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to be honest, aegon is terrified.
but he is still a king and he has no right to act like a scared child.
what aemond did is the end for any hope that they could avoid the war.
so there is no sense to judge aemond right now and what aegon can really do is to pretend that he praises his brother for destroying their enemy, make everyone know that they are strong enough not to doubt their actions and that they are not afraid of anyone's revenge for what they have done.
aemond also looks calm, confident and cold as always.
he says what he did and absolutely ignores their mother's and grandfather's terrified faces.
aemond just nods in response to gratitude, says that he is honored by the feast for his victory, and then sits next to aegon throughout the evening, but at some moment aegon suddenly discovers that his brother has disappeared and feels anxiety.
this weird tho, cause in the last few years aemond has been the one who constantly put him down, talked about what a disappointment he is and sometimes even beats him, but right now aegon doesn't feel safe that aemond isn't around there, next to him.
he says that he is tired, leaves everything in his mother's and grandfather's hands and leaves the ceremonial hall.
not finding his brother in his chambers and after that wandering along the corridors, feeling very restless aegon goes to his bedroom and immediately notices the outlines of a lanky figure against the background of the open windows.
"aemond?"
even before he called his name aemond turned around at the sound of the doors opening.
with an unusually unsteady gait he steps out from the shadows and only now aegon notice the bottle of wine in his hand.
aemond's face is a little red, his one eye glitters feverishly.
he seems to have difficulty focusing his gaze on him and comes too close
aegon can feel the bitter smell of wine coming from him.
"are you drunk?"
aemond says nothing, and aegon gets that he never seen his unflappable stoic younger brother like this, even when he was a kid.
finally aemond nods.
"it seems so."
for fuck sake.
and what he should do right now?
aegon is the one who gets so drunk that he can't think straight, and it's aemond who has to bring him back to his consciousness as he always has done like over and over again, and now aegon have no sense what to do.
fortunately aemond starting to talk first.
"why aren't you mad at me?"
oh no.
aegon knows.
alicent and otto and everyone else can say what they want about him but aegon is not fool.
yes of course he is too young, too inexperienced and still does not prepare to rule the kingdom but he is smart enough to understand what aemond done and what does it mean for all of them.
but aegon isn't mad.
the gods knows that he never was a good older brother for his siblings but he can't force himfelf do not feel relieved for aemond who finally got his revenge.
moreover, if what had already happened hadn't happened, aegon would have done it himself, and he doesn't care that it's too late to try to be a good older brother and protect aemond now, when in fact he should have done it back when they were children.
aemond keeps staring at his face and even now he still trying to act like an arrogant, cruel, merciless asshole again but despite all of this he looks so vulnerable.
aegon carefully takes the bottle from his brother's hands and takes just one sip then simply throws it away before shrugging in denial.
"it's not your fault" he says.
aemond grins in disbelief and turns away from him trying to walk past towards the door, but aegon really means it.
he stops his brother by tugging on his sleeve.
aemond put an end to the possibility of a peaceful resolution to their conflict, but this chance was very small anyway because it was rhaenyra who started the war long ago when she didn't try to bring herself to give even an insincere apology to her younger brother who was crippled by her son, just keeping to protect her bastards with the same ridiculous lie.
and aegon wants to hug aemond right now so badly, but he knows that he would not let him to do that after all this years aegon being shitty big brother, so he just keep looking in aemond's only eye hoping that he will understand.
and finally aemond's gaze becomes more conscious.
he silently nods and aegon releases his brother hand letting him leave the room.
aegon still feel feeling terrified, anxiety, doubts and insecurity.
but he knows the war is begin and they must unite more than ever.