Hello!

I know many of you are excited to hear Catelyn's tale so I won't be long.
Thank you to everyone who followed, reviewed and favourited. Your comments keep me going!

Enjoy!

Chapter XLIV: Frog Prince

Lady Catelyn Stark had aged in the last few years. She had small wrinkles around her eyes and mouth and white strands marked her dark auburn hair. She was sitting in her stereotypical position, on a chair with some needle work.

She turned when Daeron entered with Daenerys. "Daeron…" She gasped.

"I shall leave you two." Daenerys said quietly before backing away.

As soon as she closed the door, Daeron turned back to Lady Stark. She seemed unsure but finally decided to cross the distance between them and embrace him. She let go moments later.

"Daeron… I trust you are well." She said.

"I am. And as much as I would like to hear all of your story, I cannot do this without Sansa." He told her. Her eyes lit up and he realised she did not know her daughter was here.

"Sansa is here?" She asked as if she could barely trust his word.

"She is. Robb is still in Sunspear though." He added.

"Robb? You saved my son?"

"You didn't know?" She shook her head. "Well, then, it seems we have much to tell each other. Come let's go see Sansa."

He led her to the rooms they had been given. He found Sansa with his wife and son. As soon as they saw each other, the two northern ladies were reduced to tears. They had no wish to let go of one another. Long minutes later, Lady Stark was introduced to Prince Aemon, Ellaria and the two Kingsguards. She cooed over the baby as Jon had seen her coo over her own son Rickon. She was also quite friendly toward Arianne. All in all, it took them an hour before she could start her story.

"When we were attacked, I was under guard in a tent. Thankfully, by sheer luck, Robb had given me guards I had known for a long time, and smart ones. They felt that something was amiss almost immediately, and they used the confusion to smuggle me out of the camp. At first, I wanted to go back, for Robb… but they saw northern bannermen being slaughtered like pigs. They forced me away and we ran together.

"I believe Frey soldiers ran after us, once they realised that I was nowhere to be found. Only two found us. My guards killed them but we lost Derik to his injuries. Only Otto remained with me.

"I had very little options. I couldn't go back to Winterfell with Bolton's bastard there. Riverrun, I guessed would soon be under siege, that left only the Eyrie and my sister… Otto stole horses for us so that we would be faster." Daeron could not believe that the proper Lady Stark had consented to stealing, but maybe the situation justified it. "We made haste and rode as fast as we could. I had never ridden that fast in my life. By the time we got to the Gate of the Moon, I was exhausted. Thankfully, we did not encounter any mountain clans in the Vale.

"When we arrived at the Gate, the guards informed me that I had missed my sister's wedding by only a few days. Obviously, I inquired who was the groom. It turned out she had taken Petyr Baelish as her lord husband." Sansa gasped which did not go unnoticed for Daeron and her mother. "We continued on to the Eyrie.

"Lysa was just as lunatic as I remembered, but there was something more. She seemed jealous and paranoid that I would steal Petyr from her. It was highly disturbing. She tensed whenever I was in her presence, she did not want me anyway near her son or her husband… I was very lonely I believe. And every time I tried to talk to her, she found a way to argue with me or shout at me. I wanted to leave truly, but I had nowhere to go.

"Until one day, Petyr came to me and told me Otto had killed Lysa by throwing her through the moon door, the sort of opening in the floor through which they push those who have been sentenced to death in the Eyrie. I could not believe Otto would do such a thing, but Petyr insisted. He said there would be a trial. He said that Otto had heard her threaten me and that he did it in a moment of madness, to protect me.

"I was never invited to the trial. They executed my guard without my knowledge." She paused, holding back tears. "A few days later, Petyr came to see me. He confessed he had never loved any woman but me. He told me he did not want to marry Lysa to begin with, but that now the gods were giving us a chance to be together. He was delusional. And then I understood what really happened… He killed Lysa, to be with me.

"But this man is dangerous. Daeron you said so when you first met him. So, I played along, I said I would marry him but that it was not proper so soon after Lysa had died that we should wait… I was hoping for a rescue.

"In the end, he was called back to King's Landing. Before he left, he told me we would wed after he came back, that we had waited long enough. I knew I had to do something. I went to see Lord Bronze Royce who was about to depart the Eyrie. I told him all that had happened with Petyr. I begged him to help me get to Gulltown and on a boat to Essos. I told him from there I intended to sail to Dorne to find you. Thankfully, he helped me. He was fond of Ned when he was a boy, so he said he would help me in his memory.

