In an unmistakable loudness, his footsteps resounded back from the walls. The young man had a confident stride, whereas the footsteps of his wife beside him were barely audible. It was almost as if she was floating over the cold floor.

Just a few minutes ago, the two had been intimately sharing a bed and now the two were walking through the Red Keep and another person could have fit between them - maybe even two people.

A personal message from the Queen had separated the two and put Edith in a bit of a funk. The two spouses had shared a special moment and not for the first time had such one been ruined by her. At the same time, Edith was no longer surprised that Aemond immediately ran to the queen when she called for him.

"Why don't you touch me?" she wanted to know from him.

Aemond turned his head toward her. His eye patch was back perfectly over his sapphire eye. "I touched you just now." He replied dryly, looking forward again.

"I know, but I didn't mean it that way." Edith sighed.

"How then?" He didn't seem very interested in conservation, as in fact he almost never was.

Immediately she regretted bringing up the subject. Common conversation was not their strength and it never would be. Especially not about feelings or problems.

Nevertheless, the young woman broke the distance to her husband and reached for his hand. It felt rough from all his battles and at the same time it was so warm and soft that Edith never wanted to let it go.

"What are you doing?"

"I'm holding your hand?" she answered the obvious, squeezing his hand to clarify her statement. "Don't you like it? You never touch me outside our chambers..."

Her husband didn't answer her, but he didn't pull his hand away either, which Edith took as a good sign.

The rest of the way the two were silent until they entered the dining room. The Queen was already seated at the table along with her other three children and her father. Alicent looked impatient when she looked up and saw the young couple enter, but she avoided looking at the young woman.

Aemond only let go of her hand when he pushed the chair forward for her to sit down. A gentlemanly behavior, which he only very rarely lived out. A behavior which was untypical for him, but he tried to implement better since he slowly found pleasure in his wife.

"Forgive us for our lateness. Edith was kind enough to wait for me until I got back from the city." The silver-haired prince explained himself as he sat down on the chair between Edith and his younger brother Daeron.

Alicent sat at the head of the table, as she often did, and next to her sat her own father, Otto Hightower. Across from Edith, Aemond and Daeron sat Helaena and Aegon. No one at the table looked at anyone. Everyone start either at their plates, at the wall, or at their hands. Everything was more interesting at the moment than talking to a family member.

"It's fine." Replied Alicent with a forced smile. She looked nervous and seemed uncomfortable. Edith wondered if something was wrong with the king.

The young princess was the only one who dared to look up and look into the faces of the others. Two servants were filling the plates of the newcomers with food, since the others had already started a few minutes ago.

When Edith's eyes reached Otto, she noticed that he was already looking at her curiously. It was obvious that he was examining her and he did not hide his grin. The older man then looked at her seatmate Aemond and then he looked at his oldest grandson Aegon and it seemed like he knew something.

What did Otto know? Had he also seen Aegon and Edith in the city yesterday?

Edith's heartbeat quickened and she felt sick once again. She had been glad that Daeron had not spoken to her about the situation. After all, it had been him who had seen the two in the alley. Had Daeron perhaps betrayed them to his grandfather?

Her gaze went almost panic-stricken to her brother-in-law next to her, but he didn't seem to notice the situation at the table. Daeron was far too busy with his meal.

"Were you at least successful?" asked Otto into the room instead, now looking at Aemond again.

Now Edith was really confused. Yesterday she had seen Aemond and Daeron with Otto in town, and even so the three of them seemed to do a lot together in the city. Why hadn't Otto been with them today? She still wanted to know what the three of them were doing in the city.

But maybe he didn't talk about their super secret mission there? The question was ambiguous and not entirely sane, and the fact that Aemond didn't answer confirmed Edith's suspicions about what the question from the king's hand was supposed to mean.

The queasy feeling in her stomach grew worse. Nevertheless, she reached for her goblet and drank her wine in one go.

What no one noticed was that Alicent gave her father a warning look under the table. She felt sorry for her daughter-in-law, because Edith did not deserve this life, and yet it was the life Alicent had intended for her.

The two women suffered a similar life. They were forced to marry someone they did not love and that did not bode well for a happy future. Alicent only found love when she met her guard, Sir Adrik Tyrell. Alicent also wished for Edith to have such a strong love to live and fight for, even if the princess did not find it in her husband.

Aemond would survive this and perhaps find someone himself, at least that was what the queen thought. But the prince had already fallen far too far to let Edith go now. The same was the case with the eldest prince, Aegon, who also adored Edith.

