Daenerys
Viserion's voice was guttural, almost moaning as he lay curled in the dirt next to his brothers. Daenerys was by his side, stroking his neck and soothing him with her voice. Her gaze was fixed upon the terrible wound he suffered in the fight. His entire left foot, gone. Torn off by one of those beasts. She never imagined this kind of injury could happen to one of her children. They were mighty unlike anything else in the world that could try and compare. And supposedly, according to Aegon, a White Walker would have been worse.
A sigh escaped Daenerys as she closed her eyes and shut out these fears swarming her head. Her children were strong. Viserion was strong. He would heal soon. He could still claim lordship of the skies alongside Drogon and Rhaegal. Had a wing been torn apart then he would have become something sad. A dragon that could not take to the skies was a sorrowful sight.
"Be strong," Daenerys whispered lovingly to Viserion. But the sun had just set and the cold was coming in faster than she expected. It was time to return to the castle. She marched her way back from the hills where the dragons made their grounds to Harrenhal. She passed by the piles of ash where the bodies of the fallen were burned. From what she was told, Caraxes and Quicksilver's corpses were reduced to nothing but the black bones, but the day after the battle, only ash remained. Someone must have taken the remains. Dragonbone was indeed a valuable treasure and uncommonly rare as Valyrian Steel used to be.
Had the thought crossed her mind, Daenerys would have tasked her guard to stand watch over the remains. But after such a battle, who could ask that of anyone? The Crannogmen took the most casualties, Lord Reed had left the day after with the Brotherhood for the North now that the threat was dealt with. But no one had any answers about the pack of wolves that had come. But something told her that someone close to Aegon, particularly on his Stark side, would have an explanation.
Along the way, when she reached the castle grounds, she took notice of the eyes lingering on her when she entered the castle grounds. She knew that look on the faces of the people. They were judging her, wondering who did she think she was? ' Some foreign Queen with a foreign army here to take the rightful King's Throne.' The people in King's Landing hardly gave her that look anymore whenever she went into the city. But Westeros was far more than just one city.
The moment she walked into a corridor filled with shadow, a young child suddenly appeared before her. He was a young boy covered in mud and had a twig in his hair.
"Oh, hello there," Daenerys greeted pleasantly.
The child held a sealed scroll to her. "From Lord Varys."
Daenerys' smile didn't fade. Even though the child was a spy for her, she didn't see any reason to treat him without kindness. "Thank you." Before she could offer him anything, some gold or something to ask for, he ran off throughout the castle.
Accepting the boy's professionalism, Daenerys opened the scrolls and read the report that was dated several days ago.
Ellaria and the Sand Snakes have departed but they are not traveling to Dorne. My birds in Highgarden tell me that Margaery has been absent since she last left for King's Landing. And a whisper came from a bird that Qyburn is committing his late evenings to something secret in the depths of the Red Keep but it is unknown.
Daenerys crumpled the scroll up and saw a nearby torch in a torch stand. She paced over and set it alight, letting the paper burn in her bare hand and holding it like it was nothing. Once it was ash, she dropped the remains into the cold ground and whipped her hands clean.
What to make of this? If Ellaria wasn't leaving for Dorne then where? Was she going to King's Landing to negotiate? Aegon did offer her the Mountain's head if she swore fealty, but from meeting her in person Daenerys knew that the Mountain alone wasn't enough to sway her.
And then Margaery. She said she was returning to Highgarden weeks ago. Did she get caught up by more loyalists like the ones that attacked them in the city? No, that couldn't be it. The animosity was towards her and Aegon, so what could it be?
The bit about Qyburn however… Apart from what Varys and Tyrion told her about the banished maester, she didn't know enough to make any guess as to what he was doing. For all she knew he could be doing something at Aegon's order or maybe it was an experiment of dangerous concoction.
Ellaria was her business to tend to, but Margaery and Qyburn were Aegon's and he should know about them as soon as possible.
After finally witnessing just how devastating the dead can be, Daenerys finally accepted Aegon's heedings to her. The Iron Throne had to wait. The Night King and his army were the most dangerous threat to the world and they had to be stopped. Once they returned to King's Landing, she would pledge her full support before the court.
Aegon was right. If a hundred thousand of those monsters were coming then it would take all of Westeros and her armies united to stand a chance.
Daenerys' head began to ache wondering how she couldn't have realized it sooner? She saw the monster in the Red Keep, but she didn't see it for what it really was, she didn't see the results of how dangerous it was.
"Khaleesi," Jorah came forward after spotting her from across the courtyard. "Is Viserion getting better?"
"I'm not a healer. I can't tell what's better or worse for him. But he burns. A dragon." Fire cannot kill a dragon, but they can still burn. "If Rhaegal didn't help him, he could have been killed and turned."
"We all could have been," Jorah shook his head, "I first saw the creature in King's Landing before I returned to you, but that never could have prepared me for what it was capable of. An army of them could wipe out the world of men."
"I know." Daenerys nodded. "Tens of thousands… I don't want to imagine it." She looked at him intensely. "If they are not defeated here, then no one will be able to stop them. I'm done being idle for the sake of the Throne, Jorah. I want you to send a message to Tyrion and one to Varys. When we return to King's Landing, I will ally with Aegon, without compensation, without terms. We will destroy the Army of the Dead, together."
Jorah was silent, but a ghost of a proud smirk twitched at his lips. "At once, khaleesi."
When Ser Jorah was out of sight, a great sigh escaped Daenerys. If Tyrion were here, he'd ask her to wait and not be rash… no, if he were here he would have seen just how terrifying that battle truly was. Not even his right mind would be able to tell her differently.
Night came quickly, but this one Daenerys found that she could not find the pull to sleep. The past several months felt wasted to her, ignoring the real problem for the sake of a chair of swords. It stung to feel this way, that Aegon had been right all along.
Aegon…
Getting her boots and a robe over her nightgown, Daenerys left her bedroom and only took one of her Unsullied as a protector as she wandered the decrepit corridors of Harrenhal. It was hard to believe that this place had once been the strongest castle in all of Westeros.
She came to the door of Aegon's Room which was protected by Ser Beric Dondarrion.
