ficsbyuzi - Tumblr blog

[ficsbyuzi]

I have entered the “no motivation” and “why bother” phase since my last update.

Gonna take a break from Tumblr, posting and writing.

I am looking forward to an upcoming vacation trip to Portugal and Spain in October.

My main blog will fluctuate between bouts of queued post updates and a total absence of posts.

See you all after a month. Take care and happy Autumn ❤️

[ficsbyuzi]

I fOunD yOu Part 3

MEET ALYNA MARTELL

Alyna, a twenty six year-old educator, hails from the prestigious, prosperous Martell family of Sunspear, Dorne. She is the eldest child, and was raised with the inevitable truth that one day she'd inherit the vast Martell business empire - a predesigned fate she consciously rejects while growing up.

Despite her family's countless attempts to persuade her otherwise, she decides to relinquish her birthright and steps away in the favor of younger brother - Alaric Martell. To her, pursuing her passions and living life on her own terms holds far greater value and reward, than having everything served on a silver platter or being fed with a silver spoon. 

After completing her education, with a major in History from the University of King's Landing, she ventured into teaching the subject to high school students. Beyond her teaching duties, Alyna dedicated herself to training youngsters in self-defense. Her mornings on 

weekends commenced with martial arts classes, and in the evenings, she took on a part-time role as an Uber driver.

Her fate took a profound twist when she encountered and subsequently began dating Jason Lannister, the son of Tymond Lannister, owner and chairperson of the Golden Lion Industries in Casterly Rock. Jason occasionally visited the office branch in King's Landing, where his married sister resided. Their paths first crossed during Alyna's self-defense classes when he came to pick up his ten-year-old niece. Unable to stop thinking about her, he mustered the courage to ask her out a few weeks later.

Two years, several dates, and numerous trips later, Jason surprised her by proposing marriage. She accepts it, making a conscious decision, something she has never had trouble with. 

However, sometimes when she sat with her solitude or drove around the city at night, she would find herself contemplating. A tiny fragment of her soul often wished that she hadn’t agreed to the marriage. 

Alyna once read in one of her favorite self-help books that the soul attracts what it secretly harbors - likes and fears alike. 

She often doubted if she had chosen precisely what she had been running away from.

She loved Jason, he loved her.

 Isn't love enough? Does it not conquer all?

PART 3

Read part 2

Characters : Aegon Targaryen, Aemond Targaryen and Alyna Martell (Dornish OFC) in modern Westeros (modern AU)

Warnings : No Aemond or Aegon in this one 🙂

A loud, sonorous clunk of metal pulled Alyna out of her trance. An intense pulse throbbed in her body. She checked the time on her phone; ten past five in the evening, almost dusk. The clean-up crew had arrived to dismantle the canopies and remove the decorations. The expansive grounds surrounding the Highgarden estate were to be restored to their verdant tranquility after the event. 

An event that never took place. 

She rolled over and met herself in the mirror adjacent to her bed. Disheveled, unkempt, all over the place, sans the glow of a bride, sans the glow her trips to the expensive salon had promised. The sheen of her freshly dyed burgundy hair now dimmed. 

Groaning, she rolled back to her previous position, only to board the train of her thoughts.

She had spent the last twenty four hours scrolling apps on her phone or dozing off every few hours. Her body stayed in a dismal inertia, the gears of her mind ground to a halt.

Her stomach made an unavoidable rumbling, threatening to start eating itself and impelling her to pick up a box of assorted, handmade chocolates kept on the side table. She devoured the first piece -  dark and mint. And before she knew it, she was on her third piece, flavored with sea salt. All were coated with edible gold foil.

Gold. 

The colour the whole Lannister clan had a penchant for. The golden hour wedding,  gold decor,  marigold flowers,  gold drapes. 

She flung the box away as if she touched a bare, live wire, wanting to regurgitate what she just had eaten. Her gaze followed the tiny chocolate balls rolling across the floor, one of them reaching the bottom of the mannequin stand. The sight of an exquisite, bespoke wedding dress caught her attention. Again. 

Alyna despised the long-standing family custom of the groom's family giving the wedding dress to the bride. The dress was not only modest and traditional but also way too laced and embellished for her bold yet minimalistic preference.

But Jason loved it, especially its full tulle sleeves and a stifling neckline. She would have opted for that solid, strapless number in satin with a high side slit and pockets.

"You are going to be a Lannister bride, not Dornish" 

She remembered red flags flapping in her mind at his flippant remark. 

But she agreed to his choice anyway - the things one does for love.

A mere dress didn't matter much to her then. Hell, she could carry a potato sack effortlessly.

But the same dress now stood before her in all her unworn glory, as a rankling sore in her eyes because she was denied the very reason she agreed to wear it in the first place.

 The dress unnerved her as it hung unworn and unused on that stupid mannequin stand when its bodice should have hugged her svelte torso, a day before. 

Her long, burgundy hair was supposed to cascade in soft waves and be pinned at the back with a band of pearls to hold her veil. 

Her "no make-up" make-up would have been all glorifying, kissed by the magical golden hour. Her bridesmaids in their dresses of the sunset yellow hue she chose for them, would have blended in the soft glow of the dusk. And she would have looked like a floating angel.

She let out a wan, shuddering chuckle, mocking her reveries as a few tears fell out of her brown, almond eyes.

When did she let all the conventional, materialistic things occupy her mind?

When did her free, untameable soul get tied up by frills, lace and fancy ribbons?

When did she start losing herself?

All the self-help books she perused and the podcasts she listened to, seeking guidance on how to be herself, seemed nonsensical when he blinded her with his golden charm.

 In an attempt to fit into his world, she had almost lost sight of her worth and neglected the importance of remaining true to herself.

Maybe Jason Lannister didn't call the wedding off merely because he got cold feet. Maybe he called it off because he recognised and acted on the dissonance within himself, within the relationship while Alyna couldn't.  

Maybe he realized that he was tricking himself into loving someone, who was not herself. 

The vicious irony was that the fallacy in her thought process convinced her to mold herself into someone, she thought, he desired. 

They were a wrong fit from the very beginning, trying to build a house of cards destined to crumble under the weight of pretense.

Repeated knocks at her bridal suite's door broke the chain of her thoughts. It was her father's third attempt since morning to coax her out of the room. 

"Please come and talk to us, honey. We are with you,” he insisted, carrying her favorite mozzarella and tomato sandwiches and orange juice in a tray.

It was the last day of their stay at the estate. The suite room that was meant to mark the beginning of her life as a married woman now served as a constant reminder that her wedding had been called off.

But she needed to pull herself out of the self-sabotaging thoughts. 

She had to come out of that miserable room, which was deluding her mind into believing that her life was over.

She would find the fragments that she had torn apart from herself and lost along the way in the last two years.

Her family was supposed to be back in Dorne by the late-night flight. And she was supposed to be on a flight for her honeymoon..

She lunged towards her handbag in a desperate determination, as though it contained an elixir that held the key to her very existence.

 "I will be out in a minute, Dad." She assured her father. 

-

As the family gathered to dine before departing, she keenly sensed their collective effort to appear nonchalant, each of them willing their faces into cheerful expressions.

"Sweetheart, you know, I had a boyfriend once and oh, how handsome he was!" Her grandmother's eyes twinkled as she went down her memory lane, oblivious to everyone in the family either rolling their eyes playfully or chuckling silently. 

"He was a soldier. While he was stationed far away from our village during the war, my father betrothed me to your grandpa. I cried a lot, begging my father not to marry me off to him. But after marriage, your grandpa and I became great friends, and love happened eventually."

She affectionately caressed her granddaughter's hair, pecked her cheek and placed her head gently on her bosom.

"Today, everything may seem dark, as if the worst has happened. But tomorrow, the sun will rise again, and everything will be okay. Don’t worry about anything, child. Whatever is yours will find its way to you. Just live your life to the fullest from now on."

Her grandmother's words of wisdom soothed the frazzled state of her mind. In her embrace, it dawned upon her that she had indeed been saved from a disastrous marriage. And she had been saved from the 'self', she wrongly assumed, was hers.

-

On her way out of the estate, Alyna briefly contemplated tossing the engagement ring into the garden fountains, but out of reverence for a family heirloom diamond it was studded with, she decided to simply relinquish it to a trusted common friend for its safe return to the Lannisters. 

The dress, however, could not escape the wrath that was simmering in her guts for two days. 

She severed its sleeves, altered the neckline and slashed its hem to fashion a long slit resembling the dress she had wanted to buy. Then she packed it to be dispatched to Casterly Rock.

A strong feeling of self-renewal and liberation washed over her. She had begun to feel her authentic self again.

Upon reaching the airport, she retrieved the ticket from her bag, nestled within the pages of her passport. It was stamped with the visa that would grant her entry to the Summer Islands and Essos. 

 "I am going on my honeymoon trip," Alyna announced, "Alone"

[ficsbyuzi]

All the ways lead to you

Aemond Targaryen × Dr. Inara Maegyr (Original female character) in a Modern AU

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6. Part 7

A note

I wrote this fluffy angst with a pinch of smut last year, using “You” and "Your Name" 😅

At that time, I was a novice and had no idea how the fanfic world worked. I thought it wasn't a fanfic if it wasn't a reader insert 🫣

Over time, however, I realized that while I love reading both reader inserts and OCs equally, writing in the second person may not be my cup of chai after all. And before someone comes at me, I want to clarify that I am not against reader inserts and the use of Y/N. Some of the best works I've read here have been written in the first or second person. And I fucking adore them.

Since I'm reposting this fic series with a few edits, I've converted the female protagonist into an original character and given her a name: Inara Maegyr, a medic from Essos who also happens to be a trained make-up and prosthetic artist.

The story is romantic and light-hearted, but eventually turns sad. If you find romance too icky or you don't like to swoon, it probably isn't for you. As for me, I am a 90s child who grew up on Bollywood movies. All 206 bones in my body are formed of love and unrealistic romantic expectations, instead of calcium phosphate and osteocytes 🤓

[ficsbyuzi]

[ficsbyuzi]

ALL THE WAYS LEAD TO YOU

PART-7

Read part 6

Masterlist

Characters - Aemond Targaryen and Inara Maegyr (OFC) in a modern AU.

word count - 2550

warnings - +18, fluff, pining, slow burn, mention of emergency medical condition

A/n: No header because I was feeling lazy :( I will add it later. This is not even proofread :'(

Updated: Header is on

Get well soon

Inara had been waking up every morning to the sound of her doorbell ever since she got injured. Every day, without fail, a bouquet of yellow and white roses awaited her on the doorstep, with a small gold-colored card nestled carefully among the petals.

Every morning, the sight of those roses made her silly heart flutter, filling her with an emotion she both loved and tried to suppress. 

The message on the card never changed—always the same few words, unsigned. 

But she didn’t need to see a name; each petal whispered his identity to her.

Those flowers didn’t smell like roses when she sniffed them, closing the door and carrying them to her coffee table. They carried his scent.

A scent so familiar, she could recognize it in a crowd of thousands. A scent she was missing terribly.

Does he miss me the way I miss him? 

Inara hadn’t been to the production for a week. Her recovery leave coincided with the outdoor shoot on the beautiful beaches of Driftmark. She missed seeing Aemond.

 She missed the quiet exchanges they shared in passing, the way his gaze would linger on her just a little longer than necessary. The way the air around both of them palpated with an unspoken tension. 

What was this feeling that had begun to swell in her heart at a mere thought of him? Why did she feel helpless against the beat of her heart that turned erratic at a mere thought of him? 

She did not realize when something that had once felt as distant as a star, began to seem within her reach.

 But as it did, she began to let herself wonder about the possibility of crossing the vast expanse between them. About the possibility of being with him, becoming his. Entirely.

-

Inara had been back at work for only a few days. Aemond was out at Driftmark, overseeing an outdoor shoot. Her duties were light for now; she had mostly been helping with the crew's medical needs - minor scrapes and bruises, nothing too demanding.

She sat in her office, a book on dermatology open before her, while she smiled at her phone, scrolling through online pictures of Aemond.

The intercom in her office buzzed, the sharp ring snapping her out of her rosy reveries. 

The voice on the phone sounded panicked, alerting her.

“Dr. Maegyr, there is an emergency, first floor, Chairman’s office.” 

Already rising from her seat, grabbing her medical aid kit, she asked, “Who is it and what happened?”

“It’s the chairman, Viserys Targaryen. He has collapsed in his office.”

-

Inara ran to the first floor, hurrying towards the chairman’s office, her breaths coming in quick, sharp bursts. 

The door was ajar, revealing a scene of urgent activity inside. Several staff members hovered anxiously, their faces pale with concern. 

Viserys Targaryen, a frail, senile figure clad in a black suit, lay on the floor clutching his chest, his breath shallow and labored. Nearby, a woman in a deep green fitted dress, no older than forty-five, sat with tears pooling in her eyes, face etched with profound worry.

“He was not feeling well since last night,” the woman said, her voice trembling as she noticed Inara. “I told him not to exert himself... but he insisted on coming…” Her voice trailed off, choked by her distress.

Inara took only moments to deduce that Viserys was suffering a heart attack. 

“We need to call an ambulance,” she announced urgently to the gathered staff, swiftly opening her medical kit. She pulled out a strip of medicine and uncovered a tablet, requesting the elegant woman, who she guessed was his wife, “Please, help me loosen his tie and collar; we need to make him sit upright.”

With practiced care, Inara held Viserys’s head, checking his breathing as she placed the tablet in his mouth. “Sir, I need you to chew this medicine. Can you do that for me?”

Viserys groaned weakly, his response more a labored exhalation than coherent speech. Inara gently and firmly guided his jaw, helping him to chew and swallow the tablet. Once she was certain he had ingested the medication, she took another tablet and placed it in his mouth, then carefully fitted an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.

Turning to his distressed wife, Inara spoke with calm authority, “Ma’am, we need to get him to the hospital immediately. He is having a heart attack. I’ve administered first aid, but he needs to be properly examined.”

-

Viserys spent two days in the hospital, and Inara ensured she visited him each day after work. She took care of his medical tests, reviewed his reports, and managed his medication. 

On the day of his discharge, Alicent, with a look of earnest gratitude, insisted that Inara accompany them home.

 “Please come with us,” she said, her voice tinged with anxiety. “I want you to come with us and make sure everything is alright.” She took her hands in hers, eyes pleading, “I trust you..and I know that you would ensure that the hospital is sending him with proper aftercare and nursing staff.”

-

The drive back to the Targaryen mansion was a quiet one. The car pulled to a stop at the front entrance, where a team of nurses and caregivers awaited them.  Alicent and Inara assisted Viserys out of the vehicle and into a wheelchair, which was then gently guided towards the grand entrance of the mansion.

They were led to a grand room with a massive bed, where the medical team had set up a comfortable area for Viserys. The room was vast and suffused with an ancient grandeur, the high ceilings and dim chandeliers casting long, shifting shadows that whispered of histories untold. Inara felt small within it, like she had stepped into another world - one far removed from her own.

“Father, how are you feeling?” The soft, poised voice came from a woman who glided across the room with an air of elegance. She was strikingly beautiful, around the age of Viserys’ wife, yet exuding a sharper presence.

Inara’s gaze swept across the room, taking in a group of the most ethereal looking people she had ever encountered. They all stood with somber expressions, their features strikingly similar, with the same silver hair and pale complexions that shimmered as pearls under low-light. 

She was hit by a wave of recognition. The absence of someone specific suddenly became palpable. The realization struck her with a jolt that she was surrounded by Aemond’s family. 

Viserys' daughter glanced toward Inara, her violet eyes narrowing slightly, as if assessing the stranger in their midst. 

Inara felt the heat rise to her cheeks, her throat suddenly dry as the weight of everyone’s gazes pressed upon her. 

Overwhelmed, she made an instant decision to leave. There was no point in lingering, not even for the sake of professionalism. The room’s suffocating elegance, the piercing gazes of Aemond’s family, the palpable reminder of his absence - it all was too much. She almost regretted agreeing to accompany them. 

"I shall take my leave, ma’am," she said, her voice quieter than intended as she stepped toward the door.

"No, please, wait." 

Inara felt a gentle hand on her arm, urging her outside the room, away from the heavy atmosphere.

“You did so much for us, I will make sure your time is compensated.” Alicent said softly as they stepped outside the room.

Inara shook her head, her tone polite but resolute, “It was only my duty."

"At least let me arrange a ride back home for you, Dr. Inara," Alicent offered and saw the hesitation flicker across Inara's face.

Inara paused, weighing her options, before nodding, "If it’s no trouble, thank you."

Alicent made a quick call to the security team, organizing a car. She then turned back to Inara, preparing to see her to the door herself.

“Please, ma’am, stay with your family. I’ll find my way out.” 

Alicent took Inara’s hands in her own, her grip warm and laden with unspoken gratitude. As her fingers brushed across the faint scar on Inara’s palm - the remnant of her injury - Alicent paused. Recognition dawned in her eyes, slow but unmistakable, as if a puzzle piece had quietly clicked into place.

For the first time in three days, Alicent truly saw her.

The realization softened her even more. Gently, she touched Inara’s cheek, her voice dropping to a whisper of affection. "Thank you, child," she said, her words filled with a maternal warmth that left Inara momentarily speechless. 

Inara only blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected tenderness.

-

Inara descended the grand staircase, her footsteps echoing faintly in the expansive gallery that stretched toward the main doors of the villa. Removing her doctor’s coat, she glanced around for a sign of house help, but the vast, silent hallways offered none. Everyone either retreated to their rooms or were in Viserys’ service at the moment. Her parched throat and exhausted muscles, both naggingly reminding her that she hadn’t had a drop of water in hours, ached for relief and rest.

