The young woman's hand was already hurting when the four of them finally returned to the Red Keep. Aemond hadn't let go of her hand the whole way, squeezing it tightly with tension.

Edith looked up at Aemond nervously, but she didn't dare say anything or let go of his hand.

This time the family met in the queen's chambers, though the queen herself and her firstborn son retired to an adjoining room to talk.

The queen's other three children stayed behind in the main room and Edith sat down on a sofa next to Helaena, while Daeron lay on the sofa opposite and Aemond settled into the armchair in front of the fireplace.

"You guys sure took your time." Daeron said sarcastically, giving Edith a wink.

"Mhm." Aemond rolled his eye and his hands clawed tightly into the armrests of the armchair.

Concerned, Edith looked to her husband, stroking her hand, which was still a little numb from Aemond's hand. "Aegon has hidden himself well." Replied the young woman honestly, before becoming sarcastic as well. "With your help, I'm sure we would have found him sooner."

Daeron grinned. "Surely not." He admitted with a laugh, stroking his dark hair.

"I know, I was just trying to be nice." Smirked Edith, leaning back against the backrest.

Helaena slid forward and filled four cups with tea. One cup she placed on a small table next to Aemond, Daeron's cup she pushed closer to him on the table, and the third cup she placed in Edith's hand before taking her own cup.

"You look tired." Helaena whispered softly to the other princess. She had by now slid a little closer to Edith again. "Drink."

"What kind of tea is that?" asked Edith, not taking Helaena's hint. She was really tired, for she had slept very little during the night and the day had been very tiring so far.

The princess shrugged her shoulders and took a sip of her tea herself from her own cup. "I don't know exactly, but it's good." Answered the silver-haired one.

Edith eyed the reddish tea critically and smelled it before carefully taking a sip herself. She had become very cautious about drinks especially tea, but Helaena also drank the tea just like Daeron. In fact, the tea tasted very pleasant and slowly quenched her thirst.

Aemond had been explicitly watching the two and now turned his head back towards the fireplace to look into the fire. He himself did not reach for his cup and thus drank nothing, for he was far too lost in his thoughts.

"Oh finally!" sighed Daeron delightedly as the door opened and a servant entered with pastries and other food on a tray.

The woman had barely placed the food from the tray on the table when Daeron already sat up and greedily grabbed a roll. He dipped it into his tea and ate it with relish before the servant had even left the room.

Edith also slid forward to the edge of the sofa and placed her empty cup on the table before grabbing some food for herself. Finally she could eat something and she enjoyed every bite.

She and Aemond had planned to go into town to get fresh pastries from the city and eat them for breakfast. But the plan had been changed and she had had to go with him and Ser Adrik to find the eldest prince. Without having eaten anything all day, the pregnant woman accordingly had a large appetite and she was not ashamed of it.

Helaena was a bit more reserved, because she had already eaten something while waiting for her siblings and sister-in-law. Aemond, on the other hand, did not touch any of the pastries either and his tea was still untouched.

Concerned, Edith looked at her husband. He hadn't talked all the way back and now he was just sitting there silently.

She took one of the waffles and got up from her seat as she finished eating herself. Edith walked over to Aemond and sat on his lap without asking. Aemond raised his eyebrows questioningly, but immediately put his arms around his wife.

Gently she smiled at him and placed his hand on her small belly, then broke off a piece of the waffle and held it out to him, but Aemond turned his head away.

Understandably, he had no appetite after everything that just happened, but he had to eat something to keep his strength up and Edith knew that and so did he, but still he refused.

"Just a little, my dear." She breathed into his ear so softly that the other two in the room couldn't hear. "Please."

Aemond looked at his wife for a long time and seemed to be visibly thinking, but he did her the favor and opened his mouth a bit and Edith pushed the piece of the waffle between his lips.

Satisfied, she smiled and kissed his cheek, then took another small piece and put it back in his mouth. They repeated this until the waffle was gone and she finally pressed a kiss to his lips.

Without consciously noticing it, he had finally eaten the whole waffle, although he had not wanted to at first. He had done it to do her a favor, he then realized, and at the same time he knew how much he had fallen for her by now. The hatred at the beginning between them had long ceased to exist.

"Thank you." He breathed into her ear just as softly and then kissed her forehead, then gently stroked her stomach.

Daeron and Helaena were talking quietly behind them, and while the princess smiled happily at the couple, the youngest prince contorted his face in played disgust as Aemond then kissed Edith on the lips.