"A girl will honor us..." Helaena interrupted the silence with her dreamy voice. Her gaze was fixed on the ceiling, while she clutched her wine goblet with one hand and swirled it a bit. Helaena was sitting here at the table, but she seemed so distant.

Edith envied her more than ever. Only too gladly would she be somewhere else right now, even if it were only mentally somewhere else.

"She will be a blessing to us, you are right, my dear Helaena." Alicent agreed with her daughter, smiling at her encouragingly, but Helaena didn't even get that.

"Who will bless us?" asked Edith with interest. She didn't care if the question was inappropriate, but she hated not getting answers.

With her question, all eyes turned to the young woman.

Uncomfortable, Edith slid around in her chair and then looked cautiously at her husband. "Did I say something wrong?" she asked softly. She had leaned in a little toward him so that only he could hear her, but of course the others had heard as well, since they were already paying attention to Edith.

"Doesn't she know?" Otto looked at his family with his superior grin and leaned back in his chair tensely. He seemed to be more than enjoying the situation. Otto really did know more than he liked to admit or was given credit for.

Edith would love to talk to him sometime and learn all the secrets that were never spoken. But in the case of an afternoon between the two, one would not leave the room alive and Edith feared for her life.

"I think it's not the right time." Answered Aegon with an annoyed sigh. His goblet was held tightly in his hand and neither he nor the servants had counted how many times they had already had to refill it for him. Aegon also seemed nervous, but perhaps he was just drunk as he so often was.

"A letter came from your family at noon today, unfortunately I hadn't had a chance to give it to you yet, dear Edith." Alicent diverted from the actual topic - the queen was really good at it, but she was not good at hiding her feelings.

The pretty woman waved a servant over, who handed Edith the letter. On the brownish envelope was not her name, but simply the words 'My beloved daughter'.  Edith immediately recognized her father's writing and she had to suppress her tears.

It was the first letter in a long time and it was the only letter Edith had from her family, from her father, since the fire.

She held the letter tightly in her hands and would have liked to hold it against her chest, but now was not the right time. Also, she would have to be patient until she could read her father's words.

"That is very kind of you, thank you very much, your Grace." Edith thanked her and put the letter in her lap. She would never give the letter to anyone else, even if she didn't know what was in it. It could be something good, but it could also be something bad at the same time.

It seemed that not a day went by without something dramatic happening, and that scared Edith.

"Daeron told me that the two of you were in his atelier? I didn't know you were an artist, too." Alicent looked at her daughter-in-law with interest and gave her an encouraging smile.

Alicent was really trying to build a better bond with Edith, only she had no idea how hard this would be after all she had gone through because of her.

The two women were perhaps more alike than they thought.

"I wouldn't call myself an artist, because I will never be as talented as Prince Daeron." Said the young woman with the brownish hair and briefly she smiled at Daeron. "I really enjoyed it very much."

Daeron returned her smile beside her. "I'm really glad to hear that and I hope we can finish your masterpiece someday." He replied.

Aegon knew about Daeron's preferences, but still he could not suppress the rising jealousy. Aemond did not seem satisfied either, but his attention was on the piece of meat on his plate.

Edith herself had barely touched her plate, she was too uncomfortable for that and the feeling in her stomach from the atmosphere did not please her at all.

"What did you draw?" asked Helaena, her eyes shining. Her daydreaming seemed to be over and she was back in the reality.

The young princess smiled at the older one, though a bit uncertainly. "A cliff on Dragonstone. It was my favorite place from me and my sisters." She told. The thought of her home reassured her.

"That sounds like a nice place, I'd like to see it someday." Helaena placed her elbows on the table and rested her head on her hands. Her gaze was all on her close and only friend.

"That would be very nice." Smiled Edith back.

She wished nothing more than to show Helaena her favorite place someday. She very much hoped that her plan to get out of here would work. Together with Sir Colin and Sir Harwin, the two women had a chance to escape, but it was still a matter of time before the plan might work out.

At the same time she wished for the love and affection from her husband and dreamed of a happy future with him. But Aemond was loyal to his family and his mother, so it was clear what he would choose when the time came.

Aegon, her lover, could give her all that. The three of them could live a peaceful life together in Dragonstone or maybe even in Essos - far away from all this.

But Aegon was the reason why it could lead to war, and escaping with him was just as unimaginable.

"Maybe you can travel there with your children someday?" suggested Otto. He quickly hid his grin by taking a sip of his wine.

