Plans
“Merbun.” Garmund said the Valyrian word slowly and sounded it out for her. They had been going over common phrases for 20 minutes.
Rhaena paused to look at her notes before answering.
“Ok Merbun means....I’m hungry?”
“Correct.” the professor nodded his head before crossing out their last word for the day.
Thinking of endless possibilities to show off her new knowledge once she got back home, Rhaena was beaming.
“So, we’ll pick back up after our holiday break with locations.” Garmund smiled proudly before standing up.
Every now and then, Rhaena reminded herself to flutter her lashes at him. She had the man wrapped around her finger and it did wonders for her exam scores. Minor mistakes in her papers were ignored. The best part about it, he promised to send a letter to her father expressing how great of a student she was. But Rhaena’s glee was short lived when Garmund glanced behind her.
“Cousin!” Garmund exclaimed and looked cheerful while Rhaena turned to see Aemond with an irritated appearance.
“I was just finishing up with Rhaena. Did you need something?”
Aemond’s face didn’t budge and he stared at the both of them, looking angrier than usual.
“Hmm.”
Garmund excused himself to go into his office and finish up grading assignments. Rhaena sighed, understanding Aemond at this point and how he would conduct himself. She didn’t want to embarrass him, so she said nothing and waited. They stared at each other for what felt like hours, and Aemond’s expression almost gave away his disturbance that she didn’t shy away.
She cleared her throat and raised her head higher, trying to match the much taller man when he finally spoke.
“I’m sure you enjoyed the little show you were given.” Aemond squinted his eyes. He was watching her closely, trying to see if she would reveal any pleasure she might have thinking back to his mutilation being exposed.
She couldn’t help but feel bad for him.
“Aemond.” Rhaena paused before responding, thinking of what she should say. She could humiliate him, bring up what she saw and tell him how revolting it was to look at. That would be a lie on her part, but she wasn’t opposed to telling a tall tale if she had to. She could be the old her, fall to her knees and tell him how bad she felt. Rhaena could give Aemond all her pity and cry for him. But she decided to do neither.
“Did you need something?” She raised one eyebrow and cocked her head, anticipating his retort.
“This is what you do now? Debasing yourself because you couldn’t do it on your own volition?”
Rhaena smiled softly, not interested in hearing another one of his tirades or a morality lecture. “My dear beloved cousin, you couldn’t possibly be upset that my marks in this class could rival yours one day.” She made sure to finish with a heavy dose of lash fluttering. Not being too obvious when asking, she’d steered a conversation with Garmund towards him telling her the highest grade in the class. She knew it was Aemond’s.
His remaining eye opened wide, shocked that she dared to compare herself to him.
“Rivaling me? I could laugh at your audacity. You're whoring yourself around my cousin and gods knows what other professors. I know what you're up to.” He looked her up and down, not wanting her to miss his disgust and disapproval.
“Wait until I tell my mother about this and I can’t wait to notify your father. You know what you're doing Rhaena, and I’m sure my uncle will appreciate me informing him of his daughter’s doings. Your sister might think the best of you now but- ”
His voiced raised the more he spoke, and Rhaena moved to cut him off. She stepped closer, her head only reaching his shoulder.
“So, what happened to your eye?” She stood on her tippy toes to get a clear look at his disfigured scar. Rhaena’s nose almost touched his and Aemond staggered back. His irritated expression returned as he gathered himself.
“What are you doing with Garmund?”
She crossed her arms. “Why do you care? My class score is getting better. Shouldn’t you be happy I'm doing my part to uphold our family's reputation?” She looked down, feigning a somber face. “You wouldn’t want me to fail, would you?”
Aemond shook his head, annoyed with her theatrics. “I’m telling uncle Daemon Rhaena. You know he’ll be disappointed you couldn’t do it on your own. First you go to Hufflepuff and now you do this.”
“Ok, well go ahead and tell him.”
He gave her a curious look, wondering why she was testing him. Rhaena smiled, knowing Aemond, he would take the bait.
“When you tell my father about what I’m up to, then I’ll tell your mother that you lied about how you lost your eye.”