To her left, a dim light spilled from what looked like a large, sleek kitchen. The journey home was long, and she needed something to quench her thirst. She hesitated only a moment before making her way towards the kitchen, hoping to find a staff member. But the space was eerily empty and dark.

Feeling a little out of place, Inara hesitated, uncertain whether to search for a glass or quietly leave. 

As she fumbled her way through the kitchen, her back collided with something - someone. 

Startled, her breath caught in her throat as she spun around, only to be pulled into a strong, warm chest with an arm snaking around her.

“Shh, it’s me.” Two calloused fingers from the source of the voice she had been longing to hear, came to gently rest on her lips. An undeniably familiar scent cocooned her, wrapping her in a comforting embrace. 

Aemond watched her as the fear in her eyes gradually faded, leaving her gaze half-closed in relief and surrender. His fingers lingered on her lips, brushing softly as he gently dragged her lower lip before finally pulling them away. She let out a trembling exhale, her pulse still racing. 

“Your father.. He..he had a heart attack wh..while you were..” she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper, the embarrassment creeping into her speech, her cheeks. She glanced down, trying to pull herself free from his grasp. 

But he didn’t let go. 

"I was just... I came for a glass of water," she said, trying to pull away again. Her attempt was half-hearted; his fingers sliding down her arm and leaving a trail of warmth made it all more difficult for her to step away.

Gradually, she relaxed into his touch, her tension ebbing away. Her arms, initially folded in reluctance, began to open. Before she could decide what to do with them, one of her hands came to rest on his bicep while the other found its place near his shoulder.

A satisfying hum rumbled in Aemond’s chest, the sound of which told of the satisfying smile on his lips.

“You’re back,” she murmured, her voice soft and still hesitant. She wasn’t ready to meet his gaze, afraid she might dissolve under the intensity of his proximity, and in heat that seemed to pulse through them both.

Another hum in response, that came out with an exhale on her forehead and a deeper rumble. Her eyes threatened to shut. 

“I… I should go,” she whispered, but her words lacked conviction.

He tilted his head slightly, a faint smirk curling at his lips. “Should you?” His velvety rasp sent an intoxicating shiver down her spine.

Inara’s lips parted, intending to mention her ride waiting outside, but the words faltered. A reluctance gripped her, as if voicing her departure might shatter the fragile, unexpected moment they were sharing.

To her dismay, she felt his arm loosen around her, a subtle withdrawal that hinted he was stepping away. She turned, ready to leave, but his palm flattened against her stomach, halting her movement.

“Wait, come here,” Aemond’s voice brushed against the shell of her ear.

The touch unfurled another wave of pleasant warmth beneath her skin, one that filled the space between her body and her very being. It made her weightless, as if she might float away if not tethered to him. He gently tugged her back, refusing to let her leave, and she drifted, ready to follow wherever he led.

He guided her towards a counter, lifted her with effortless ease and settled her down on a stool. Her startled gasp was met only with a soft, dark chuckle, a sound that sent another jolt of hot desire coursing through her.

He moved to fill a glass with water and she watched him entranced, captivated by the smooth grace he exuded. 

“Here,” he said, extending the glass towards her. As she looked up, her eyes met his violet ones, shimmering behind the subtle brown tint of his glasses.

Inara offered a smile - soft, relieved, and full of unspoken affection. A smile he loved and that made his day. With the sight of her, after weeks, so close and so real, he gathered every ounce of control he had, not to pull her into his arms and claim her lips with his own.

Inara set the empty glass back on the counter, an awkward silence now descending upon them, filling the space with an uncomfortable stillness.

“Your father is stable now,” 

Aemond took a step closer, holding her gaze, the desire to touch her again overwhelming him. He tenderly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his thumb brushing her cheek as his hand rested lightly on her slender neck. 

“Cole told me everything. Take a day off tomorrow, hmm?”

Inara only nodded, almost reluctant to voice her response and break the beautiful spell that they both seemed to be under. As if she feared disrupting the delicate, dream-like moment between them with her own voice. Her hand, almost instinctively, settled over his, as if to anchor herself in that fleeting, intimate exchange.

“Aemond... I...I was mi..” She began, lost in the haze of their shared connection., but could not finish as the room got flooded with a harsh light, pulling them out of their little bubble.

Aemond’s hand fell away as Inara stood to see who had disrupted their moment.

A woman stood in the doorway, her silver hair gleaming in the light, just as Aemond’s. Her face was an unreadable mask, her eyes betraying little of her thoughts as she took in the scene. She advanced towards them, her gaze briefly touching Aemond with an expression of disapproval before focusing on Inara.

To Inara’s astonishment, the woman, Helaena, extended her arms and enveloped her in an embrace. 

Aemond was taken aback by the  unexpected gesture of his elder sister. Touching someone was a rare behavior for her. 

“Everything will be alright,” Helaena murmured, her voice so low that Inara might not have heard it if not for the closeness of the embrace.

Helaena released her, reverting to her normal voice and gently tugged at Inara's hand, “Come, I’ll see you out.”

Confused and unsure, Inara looked back at Aemond. With a final, lingering glance, she followed Helaena toward the exit, leaving the warmth of his presence behind.

--

@zenka69 @mamawiggers1980

[ficsbyuzi]

ALL THE WAYS LEAD TO YOU

PART-7

Read part 6

Masterlist

Characters - Aemond Targaryen and Inara Maegyr (OFC) in a modern AU.

word count - 2550

warnings - +18, fluff, pining, slow burn, mention of emergency medical condition

A/n: No header because I was feeling lazy :( I will add it later. This is not even proofread :'(

Updated: Header is on

Get well soon

Inara had been waking up every morning to the sound of her doorbell ever since she got injured. Every day, without fail, a bouquet of yellow and white roses awaited her on the doorstep, with a small gold-colored card nestled carefully among the petals.

Every morning, the sight of those roses made her silly heart flutter, filling her with an emotion she both loved and tried to suppress. 

The message on the card never changed—always the same few words, unsigned. 

But she didn’t need to see a name; each petal whispered his identity to her.

Those flowers didn’t smell like roses when she sniffed them, closing the door and carrying them to her coffee table. They carried his scent.

A scent so familiar, she could recognize it in a crowd of thousands. A scent she was missing terribly.

Does he miss me the way I miss him? 

Inara hadn’t been to the production for a week. Her recovery leave coincided with the outdoor shoot on the beautiful beaches of Driftmark. She missed seeing Aemond.

 She missed the quiet exchanges they shared in passing, the way his gaze would linger on her just a little longer than necessary. The way the air around both of them palpated with an unspoken tension. 

What was this feeling that had begun to swell in her heart at a mere thought of him? Why did she feel helpless against the beat of her heart that turned erratic at a mere thought of him? 

She did not realize when something that had once felt as distant as a star, began to seem within her reach.

 But as it did, she began to let herself wonder about the possibility of crossing the vast expanse between them. About the possibility of being with him, becoming his. Entirely.

-

Inara had been back at work for only a few days. Aemond was out at Driftmark, overseeing an outdoor shoot. Her duties were light for now; she had mostly been helping with the crew's medical needs - minor scrapes and bruises, nothing too demanding.

She sat in her office, a book on dermatology open before her, while she smiled at her phone, scrolling through online pictures of Aemond.

The intercom in her office buzzed, the sharp ring snapping her out of her rosy reveries. 

The voice on the phone sounded panicked, alerting her.

“Dr. Maegyr, there is an emergency, first floor, Chairman’s office.” 

Already rising from her seat, grabbing her medical aid kit, she asked, “Who is it and what happened?”

“It’s the chairman, Viserys Targaryen. He has collapsed in his office.”

-

Inara ran to the first floor, hurrying towards the chairman’s office, her breaths coming in quick, sharp bursts. 

The door was ajar, revealing a scene of urgent activity inside. Several staff members hovered anxiously, their faces pale with concern. 

Viserys Targaryen, a frail, senile figure clad in a black suit, lay on the floor clutching his chest, his breath shallow and labored. Nearby, a woman in a deep green fitted dress, no older than forty-five, sat with tears pooling in her eyes, face etched with profound worry.

“He was not feeling well since last night,” the woman said, her voice trembling as she noticed Inara. “I told him not to exert himself... but he insisted on coming…” Her voice trailed off, choked by her distress.

Inara took only moments to deduce that Viserys was suffering a heart attack. 

“We need to call an ambulance,” she announced urgently to the gathered staff, swiftly opening her medical kit. She pulled out a strip of medicine and uncovered a tablet, requesting the elegant woman, who she guessed was his wife, “Please, help me loosen his tie and collar; we need to make him sit upright.”

With practiced care, Inara held Viserys’s head, checking his breathing as she placed the tablet in his mouth. “Sir, I need you to chew this medicine. Can you do that for me?”

Viserys groaned weakly, his response more a labored exhalation than coherent speech. Inara gently and firmly guided his jaw, helping him to chew and swallow the tablet. Once she was certain he had ingested the medication, she took another tablet and placed it in his mouth, then carefully fitted an oxygen mask over his nose and mouth.

Turning to his distressed wife, Inara spoke with calm authority, “Ma’am, we need to get him to the hospital immediately. He is having a heart attack. I’ve administered first aid, but he needs to be properly examined.”

-

Viserys spent two days in the hospital, and Inara ensured she visited him each day after work. She took care of his medical tests, reviewed his reports, and managed his medication. 

On the day of his discharge, Alicent, with a look of earnest gratitude, insisted that Inara accompany them home.

 “Please come with us,” she said, her voice tinged with anxiety. “I want you to come with us and make sure everything is alright.” She took her hands in hers, eyes pleading, “I trust you..and I know that you would ensure that the hospital is sending him with proper aftercare and nursing staff.”

-

The drive back to the Targaryen mansion was a quiet one. The car pulled to a stop at the front entrance, where a team of nurses and caregivers awaited them.  Alicent and Inara assisted Viserys out of the vehicle and into a wheelchair, which was then gently guided towards the grand entrance of the mansion.

They were led to a grand room with a massive bed, where the medical team had set up a comfortable area for Viserys. The room was vast and suffused with an ancient grandeur, the high ceilings and dim chandeliers casting long, shifting shadows that whispered of histories untold. Inara felt small within it, like she had stepped into another world - one far removed from her own.

“Father, how are you feeling?” The soft, poised voice came from a woman who glided across the room with an air of elegance. She was strikingly beautiful, around the age of Viserys’ wife, yet exuding a sharper presence.

Inara’s gaze swept across the room, taking in a group of the most ethereal looking people she had ever encountered. They all stood with somber expressions, their features strikingly similar, with the same silver hair and pale complexions that shimmered as pearls under low-light. 

She was hit by a wave of recognition. The absence of someone specific suddenly became palpable. The realization struck her with a jolt that she was surrounded by Aemond’s family. 

Viserys' daughter glanced toward Inara, her violet eyes narrowing slightly, as if assessing the stranger in their midst. 

Inara felt the heat rise to her cheeks, her throat suddenly dry as the weight of everyone’s gazes pressed upon her. 

Overwhelmed, she made an instant decision to leave. There was no point in lingering, not even for the sake of professionalism. The room’s suffocating elegance, the piercing gazes of Aemond’s family, the palpable reminder of his absence - it all was too much. She almost regretted agreeing to accompany them. 

"I shall take my leave, ma’am," she said, her voice quieter than intended as she stepped toward the door.

"No, please, wait." 

Inara felt a gentle hand on her arm, urging her outside the room, away from the heavy atmosphere.

“You did so much for us, I will make sure your time is compensated.” Alicent said softly as they stepped outside the room.

Inara shook her head, her tone polite but resolute, “It was only my duty."

"At least let me arrange a ride back home for you, Dr. Inara," Alicent offered and saw the hesitation flicker across Inara's face.

Inara paused, weighing her options, before nodding, "If it’s no trouble, thank you."

Alicent made a quick call to the security team, organizing a car. She then turned back to Inara, preparing to see her to the door herself.

“Please, ma’am, stay with your family. I’ll find my way out.” 

Alicent took Inara’s hands in her own, her grip warm and laden with unspoken gratitude. As her fingers brushed across the faint scar on Inara’s palm - the remnant of her injury - Alicent paused. Recognition dawned in her eyes, slow but unmistakable, as if a puzzle piece had quietly clicked into place.

For the first time in three days, Alicent truly saw her.

The realization softened her even more. Gently, she touched Inara’s cheek, her voice dropping to a whisper of affection. "Thank you, child," she said, her words filled with a maternal warmth that left Inara momentarily speechless. 

Inara only blinked, caught off guard by the unexpected tenderness.

-

Inara descended the grand staircase, her footsteps echoing faintly in the expansive gallery that stretched toward the main doors of the villa. Removing her doctor’s coat, she glanced around for a sign of house help, but the vast, silent hallways offered none. Everyone either retreated to their rooms or were in Viserys’ service at the moment. Her parched throat and exhausted muscles, both naggingly reminding her that she hadn’t had a drop of water in hours, ached for relief and rest.

To her left, a dim light spilled from what looked like a large, sleek kitchen. The journey home was long, and she needed something to quench her thirst. She hesitated only a moment before making her way towards the kitchen, hoping to find a staff member. But the space was eerily empty and dark.

Feeling a little out of place, Inara hesitated, uncertain whether to search for a glass or quietly leave. 

As she fumbled her way through the kitchen, her back collided with something - someone. 

Startled, her breath caught in her throat as she spun around, only to be pulled into a strong, warm chest with an arm snaking around her.

“Shh, it’s me.” Two calloused fingers from the source of the voice she had been longing to hear, came to gently rest on her lips. An undeniably familiar scent cocooned her, wrapping her in a comforting embrace. 

Aemond watched her as the fear in her eyes gradually faded, leaving her gaze half-closed in relief and surrender. His fingers lingered on her lips, brushing softly as he gently dragged her lower lip before finally pulling them away. She let out a trembling exhale, her pulse still racing. 

“Your father.. He..he had a heart attack wh..while you were..” she stammered, her voice barely above a whisper, the embarrassment creeping into her speech, her cheeks. She glanced down, trying to pull herself free from his grasp. 

But he didn’t let go. 

"I was just... I came for a glass of water," she said, trying to pull away again. Her attempt was half-hearted; his fingers sliding down her arm and leaving a trail of warmth made it all more difficult for her to step away.

Gradually, she relaxed into his touch, her tension ebbing away. Her arms, initially folded in reluctance, began to open. Before she could decide what to do with them, one of her hands came to rest on his bicep while the other found its place near his shoulder.

A satisfying hum rumbled in Aemond’s chest, the sound of which told of the satisfying smile on his lips.

“You’re back,” she murmured, her voice soft and still hesitant. She wasn’t ready to meet his gaze, afraid she might dissolve under the intensity of his proximity, and in heat that seemed to pulse through them both.

Another hum in response, that came out with an exhale on her forehead and a deeper rumble. Her eyes threatened to shut. 

“I… I should go,” she whispered, but her words lacked conviction.

He tilted his head slightly, a faint smirk curling at his lips. “Should you?” His velvety rasp sent an intoxicating shiver down her spine.

Inara’s lips parted, intending to mention her ride waiting outside, but the words faltered. A reluctance gripped her, as if voicing her departure might shatter the fragile, unexpected moment they were sharing.

To her dismay, she felt his arm loosen around her, a subtle withdrawal that hinted he was stepping away. She turned, ready to leave, but his palm flattened against her stomach, halting her movement.

“Wait, come here,” Aemond’s voice brushed against the shell of her ear.

The touch unfurled another wave of pleasant warmth beneath her skin, one that filled the space between her body and her very being. It made her weightless, as if she might float away if not tethered to him. He gently tugged her back, refusing to let her leave, and she drifted, ready to follow wherever he led.

He guided her towards a counter, lifted her with effortless ease and settled her down on a stool. Her startled gasp was met only with a soft, dark chuckle, a sound that sent another jolt of hot desire coursing through her.

He moved to fill a glass with water and she watched him entranced, captivated by the smooth grace he exuded. 

“Here,” he said, extending the glass towards her. As she looked up, her eyes met his violet ones, shimmering behind the subtle brown tint of his glasses.

Inara offered a smile - soft, relieved, and full of unspoken affection. A smile he loved and that made his day. With the sight of her, after weeks, so close and so real, he gathered every ounce of control he had, not to pull her into his arms and claim her lips with his own.

Inara set the empty glass back on the counter, an awkward silence now descending upon them, filling the space with an uncomfortable stillness.

“Your father is stable now,” 

Aemond took a step closer, holding her gaze, the desire to touch her again overwhelming him. He tenderly tucked a loose strand of hair behind her ear, his thumb brushing her cheek as his hand rested lightly on her slender neck. 

“Cole told me everything. Take a day off tomorrow, hmm?”

Inara only nodded, almost reluctant to voice her response and break the beautiful spell that they both seemed to be under. As if she feared disrupting the delicate, dream-like moment between them with her own voice. Her hand, almost instinctively, settled over his, as if to anchor herself in that fleeting, intimate exchange.

“Aemond... I...I was mi..” She began, lost in the haze of their shared connection., but could not finish as the room got flooded with a harsh light, pulling them out of their little bubble.

Aemond’s hand fell away as Inara stood to see who had disrupted their moment.

A woman stood in the doorway, her silver hair gleaming in the light, just as Aemond’s. Her face was an unreadable mask, her eyes betraying little of her thoughts as she took in the scene. She advanced towards them, her gaze briefly touching Aemond with an expression of disapproval before focusing on Inara.

To Inara’s astonishment, the woman, Helaena, extended her arms and enveloped her in an embrace. 

Aemond was taken aback by the  unexpected gesture of his elder sister. Touching someone was a rare behavior for her. 

“Everything will be alright,” Helaena murmured, her voice so low that Inara might not have heard it if not for the closeness of the embrace.

