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It is a handful of days later when Jace wakes in his own bed to the sounds of the bells tolling.
The sun does not yet shine through the window and yet…
Knuckles rap twice against the door, hard. Without prompting, it is pushed open and Jace is greeted by the stern face of Ser Erryk Cargyll. Two more faceless cloaks stand unmoving behind him.
“Your highness. Are you well?”
“Am I- of course I am well, Ser Erryk. What in the name of the seven is going on?”
His gaze sweeps across the room searching and Jace resists the urge to pull the sheet more over himself.
“An attack on the alpha quarters, my lord. We were sent by your lady mother to ensure they had not slipped through here as well.”
“My brothers?” he asks, fearful for the answer.
The knight pauses, long enough to have Jace slipping out of bed, propriety be damned. The man averts his gaze as Jace slips into a pair of breeches. His hands shake with a fury that has him fumbling with his laces. Aegon was supposed to be the target, his betrothed, the only obstacle to their potential marriage, not their other kin not Luke-
“I believe Prince Lucerys is being treated for some sort of head wound but he was well enough to speak ere I saw him,” the words interrupt the negative spiral of thoughts, offering sweet relief. “The little ones sleep soundly still and we have doubled the number of men at each room.”
Jace releases a breath he did not know he was holding. He forces himself to stop and breathe again in an attempt to calm the tremor in his hands. There is a notable absence in the knight’s count he must vocalize to maintain their charade.
“And Aerion?”
“We cannot find him, my lord. He took his knights down the street of silks late last night and has yet to return and we cannot send men to fetch him until the rest of the keep is secure.”
Jace sighs. A good enough alibi for early questioning but he can only hope it will hold up under scrutiny without having to resort to the nefarious.
“That is well enough. I am sure my brother can manage for now whatever trouble he has gotten himself in overnight. Or whoever, I should say.”
The knight’s eyebrows go sky high but he says nothing.
“Is there anything else, Ser Erryk?”
Ser Erryk’s face twitches near imperceptibly.
“I cannot say for sure, my lord, but I believe your uncle Aegon was also attacked. They had sent for the maesters whilst I was there.”
Jace closes his eyes and lets the words wash over him.
“Then let us pray for the realm's sake that he makes it through the morning.”
The outer door to the wing slams open. At once, the white cloaks turn towards the noise, drawing their swords. Jace’s hands tighten around the curved dagger he keeps at his bedside even as Ser Erryk moves to barricade him in the room.
“Are you as thick as you are fucking useless, let me through,” Aerion yells, voice muffled through the wood.
With a nod from the knight, one white cloak pulls the timber and Aerion pushes through,a snarl painted across his face. The guards glance uneasily between each other but do not stop him as he pushes past them and into Jace’s room. His sword is clutched in his hand but he makes no move to raise it. It catches the sun and gleams like a fresh polished mirror. He backs Jace into a corner, free hand gripping proprietarily at Jace’s jaw. He turns his head back and forth, gaze focused on sweeping his face for any sign of injury.
Jace takes Aerion’s hand in his own. There is blood underneath his finger nails.
“Leave us, Ser Erryk. I am sure you have more rounds to make. The only danger I am in here is from overly aggressive brotherly affection.”
Aerion’s fingers clamp around his wrist.
“Keep a man of yours at the door to the wing, Ser. My sword is for my brother alone and will not be spared if some unfortunate slips by the guards again and threatens the rest.”
Jace rolls his eyes but Ser Erryk nods once more before taking his leave, the door to his chamber closing shut behind him.
In an instant, Aerion is tearing his hands from Jace’s and reaching for his breeches. Poorly tied as they are, it is but a moment before they fall to his ankles, leaving him bare but for his tunic.
“Are you so desperate that you cannot wait one fucking moment before they have finished their sweep,” Jace hisses under his breath, making no actual attempt to stop his brother. “They could hear us.”
Aerion does not bother with an answer, bringing their lips together instead, noses clashing together as Jace tries to keep up with his twin’s frantic motions. One hand tangles in his curls, still unruly from his unrestful sleep, the other gropes at his ass, drawing the two of them even closer together. Even through the leathers, Jace can feel his hardness bump against him. A gentle shove and Jace finds himself falling back onto the bed, Aerion stepping into the space between his thighs. With one hand, he hoists Jace’s leg to wrap around his hip, the other pushing at Jace’s tunic until it pools around his nipples.
“If it concerns you so much, I am more than happy to find a way to keep your mouth occupied.”
Aerion’s sword and sheath clatter carelessly to the floor. His nails are no doubt digging bloody half moons into the fat of Jace’s legs.
His cock ruts in the wetness of Jace’s cunt but for all his prior threats, he makes no moves to go further. Just watches as the head of his cock pushes repeatedly against his clit.