"Your grace," he greeted, "what brings you here at this hour?"
"Is he awake?"
Beric cocked his head at the door. "Usually." he knocked twice before creaking open the door. "Your grace," a faint response came, "Lady Daenerys wishes to see you." A moment later, Beric pushed the door open and let her in while she commanded her Unsullied to remain vigil outside with Beric.
Daenerys was surprised to see that the bed was empty. Aegon was not resting as he should have been, he was outside on a balcony staring silently up at the moon with steady cold breaths hovering in front of his face. The light cast upon him was dim, and yet he was illuminated so brilliantly.
She strode to him, quietly stepping as though not to disturb the silence cast around the room. The moment she stepped up next to him. "Are you feeling any better?"
He shook his head. "Only if I don't move. Are you going to say I should be in bed?" He asked while keeping his gaze outward to the world and sky around them.
"Who am I to command a King I have not bent the knee to?"
"A woman with three dragons at her back… I can't imagine anyone else alive in the world with more raw power at her command." Aegon turned his head to her. "And I don't know if it's enough to defeat the Night King anymore." He looked out to the view again, but now down at the land.
Daenerys silently walked next to him. That brooding face of Aegon's was a handsome quality of his but right now there was such a deepness in those eyes that almost scared Daenerys. "What are you thinking about?"
"You met Melisandre when you arrived. Did she tell you about the Prince who was Promised?"
"You mean the Prince and the Princess," she corrected, earning a blank look as though the detail didn't matter. "They who shall bring the dawn."
"Aye, bring the dawn after the Long Night… but what then?" he asked cryptically. "If we see the dawn, what awaits us after? What will we have waiting that we fought for? A few years of blissful peace before someone decides it's not enough for them? Until one person or a thousand decide to bring chaos to lands just so they can seat themselves atop the bodies?"
"No," Daenerys said firmly, "as long as there is breath in my body, I will never let that come to pass."
"But when there's a crown upon your head, there's hardly a moment when the right choice can be made. Honor or duty, those become expected. But when the time comes that you have to make a choice, which do you pick when you cannot have both?"
"Neither," Daenerys stepped closer to him, "you do what is right."
Aegon fell silent, clearly pondering something. His words felt different, almost held back with fear. "But what if someone else disagrees with what you think is right? What if they believe what is good is different than how you believe it? Who gets to choose?"
Something about the way he said that felt pressing on Daenerys. Why was he saying this like it was meant for her? These questions that essentially had no answer, that ran around in circles for those with no confidence in themselves. A part of her felt the answer was obvious… but then there was that flicker of uncertainty and question that held her back from answering.
"Why do you ask me this?" she lifted a hand upon the stone railing, her fingers resting on the cold stone mere inches away from Aegon's hand. "Are you laying before me a test so you can rest easy after you leave when all is done? Your own words are against you. What does it matter for you if you're not a part of it?"
Aegon's fingers curled into a fist. "I've always strived to do what I thought was right. Even though nobody cared for my efforts, I still did it. That's all I've wanted to do to find my place in the world."
"Then stay," her hand slid on top of his fist and he relaxed, "the world needs you, Aegon. It needs us and everyone who believes in us."
Aegon shook his head. "You're right. But the world rarely demands what it needs. Once the dead are gone, no one wants a man who's more bastard than king leading them anymore."
His words caused her no small amount of pain, how little he saw himself. "If you believe you're still just a bastard then of course the world will believe it too. But if you can finally see through it and let go, maybe you'll see who you truly are under it all." Aegon didn't say anything, letting the words sink in.
"I don't think you'd like the man under it."
"No, I don't think you would, Aegon. You're so attached to the person you are that you're afraid of what trying to change will bring to you. If it brings good things you feel you don't deserve."
"You don't understand, Daenerys. Not at all. The moment your dragons hatched, you became beholden to yourself. Not oath, or crown, but you. You could say that the people you ruled were your duty, but there was no oath to break, no vow to forsake. When have you ever had to make the choice between love and duty."
Daenerys stiffened. "The day I put my dragons in chains. I wanted them free, to fly unhinged. But their nature could not be tamed yet. Chaining them in the pyramids was what I had to do, not wanted. What kind of mother chains her children in darkness?"
Aegon looked out into the night. "Duty is the death of love." He was silent for a moment. "Do you think that made you incapable of choosing love? Or having it?"
It was an odd question, but all of what he was asking was odd. "I never knew much about love. My brother was cruel and my husband's nature was pure strength. What love I may have had for them was tainted. My son died before I could hold him in my arms. There was no one after that."
"Your allies?"
Daenerys smiled sadly. "My love for them is as it is for my friends and their Queen." She chuckled, leaning next to Jon. "Ruling is a lonely pastime. At least you have your family, your blood. I was afforded none of that until I came here, and here I find my last family still so far away. Within a foot of me, but still a chasm wider than the Narrow Sea." Daenerys had to press further, to quench this question burning in her since the first night after the battle. "In your visions, what were we to each other?"
Aegon took a long breath and looked with such longing in his eyes. "I was a King, but only in the North. You were a Queen, but only of Dragonstone. And we argued quite a lot about the dead and bending the knee. And after you finally saw them, all of them, you didn't hesitate to swear yourself and your armies to help us. That was when I knew you were the one who deserved the throne the most." He paused, jaw clenched and Daenerys unintentionally gave his hand a light squeeze. "And then, we loved each other, and things made sense for myself for the first time in years. I felt whole when I was with you, like we could stay a thousand years in a place no one would find us and never want to go back."
Her chest was pounding. How could such emotion be found in visions? Or could it be that he was able to feel what he would have? The truth weighing in his words was too much to deny. He meant it, and she believed it. "Is it… different now?"
There was a silence before he replied, and she was too tense to even breathe. "Nothing has changed." His gaze returned to the view, but his eyes were heavier than before, almost glistening with phantom tears.
"Yes," Daenerys said in a faint whisper.
Aegon became confused. "What?"
"My answer to your question the first night you were bedridden. Yes."