Helaena released her, reverting to her normal voice and gently tugged at Inara's hand, “Come, I’ll see you out.”

Confused and unsure, Inara looked back at Aemond. With a final, lingering glance, she followed Helaena toward the exit, leaving the warmth of his presence behind.

--

@zenka69 @mamawiggers1980

[ficsbyuzi]

Inara is based on a very dear friend of mine who is a neuroscientist but quit academia to be a full time make-up artist :)

My friend inspired me to take a certification course in make-up, and then I taught myself heena art as well! :) but unlike her, I am still stuck in medicine and research 😅

Thank you for reading. This fic is very dear to me ❤️

All the ways lead to you - part 1

Characters: Aemond Targaryen, Inara Maegyr (Original female character) in a Modern HOTD AU

Warnings : FICTIONAL PLOTLINE. Established relationship. Me swooning over Aemond Targaryen and writing this🤭 Inara being a sweet and awesome girl.

Note: This post and that a mutual of mine (@/elegantsplendour) remarked that this fic series has 'Succession' vibes. I wasn't aware of the show when I wrote this last year, and I still haven't watched it. Any resemblance to its plot is purely coincidental. Everything that is going to be re-posted here, comes from my delulu mind.

Inara's thoughts and a little background about her are in italics.

Word count - 1.2k

"You know me, mom, I can't just start working in some random hospital as a junior doctor," Inara spoke to her mother on phone, cradling it between her ear and shoulder as she watered her kitchen plants on a Saturday afternoon, “I am trying to find a job where I can practice both medicine and my art.”

"Where on earth will you find such a job, Inara?" Her mom questioned disapprovingly. "You will soon be a licensed doctor and able to practice medicine. You should start with a clinician job and save up for your MD tuition."

"Let me at least try, Mum. Maybe I can join some makeup manufacturing labs or intern with those big-shot skincare providers."

Inara heard her mom sigh and tut in response to her plans, a reaction she was quite used to by now. Yet, the conviction in her voice didn't falter as she continued, "I will definitely enroll in an MD program. Don't worry.”

As long as Inara could remember, she had always loved makeup. Even as a child, she would rummage through her mom's makeup kits and spend hours in front of the mirror, painting her own face and sometimes her mother's.

Her parents always wished to see her in the white coat of a doctor - a dream she shared with them. Cracking the medical entrance exams straight out of high school was a cakewalk, her sharp intellect paving the way for her.

Despite plenty of medical schools in Essos, the allure of studying abroad was too strong and liberating. The prestige of the renowned Citadel Medical School in Westeros had captured her attention long ago, and securing a seat there felt like destiny fulfilled.

While medical school required her to focus entirely on classes and books, her creative side yearned for exploration. Her love for makeup never faded, and after dedicating half her life to studying, she decided to follow her heart. A heart that always danced between two worlds, two passions, yearning to embrace both simultaneously.

As soon as she adjusted to her new life on a foreign land, she enrolled into a weekend certification course near her medical school. And, thus began her journey towards becoming a rare combination of a licensed medical practitioner and a trained makeup artist.

Days blurred into nights as she balanced the demands of medical studies with the pursuit of her passion.

Six years flew by in a whirlwind of learning and she was now nearing the end of her curriculum. After the sixth and last month of her hospital training and formal graduation, she would be a licensed medical practitioner. Thanks to her dedication to both medicine and makeup, she now stood as a certified makeup artist, with an expertise in skin care and prosthetics.

After freelancing a bridal makeup assignment a couple of months ago, she decided to take a detour from a predictable route towards advanced degrees or clinical positions straight after college. She planned to give herself a year of exploration into other career options before enrolling into an MD in Dermatology. And so she made up her mind on freelancing or finding a job that could extend her stay in Westeros, thereby allowing her to save up for her MD.

"Anyway, you've been so busy with everything else, you haven't even thought about finding someone. You're not getting any younger!" Her mom steered the course of the conversation to the topic she dreaded the most.

Oh boy, here it comes!

The inevitable discussion about her biological clock and society's expectations for single women was about to begin.

"Mom, please, I'm twenty four, not forty four!"

"Yes, and about time you started thinking of settling down!"

Rolling her eyes, Inara let out a sharp sigh.

"I have chores to do, mum. I gotta go," she cut the conversation short, trying her best to hide her rising impatience, “Bye! Love you!”

"Fine, But please think about what I said. Love you. ”

After ending the call, Inara continued staring at her phone's home screen. Smiling faces of her family stared back.

Her mom’s words still lingered in her mind, as she made herself a cup of chamomile tea and settled herself infront of her laptop.

She sipped her tea, smiling and recalling her mom's statement about doing tons of different things at a time. She had always loved to hustle. And, she loved how chimeric her career goals were. It wasn't an easy road, but she was determined to make it work somehow. Career satisfaction had always been her first priority; finding someone to date or marry, wasn't.

Inara's attention snapped back to her laptop screen, her eyes widening as she noticed the fourth and fifth unread emails from the top. Both arrived around the same time from the job search website she had signed up for.

The subject of the first email read:

Requirement of an assistant make-up artist on an upcoming TV Show.

The second one read:

Requirement of a physician / medical officer(s) on a TV production.

Universe works in the strangest of ways. All you have to do is ask.

She quickly opened both emails in separate tabs. They were from the human resources department of a television production house in King’s Landing. A period drama based on mythological history was in pre-production, and the HR team was hiring people on contract basis.

As someone who rarely watched television,or movies, she chuckled at the thought of working on a TV production house. Nevertheless, she decided to give it a try. With a few quick clicks, she accessed the links for both the positions and uploaded her resume. As she crafted cover letters for each position, wishful thoughts surfaced again. She let out another exhilarating chuckle, as a wave of nervous excitement crawled down her spine.

How fun and cool it would be, if I could somehow do both the jobs simultaneously.

-

A week later, as Inara was on her way home from the hospital where she interned, her phone rang. Seeing a number with the King’s Landing code, she gasped.

With her heart alight with anticipation, she answered the call. Clearing her throat, she adopted her sweetest and most professional tone before greeting the caller.

"Hi, Dr. Maegyr, this is Stannis calling from the HR department at Red Keep Productions. We've shortlisted your resume for the opening we posted about. Will you be available for an interview next week?"

"Hello, Mr. Stannis. Sure, I...I will be available!" She tried her best to mask the excitement in her voice. "Uh, I applied for two positions. May I know which one I have been shortlisted for?"

"Dr. Maegyr, your profile is one of the most interesting we've received so far. You have been called to interview for both positions. I can't say with certainty right now if you'll be hired for one or both roles as that will be decided based on your performance in the interviews." She could sense his smile through the phone.

"Thank you," she mouthed, looking up, her amber eyes sparkling with gratitude.

---x----

Part 2

[ficsbyuzi]

i FoUnD yOu

Part -2

Read part 1 here

Characters : Aegon Targaryen, Aemond Targaryen and Alyna Martell (Dornish OFC) in modern Westeros (modern AU)

Warnings: +18, swearing, smoking, violence (kinda)

Word count: 2.7 k

A/N: Flashback is in italics. Motivation struck and wrote this today. Ignore the errors, pretty please?

SEVEN YEARS AGO.

KING’S LANDING UNIVERSITY.

Flanked by his friends Martyn and Leon, Aegon strutted toward the parking lot near the campus main gate, a cigarette dangling from his lips. As usual, they were skipping their classes.

“So, what are you gonna do about it?” asked the blonde-haired Martyn, kicking a stone off their path.

“Look, I don’t care about the business and stuff,” Aegon replied in a casual, carefree tone. “I’d rather roam the world, drink every type of wine they have out there, fuck a woman or two in every country.” He took a long drag from his cigarette, then dropped it on the ground.

“Life’s too short to stay stuck in one place,” he said, shrugging and releasing a plume of smoke into the air.

“Aegon, the dragoncock,” Leon said, bowing theatrically.

The three young men erupted in laughter as Aegon crushed the cigarette under his shoe.

“Yes! Yes! And I’d rather start a band and…”

“OI, TARGARYEN!”

Aegon was interrupted by the booming call of his family name echoing down the corridor.

He turned to see the source of the voice, which sounded more like a challenge for a fight than a call. A rash, cheeky grin played on his lips as Alyna Martell stormed towards him, her nostrils flaring and jaw taut.

He was unsure of the cause of her ire; he only relished the satisfaction of her evident anger. He couldn't help it. Seeing her bothered and frustrated brought him an odd joy. Thanks to the long-standing rivalry between the Martells of Dorne and the Targaryens of King's Landing, which evolved into a giant business feud over time, the resentment between the two families had seeped into their youngest members.

“Alyna! No!” A girl came running after her, trying to stop her from whatever wild thing she was about to do. The smudged mascara around the girl's eyes and her reddened nose, hinted at her recent breakdown. Before she could catch up to her, Alyna had already reached an arm length from Aegon, her stance resembling that of a viper, ready to strike at its prey.

Aegon retreated reflexively, the amusement on his face fading. Only putting that little distance between them didn't help much, when two punches, hard and brutal, landed on his nose.

His cronies of friends froze on their spots. The sudden, unexpected blows disordered the world around him, evoking a ringing sensation in his ears and muffling the sharp scream from the girl, who was trying to stop Alyna.

A shock wave of gasps rippled through the bustling corridor. Everyone froze in their places, their attention redirected to the scene.

Alyna made a bold declaration, pointing a finger at Aegon's face, now contorted in sharp pain, "You think you can toy with anyone and get away with it, you entitled bitch?”

“You fucking bi..aaarrrggghhh..” A painful groan from Aegon's throat interrupted his nasal retort. Martyn tried to peel his hand away from his face, to check the aftermath of his nose, while Leon seemed ready to throw hands with Alyna.

Alyna didnt even budge and stood her ground, chest heaving with rage. She was ready to repeat what she just did to his platinum-haired friend.

The girl now held her arm firmly pushing her away, “Alyna, please no,” she begged, whimpering.

“What's going on?” a sharp coldness laced a new voice that came from behind Alyna.

A mocking, sliding whistle sound came from someone in the crowd.

Alyna hissed, recognising that voice and falling off the high of her rage in an instant. Aemond's voice was a splash of ice cold water on her burning, red hot anger.

“She hit Aegon!” Martyn complained, holding Aegon’s head back to stem the nosebleed. Aemond rolled his eyes in exasperation, sighing deeply. It was yet another consequence of his brother’s reckless behavior.

Alyna turned to face him, but struggled to meet his piercing gaze. Tearing through the uncanny, tongue-tying effect Aemond had on her, she spoke in a cold, lethal voice through gritted teeth, “Tell your brother to stay away from my family.”

With a slight twitch in his eyebrow, Aemond understood what his brother did.

Alyna’s blazing, brown eyes now held Aemond's cold, violet gaze, as if waiting for him to respond, when instead Aegon let out a menacing giggle, flashing his blood-stained teeth, “There are two people involved, you know? Break her nose too,” he jerked his chin brazenly, towards Alyna’s cousin.

“You..” Alyna snarled, turning to face Aegon .

“Alyna? Alyna Martell? Principal Mormont has called you in his office,” a dorky, sophomore announced.

Aegon would have received another blow, already, if it were not for that sophomore appearing on the scene.

If it were not for Aemond, who was invisibly tying her hands with his mere presence.

Alyna’s eyes darted to the boy, and then back to Aemond, her jaw stiff, teeth still grinding in rage.

Aemond’s lips curled up in a subtle, condescending smile. He hummed, walking towards his brother to attend to him.

“This is not over Martell,” Aegon yelled from behind, and Aemond tsked, “Aegon, stop it!”

“No! it's not!” Alyna retorted in a chilly voice, without facing him and dragging her cousin along, as she walked away from the Targaryen brothers, barking- “what?” at the boy who was now gawking at her, eyes popping out in astonishment.

-

In the last hour of sunlight , Alyna was sitting on her study table in her dorm room. Immersing herself in her books was the only way she could take her mind off what had happened in the morning. Her eyes couldn't move past the title of the chapter she was reading - “Election of Archons in Old Valyria'' as she struggled to shake off the humiliation she faced in the principal's office that morning.

The sound of the door lock turning snatched whatever little attention she was paying on her book.

“Girl, why do you keep throwing yourself in the trouble pits?” Doreah, her room mate, asked, entering and tossing the keys in the bowl.

“Please don’t start it all over again!” Alyna sighed, noticing a pretty girl with silver dreadlocks, clad in a deep red tracksuit, standing next to Doreah.

“That's Baela, she is in KLU for a week to collect some samples for her botany project; we were in high school together,” Doreah informed, as Baela extended her hand toward Alyna with a grin.

“Heard you broke my cousin’s nose,” Baela grinned, and Alyna's eyes widened a little, shuffling between the two girls.

“He deserves it,” Baela shrugged, “You can hang them upside down from the top of the building for all I care, I'm not particularly fond of them,” she said, plopping down on a bean bag. Alyna's continued staring at her, mind calculating her next words.

“He knocked up my cousin, and then cheated on her,” Alyna told her, her tone taut.

“And you got suspended for a week for breaking his nose, yup,” Balea smacked her lips, checking her phone, “I know.”

An awkward silence settled over them, broken only by the sound of water being poured into a glass. Doreah’s pleasant voice cut through the quiet. “Frankly, I wouldn’t mind having some harmless fun with the Targaryen brothers.”

Alyna scowled, letting out a disgusted grunt.

“What? They’re hot,” Doreah protested, a hint of defensiveness creeping into her voice as she noticed Alyna’s reaction. She smiled sheepishly at Baela, who rolled her eyes and made a gagging gesture.

“Aegon will be game I'm sure, but Aemond isn’t the type who would just have fun,” Baela said, chuckling, eyes still glued on her phone.

There it was.

That unsought, uninvited feeling in her core, that traveled all the way up to her face, warming her beautiful, gold-toned face. A delicate twinge within her, a discord between the emotions she hoped would surface and those she actually felt - whenever Aemond was around her- whether in person, during conversations with people, or sometimes, even in her thoughts.

Sometimes, certain things, experiences, and people that one encounters in life, elicit both aversion and attraction.

Aemond was one such person, to Alyna.

Everything about him was a confounding experience for her.

She hated the way his humming grated on her nerves, yet stirred something within her.

She resented seeing him in her history classes every day. It irked her how he always knew more than her, how he was always so focussed and well versed in his research.

Yet, she couldn’t help admiring him, his profound knowledge, his exceptional discipline accompanied by an awe inspiring personality. A reluctant respect had begun to take root inside her for him. No wonder half the KLU was mad for him.

Alyna cleared her throat, sniffing and shifting in her seat to turn back to her books.

“Would you like some ice cream? We have chocolate,” she attempted to steer the conversation away from the Targaryen brothers.

“I think my lovely roommate has a crush on your broody cousin,” Doreah blurted, checking her nails.

Alyna whipped her head toward her best friend, her scowl deepening. "What?" she snapped, her voice betraying a hint of squeakiness, “No!"

Baela chuckled at Alyna’s reaction, as if she’d just been caught red-handed in a heist. With a smirk, she got up to retrieve the ice cream from the mini fridge in their dorm's common area. Meanwhile, Alyna continued to glare daggers at Doreah, and her best friend only wiggled her eyebrows playfully, unfazed.

“You both will be perfect for each other, you know?” Baela drawled, waving the spoon at the spic and span appearance of Alyna's side of the dorm, a sharp contrast to the disorder that her roommate’s side was in. The neatly arranged history and philosophy books on the bookshelf above her study table, the flawless arrangement of bonsai plants at the window - the source of natural light for her study table, the pristine white bedding - all screamed of her love for organization and order.

“He is just like you, a neat-freak with horrible temper issues.”

“Yeah, I have been tolerating the pain in the ass that he is for a year now,” Alyna scoffed, rolling her eyes, “And No! I don't have temper issues,” she added, frowning and turning back to her books, neglecting the little butterflies flapping their wings in her stomach.

“He wasn't always so broody and a pain in the ass, you know,” Baela said, as Alyna continued to pretend to focus on her books, donning a mask of indifference.

"Years ago, right after my mom passed away, us cousins got into a silly fight. Aemond, being Aemond, started calling my maternal cousins names. Things quickly escalated, and my cousin Luke ended up pushing him. Aemond fell onto a boulder, and his eye took the brunt of the fall. He was never the same after that," Baela revealed, her face shadowed with somber reflection.

Alyna's gaze had shifted from the page of her book to the ground outside the window, where a few rocks lay scattered. She couldn’t help but imagine how hurtful and devastating it must have been for Aemond to lose an eye at such a tender age.

"Okay, Aemond and Aegon are out of the league," Doreah’s chirpy voice broke the somber silence. "What about the third brother?" She added thoughtfully, as if she were weighing a life-altering decision.

"Eww, Dor, he's like fourteen," Baela scowled.

"He’ll grow," Doreah replied with a shrug, inspecting her manicure. Alyna couldn't tell if she was serious or just putting on a show. She exchanged a glance with Baela, both of them wide-eyed in amused disbelief.

Just then, Alyna’s cell phone rang, slicing through the snorts and giggles that filled the dorm room.

“Wait, shhh..stop..it's my dad from Sunspear…”

The ringing of the phone clanged through the quiet of the parking lot, jolting Alyna back to reality. She blinked, returning her focus to the driver's seat, where she had been lost in thought. Moments earlier, she had parked the cab in the owner's garage, ready to hand it back and close that chapter of her life.

The smile tugging at her lips, a remnant of her mind’s recent revisit to her past, transformed into a full grin, when she saw Doreah’s incoming video call, flashing on the screen.

“Think of the devil,” Alyna gave an ear to ear smile to her best friend.

