Chapter 15

"Meet my daughters, my Prince," Lord Borros enthusiastically introduced them to Aemond. Having them all assembled in the garden, standing side by side according to their age.

Not too far off the maidservants were filling up the table for an intimate supper, meant for a private affair, that will be attended by the immediate members of the Crown and their esteemed guests. A small group of musicians sat close-by playing harps and lute-flute. Already seated at the head of the table queen Alicent was picking her nails as she watched the exchange between Aemond and Baratheons with a bated breath. Sitting to her right was her father observing the same thing. Helaena was seated next to her grandsire listening to her little sister whispering into her ear whilst their betrothed stood behind, yet to take their seat.

"This is Cassandra, the eldest. Maris— the second and the cleverest. Then there is Ellyn, and after that…" Borros Baratheon wrapped a protective arm around this particular girl "…it's Floris. She is the youngest and the prettiest of them all."

Aemond courteously took each of their hands and kissed the back of it. Save for Maris, with whom he had a brief exchange of pleasantries (an initiative taken by the lady herself) before inviting them to the table.

Borros Baratheon sat at the other end of the table. Aemond took the seat to the left of his mother. Floris was about to sit beside him but Maris tactically slipped through leaving a pouting Floris to take the next available spot.

The Queen watched, a frown etched upon her. She hoped for her son to be smart enough to not pick the insolent sister.

As it was expected of off the duty bound son of the crown, for the next couple of days Aemond had been seen in the company of the four storms. Viewing it as his duty and obligation, he decided to give them all an equal chance.

Those ladies on the other hand, in order to win his favour and secure the ultimate spot as his bride, fiercely competed against each other. None of them were ready to pass on the opportunity to become a Princess.

Shortly, from four the number was narrowed down to two. One that was of Aemond's choosing, and the other chosen by his mother.

Maris was his choice. Her father was right indeed, she is the cleverest and the intelligent one from the bunch. For Aemond it was easy to find common grounds with her. She often joined him in the library, where they spent hours discussing books of different genres, history, philosophy and even exchanging ideas and opinions on current affairs throughout the realms and beyond. Whereas her sisters preferred strolling the garden. They also went for walks but Maris's favoured spot happened to be by Belarion's skull. She openly expressed her admiration for dragons and frequently asked to see Vhagar but Aemond stalled, believing it to be too early for that. After all the only person he wanted to introduce to Vhagar was more interested in the puny lizard Tessarion.

Then there's Floris! His mother's favourite out of all the sisters, as she's the prettiest in the bunch. Therefore only to honour his mother's wishes Aemond decided to try again with the youngest sister. However in Floris's company, Aemond couldn't look more annoyed even if he tried, seemingly uninterested in anything she could potentially offer him. Not that she was offering anything. What irked him the most was that Floris had found herself in constant competition with Aemma. As if she could come anywhere close to his sister for comparison. And even more outrageous was the fact that she had taken a fancy towards Daeron. The audacity most definitely surprised Aemond.

But what actually surprised the Prince more was his mother's persistence, as she insistently kept pushing him toward Floris Baratheon. Stating how similar she was to Aemma. And Aemond highly disagreed with that statement. Appearance wise they're nothing alike. Not even their personalities match. Only aspect of their similarity being— like Aemma, Floris also pretty quickly manages to get under his nerves.

However, there's a world of a difference between Aemma getting under his nerves than Floris. The former is his family, his blood...

…to sum it up, she is his everything!

Even then, more often than not he finds it increasingly difficult to tolerate her nonsense. So what makes Floris Baratheon so special that he would make an exception to tolerate her as well.

Thus the decision was easy to make.

Albeit he was yet to verbalize, but his mind was certainly made. All that needs to be done is to let his mother know, that he has finally chosen his storm:

Maris Baratheon.

Animosity had been created between the sisters.

Only Ellyn remained neutral, as she predicted from start that the Prince would not pick her. Cassandra was deeply disappointed, because she believed as the eldest she needed to get married first. Competition between Maris and Floris lasted the longest, even though it was clear whom the Prince favoured.

Ultimately a week later, at the feast thrown in honour of the guests where Prince Aemond announced that he intends to marry lady Maris Baratheon.

The pair received the King's wholehearted blessing. From the Queen, Aemond received a soft kiss on the forehead whilst betrothed only received a forced smile. The Hand on the other hand, warmly congratulated the pair focusing mostly on Maris— an attempt to make up for the Queen irrational behaviour, where she barely acknowledged the girl. Afterwards the siblings from both sides congratulated the pair.

Ever since she was a little girl, Maris had always known that she was meant for greater things. And she had made it her motto to never give up till she achieved it. Yes, it made her the most ambitious one amongst her sisters. But good fortune always comes to those with high ambitions.

It had been proven to be true ultimately.

In the end it was her, whom the Prince chose! It is her who shall become a princess of the realm. And from her will be born the next generation of the Targaryens.

