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After that disastrous family dinner night, his sister’s abhorrent family moved back to King’s Landing on the king’s command. Now strong boys parade the halls of the Red Keep every day, victorious, showing off their privilege of the king’s favor. Shameless bastards, Aemond spits. Should Rhaenyra and her spawns continue to this level of entitlement and arrogance, Aemond is sure ‘King’s Landing’ will be renamed into ‘Queen’s Landing’ the moment Rhaenyra completes her coronation.
Just as if the gods are determined to make him suffer more, the strong boys’ cousins, the twin girls sired by Daemon – that in-law slayer – from his Velaryon marriage, also live in the castle now. They are soon to be married to the strong boys and become court ladies, so of course the king had extended his invitation. Helaena told him that before, though his word may not be verbatim to hers. Anyway, Daemon’s girls seem more than excited to marry the strong boys, passing on whatever obnoxious tradition that inbreeding family enjoys, willingly complicit in that whore’s scheme of plain sight cheating against the gods and the realm. Seven hells. In a blink, this royal hall will be squeezed with plain-looking pups with bastard blood flowing in their veins. And people will have to address them as princes and princesses – what a circus! They will be the mockery of the lords and the smallfolk from Dorne to the Wall.
Despite Aemond’s staunch reprehension towards his nephews, his mother the Queen, however, is very committed to her words of reconciliation with her childhood friend. She announces to host a grand feast to celebrate the Maiden’s Day, and Baela and Rhaena will have the honor to lead noble ladies of the court into the royal sept to observe the ritual: light candles, put on that stupid parchment garlands, and whatever dumb things girls do on that day. Helaena used to be that person. Before she was married off to his scum brother. Turns out the Maiden doesn’t always protect every maiden. Aemond scowls, bitterly.
On the morning of that holy day, Aemond found Daemon’s girls are behaving very suspiciously, sneaking, tiptoeing, up to no good for sure. Aemond had his crosses with the girls back in the days, they grow to be exactly like their devious cousin Lucerys, spoiled, ungrateful, irresponsible, irreverent… (Don’t get him started on listing Lucerys’ faults and sins. Just don’t.) Baela Targaryen especially – that little bitch is wild. Gods forbid what she’s plotting, Aemond is convinced that she shall ruin the ritual and embarrass the whole royal family. So, as dutiful a son as he is, Aemond decides to secretly follow them and intervene when he spots the necessity.
Gods be good. They are only on their way to escort a maiden – she has flowers braided into her curly dark hair and wears a cascading dress with a neckline that accents her intact nape and shoulders, innocent but maturing as well. She was dressed up in the same way as the statue of the Maiden in the royal sept, Aemond noticed. Weird, for someone other than the leading lady (ladies, in this year’s case) of the ritual to dress so grandly. Aemond cannot recognize who that girl is from behind, but he has little curiosity and effort to ponder how little girls concur their festival looks. Disinterested, he walks away to join his own party – men and mothers are not allowed in the sept on Maiden’s Day. He just needs to show up at the Queen’s banquet and compliantly play the puppet in his mother’s show of love and union to endure another day of suffering from his sister’s depraved families. Seven gods. At least the abominable Lucerys is somehow not there to make his task more challenging.
Gods forbid him from ever allowing himself to rejoice so early. When the ladies finished the ritual and joined them in the feast hall, Aemond finally sees who the twins were with this morning. She – that person is no lady. Seven hells. That’s Lucerys f**king Velaryon (Strong, he means, too disgusted to correctly address his nephew, even in his own mind). Every suspicious sign he sniffed earlier all makes sense now. Daemon’s audacious girls had dressed that bastard as the Maiden to sneak him into the sept. Such degradation! And Lucerys – little Luke Strong really knows no shame, just like his whore mother – he first allowed himself in woman’s clothes, then committed outrageous blasphemy violating rules honored by the whole realm for thousands of years, and after all these, that slut is even cheeky enough to show himself in that ‘costume’ to the Queen’s feast, and the great lords and ladies are all watching and whispering… Seven hells.
His brother Aegon, who is a total loser, is edging him with his elbow, “Look – that wench looks like our little Luke.” That wench IS Luke Strong, you drunken idiot. At least his other kins are not blind as Aegon to not recognize Lucerys (Funny, guess who among them all has only one functioning eye?). “Gods be good!” he hears his mother whispering prayers by his ear. Rhaenyra has put on a stone face – even she cannot laugh this atrocity off. Daemon – that man is the most degraded of them all – loudly chuckles when he sees Luke. Jace is scolding Baela – he at least possesses some decency – while his little brothers are playing with the delicate laces on Luke’s skirt.
Maybe Aemond’s scornful scrutiny has lingered too long on Lucerys, the boy, as if sensed something, traced his sight back to him – that’s when Aemond keenly noticed that Luke has multiple piercings on his ears. For this farce? Aemond decides he has seen enough degradation for the day (though it’s only around noon). He excuses himself to his mother and left.
The next day, when Aemond practices his routine prayer in the sept, he intentionally avoids the statue of the Maiden. Most repulsively, it reminds him of Lucerys in that cursed dress, even in this holy hall of the Seven, he finds himself failing to shun that image out of his mind.
Actually, Aemond dares not to lay his eye on the statue of the Maiden ever since.