“Good morning to you too, and here I thought I would meet a bridezilla on my phone's screen!”

“Hmmm, let me just,” Alyna pouted playfully, and snapped her fingers, feigning a magical change of appearance, “Did you pick up the bridesmaid dresses yet?”

Doreah laughed. “Yes, ma’am! I’m picking them up today. Then we’ll head to your salon appointments. Just calling to confirm,” she said in a mock-serious tone, adding a quick salute for effect. Alyna couldn’t help but giggle.

“Where are you?” Doreah asked, looking at her watch.

“Garage. Returning the car.”

“Good riddance,” Doreah drawled.

Alyna only responded in a wry smile; she understood her friend could not fathom how important that job was for her. She was leaving a part of her in that cab. Part that made her free.

And her mind, as if in a bid to shield her from dejection, brought forth the memories long forgotten again, prompting a soft chuckle.

“Guess who I ran into on my night shift!” Her smile now reached her eyes as they twinkled.

“Who?”

“Aegon and Aemond Targaryen,” Alyna grinned and Doreah gasped, eyes widening, ocean blue irises threatening to pop out of their sockets.

“Whaaa..! Omg! You know I recently saw them both on the cover of Westeros BizWorld last week. Gosh I practically drooled,” Doreah fanned herself, “Don't tell me, you have had a bachelorette party already, without your girls,” she teased, sniggering with a usual naughty dance of her eyebrows.

“What? Gosh, you are filthy!” Alyna laughed, facepalming with a shaking head at her friend's thirsting.

“Wow you are really getting married , Alyna! A week later you will be Mrs..”

“Yeah yeah, save that speech for the maid of honor toast,” Alyna interjected, “Now get your ass here by 11, or you are fired,” she feigned a serious tone.

“Oooohh bridezilla!”

“You bet your ass I am one! Meet me in 2 hours.”

Alyna disconnected the call, smiling at her phone's screen, and acknowledging the familiar, warm sensation suffusing through her after years.

But as she picked up her backpack from the back seat, the dazzle of the solitaire on her ring finger dimmed the nostalgic smile on her lips.

She consciously commanded the unwelcome stirrings within her to cease.

Her future awaited her and it had no room for the past.

-

“Take him with you,” Alicent requested of Aemond, placing the cup and saucer on the coffee table. She sat with her son in his luxurious living room, concern etched across her face.

“It’s a work trip, mother, I don’t see how it will help Aegon,” Aemond said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

As always, their mother seemed to expect her responsible son to clean up the mess her eldest child had made.

“It will be a change of scenery for him,” she sighed, “With the ongoing dispute after your father’s death and his breakup with Cassandra...” Aemond’s attention shifted from the floor to his mother as her voice wavered.

“Aemond, he’s stopped using our cars. Only Mother above knows where he goes at night or what he does. I’m so scared for him...” She placed a hand on her throat and began to chew her nails.

Seeing his mother on the brink of a panic attack, Aemond decided to give up.

“I’ll see what I can do, but he’ll have to behave,” his tone still carrying a tinge of reluctance. “I’ll be away on tours according to the schedule, so he’ll be on his own for most of the day.”

Alicent nodded. “I’ll convince him. He listens to me, at least in private. When do you leave?”

“A week from today.”

—-

[ficsbyuzi]

i FoUnD yOu

Part -2

Read part 1 here

Characters : Aegon Targaryen, Aemond Targaryen and Alyna Martell (Dornish OFC) in modern Westeros (modern AU)

Warnings: +18, swearing, smoking, violence (kinda)

Word count: 2.7 k

A/N: Flashback is in italics. Motivation struck and wrote this today. Ignore the errors, pretty please?

SEVEN YEARS AGO.

KING’S LANDING UNIVERSITY.

Flanked by his friends Martyn and Leon, Aegon strutted toward the parking lot near the campus main gate, a cigarette dangling from his lips. As usual, they were skipping their classes.

“So, what are you gonna do about it?” asked the blonde-haired Martyn, kicking a stone off their path.

“Look, I don’t care about the business and stuff,” Aegon replied in a casual, carefree tone. “I’d rather roam the world, drink every type of wine they have out there, fuck a woman or two in every country.” He took a long drag from his cigarette, then dropped it on the ground.

“Life’s too short to stay stuck in one place,” he said, shrugging and releasing a plume of smoke into the air.

“Aegon, the dragoncock,” Leon said, bowing theatrically.

The three young men erupted in laughter as Aegon crushed the cigarette under his shoe.

“Yes! Yes! And I’d rather start a band and…”

“OI, TARGARYEN!”

Aegon was interrupted by the booming call of his family name echoing down the corridor.

He turned to see the source of the voice, which sounded more like a challenge for a fight than a call. A rash, cheeky grin played on his lips as Alyna Martell stormed towards him, her nostrils flaring and jaw taut.

He was unsure of the cause of her ire; he only relished the satisfaction of her evident anger. He couldn't help it. Seeing her bothered and frustrated brought him an odd joy. Thanks to the long-standing rivalry between the Martells of Dorne and the Targaryens of King's Landing, which evolved into a giant business feud over time, the resentment between the two families had seeped into their youngest members.

“Alyna! No!” A girl came running after her, trying to stop her from whatever wild thing she was about to do. The smudged mascara around the girl's eyes and her reddened nose, hinted at her recent breakdown. Before she could catch up to her, Alyna had already reached an arm length from Aegon, her stance resembling that of a viper, ready to strike at its prey.

Aegon retreated reflexively, the amusement on his face fading. Only putting that little distance between them didn't help much, when two punches, hard and brutal, landed on his nose.

His cronies of friends froze on their spots. The sudden, unexpected blows disordered the world around him, evoking a ringing sensation in his ears and muffling the sharp scream from the girl, who was trying to stop Alyna.

A shock wave of gasps rippled through the bustling corridor. Everyone froze in their places, their attention redirected to the scene.

Alyna made a bold declaration, pointing a finger at Aegon's face, now contorted in sharp pain, "You think you can toy with anyone and get away with it, you entitled bitch?”

“You fucking bi..aaarrrggghhh..” A painful groan from Aegon's throat interrupted his nasal retort. Martyn tried to peel his hand away from his face, to check the aftermath of his nose, while Leon seemed ready to throw hands with Alyna.

Alyna didnt even budge and stood her ground, chest heaving with rage. She was ready to repeat what she just did to his platinum-haired friend.

The girl now held her arm firmly pushing her away, “Alyna, please no,” she begged, whimpering.

“What's going on?” a sharp coldness laced a new voice that came from behind Alyna.

A mocking, sliding whistle sound came from someone in the crowd.

Alyna hissed, recognising that voice and falling off the high of her rage in an instant. Aemond's voice was a splash of ice cold water on her burning, red hot anger.

“She hit Aegon!” Martyn complained, holding Aegon’s head back to stem the nosebleed. Aemond rolled his eyes in exasperation, sighing deeply. It was yet another consequence of his brother’s reckless behavior.

Alyna turned to face him, but struggled to meet his piercing gaze. Tearing through the uncanny, tongue-tying effect Aemond had on her, she spoke in a cold, lethal voice through gritted teeth, “Tell your brother to stay away from my family.”

With a slight twitch in his eyebrow, Aemond understood what his brother did.

Alyna’s blazing, brown eyes now held Aemond's cold, violet gaze, as if waiting for him to respond, when instead Aegon let out a menacing giggle, flashing his blood-stained teeth, “There are two people involved, you know? Break her nose too,” he jerked his chin brazenly, towards Alyna’s cousin.

“You..” Alyna snarled, turning to face Aegon .

“Alyna? Alyna Martell? Principal Mormont has called you in his office,” a dorky, sophomore announced.

Aegon would have received another blow, already, if it were not for that sophomore appearing on the scene.

If it were not for Aemond, who was invisibly tying her hands with his mere presence.

Alyna’s eyes darted to the boy, and then back to Aemond, her jaw stiff, teeth still grinding in rage.

Aemond’s lips curled up in a subtle, condescending smile. He hummed, walking towards his brother to attend to him.

“This is not over Martell,” Aegon yelled from behind, and Aemond tsked, “Aegon, stop it!”

“No! it's not!” Alyna retorted in a chilly voice, without facing him and dragging her cousin along, as she walked away from the Targaryen brothers, barking- “what?” at the boy who was now gawking at her, eyes popping out in astonishment.

-

In the last hour of sunlight , Alyna was sitting on her study table in her dorm room. Immersing herself in her books was the only way she could take her mind off what had happened in the morning. Her eyes couldn't move past the title of the chapter she was reading - “Election of Archons in Old Valyria'' as she struggled to shake off the humiliation she faced in the principal's office that morning.

The sound of the door lock turning snatched whatever little attention she was paying on her book.

“Girl, why do you keep throwing yourself in the trouble pits?” Doreah, her room mate, asked, entering and tossing the keys in the bowl.

“Please don’t start it all over again!” Alyna sighed, noticing a pretty girl with silver dreadlocks, clad in a deep red tracksuit, standing next to Doreah.

“That's Baela, she is in KLU for a week to collect some samples for her botany project; we were in high school together,” Doreah informed, as Baela extended her hand toward Alyna with a grin.

“Heard you broke my cousin’s nose,” Baela grinned, and Alyna's eyes widened a little, shuffling between the two girls.

“He deserves it,” Baela shrugged, “You can hang them upside down from the top of the building for all I care, I'm not particularly fond of them,” she said, plopping down on a bean bag. Alyna's continued staring at her, mind calculating her next words.

“He knocked up my cousin, and then cheated on her,” Alyna told her, her tone taut.

“And you got suspended for a week for breaking his nose, yup,” Balea smacked her lips, checking her phone, “I know.”

An awkward silence settled over them, broken only by the sound of water being poured into a glass. Doreah’s pleasant voice cut through the quiet. “Frankly, I wouldn’t mind having some harmless fun with the Targaryen brothers.”

Alyna scowled, letting out a disgusted grunt.

“What? They’re hot,” Doreah protested, a hint of defensiveness creeping into her voice as she noticed Alyna’s reaction. She smiled sheepishly at Baela, who rolled her eyes and made a gagging gesture.

“Aegon will be game I'm sure, but Aemond isn’t the type who would just have fun,” Baela said, chuckling, eyes still glued on her phone.

There it was.

That unsought, uninvited feeling in her core, that traveled all the way up to her face, warming her beautiful, gold-toned face. A delicate twinge within her, a discord between the emotions she hoped would surface and those she actually felt - whenever Aemond was around her- whether in person, during conversations with people, or sometimes, even in her thoughts.

Sometimes, certain things, experiences, and people that one encounters in life, elicit both aversion and attraction.

Aemond was one such person, to Alyna.

Everything about him was a confounding experience for her.

She hated the way his humming grated on her nerves, yet stirred something within her.

She resented seeing him in her history classes every day. It irked her how he always knew more than her, how he was always so focussed and well versed in his research.

Yet, she couldn’t help admiring him, his profound knowledge, his exceptional discipline accompanied by an awe inspiring personality. A reluctant respect had begun to take root inside her for him. No wonder half the KLU was mad for him.

Alyna cleared her throat, sniffing and shifting in her seat to turn back to her books.

“Would you like some ice cream? We have chocolate,” she attempted to steer the conversation away from the Targaryen brothers.

“I think my lovely roommate has a crush on your broody cousin,” Doreah blurted, checking her nails.

Alyna whipped her head toward her best friend, her scowl deepening. "What?" she snapped, her voice betraying a hint of squeakiness, “No!"

Baela chuckled at Alyna’s reaction, as if she’d just been caught red-handed in a heist. With a smirk, she got up to retrieve the ice cream from the mini fridge in their dorm's common area. Meanwhile, Alyna continued to glare daggers at Doreah, and her best friend only wiggled her eyebrows playfully, unfazed.

“You both will be perfect for each other, you know?” Baela drawled, waving the spoon at the spic and span appearance of Alyna's side of the dorm, a sharp contrast to the disorder that her roommate’s side was in. The neatly arranged history and philosophy books on the bookshelf above her study table, the flawless arrangement of bonsai plants at the window - the source of natural light for her study table, the pristine white bedding - all screamed of her love for organization and order.

“He is just like you, a neat-freak with horrible temper issues.”

“Yeah, I have been tolerating the pain in the ass that he is for a year now,” Alyna scoffed, rolling her eyes, “And No! I don't have temper issues,” she added, frowning and turning back to her books, neglecting the little butterflies flapping their wings in her stomach.

“He wasn't always so broody and a pain in the ass, you know,” Baela said, as Alyna continued to pretend to focus on her books, donning a mask of indifference.

"Years ago, right after my mom passed away, us cousins got into a silly fight. Aemond, being Aemond, started calling my maternal cousins names. Things quickly escalated, and my cousin Luke ended up pushing him. Aemond fell onto a boulder, and his eye took the brunt of the fall. He was never the same after that," Baela revealed, her face shadowed with somber reflection.

Alyna's gaze had shifted from the page of her book to the ground outside the window, where a few rocks lay scattered. She couldn’t help but imagine how hurtful and devastating it must have been for Aemond to lose an eye at such a tender age.

"Okay, Aemond and Aegon are out of the league," Doreah’s chirpy voice broke the somber silence. "What about the third brother?" She added thoughtfully, as if she were weighing a life-altering decision.

"Eww, Dor, he's like fourteen," Baela scowled.

"He’ll grow," Doreah replied with a shrug, inspecting her manicure. Alyna couldn't tell if she was serious or just putting on a show. She exchanged a glance with Baela, both of them wide-eyed in amused disbelief.

Just then, Alyna’s cell phone rang, slicing through the snorts and giggles that filled the dorm room.

“Wait, shhh..stop..it's my dad from Sunspear…”

The ringing of the phone clanged through the quiet of the parking lot, jolting Alyna back to reality. She blinked, returning her focus to the driver's seat, where she had been lost in thought. Moments earlier, she had parked the cab in the owner's garage, ready to hand it back and close that chapter of her life.

The smile tugging at her lips, a remnant of her mind’s recent revisit to her past, transformed into a full grin, when she saw Doreah’s incoming video call, flashing on the screen.

“Think of the devil,” Alyna gave an ear to ear smile to her best friend.

“Good morning to you too, and here I thought I would meet a bridezilla on my phone's screen!”

“Hmmm, let me just,” Alyna pouted playfully, and snapped her fingers, feigning a magical change of appearance, “Did you pick up the bridesmaid dresses yet?”

Doreah laughed. “Yes, ma’am! I’m picking them up today. Then we’ll head to your salon appointments. Just calling to confirm,” she said in a mock-serious tone, adding a quick salute for effect. Alyna couldn’t help but giggle.

“Where are you?” Doreah asked, looking at her watch.

“Garage. Returning the car.”

“Good riddance,” Doreah drawled.

Alyna only responded in a wry smile; she understood her friend could not fathom how important that job was for her. She was leaving a part of her in that cab. Part that made her free.

And her mind, as if in a bid to shield her from dejection, brought forth the memories long forgotten again, prompting a soft chuckle.

“Guess who I ran into on my night shift!” Her smile now reached her eyes as they twinkled.

“Who?”

“Aegon and Aemond Targaryen,” Alyna grinned and Doreah gasped, eyes widening, ocean blue irises threatening to pop out of their sockets.

“Whaaa..! Omg! You know I recently saw them both on the cover of Westeros BizWorld last week. Gosh I practically drooled,” Doreah fanned herself, “Don't tell me, you have had a bachelorette party already, without your girls,” she teased, sniggering with a usual naughty dance of her eyebrows.

“What? Gosh, you are filthy!” Alyna laughed, facepalming with a shaking head at her friend's thirsting.

“Wow you are really getting married , Alyna! A week later you will be Mrs..”

“Yeah yeah, save that speech for the maid of honor toast,” Alyna interjected, “Now get your ass here by 11, or you are fired,” she feigned a serious tone.

“Oooohh bridezilla!”

“You bet your ass I am one! Meet me in 2 hours.”

Alyna disconnected the call, smiling at her phone's screen, and acknowledging the familiar, warm sensation suffusing through her after years.

But as she picked up her backpack from the back seat, the dazzle of the solitaire on her ring finger dimmed the nostalgic smile on her lips.

She consciously commanded the unwelcome stirrings within her to cease.

Her future awaited her and it had no room for the past.

-

“Take him with you,” Alicent requested of Aemond, placing the cup and saucer on the coffee table. She sat with her son in his luxurious living room, concern etched across her face.

“It’s a work trip, mother, I don’t see how it will help Aegon,” Aemond said, pinching the bridge of his nose.

As always, their mother seemed to expect her responsible son to clean up the mess her eldest child had made.

“It will be a change of scenery for him,” she sighed, “With the ongoing dispute after your father’s death and his breakup with Cassandra...” Aemond’s attention shifted from the floor to his mother as her voice wavered.

“Aemond, he’s stopped using our cars. Only Mother above knows where he goes at night or what he does. I’m so scared for him...” She placed a hand on her throat and began to chew her nails.

Seeing his mother on the brink of a panic attack, Aemond decided to give up.

“I’ll see what I can do, but he’ll have to behave,” his tone still carrying a tinge of reluctance. “I’ll be away on tours according to the schedule, so he’ll be on his own for most of the day.”

Alicent nodded. “I’ll convince him. He listens to me, at least in private. When do you leave?”

“A week from today.”

—-

[ficsbyuzi]

i fOuNd YoU

Part - 1

Characters: Aegon, Aemond and Alyna Martell (Dornish OFC) in Modern Westeros (Modern AU)

Words: 3.2k

Warnings: +18, drinking, swearing, some groping and touching, Aegon being Aegon, Aemond is all 🙄 here.

