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Synopsis

Lucerys Velaryon was a coward who did not wish to die, but die he did, with all the bravery his young heart could muster.

A true dragon rider's death.

With his death, the war of ravens and envoys came to an end, and the war of fire and blood began in earnest.

Daenys Velaryon no longer knew the difference between sacrifice and self-slaughter, nor where the violence against oneself ended. A Kinslayer, a rabid dog; such creatures had no use in a world of peace. Such creatures did not deserve peace. She was a tall child with no lap to crawl into, for who would wish to hold a thing like her, shame clotting in her blood like a curdling sickness. She, with the incessant need to apologize to everyone who ever knew her, for the inconvenience she caused them by making her existence known, walking into a room and searching for an empty seat so no one had to go through the painful act of sitting with her. Velaryons were supposed to be of the sea, but she was a burning ship, a vicinity one had to always flee. If anyone deserved to extinguish themselves in a kamikaze blaze, it was her, the one who would be missed least of all, who was needed least of all when the realm finally knew peace.

Aemond Targaryen was not the same person he used to be. He couldn't possibly be, and yet a part of his very being still belonged to his wife, as it always would. Though he had been absent too long, and the graveyard of old bones and lost kin that spanned between them was far too vast, he still held onto the memory of her, cutting into what he meant to only hold. He was a hunter whose trap had mangled the wrong creature, but it was the law of the world, for a knife and a wound to seek each other out, because they spoke in a language of damage no one else did, and now he owed her a debt. 

An eye for an eye. 

A brother for a brother. 

"Love is whatever you can still betray," the quintessence of the obsessive economy: we can betray only those whom we truly love. In other words, the alternative "does he love me or did he betray me?" is wrong: betrayal is the ultimate confir­mation of love."

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You think you possess me,
but I am the one with my teeth in you
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Cast

Daenys Velaryon

"I am the dog that my mother keeps in a cage... until her hand was removed."

Aemond Targaryen

"For years I have abstained. Now I devour."

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GIF by  @duable

"I stuff my mouth full of your name — this is the taste of love, and I will choke on it."

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Playlist

1. Never Love an Anchor - The Crane Wives
2. Two Slow Dancers - Mitski
3. House Song - Searows
4. Your Sister Was Right - Wilbur Soot
5. Born to Die - Lana Del Rey
6. Allies or Enemies - The Crane Wives
7. Like Real People Do - Hozier
8. Rejoice - Julien Baker
9. Please Stay - Lucy Dacus
10. Opera House- Cigarettes After Sex
11. Girl With One Eye - Florence & The Machine

playlist by @MadalynMakenna  

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Only a monster can love a monster.
Only a monster can forgive another.
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Warnings: self-harm, violence, gore, mental illnesses, grief, PTSD, hotd universe typical themes

A/N: We are back folks!
The prequel "Before the Sky Falls" is complete. Be sure to lemme know what you think, your interactions motivate me to write and I appreciate them so much. 
To my old readers, thank you for sticking with me for so long (through the rewrite and everything), and to the new readers, welcome, thank you for giving this story a chance. 

Disclaimer: This fic is gonna delve more into Dark! Aemond  lol cuz in the book he is pretty much a nutjob, and yeah Aemond and Daenys in their divorce era are pretty toxic, and often terrible people in their own rights. Also period typical sexism, lol Aemond is not a feminist icon yall (try not to hold it against him). Also, this is gonna be pretty cannon-divergent lol.