Rhysaenya felt more excited than anxious.

Her own lips remained curled up after their conversation, finding the entire thing so unbelievably amusing. How they had been able to say such ridiculous things without worries. It was as if she'd never left. She'd never had that confidence before, but it was different now that she was older, her mind aged and her body knowing how to cut the hands off of anyone who bothered her. It allowed her to listen to the little voice in her head that urged her to say ridiculous things. She just knew Aegon would understand when she was joking.

She went right to her chambers, handmaidens having drawn a bath for her. As soon as she was clean, she went right to bed, not caring if her parents came looking for her. She was too tired and she was already adhering to her task– there was nothing else they had to expect from her at the moment.

Early the following morning, she made for the Dragonpit, assuming Aegon would meet her there. Skyfall had settled herself in and was happy to trot out to meet her, extending her wings and chirping when Rhysaenya had her drink some water before the trip.

There was a low rumble at the entrance of the pit. When she turned, she saw Vhagar returning, her large frame taking up the entire entrance and blocking out the sun. Walking behind her was Aemond, his sword still strapped at his side even though he'd just been riding.

"Did they make you a saddle with a place to put your sword?" asked Rhysaenya curiously, "or does it just hang at your side all the time?"

He smirked. "It hangs, but the saddle is comfortable enough that it doesn't bother me. You may need something special for your spear. That, I wager, you could throw from above to kill a man without dragonfire."

"That would be the day," said Rhysaenya, watching him take off his gloves. "I don't know if I could throw very well from on top of Skyfall, but I suppose it's never too late to try." When he stopped in front of her, she gestured to his eyepatch, "I'm sorry about that. I don't know if you got my letter about it."

"I did," said Aemond. "Your words were kind. I didn't know what to say in return... only that I am glad you were not there that day. I think you might've killed Lucerys."

Rhysaenya huffed, "All anyone remembers about me was that I had no qualms whatsoever about fighting boys even if you were all bigger than me. Though, I'll have you remember, I never hit Jace or Luke."

"Well, you did make quite the reputation for yourself. I don't know if you would have held back even if that was the case." He glanced sideways, seeing that Skyfall had playfully laid herself in the center of the dragonpit to prevent Vhagar from going any further. "Skyfall's as stubborn as you."

Rhysaenya made a face at him. "Since when am I stubborn? You hardly know me anymore."

His lips curled. "Amusing that the mere accusation should make you so defensive. I admire this new version of you. You were always blunt when we were children, but now you fully speak your mind."

I can kill men now, there is no reason not to. "When I can," she said pointedly. "There is a time and place for such things. Besides, it's always been easy to talk to you. I lament we were not friendlier when we were children."

"As do I," murmured Aemond, scanning her face as if thinking more of that. "If you'd tried to claim a dragon sooner or begun learning spear earlier, we might've gotten to see each other more often."

"I suppose there is time for that now," she said. She gestured to his sword, "I should hope to see you in action later today, everyone says you're very good. My father was always very impressed with your skill. I reckon he'll want to assess you, too. I'll visit Helaena after my ride then head to the yard."

He unsheathed his sword, offering it toward her. She reached for the hilt, examining the design on the metal. Aemond purposely did not let go, her hand brushing his as she tried to run her fingers along the blade.

"A shame that you have to marry Aegon," said Aemond, taking a step forward. He was even closer than Aegon had been yesterday, the sword their only barrier. Aemond, at least, was taller than her, forcing her to tilt her head slightly. "You ought to have been allowed to marry someone of your choosing."

"And who exactly would I have chosen?" she asked, looking into his eye. "You?"

His smirk didn't falter. "He won't know how to speak to you about the things you like. When you wish to discuss the histories you love, you'll always have to explain it to him. When you wish for a private conversation, you won't have it because he cannot speak High Valyrian. He'll crave you if you give him excitement in your bed but otherwise, he'll disappear into his cups or slip back into the Street of Silk once he realizes his loyalty is a farce."

"You come with many warnings," she murmured. "But I hear jealousy. I haven't forgotten how he used to tease you. You still harbor anger towards him. It is not good for you to hold onto that wrath, Aemond, it will consume you. Your sword cannot always preserve your rage. Vengeance will become as sweet of an idea to you as dragons were. You won't let it go and it will cause you a great deal of trouble."

He raised his brows. "You defend him? Why?"

"I'm not defending him, I'm defending you from yourself. Aegon's been a terrible brother to you in many aspects, yes, but it does not mean you get to be equally terrible to him." She challenged, "If you want me to ever think of you as someone I would want to marry in his stead, show me that you are better."

