He could not breathe. How could he breathe? His screams of terror as he rushed down the halls of the Red Keep were a haunting sound. He would call for help as his wife bled out in his arms, as his own life bled out. He could not breathe when he laid his wife down on their bed, and he felt like dying as he watched the Maester and his apprentices rush into the room. He could not feel his own body, no, he felt like he was not even there. He couldn't feel his hands, he couldn't feel the tears that rolled down his face as he watched Elyana lie there lifeless.

"Get the prince out of here!" Orwyle called hysterically as he moved about the bedchamber and got his instruments ready to work on the lady. "Don't you dare touch me!" Aemond growled, pushing the guards backwards.

"My prince this is... it is better you go outside." The maester stated as he cut open Elyana's dress, fully revealing her body and the gash that spread through her stomach. Orwyle hadn't seen anything like it, not since he attended soldiers coming back from war.

"I will not leave her here." Aemond stated, the tears continuing to stream down the good side of his face as he watched his wife. His lifeline, his love, his own life, his sanity... she was laying there without moving. Laying there with his own heart in her hands. The maester did not contest him, and instead began pressing gauze into the open wound. "Where is she?! Where is my girl?!" Lyanna Rotchamsey burst into the chamber.

The woman gasped and fell to her knees when she saw her bloody daughter. "Gods be good! Gods! Please no... not my girl! My girl..." Lyanna cried uncontrollably, violent sobs engulfing the chambers as she watched the maester asses the wound.

"The babe is in distress!" Orwyle called loudly, and Aemond felt as if the weight of the world was crushing him down unto the floor. "Maester... I think she's bleeding out..." One apprentice would say with a shaky breath.

He couldn't breathe, his one eye fixed on his lifeless wife. He couldn't lose her, not her. He needed her.

Then she flinched. A glimmer of hope, Aemond decided. She was still here, still with life. Still with him. "The babe is coming!" The maester called. "You! Press this into the wound until she stops her bleeding!" Orwyle ordered as he moved to tear off Elyana's undergarments.

"Aemond..." Lyanna cried from the floor, and he reacted . He moved to his mother in law and helped her up. The woman took his hands in hers and began praying out loud, praying to the Gods for the saving of her only child and only family left. "Please..." Lyanna cried as Aemond held her up.

Aemond watched unmoving as the maester worked on his wife, as he pressed on her stomach to get the babe out. It felt like hours had passed, and they had. The babe was not coming easily, and she was not conscious to push it out. It was agony, having to stand there and watch his wife be probed and worked on without being able to do anything to help her.

"We have to get this child out! We have to stitch her up or else she'll lose too much blood! It'll kill her!" The maester said in hysterics. Aemond could not take it, he pushed Lyanna away and exited their chambers. When in the corridor he slammed his fist on the wall, bursting out into even more tears. He should have been there to protect his family, and he was not. He failed her, he failed their child, his sister, his mother, his nephew. He failed everyone.

Powerless. He felt powerless. Just like he had felt many times before. His wife's life was in danger and there was nothing that Aemond could do now. "Prince Aemond..." It was Criston Cole. He turned to look at the knight, who had an angered look on his face.

"I um... I am sorry about the lady. What transpired was a tragedy but I thought you should know, we apprehended the one that fled. He is in the dungeons... I thought you would want a crack at him." Cole spoke stoicly, awaiting for Aemond to react to his words.

Should he leave his wife here on the brink of death to go and cope in a unhealthy way? "Let us go." Aemond stated, his hand itching to take his sword and chop the man that had done this to his wife into tiny pieces.

Aemond and Criston made their way to the depths of the dungeons, where feral screams echoed the halls. It appeared the man was already being dealt with. Aemond found his brother there with a torch, he had been burning the information out of the man. Aegon looked at Aemond with a solemn expression and pushed the torch into his chest, then he hurried away from the cell.

Aemond put the torch down and circled the man in an almost predatory manner, assesing ways to make him suffer in his mind. The man was smaller than Aegon, and skinnier. He looked young, perhaps about Cole's age. He had facial hair that had been half burnt off by Aegon and his torch, and he was heaving heavily as he looked at Aemond. He knew what was coming.

"You hurt the most precious thing in my life." Aemond started, his one eye filled with sheer hate as he stared at the man kneeling before him. "Yet I come here seeking to help you get out of this torture." Aemond lied, his eye twitching and his hand itching to grab his sword and stab it through his eye. But not yet.

"Tell us who sent you... tis in your best interest. If you do, I will set you free. I give you my word. But if you do not... I am more than afraid that you will suffer tremendously." Aemond implored as he kept on circling the man. Criston raised a brow, though he knew just how cynical Aemond could be.

The man remained quiet, staring at Aemond's boots as he circled him like a dragon circling a lamb. "Tsk... If you do not speak... I will tear off each of your limbs until you are but a torso and a head. Then you will be fed to my dragon..." Aemond warned. That was his plan, regarless of what the man did.