“Will my mouth be enough to satisfy you? Or is my maidenhead the price for your actions today?” Jace asks.
Aerion smirks but the gesture does not reach his eyes.
“As sweet as a reward that would be, dear brother, it will be sweeter still on our wedding night. Our babe will be heir to the iron throne like their mother before them. I shall not have them suffering under the same burden of whispers as we did. “
Jace’s heart clenches. He knows of course of the rumors that had chased them round the Red Keep, had worked hard to protect Luke and Joffrey as best he could. Aerion, it always seemed, was immune - protected by the silver blond strands that had matched their mothers, the violet of his eyes even a close match for their official father. There is so little of Ser Harwin in Aerion that Jace had wondered once to himself if it were possible they had been sired separately. That thought had persisted until sometime around their four and tenth name day when the baby fat of his brother’s face had thinned out enough for Jace to recognize the resemblance in his jaw to their now long dead father.
He can see now he has not been fair but knows not how to make up for it now.
Instead, he draws their faces together again and silences him with a kiss, pouring all the thanks he can manage into the action.
After -
After Jace had fished the oil from the nightstand and allowed Aerion to watch with hunger in his eyes as he fingered his ass open.
After Aerion had prevented him from turning over, forcing them face to face as he wet his cock with the slick of Jace’s cunt before taking himself in hand and pressing his cock lower, into his carefully prepared ass.
After he had buried himself to the hilt, drinking up Jace’s moans as they spilled from his mouth, hand releasing from pinning Jace’s wrist to slide down his body, tweaking a nipple before finally settling at his core.
After they had begun moving as one, hips moving in tandem, the only sounds around the slap of skin on skin and their breaths co-mingling.
After Aerion had carefully traced his nose down the side of Jace’s face, past the scent gland at his neck, fitting his teeth over the protruding bone of his collar before biting into the meat of Jace’s shoulder, careful to mark skin usually covered by the tunics Jace preferred.
After they had both tumbled over the edge, Aerion’s hips stuttering to a stop as he spilled his seed, Jace still clenching through his own after shocks, the feeling of fullness just a hair shy of true satisfaction.
After -
Jace allows himself a moment to catch his breath, resting his cheek on Aerion’s breastbone listening to the pound of his twin’s heart. Aerion’s eyelids flicker in the uneasy manner of one fighting sleep.
The bite mark on his shoulder throbs – his brother’s love has never equated to tenderness, a slap across the cheek that went hand in hand with a kiss - but there was a certain headiness to his unwavering dedication, that he was so willing to damn himself in the eyes of the gods to keep Jace all to himself.
(That Jace had goaded him into doing so at the request of their mother, he does not dwell on. He cares not for the many things that could damn him in the after so long as he can keep his family alive and together here in the now.)
With a last glance at Aerion’s satisfied face, Jace pushes himself out of the bed. He makes quick work of wiping at the seed that drips down his legs, unwilling to give Aerion a visual that will rouse him into another round when there is so much to do. His ass is sore but he manages to keep silent as he slips into his trousers, hands now steady as he ties the laces before exchanging his tunic for one less . His hair, already unruly on the best of mornings from his fitful sleep, is ever more the riot which Jace gives up on taming after the comb catches in knots he finds he has no patience to detangle. Instead he gathers and twists it in his hand before clipping it up.
Ready, finally, for what awaits, he turns back to Aerion.
As much as he would enjoy keeping him out of the way as he deals with the fallout, Jace knows his brother cannot actually be found in his bed.
“Come, you can escort me to the Alpha Chamber’s and loudly proclaim your whorehouse conquests before retiring to your chambers to sleep. I must check in on the others and you cannot be left here like this.”
Aerion blinks at him and stretches, the sheet slipping down his body to reveal the silvery trail of hair and his cock, half hard again, but he does not argue, just silently re-dresses.
He continues to hold his tongue as Jace leads them out his room and through the halls of the keep. A guard falls into step behind them, taking up at Jace’s left shoulder, seemingly undeterred by the faint growl that emanates from his twin.
The closer they get to the center of the action, the more nervous Jace gets. There are too many people scurrying about coming and going, raised voices, words indistinguishable to Jace’s fraught mind.
“My chambers, dear brother.” Aerion’s voice pulls him out of his thoughts.
He bends at the waist taking Jace’s hand into his own, pretending at propriety as he brushes a kiss against his knuckles and then pulls him into an embrace to whisper into his ear.
“You must not think too harshly of me dear brother, for how I have handled your situation. After all, you have asked me to damn myself, that sort of thing cannot be done so easily. There are sacrifices that must be made.”
With a smirk, he slips into his chambers and Jace is left to ponder his words.
Damned, Jacaerys knows they are.
He just hopes he has not doomed them as well.