#royaltower

              How will i ever explain to her, that i allowed reckless fury to cloud my judgement? The Thought of disappointing the dowager queen fills his guts with worms, writhing with blame. Vhagar, sensing his unease attempts to comfort by bumping her head against him. and as he reaches out to repay the gesture, he finds her face wet. Truly the blood is on my hands alone.  He hears himself muttering to his she dragon. “kirimvose, sȳrī ao gōntan”, Thank you, you did well.  He says. The War would be fought and won with fire now, scolding her for drawing blood would be of little use now. 

              Then with heavy heart and heavy feet, he brings himself to the Keep. Has it grown redder? His mother greets him with a smile, and a look of expectancy upon her face. a gleam of hope within her brown eyes.  I’ll have to kill that too. he realizes, with no lack of guilt.  She speaks of Rhaenyra and forces, and peace, but he barely hears her.

               I could keep silent. he contemplates. Prey to the seven Lucerys’ remains do no wash ashore, She needn’t know. As tempting as it is, He knows it is the Coward’s way. Kinslaying is bad enough, i needn’t add Craven to that list. A soldier must be BOLD. 

HE UNDERSTANDS THE SEVEN. That the Gods work in mysterious ways, and unlike the men who serve they, they all have a sacred duty or reason as to why they do the things they do. Why they uphold certain traditions and tests where others do not. To know the worthy from the false prophets.

AND HE WAS WORTHY. He had proven himself time and time again that he was-- by the sweat upon his brow, by the blood pumping within his veins. Ser Criston Cole had worked his hardest and had clawed through the muddiest of realms just to be able to be someone in Kingslanding. He had made the mistake of falling for the tests once, he will not do so once again.

HOWEVER, HE FEELS THIS IS DIFFERENT. With Rhaenyra, it has been a night of youthful passion muddled by misguided attention. It had been more lust driven than anything else and he had been a fool to not only soil his white cloak, but to offer such an embarrassing proposal as the one he had given on the boat many moons ago. But his queen respects him-- his queen had saved him from damnation.

SO IT IS WITH A HEAVY HEART that he knocks upon her chamber doors. He must not give into this tests-- he had been saved once by the grace of the queen's benevolence and he had walked the earth in search of repentance and had found it in her. She is to be revered, sculpted and molded with the shape of the Mother, and she herself carrying the holiest of truths close to her chest.

@royaltower

though he does not yet take his attention away from the material he had been reading before his mother arrived, an absent-minded hand comes to rest atop the one placed on his shoulder. how content aemond found himself in the presence of her ! he would be fine to sit in silence but he accepts her motion to strike a conversation and peers up at her. 

“ very well. soon enough, it will be i who trains ser criston. “ a smile curves the corners of his mouth upwards. it is only a jest      the knight was a formidable opponent who still had much to teach him. but aemond improved vastly with every session ; wielding a sword had come easy to him. his hand drops to his side and he stands, facing the queen with a small smile. 

@royaltower: x:

"A married woman, cannot marry again unfortunately. I am sure you will find a perfect Lady Cuke someday."

A married woman! How could have made such a faux pas! “My humblest apologies!” The cucumber bowed his head and sighed. “I do hope you are right, perhaps the ladies of your court?”