She stepped away and motioned for Skyfall to follow, smirking to herself knowing she left him much to think about. Oh, she should have disliked how amusing it was to put these thoughts in his head, but she rationalized it by thinking that he'd started it and that he, too, was an important player if she was to do her duty to House Ignividus.

Once Aemond had disappeared with Vhagar into the depths of the Dragonpit, Rhysaenya emerged fully with Skyfall, finding that Aegon was arriving in a carriage, rubbing his eyes tiredly as if he hadn't slept.

"Forgot about our plans?" she asked, mounting Skyfall and smirking down at him.

"No," said Aegon. "I simply slept in. I remembered but not well enough to wake for it as I should have. My apologies." He beckoned the Dragonkeepers. "Bring me Sunfyre."

The dragons were about as ready as their riders. Skyfall chirped eagerly, waiting for them to go. Sunfyre took his sweet time emerging, shimmering beneath the morning light and nudging Aegon with his head. Aegon smiled, caressing his face then climbing onto the saddle, nodding eagerly to Rhysaenya.

She guided Skyfall up as far as she could go, Aegon following closely behind. Once he caught up, the two drifting side by side in the direction of the cliffs, she yelled over the wind, "Want to see why they named her Skyfall?"

"Show me!" Aegon called back.

Rhysaenya smirked, tugging at the reins then gripping onto the handlebars. "Embrot!" (T: Down!)

The dragon lurched forward, zipping down like a thread ready to be stuck into the eye of a needle. They shot straight toward the ground, Rhysaenya guiding her up at the very last second before they hit the roof of one of the houses, then flying back up to join Aegon. "She used to scare people like that," said Rhysaenya breathlessly as Aegon clapped, Sunfyre trilling in agreement. "My playful girl."

"Sunfyre may not be able to do that, but I bet he can make it to the cliffs much faster," said Aegon. He tapped his hand against Sunfyre's scales, "Forward, Sunfyre, quick!"

She guided Skyfall behind, urging her dragon to sway around Sunfyre, looping around and chirping to the male dragon. It kept distracting Sunfyre, who turned his head to chirp back each time Skyfall wove over him then suddenly dropped down again.

They landed on a grassy field at the edge of a cliff where Targaryen funerals were commonly held, which meant the dragons would have enough room without the two being disturbed. Rhysaenya dismounted, removing her gloves and sitting right on the grass, Skyfall toddling off to see what she could find. Aegon came to sit with her, stretching his legs and watching Sunfyre take off again, flying in circles and perhaps inviting Skyfall to join him.

"I can't believe you taught a dragon to speak the Common Tongue," said Rhysaenya, stifling a laugh. "Sunfyre might be the smartest of them all."

"Shut up," said Aegon, rolling his eyes. "You've not stopped teasing me about the fact I never could speak High Valyrian."

She relented, offering kindly, "If you were willing to practice, I could teach you. When we have children, they will be dragonriders, and we'll need to practice with them."

He shrugged. "I don't know if I can learn."

"Anyone can learn. You know some. You just have to try without worrying about whether you'll make a mistake. I'll correct you and no one has to know."

"No one has to know," he murmured. "Hmm. You know, my mother's always yelling at me about everything... says I'm doing things wrong and that I'm a threat to Rhaenyra, that I will be King. I don't want to be King. My father did not choose me... and what sort of brother steals his sister's birthright?"

Rhysaenya wondered how much she should reveal. She chose to pretend she didn't fully know about this, "Oh... well, I don't mean to be rude, but if your father hasn't named you by now, he's not going to."

"That's what I said," agreed Aegon. "Sometimes I wish I could take Sunfyre and leave... go anywhere else. Maybe find my Aunt Saera in Essos and join her in despising the family."

Rhysaenya began to tug at the blades of grass. "I think about running away, too. My family can be a bit much. In some ways, they twisted the ideas of the original Ignividus clan. When I first claimed Skyfall, back when my parents would only come to lecture me, I wanted to fly away on Skyfall to avoid them. I thought they didn't love me, that they were only using me."

He nodded in agreement. "My mother... she's so different with my siblings. She'd forgive them for anything, she'll talk to them and... with me she's always angry. I wonder if she'd be happier if I wasn't here."

"I don't think she'd be happier. Well... I suppose I don't really know her. She never struck me as being as cold as my mother can sometimes be, but... nevermind." She noticed how he picked at his fingers, the same way she'd once seen Queen Alicent do. "All this talk about mothers is going to make these beautiful cliffs ugly."

"When I'm a father, I won't be like our parents," muttered Aegon. "Especially not like the King. I'll be there for my children. I'll play silly games with them and listen to their stories. I'll reprimand them only when they've actually done something wrong."