"Daenerys, I don't remember-"
They were both interrupted when the door to the Lord's Chambers was suddenly pushed open so hard that it swiveled all the way it could and banged on the stone wall by Ser Wallace Oakstar. "Your grace!" He rushed into the room and Daenerys slipped her hand off of Aegon's immediately. "I'm sorry but an urgent raven came from Lady Sansa."
Aegon sighed and walked over to his Kingsguard, taking the scroll and unraveling it. In mere seconds, Aegon's face twisted into the utmost shock and frustration. He growled out one word in response to it all. "No!"
"What is it?" Daenerys asked, but Aegon was already handing the scroll to her. She took the parchment and braced herself for some disappointing news, but it was not enough for what was actually written.
Jon
Cersei is dead. Ellaria Sand and Oberyn Martell's daughters broke into the castle and murdered her in her cell along with several of our men. Two of the Sands died when they tried to kill the Mountain, the other lost her leg and is under Qyburn and Sam's care. The Mountain killed a knight of House Tyrell, nearly killed Arya, but was slain by Sandor. The court is demanding heads to be spiked and claims Daenerys is a liar but with more violent words. They want war against Dorne and with the majority of the Dornish pledged to Daenerys, they want war against her. Please, get back as soon as you can.
Sansa
"Get everyone ready," Aegon told his Kingsguard, "We're leaving now."
"Are you sure that's wise?" The white knight asked. "Your health-"
"I said now!" Aegon shouted. This was a rare time she had ever seen him so angry. The Kingsguard shut up and ran back the way he came. Aegon's eyes drifted to her. "You should get ready too."
"Aegon… I didn't order this to happen."
"I know. But it won't matter. Not to them."
Daenerys sighed and nodded. There was a time and place to argue for someone else's own good, but even she knew when the demands of a throne were too unforgiving to let one rest.
She found Jorah and relayed the news to him. He was to gather the Unsullied and meet her at the dragons' nest as soon as possible where they would wait for Aegon and the Kingsguard.
While they waited, Daenerys sought Viserion, comforting him through his pain. But she could feel the strength her child had. He wanted to fly, he needed to.
Aegon's arrival took longer than expected, and he looked strained from his arrival and more so when he and his party mounted Rhaegal. Veins were bulging on his neck and she could tell that he'd be seething now if he weren't resisting. His body had healed though, but did the pain remain?
Now that they were finally able, Aegon nodded to her and Daenerys led the way, commanding Drogon into the night sky. The chill of the winds immediately bit at her face and ears. Fires she could withstand, but such a torment of cold was new to her. She hugged her body closer to Drogon's feeling the warmth of her dragon radiating close.
All throughout the flight, Daenerys could only imagine how this foolishness and stupidity could have come about, and what would become of things because of it? Ellaria was the de facto leader of Dorne, and her people would be held responsible for this act of deception. What was she supposed to do to keep the balance and peace? Perhaps it was the cold and the anxiety of what would come that made her unable to think.
The first light of dawn began to brighten in the east and the sun had just peeked over the horizon when King's Landing came into sight. Rhaegal shot downward, taking the lead and Drogon followed close with Viserion in the rear.
The dragons swooped down over the city, gliding over to the dragonpit and setting down as best they could.
"Someone run ahead for horses!" Aegon yelled out, his voice labored with strain. Daenerys almost gasped when she watched him nearly fall off Rhaegal.
It was Ser Wallace who slipped off and ran as fast as he could from the Dragonpit.
Daenerys got off Drogon as fast as she could, rushing over to Aegon when he was finally down and with Ser Beric. "Are you in pain?" she asked, hugging him around the shoulders for support.
"Much," Aegon hissed, leaning into her touch.
Beric shook his head. "The price to be paid."
"Shut it," Aegon straightened himself with all his strength. "Get us to the castle."
It wasn't much longer that an entourage from the Red Keep had arrived with several vacant horses and a wheelhouse, the latter stopping abruptly and Sansa stepping out of it with Tyrion right behind her, both of them were hardly dressed as they had just been awoken without the time to look proper.
"Jon," Sansa ran over to her cousin and almost embraced him but he held his arm up, stopping her.
"Don't, I'm in great pain right now." He said with a shake of his head, accepting instead a hand on his shoulder. "Where's Arya?"
"She's in her chambers. The Mountain threw her into a pillar and cracked her skull. Samwell is helping her as best he can."
Aegon nodded. "Let's get to the Red Keep." He looked at Ser Beric. "Ride ahead and wake the rest of the council. Meet in the Throne Room."
"At once, your grace." Beric took one of the horses and galloped off as everyone else settled in the wheelhouse, save for Ser Jorah who took one of the other horses.
Aegon groaned when he sat back but calmed his breathing as they took off for the Red Keep. "What happened?" he asked Sansa.
"Ser Jaime snuck into the Black Cells to see Cersei. He said it was to say his final goodbye to her, and there's nothing that's been found to suggest he was going to free her. That's when he said Ellaria and Sand Snakes found them there and attacked, murdering Cersei with poison. Then he was knocked out. Uncle Brynden searched the cells and found Nymeria and Obara Sand dead in the Mountain's cell. As of now, Ser Jaime's been confined for breaking his vow, and Ellaria is in Cersei's cell. Her daughter's in Qyburn's care. She took the worst of it and almost bled to death…"
Aegon's response was a sigh as he stared out the window to the castle. "And it'd be wrong to hope that word has not spread already?" Sansa nodded and his fist clenched hard. "Madness and stupidity."
"Jon," Sansa continued, "you should see Sam or Qyburn about your pain first-"
Aegon shot her a look that stopped her words before they could finish.
Tyrion leaned over to Daenerys and spoke quietly, the tension likely causing his subtlety. "We were allowed some time to confront Ellaria about this, but unfortunately neither Missandei nor I have her respect and she's only answered as she always has. Vengeance and Lannister blood."
Daenerys' jaw clenched. What to make from all of this? Ellaria would have to face justice and without her, Daenerys might lose Dorne unless she does something to gain her mercy.