"Prince Daemon sent me... and Erryk Cargyll told us of how the ladies spent their times in the night. He um... they sent me." The man spoke slowly, choking on his words as he looked up at Aemond expectantly. He took a deep breath and looked to Criston. "Tear off his arms."

-

The sun was out in King's Landing once more, and Aemond had spent his entire night torturing the man that had harmed his wife alongside Criston Cole. The criminal was as good as dead. But Aemond did not wish to kill him, not until the man had suffered what Elyana did but thousand fold.

Criston was just done punching his face in when suddenly Arryk Cargyll came into the dungeon. Aemond wanted to kill him for what his brother had done. "Prince Aemond, the maester has called for you. It is about the Lady Elyana." Arryk muttered, his eyes fixed on the limbless man on the floor at the hands of Cole and Aemond.

Aemond felt his heart drop and his breath hitch in his throat. He could feel his hands trembling as he sheathed his dagger and nodded, exiting the dungeon hastily. Aemond walked for what felt like an eternity until he finally got to their chambers, and outside by the door was Lyanna crying uncontrollably. "Where were you?!" His mother in law came over to him and slapped Aemond across the face.

He did not react. He deserved it. "She's dead! Dead!" Aemond did not process what she said. Not for a few seconds, and when he finally did, he turned around and hurled right there in the corridor. Elyana couldn't be dead. No. She could not leave him. She was dead and he wasn't there. She was dead and he couldn't protect her.

"Prince Aemond!" Orwyle rushed to him when he exited the chambers and spotted the hurling and crying prince. Aemond fell to his knees, his hands covering his face as he bawled. "The babe, Aemond." Lyanna clarified. They were going to have a little girl? Aemond looked at the maester expectantly, urging him to tell him the news with his eye.

"We were able to stitch the lady up after we got the babe out of her, my prince, but the babe's life has been lost. It was a girl." The maester informed. He was going to father a little girl and they had killed her? His baby girl was dead?

"I've not yet ordered the Silent Sisters to take her... I thought you would want to see her before she goes be prepared for burial." The maester said quietly. "My wife?" Aemond sniffed as he rose to his feet slowly.

"She is in critical condition. We were able to stitch her up, and she remains breathing but she lost much blood. Yet she was lucky. They sliced her to take the baby's life, not hers. It was but a superficial cut." The maester explained, and Aemond sighed in relief. His wife was going to be okay.

"I want to see my daughter and wife." Aemond stated and the maester nodded, guiding Aemond into the chambers. When he saw her, his heart dropped. His Elyana, his wife was laying there lifeless. She had been changed into a white nightgown, her eyes closed as her chest rose and fell in the lightest of manners.

Aemond kneeled besides the bed, taking her hand and giving it a soft kiss. He was crying softly, resting his forehead on her body. "I love you so much. You can not leave me, El. Do not leave me." He pleaded.

He looked at her face and she looked angelical almost. Aemond could feel his hands trembling as he watched her. How could this happen? Why wasn't he there for her? Why didn't he go with her? He should have been there. "Prince Aemond... your daughter." The maester said in a low voice.

Aemond turned to see the maester holding the corpse of what could have been his little princess. Aemond couldn't help the flowing tears and sobs he let out as he saw the babe. He stood up and then the maester handed her over gently. Orwyle gave him a nod and then proceeded to leave him alone with his wife and daughter.

Aemond sat at the foot of the bed in tears as he looked up at what would've been his child. What could have been his little girl, his princess. She was so tiny, she looked like a small angel. Aemond planted a kiss to the babe's forehead and burst out crying once more. This was all his fault. He made them come for his family. He did this.

"Brother." Aemond turned to see Aegon at the doorway. His eyes were fixed on Elyana then they moved to Aemond and his babe. "Get out." Aemond commanded but Aegon walked inside the room and over to Aemond. He looked at the dead babe in his brother's arms and shook his dead.

"I am sorry for your loss, brother." Aegon munbled with a solemn expression on his face. Aemond sniffed and nodded his head.

"And I am sorry for yours." Aemond croaked. Aegon frowned, trying to blink away the tears that brimmed his waterline. "Is this throne worth it? My son... your girl? Is this all worth it?" Aegon asked shakily. Perhaps it was not worth it, but they were in too deep now.

"If it is not then tis too late, Aegon." Aemond stated, his usual sternness back in his tone of voice. Aegon looked at his brother and pressed his lips together. They butted heads most of the time. They cursed eachother and were rude to eachother most of the times but they were brothers.

Aegon engulfed his brother is a tight hug. A display of affection that Aemond had not received from his brother since they were children. Aemond took a breath and rested his head on Aegon's shoulders.

"Do not fret, brother. We will kill them all for their sins. I promise this to you. Our children shall be avenged." Aegon whispered with much conviction on his voice.

"We will burn them all to the ground."