"I wish to be the same," agreed Rhysaenya. "I'll never force my child to do what I want. And I won't hit them... I swear."

"I don't think you'd ever hit a child," said Aegon. "You never hit anyone younger than you. Or anyone other than me, honestly, because I was the only one who'd say terrible things." He leaned toward her, "Say, what if we make an agreement? If we don't end up liking whatever they want us to do once we marry, we run away. Raise our children elsewhere."

Rhysaenya raised a brow, "Only if we add to the agreement that we'll do this while remaining loyal to and cordial with one another. Otherwise, running away solves nothing."

"Deal," said Aegon, holding his hand for her to shake. She did, sealing the deal. "I like the sound of that." He laid back in the grass, arms tucked behind his head. "You're alright with marrying me? Truly?"

"I'm not thrilled about marriage generally, but I suppose I can tolerate you," she said with a small smile. "You're not so bad."

"You wouldn't rather marry Aemond?"

She wondered how to respond. "I hardly know both of you," she decided. "It isn't a matter of who I'd rather marry, it's a matter of how comfortable I feel with my duty to the realm and my family. I suppose I was closer to Aemond before. We were the same age. But I barely knew him better than I knew you. His only merit is that he never angered me the way you did. It wasn't as if we were best of friends. In the end, it doesn't matter. I'd be equally nervous and still hope for the same basic respect."

Aegon hummed. "He wants to marry you. He told me."

She tilted her head, "He sort of implied that this morning in the Dragonpit, but I thought he was being rude because he's always angry at you."

"Aemond always wants what he cannot have. He wants to be seen as the very best and he believes he isn't as long as I exist."

"You teased him a great deal when you were boys. It remains engraved in his memory."

"He ought to be over that by now! Mother clearly favors him and he's better at everything. Is it not enough?"

"I think he simply needs to feel that his brother appreciates him. Don't make him the subject of any jokes and I think he'll mellow out."

Aegon raised a brow. "You're defending him?"

She threw her hands up. "Why does everyone think I'm defending everyone else? It's a basic solution to a childish problem. Aemond will always obsess over being better if he doesn't start feeling he is valued now. Power will get to his head if he's always the one seizing it for himself."

He hummed, laying pensively for a moment. "Aemond is very devout to his Faith. Prays a lot, did not like the Street of Silk when I took him—"

"Oh, Aegon, you didn't."

"I did. It was time for—" He sighed, seeing her cross her arms. "Alright, perhaps I ought not have forced that on him."

"You definitely should not have. No wonder he resents you! He must feel you continuously steal things that are his, including his dignity and authority. Poor Aemond."

Aegon sighed, turning away as if he'd disappointed her, and picking at his fingers once more. "What I was going to say is that he is so devout to his Faith, he'll never admit to lusting for you. But I bet he will start to let the idea consume him. I bet he will desire you even when we are wed."

"A man of the Faith, going after a married woman," she said, thinking that didn't sound much like Aemond if he was so religious.

"Just as your ancestors twisted the teachings of House Ignividus, so too does he modify the Faith to fit what he wants to do. Trust me, he will want you more when you are unavailable and I think he'd abandon the Faith entirely if it meant having you."

"Well, you make it sound so flattering," she teased. "How awful for me to have everyone want me."

He smirked, "Yes, how dare you have become so stunning? You know, I wouldn't begrudge him this. Before our marriage, even after... if he were to desire you and you were to find yourself feeling the same way... I could arrange it."

She raised an interested brow. "You'd allow your brother to sleep with your wife? You've just told me your family wants to make you King. If that happened, I'd be your Queen. You'd allow your Prince of Dragonstone to bed her?"

"I'm not against sharing," said Aegon. "And indulging Aemond would mellow him out."

"Or it would fill his head with further ideas of how to make you do his bidding."

"Aemond is loyal to me, despite everything," said Aegon surely. "All you need to know is that your desires will matter to me, even if it comes to that."

"Sounds as though you put it forth as an excuse for you to indulge your own desires," she said. "Do you intend to frequent the Street of Silk when we are wed?"

He looked up guiltily and said nothing. She nudged his leg, "Aegon, you've a lot to learn. We'll work on it. For now, I mean to go find Helaena. I've yet to speak with her privately."

He caught her hand before she could get up. "Don't go yet," he pleaded. "I'm sorry. I have never found it easy to hold back my desires. Even these few months have been torturous trying to contain myself. I can work on it."