"Daenerys," Sansa whispered, looking over to Aegon, but keeping the conversation between them as best she could. "It's not the best of times, but my brother, Bran, wrote to me with knowledge about the sword. He said the other half is on Dragonstone somewhere, and it's engraved with the answer to the prophecy."
Actually, the change in subject helped calm her mind. But to their surprise, Aegon added his thoughts.
"Melisandre will want to know. She might be able to help find it."
Daenerys and Sansa both looked at each other, surprised Aegon had an interest. But they had returned to the Red Keep before they could continue further. When the wheelhouse opened and Aegon stepped out, many of the castle staff were waiting.
"Welcome back, your grace," Ser Marcus greeted. He and everyone else gathered made to bend the knee.
"Stop it," Aegon hissed," I've no time for pleasantries. Has the Small Council been summoned?"
"Yes, your grace. They await you in the Throne Hall."
"And the people of the court?"
"Most of the city is still asleep, your grace, I-"
"Good. We'll keep this private."
Ser Marcus looked at Daenerys for a second. "Lady Missandei of Naath insisted on being present, but we kept her contained in her chambers."
"She is part of Daenerys Targaryen's council. This concerns them too."
"Yes, your grace." Ser Marcus relayed the order to bring Missandei and everyone dispersed, save for the remaining Kingsguard following their King into the castle.
"Your grace," Tyrion said quietly, pulling her aside. "I have the feeling that no matter what happens today, it will be the last we see of Ellaria. Her attack in the Red Keep demands justice be honored."
"Dorne would be enraged if he did," Daenerys countered, "they will demand war."
"Maybe not. We might be able to put things into frame for them to our favor. An act as rash as this can easily be seen as immature, selfish, and reckless. They hold their reputation high, and this could easily be used to slander it."
Daenerys sighed. "Ellaria must be punished, but I won't give in to letting her die. We need her."
"I'm sorry, your grace, but Aegon is still a Stark. Honoring justice is greater to him than a horse is to a Dothraki."
"Lady Daenerys," One of the guards at the door called, "they are waiting for you."
Straightening herself and trying to keep herself optimistic, Daenerys strode into the throne hall with Tyrion, but nearly gasped when she saw Aegon leaning on one of the columns, white knuckled and hissing through his teeth.
"Get off!" Aegon shoved Sansa's help away. "I have to do this myself." He took a long, deep breath with his eyes closed. He straightened himself, opened his eyes, and walked forward as if he had no pain at all. But Daenerys could see the veins on his neck and just how clenched his jaw was. So much to endure just to walk to a throne.
Aegon reached it and sat down, his pain being held back gave him a great look of anger and frustration that helped give him even more of an authoritative stance. No one, not even Daenerys in her concern for him, would have the courage to test his word at this moment.
Daenerys and Tyrion joined Missandei and they kept silent.
"Bring them in." Aegon said.
The great doors of the throne room opened and shortly after, both Ellaria and Tyene Sand were escorted inside. Ellaria wore chains and a hateful expression at the floor, escorted by two men. Tyene, on the other hand, having lost her leg, was pushed in on a chair with wheels and her wrists were bound to the arms of the chair with leather straps. Unlike her mother, Tyene was not angry, rather her expression was blank and empty, her eyes staring out to the distance. Her chair had to be carried down the steps of the door before she could be wheeled forward.
At the base of the steps leading to the throne, Ellaria was forced onto her knees. She glared up at Aegon before spitting at him, coming short by a few yards.
There was silence as Aegon studied them.
"Ellaria Sand," Aegon began, somehow able to bring his voice into a calm state. "I once offered you the chance to claim your vengeance that you desired. You denied it and chose to side with one who has challenged me for the throne. That is well within your right. However, given that you were not part of your Queen's emissary, you did not partake of the guest right and you have trespassed onto my lands and murdered those under my care and watch, your life is forfeit to my justice. Your foolishness not only resulted in your daughter's loss of limb, but the lives of two of Prince Oberyn Martell's daughters. You murdered Cersei Lannister, several of my men, attacked one of my Kingsguard, and freed Gregor Clegane from his imprisonment…" Aegon was almost seething. "I will also be holding you responsible for the murder of Princess Myrcella and Prince Doran Martell, and conspiring the murder of Prince Trystane Martell. Have you anything to say for yourself?"
Ellaria glanced quickly over to Daenerys as if to expect something from her before looking back at Aegon. "All my life, I have seen weak men rule. Men unable to do what must be done." She let it hang in a pregnant pause before continuing. "Some were gluttons and fools willing to just enjoy the pleasures of life rather than their duties and some were just cowards, or too blinded by their own silly idealism." She met Aegon's eyes, and he knew whom she referred to. "You are just that coward, Jon Snow. Just like Ned Stark. One who could've stopped the destruction of the Realm, but chose not to." She spat on the ground again. "We are unbowed, unbent, and unbroken, and we would never give that up. Especially not to a naive fool too scared of power to rule."
Sansa was red with rage, but Aegon remained collected and unphased by it.
"Given the evidence we have," Aegon began, "the witnesses, I find you guilty of these crimes."
Ellaria got to her feet but was held back by the guard. "Then take my head and be done with it! For I will not be your hostage so my people are forced to buckle under your false rule, whoreson! I will die for my people, for my home!"
"You would let your daughters become orphans?" The King countered.
"I would have them see my bones before they see me in a cage. That they remember who it was who took me from them, that they may see that your children die as painful as the Lannister bitch did."
One of the guards backhanded Ellaria to the ground. "Silence, whore!"
"Enough," Aegon exclaimed. His eyes were on Tyene. Suddenly, he arose from his seat and descended the steps so he stood before her. He waved his hand before Tyene's eyes yet she didn't seem to realize he was there.
"Your grace," Qyburn said, "she is trapped in a state of shock. She won't be able to comprehend anything around her."
Aegon didn't look convinced. For a moment it was as if he was able to forget his pain completely. Gently, he undid the leather straps on Tyene's wrists. "Her pain has broken her. Regardless if she stays as this or recovers, I will say that this consequence has paid for her crimes. However she will remain as a ward to the Crown."