"The ship we found was bound for Meereen coincidently. When I arrived here, I learnt that Daenerys was the ruler of the city. I did not have enough coin to cross back to Dorne and so I decided to try my luck with her." Again, she paused. "I told her who you were Daeron and that someday you would come. She did not believe me of course, but after that, I told her that when she came back to Westeros, she could use me as a hostage, so she kept me around. And now you're here…"

"You should have left as soon as Littlefinger was even mentioned." Sansa commented coldly.

"Why would you say that sweetling?" The Lady Stark frowned.

"He's a dangerous man, everyone told me so in King's Landing. Tyrion said he had claimed to have taken your virtue and Aunt Lysa's for years." The young woman revealed.

"My poor baby, it's true they married you to the Imp." The lady seemed to remember what she had heard of her daughter's fate.

"Tyrion was very gentle with me. He never… We never…" She still struggled to say the word.

"It's alright my sweet, I believe you." Lady Catelyn put her out of her misery. "You're back with your family now." She hugged her and mouthed to Daeron 'Thank you'.

"Those who wronged your family will die screaming, my Ladies." Ellaria promised, she seemed moved by the scene.

"My love," Arianne caught Daeron's attention "has Daenerys spoken anything about my brother?" Truth be told, Daeron had completely forgotten about Quentyn.

"No, but I didn't ask, maybe we could go together." His aunt and cousin nodded and agreed to care for Aemon for a little while. Lady Stark seemed really excited to have a baby in her arms again. Daeron and Arianne went in search of Daenerys together.

...

They found her in deep discussion with Ser Barristan. Daeron cleared his throat to make their presence known. His Targaryen aunt turned to see who was there, and, to his surprise, her face lit up. "Daeron, Queen Arianne, we were just discussing Rhaegar with Ser Barristan!" She exclaimed happily.

As much as Daeron wanted to hear about his father, they needed to ask the question first. "It is wonderful Daenerys, but my wife had something important to ask." He encouraged Arianne with a look.

"Princess, my father sent my brother Quentyn to discuss with you about a year ago… may we know if he ever arrived here?" The reaction to Arianne's interrogation was instant. Ser Barristan gulped, and Daenerys' mouth fell. Daeron could feel the temperature of the room drop.

"Gods, I had completely forgotten that Quentyn is your brother." Barristan Selmy looked highly uncomfortable when Daenerys commented that. He kept glancing back and forth to the princess. "Prince Quentyn did arrive but…" Daenerys started but was soon interrupted by the eager and impatient Arianne.

"But what? Is he dead?" She tumbled on the words.

"Not yet, your Grace." Ser Barristan intervened, face grave and sombre. "But we don't think he will live long."

"What?" Arianne needed Daeron's help to stay up straight. "What happened?" She exhaled.

"It would be better if you sat." Ser Barristan said.

Daeron forced his wife to do so. The old knight helped his queen retell the tale of Quentyn in Meereen. The young man had indeed arrived in Meereen almost a year past to ask for Daenerys' hand. In fact, she had only been in the city for a few weeks when Quentyn and his companion found passage for Meereen. When he arrived, Daenerys was already discussing marriage with one of the Meereenese noble so that she could bring about peace. When Daeron inquired if her husband was still alive, she confirmed and told them she had sent him to deal with Yunkai. Daenerys had tried to send the Dornish Prince away many times, telling him he did not belong in the free city. Especially after the wedding. But Quentyn was too stubborn apparently, he insisted on staying until she decided to come back to Westeros. He was never considered as an advisor though, only an unwanted guest.

When the riots started with the Sons of the Harpy, about a month ago, he was very vocal about Daenerys losing her time in Essos. He considered the Meereenese to be savages and kept telling her of Dorne. No doubt he had felt the issue with the Sons of the Harpy would force Daenerys to remain in Essos even longer. So, two days ago, he did something completely stupid which was reported by his two companions. Daenerys admitted to having secluded two of her dragons in a dark cave for the best part of a year. Quentyn had convinced some sellsword to help him break them free and claim one.