His brow furrowed and Aemond looked astonished, but surprisingly to Rhaena, he just laughed.
“What are you talking about?” He lowered his voice and Rhaena could only smile at his poor attempt at faux confusion. “That’s just bollocks.”
“I know you Aemond. You’ve gone around lying about losing your eye in some kind of quidditch duel.” She lifted her finger to trace the mark as she spoke. “I know you like the back of my hand. This clearly didn’t come from a quidditch incident and I'm sure a perfectionist like you couldn’t have been maimed like this.” Aemond grabbed her wrist, pulling her hand away from his face and they both ignored the sound of students piling into the halls. Any minute, Garmund’s 2nd year class would be entering.
Rhaena wanted to see who would break eye contact first and to her surprise, it was Aemond. He looked livid. “I don’t know what you're talking about.” He took a deep breath and let go of her hand, turning and leaving before she could say anything else. She couldn't help but think all he’d done was confirm her suspicions. Before Rhaena only had a theory, now his reaction let her know for sure that he lied to their family.
She decided to herself that for now, she would keep this to herself.
Daeron’s hand slammed down and Baela almost spit out her pumpkin juice laughing.
“You cheated!” Jace rolled his eyes, waving off his uncle. Every arm-wrestling contest he lost, it was always attributed to unfair play.
“Maybe stick to wandering around on your broom.” Daeron snorted before turning his attention to Corwyn sitting next to him.
Rhaena entered the dining hall, approached Jace and he rolled down his sleeve smirking at her.
“What’s that face about?” He raised one eyebrow, studying her.
“What face?” A mix of curiosity and the alarm of getting caught ran up her spine. While she enjoyed her recent activities, her siblings finding out was the last thing she wanted. No amount of explanations and tears would get her out of trouble if Jace told her father anything. Even if she had dirt on Jace the way she had on Aemond, she would never threaten him with it.
If he found out about Garmund, the worst would be the embarrassment. They were all under the impression that Rhaena was a goody two shoes and she needed it to stay that way.
She gave a shy smile when Baela scooted over, giving her room to sit. “Not making any face, I’m just thinking.”
They both stared at her, looking even more inquisitive and Rhaena yielded. Eventually, she or Aemond would have to explain their behavior towards each other. She might as well get ahead of it and keep them from sniffing her trail.
“Just a little spat with Aemond is all, not a big deal. You know how he gets in those moods sometimes.” They would know if she lied, so it was better to tell a half truth. She reached for the fruit on the table, pretending to be calm and distracting.
Jace gave up analyzing her, realizing she wasn’t going to continue with her explanation.
“Well, if he’s being a twat he needs to stop and be nice.” His words dripped with his familiar temperamental tone and Rhaena knew she would have to do more later to keep them tranquil.
“Exactly, he’s off his rocker if he wants to be cheeky with you, I'll just have to kick his ass”
Baela flipped her curls and stood, kissing her sister on the forehead. “I would hate to have to break his legs, that’s a real inconvenience for me.” Her laugh faded as she walked away from them, heading off to class.
Jace watched Baela leave, waiting until she was out of sight before turning back to Rhaena. The best of luck for her, he seemed to have quickly forgotten their discussion from seconds ago. He lifted himself up from sitting before tapping Daeron and leaning towards Rhaena.
“Listen.” They both looked ready to laugh at his dramatics when he whispered to them. “You see that girl over there?”
Rhaena turned to see a wave of students, and looked at Daeron who looked equally confused.
Jace shot them both a look before pointing a finger, “Look the tall girl over there.”
They turned again to find a slim girl with brown curls falling into her face. She was standing in the midst of Ravenclaw students chatting.
Daeron looked for a second before turning back to Jace. “What about her?”
With a mischievous smile, Jace leaned in closer before looking to the end of the table at Cregan.
His next whisper was even quieter, trying not to be overheard. “I’m gonna set them up.”
Daeron let out a snort alongside Rhaena’s giggle. “Who is she and why would you do that?”
Jace let out an exasperated sigh, frustrated at their lack of understanding.