"She won't be enough of a hostage to keep the Dornish at bay," Olenna said. "They don't belittle bastards, but she's still just that. A bastard. We'll be seeing Martell sails in the bay a fortnight from now."
"And if anyone dares to attack us, then let it be known throughout the world who they are, for it was them who crippled Westeros at the doorstep of death and damnation." He looked at Tyene. "Get her out of here, but not in a cell." Aegon marched back up to the Iron Throne as Tyene was wheeled away down a corridor. He picked up Blackfyre from where he leaned it on the pommel armrest and drew the blade.
"Your grace," Daenerys interjected as one of Ser Brynden Tully's men did as was ordered, stepping forward with haste, "I plead for mercy for Ellaria Sand's judgment. Please, let her atone for her sins"
"And what atonement would you suggest? That she strips naked and walks through the streets in her shame? That she should join the Silent Sisters in good faith to keep her vows?" Aegon shook his head. "There is no oath or pledge that I trust she will keep. Ellaria Sand serves none but herself."
"She loves her children as much as Cersei did hers. If you are taking her eldest daughter as a ward, then she has every reason to not seek action against you."
"And if I let her live, what am I to tell those who lost their brothers, their sons, their fathers to this foolishness? Five of my men were murdered, Cersei's life was granted on the condition of surrender by Tommen. She has to die."
"Your grace," Sansa interrupted, leaning in and whispering to Aegon but not phasing him with her words.
"It's not about what I want," he said softly to her, "it's what honor demands. Robb knew that."
At this point, the block was brought forth and Ellaria dragged over to be bowed and bent at it.
Aegon drew Blackfyre and descended from the throne in front of Ellaria. "If you have any last words, now is the time."
Ellaria smirked at him. "You can't trick me, whoreborn. With my death, Dornish spears will seek to spike the heads of you and the rest of your cursed kin in Winterfell."
The grip on Blackfyre tightened. "I, Aegon of the House Targaryen, King of the Andals and the First Men, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realms, sentence you to die. May your gods grant you justice and mercy."
Daenerys' breath hitched as she thought to try one last time to say something, but Aegon's swing was just as swift as a wingbeat.
Ellaria must have believed Aegon to be a fool of inaction right up until the moment his sword started to come down. Her eyes had widened and her entire demeanor fell. "Wait-" she breathed out, but it was too late to take back her words. Ellaria's head fell with a small thud.
Blood stained the marble tiles of the throne room as the body slumped before being taken away with the head.
Daenerys unclenched her fist and looked down to Tyrion, the slight ease and satisfaction clear on his face. "Your silence has been noticed," she whispered with clear disappointment, "and now Dorne might be lost to us."
The room echoed with a clang as Blackfyre slipped from Aegon's fingers to the ground. He was just standing in place, panting to the ceiling and exhausted. He pulled together and slowly marched himself back up the steps, leaving Blackfyre behind. Ser Loras came and retrieved the sword, returning it back to the scabbard next to the throne.
"Where is Ser Jaime?" Aegon breathed as he sat back down and scanned the room. From the left side, two of his guards both produced the Kingslayer, out of his armor and cloak, his gold hand gone, and arms bound in rope behind his back. Ser Jaime was forced into a kneel before the steps to the Iron Throne. He looked absolutely broken.
"I warned you about what could happen for breaking this promise. But with Cersei dead, the Westerlands will be riled unless I give them blood. That of course I won't do. So it looks like you've inherited your sister's position as hostage. Had you obeyed me, I would have let your loyalty and restraint be rewarded by the right of justice for your daughter and accompanying your sister's funeral procession. But instead, you won't even have a window to watch it leave."
"Your grace!" the sudden voice of Tyrion echoed in the Throne Room. "If I might be allowed a word-"
"No, you may not," Aegon said harshly, "keep your lead tongue behind your teeth in silence."
"I will not," Tyrion responded harshly, "you may sit upon the Iron Throne, but it does not mean your ears are not deaf to all except your own voice. You have every right to punish my brother for forsaking his promise, but to dishonor him as you would is beneath you and your crown."
"I don't give a damn about my crown. He broke his sworn oath to me. It's as simple as that."
"It's not simple at all," Tyrion argued, "or else you never would have given his cloak back in the first place. You had no reason at all to do such a thing, especially to him of all people," he gestured to the Kingslayer, "he crippled your cousin, wounded your uncle, fought against you in war, and still you gave him a second chance because you believe in honor more than anyone else. Do you really think that he did what he did without considering the loss of his honor?"
"You think he wouldn't? I have seen the capacity every single person has to bring ruin for the sake of themselves."
"Is that what you believe from your visions in death? You'd judge us all for things we may or may not do?"
"YES!" Aegon snapped. "I do not say this on superstition like an arrogant dwarf mocking the Night's Watch! I have seen this city burn for the negligence of many in this room, for their treachery, for their foolishness! As long as I am on the throne, I will not have it!"
In the middle of the argument, Missandei's voice broke through the entire hall. "You have no right to claim that when you're going to run from your people if your war is won!" The hall fell with a terrible silence and all eyes fell on Missandei as she took several steps forward, stopping just before the stains of Ellaria's blood. "You are a coward and a hypocrite, Jon Snow. You have no right to call yourself a King if you plan to abandon everything at your leisure!"
"Missandei!" Daenerys exclaimed, "that is enough."
It was too late. The damage had already been done. The members of Aegon's council who didn't know of his plan to leave looked at him incredulously.
For what seemed like the longest time, her nephew stared down at Missandei with a look… unreadable. Anything could've come out, from the greatest rage to total calm in the face of what amounted to a broadside leveled at him.
"She's right, though." Daenerys said. "What right do you have to give such declarations and rule when you do not plan to remain to uphold them?"
Finally, he spoke. "Out," Aegon commanded, "all of you, except the Queen and I." At first, everyone shuffled slowly, but a loud set of growls from Ghost made everyone pick up the pace. Aegon looked at Ser Beric and Ser Wallace, nodding at them to leave as well. The other Kingsguard and the castle guard waited at first for everyone else to empty the throne room.
Daenerys waved her hand at Tyrion, Missandei, and Jorah, but Jorah was the only one who didn't move towards the door. Instead, he walked to her side with a hand resting on Longclaw's pommel.