My darling Zae @ladystarksneedle beta read this when I first posted this on my previous account. I miss you Zae :(

A/N -

can't believe I wrote this in October last year. I hope I find enough motivation and time to continue writing this series until the end

I imagine Katrina Kaif as Alyna Martell in my head

The leaves of the deciduous trees flanking an urban avenue whirled sporadically, in the eddies of a pleasant zephyr. A soothing, mellow petrichor celebrated the inaugural shower of the season by infusing the atmosphere with a sweet freshness. Dense clouds masked the dusk sun, ushering in the darkness earlier than its usual hour.

 A few pedestrians strolled past a row of posh apartments in one such affluent neighborhood in the heart of the King's Landing city, savoring the serenity of the agreeable evening. They startled upon hearing an enraged female voice that pierced through the damp air; its shrillness, a stark contrast to the large sophisticated French window it was coming from.

Their gazes were momentarily drawn to the source of the commotion, and as they continued walking along their path, they spotted a man beside that window, shutting its panes.

"You forgot our anniversary dinner, Aegon! I had invited my parents and you didn't even show up!"

Her raised voice remained within the walls this time, the words reaching Aegon's ears with full momentum and though he could hear his girlfriend's tirade, his dissociated mind was barely registering it.

Responding to her always seemed futile to him, his words ruined whatever he wished to convey, anyway. Why bother?

He sank on the nearest couch, wishing her to shut up and let him sit and silently revel in his solitude, in the shadows, resembling the ones that lurked beneath his eyes, telling the tales of all the sleepless nights he spent.

Drowning himself and his poignant thoughts in his cups was the only respite he sought; escaping situations came easier to him than facing them.

 Why socialize, am I not trying hard already? To be a good boyfriend? 

Over time, he had become rather comfortable in keeping his burdens unspoken and unshared, staying unaffected by the strain of despondence they cast on his countenance.

Fine lines  marred his pallid face displaying an accelerated aging, as if he were experiencing life at a pace twice as fast as everyone around him.

His eyes, twin iridescent violet orbs, rivaled the regality of precious amethysts. Yet those very eyes, devoid of color that a fulfilling life imbues, exuded impoverishment.

She loved his hair, an amalgamation of gold and silver, the conspicuous emblem of his royal Targaryen heritage, but hated how he usually left it unkempt and greasy - resembling that of a destitute person, truly unbefitting a descendant of a powerful, ancient bloodline.

"I was sitting there and dying of embarrassment!" Cassey shouted. 

Embarrassment. The word broke into his brain.

 I am Embarrassment in flesh and blood, a living and breathing Embarrassment. 

“I changed for you, made every effort to be with you..I even fought with my family to live with you, but you are hell-bent on spending your life like a wastrel.”

Wastrel. A faint, lopsided smile graced his face.

"Are you even listening to me?" 

Has she spoken to Aemond recently?

His eyes narrowed instinctively, eyebrows knitting together as he imagined a scenario in his mind, amusing yet almost impossible- Aemond speaking to Cassey, addressing him as a ‘wastrel.’

He pursed his lips before the faint smile ghosting his lips turned into a full blown smirk. However the slight glint to his eyes gave him away, their amethyst now hued with twilight. 

"AEGON!"

He shifted his weary attention from the street to the living room and saw Cassey storming towards the bedroom.

Her enraged gait stirred his awareness, and he instantly knew that her fury was going to find a sorry target, entirely unrelated to the reason of their quarrel.

 "No, no, not the TV! Please, Cassey! Cassandra! Nooooo!!" 

A loud, shattering thud followed his pleading scream, as his large LED TV screen plummeted to the floor. His beloved PS5 console hung precariously by its cords, mirroring the fragile bond they both shared, on the brink of snapping completely.

"Are you out of your fucking mind, this was on instalments!" 

Aegon could have afforded thousands of such televisions, even better ones, but he had grown accustomed to that particular one, its easy availability being its primary boon. His attachment to it mirrored his relationship with Cassandra Baratheon - a convenient choice, yet not one his heart truly desired.

He was a man accustomed to indulgence and boundless options available to him at his beck and call, but when he met Cassey, he believed, albeit half-heartedly, that he could finally find contentment.

However, just like his spoken words, his convictions ultimately betrayed him too. 

Words like 'commitment', 'promise' never really found their way into becoming a part of his mental lexicon.

"The instalments I pay, Aegon Targaryen, unwilling heir to the Iron Throne industries!" The mocking cadence of her voice masked every bit of frustration within her.

Her ridiculing statement touched his Achilles' heel. His features hardened, shoulders tensed; his gaze shifted from her to the wrecked television set and his PS5 console. He wanted to save it from crashing to the floor, but was skeptical of getting an electric shock or being pierced by the broken pieces of the flat screen.

“Get out! Get out of my house and my life! I don't fucking need you. It's over!" She yelled and flopped down onto the bed, burying her head in her palms.

It's over. 

Over.

Why did the word not have the desired effect on him?

It should have evoked at least something in him - anguish, frustration, disappointment, regret.

Any emotion.

He tried tapping inwards, nudging his brain, but the answer didn’t even flicker.

A tumbleweed rolled off on the desolate, barren landscape of his consciousness. 

And that's when he realized it was truly over. 

As he was on his way out, his PS5 console fell onto the floor with a resounding thud. A fleeting sadness seeped into the impenetrable vacuum inside him, surprising him. 

He finally felt something.

-

The break-up gave him the final shove, toppling him over the fence he stood on for months, as he landed right on to the side where his past awaited him.

The past that he had been trying so hard to snap out of, yet failing miserably. 

Thus began his series of trips to the strip clubs, with all the relentless bar hopping, and reckless one night stands with random women.

-

"Yeah I would like that," an attractive woman in a skimpy, crimson dress murmured, giggling and facing him as he whispered something dirty in her ear to which she readily agreed. Chuckling at  her response, he grabbed the swell of her bottom. Spanking her lightly, he wrapped his arm around her, pulling her into a kiss.

The summer warmth was adding to the exuberance of the bustling Street of Silk, the part of the city that never slept- perpetually aglow with a kaleidoscope of neon signs and strobe lights slicing through the dark. They stood inebriated, on a pavement outside one of the nightclubs, waiting for a cab, lips locked and arms snaking each other. The low, thumping sound of electronic dance music playing inside got louder momentarily, when a group of people came out of the door, chattering and howling.

"I can't believe a Targaryen doesn't have a car!" the woman stuttered, pulling away and noticing some of her Ruby woo now smeared on his lips.

"Of course I have a car!" he slurred in his low, husky voice, rolling his eyes playfully. Emphasizing on the last word, he reiterated its plural form,"cars-" he grinned- "but I like to roam around freely, you know..don't like to drive or bother my driver at three in the morning when I can pay for an Uber." He shrugged and pulled her closer again by her waist, burying his face in her blonde hair.

That was partly true; he did dislike driving; neither did he want to get caught drunk-driving, but his main concern was their family drivers reporting his whereabouts to his mother or worse- tipping her off about his late night shenanigans. The GPS monitors of the cabs driven by unknown faces were far safer.

The things he intended to do with her at her apartment, began right in the cab itself. They were trying to mask their sultry escapade and hushed moans with intermittent, non-erotic chatter, all while his hand glided over her body, playing and squeezing wherever he desired. In the heat of the moment, as his lips fanned the skin of her neck, he groaned her name in response to one of her needy moans.

Her body tensed instantaneously.

"What the fuck did you just call me?" Her voice snapped like a whip as she pushed him away.

"What happened?' Aegon asked her, utterly confused. This was an uncharted territory for him; he had always assumed women appreciated hearing their names when touched.

"My name is Dyana!" 

His eyebrows knitted together; he was not certain of the name that slipped out of his lips in the throes of the fervent moment.

“Yeah, that's what I said.."

"No, you called me Lia!"

He chuckled sheepishly in a futile attempt to distract her, trying to downplay his drunken blunder. "Well both of them end with the same letter," he said as he leaned in to kiss her, not noticing her eyes narrowing in exasperation.

Irritated, she backed away from him and shoved him forcefully.

"Stop the car," she told the driver firmly.

"wha..why?" Aegon asked, all muddled and exasperated.

She stormed out of the cab, while Aegon pleaded and called out after her from the partially rolled down window, "Lia!, I mean Cassey!" he flinched and swore, "Dyana, hey! please don't leave, come back baby!" 

Dyana’s hand flew in the air in an obscene hand gesture, as she kept walking away from the car. 

He dropped back on the seat, blowing out a deep breath. A headache had begun to encroach on his senses, augmenting the dizziness caused by all the booze in his system.

His fingers combed through his hair and trailed down to pinch the bridge of his nose as he tried to stave off the pulsating headache and the discomfort of having been blown off. He tutted in helplessness at his inability to alleviate the throbbing sensation below, in his jeans. 

Realising that the destination was set to Dyana's place and not his,an exasperated mumble left him, "What's in a fucking name?"

"That's the most beautiful sound to a human being."

A sweet female voice laced with confidence, answered him straight from the driver's seat.

"Uh..I am sorry?" The voice completely caught him by surprise.

“That, you should have said to Dyana,” The driver said, turning in her seat and smiling at him.

“You are a girl? Driving an Uber? This late?” 

“I am a person-” she scoffed, rolling her eyes at his surprise, “- a four-limbed creature isn't driving this cab in case you are wondering.” Turning her focus back to the road, she asked, “Where do you want to go, now that you are not invited at Dyana’s anymore? Or do you want to end the ride, Targaryen?” 

“Do I know you?” He asked, growing increasingly bewildered with each passing moment.

She tittered, shaking her head subtly and said, “You Valyrians come into this world having won a genetic lottery and then expect people not to recognise you-” she gestured at her own head and went on- “hair.”

It wasn't just that; the way she said “Targaryen'' sounded oddly familiar to him.

Her face, though not fully discernible in the low illumination, held a glimmer of recognition.

A part of him believed that he knew her, but he also didn't not wish to believe his stupid, befuddled mind which had misidentified a woman just moments ago.

“The gas is on,” she reminded him, her tone now tinged with impatience.

Aegon shut his eyes, sighing and dropping his head back on the seat.

He weighed his options and contemplated going home but didn't wish to be roused early on a Sunday by his mother, for their weekly visit to the Sept. The alternative was equally uninviting, but he could at least sleep in late there.

“Where are we right now?” He asked, blinking hard to clear the visual daze, peering out of the car window and trying to recognise the spot.

“Rose road.” 

“Take a U-turn and head to Southern Street, near Blackwater Bay.”

-

This painting needs to be realigned.

"And then Ellyn suggested that I should check out the Dior store once before giving up my search.." a thin, excited voice coming from the phone told Aemond and he hummed in response.

It isn't in symmetry with the lamp lights above. 

"..and she was right! I found the pair of shoes I needed to match my dress, the colour is the exact nude pink I was looking for, Pantone rose cloud..although they are sling backs and I wanted pumps.."

I should take Helaena to that insectarium she has been asking me to visit with her.

It was one of the rare occasions, in fact, the only time when Aemond's typically unwavering attention dared to wander off - the time when his girlfriend Floris Baratheon called.

The only instance, when his razor-sharp focus and attention to detail- remarkably astute for one functional eye, would surrender to an intense bout of distraction

Of late, he had been seeking ways to elude her calls during the day, by staying engrossed in his work as he juggled writing his PhD thesis and a travel guidebook, all while maintaining his late father’s cherished travel and tour company- Valyrian Voyages.

Floris was aware that he usually woke up before the sun, prompting her to call, which forced him to begin his day with the conversations he was utterly disinterested in.

They had been dating for almost six months; they were introduced to each other by her elder sister, Cassey, at a family dinner.

Even though Cassey and Aegon had split up a couple of weeks ago, Aemond and Floris remained together; they purposefully avoided discussions about their breakup, unwilling to address the elephant in the room. Aemond often contemplated if Cassey bore any behavioral similarities with Floris, and if she did, then Aegon deserved commendation for sustaining the relationship for a year.

"..I will miss you Aemond, I wish I could come along..”

His attention snapped back to the yearning in her voice when he heard his name.

"It's only a matter of two weeks, Floris. It's more of an excursion than a business trip, you will get bored." 

Floris Bartheon, a recent graduate from a top business school in Westeros, was a decent, comely woman of twenty-three, hailing from a family that matched the status of his own.

 But what had initially drawn him to her was now driving him up the wall. They were poles apart, and the gap between them seemed to widen with each passing day.

Lately, he had begun to wonder whether time truly mattered when it came to forging genuine, heartfelt connections with a person.

-

The cab came to a stop in front of a two-storeyed, effortlessly luxurious house on Southern Street that eventually wound its way down to the riviera of the city. The rosy hues of the early dawn were beginning to break through the lingering grays of the night. The distant squawking of seagulls reached Aegon's ears as he was roused from his sloshed stupor.

“Rise and shine,” the driver announced, “Your fare comes to fifteen westerbills and twenty cents. I prefer cash."

“Huh? Oh yeah..sure..” Aegon mumbled, struggling to open his eyes wide and shake off the last vestiges of the nap, “Umm, I don't carry cash, could you wait, I will go and get some from my brother.”

She peered outside her window, a smile dancing on her lips as she realised where she parked her cab

“This your brother’s place?” She inquired, as her eyes dreamily trailed from the balcony adorned with swaying ferns, to the sleek oakwood entrance.

“Yeah.”

Suits him. She thought, admiring the sophisticated design of the flat-roofed, box-shaped building, painted in the shades of earthy grays. The house perfectly matched Aemond's placid yet debonair personality.

“Just give me a minute and I will be right back,” Aegon said, undoing his seat belts and unlocking the car door.

“That’s ok, the ride's on the house,” she responded and shrugged, “You are my last passenger, I am quitting this job.” 

“Last passenger? No, no, I will pay you, you have been working late, you deserve your payment.” Aegon protested, yawning and rubbing his eyes, “Please wait.” He stepped out of the car and began walking towards the front door. 

“That’s ok Targaryen,” She called after him when he reached the front door and rang the doorbell.

“Really, I mean it, the ride's on me.” She was unable to contain her smiles that now seeped into the tone of her voice.

Targaryen

Her accent tugged at his memories again - her drawl, the lilt in her voice, the distinctive roll of her 'Rs.'

He pivoted at his spot to see her; earlier in the dim light and now with the distance between them, he still couldn't see her clearly. Trying to piece together his disintegrated memory, he waited for his brother. 

He definitely knew her.

-

Aemond glanced at his wristband - 4:45 am, and mentally thanked his milkman for coming half an hour earlier today.

“I will call you later Floris, there is someone at the door.” He disconnected the call hastily. 

Good riddance

Aemond was more surprised to see Aegon awake that early, than his unexpected arrival at his doorstep; it took him seconds to connect the dots and he sighed, rolling his eye at Aegon.

“Best brother in the whole world! I knew you would be awake.” Aegon grinned as Aemond scowled at him.

“Did you jump into a barrel of booze? Weren’t the glasses enough?” Aemond turned to go back inside, leaving the door open.

Ignoring his brother's usual taunts, he said, "I need some cash, gotta pay the driver.” 

Aemond paused and noticed the cab parked in front of the porch on Aegon’s mention.

His gaze shifted to the woman sitting inside - a Cheshire cat grin on her face, arm resting on the driver’s seat window, chin cradling in her hand as she observed both of them.

His good eye widened in astonishment, and an amused, subtle smile crept across his lips. He arched an eyebrow, acknowledging her with a slight, knowing nod.

“That’s the cab you came in?” He asked Aegon, jerking his chin to point at the car, as he saw her shift to face the steering wheel.

She turned the keys and the cranking sound of the engine firing to ignition reverberated through the tranquil atmosphere of the street.

“Yeah, she asked me not to pay but..hey, wait!” Aegon shouted after her as she drove away, “Take your money!” He yelled, but it was too late.

“Weird girl.” Aegon tutted, facing Aemond whose gaze stayed on the car until it disappeared with the first turn of the road, lips quirked up in a subdued, nostalgic smile and mind flipping through the pages of the past.

"How in the seven hells did you end up in an Uber with Alyna Martell at the wheel?" 

-x-

Part 2

[ficsbyuzi]

All the ways lead to you - part 6

Characters - Aemond Targaryen and Inara Maegyr (OFC) in a modern AU.

word count - 2330

warnings - +18, fluff, pining, implied sexual activity

A/N- I love Alys Rivers.

part 5

Eight months ago

“Is the traffic always this bad in Old Town?”

Aemond asked his younger brother Daeron, sitting next to him, engrossed in his phone, scrolling mindlessly through social media, oblivious to the world outside the tinted windows of their sleek black car. 

Aemond tapped his fingers against this knee, his frustration mounting with each passing second.

“Mm hmm..” Daeron hummed in response, “Told you it will take us at least 3 hours to reach the airport.”

“I have a meeting in the morning tomorrow, I should have..”

“..stayed back in King’s Landing and let Aegon attend here,” Daeron shrugged, unaffected by his elder brother’s exasperation. 

Aemond sighed and glanced out of his window, trying to distract himself from the standstill. There was no point in explaining that he was only stepping in for Aegon because he had drunk himself to sleep in a brothel and missed his flight.

That's when he saw her.

Two women were sitting in the back of a nearby cab. One of them was focusing intently on something outside her window. Her back faced him, her long dark hair was neatly pulled back. 

Aemond turned his gaze back to the road ahead.

 It was just some woman, stuck in traffic like him.

But as the minutes crawled by, Aemond's impatience grew. He let out another sigh, his fingers now tapping faster. Finally, he shifted to take out his own phone from his suit jacket. But then, from the corner of his eye, he caught a movement that drew his attention back to the cab that stood adjacent to his car. 