“I’m going to practice later. That girl, Netty, I told her that Cregan fancies her and I’ll tell Cregan that she fancies him.” He glanced back towards Cregan, “You know how he is with girls, he wouldn’t miss a chance with a Prefect like her. He’ll ask her to the ball.”
Rhaena continued her giggling when she bit into an apple. She knew why Jace was so invested despite not being interested in the dance. To her, it was entertaining.
“Why do you even care who he goes with?” She decided to feign ignorance to keep the entertainment going.
Jace sat back down and leaned back with a serious expression. “I need him to stay away from Baela.”
After an eruption of laughter from Daeron, Jace got up grabbing his bag and parchments. “You can laugh and be the jester is you wish, but I’m completely determined.”
Rhaena and Daeron shared Jace’s master plan with Corwyn while they ate. The most amusing part was thinkng of all the ways they were sure Cregan would get rejected. Even with him being a Quidditch Captain and worshipped among Gryffindors, the other houses simply saw him as a jockish athlete.
They got up walk to class and Rhaena’s curiosity peaked when Corwyn spoke.
“Daeron, will you really not go to the ball?”
Daeron stared ahead while they were walking, but Rhaena could see a flush creeping up his face. He smiled softly and shook his head, wanting his wavy bangs to fall into his face.
“I told you already I’m not going.” He swiveled his head, looking around the halls and his eyes searching. Rhaena was always intrigued by Daeron’s mystifying ways. He was such a simple boy, but still she never knew what he was thinking.
“Come on cousin, don’t be a bugger. Don’t you want to have fun and listen to the crud band?”
“Nope.” He patted her arm, quickly walking away from them and down the hall. “Gotta go, I’m late to class!”
All she could do was shrug and move on. Rhaena and Corwyn headed back to their Ancient Valyria class, not wanting to investigate what’s going on with Daeron.
“What about you Rhaena?”
“What about me?” She knew he was asking about the upcoming ball, but she’d hoped he wouldn’t ask her. Corwyn was a comfort, a sweet guy but as much as she liked spending time with him, she wasn’t interested. Her thoughts drifted back to Aemond when they neared the class door, and stopped in the doorway when Corwyn turned to her.
“I haven’t heard that anyone asked you yet. Well, I was hopi-”
Almost as if Rhaena had accidently manifested or casted a spell on Corywn, he was cut off. His body was flung into the large door, head smacking loudly into the edge. Rhaena gasped, while she could hear the other students laughing at Corwyn’s mishap.
He grabbed the door to keep himself from falling and heaved a breath at being suddenly propelled. Taken aback, Rhaena moved to grab Corwyn’s arm and help him get his balance.
“Are you ok?”
He straightened, giving her a sheepish smile.
“I’m fine.”
She walked him to their seats and sat down, Corwyn still shaken. The lump already growing on his forehead was a dark red. Even worse was the redness already on his face from their classmates who stared at him, still giggling.
“You should go to the Matron and get that checked out, it could be serious.” She tried to reach for the wound but he waved her off.
“No, it’s fine really I’m just clumsy.” Rubbing his head, he opened his book to prepare for class when Rhaena reached over to shut it.
“Corwyn your hurt, go make sure your head is ok,” She gave him a warm smile when he nodded. Rhaena also secretly wanted him to leave the room, knowing that he was embarrassed from the students gawking at him.
He grabbed his belongings before going to the front of the class to inform Garmund that he was leaving. Rhaena could see the professor with a worried expression and nodding his head as Corwyn showed his head. Garmund wrote out a pass and handed it to Corwyn and he turned to leave class, passing Aemond as he scurried out.
Stalking inside the classroom, Aemond walked in wearing a self-satisfied grin. He twisted his head at Rhaena before smiling wider and looking back to where Corwyn had exited. She gaped at him, watching intently as he sat in his chair, greeting the other Slytherin students before glancing back at her. She wanted to pierce him with her eyes, but all should could do in stare at him in shock.
Rhaena never even had the chance to throw a biting comment to him. Instead, she sat, opened her book and waited for the lecture to start. Taking deep breaths to calm herself, she started wondering what spells she could use in retaliation.