"I cannot leave my Queen's side when you are armed, your grace." Jorah stated. The Kingsguard all lifted their sword hands to the hilts at their belts.
"Jorah," Daenerys said, "leave. Now." They looked at each other and Daenerys gave a reassuring nod to him.
"I'll make it easier for you, Mormont," Aegon said, "Ghost, outside." The direwolf cocked his head at his master before trotting out.
Ser Jorah sighed and looked back up to King Aegon before turning around. "The first sign of danger you see," he whispered to her, "call for me and I will be here to protect you. I promise." He strode out to the doors, followed by the Kingsguard.
Missandei bit her lip as she followed a very worried Tyrion towards the door. "Your Grace, I apologize for speaking out of turn…"
"Go," Daenerys said strictly and touched her arm. "I will take care of this." Missandei nodded apologetically before she made for the exit.
The doors of the throne hall creaked and groaned as they were slowly pulled shut. And now, there were only two left. A King and a Queen.
"You shouldn't have killed Ellaria," Daenerys said flatly. "Now Dorne will demand vengeance for the slight against them. They are proud people, Aegon."
"Olenna said it herself. Ellaria was just a bastard. I'll take my chances that she was just a commodity for them and their anger. The former slaves did when you executed the one in your council."
"That was different. Mossador was sworn to me. He was my responsibility as was Ellaria. We could have arranged for something to be done before you swung your blade. I wouldn't have let her disobedience be without consequence."
"The consequence is that she died. Everything I knew of her before that told me there would be no vow or cell that would be fair for what she has done."
"But a cell was enough for Cersei? You were perfectly able to find that acceptable for all she's played part in. How many lives as innocent as her daughter's has she ordered to be taken? How many families did she see torn apart? How many people turned into ash when she destroyed the Sept of Baelor? Was it because she was a trueborn? Have you joined the rest of the world to shun the names of bastards?"
Aegon's neck stiffened at her accusation. "Cersei Lannister thrived for power. In a cell, she suffered being apart from it. Ellaria thrived for revenge. With Cersei dead, the release is found and there is no consequence from anything else. That is what I saw from her, Daenerys. If I put her in a cell, then she would smile every day and night, treating her sentence as a badge of honor."
"You're wrong, Aegon." She shook her head. "If you had taken a chance you would have seen it like I saw her break just before you swung your sword. You're so quick to swing the sword that you do not see another way for those you scorn."
A vein throbbed on his head but forced it down. Readopting his icy mask. "Do not speak of things you do not know about, nor do I shun my duties.
"You let Cersei live to suffer, yet you kill Ellaria. It seems your behavior and worries that you are trying to test me… or even to punish me…" She trailed off, eyes widening slightly.
"Ellaria was guilty of her crimes, not a master at random to feed to a dragon." Jon quirked his head, waiting for her to speak… only for Daenerys to laugh.
Laughing mirthlessly, Daenerys wished she had a goblet of wine she could down and then toss to the ground. Instead her laughter served as the notice of her frustrated hysterics. "You know what is ironic, Aegon?" She purposely emphasized his Targaryen name, a great contrast given he was acting as a Stark. Stubborn and cold, no fire. No emotion. Emotions for him needed milk of the poppy to bring out. "You pledge one thing besides war and you aren't even doing that?"
"Excuse me?" His eyes pierced into hers.
She wouldn't be intimidated or lost, so angry was she. So much dragonfire bubbled in her. "You claim to rule long enough to set another as your replacement, and yet you ensured today with your bullheadedness that I risk war with your group while mine sees me as weak!"
A cold scowl formed on his face. "You… you don't get it do you? The end of life masses and you still care about fucking politics."
"You chose leadership! You have to deal with it then, all of it."
He advanced on her, fist clenched at his side while the other pointed an accusatory finger at her. "I told you that I don't fucking want this!" His voice seethed. "All those vile snakes can have at it. Burn them, kill them, I don't care what you want to do with them Daenerys. I'll die alone in the fucking ice before I destroy my soul with these monsters!"
Glaring at him, Daenerys couldn't believe what she was hearing. "Missandei was right, you are no king! You are a commander and that is not what the people of this realm need!" Daenerys shouted with a tone of great anger and frustration.
Aegon looked down at her with such stern and hard eyes the likes of which she had never seen from him as if this were his real anger. "I am the shield that guards the realms of men. That is all I have been and that is all I need to be. That is all they need me to be. I do not care for what their petty squabbles are or if they kill each other over this amount of land or some bit of gold here. I fight so that these fools can continue living about and destroy one another as we have for thousands of years. I don't want the damn crown and I don't want the damn throne. I'm only what I need to be and I cannot say the same of you." Daenerys' fingers curled into fists, her rage was boiling within her.
"How dare you say that of me! I have always fought for those who need me!"
Aegon looked at her quietly. He stood from the throne and descended the steps so he was now at her level and pointed back up to it. "There it is," he said, "take it for all its worth for I have no desire for it and all the foolishness that comes with it. But do not lie and say that this is not but an object you possess as your reign begins. You have shown that the Iron Throne means more to you than your words of peace and freedom."
Again, without warning, Aegon did a surprising turn of events and drew forth Blackfyre from his scabbard but rather than point the tip of the blade at her he tossed it from his hand and caught it at the blade offering the hilt to her instead.
"Here," he said quietly, "if you truly mean what you say then prove it once and for all. Take this and break ten blades from that throne. No, just one blade. For if this is just an object you obtained along the road to your real desires then it means nothing. So show me that it does."
Daenerys eyed the ruby pommel of Blackfire as it gleamed dimly in the light. Her eyes drifted up to the Iron Throne. Both being relics of Aegon the Conqueror. The Iron Throne, such a powerful symbol unlike any in the entire world. Forged by the Flames of Balerion the Black Dread, the most mighty dragon of Westeros since the conquest. But to her it was more than just what the past Kings used to sit on during their reigns. This Throne was her family's legacy that began everything that united this country as the Seven Kingdoms. It has been fought dozens of times over, hundreds of thousands have bled for that throne, and now for the first time in history, here was one who is willing to destroy that symbol. A symbol with just as much presence as the dragons she commanded, a symbol in which no King in the world would not recognize authority compared to the minor thrones of other kings. This was her birthright, everything that represented what she fought for to return to her home. Daenerys took half a step but not forward to accept the sword but backwards in denial that she could do such a thing.