It was quite a while before Alicent came back into the room with Aegon behind her. The queen sat down next to her daughter on the sofa where Edith had been sitting earlier. Aegon, on the other hand, remained standing somewhat helplessly in the room, trying not to look at Edith, who was still sitting on his brother's lap.

Tensely they all looked at the queen, waiting for an order or for an answer to the many questions each of them had.

"Your father..." began Alicent, but she quickly improved after clearing her throat. "Your king has already been anointed this noon. I leave it up to you if you want to say goodbye." Said the queen in a strained voice and then told where the body is currently located.

Helaena lowered her eyes and nervously played with her hands, her gaze looking very distant and she seemed to be mentally absent as so often.

"Has it been announced yet?" wanted Daeron to know from his mother. He had by now sat up and was sitting upright facing the queen and his sister.

"No." Answered Alicent seriously, anxiously eyeing her children and Edith. Her eyes fell on Aemond's hand, which was still resting on Edith's belly. She felt very sorry for the two of them, for they had just found each other and neither knew exactly how to proceed.

This could be the end of the young relationship or the beginning. Alicent's heart ached for the two of them, even though she was the one who had agreed to the marriage at the time and had quickly pushed them into it. She didn't know if she regretted it, but she hoped that her son's happiness would last for a long time.

The queen did not know what she would have done if she had known beforehand what would happen. At the same time, she hoped to make everything better and right now and to protect her own family. Alicent would do everything to keep everyone safe.

She saw the baby in Edith's womb as a ray of hope, something that would make everything better. She had believed that with her own pregnancies and with Helaena's, but with Edith's pregnancy she was more than sure.

Alicent hoped that someday she would be able to hold her new grandchild in her arms.

"And it will stay that way for now, until just before Aegon's coronation." Added the queen.

Edith eyed the queen questioningly, then looked at Aemond in near panic. It was only a matter of time before the family could conceal the death of King Viserys until someone found out, or until Rhaenyra showed up here.

Unless Alicent planned the coronation in the next few days.

"When will it be?" asked Edith then, almost breathlessly, for she held her breath tensely.

Alicent looked at Aegon before turning her head back to Edith. "This week." She answered honestly, then lowered her head.

It just couldn't be, it just couldn't be! How was Edith going to pull this off? How was she going to expand her team in such a short time so that she could prevent Aegon's coronation?

Edith could only nod, because she could not find the right words.

No one in the room said anything until Alicent rose and left the room without a word.

Finally Edith got up from Aemond's lap and smoothed out her dress, then held out her hand to her husband, who took it and stood up with her.

"Where are you going?" asked Helaena in her soft voice.

Aemond, indeed, did not know, for he had instinctively risen with Edith, as she had held out her hand to him. Accordingly, he looked at Edith just as questioningly.

"I think we should all pay our last respects to King Viserys by visiting him one last time." Answered Edith, trying to smile encouragingly. "We'll go first."

"Then you will go alone." Murmured Daeron, shaking his head.

"What are you saying?" asked the princess with the brownish hair. Viserys was not Daeron's biological father, but still his reaction surprised Edith a lot.

"I won't go, and I'm certain Helaena won't either." Said the youngest prince with a sideways glance at his sister, who did not seem to be present at all. "And Aegon surely won't either."

Aegon cleared his throat and scratched his cheek. "What makes you so sure, brother?" It was the first sentence he had said since Edith and Aemond had found him in the city.

"Don't take offense, brother, but you never had any respect for him. So why should you show Viserys respect now?" Daeron spoke the truth and everyone in the room knew it, yet the truth gave Aegon a painful stab throughout his body.

Respect had always been lacking in the eldest prince, but deep inside Aegon was just a little boy who never got the love of his parents. Viserys had always regarded him only as his second heir, but never as his son, and he had never treated him that way. At some point the prince realized that Viserys would always put Rhaenyra first and would never love him.

Edith rolled her eyes and didn't even want to know if and what Aegon answered, so she left the room with Aemond holding her hand. At the same time, she didn't want to hear his voice again, because every word out of his mouth felt like a punch in the gut.

"I won't force you to come in with me, but I would like to say goodbye." She said honestly as the two stopped in front of said door, which Alicent had named earlier.

"I'll come with you." Said Aemond emotionlessly and stepped past the two guards into the room. Edith followed him and walked with Aemond to the center of the room.

The room was almost empty except for the table in the middle of the room and some tables where the materials from the anointing were still lying and candles were spread all over the room. Visery's lifeless body was wrapped in cloths and fixed with brown leather straps, while his golden crown lay on his chest.