The dark-haired woman, wearing teal blue doctor’s scrubs, was now stepping out of her cab. Aemond watched her as she crossed the road moving quickly and purposefully, navigating through the halted cars. Curiously, he craned his neck slightly to keep her in his view. 

She made her way toward a large building across the road with a towering iron gate. A group of school children on crutches stood outside, looking upset. A few elders standing with the children,  probably their teachers, were caught in a seemingly urgent discussion. The woman approached them, spoke briefly with the elders, then glanced around as if assessing the situation. Aemond squinted, trying to make sense of it all. 

“What’s that building? A museum?”

At his brother’s question, Daeron looked up from his phone following Aemond’s gaze.

“That? Yeah, it's a museum,” he replied casually, “Don’t tell me you’re planning to go in and check out history stuff or something. We’re already late.” He chuckled and went back to scrolling.

“No..I..was only asking..” Aemond trailed off, eyes still on her. 

Suddenly, she headed toward the large gate and began to drag it close with effort. Aemond watched in confusion as she beckoned the children, encouraging them to step onto the column of the gate and hold onto it for support. 

It took him a moment to understand, but when he noticed that the ground at the entrance had a cattle guard with rolling iron bars fitted in it, the situation clicked to him. The children on their crutches couldn't cross it without risking a fall.

The woman now dragged the gate open as the children clung to it, carefully guiding each child across the cattle guard and holding their crutches in her arm. One by one, the children made it across, giggling at her as she smiled at them.

“Hey, don’t roll the window down! What if someone sees you? You’ll make the traffic worse!”

But Aemond ignored his brother, feeling a strange, urgent need to see her clearly. The noise of the traffic rushed in, along with the faint sound of a child’s laughter. He saw one of the children, now safely inside the premises, hugging the woman tightly. She hugged him back, her expression soft and relieved.

He watched her, mesmerized, completely forgetting about the annoying traffic situation. A faint smile ghosted across his lips.

“Inara! Inara! We’re getting late, come on!” a voice called out, snapping Aemond’s attention and pulling it to the other woman in scrubs standing by the cab, waving impatiently. A colleague or a friend, most likely.

The woman turned toward the voice, still smiling, nodded at her. She gave the children a final wave before making her way back across the road.

He watched her coming back to her cab, unable to tear his gaze away from her face that glowed in the remnants of what she had just experienced. A warm admiration began to seep into the cracks of his dry heart. He couldn’t remember ever witnessing such selflessness, especially from a stranger to another.

The engine of his car rumbled to life, and the honking from surrounding vehicles broke the spell on him. 

As the traffic began to clear, their driver slowly edged the car forward, but Aemond's gaze remained fixed on her. He watched as she spoke to her friend, gave a playful shrug, and then slipped back into the cab, vanishing from his sight.

In just a few moments, she touched him deeply. Her face, though not fully clear from a distance, was etched into his memory, along with the wholesomeness she radiated.

An unlikely, tiny hope stirred within him - one that made him shake his head in amused disbelief. A quiet wish that the universe might find a way to cross his paths with hers. Again.

-

"I heard you were playing a knight in shining armor on the sets recently, gallantly rescuing a damsel in distress from a faraway foreign land," Aegon teased Aemond, drawing out the 'a' in 'far' for the dramatic effect.

Aemond’s attention shifted to Aegon from Daeron, who was sitting across the table, ignoring his plate of food and burying his silver-haired head in his phone. 

He responded to Aegon’s taunt with a piercing glare.

 The Sunday brunch at their family home was about to be ruined.

“How about coming to the production and doing some actual work, instead of sending Larys to lurk around and feed you irrelevant, unimportant stuff?” he spat back.

“Nope, not Larys,” Aegon said with a smirk. “If you want to be discreet about someone you like, then don’t fire the person who hurt her right away. That will only raise more suspicion, brother!” He giggled, fiddling with his food.

“Somebody’s undeniably smitten,” Daeron chimed in, unable to resist teasing his elder brother. Alicent shot a disapproving glare at her youngest son.

“Sorry,” Daeron murmured, lowering his gaze to his plate. Aegon chuckled again.

“She is beautiful,” Helaena cooed, her dreamy eyes fixed on something in the room. Startled by her comment, Aemond turned his attention to his sister.

“You know what?” Aegon smacked his lips and continued his playful banter. “I’m quite happy for you, now that you’re finally showing interest in women your own age.” Pointing his fork at Aemond, he addressed Alicent, “You see, Mother, I always thought he was only interested in history and philosophy, but he seems to have a taste for medicine as well.”

Snickering, he turned to Aemond, whose eyes now reflected a mix of annoyance and indifference. “Speaking of ancient things, how’s Alys?”

Daeron snorted so forcefully that the orange juice he was drinking shot out of his nostrils.

“Aegon! That’s enough!” Alicent yelled at her firstborn, her tone softening in the next moment as she added, “Aemond, please don't… stay…”

But Aemond was already picking up his jacket and car keys to leave. “I’ll see you all later.” He kissed Helaena on the head before heading to the exit.

“Say hi to Sylvi for me; it’s been a while,” Aegon called out with a grin as he watched his seething brother leave the room.

“You love doing this, don’t you? Ruining family time, always teasing him? When will you grow up, Aegon?” Alicent shouted at her son, who merely flinched and shrugged lazily.

“But he really is smitten,” Helaena drawled, stretching her arms lazily and drawing her mother’s attention away from Aegon.

 Aegon glanced at Daeron, struggling to hold back a smirk.

-

As Aemond drove back to his place, thoughts of his scandalous affair with Alys swirled around him like a whirlwind. No matter how much time passed, the topic would resurface. Today, Aegon, with his own questionable life choices, had the audacity to bring it up. Pot calling the kettle black.

Beautiful and mysterious Alys Rivers had entered Aemond's life six years ago. He had just started taking on roles as an actor and had ambitious plans to start his own production company. 

She was in her thirties and hailed from the Riverlands. After receiving a substantial alimony settlement following her divorce, she agreed to invest in his venture.

 Their professional relationship took an unexpected romantic turn one night when, on their way back to their hotel after a meeting, she grabbed him by the collar and kissed him. In that vulnerable moment, Aemond succumbed to her allure and gave in to their shared intimacy.

However, it soon became apparent that their connection lacked depth and genuineness. He could not cope with Alys’s disregard for emotional attachment.

“What is it that you want from me? Aren’t you happy that I’m fucking you? Stop being a whiny baby! Just be a good boy and enjoy it.” She tapped his face with light slaps, curling her lips in the intoxicating way he once fell for. She shifted to give him a peck, but he turned his face away.

That was the final breaking point for Aemond. He realized it was a grave mistake to expect love from a woman who had none to offer. But he was only twenty-one at the time and did not know any better.

Unfortunately, Aemond's production company faced significant financial losses as its initial movie projects flopped, forcing him to shut it down after two years of struggle. It was then that his father, offering his support, came to his rescue. Aemond wholeheartedly immersed himself in the operations of Red Keep Productions, devoting himself to his acting projects and the company's success.

He never officially ended things with Alys; their relationship was non-committal and toxic, built on fleeting desires. Instead, he resorted to slowly distancing himself from her, dodging her calls to avoid any unnecessary confrontation.

Aemond paid off all the financial debts he owed Alys, but she remained a festering wound in his life. She would resurface occasionally, either in person or as a topic of discussion during family gatherings, reminding him of the unresolved issues between them.

He gradually recovered from his dire straits, but resolved to guard himself against any potential romantic entanglements or business scandals. 

Having experienced both personal and professional failures early in life, he humbled himself. He began reading history and philosophy, immersing himself in literature to prepare for his acting roles. He started enjoying life on his own terms, with only a few people he loved and trusted—those he allowed into the tight circle he drew around himself. A few of them being Sylvi and his assistant, Criston Cole.

As his stardom soared to new heights, he paradoxically endeavored to keep a low profile and maintain an elusive persona. He evaded paparazzi and declined invitations for public appearances, except for the absolutely necessary and unavoidable events.

 Fans, particularly female fans worldwide, yearned for even the slightest glimpse of him or a fragment of information from his life.

Aemond Targaryen was a star. He could have any woman in the world, and she would be on her knees for him.

But he had begun to care and yearn for someone who had captured his heart in ways he didn’t think were possible.

Inara

Inara, who emanated wholesomeness and possessed a heart free of malice. 

Inara, whose face would light up with a radiant smile whenever she looked at him. 

He was keenly aware of how her cheeks always flushed a beautiful shade of pink whenever she spoke to him.

And the way her breath hitched , the way her eyelids fluttered when he had her backed against the counter the other day in the trailer, did not let him sleep that night. The proximity drove him mad. He exercised every bit of self-control to resist the urge to kiss her then, and he did so again when she got hurt a day before.

He wanted to pummel that extra actor into the ground, the one who threw the prop weapon at her and didn’t even bother to apologize later.

 But the ever-stoic and composed Aemond restrained himself. He had already shown more emotion than he intended, and it was enough to be noticed by people on the set.

He didn't want the prying eyes of tabloids on her or paparazzi to hound her just because of a moment of lapse in his judgment.

He didn’t wish to taint her with the complexities of the life he had chosen to live.

He did not wish to scare her away from his life, not when he was aware that she felt something for him too. The way her pulse had raced when he grabbed her wrist confirmed that she, too, possessed a fondness for him, even if she couldn’t yet articulate it. 

And he guessed that she might never say anything at all.

Aemond was mindful of the possibility that she might choose to return to her country and her family once her job contract concluded.

For now, he had begun to find contentment in the friendship he had started to forge with her.

He wished to know her better.

He wished to be more to her.

But his past haunted him, and his present threatened to jeopardize his future. She did not deserve to be dragged into the mess of his life.

If only he could give her the life she deserved.

-x-

Taglist: @zenka69 @mamawiggers1980

[ficsbyuzi]

All the ways lead to you - part 6

Characters - Aemond Targaryen and Inara Maegyr (OFC) in a modern AU.

word count - 2330

warnings - +18, fluff, pining, implied sexual activity

A/N- I love Alys Rivers.

part 5

Eight months ago

“Is the traffic always this bad in Old Town?”

Aemond asked his younger brother Daeron, sitting next to him, engrossed in his phone, scrolling mindlessly through social media, oblivious to the world outside the tinted windows of their sleek black car. 

Aemond tapped his fingers against this knee, his frustration mounting with each passing second.

“Mm hmm..” Daeron hummed in response, “Told you it will take us at least 3 hours to reach the airport.”

“I have a meeting in the morning tomorrow, I should have..”

“..stayed back in King’s Landing and let Aegon attend here,” Daeron shrugged, unaffected by his elder brother’s exasperation. 

Aemond sighed and glanced out of his window, trying to distract himself from the standstill. There was no point in explaining that he was only stepping in for Aegon because he had drunk himself to sleep in a brothel and missed his flight.

That's when he saw her.

Two women were sitting in the back of a nearby cab. One of them was focusing intently on something outside her window. Her back faced him, her long dark hair was neatly pulled back. 

Aemond turned his gaze back to the road ahead.

 It was just some woman, stuck in traffic like him.

But as the minutes crawled by, Aemond's impatience grew. He let out another sigh, his fingers now tapping faster. Finally, he shifted to take out his own phone from his suit jacket. But then, from the corner of his eye, he caught a movement that drew his attention back to the cab that stood adjacent to his car. 

The dark-haired woman, wearing teal blue doctor’s scrubs, was now stepping out of her cab. Aemond watched her as she crossed the road moving quickly and purposefully, navigating through the halted cars. Curiously, he craned his neck slightly to keep her in his view. 

She made her way toward a large building across the road with a towering iron gate. A group of school children on crutches stood outside, looking upset. A few elders standing with the children,  probably their teachers, were caught in a seemingly urgent discussion. The woman approached them, spoke briefly with the elders, then glanced around as if assessing the situation. Aemond squinted, trying to make sense of it all. 

“What’s that building? A museum?”

At his brother’s question, Daeron looked up from his phone following Aemond’s gaze.

“That? Yeah, it's a museum,” he replied casually, “Don’t tell me you’re planning to go in and check out history stuff or something. We’re already late.” He chuckled and went back to scrolling.

“No..I..was only asking..” Aemond trailed off, eyes still on her. 

Suddenly, she headed toward the large gate and began to drag it close with effort. Aemond watched in confusion as she beckoned the children, encouraging them to step onto the column of the gate and hold onto it for support. 

It took him a moment to understand, but when he noticed that the ground at the entrance had a cattle guard with rolling iron bars fitted in it, the situation clicked to him. The children on their crutches couldn't cross it without risking a fall.

The woman now dragged the gate open as the children clung to it, carefully guiding each child across the cattle guard and holding their crutches in her arm. One by one, the children made it across, giggling at her as she smiled at them.

“Hey, don’t roll the window down! What if someone sees you? You’ll make the traffic worse!”

But Aemond ignored his brother, feeling a strange, urgent need to see her clearly. The noise of the traffic rushed in, along with the faint sound of a child’s laughter. He saw one of the children, now safely inside the premises, hugging the woman tightly. She hugged him back, her expression soft and relieved.

He watched her, mesmerized, completely forgetting about the annoying traffic situation. A faint smile ghosted across his lips.

“Inara! Inara! We’re getting late, come on!” a voice called out, snapping Aemond’s attention and pulling it to the other woman in scrubs standing by the cab, waving impatiently. A colleague or a friend, most likely.

The woman turned toward the voice, still smiling, nodded at her. She gave the children a final wave before making her way back across the road.

He watched her coming back to her cab, unable to tear his gaze away from her face that glowed in the remnants of what she had just experienced. A warm admiration began to seep into the cracks of his dry heart. He couldn’t remember ever witnessing such selflessness, especially from a stranger to another.

The engine of his car rumbled to life, and the honking from surrounding vehicles broke the spell on him. 

As the traffic began to clear, their driver slowly edged the car forward, but Aemond's gaze remained fixed on her. He watched as she spoke to her friend, gave a playful shrug, and then slipped back into the cab, vanishing from his sight.

In just a few moments, she touched him deeply. Her face, though not fully clear from a distance, was etched into his memory, along with the wholesomeness she radiated.

An unlikely, tiny hope stirred within him - one that made him shake his head in amused disbelief. A quiet wish that the universe might find a way to cross his paths with hers. Again.

-

"I heard you were playing a knight in shining armor on the sets recently, gallantly rescuing a damsel in distress from a faraway foreign land," Aegon teased Aemond, drawing out the 'a' in 'far' for the dramatic effect.

Aemond’s attention shifted to Aegon from Daeron, who was sitting across the table, ignoring his plate of food and burying his silver-haired head in his phone. 

He responded to Aegon’s taunt with a piercing glare.

 The Sunday brunch at their family home was about to be ruined.

“How about coming to the production and doing some actual work, instead of sending Larys to lurk around and feed you irrelevant, unimportant stuff?” he spat back.

“Nope, not Larys,” Aegon said with a smirk. “If you want to be discreet about someone you like, then don’t fire the person who hurt her right away. That will only raise more suspicion, brother!” He giggled, fiddling with his food.

“Somebody’s undeniably smitten,” Daeron chimed in, unable to resist teasing his elder brother. Alicent shot a disapproving glare at her youngest son.

“Sorry,” Daeron murmured, lowering his gaze to his plate. Aegon chuckled again.

“She is beautiful,” Helaena cooed, her dreamy eyes fixed on something in the room. Startled by her comment, Aemond turned his attention to his sister.

“You know what?” Aegon smacked his lips and continued his playful banter. “I’m quite happy for you, now that you’re finally showing interest in women your own age.” Pointing his fork at Aemond, he addressed Alicent, “You see, Mother, I always thought he was only interested in history and philosophy, but he seems to have a taste for medicine as well.”

Snickering, he turned to Aemond, whose eyes now reflected a mix of annoyance and indifference. “Speaking of ancient things, how’s Alys?”

Daeron snorted so forcefully that the orange juice he was drinking shot out of his nostrils.

“Aegon! That’s enough!” Alicent yelled at her firstborn, her tone softening in the next moment as she added, “Aemond, please don't… stay…”

But Aemond was already picking up his jacket and car keys to leave. “I’ll see you all later.” He kissed Helaena on the head before heading to the exit.

“Say hi to Sylvi for me; it’s been a while,” Aegon called out with a grin as he watched his seething brother leave the room.

“You love doing this, don’t you? Ruining family time, always teasing him? When will you grow up, Aegon?” Alicent shouted at her son, who merely flinched and shrugged lazily.

“But he really is smitten,” Helaena drawled, stretching her arms lazily and drawing her mother’s attention away from Aegon.

 Aegon glanced at Daeron, struggling to hold back a smirk.

-

As Aemond drove back to his place, thoughts of his scandalous affair with Alys swirled around him like a whirlwind. No matter how much time passed, the topic would resurface. Today, Aegon, with his own questionable life choices, had the audacity to bring it up. Pot calling the kettle black.

Beautiful and mysterious Alys Rivers had entered Aemond's life six years ago. He had just started taking on roles as an actor and had ambitious plans to start his own production company. 

She was in her thirties and hailed from the Riverlands. After receiving a substantial alimony settlement following her divorce, she agreed to invest in his venture.

 Their professional relationship took an unexpected romantic turn one night when, on their way back to their hotel after a meeting, she grabbed him by the collar and kissed him. In that vulnerable moment, Aemond succumbed to her allure and gave in to their shared intimacy.

However, it soon became apparent that their connection lacked depth and genuineness. He could not cope with Alys’s disregard for emotional attachment.

“What is it that you want from me? Aren’t you happy that I’m fucking you? Stop being a whiny baby! Just be a good boy and enjoy it.” She tapped his face with light slaps, curling her lips in the intoxicating way he once fell for. She shifted to give him a peck, but he turned his face away.