"Father." Escaped Alicent, who now put down her cutlery and dabbed her mouth with a napkin. She knew as the best that this suggestion would never come true. She would know how to prevent that herself.

"Maybe someday." Edith only replied to the older man.

Daeron turned his gaze from his plate and looked instead at his sister-in-law beside him. "I didn't know you were expecting as well?" Daeron eyed Edith, or rather her belly. But he decided not to say anything further and to empty his plate instead.

"Wait... who is expecting a child?" asked Aemond now, interfering in the conversation. He put his goblet down louder than he would have liked and his gaze was solely on his mother.

Alicent closed her eyes and shook her head instead of answering her son, while Otto let out a laugh. "The princess carries a child under her heart." He answered him.

Edith was confused and thought of all the princesses she knew. Princess Rhaenyra could not be blessed with a child, as this would betray her, since her husband was no longer with her. By marrying Edith's father, her mother Aruna was now also a princess, but she had only recently given birth to a child, so this was also unlikely.

And then she realized the obvious. Otto was talking about none other than Princess Helaena.

"You are blessed with a child?" Edith didn't think before she spoke and she nervously slid in her chair again. At the same time she became unbearably warm. "I'm afraid our congratulations are in order then, aren't they Aemond?"

Her husband seemed as clueless as she, but unlike her, he didn't seem to mind his sister's situation.

Helaena was married, so it was no surprise that she was pregnant. She already had two children with Aegon, so it was only a matter of time before more heirs would follow.

Still, it felt like a dagger in Edith's heart.

"Of course. Our congratulations to you two." Aemond agreed with his wife, not quite knowing why.

He didn't quite understand why she seemed to be so taken by it, but he took advantage of the moment to pull her further to his side by unexpectedly reaching for her hand. Maybe he was just trying to make his point that she was his, or maybe he remembered the conversation in the hallway and he wanted to do her a favor by touching her outside the chambers as well.

"Thank you." Answered Aegon for the both of them and yet he didn't seem happy about the situation either. Or he didn't want to show this or he had a guilty conscience.

Edith didn't know. She didn't know anything anymore and understood even less what was happening right now.

"Tell me again, my dear granddaughter, how far along are you?" Otto gave Edith a sideways glance before asking the question to Helaena and then looking at her.

Otto Hightower really did know more and Edith now realized that. He must have seen her and Aegon in town yesterday or someone would have told him. Or maybe they hadn't been careful enough when the two of them had been sneaking across the corridors the last few weeks.

"A couple of moons already."

A few moons? That could be a short time, but also a longer time, and yet it was not an exact time.

Edith avoided looking at Aegon and Helaena, as the betrayal sat deep. Only yesterday she had spent the day with her lover, but he had not mentioned with one silve that Helaena was expecting another child from him or that she was already that far along. Nor had Helaena ever said anything, and her loose dresses had never given anything away.

"And how far along are you, dear Edith?" wanted Otto to know mischievously.

Now Aemond too tensed beside her and he put down his cutlery and his hand holding hers also tightened its grip. "I don't think that's an appropriate question." He grumbled tensely.

"I didn't feel the question was inappropriate. Do you, Princess Edith?" provoked the Hightower.

Edith took a deep breath and then mustered all her courage to answer him reasonably and not sass him. "To be honest, I'm not sure, but I'm sure we will soon be blessed with an heir as well." She forced herself to smile, looking at Aemond playfully in love.

The silver-haired one seemed to take her hint and want to play the game, because he leaned over to her and breathed a kiss on his wife's lips.

No one had expected this, especially Edith, who had enjoyed the brief kiss. Aemond had actually shown her his affection and that in front of his family and not secretly and hidden in the common chambers.

At the same time, Aegon's goblet filled with new wine and Helaena seemed to be back in another reality.

Daeron, meanwhile, had finished eating and was sitting inelegantly in his chair. He felt guilty that he, of all people, had given away the secret. The youngest had already been thinking about Aegon and Edith, not least after the alley yesterday in the city. He knew it had been wrong of him and he should have just kept his mouth shut - he felt bad.

"Would you like a sip, too?" he offered his sister-in-law as a peace offering after feeling his cup.

Edith nodded gratefully. "That would be lovely." She answered him, at the same time he was already filling her goblet without waiting.

"How about some dessert?" Alicent raised her hand and waved the servants over. No one was eating from their plates anymore, so the queen had the dishes cleared and the dessert served. Once again Alicent had tried to distract from a fact that was inevitable and this time everyone seemed relieved about it.

Even though the pudding was delicious, it was also the longest dessert the family had shared.

***

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