Aerion

"What do you mean, this isn't related to him? He took our daughter!" Aerion yelled at Daena, who crossed her arms and glared at him defiantly.

When they returned to the Red Keep, they were greeted by a crying Rohanne, her face twisted together and flushed red, her voice rough. They spent hours to calm her down and squeeze out what happened from her.

She had seen Daemon's death. And Aenys had spoken to her after he came back.

Aerion felt a fury growing in him. Aenys hurt her, he was sure, for the man had just lost his son and wanted revenge. Aerion knew that Aenys was always jealous of his lively Rohanne compared to sickly Daemon. Now that the babe died…

Daena put Rohanne to sleep and turned to face him, her expression darkened as she saw the gleam in his eyes. "If you want to talk, better not do it here," she warned.

Aerion nodded. He swallowed his anger until they returned to their chambers, when he exploded, "Your brother hurt her!"

"He didn't," Daena sighed, "Rohanne is just scared. Aenys likes her, why would he hurt his niece?"

"Because he is jealous, of course. Because my daughter gets to live while his son dies. Because I would—"

"I know you would do it if you were him," Daena cut him off, her brows knitted together, "but he isn't you. He just wanted to hear about Daemon from her… he wanted to know what happened."

He isn't you… Daena's words made his blood boil. As if Aenys was better than him. Aerion could not accept Daena putting others above him… could not accept Daena supporting anyone over him. She was his.

He only had her and Rohanne.

"Why won't you listen to me? Daena, our daughter won't stop crying. She never cries. This isn't that simple. He must have done something," Aerion hissed, his fists clenched.

Yet Daena only pressed her lips into a thin line, her gaze ice-cold. "This isn't related to my brother, Aerion."

Aerion could not stand the disdain in her eyes.

And so he yelled. He yelled to her face, his face close enough to hers that he could bite her nose off. Her defiance irked him, and he held his fists so tight that he felt his nails digging into his palms.

She stopped him with one sentence. "I don't trust Aenys as much as you seem to be assuming. I checked Rohanne. She isn't hurt, not physically. And my girl is strong enough to tell us if someone abused her, even if said person is her uncle and king."

"Rohanne is only three," Aerion said, but he could feel his anger slipping out of him. He was more bothered by Daena trusting her brother than anything.

"We can talk to her tomorrow if you're still worried. She can explain better once she has a good night's sleep." As Aerion's shoulder relaxed, her eyes regained some warmth and she extended a hand to poke his nose, the corners of her lips lifting in a wry smile. "You are jealous, aren't you? You're my husband. Aenys is only my brother."

He sighed. The fact that he could feel remorse— such an unfamiliar emotion— for letting his jealousy overwhelm him meant he was improving… probably.

But when he slowly lowered his raised fists, Daena caught his right arm, her slender fingers tightened around his wrist. "Daena?" he asked, confused.

Baring her teeth, her smile turned threatening. "You want to hit me just then."

Aerion felt a chill to the bone. Although he towered over her and could overpower her at any time, Daena never failed to strike fear into him since the day he found himself tied up on a chair.

Always one step ahead of him, always surprising him, always… taking his heart away.

Sometimes she infuriated him so much that he wanted to twist her neck off. Sometimes he sat awake at night, glancing at her sleeping face and pale long neck… but eventually her steady breathing would stop him from putting his fingers around her throat.

She was his sanity, his conscience, his lover. He could not bear losing her, losing the only person who could chase the ghosts of his past away.

Which was why… "I won't do that," he lied, using his free left hand to pick up a strand of her hair and twist it between his fingers, "You're my wife, my love, my everything. I don't want to hurt you."

His sweet words earned a deep sigh from her. "Aerion," she called, her two hands wrapping around his right palm, "I told you, you don't have to lie when we are alone."

Why did she always look through him? "I don't want to hurt you," he repeated.

"You wanted to. You wanted to just now because you were angry. And every day you want to see me bleed, to see me pay for trapping you in one prison after another." Daena's tone was soft, despite her harsh words. "I know that. It isn't something that you can just overlook." She brought his hand to her lips and kissed it, her warmth making Aerion shudder.