That was the final breaking point for Aemond. He realized it was a grave mistake to expect love from a woman who had none to offer. But he was only twenty-one at the time and did not know any better.

Unfortunately, Aemond's production company faced significant financial losses as its initial movie projects flopped, forcing him to shut it down after two years of struggle. It was then that his father, offering his support, came to his rescue. Aemond wholeheartedly immersed himself in the operations of Red Keep Productions, devoting himself to his acting projects and the company's success.

He never officially ended things with Alys; their relationship was non-committal and toxic, built on fleeting desires. Instead, he resorted to slowly distancing himself from her, dodging her calls to avoid any unnecessary confrontation.

Aemond paid off all the financial debts he owed Alys, but she remained a festering wound in his life. She would resurface occasionally, either in person or as a topic of discussion during family gatherings, reminding him of the unresolved issues between them.

He gradually recovered from his dire straits, but resolved to guard himself against any potential romantic entanglements or business scandals. 

Having experienced both personal and professional failures early in life, he humbled himself. He began reading history and philosophy, immersing himself in literature to prepare for his acting roles. He started enjoying life on his own terms, with only a few people he loved and trusted—those he allowed into the tight circle he drew around himself. A few of them being Sylvi and his assistant, Criston Cole.

As his stardom soared to new heights, he paradoxically endeavored to keep a low profile and maintain an elusive persona. He evaded paparazzi and declined invitations for public appearances, except for the absolutely necessary and unavoidable events.

 Fans, particularly female fans worldwide, yearned for even the slightest glimpse of him or a fragment of information from his life.

Aemond Targaryen was a star. He could have any woman in the world, and she would be on her knees for him.

But he had begun to care and yearn for someone who had captured his heart in ways he didn’t think were possible.

Inara

Inara, who emanated wholesomeness and possessed a heart free of malice. 

Inara, whose face would light up with a radiant smile whenever she looked at him. 

He was keenly aware of how her cheeks always flushed a beautiful shade of pink whenever she spoke to him.

And the way her breath hitched , the way her eyelids fluttered when he had her backed against the counter the other day in the trailer, did not let him sleep that night. The proximity drove him mad. He exercised every bit of self-control to resist the urge to kiss her then, and he did so again when she got hurt a day before.

He wanted to pummel that extra actor into the ground, the one who threw the prop weapon at her and didn’t even bother to apologize later.

 But the ever-stoic and composed Aemond restrained himself. He had already shown more emotion than he intended, and it was enough to be noticed by people on the set.

He didn't want the prying eyes of tabloids on her or paparazzi to hound her just because of a moment of lapse in his judgment.

He didn’t wish to taint her with the complexities of the life he had chosen to live.

He did not wish to scare her away from his life, not when he was aware that she felt something for him too. The way her pulse had raced when he grabbed her wrist confirmed that she, too, possessed a fondness for him, even if she couldn’t yet articulate it. 

And he guessed that she might never say anything at all.

Aemond was mindful of the possibility that she might choose to return to her country and her family once her job contract concluded.

For now, he had begun to find contentment in the friendship he had started to forge with her.

He wished to know her better.

He wished to be more to her.

But his past haunted him, and his present threatened to jeopardize his future. She did not deserve to be dragged into the mess of his life.

If only he could give her the life she deserved.

-x-

Taglist: @zenka69 @mamawiggers1980

[ficsbyuzi]

All the ways lead to you - part 6

Characters - Aemond Targaryen and Inara Maegyr (OFC) in a modern AU.

word count - 2330

warnings - +18, fluff, pining, implied sexual activity

A/N- I love Alys Rivers.

part 5

Eight months ago

“Is the traffic always this bad in Old Town?”

Aemond asked his younger brother Daeron, sitting next to him, engrossed in his phone, scrolling mindlessly through social media, oblivious to the world outside the tinted windows of their sleek black car. 

Aemond tapped his fingers against this knee, his frustration mounting with each passing second.

“Mm hmm..” Daeron hummed in response, “Told you it will take us at least 3 hours to reach the airport.”

“I have a meeting in the morning tomorrow, I should have..”

“..stayed back in King’s Landing and let Aegon attend here,” Daeron shrugged, unaffected by his elder brother’s exasperation. 

Aemond sighed and glanced out of his window, trying to distract himself from the standstill. There was no point in explaining that he was only stepping in for Aegon because he had drunk himself to sleep in a brothel and missed his flight.

That's when he saw her.

Two women were sitting in the back of a nearby cab. One of them was focusing intently on something outside her window. Her back faced him, her long dark hair was neatly pulled back. 

Aemond turned his gaze back to the road ahead.

 It was just some woman, stuck in traffic like him.

But as the minutes crawled by, Aemond's impatience grew. He let out another sigh, his fingers now tapping faster. Finally, he shifted to take out his own phone from his suit jacket. But then, from the corner of his eye, he caught a movement that drew his attention back to the cab that stood adjacent to his car. 

The dark-haired woman, wearing teal blue doctor’s scrubs, was now stepping out of her cab. Aemond watched her as she crossed the road moving quickly and purposefully, navigating through the halted cars. Curiously, he craned his neck slightly to keep her in his view. 

She made her way toward a large building across the road with a towering iron gate. A group of school children on crutches stood outside, looking upset. A few elders standing with the children,  probably their teachers, were caught in a seemingly urgent discussion. The woman approached them, spoke briefly with the elders, then glanced around as if assessing the situation. Aemond squinted, trying to make sense of it all. 

“What’s that building? A museum?”

At his brother’s question, Daeron looked up from his phone following Aemond’s gaze.

“That? Yeah, it's a museum,” he replied casually, “Don’t tell me you’re planning to go in and check out history stuff or something. We’re already late.” He chuckled and went back to scrolling.

“No..I..was only asking..” Aemond trailed off, eyes still on her. 

Suddenly, she headed toward the large gate and began to drag it close with effort. Aemond watched in confusion as she beckoned the children, encouraging them to step onto the column of the gate and hold onto it for support. 

It took him a moment to understand, but when he noticed that the ground at the entrance had a cattle guard with rolling iron bars fitted in it, the situation clicked to him. The children on their crutches couldn't cross it without risking a fall.

The woman now dragged the gate open as the children clung to it, carefully guiding each child across the cattle guard and holding their crutches in her arm. One by one, the children made it across, giggling at her as she smiled at them.

“Hey, don’t roll the window down! What if someone sees you? You’ll make the traffic worse!”

But Aemond ignored his brother, feeling a strange, urgent need to see her clearly. The noise of the traffic rushed in, along with the faint sound of a child’s laughter. He saw one of the children, now safely inside the premises, hugging the woman tightly. She hugged him back, her expression soft and relieved.

He watched her, mesmerized, completely forgetting about the annoying traffic situation. A faint smile ghosted across his lips.

“Inara! Inara! We’re getting late, come on!” a voice called out, snapping Aemond’s attention and pulling it to the other woman in scrubs standing by the cab, waving impatiently. A colleague or a friend, most likely.

The woman turned toward the voice, still smiling, nodded at her. She gave the children a final wave before making her way back across the road.

He watched her coming back to her cab, unable to tear his gaze away from her face that glowed in the remnants of what she had just experienced. A warm admiration began to seep into the cracks of his dry heart. He couldn’t remember ever witnessing such selflessness, especially from a stranger to another.

The engine of his car rumbled to life, and the honking from surrounding vehicles broke the spell on him. 

As the traffic began to clear, their driver slowly edged the car forward, but Aemond's gaze remained fixed on her. He watched as she spoke to her friend, gave a playful shrug, and then slipped back into the cab, vanishing from his sight.

In just a few moments, she touched him deeply. Her face, though not fully clear from a distance, was etched into his memory, along with the wholesomeness she radiated.

An unlikely, tiny hope stirred within him - one that made him shake his head in amused disbelief. A quiet wish that the universe might find a way to cross his paths with hers. Again.

-

"I heard you were playing a knight in shining armor on the sets recently, gallantly rescuing a damsel in distress from a faraway foreign land," Aegon teased Aemond, drawing out the 'a' in 'far' for the dramatic effect.

Aemond’s attention shifted to Aegon from Daeron, who was sitting across the table, ignoring his plate of food and burying his silver-haired head in his phone. 

He responded to Aegon’s taunt with a piercing glare.

 The Sunday brunch at their family home was about to be ruined.

“How about coming to the production and doing some actual work, instead of sending Larys to lurk around and feed you irrelevant, unimportant stuff?” he spat back.

“Nope, not Larys,” Aegon said with a smirk. “If you want to be discreet about someone you like, then don’t fire the person who hurt her right away. That will only raise more suspicion, brother!” He giggled, fiddling with his food.

“Somebody’s undeniably smitten,” Daeron chimed in, unable to resist teasing his elder brother. Alicent shot a disapproving glare at her youngest son.

“Sorry,” Daeron murmured, lowering his gaze to his plate. Aegon chuckled again.

“She is beautiful,” Helaena cooed, her dreamy eyes fixed on something in the room. Startled by her comment, Aemond turned his attention to his sister.

“You know what?” Aegon smacked his lips and continued his playful banter. “I’m quite happy for you, now that you’re finally showing interest in women your own age.” Pointing his fork at Aemond, he addressed Alicent, “You see, Mother, I always thought he was only interested in history and philosophy, but he seems to have a taste for medicine as well.”

Snickering, he turned to Aemond, whose eyes now reflected a mix of annoyance and indifference. “Speaking of ancient things, how’s Alys?”

Daeron snorted so forcefully that the orange juice he was drinking shot out of his nostrils.

“Aegon! That’s enough!” Alicent yelled at her firstborn, her tone softening in the next moment as she added, “Aemond, please don't… stay…”

But Aemond was already picking up his jacket and car keys to leave. “I’ll see you all later.” He kissed Helaena on the head before heading to the exit.

“Say hi to Sylvi for me; it’s been a while,” Aegon called out with a grin as he watched his seething brother leave the room.

“You love doing this, don’t you? Ruining family time, always teasing him? When will you grow up, Aegon?” Alicent shouted at her son, who merely flinched and shrugged lazily.

“But he really is smitten,” Helaena drawled, stretching her arms lazily and drawing her mother’s attention away from Aegon.

 Aegon glanced at Daeron, struggling to hold back a smirk.

-

As Aemond drove back to his place, thoughts of his scandalous affair with Alys swirled around him like a whirlwind. No matter how much time passed, the topic would resurface. Today, Aegon, with his own questionable life choices, had the audacity to bring it up. Pot calling the kettle black.

Beautiful and mysterious Alys Rivers had entered Aemond's life six years ago. He had just started taking on roles as an actor and had ambitious plans to start his own production company. 

She was in her thirties and hailed from the Riverlands. After receiving a substantial alimony settlement following her divorce, she agreed to invest in his venture.

 Their professional relationship took an unexpected romantic turn one night when, on their way back to their hotel after a meeting, she grabbed him by the collar and kissed him. In that vulnerable moment, Aemond succumbed to her allure and gave in to their shared intimacy.

However, it soon became apparent that their connection lacked depth and genuineness. He could not cope with Alys’s disregard for emotional attachment.

“What is it that you want from me? Aren’t you happy that I’m fucking you? Stop being a whiny baby! Just be a good boy and enjoy it.” She tapped his face with light slaps, curling her lips in the intoxicating way he once fell for. She shifted to give him a peck, but he turned his face away.

That was the final breaking point for Aemond. He realized it was a grave mistake to expect love from a woman who had none to offer. But he was only twenty-one at the time and did not know any better.

Unfortunately, Aemond's production company faced significant financial losses as its initial movie projects flopped, forcing him to shut it down after two years of struggle. It was then that his father, offering his support, came to his rescue. Aemond wholeheartedly immersed himself in the operations of Red Keep Productions, devoting himself to his acting projects and the company's success.

He never officially ended things with Alys; their relationship was non-committal and toxic, built on fleeting desires. Instead, he resorted to slowly distancing himself from her, dodging her calls to avoid any unnecessary confrontation.

Aemond paid off all the financial debts he owed Alys, but she remained a festering wound in his life. She would resurface occasionally, either in person or as a topic of discussion during family gatherings, reminding him of the unresolved issues between them.

He gradually recovered from his dire straits, but resolved to guard himself against any potential romantic entanglements or business scandals. 

Having experienced both personal and professional failures early in life, he humbled himself. He began reading history and philosophy, immersing himself in literature to prepare for his acting roles. He started enjoying life on his own terms, with only a few people he loved and trusted—those he allowed into the tight circle he drew around himself. A few of them being Sylvi and his assistant, Criston Cole.

As his stardom soared to new heights, he paradoxically endeavored to keep a low profile and maintain an elusive persona. He evaded paparazzi and declined invitations for public appearances, except for the absolutely necessary and unavoidable events.

 Fans, particularly female fans worldwide, yearned for even the slightest glimpse of him or a fragment of information from his life.

Aemond Targaryen was a star. He could have any woman in the world, and she would be on her knees for him.

But he had begun to care and yearn for someone who had captured his heart in ways he didn’t think were possible.

Inara

Inara, who emanated wholesomeness and possessed a heart free of malice. 

Inara, whose face would light up with a radiant smile whenever she looked at him. 

He was keenly aware of how her cheeks always flushed a beautiful shade of pink whenever she spoke to him.

And the way her breath hitched , the way her eyelids fluttered when he had her backed against the counter the other day in the trailer, did not let him sleep that night. The proximity drove him mad. He exercised every bit of self-control to resist the urge to kiss her then, and he did so again when she got hurt a day before.

He wanted to pummel that extra actor into the ground, the one who threw the prop weapon at her and didn’t even bother to apologize later.

 But the ever-stoic and composed Aemond restrained himself. He had already shown more emotion than he intended, and it was enough to be noticed by people on the set.

He didn't want the prying eyes of tabloids on her or paparazzi to hound her just because of a moment of lapse in his judgment.

He didn’t wish to taint her with the complexities of the life he had chosen to live.

He did not wish to scare her away from his life, not when he was aware that she felt something for him too. The way her pulse had raced when he grabbed her wrist confirmed that she, too, possessed a fondness for him, even if she couldn’t yet articulate it. 

And he guessed that she might never say anything at all.

Aemond was mindful of the possibility that she might choose to return to her country and her family once her job contract concluded.

For now, he had begun to find contentment in the friendship he had started to forge with her.

He wished to know her better.

He wished to be more to her.

But his past haunted him, and his present threatened to jeopardize his future. She did not deserve to be dragged into the mess of his life.

If only he could give her the life she deserved.

-x-

Taglist: @zenka69 @mamawiggers1980

[ficsbyuzi]

All the ways lead to you

Aemond Targaryen × Dr. Inara Maegyr (Original female character) in a Modern AU

Part 1. Part 2. Part 3. Part 4. Part 5. Part 6

A note

I wrote this fluffy angst with a pinch of smut last year, using “You” and "Your Name" 😅

At that time, I was a novice and had no idea how the fanfic world worked. I thought it wasn't a fanfic if it wasn't a reader insert 🫣

Over time, however, I realized that while I love reading both reader inserts and OCs equally, writing in the second person may not be my cup of chai after all. And before someone comes at me, I want to clarify that I am not against reader inserts and the use of Y/N. Some of the best works I've read here have been written in the first or second person. And I fucking adore them.

Since I'm reposting this not-so-great story with a few edits, I've converted the female protagonist into an original character and given her a name: Inara Maegyr, a medic from Essos who also happens to be a trained make-up and prosthetic artist.

The story is romantic and light-hearted, but eventually turns sad. If you find romance too icky or you don't like to swoon, it probably isn't for you. As for me, I am a 90s child who grew up on Bollywood movies. All 206 bones in my body are formed of love and unrealistic romantic expectations, instead of calcium phosphate and osteocytes 🤓

[ficsbyuzi]

All the ways lead to you - part 6

Characters - Aemond Targaryen and Inara Maegyr (OFC) in a modern AU.

word count - 2330

warnings - +18, fluff, pining, implied sexual activity

A/N- I love Alys Rivers.

part 5

Eight months ago

“Is the traffic always this bad in Old Town?”

Aemond asked his younger brother Daeron, sitting next to him, engrossed in his phone, scrolling mindlessly through social media, oblivious to the world outside the tinted windows of their sleek black car. 

Aemond tapped his fingers against this knee, his frustration mounting with each passing second.

“Mm hmm..” Daeron hummed in response, “Told you it will take us at least 3 hours to reach the airport.”

“I have a meeting in the morning tomorrow, I should have..”

“..stayed back in King’s Landing and let Aegon attend here,” Daeron shrugged, unaffected by his elder brother’s exasperation. 

Aemond sighed and glanced out of his window, trying to distract himself from the standstill. There was no point in explaining that he was only stepping in for Aegon because he had drunk himself to sleep in a brothel and missed his flight.

That's when he saw her.

Two women were sitting in the back of a nearby cab. One of them was focusing intently on something outside her window. Her back faced him, her long dark hair was neatly pulled back. 

Aemond turned his gaze back to the road ahead.

 It was just some woman, stuck in traffic like him.

But as the minutes crawled by, Aemond's impatience grew. He let out another sigh, his fingers now tapping faster. Finally, he shifted to take out his own phone from his suit jacket. But then, from the corner of his eye, he caught a movement that drew his attention back to the cab that stood adjacent to his car. 

The dark-haired woman, wearing teal blue doctor’s scrubs, was now stepping out of her cab. Aemond watched her as she crossed the road moving quickly and purposefully, navigating through the halted cars. Curiously, he craned his neck slightly to keep her in his view. 

She made her way toward a large building across the road with a towering iron gate. A group of school children on crutches stood outside, looking upset. A few elders standing with the children,  probably their teachers, were caught in a seemingly urgent discussion. The woman approached them, spoke briefly with the elders, then glanced around as if assessing the situation. Aemond squinted, trying to make sense of it all. 