His companions said he was certain that his 'dragon blood' would be enough. He meant to tame one beast and bring it back to Dorne for his father. At this point, Arianne had started to cry quietly, no doubt she had guessed what the outcome of such folly would be, especially with imprisoned dragons. Indeed, the prince had been burnt, badly and was now on a bed agonizing.

Arianne's stare on Daenerys was cold and accusing. "Zaldrìzes buzdari iksos daor. You did this… you made your dragons dangerous when you enslaved them and now you are responsible for the death of the heir to Dorne… If there was even one tiny chance that you could usurp Daeron before, it is gone… Westeros will never accept a child who cannot control anything and has no clue how to rule. They will not accept a murderer." She snarled. Daeron took her in his arms. Daenerys was trembling but said nothing, so Daeron turned to her sworn-sword for help.

"I will escort you to his bedside." The knight offered leading them out.

Daeron had not known his good-brother before, still, it pained him to see the young man this way. The left side of his face was gone, taken away by burns worse than the Hound's. Daeron was not sure, but he thought he had seen part of his jawbone. The flesh was still raw, but the edge of his skin and his nose had blackened. His body was not covered as Missandei – the translator who had taken the responsibility for caring for the boy – explained that the sheets hurt too much. His right arm was mostly intact, so was his right calf and both of his feet. However, pretty much everything else was covered in burns, most parts were reds but there was some blackened patches of skins and yellow pockets of pus. It smelt like rot and sweat in his room. And the air was filled with the hissing sounds of his laboured breathing.

Missandei was mortified once she realised who the young man was to Daeron and Arianne. She told them everything they wanted to know. She indicated that he had awoken a few times and talked though it had been almost a day since the last episode. Arianne held his good hand and started talking to him. She chastised him, told him their father would always love him no matter what he did, filled him in on her wedding and her son, then, she started talking about their mother. Daeron felt he was neither wanted nor needed in the room, so he excused himself.

Outside, he found two highly upset young men. Ser Gerris Drinkwater and Ser Archibald Yronwood, they were named. Daeron remembered their lord fathers from his wedding, so he immediately became weary of Ser Archibald.

"Is it true Princess Arianne is in there?" Ser Gerris appeared to have been eating away at his nails, he held himself slumped with his bloodied fingers near his mouth.

"Queen Arianne, yes." Daeron told the two men who looked ready to faint. "But my wife is not to be disturbed. I believe you have been informed of the Prince's status…" The knights nodded. "Once we are done here, I will task you to bring his bones back to his father, Prince Doran. Until then, consider yourselves under my protection. I will tell Daenerys so and have you transferred to rooms closer to ours." Daeron moved on but was stopped by the Yronwood.

"Thank you, your Grace, for your kindness… May we know your name?" Ser Archibald seemed in a better composure than his friend.

"I'm Daeron Targaryen, the Third of my Name, son of Rhaegar and Lyanna Targaryen." The Yronwood knight looked surprised and somewhat angered but he seemed to know better than to say anything. The Drinkwater man however, fainted.

...

When the night came, Arianne did not come back to Daeron's bed. Daeron had tried to occupy his day as best as he could. Daenerys was nowhere to be found, neither were her advisors. Daeron told what had happened to the Stark women, Ellaria and Prince Oberyn since it was Ser Richard who had accompanied the royal couple in the morning. Lady Stark appeared to have genuinely never heard of Quentyn in Meereen, nor had she met him.

After a few hours, Aemon had started to become restless and his father's effort to calm him were not enough anymore. "He's hungry, your Grace." Ellaria had hypothesized.

"Let me bring him to his mother, it is time I paid my respect to my nephew." Prince Oberyn had suggested. Daeron had consented.

Now, he laid wide awake in his bed, alone, with his son in a cradle beside him. Aemon had been asleep when Oberyn had brought him back and he had not fussed since. The second Prince of Dorne had remained silent after giving back his son to Daeron. Soon, it became clear to the young King that Arianne would not be joining him. Sleep claimed him despite his wishes to wait for his wife.

"No, no, no, no." Daeron turned his head to see Aegon the Unlikely, as a child, as Egg. He looked horrified and was shaking his head frantically. Daeron stepped closer to his child ancestor.

"Egg, what's wrong?" He knelt to his level and put his hand on the boy's shoulder.

"Aerion, he will come soon, I don't want to see him." He had big violet eyes filled with fear. "I don't want to see him. He's cruel and a liar, he killed my cat!" The little boy buried his face in Daeron's doublet and sobbed.