The next second he pulled her into his arms with crushing strength, his arms holding her waist tight. This was not a loving embrace, however. Bringing her head close, Aerion seethed, "Why would you bring this up? Haven't I done my best the last few years? Have I ever dared harmed a hair of you?"

"You have, and no," Even in his arms, Daena's gaze was as fearless as ever, clear as the moon. A gaze that shamed him and irked him, a gaze that he wanted to take and engrave into his mind. "But you have your urges. I have no doubt that you love me and Rohanne, yet… you still want more. You want revenge. And I want you to talk to me about it."

Aerion gritted his teeth. Daena had moved him, but he could not let her dig deeper, could not let her know his secret. What he was planning… was something she would never approve of.

And if he let one word out she would find out the truth.

He searched for words to deflect her heartfelt plea. What escaped his lips, however… was wrong. "You're right, I want revenge. I wanted your nephew to die. I mean, I—"

His cheeks were heated with pain. Daena slapped him. "Don't say that to me when I have opened my heart to you," she hissed, her whole body shivering in anger, "I know whatever sympathy you could muster up is just an act. I know what you are, and I have accepted that. But don't you do that to me, Aerion. I don't force you to pretend, but you should know what not to do."

Blood dripped down his lips, but it did not hurt as much as her words. "No, Daena, listen to me, I didn't mean that."

"You do mean that. You wanted Daemon to die." She started to struggle in his arms but he gripped her waist tight, refusing to let go— she raised her arm to slap him again but this time Aerion caught her before she could.

Their eyes met.

"Let me go," Daena ordered, her glare burning a hole into him.

"No," Aerion refused, "you need to listen."

"You know what will happen if I scream right now," she threatened him.

"Yes." Aerion knew that Calla's pet knight was standing outside the door. Besides, the threat the Blackfyres and Bittersteel gave him was clear enough. "Scream if you want. I won't let go of you… not ever."

Because she was everything to him.

This, at least, he hoped she would understand.

"..." Slowly, her fury turned into tears. "I'm such a fool. I wanted your true thoughts but got angry when I heard them. What was I hoping for? For the gruesome details of my imagery death?"

"This isn't it! My… urges aside, I don't particularly care about other people. I don't care for your family, yes, but I don't imagine their deaths, either. I just want to hurt—"

"...me?" Daena smiled.

Aerion did not dare to reply, because it was true. He had hated her back when she had just tricked him. At that time, he wanted nothing more than her blood. But even after he realised he loved her, after she had saved him, he still sometimes wanted it.

Because as she said, she had trapped him? Because she took his privileges as a prince away? Because of what torture she had placed on him in the past?

No, none of those was the true reason. He was always like this.

He always bore the desire to hurt. To damage. To burn.

It was why his parents spurned him, why he was despised by all. Because he held the desires of a dragon.

He loved Daena and Rohanne, and they loved him. But no love could change who he was.

Still, he yearned for that love. He hungered for the feelings he had never felt before, that he did not believe existed before he met Daena.

"If Aenys, Calla or Uncle Aegor heard this they would have your head. But I know about you… I know what you want." She leaned into him, whispering into his ears, "Promise me. Don't ever think about our children in this way."

"Of course not! Never!" And that was the truth. He had never wanted to harm Rohanne, the only being in this world that desired his existence without wanting anything else in return. His pride, his happiness.

He thought he would see Daena's judging gaze again. But instead, she buried her head in his chest. "Then I trust you. I trust you that you will… restrain yourself until the end."

What was the end, though?

When they grew old and died, or…

When he was king and could do whatever he wanted?

But he hurt her all the same.

The next day, when they visited Rohanne again, they discovered the bruises on her head. Her smooth, soft head that a grown man could crush with one hand...

Daena had ordered all the servants out of the room, so there were only the three of them. Aerion wanted to find Aenys immediately, to wring his neck and see the colour drain from his face, but Daena stopped him. "Let me do this. Let me talk to him," she said, her two arms wide open to block the doorway out of the nursery.

"You said you checked, Daena!" he shouted, "I can't believe you would lie for him!"

"No! The bruise wasn't there yesterday!" Daena spoke quickly, gritting her teeth, "I don't know why that happened, but you can't be the one to talk to Aenys!"

"Rohanne is my daughter!"