With slow steps, the two approached the table and eyed the cloaked figure. Edith had never noticed how thin the king had been due to his illness, for his wide robes hid that well.

Now that she was out of options, Edith wanted to spend more time with him and ask him so many questions. Viserys was her mother's biological father and thus her grandfather, but unfortunately she had never really known him, which she now regretted.

And somehow she believed that Viserys could have helped her in the current situation. But no one would be in this situation now and in a hurry if Viserys was still alive.

Aemond walked past the table to the window with the beautiful dark ornamentation, through which only a little light came into the room.

Edith, on the other hand, was standing just in front of the hidden corpse, examining the many cloths and leather straps. They lay neatly around Visery's body, which was perfumed.

Her heart grew heavier the longer she stood in front of Viserys. Actually, her mother was supposed to stand here and say goodbye to her father, but Aruna didn't know about Visery's death yet. Aruna didn't know that she was really an orphan now, and Aruna didn't know what Edith was actually going through.

She had to bite her tongue hard to keep from crying. Luckily Aemond had his back to her that he couldn't see her struggling with herself.

"It's a shame he can't meet his first grandchild from you..." said Edith softly, but Aemond understood her without any problems.

The prince shook his head slightly and let his long silver hair slide down his back. "He wouldn't have paid any more attention to him than he did to his other grandchildren." Aemond clicked his tongue.

"That's a great pity." She murmured, disappointed.

She was a grandchild of the king herself and could sadly confirm it, but she did not know how Viserys had behaved with Rhaenyra's children or with Helaena's children. She only knew that Helaena had sometimes visited her father with her children.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Edith after a moment of silence, during which she had been watching Aemond, who stood restlessly in front of the window.

"I just don't understand why we're here." His hands were clasped behind his back as he turned to her, reassuring himself once again that the two of them were alone in the room. "This whole day has been a waste. I have things to do."

"You lost your father, Aemond. What's a wasted day about that?" she wanted to know from him incredulously, walking slightly away from the table with Viserys as if he could still hear the two of them. Edith went to Aemond's window and stood next to him so she could look out the window as well. "It's only been a day."

"A day lost to my dead father and my idiot brother." Escaped Aemond almost angrily. His jaw tightened and his lips pressed tightly together.

"Well... that thing with Aegon was really pretty stupid..." admitted Edith quietly. "But what do you have to do that's so important? I thought you actually wanted to spend the day with me!" she said louder now.

The two didn't look at each other as they talked. "Mhm, We found two dead people in a few hours here at the Red Keep. There's some work to be done, Edith."

The young woman felt sick and feared the delicious pastry coming back up as Aemond spoke it out. She had fortunately been distracted and busy all day that she hadn't even thought about what had happened yesterday and had almost forgotten about the now dead Ludwig.

"And one of them is your father." So she said quickly to take her mind off the old maester.

"You repeat yourself." He stated. "I have a feeling this whole thing here is more important to you." Aemond pointed to the table with the wrapped corpse.

"Apparently." Edith ran her hands over the pleasant fabric of her dress and smoothed it out.

Aemond eyed his wife attentively. "I just don't understand why yet." Admitted the silver-haired one.

"Viserys was my king. We lost a great man in Westeros." She then tried to explain herself after a moment of silence. "Every citizen should mourn respectfully."

"But you are not a normal citizen, you are a princess of House Targaryen..." Aemond brushed her brownish hair behind her ear to get a better look at her face.

Edith turned her head away from Aemond and walked back to the table with Viserys. "It's fortunate that we can say goodbye. Others don't have that luck." She admitted, now standing with her back to him.

"Do you feel sorry for my half-sister not being able to do this?" he wanted to know from her, eyeing her delicate back.

Her hands rested on the table, on which she propped herself up a bit as she laughed. "I certainly don't feel sorry for that woman." She said carelessly, perhaps giving away a little too much.

"I never thought I'd hear you talk about your family like that." Aemond almost had to stifle a grin of pride as he crossed his arms now in front of his chest and leaned against the window sill. But he only knew half the truth.

"Princess Rhaenyra is not my family." She improved on him angrily, clutching the tabletop tightly with her fingers. She was ashamed to say the words in front of Visery's corpse, but it was the truth. Rhaenyra meant nothing to her anymore.

"The black ones are your family." Aemond deliberately probed her to find out more, for they had never had such a conversation together.

"My parents and my siblings are my family. Not Rhaenyra and the black ones" Edith honestly improved her husband. Why should she lie to him too? He would find out soon anyway.