She hummed, trying to think of how best to modify the situation for her comfort. "I'll tell you this. I am curious about many things and I think we alone could keep each other satisfied if we tried. After all, the only thing I truly ask is that you respect me. But I admit, Aemond does intrigue me, though I've yet to determine if I'd want to do such a thing. So, I think, you and I should both imagine what we can and cannot live without. If I feel I must have Aemond or you feel you must have your trips to the Street of Silk, we will compromise and give in so we might have something for ourselves."

"You'd be alright with that?"

"I cannot begrudge you a feeling of lust when I have considered the same possibilities for myself. Regardless of all this, I believe you could be a great man, Aegon, even if your parents never made you believe it. I believe we could be happy together if we listen to each other and allow one another to indulge. But to do that we must be good enough to each other to understand our wants and needs and not toe the line if any sort of agreement ends up being made. If we decide no lovers, we have to both respect that. If we decide lovers, then we're not to be taking that too far. We need to be kind to each other."

Aegon nodded. "I do. I want to be a good man for you if we are to be married. I will try. I can make no full promises, as I've never had a consistent person at my side... but I will try to think about the possibility of letting it go."

She narrowed her eyes, "Remember, the better you behave, the more I'll want to bed you. That ought to serve as a motivator."

"Gods, if you begin to say things like that, I won't survive four months."

"Oh, you don't have to survive four months." She leaned over him, eyes glinting playfully, "If your behavior impress me, I may bed you before we are wed."

He gulped at her proximity, and she smirked, nudging his leg again. "Gods, you are so easy to tease," she marveled. "This is going to be fun. I'll have you speaking High Valyrian and hunting alongside Aemond in no time. Perhaps one day we'll all fly to the Godswood, hunt during the day, and fuck at night."

He huffed, disliking her impression that he was submissive to her in some way. "And yet you think you're not easy to tease," challenged Aegon. "You don't even know all the ways I could leave you unable to find the next word in your sentence."

She snorted, "Is that a threat? Forgive me if I'm not impressed by this supposed weapon."

"It's knowledge," said Aegon, wiggling closer. "Books aren't the only way you can learn something. You can do things and find out."

"Try me."

He raised a brow. "Does that mean I can give a demonstration?"

"Whatever that means, I suppose. As long as you don't undress me."

"I don't need to undress you. Close your eyes. Don't worry... I'm not going to touch you where you think I would."

Though skeptical, Rhysaenya shut her eyes, wiggling her legs in anticipation. Curiosity had sort of gotten to her, having heard things about pleasure that didn't make sense from only reading about it.

She jumped when she felt his first touch, against her hip. He'd slipped his hands beneath the riding skirt but over the trousers, gliding his palm down until he cupped the back of her knee, pressing his fingertips into it. She felt a strange tingle in her stomach, sort of like the flutter that came from seeing him again.

Aegon's voice came right in her ear, a low whisper, "Of course, all of this feels more intense when your skin is bare... but your pleasure centers exist just the same." He moved his other hand to roll up her sleeve, fingertips gliding over her forearm. This made the tingle more intense, and she was unsure why a touch on the arm even made this happen. It grew harder to ignore when he grazed her fingertips, his breath fanning her neck.

The hand on her knee moved up to squeeze her thigh, and he lifted the other to press into her neck as he whispered, "Now imagine me touching you like this when you're not wearing anything, when I'm at liberty to cup your breasts and slip my tongue between your legs." Her breath hitched as he brought the image to mind, the curiosity growing further. "Now imagine me holding you in these same places... your neck and your thigh... while I guide you in riding me the way you would a dragon. My cock stuffed inside you and my seed taking root to give us the heir everyone wants us to make. Is that something you can see clearly in that brilliant little mind of yours?"

She nodded wordlessly, continuing to imagine it as he gripped her thigh then pressed his hand over her stomach, fingers digging into the spot right below her belly button. For some reason, that felt as if someone had shocked her. When she gave a little jump, he laughed lowly, a mischievous and almost mocking laugh. He pressed his lips against her jaw, then drew back completely. "Open your eyes now."

She did, so flustered she couldn't meet his gaze. "Your face is redder than Caraxes's scales," said Aegon with a smirk. "And you thought you might be invulnerable? Oh, this is certainly going to be fun."

"That's not fair," she tried to argue. "You knew what to do and I don't know anything."

"You know enough, otherwise you would not have been imagining it so vividly."

She scrambled to her feet, fanning her face and making towards Skyfall. Aegon lingered behind, laughing and still watching Sunfyre play in the sky. Rhysaenya took her mount and left swiftly, glad for the distraction of flight and a visit with Helaena.

Skyfall must have sensed her frustration, because she kept trilling as if she was laughing, too.