@merelaes, continued from here.
The prince's laughter was almost as rare as his smile. It took a lot to draw it out of him, and Aemond usually kept himself guarded with emotions and what made him feel vulnerable to those around him. However, there had been several times when something would catch him off guard, and he couldn't stop his reaction. This had been one of those times, and it seemed that Clary had heard him. Heat ran up his neck at her words, and he wasn't sure what to say in return.
"I did not see you there, my lady.." He spoke while clearing his throat. The book he had been reading had caught him off guard with a passage and now he wished that he had checked around before reading it..
"Thank you for the compliment…"
The Red Keep had been unusually quiet - even somber - lately, & the joy & laughter that had once spilled so freely through the halls felt stilted at best. At its worst, heated words & flashes of barely contained steel had become an uncomfortable norm. She had been walking the curtain walls, hoping for a glimpse of her long-errant dragon to no avail & it was only when a storm rolled in off the sea that she had retreated inside in favor of the solitude of the small sunken courtyard.
Except she hadn't been alone, not quite.
' don't let me disturb you - I'm avoiding responsibility. ' Which is to say she's avoiding attending to his mother -- & brother's -- 's whims & anxieties as they saw fit. If the Keep as a whole was tense, the two of them were the epicenter of all of it but Clary wouldn't dare breathe a word of that thought aloud. Instead, she moves & arranges her skirts so she can read through a book she had pilfered from the library some ways away. ' You should find more cause to laugh like that, your highness. It might inspire the rest of us in this place. '