“What’s that building? A museum?”

At his brother’s question, Daeron looked up from his phone following Aemond’s gaze.

“That? Yeah, it's a museum,” he replied casually, “Don’t tell me you’re planning to go in and check out history stuff or something. We’re already late.” He chuckled and went back to scrolling.

“No..I..was only asking..” Aemond trailed off, eyes still on her. 

Suddenly, she headed toward the large gate and began to drag it close with effort. Aemond watched in confusion as she beckoned the children, encouraging them to step onto the column of the gate and hold onto it for support. 

It took him a moment to understand, but when he noticed that the ground at the entrance had a cattle guard with rolling iron bars fitted in it, the situation clicked to him. The children on their crutches couldn't cross it without risking a fall.

The woman now dragged the gate open as the children clung to it, carefully guiding each child across the cattle guard and holding their crutches in her arm. One by one, the children made it across, giggling at her as she smiled at them.

“Hey, don’t roll the window down! What if someone sees you? You’ll make the traffic worse!”

But Aemond ignored his brother, feeling a strange, urgent need to see her clearly. The noise of the traffic rushed in, along with the faint sound of a child’s laughter. He saw one of the children, now safely inside the premises, hugging the woman tightly. She hugged him back, her expression soft and relieved.

He watched her, mesmerized, completely forgetting about the annoying traffic situation. A faint smile ghosted across his lips.

“Inara! Inara! We’re getting late, come on!” a voice called out, snapping Aemond’s attention and pulling it to the other woman in scrubs standing by the cab, waving impatiently. A colleague or a friend, most likely.

The woman turned toward the voice, still smiling, nodded at her. She gave the children a final wave before making her way back across the road.

He watched her coming back to her cab, unable to tear his gaze away from her face that glowed in the remnants of what she had just experienced. A warm admiration began to seep into the cracks of his dry heart. He couldn’t remember ever witnessing such selflessness, especially from a stranger to another.

The engine of his car rumbled to life, and the honking from surrounding vehicles broke the spell on him. 

As the traffic began to clear, their driver slowly edged the car forward, but Aemond's gaze remained fixed on her. He watched as she spoke to her friend, gave a playful shrug, and then slipped back into the cab, vanishing from his sight.

In just a few moments, she touched him deeply. Her face, though not fully clear from a distance, was etched into his memory, along with the wholesomeness she radiated.

An unlikely, tiny hope stirred within him - one that made him shake his head in amused disbelief. A quiet wish that the universe might find a way to cross his paths with hers. Again.

-

"I heard you were playing a knight in shining armor on the sets recently, gallantly rescuing a damsel in distress from a faraway foreign land," Aegon teased Aemond, drawing out the 'a' in 'far' for the dramatic effect.

Aemond’s attention shifted to Aegon from Daeron, who was sitting across the table, ignoring his plate of food, silver-haired head buried in his phone. 

Aemond responded to Aegon’s taunt with a piercing glare.

 The Sunday brunch at their family home was about to be ruined.

“How about coming to the production and doing some actual work, instead of sending Larys to lurk around and feed you irrelevant, unimportant stuff?” he spat back.

“Nope, not Larys,” Aegon said with a smirk. “If you want to be discreet about someone you like, then don’t fire the person who hurt her right away. That will only raise more suspicion, brother!” He giggled, fiddling with his food.

“Somebody’s undeniably smitten,” Daeron chimed in, unable to resist teasing his elder brother. Alicent shot a disapproving glare at her youngest son.

“Sorry,” Daeron murmured, lowering his gaze to his plate. Aegon chuckled again.

“She is beautiful,” Helaena cooed, her dreamy eyes fixed on something in the room. Startled by her comment, Aemond turned his attention to his sister.

“You know what?” Aegon smacked his lips and continued his playful banter. “I’m quite happy for you, now that you’re finally showing interest in women your own age.” Pointing his fork at Aemond, he addressed Alicent, “You see, Mother, I always thought he was only interested in history and philosophy, but he seems to have a taste for medicine as well.”

Snickering, he turned to Aemond, whose eyes now reflected a mix of annoyance and indifference. “Speaking of ancient things, how’s Alys?”

Daeron snorted so forcefully that the orange juice he was drinking shot out of his nostrils.

“Aegon! That’s enough!” Alicent yelled at her firstborn, her tone softening in the next moment as she added, “Aemond, please don't… stay…”

But Aemond was already picking up his jacket and car keys to leave. “I’ll see you all later.” He kissed Helaena on the head before heading to the exit.

“Say hi to Sylvi for me; it’s been a while,” Aegon called out with a grin as he watched his seething brother leave the room.

“You love doing this, don’t you? Ruining family time, always teasing him? When will you grow up, Aegon?” Alicent shouted at her son, who merely flinched and shrugged lazily.

“But he really is smitten,” Helaena drawled, stretching her arms lazily and drawing her mother’s attention away from Aegon.

 Aegon glanced at Daeron, struggling to hold back a smirk.

-

As Aemond drove back to his place, thoughts of his scandalous affair with Alys swirled around him like a whirlwind. No matter how much time passed, the topic would resurface. Today, Aegon, with his own questionable life choices, had the audacity to bring it up. Pot calling the kettle black.

Beautiful and mysterious Alys Rivers had entered Aemond's life six years ago. He had just started taking on roles as an actor and had ambitious plans to start his own production company. 

She was in her thirties and hailed from the Riverlands. After receiving a substantial alimony settlement following her divorce, she agreed to invest in his venture.

 Their professional relationship took an unexpected romantic turn one night when, on their way back to their hotel after a meeting, she grabbed him by the collar and kissed him. In that vulnerable moment, Aemond succumbed to her allure and gave in to their shared intimacy.

However, it soon became apparent that their connection lacked depth and genuineness. He could not cope with Alys’s disregard for emotional attachment.

“What is it that you want from me? Aren’t you happy that I’m fucking you? Stop being a whiny baby! Just be a good boy and enjoy it.” She tapped his face with light slaps, curling her lips in the intoxicating way he once fell for. She shifted to give him a peck, but he turned his face away.

That was the final breaking point for Aemond. He realized it was a grave mistake to expect love from a woman who had none to offer. But he was only twenty-one at the time and did not know any better.

Unfortunately, Aemond's production company faced significant financial losses as its initial movie projects flopped, forcing him to shut it down after two years of struggle. It was then that his father, offering his support, came to his rescue. Aemond wholeheartedly immersed himself in the operations of Red Keep Productions, devoting himself to his acting projects and the company's success.

He never officially ended things with Alys; their relationship was non-committal and toxic, built on fleeting desires. Instead, he resorted to slowly distancing himself from her, dodging her calls to avoid any unnecessary confrontation.

Aemond paid off all the financial debts he owed Alys, but she remained a festering wound in his life. She would resurface occasionally, either in person or as a topic of discussion during family gatherings, reminding him of the unresolved issues between them.

He gradually recovered from his dire straits, but resolved to guard himself against any potential romantic entanglements or business scandals. 

Having experienced both personal and professional failures early in life, he humbled himself. He began reading history and philosophy, immersing himself in literature to prepare for his acting roles. He started enjoying life on his own terms, with only a few people he loved and trusted—those he allowed into the tight circle he drew around himself. A few of them being Sylvi and his assistant, Criston Cole.

As his stardom soared to new heights, he paradoxically endeavored to keep a low profile and maintain an elusive persona. He evaded paparazzi and declined invitations for public appearances, except for the absolutely necessary and unavoidable events.

 Fans, particularly female fans worldwide, yearned for even the slightest glimpse of him or a fragment of information from his life.

Aemond Targaryen was a star. He could have any woman in the world, and she would be on her knees for him.

But he had begun to care and yearn for someone who had captured his heart in ways he didn’t think were possible.

Inara

Inara, who emanated wholesomeness and possessed a heart free of malice. 

Inara, whose face would light up with a radiant smile whenever she looked at him. 

He was keenly aware of how her cheeks always flushed a beautiful shade of pink whenever she spoke to him.

And the way her breath hitched , the way her eyelids fluttered when he had her backed against the counter the other day in the trailer, did not let him sleep that night. The proximity drove him mad. He exercised every bit of self-control to resist the urge to kiss her then, and he did so again when she got hurt a day before.

He wanted to pummel that extra actor into the ground, the one who threw the prop weapon at her and didn’t even bother to apologize later.

 But the ever-stoic and composed Aemond restrained himself. He had already shown more emotion than he intended, and it was enough to be noticed by people on the set.

He didn't want the prying eyes of tabloids on her or paparazzi to hound her just because of a moment of lapse in his judgment.

He didn’t wish to taint her with the complexities of the life he had chosen to live.

He did not wish to scare her away from his life, not when he was aware that she felt something for him too. The way her pulse had raced when he grabbed her wrist confirmed that she, too, possessed a fondness for him, even if she couldn’t yet articulate it. 

And he guessed that she might never say anything at all.

Aemond was mindful of the possibility that she might choose to return to her country and her family once her job contract concluded.

For now, he had begun to find contentment in the friendship he had started to forge with her.

He wished to know her better.

He wished to be more to her.

But his past haunted him, and his present threatened to jeopardize his future. She did not deserve to be dragged into the mess of his life.

If only he could give her the life she deserved.

-x-

Part 7

Taglist: @zenka69 @mamawiggers1980

[ficsbyuzi]

I haven’t, but now I will!

Rn this song is like really popular in North India too! ❤️

[ficsbyuzi]

She is Happy Now Part (1/5)

Modern Aemond X (Ex Girlfriend Reader)

Warnings Below

Word Count: 1,816

She is happy now Master list

Modern Aemond Master List

Full Master list

Banners by @arcielee

Warnings: Swearing, mentions of cheating, angst, a little bit of fighting.

High-school sweethearts was a term that actually made you sick. You hate the fact that your memories of those oh so important teenage years are tarnished by the memory of him.

Aemond Targaryen. The boy everyone who knew you as a teenager knew was your High-school sweetheart. As well as the man who crushed your heart just a mere 6 months after graduation.

The two of you met freshman year. He was a bit nerdy, and you were one of those alternative girls wearing as much black as possible and begging your parents for a nose ring. You grew super close super fast. All of your firsts were with Aemond. The first time you ran from the cops drinking with friends in the local cemetery. Your first kiss. Your first dance. Your first break up. Your first angsty reconciliation, your first fuck. Everything.

You had been doing well for the past few years, not thinking about him at all. You had graduated from university and started your job as a revenue analyst for Lannister & Co. You had a sweet, kind boyfriend in Cregan Stark. Everything was going well for you. Until you got that invitation.

You had been invited to the wedding of Aegon Targaryen and Cassandra Baratheon. Two people you loved very much and were incredibly happy for. But you under no circumstances wanted to go to any type of Targaryen family gathering. You may have moved on and are doing well now, but there is still a deep-seated anger that rises in you when you think about Aemond. The idea of seeing him in person makes bile rise in your throat.

You're halfway through your shift. You're excited for it to end. this week has been exhausting, and now that it is finally Friday, you want to just curl up on the coach all weekend and watch mindless TV.

Your phone buzzes in your pocketbook on your desk, and you groan. You know who it is. You have been ignoring her calls all day. You pull your cell phone out of your bag, and just as you suspect, Heleana's name and a photo of her smiling with a butterfly on her finger illuminates the screen. You hit the end call button and shove your phone back into your bag. You know that you haven't RSVP'd to the wedding yet, and she is calling you to try to talk you into going. You hate ignoring her, but you really don't want to talk to her about the wedding and the reasons you don't want to go. It doesn't matter what you say to her because she will know the real reason and she will try to talk you into it.

She doesn't call again that night much to your glee. Your shift ends, and your phone dings with a text message from Cregan, letting you know he is downstairs. You pack up your laptop and throw your dooney & bourke leather satchel over your arm and head out waving to a few co workers as you make your way outside.

When you get out front, you see Cregans black range rover idling and slide into the passengers seat, letting out a long sigh as you reach to buckle yourself in.

"Long day love?" He says while shifting the SUV into drive.

"Yes very" you say exasperated.

"You know, I got a strange call from Heleana today"

Your eyes shot open and you clenched your jaw.

"Hun...." he continued

"Why don't you want to go to Aegon's wedding?"

"I just don't want to, there doesn't always have to be a reason for everything. Sometimes the answer is just no and everyone needs to accept it " you snap.

"Is this maybe about a certain brother of his?"

You roll your eyes "nope" short, curt responses are all you can muster at the moment.

"Should I be worried?"

This makes you turn your head to look at him

"About what?"

"When someone is over someone, truly over them, they don't harbor this kind of anger"

You open your mouth to respond but can't find the words your looking for.

Cregan releases a sigh

"I'll drop it"

"No Creg. It's OK. Trust me I am completely over him. I just feel like he got away with it ya know? Makes me want to gouge his other eye out. You know settle the score. His brothers wedding would probably not be a good venue for that" you huff.

Cregan laughs. " the best revenge is to show him how much he doesn't effect you. How happy you are now without him. How much better your life is without him."

You sit there silent looking out the window of the car watching the sidewalks fly by.

"If you don't want to go I support that, but I don't think you should miss a good friend's wedding because his brother is a dolt"

You laugh at that "I'll think about it ok?"

He laughs, too. "That's progress, and I'll take it!"

Two weeks later, you are standing in front of your mirror in a baby blue slim summer dress staring at your reflection. You ended up agreeing to go and were confident about your choice until right now. Now that you were actually ready to go, you were feeling nauseous.

"Well daaaaaaamn!" Cregan yelled as he came in the room whistling

"Aren't you just the sweetest little thing?" He took you into his arms and kissed you on the nose. "You ready to go?" You took a big gulp and nodded.

The car ride to kings landing was about 20 minutes. You stared out the window as memories flooded your mind.

"Make sure you record his reaction! I want to see it. He's gonna be so excited to see you!" Heleana gushed over the phone

"Oh I will, I have never come to visit him at school before so this is going to be epic. OK I'm at his dorm building I'll text you later"

You hung up the phone entered the building and made your way up to room 3F. Where you always addressed all your letters.

You get your phone ready, turning the recording function on and knock on the door.

No one comes to the door, so you knock again a little louder.

Aemond swings open the door

"What man. ....." he freezes. Sweat on his forehead and a blanket wrapped around his waist.

"Hey baby, what are you doing here?" He asks you with a look of utter terror on his face.

You freeze. You can feel your heart beating in your throat. You don't say anything and just push passed him into the room. You see an older black haired woman naked with a sheet wrapped around her, trying to tiptoe her way into the bathroom.

Your legs start to shake and your stomach lurches.

"Shit! Baby, Hold on let me explain"

"Oh, ummm. Nope. No thanks." You push passed him back out of the room.

He grabs your arm "wait please give me just one second"

You swat his arm away "do not fucking touch me. Forget my name. Loose my number. I no longer exist to you." You're not yelling or screaming. This all comes out as more of a growl.

"Love?"

"Huh" you shake your head.

"Hey, we're here." Your stomach lurches, and your palms begin to sweat as you reach for the latch to open the door.

You both get out of the car and he comes around to your side and wraps his arm around your waist.

"We can sit in the back ok?"

"Yeah sounds good"

You enter the grand Sept to see a septa urging people to the left or right side. Left for guests of the groom and right for guests of the bride. You go to the very last row on the left and slide in.

People finish filing in, and the music starts. Cregan is at the end of the aisle with you beside him. First, the flower girl, Jaehaera heleanas's daughter, with her husband gwayne and then the ring bearer Jaehaerys , her twin brother. Then the grooms men and bridesmaids. The first pair is Cassandra's sister Floris with Aegons brother Daeron, then Heleana and Gwayne, followed by Cassandra's other sister Maris and Aegons long term friend Criston Then your face starts to heat up, and your stomach tightens as you see that stupid head of shaggy silver hair enter the room with his arm linked to Ellyn Cassandra's other sister. You immediately look down, not wanting to make eye contact.

They pass by your row, and you finally raise your head, seeing just his back now as he makes his way up the aisle. He takes his place, and you turn your head back to the entryway, seeing Aegon standing there with a huge smile plastered on his face. You can't help but smile. He was such a fuck boy in High-school and college seeing him so happy and proud to be getting married now was such a beautiful thing. You chastise yourself for almost skipping such a wonderful occasion. He makes his way up to the altar, and your eyes only follow him halfway there before turning around to look back at the entryway. Once the wedding March starts to play, you see Cassandra. She is in a beautiful white flowing wedding dress adorned with pearls with a beautiful veil that goes down her back and to the floor trailing behind her. Her father borros has his arm linked to hers and is walking her up the aisle to Aegon, and she has this huge smile plastered to her face.

"Would you want to get married in the grand Sept or on the beach?"

"Anywhere, as long as I'm marrying you " Aemond leans in kissing you softly.

"I'm serious! " You squeak hitting him with a pillow."I want to have it all planned out way ahead of time"

"Then plan it out, baby. Because no matter where it is, I'll show up to marry you"

Your eyes are watering through the rest of the ceremony. You keep your gaze locked on Aegon and Cassandra making sure to not look at the members of the wedding party at all.

Aegon and Cassandra kiss and everyone stands as they make their way out of the grand Sept to cheers and well wishes. Behind them the wedding party starts to filter out and on instict your turn your head and for the first time since your surprise visit to his dorm you make direct eye contact with Aemond. His good eye staying glued to you until he walks passed you and out of the Sept. Your stomach feels cold and your palms are sweaty.

And standing there wracked with nerves you think to yourself that you still need to make it through the reception.

A/N: I have a pt 2 for this almost ready to go. Just fixing it up a little. :)

Part 2

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