(POV/ Vealor)
(POV/ Vealor)
"I knew I smelled a whore."
It was the first sentence I heard from Aemond as he held my mother's arm.
The hall of the sept was silent to the normal ear, but the words echoed through the place of worship. The hammering heartbeats of both my mother and Queen Alicent were not lost on me.
"A... Aemond," I heard my mother speak, fear laced in her voice as the man in question wore an elated expression.
I knew it was pointless to overreact in this situation. Both Queen Alicent and Aemond had come with guards, so our discovery was inevitable. Getting out of this situation without any bloodshed was nigh impossible.
The only thing to do in a situation such as this was to minimize losses.
"A bit bold of you, isn't it? Strolling into King's Landing thinking you wouldn't be discovered?" Aemond spoke to my mother, who tried to pry her hand away but couldn't because of his strength.
"Aemond..." Alicent spoke from where she stood, hoping to placate her son.
"Do not interfere in this, Mother!" Aemond snapped, his first words coming out as a shout, startling the Queen Regent.
My mother's heartbeat rose even faster.
I needed to intervene quickly before things turned ugly.
"Ezio, Inej!" I commanded. Both moved instantly at my call.
Aemond, too busy staring at my mother, didn't react quickly enough to completely block Ezio's kick, which connected with his abdomen, while Inej grabbed my mother's hand and guided her to a safe distance.
"There goes the element of surprise," I heard Yue comment. I hummed in agreement, taking steps forward as the cloak I wore billowed lightly behind me.
Alicent was the first to notice Yue and me approaching, followed by my mother, who now stood behind Inej in a protective stance. Her eyes landed on Yue.
"Yue?" she voiced. The man in question nodded to the Queen, who looked at him a bit longer before turning her gaze to me.
"Then that's..." Her voice caught in her throat as her eyes widened in confusion.
Aemond, still gathering himself from the kick, looked at us in bewilderment.
"So, in the end, you still lost your eye," I said to Aemond, who was looking at Ezio with a murderous glare, the sheer want to kill emanating from him.
Aemond, hearing my voice, turned to me in confusion as he straightened himself from his crouched position.
"Who are you supposed to be? A guard?" he sneered, glancing at my mother, who stood a ways from him. "He won't be able to save you, whore!" Aemond shouted, making my mother reel back in fear.
"You still have the same temper you did many years ago, don't you? But then again, it never helped you then, and it sure as hell won't help you now," I said, removing the cloak I was wearing.
Both Aemond's and Alicent's heart rates spiked drastically as they realized who I was.
"Vealor?" I heard Alicent whisper, while Aemond, who had worn a cocky smile until now, faltered.
"It's good to see you again, Uncle. Grandmother," I spoke evenly, showcasing my scarred and blind features openly, as I no longer wore a mask.
Alicent, opening and closing her mouth in shock, glanced at my mother before I heard her mouth the words, "I apologize," then shout, "GUARDS!"
It didn't take long before I heard armor hitting armor as a handful of guards entered through the doors, followed by a couple of Kingsguard members whose scents I did not recognize.
"My lord," Yue whispered from behind me in concern, having also taken off his cloak to reveal light leather armor, his curved blade strapped to his waist. I wore a similar attire, my Valyrian steel sword swaying in its scabbard at my side.
Aemond, shaken from his confusion, shook his head before regaining his cold bravado. "Vealor, it's good to see you after such a long time. I was happy to hear of your return, alive and well," he said, sarcasm dripping from every word as he stepped closer to me.
Finally coming to a stop, I spread my senses around the entirety of the sept to assess our situation.
Seven Hightower guards and three Queensguard surrounded us—plus Aemond, who, I was sure, was more capable than most, if not all, of the other armed men present.
I knew we could get out of this, but first, I needed my mother to leave.
"Inej, Ezio, escort my mother out of here," I commanded. The guards tensed, readying themselves for a fight, while Ezio moved to where my mother stood with Inej, drawing two daggers so long they could be mistaken for short swords.
"I'm sorry to say this, Nephew, but no one will be leaving here," Aemond said from where he stood, all the armed men unsheathing their swords while Ezio and Inej readied themselves to break through the two men blocking the closest exit.
I said nothing, merely tracing my fingers over my hip before, in one swift movement, I pulled out two throwing knives and hit one of the guards blocking my mother's exit. Ezio took it as a signal, dashing toward the other guard and taking him down just as fast. The only sound in the room was a blood-curdling scream as my mother was escorted out safely.
"Vealor! VEALOR!" My mother screamed in fear as she was all but dragged out of the room.
Silence descended.
No one moved a muscle, too shocked by the swiftness with which Ezio and I coordinated.
"Now, you were saying?" I asked, feeling Aemond's anger rising, the gloves he wore groaning in his grip as I slowly unsheathed my blade. Yue readied himself beside me as the remaining five men slowly advanced.
Aemond had finally had enough. "No! Stop!" he shouted, his eyes boring into me. "Vealor is mine! Anyone else who tries to interfere will find my sword cutting them down!" He turned to one of the guards and took their sword while I observed calmly, unthreatened by the man I once knew as a kind and timid boy, now turned into a raging dragon.
"My lord, will you be fine?" Yue asked from behind me as I took measured steps forward.
"When have you known me not to be fine, Yue? Stay alert. Anything could happen," I said, stalling just long enough for my mother to be taken to the Dragonmount.
It was one of the things we had planned before coming on this mission. If things turned awry, Ezio and Inej were to take the Queen to the Dragonmount while I either stalled for time or went with them.
And given the situation I was in now, stalling was the only option.
"I must say nephew, it is good to see you after such a long time" Aemond spoke, aproaching me with sword in hand, speaking with a bravado I wasn't used to.