Maris could not have been happier with the changes that came her way with her new position. As the Prince's betrothed, she was now moved from the south wing of the red keep (where all the guests usually resides) to the west wing of the keep; which was closer to the royal family's residence. Her new bedchamber was much larger and grandeur in comparison to her own bedchamber back in storm's end. She has also been assigned a handmaiden, named Lyanna— a good natured chatty little thing.

And Maris intends to make good use of her in due time.

Next morning Maris woke up to the sound of swords clashing. Although it irritated her at first as she tried to blink her sleep away. Then suddenly she remembered, her betrothed is habituated to waking at the break of dawn to train. Motivated to catch a glimpse of the Prince she quickly left the bed. Picking up a shawl on the way and wrapping it around herself Maris stepped onto her balcony; only to be met with disappointment.

The view was not great. She could barely make out the small silhouette of the Prince in the distance as he sparred with Ser Cole. Maris made a mental note to wake up even earlier tomorrow so she can pay him a visit at the training yard.

Why wait? Why not now?! The thought changed her mind. Indeed, why must she wait for a day, when she can just go now.

Retreating inside hastily she ordered her handmaiden, "Help me dress."

A satisfied smirk made it to her lips as she did a quick examination of herself before turning to the door. Just as she was about to head out, a Kingsguard entered, announcing the arrival of Queen Alicent and her daughters.

No sooner than the announcement was made Queen Alicent gracefully walked in with her daughters in tow.

Excitement dropped from her face immediately and was replaced with vexation. Her mind spiralled as she thought bitterly, of all times they had to show up now.

Nonetheless Maris did her best to hold onto the smile, as a curtesy of course. After all she dares not frown before the Queen and the princess.

"Good morrow grace." She curtsied before the Queen and then acknowledged the two Princesses. "Princess Helaena… Princess Aemma."

"I hope we haven't disturbed your sleep." The Queen spoke.

To which Maris responded, "No your grace, I'm habituated to waking early."

"Ah my Aemond is just like that! He prefers to live with discipline."

"Maybe that's why he had taken a liking towards you." Princess Helaena added after her mother.

Unsure of what to say, Maris smiled awkwardly.

Then, telling Maris to sit — which she did, tentatively — the Queen and Princess Helaena took to the settee, while Princess Aemma approached the small table, plucked a grape from the plate and propped it into her mouth before sitting down on the other side of her mother.

The door opened again and a maidservant walked in holding a tray with four steaming cups.

"I took the liberty to bring tea. Hope you don't mind." The Queen explained, gesturing the maid to put the tray down.

"Of course not! In fact, thank you… your grace." Said the feisty Baratheon girl, quietly.

The maid quickly served each occupant in the room a cup and then one look of dismissal from the Queen had her make a swift exit.

"I'm glad that my son has managed to make his choice." The Queen hid a solemn smile behind her cup, unsatisfied with the choice her son made. But for Aemond's sake she decided to give it a fair shot before jumping into conclusions about the girl.

"My Aemond is a good man. He will be kind to you, much more than any other men in the city and that includes my older son. So I hope you will be kind him as well."

Maris smiled. "Most definitely, my Queen. I will be the honourable wife that he deserves."

"And you are okay with…" This it was Aemma who questioned, shutting her left eye and pointing towards it offensively. "… a husband who lacks vanity?"

Queen Alicent turned to her daughter glaring, but said nothing.

"On the contrary, I would say Prince Aemond is very pleasing to the eyes! In fact I would add he is the most handsome one amongst his brothers." Maris defended. "And if you think otherwise Princess Aemma… then I suppose your beautiful set of eyes truly lack vision."

Momentarily the youngest princess was taken aback. No one had dared spoken to her with such insolvency ever before. But was quick to come back with her counter.

"Of course Prince Aemond is very handsome! I suppose your statement would remain unchanged, even if he were to become pirate Aemond in the future. After all he's the second son with nothing to his name, therefore anything is possible."

"He shall acquire my father's land, his banner, his army. Is it not why this alliance is being made in the first place…?"

Aemma was about to open her mouth but the Queen interfered.

"I apologize for my daughter. At times her mouth runs ahead of her head. Anyway, my daughters and I are heading to sept for prayers. And I've come here to extend the invitation… that is if you—"

"It would be an honour to join you and the Princesses at the sept, my Queen."

Alicent smiled. Aemma rolled her eyes and Helaena suddenly began mumbling something incoherent about dragon, stag and the witch.

A.N: I'm aware that in canon he didn't choose Maris. However I always had a deep feeling that Maris is the one most suitable for Aemond amongst the Baratheon sisters. As she would probably be the one able to connect with him because of her intellect. So if the circumstances were different (which it is, in this story) he most probably would've chosen her. Anyway... for all we know by the time we reach the storms end part of the story, Aemond might change his mind about Maris. Let's see.

Thank you all for reading, hope you enjoyed. The chapter is a little short, which means the next update would hopefully be sooner, since I have most of it written anyway. If you do find any errors please don't hesitate to point out as you can probably see the story isn't proofread. And any thoughts or ideas if you have again, please don't hesitate to share.