"Yes, of course, but you are in no position to accuse him of anything! I'm protecting you, don't you get it?"

Silence. Aerion glared at her, thinking, judging. She was right that Aenys Blackfyre could put him on the chopping block the moment he brought the issue up…

She has longed for the day when she can get rid of you to wed her brother.

No, this wasn't right…

Unlike you, she cares about her birth family. She cares about her brother, the only one she has left. She will defend him, even against you.

She said she did not trust him.

She lied, just like you did.

Rohanne cried, a sharp noise that broke him out of his trance. But he had already dropped to the bottom of the spiral. Rohanne's tears made his anger flare. How could Daena choose Aenys over her?

"No, you're protecting him, not me. You just want to cover this up without making a fuss."

Something broke between them. Daena's eyes were spitting sparks of fire, and she whispered her next few words in a cold, icy tone, "Aerion. Do you truly think I won't address this? That I will just let it be?"

Normally this would be the time he started to regret his words. But Rohanne was still crying, and all he could see was Daena, lying and covering for her brother. "You have been lying since yesterday."

The sharp accusation caused Daena to tremble. "No. I'm not doing this." She shook her head, abandoned her position at the door and walked straight past Aerion to Rohanne. "Sweet baby," she cooed, "we will be getting justice. Just you see."

When Daena lifted their daughter up and carried her to the door, Aerion finally recovered enough sense to call, "Wait…"

Her gaze, colder than the ice in the Seven Hells, stopped him. "Whatever you do, don't go around and tell people this if you value your life."

Aerion heard her telling the maids and nannies that they could go back to what they were doing before, and soon Duncan came in and urged him, "Time to go."

And Aerion walked, not noticing anything but one thought:

Am I wrong?

"...Hedge knight," Aerion reluctantly called, "Have you heard any gossip about Daena? About her and," he gritted his teeth, "her brother."

Aerion hated to ask, especially not him. But there was no one else who would even begin to consider answering his questions.

Daena had not spoken to him when she returned. When Aerion asked her about Rohanne, about Aenys, about what she did… she gave him a cold, tired glare and he found himself speechless.

From Rohanne's words, he gathered that they did not go and find Aenys, which only made Aerion more anxious. Did she really mean to have Rohanne treated and leave it just that?

Rohanne had recovered much of her strength, but seeing the bandages warped around her head still filled his heart with rage. Aenys would pay. And if Daena insisted on covering for him, then she was equally guilty.

Yet Aerion could not be sure, not when Daena refused to talk to him, refused to sit near to him, refused to share a bed with him.

...Without Daena, he was powerless.

He knew that, but this was the first time since he was released from the Black Cells that he could feel it so painfully.

Servants ignored his requests for the most insignificant things, deaf to his questions and threats. He was, in the end, just a consort to Daena. And if she did not want him…

...He could not afford that.

"I have heard no such thing," raising a brow to his question, Duncan answered. Frowning deeply and lips opening and closing, debating against himself, he added, "...You are lucky to have her."

Aerion raised his head to look at the hedge knight, biting his lips and, quite obviously, fighting the urge to curse him. "What else do you want to say? Spit it out."

"You don't deserve her," Gritting his teeth, Duncan finally said, "And if you have any sense left you will be begging for her forgiveness instead of asking me for rumours and gossip."

Aerion sneered. This was the extent of insult he could do? "You know what happened between us?"

"No, but it's clear that you have angered her because of your bouts of irrational, baseless jealousy." Duncan's conjecture shut Aerion up… because it was completely correct.

Was it really so obvious? "It isn't baseless," once the words were out of his mouth Aerion realised it was a weak argument. He could not reveal what exactly happened…

"Princess Daena loves you, even though you're… mad. Cruel," Duncan's voice bore that latent hatred. It was still there, even after he had served Aerion for years. "They… the Blackfyres knew what kind of man you are. But she still loves you. What kind of fool would you be to forsake that?"

Every word struck Aerion because it was a question he dared not to ask himself, dared not to consider in his grand plan.

What kind of fool would you be to forsake her?

"I won't," he yelled in rage, "I would take her back, no matter who took her heart away from me."

The hedge knight only stared at him with disgust and… pity?

More than the former, the latter irked Aerion long after their conversation ended.