The Dragons and Their Sun (aemond/oc)

aurora XIII

 SIX YEARS LATER

"You're disgusting," Aurora picked up a dirty shirt splayed across her best friend's floor.

He smiled at her over his shoulder, "I love it when you talk dirty to me."

She balled up the shirt and chucked it at his head, silently praising herself when it made contact, "Stop that. And hurry up."

He groaned, taking off the shirt he was wearing to replace it with another, "You're the one who's making me do this, you don't get to complain that it's taking forever."

"Oh, please, it took me half of this time to figure out what I'm wearing," she flopped down on his bed, sorting through his laid out shirts. She sorted them into good and bad choices, keeping the bad choices away from the man with no fashion sense.

"That's because all of your dresses are the same. Long sleeves and no skin showing," he told her. She handed him a shirt that she thought would look good on him, and he took it, quickly changing into it.

"You're also much more high maintenance than I am," she got up and walked over to him. He turned to her as he buttoned up the final buttons on his shirt. She scanned him for a moment before nodding, "Wear this one."

He looked at himself in the mirror, studying how he looked before giving himself a nod. Aurora smiled fondly at the man.

They were in the middle of choosing outfits for the ball they were attending. It was going to be Aurora's nine and tenth nameday soon. King Viserys had all but demanded they throw a celebration for her. He had wanted to on her sixth and tenth nameday but Aurora wasn't ready to be introduced to the court yet. To be truthful, she still wasn't ready, but she felt like she already put it off for too long. She was ten and eight; a woman grown. She had to do this. She could do this.

"You'll be fine. If anyone says anything, I know someone who wouldn't hesitate to run them through," Aegon patted her shoulder as he removed his chosen shirt to hang it up.

Aurora blushed slightly, "I know it'll be fine. I'm just scared."

He sighed, "I know. We'll only have to make a short appearance, and then we'll leave. They're dreadfully boring, anyway. You won't be missing much."

Aurora chuckled under her breath, "I'll be expected to dance. I'm not too excited about the looks people will give me when they're told to dance with me. I've already started mentally preparing myself for the rejections."

"You have nine men who would gladly dance with you if you asked. I say nine is plenty of dances. You could have it worse. I'll have to dance with every woman in the room," Aegon flopped down on his bed, still shirtless. Aurora flopped down next to him, uncaring about his state of undress. They had been friends for too long to care about it anymore. Not that they ever did.

Aurora did a headcount of the supposed eight men she could dance with. Aegon, Aemond, Jace, Luke, Laenor, Viserys, Daemon, Corlys, and Laenor. If she danced with each one twice, she could fill her evening with them.

Aurora squeezed her best friend's hand, "You have seven women to dance with. I'll dance with you three times to make it even."

Aegon smirked at her, "If I didn't know any better, I'd say you were trying to keep me away from other women."

Aurora sat up, smiling back at him, "I'll leave you to the vultures, then. I'm sure the women there would love a chance to dance with such a dashing young prince."

Aegon dragged her back down by the back of her dress, "No, please, I apologize. You're the only woman for me."

Aurora smacked his hand away, hauling herself up and away from the bed, "I need to go let Nyra know you've finally made your mind up. Give that to the maids to press."