Chapter Text
Vhagar dug her claws deep into the ground, dragging root-lined earth to the fore. She curled herself into the pit, beating her wings so that dust came all about her.
“Keep the child safe,” Aemond ordered, placing the babe beneath one lifted wing. He nestled the dark egg alongside the child. “I shan’t be gone long.”
He had spotted aught moving down betwixt the trees as they flew overhead. He’d thought it some manner of horse; the beast would doubtless prove useful for his travels. He had but to catch it first and bend it to his will; easy enough for a man who’d tamed a dragon.
They were a pathetic bunch, Aemond thought, gazing at the young thing trembling in the glow of the torches. “I have no need of a bedmate,” he snapped at the old crone seated in the corner, ”just a woman well enough to look after a child.”
“And for only that you will clear the ruins at the foot of the mountain?” the old woman questioned, eyeing him with a jaundiced eye. Despite the baleful glare, he could not help thinking she must have been quite a handsome thing in her youth, however many hundreds of years ago that was.
“Aye.”
The scent of burning flesh floated heavily upon the air. Aemond stroked Vhagar’s scales. “Well done,” he congratulated the winged terror upon the expected victory. His gaze turned to the ragged collection of creatures cowering against the wall of a once sumptuous villa. “You may remain here and server your new masters under my protection, or you may flee now and never step foot in these parts. The choice is yours.”
Hesitantly, a couple walked ever so slowly to his side. Within moments several more followed. Aemond was rather pleased with himself. For a night’s work, the reward proved ample.
A contented sigh left the woman’s lips; Aemond could not recall her name, nor did he care to. “Long ago many dragons roamed the skies. We never thought to see them again after the great fires that swept away the Freehold. But the dragons have returned.” She hummed down at the child in her arms. “She looks like you, my lord. It cannot be long until her hatchling comes.”
Aemond scoffed. “Does she now?” Would Helaena have said the same?
“Aye; I’ve no doubt in time she will be a great dragon rider, like her father.” The woman smiled and cooed at Jaehaera.
The black little mite hissed and snapped, coiling around Jaehaera’s head to the delight of all those gathered about the crib.
Tyria was proving kind beyond his hope. Aemond crossed his arms over his chest and gazed at the child and her dragon. He saw it as well, now and again, a faint resemblance. And yet he could not quite guess whether his mind conjured it up or if it was truly there.
Scowling at the thought, he quit the chamber altogether and stomped his way without where Vhagar waited bathing herself in the sunlight. She opened one eye, pinning him with an arch look. That bloody dragon egg must have been hers.
“There’s no need for that; I’ll give them a good life, as I swore.”