Work Text:
A flash of silver hair catches his attention and Laenor turns his head. He'd only seen him out of the corner of his eye, moving fast. What he hadn't seen was a kingsguard.
"My lord?" Qarl calls out after him, brow furrowing as Laenor runs. He follows him - because Qarl is technically his sworn shield and it's allowed - and Laenor follows whichever prince he just saw most definitely trying not to be seen.
"Stop!" Laenor shouts when he catches sight of the silver hair again in Maegor's Holdfast. The figure freezes halfway between two archways, eyes wide as he turns around. "Aemond?" Laenor's eyes flutter as he takes in the prince.
Soot covers his clothes and his face. Bright blue eyes are swimming with unshed tears and a hint of anger. More concerning is the shaking. Trembling really.
"Are you alright?" Laenor asks, walkikg closer to approach him. He glances past him in the hallway. The boy is alone. "Where's your kingsguard?" Aemond swallows thickly as Laenor reaches him. Laenor tilts his head, frowning, "Aren't you meant to be with Aegon and your nephews right now? In your lessons?"
At that, Aemond's face twists into a scowl. He purses his lips and ducks his head, as if that will hide the tears that prickle at his eyes. He spits his words at Laenor's feet, "They're probably still at the Dragon Pit."
The soot is significantly more concerning now.
"Why aren't you with them?" Laenor drops to a knee, looking up at the young prince with an arched brow and a soft smile. Aemond's forehead creases, scowl still firmly in place.
Footsteps behind him remind Laenor that Qarl is with him. He glances back over his shoulder. Aemond makes a move, turning as if to run.
"Whoa!" Laenor grabs his wrist, squeezing lightly as he holds him still, "Where do you think you're going?"
"To my mother!" Aemond snaps back and then he snaps his mouth shut, lips pursing as he tenses. Whole body humming like a bow string that had just been plucked.
Laenor frowns, head tilting. He doesn't look away from the boy as he calls out, "Ser Qarl, will you run ahead and let the queen know to expect us?" He moves his hands to Aemond's shoulders as he rises to his feet, "I'll escort you. It's not safe for you to be wandering about without a kingsguard, your grace."
Qarl moves past them, not actually running, but moving quickly enough that he's already turned the corner when Aemond finally makes a move.
"Why don't you tell me why you're covered in soot, while we walk?" Laenor prods him lightly, keeping one hand on Aemond's shoulder as they start down the hall.
"I... I was trying to claim a dragon," Aemond admits with a huff. His arms rise, crossing at his chest, "I failed. Again."
With a hum, Laenor squints at him, mentally flipping through the dragons he knows reside in King's Landing.
Most are still young dragons, little more than hatchlings. Entirely unlikely to produce much of a fire. Aemond is covered head to toe in soot though and his hair is dirty, as if he'd been rolling around on the ground.
His eyes widen as it hits him and he nearly chokes, "Not Dreamfyre? She hates men!"
Aemond flushes. He nods sharply and turns his head, "She's the only one I hadn't tried to claim before." Shoulders roll back, his chin rises, "I had to try."
"What in the seven hells would make you think you had to claim Dreamfyre?!" Laenor asked, eyebrows rising towards his hairline and nose scrunching up.
The scowl returns with a vengeance as he shouts, "Them!" His hands fly out and Aemond's voice cracks, "They gave me a pig!"
Laenor stops in his tracks and Aemond pauses a few paces in front of him. The boy hunches in on himself, sniffling as Laenor puts the pieces together. His own voice shakes this time, "They gave you a pig?"
"As a joke," Aemond whispers, not looking back at Laenor. He wipes at his face, shoulders shaking, "They all have dragons." He scoffs, laughter hollow and wet, "So they gave me The Pink Dread so I could have one too."
His whole body feels cold. He takes a shaky breath and then three steps to place himself in front of Aemond.
Kneeling once more, Laenor cups Aemond's cheek, swiping tears away. The boy cries harder, "I'll never have a dragon!" Aemond ducks his head, nearly sobbing, "I'll be all alone. Aegon will just fly away and leave me behind to die!"
"What?!" Laenor gasps, mouth falling open, "Why would... you're not going to die, Aemond. I swear to you, any threat, we can-"
"We are the threat!" Aemond is sobbing properly now, hands flying up to press into his face. His fingers dig into his flesh as he yells, "We're nothing but a challenge to Rhaenyra. When the king dies she'll have to kill us!"
Staring at the boy, there is no question that he believes this, that he thinks it a fact, an inevitability he has no control over. Like a storm that spreads across the entire horizon. A storm he cannot sail around.
"Rhaenyra will not harm you when she takes the throne," Laenor starts, hesitant as he reaches up to pull at the boy's wrists. Aemond struggles against him, but Laenor is stronger, though his grip is light.
He takes a breath and tugs Aemond's hands down to his chest, holding them against where his heartbeat pounds in his chest. Aemond is shaking, chest heaving as his breaths come in shaky sobs that seem to rack through his whole body.
"Rhaenyra will not harm you when she takes the throne," Laenor repeats himself, slowly, with as calm a tone as he can manage. Comforting, hopefully.
"You're lying!" Aemond shakes his head, tears flying. His hair sticks to his face. His fingers twist into Laenor's shirt and Laenor moves to cup the boy's face in his hands.
"Your sister will not hurt you when she becomes queen, Aemond," Laenor says it again, emphasizing each word as he makes eye contact. Aemond takes a deep breath. It breaks as he sobs and then he buries his face in Laenor's shoulder.