"What about me?" asked Aemond more seriously now.

Edith took a deep breath before answering. "You're part of my family, too. My own family." She released her hands from the table and placed her hands on her stomach instead.

Satisfied, the man smiled at her, but she didn't see it.

"And the green ones?" he asked with additional curiosity.

At last Edith turned back to him to look at him and found that he wore a slight grin on his lips.

"Individual members, yes. Otherwise, no." She answered him, tilting her head slightly to eye him.

"Who?"

"Are the green ones your family?" she asked a counter question.

"Why the question?" Aemond smirked.

"Why do you ask so many questions, Aemond?"

"Why did you stop answering mine, Edith?"

The young woman rolled her eyes. "Okay, that's enough." She sighed.

"The Greens are my family, but I don't support every one of their thoughts and activities." Admitted the young man honestly. His pondering grin was gone now.

Edith tried to take advantage of his honesty and openness, as he always did with her. "And are you loyal to them, too?" she asked boldly, taking a step toward him.

"Who else would I be loyal to?" Aemond also took a few steps towards her until they were standing in front of each other.

The princess didn't answer and just started smiling.

"To whom are you loyal?" the young man wanted to know from his wife.

"Only to me." She stood straight and confident in front of him and with her hands on her stomach she subconsciously manipulated his own feelings. "I think it's time you and I have a talk, husband."

Interested, Aemond eyed her with his one violet eye while his other sapphire eye was hidden under his eye patch. "Then speak, wife." He demanded of her.

"Okay, but don't you have so much to do?" she reminded him of his own words moments ago.

"I find this much more interesting right now than looking for a murderer." Smirked Aemond.

"Then let me take that task off your hands already, so you can concentrate on other things." Edith began her narration. For a brief moment she doubted her own sanity, but there was no way back. "You have already found the murderer."

Aemond looked at her doubtfully, considering her words. "Aegon is an idiot, but not a murderer, he's just an idiot." Aemond replied in a serious tone.

"Aegon is not a murderer, you're right." Edith took her hands off her stomach and clasped her hands behind her back.

"Who else?"

The young woman with the brownish hair did not answer. She knew she was a murderer, but she couldn't say it because she was kind of ashamed.

Aemond understood her silence and raised his eyebrows questioningly before starting to laugh. He could never really understand her allusion, he thought. Edith was the interpretation of innocent, she would never be able to do something like that.

She hated that he laughed at her. At the same time, she knew that if she hadn't said anything, he would never have accused her. But he had to know. Edith needed Aemond - on her side.

"It's true." She confirmed as he kept laughing. "Maester Ludwig died by my hand last night."

"I do not believe you. How are you supposed to do that?" he asked incredulously.

He didn't mean it badly, but it was the truth. She was good with a sword, but Edith was a small, petite woman and also just pregnant. So how should she have killed a big strong man?

Edith took a deep breath and then started talking about yesterday. She told of her afternoon with Colin in the garden and how he had then accompanied her to Maester Arwin, stressing that she had sent him away to take the flowers away. Finally she said that she felt safe and sent Arwin away before Ludwig showed up and threatened her.

She was honest with him and told him every detail of her so-called fight with him and she told him about her fears, her thoughts and the feelings she had felt about it and how much it had weighed on her.

Then Edith told him about Ludwig's revelation of Princess Rhaenyra's intentions and slowly Aemond understood that his wife was telling him the truth even before she told him about the murder itself and didn't leave out any detail.

The woman then ended her narration with how Arwin and Colin had helped her and brought her back to her chambers.

"Do you believe me now?" she asked him quietly, eyes downcast. Her hands rested on her stomach again to calm herself down a bit.

"I think so." Aemond believed her, but somehow he still couldn't believe it. Or rather, he didn't want to believe it, because that was his innocent wife in front of him. "I just don't understand yet why you didn't tell me about it sooner?"

"I was ashamed." She said honestly and shrugged her shoulders helplessly.

"There's nothing to be ashamed of, my dear. You defended yourself and more importantly you got revenge on him." Aemond placed his hands on her upper arms and stroked them gently with an encouraging smile.

"I was afraid that you would see me with different eyes then." The woman whispered softly.

Aemond kissed her forehead. "Even though it was a bad experience for you, I'm proud that you got your revenge and I'm sure you'll have your chance with Rhaenyra as well."

"You want me to kill her?" Edith asked with wide eyes in shock, because she hadn't thought that far or couldn't think.

"If you don't, then I will for everything she's done to you." He promised her honestly, then pressed his lips firmly to hers.

***

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