"Though im not sure seeing is the right word to use, considering your...predicament" He tried to taught, as the men surounding us laughed.
I shook my head as I came to a stop, now a couple of feet between us.
"Ironic, isn't it? The man with one eye mocking someone's vision?" I said, raising my sword and shifting into a stance. "Now that you're done stroking your ego, let's get this over with, shall we?"
The air in the sept was thick with tension, the flickering candlelight casting jagged shadows across the stone walls. The five guards surrounding us gripped their weapons tighter, but none dared move. Not yet.
Alicent stood to the side, hands clenched in front of her, her breathing uneven. She knew. She saw it in the way I moved—the way I positioned myself. Aemond had no chance.
I heard it—the sharp intake of his breath, the flex of his muscles tightening beneath his coat, the subtle scrape of his boot as he lunged forward.
His sword came down in a brutal arc.
"AUGH!" Aemond grunted, bringing his blade down with all his might.
I stepped forward, feeling the shift in air, the vibration of his weapon cutting through it. I met his steel with mine, parrying the blow at an angle, redirecting his momentum.
He stumbled past me.
Before he could recover, I drove my elbow into the back of his skull.
CRACK.
Aemond let out a strangled gasp, his body crumpling forward as he clutched his head, barely keeping hold of his sword. His knees scraped the stone floor as he caught himself, his breath ragged.
I pivoted smoothly, resetting my stance, my grip firm.
Yue, standing near , didn't move, but I could feel his smirk. He had seen me dismantle warriors far greater than Aemond before. This was no different.
Aemond growled lowly, shaking off the daze. "Bastard."
"Still standing?" I mused, tilting my head.
"Good. I'd hate for this to be over too soon."Aemond said, slowly standing up as he once again took a fighting stance.
With a snarl, Aemond surged forward, slashing wildly, trying to corner me with sheer aggression.
The problem?
I felt everything.
Every breath, every shift in weight, every slight twitch of his fingers—I felt it all.
He swung. I sidestepped.
He feinted. I didn't bite.
He lunged, aiming for my ribs—CLANG!—I turned the strike aside, spinning around him.
His frustration bled into his movements, each attack sloppier than the last. I could hear it in his breaths—shallow and uneven, burning with desperation.
"Fight me!" he roared, his voice cracking, slowly loosing himself to frustration and anger.
"I am."I said as I struck a swift kick to the side of his knee, which sent him staggering.
I followed with a slash across his arm—light, deliberate—not enough to maim, but enough to break him.
He let out a strangled yell, gripping the fresh wound.
Alicent gasped, stepping forward. "Aemond—" she whispered, concern on her visage as she watched as I all but toyed with Aemond.
"Stay back,!" he snapped in anger, staggering to his feet.
'Fool.'I though, 'He still thinks he has a chance'
I sighed, adjusting my grip. "You've always relied on brute strength, uncle even when we were but little children. But strength means nothing if you can't even land a hit." I said to him, taunting him for the last time.
"Shut up!" He charged again, reckless and blind with rage.
This time, I ended it.
As he swung wide, I ducked beneath the blade, sidestepping smoothly before driving my palm straight into his chest.
He choked, his breath forced from his lungs as he reeled back. I didn't let up.
I swept his legs out from under him, and as he hit the ground, I brought my boot down onto his wrist. His sword clattered away, out of reach.
Aemond coughed, gasping for breath, his body sprawled across the cold floor. His fingers twitched weakly, trying to move, trying to push himself up.
But he wouldn't. Not after this.
I crouched beside him, tilting my head. "This is for Lucearys" I said.
He glared at me, eyes burning with hatred—yet beneath it, I sensed something else.
Fear.
He opened his mouth to spit out some last insult, but I didn't give him the chance.
With precise aim, I clenched my fist and struck, his head snapping to the side, his body slumping instantly.
Silence.
The only sound was Aemond's unconscious body hitting the floor, his saphire eye rolling away, bouncing twice before settling under Alicent's horryfied gaze.
Alicent let out a horrified gasp. The guards took a step back. Even Yue let out a low whistle.
I straightened, dusting off my hands. "Someone should pick that up," I muttered, stepping past Aemond's fallen form.
Silence was the only thing in the sept as the guards stood there, confused, looking between each other before one of them shouted a war cry.
"Aaaah!"
And then—chaos.
Yue, who stood close to me, struck at the man closest to him, while two other men came at me.
One swung at my leg while the other stabbed at me.
I parried the stab lightly, twirling my body in a way that allowed me to evade the blow aimed at my leg.
I felt Yue's back press against mine as we became surrounded on all sides, his heartbeat pounding uncontrollably against me.
"My lord, I do not think this was part of the plan!" Yue shouted as I felt the men surrounding us hesitate in fear.
"A good observation," I said sarcastically, calmly assessing the situation.
The men surrounding us were all subpar—if even that. Yue and I were more than enough to take them all down.
But there was a small problem.
As if on cue, more and more men suddenly poured in through the entrances, and before we knew it, a dozen more had surrounded us.
"Well, this just got a little more frightening," Yue whispered as my grip tightened on my sword, focusing on all the heartbeats around us.
There were eighteen men now, fully armored. Yue was right—this just got a little more difficult.
But the question was...
Would we lose?
Not in this life.
"Yue, do you remember that time we had that Dothraki problem in the Red Waste?" I asked, my senses on full alert, making sure to track every movement of the men around us.
"How could I forget, my lord? You took down a khal and his blood riders in single combat," he said, eyes darting around, his blade ready to strike at the first sign of movement.
"Well, think of this as the same—just on a larger scale," I said, feeling as the men finally tensed, slowly advancing.
Yue, who heard me, shook his head.
"You are the only one I know who can think optimistically in situations like this, my lord," he muttered, chuckling nervously.
Before there was chaos once again.
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