Aegon had flipped the sword around once again so that his hand held the hilt and he stabbed the tip of the blade into the cracks between the stone tiles lining the floor. "Now we both know. That," he pointed to the Iron Throne, "is what you came here for, not the realms who need you. If you are not willing to give up your legacy, your name and your vanity to do what is right then you're not different, you're just more of the same that came before."
The anger stirred and Daenerys spiked and she nearly erupted into yelling. "I am not the Mad King and I am not Joffrey or Robert Baratheon. And for you to compare me as the same as them makes me sick enough to think that you are more my father's grandson then I am his daughter." Without another word Daenerys turned on her heel and marched swiftly for the corridors outside the throne room that led to her solar. She no longer had any words left to give until an apology was given to her. Aegon the sixth, her nephew, how dare he claim the Targaryen name which he did not deserve.
She and her people strode through the corridors, no one saying anything to her as it was clear her thoughts were engaging in her mind.
Today was the final straw. With Dorne now gone from her, not only her position in Westeros has weakened but the status of her entire force was practically foreign to the country. The Velaryons were the only other House that pledged to her, but even Varys had his doubts of them remaining sure of their loyalty
It was an outrage! How dare he! After all they've been through together. And to think she nearly buried her quest for this man! For this moment, she hated him. He was a foolish King, a narrow minded fool… a… a… A damn bastard!
Daenerys felt a swift chill enter her lungs and steal her breath away. Her skin was covered in goosebumps as a terrible feeling wrapped itself over her.
Then, she lost touch with everything, but she didn't black out. This was… something else like a dream, but too intense. Vast visions entered her mind all at once and yet she could see each of them distinctly. Visions of her and Jon, in a lifetime that did not happen… no, a lifetime that did, one that she would never know.
The visions pushed and pulled at her awareness like the currents of an unyielding river. She lost track of where she was and when as the memories of what had been poured deep into her mind and were as powerful as though she lived through them.
Her body was filled with impatience and annoyance at Sansa as she continued to refuse her attempts to find a common ground and understanding with her. "What about the North? It was taken from us and we took it back and said we'd never bow to anyone else again. What about the North?" Who was this person? The bitter woman in front of her bore no relation to the woman that had become a friend to her.
The memory transformed into a scene of Sansa in a glorious gown among her Northmen and a direwolf crown upon her head as many voices called out 'The queen of the North' in glorious victory. Her face was triumphant… smug in the most vile of ways.
"We don't need her anymore…" said Arya Stark in the Winterfell Godswood with the other Starks, a memory that Daenerys was not in and yet she could feel all of the disdain for her nonetheless from both Sansa and Arya. "We don't trust your Queen. She's not one of us." A wave of the power controlling these memories washed over Arya and she had become covered in ash and blood in a ruined city. "I know a killer when I see one." She said to Aegon.
The city had suddenly rebuilt itself, except now she stood outside the walls of it, looking at her best friend standing atop the portcullis in chains! Next to her was a giant warrior and Cersei Lannister. "Dracarys!" Missandei called out before a great sword cut off her head in an easy stroke.
It couldn't be happening, this horror.
But it was.
Once again, everything faded into a new memory but Missandei was back with Daenerys, in an unnamed port covered in snow. The sheer amount of snow was too much for the south… White Harbor perhaps? "Daenerys," Missandei said to her in their room at the inn, " you are."
Daenerys then witnessed the night aboard her ship that Aegon came to her chambers, the night they first kissed, the night they first made love, the night she almost felt complete for the first time in her entire life.
But then she witnessed herself within the war council of Dragonstone, sitting by the hearth with Aegon after the execution of Varys when he attempted treason.
"I don't have love here. I only have fear."
"I love you," Aegon told her, "and you will always be my Queen."
"Is that all I am to you? Your Queen?" They shared a kiss, one that she begged with all of her heart to be proof of what she said, but he pulled away, hesitant, unwanting, unwilling. "Alright. Then let it be fear."
Atop of Drogon, looking over the city of King's Landing and a deep rage burning within her, she unleashed her rage on the people who didn't give a single care about what happened as long as they weren't a part of it. Who was this person? This monster? Daenerys felt all her emotions, but it was so foreign. So warped by pain and betrayal… She burned them, as many as she could, into ash and smoke.
All of it for the Iron Throne she craved for so long. And there it was before her, sanding untouched by the ruins that collapsed just like she had seen in her vision so many years ago. Finally, it was hers. Her family's legacy and her future was hers. She turned around when she heard the faint footsteps entering the throne room. It was Aegon. She had to tell him… but first she needed to know if he could still love her.
"Have you seen the bodies? Children! Little children burned!" Aegon's anger was not like any she felt before. It was anger of heartbreak and sadness instead of hate and rage. "I will love you, always," Aegon said to her in the ruins of the Red Keep before a pain entered her chest and all breath was lost. She looked down and saw his hand on his dagger, plunged into her chest. She tried to breath but found no air as she sank to her knees and darkness overtook her.
A sudden breath was sucked into her lungs as the power of the magic showing her these memories withdrew and allowed her to return to herself. Like the sudden intake of air in her lungs, a powerful crash of emotion overtook her mind and her heart, weighing them like iron and stabbing at them like swords.
"Daenerys!"
Aegon was holding her, the same way he did as he laid her down after stabbing her heart. A sudden hand brushed over her chest and she looked for the dagger but it was not there. She looked at him with eyes welling up with tears. "You murdered me…"
The expression on his face turned into that of pure regret. In that moment, she pushed herself out of his arms and got to her feet as fast as she could. She saw just how many were gathered in the hallway with them. Jorah, Missandei, Tyrion, Lord Davos, Ser Beric, Sansa, and many others.
"Daenerys," Aegon said as she wiped her cheeks clean of the tears that fell.
