?" Aemond asks. He checks Lucerys over for any injuries new or previously missed. His hand goes under Lucerys's tunic and slides over his breast to try to feel his heartbeat. He doesn't feel the pulse, but the flesh is soft and warm. It heaves with each breath.
"I feel like I might faint sometimes," Lucerys says, concern and tears shining in his eyes. "It all becomes too much and then it feels like something comes over me and I…"
Aemond should hide his face again not to give himself away. He hums. "And how often has that happened to you?"
"Only tonight," Lucerys says. "Only when you…"
Aemond lifts Lucerys's leg over his shoulder. The injured ankle is likely due for elevation anyway. He lines himself up, teasing himself in the slide of Lucerys's split lips. "You're going to feel that again before the nights over."
Lucerys shakes his head, then tosses it as Aemond slides inside. It's tight despite Aemond's attentions, and warm. Aemond growls and Lucerys makes low pitiful noises. Little 'uh uh's as his body tries to stretch around him. Aemond's too impatient, his mercy was his mouth earlier, now it's just his greed.
The clutch of him probably saves Lucerys some grief. There's no way Aemond's knot will fit right away, eager as it is to pop like it's his first time all over again. Still, Lucerys's noises change in pitch after a time and a fist comes up to his ribs to beat at him.
Aemond stops. "What?" He's out of breath and tosses his head like something wild to get his hair away from his face.
"My ankle." Lucerys's face is flushed. His lips are bitten, worried with the confession. "You're going too fast. It's hurting me."
"Slow then," Aemond says. It goes against his instincts. What he wants is to rut hard and fast until his knot pops and maybe bite Lucerys again. But he doubts Lucerys would allow him back into his rooms if he followed through with those urges.
So, slow. Lucerys no longer cries for his ankle, but he whines for something else instead. He's gotten greedy from Aemond's mouth bringing him to a quick peak. Their bodies simmer together. Aemond drops down on his elbows, folding Lucerys nearly in half with his leg still over Aemond's shoulders. The expressions he makes hold Aemond's attention for a long time. It makes the slow pace worth it, for Aemond.
Lucerys seems to cry with any emotion, whether its good or bad. He cries because his ankle twisted, he cries because Aemond's tongue made him come apart, and now he cries because Aemond is being gentle with him. A moment Aemond will remember to the end of his days is when Lucerys finally crumbles under the need and starts moving against Aemond himself to chase his pleasure.
In the wet mess of fluids between them Lucerys adds his spit, mouthing across Aemond's jaw and then lips. They kiss, even though they aren't yet wed. Neither of them know what to do with it beyond pressing their lips sloppily against each other.
Aemond chokes and Lucerys gives a cry of grateful relief when a knot finally swells inside him. Aemond's cruelty comes back in the heat of it all. He bites down, just once more.
The morning light finally finds him giving Lucerys's ankle proper attention. He remembers how Cole treated him when he sprained his wrist once during a hunt and replicates that as much as possible with Lucerys's ankle. His leggings get torn below the knee and dipped in the cool waters of a nearby creek before Aemond ties them tight. He's not gentle about it, and neither are Lucerys's hands when they come up to tug on his hair in complaint.
Lucerys tries to stand immediately when his foot is wrapped. He makes only half a step, crumbling when he tries to put any weight at all on it. He catches himself against Aemond's chest and glares up at Aemond at if it's all his fault.
"I'm not the one that tripped you," Aemond reminds him. "You did that yourself."
"It was dark, I had no shoes, and I thought that there was a mad person killing people in the woods during a mating hunt," Lucerys snaps. "Forgive my lack of grace."
Aemond notes something that day. A fact that keeps more peace than not in the years that come with them as mates; Lucerys does not like to reminded of obvious facts once he reaches a certain point of upset. Lucerys can hide from his gratitude that Aemond sent him scurrying away from the alphas that wanted to share him without gracing him with a bite all he wants. Aemond knows this outcome suits Lucerys more.
"I'll have to carry you out."
Lucerys laughs until he realizes Aemond is serious. "Aemond, the journey is too far. If you grab me a stick, I can use that and not burden you."
Aemond turns and kneels. He'd be an easy knight, if he were facing the other way. "Grab my hair again, and I'll drop you."
Lucerys is smart enough not to test that threat. He grumbles and fusses and wiggles enough that Aemond nearly drops him on accident over precarious terrain. And, eventually, he sleeps.
His with head tucked into Aemond's shoulder, he's unburdened with the attention they both receive as Aemond emerges from the treeline. He meets them all head on, even his own father's which is calmer than he expects it to be, considering Aemond just stole Rhaenyra's precious hatchling.
He was the one that had called for the run in the first place. Perhaps the king knows better than to show disapproval for how things turned out.
The crowd is loud even from Aemond's place on the outskirts of it. There's a giant bonfire in the center. Aemond's not keen on his one good eye getting burned from the smoke it gives off. The omegas around don't seem bothered by it. Their attention keeps wandering back to the treeline, where soon they will be running once the horn blows at sunset.
Five minutes later another horn will blow, and the foolish alphas that had come to participate would follow right behind.
Aemond would rather be in the training yards, but his tent is comfortable enough to wait in until morning and both the mated pairs and the losers come back to civilization when the morning comes. The bath in it will be full by the time the second horn blares, and no one will care then about whether or not the one-eye prince is attending the grand tradition.
His father had apparently insisted all his children be there, though Aemond has no idea why. He looks toward him on his makeshift throne. He appears to be in a bitter argument with both Rhaenyra and Corlys. Aemond can predict what is being said.
His eye finds Lucerys, not in the crowd of waiting omegas, but further away. He looks pale and scared as he listens to whatever his older brother is saying to him. As Aemond watches, Lucerys looks across the bonfire and catches Aemond's eye. He's spooked further and quickly gives Jacaerys his full attention once more.
Aemond hums, amused.
A body falls into the seat beside him. Only his brother would have the audacity. "Boring," Aegon says. Aemond is quiet, even though he agrees. "Can't even participate. Married and all."
"You'd be too drunk to catch anyone anyway."
"True!" Aegon cheers. "It's not like I'd be interested in a mate, drunk or not. Imagine the burden. Not being able to get your cock up for anyone else."
A married man shouldn't be getting his cock up for anyone else beyond his bride, mated or not. But his brother is too degenerate to see the sense in that.
"Though I heard some of the alphas here are more interested in a rut than a mate." Aegon nods to a group of alphas toeing the line of what's considered too close to the treeline before their horn is called. "Heard those talking. Whatever poor omega they catch will end up bloodied between their legs and not their neck."
"Who are they?" Aemond asks. They don't look like much. They certainly aren't men with significant land or power else Aemond would know their names.
"Nobodies," Aegon says. "Third sons of third sons. Barely skimming past the quality line."
As Aemond watches, one of the men's attention goes toward Lucerys. He nudges the others, and one by one, they all turn and stare.
Aemond's fist curls.
When the second horn blows, he stands.