House of Metal 53
Determining who would rule the reconquered free cities was not an easy task. Arya did not envy the dragon queen her task as the woman sat at her desk. Looking between the queen and the rest of her advisors, Arya knew that it couldn't be any of them that took the reins of the cities.
The largest issue came from the fact that if any of them died, Dany would no doubt burn the city that killed them to ash. While the famous Targaryen madness had mostly missed the mother of dragons, it did leak into how the woman meted out justice and vengeance.
When trying to think of who should take control of the re-subjugated Yunkai, not many people came to mind, and only a few names were passed around the table. The most promising was a former slave that had survived the dragon's fire. He had been a minor administrative slave in one of the ruling houses, and the hope was that this could be used to help run the now free city.
His name wasn't really important, only that he had the qualifications and was sufficiently awed by the fire that the possibility of revolt was minimal.
Arya could tell that the threat of fire wasn't one that Dany enjoyed exercising, but the woman's reluctant resignation was clear. It was times like these that Arya could see the good ruler that the Targaryen could be, and why their family had been the accepted ruling family for so long after the death of the last dragons all those centuries ago.
There was a wisdom that did not match the age, a knowledge that belied experience. There was more to the Mother of Dragons than could ever be expressed in a single sentence.
The same could not be said of the rumored Aegon Targaryen, or so Daario described him. With the subject of administration completed, the second subject of the day was brought up, and the so called Targaryen was the subject of choice. Personally, the Stark girl couldn't care less if the boy was who he said he was or not, what did matter was what her Queen thought.
What Daenerys thought, though, was a mystery. She leaned back in her chair, eying her lover as he relayed news of a lost King to be. Arya could already tell, just from the narrowed eyes and pursed lips, that any chance of the continued sexual liaison between Second Son and Dragon Queen had been eradicated with the news that Daario served a second master.
Arya liked the commander of the mercenaries, enough so that she would regret slitting his throat if she were ordered to. But she would still slitt it without hesitation if the Queen so chose. Thankfully it didn't look like the Queen was that enraged by the apparent betrayal of trust.
With that in mind, Arya tried to think of why the Queen might be in that frame of mind to forgive Daario's transgression. Her posture did not express complete disregard for the subterfuge, nor did it express any measure of forgiveness. Rather, in this moment, the Queen had the look of Drogon when he realizes that he has cooked a meal to the point where it will become unappetizing.
"You serve a King, over your Queen?" Dany finally asks, rubbing the armrest of her chair
Daario smiles in his disarming way, and says, "I serve the Targaryens, I see no difference between who sits in the seat of power."
"You follow his orders, before you follow mine."
"I thought it was expected to follow the word of the King before the word of the King?" Daario asks, making it seem as though a simple leap in logic put him in the right.
"But he is not a King," Dany points out, "He is a mercenary."
"But he is a Targaryen?" Daario tilts his head, "Is it not the custom of the Targaryens to wed within the family?"
"I would rather wed Arya," The Mother of Dragons tells him with narrowed eyes
"You would rather wed a woman than a King?" Daario asks, surprised, then lower, he asks, "You would rather wed a woman, than me?"
"I would rather wed a plank of wood, than you, at this time," Dany tells him with narrowed eyes, and Arya has to wince at her total lack of empathy for the mercenary
"After everything that -"
"After everything that we shared? After all of that, it is all I can do not to have you executed or banished as I had Jorah Mormont before you!" Dany's voice is quiet, but her words are harsh, cutting, and angry beyond measure.
It is then that Arya finally understands Dany's feeling; Jorah Mormont had been a trusted advisor, a friend, and a father figure to the Queen. And then it had been revealed that he was a spy for the King of Westeros, and no longer was he any of those things to Daenerys Targaryen. After all of their adventures, their trials and tribulations, after everything, Jorah was nothing but a traitor to be cast out.
Just like Daario.