"There is no home for me here," she said, "only pain." She looked at her company. "We're leaving."
"Your grace," Tyrion tried to begin, but Daenerys halted and glared daggers at him, silencing the dwarf she named Hand.
"It's clear you seek allegiance elsewhere than mine. I strip you of your rank and your place in my service. You are free to drink and fuck whores wherever you so please. But not in my company."
Tyrion's mouth was agape at this, as were the mouths of several others but Daenerys did not care, for now she knew that none of them truly cared for her. She should have seen that even though the vipers were out of the pit, wolves were just as dangerous.
"Dany!"
Daenerys froze as Aegon had called her a name that she hadn't heard for so long since Viserys had called her that. It make her stuck in place as their eyes didn't break away or blink.
"Please," Aegon begged, "don't leave."
For all her anger, for all her rage, Daenerys took a step back. Her knees bent slightly and she covered her heart as if to steady its beats and her breathing all in once. She didn't say anything at first, but she wasn't thinking of what to say either. Instead, a simple question came from her lips. "Why… why did you do it?" She knew the answer to why, but it encompassed everything. Everything she was forced to see, starting with his rejection of her love. She breathed hard, trembling. "Do you think I'll become that person again, Aegon?"
The way he looked at her, the twinge of anger in his eyes struck her harder than it would at any other moment between them. "You could not see what you became." They both seemed to break at that, any composure her nephew managed to find for himself falling apart.
Her hand drifted to her belly… the last bit of information so cruelly opened to her. Only now did she seem to realize its importance. From Jon's eyes, he understood the meaning as well. "Would you have done it again if you knew?"
Aegon's jaw was twitching at this point, trembling as it would if he were sobbing. "I don't know."
Pressing on, Daenerys found herself in her given chambers faster than usual. She sat on her bed, feeling her energy leave her when she did. Never had so much chaos occurred in one morning. This made the attack in the fighting pits seem like a stroll in a garden.
"Khaleesi," Jorah started but Daenerys raised a hand up to him and Missandei.
"I said we're leaving. Make sure we are ready as soon as possible." There was no response so she looked at both of them angrily. "That is a command."
Missandei bowed her head and walked at a brisk pace out of the room but Jorah remained.
"Khaleesi, what happened?" he asked.
"I…" her voice was starting to shake out of her control. "Guard the door. Let no one in, including yourself." Her last word was almost a whimper. Jorah did as he was bidden and closed the door behind him. The moment the click of the latch was made, Daenerys stood up and grabbed a crystal glass on her nightstand and threw it hard against the wall, yelling out her anguish.
Jorah approached her, but didn't reach out for her. "Khaleesi… is it news from the North? Have the Dead…"
"Enough." She was seething, ready to explode into screams and curses… but none of those would help anything. Deep breaths tempered the dragonfire in Daenerys. Her eyes were instead a sparkling, dark purple. Holding herself tightly so she wouldn't start screaming. Or sobbing, "Our stay here has ended, Jorah. We're heading for Dragonstone and then leaving."
He nodded grimly. "Should I send a raven to White Harbor to inform of our approach?"
She hissed, again shaking her head. "No, we're leaving Westeros." Her fists clenched, holding in her disgust. Her anguish. "I'm going home."
Opening and closing his mouth, Jorah seemed completely stunned at the news. "But…"
Heart clenching, Daenerys nearly buckled. Forcing herself up by leaning against the stone walls of her chambers.
He murdered me. Daenerys swore she could actually feel the stinging pain of the knife in her chest. For someone that had been betrayed and took a knife in the heart, he killed her, his aunt and his supposed love in the same manner.
"Perhaps to wait a night before making a rash-"
"See it done, Jorah," she barked, not wanting to hear more. "That is a command."
She heard him sigh. "Yes, Khaleesi." Ever dutiful, he departed to carry out her orders, leaving Daenerys alone.
Not seconds passed before she screamed at the top of her lungs. Slamming her palms on the walls, shrieking her agony to the world. To the very gods. Why?! Why?! Everything had shattered. Everything destroyed through the visions of her nephew - in her very bones, she knew them to be true.
All her greatest fears were validated and all her greatest strengths demolished in one moment's barrage of prophecy.
Her fear of her father's madness… so many she burned in a day, far more than her father did in his entire life.
Her kindness and love for the common people… given up in an instant of anger.
It was just so easy for Aegon to betray her, for Sansa to betray her. Kindly Sansa, always with a smile and eager to spend time together even in frivolities that Daenerys had never the ability to experience as a girl. Aegon, so in love with her that he cried the first moment of laying eyes on her.
Daenerys wasn't a fool. The moment under the influence of milk of the poppy at Harrenhal were Aegon's true feelings. Once they would've elated her, but now she realized that even feeling that, Aegon still imagined her to be the barbarity and harbinger of death of those visions.
And that hurt the most of all.
She had long fallen to her knees, unable to stand. She had long buried her head in her hands and sobbed in the utter miserable condition of her life. In doing so, she didn't notice the door creaking open or Sansa entering until her hand was on her shoulder. "By the gods, Daenerys. What did Jon say to you?"
Breathing hard to steady herself undoubtedly a complete mess with the tearstains on her cheeks and red-rimmed eyes, Daenerys still stood with a steady voice if with halting hitches.
"Daenerys, tell me what was said…"
But Daenerys pushed past her. "I will be leaving." She didn't want to look in her face, the face of the woman who in the vision held the greatest of hate for her. Daenerys feared seeing even a sliver of that hate in her once closest friend's expression.
"Leaving?! Why…"
"Get out!" Daenerys shouted.
A tear fell from Sansa's cheek before she turned and left without another word. The door was shut and the faint echoes of sobbing became quiet.
Daenerys didn't look back. Didn't allow herself to mourn again till she was on the ship back to Dragonstone hours later. Forcing herself to gaze at the Red Keep. Where her nephew was. Where her friends were. Where her future once had been.
Unable to bear the sight, she turned away. Head hung, spirit adrift. Daenerys Targaryen had looked back at her life, and the gods themselves told her that she was lost.