Wrapping his arms around the crying child, he rocks Aemond slowly, repeating himself several more times until he hears Aemond's sobs subside into sniffling. Laenor takes his own deep breath, stuttering as it may be.
"There are not many things in this world that are absolute, Aemond, but one of them is the love that Targaryens hold for their fellow dragons," Laenor tells him, repeating something his mother had told him when Daemon appeared on Driftmark to fly with him to the Stepstones.
Aemond is stiff in his arms. His grip in Laenor's shirt tight. Laenor lays a hand over his hair, holding him as his other hand rubs at his back.
Throat bobbing, Laenor breaths out, "Prince Daemon and the king have quarreled off and on my whole life, sometimes to the point of exile, even. Daemon is still so angry he has refused to step foot in Westeros for several years." He pulls back, cupping Aemond's cheek again as he looks into frightened blue eyes once more, "But he would kill anyone who dare to threaten his brother. His family. Rhaenyra is just the same, in this regard."
"I'm not their family," Aemond chokes out. His eyes flutter and he takes a gasping breath, "The king doesn't even care about us."
"Hey!" Laenor tightens his grip, straightening as he holds Aemond's gaze, "You are a Targaryen. You are made of fire and blood, a dragon, just like them." He shakes Aemond lightly, chin rising as he smiles, "And one day, you'll have a dragon like them too. I know it."
Hand rising to his face again, Aemond wipes at his cheeks, "How do you know?"
"My big sister claimed Vhagar at fifteen, the largest dragon in the world as she often reminds me," Laenor drawls. He shakes his head, eyes rolling, "As if I could forget." Aemond chuckles and Laenor continues, "My mother, too, she was thirteen, Aegon's age, when she claimed Meleys."
Both hands drop to Aemond's side then. He shuffles his feet, breathing slowly, carefully. His eyes fall to the ground, "What about the other thing? How do you know... know that she..."
"I have been married to my lady wife for a decade and have known her since we were small children playing in our mother's skirts," Laenor tells him, moving both hands to Aemond's shoulders and squeezing, "I know her."
"You aren't the only one that knows her," Aemond says flatly, eyes narrowing as he drops his chin. He glares at the floor.
Laenor blinks. He straightens.
Alicent. Oh fuck. Her animosity the last few years makes more sense now.
"Well, I can think of one thing that might help prove my side," Laenor clears his throat and rises to his feet, "I will escort you to your mother. You can tell her all that I've said while I go retrieve my sons from the Dragon Pit and Rhaenyra from our chambers."
"What for?" Aemond's nose scrunches up, his brows furrow. Laenor laughs.
Leaning down, Laenor wiggles his eyebrows, "Have you ever seen the Princess Rhaenyra angry before?"
Aemond shakes his head, frowning deeper, "No?"
"You're about to," Laenor grins, bopping his nose, "She'll be furious to hear what the boys have been doing. Mocking their uncle for not having a dragon?" He shakes his head, clicking his teeth absently. "Abandoning you alone in the dragon pit?"
Sucking at his teeth, Laenor holds a hand to his chest and takes an exaggerated breath.
"Seven help them, you might be flying a dragon before them after all." He prods Aemond forward and they climb the stairs together to the queen's chambers.
It's not quite as dramatic as Laenor had expected Rhaenyra is still tired from giving birth obviously, but their boys are strictly chastised. Both Aemond and his mother seem shocked by the fire in Rhaenyra's voice as she defends her little brother.
They are less shocked when Luke spills the beans on who came up with the whole idea. But Rhaenyra has no problem tearing in to Aegon too.
"We are family!" Rhaenyra reminds them all, voice sharp and gaze firm as she looks from Aegon to her sons, "We do not tear each other down, not even in jest!" Her hands fist at her sides as she shakes with rage, "We must be a united front, always, against any threat."
Laenor arches a brow across the room, smirking at the young prince. Aemond ducks his head, smiling to himself. Beside him, a similar smile is threatening to spread across his mother's lips.
Clapping his hands together, Laenor rocks forward on the balls of his feet, "Might I make a suggestion, my love, your grace?" He looks to Rhaenyra first, then the queen. They both nod. "Perhaps the boys should spend a bit more time in the Dragon Pit, being reminded of the responsibilities and privileges of being a dragonrider?"
"What?" Alicent's forehead wrinkles and her eyes flutter. Laenor snickers, nearly doubling over. He leaves it to Rhaenyra to remember his mother's favorite punishment.
"The dragonkeepers always need volunteers for mucking out the lairs and feeding the unclaimed dragons," Rhaenyra explains, hand rising to her lips to hide her smirk. Jace and Luke groan and Aegon's eyes widen comically large as he starts his protests.
"Perhaps while they do that, one of us can take Aemond to Dragonstone? See if he can't claim a dragon in a more safe manner," Laenor continues, eyebrow arching. Rhaenyra's gaze flicks to Alicent.
The queen is slack-jawed, eyes nearly as wide as Aegon's. Laenor smiles reassuringly at her as Rhaenyra clears her throat, "We could all go perhaps. My offer still stands, your grace, regarding Syrax."
Every eye in the room is suddenly on Alicent. Her sons squinting at her. Even Helaena, sitting in the corner, has raised her head. Alicent flushes, hands twisting together, "Yes, perhaps, a family outing would be... beneficial."
"Does that mean we all get to go to Dragonstone or do the three of us have to stay here?" Aegon's hand snaps up, gesturing vaguely towards Jace and Luke. Aemond snorts, arms crossing.
"You already claimed your dragon, brother, why would you need to come?"