The young King had not known that the young boy who was also one of his favourite ancestors was so afraid of someone. In fact, Daeron was not even sure he knew who Aerion was. "It's alright Egg. Who… who's Aerion?" He was a bit ashamed to ask the question.

"My brother, the second son…" Egg sniffed. "He always plays nice around Father but he's cruel to everyone else. I had a cat but he threw it down a well and once… in the dead of the night, he came inside my bedrooms and put a knife between my legs. He said he would make me a sister so that he could marry me." Well, the infamous Targaryen madness had revealed itself once more.

"Why… why am I seeing this?" Daeron did not even realise he was speaking aloud.

"Because of how he died, I guess." Egg replied wiping his nose with his sleeve. "You remember the tourney where I became a squire to Ser Duncan?" Aegon was serious again. Daeron nodded. "Aerion was there, he wreaked havoc on the whole festivities. He mistook knights for stable boys, he broke the fingers of some smallfolks and then Duncan was arrested for punching him when all my knight did was protect a girl… Ser Duncan requested a trial of Seven, where seven champions face seven others. Aerion bribed some of Duncan's champions… Then, he wounded my knight before he was forced to yield."

"This was the trial that had the heir killed wasn't it?" Daeron remembered Aegon's history.

"Yes, my uncle Baelor, he was killed… after that, my father could not ignore Aerion's vices anymore, he sent him to Lys." Aegon explained. "I don't know exactly what he did in Essos, fathered some bastards and became a sellsword, most like. He was recalled for the Third Blackfyre Rebellion and was pardoned for valour." Egg scoffed. "He married one of our cousin, he treated her badly. They had one child, Maegor… Who names his son Maegor? But then…" Aegon gestured to a door which was opening.

A man with silver-gold curly hair and a comely face came in, followed by servants bowing and struggling to keep up with him. Only one strode lightly and confidently behind him. A bald old man with a thin long grey beard and missing teeth. He was not dressed in the rich silks of the nobility, but he did not look poor either.

The servants kept arguing with the Prince. "My Prince, please, we beg you! Think of your son! Don't do this!" The men were restless and frightened it appeared.

"Don't be stupid, you useless lot!" The prince scorned. "I am a dragon, I have nothing to fear of fire." He paused as he entered the room and his eyes settled on Egg. "Oh, you're here little brother! Good, now you can witness a true dragon be born. Master Alf!" The bald old man ran forward and presented the prince with a small pitcher. The servants were still pleading, some even on their knees. "I am a dragon, I've always been a dragon, but today, by drinking the fire made liquid I will be reborn in a dragon's form." He declared, opening the pitcher.

Daeron and Egg looked in horror as the man poured the green liquid into his mouth. Somehow it ignited and started producing unnatural green flames. Wildfire, Daeron realised, his ancestor was drinking wildfire. The screams started soon after he dropped the pitcher. They were haunting. Daeron thought he heard some talk about dragons but it was all confused and inaudible. When the prince fell to his knees, the servants fled. The pyromancer – as Daeron guessed Master Alf was – remained until the throat of the prince started turning black and the screams died. Soon, Aerion fell face first. He had passed from this world, yet Daeron and Egg stayed. They stayed to see the burns consume him from the inside. The feet were spared but that was all that was left from Prince Aerion in the end.

...

Prince Quentyn Martell had died during the night. Arianne woke him when she came back and told him. Since she had come back, they were curled up in the bed and Arianne was sobbing in his chest. Neither had slept.

Their small party donned black clothes the next day, clothes they had requested from Missandei as they had not brought that much with them. The young foreign girl looked genuinely sorry for their loss, though there was clearly something amiss in her features. She looked filled with sorrows. Daeron's aunt was not in sight again, but the two Dornish men, who had accompanied Quentyn, came. After they had paid their respects, Daeron inquired as to their housing and well-being. They thanked him for the rooms and told him it was a nice upgrade from the cells.

Daeron's head snapped to Missandei. "They were accused of trying to steal the Queen's dragons." The girl justified with a trembling voice. Daeron sighed heavily, he could not hold it against Daenerys. Rather, he could, but he would not, she had much to atone for already.

"Tell me, Missandei, why is Princess Daenerys" – he insisted on calling her by her true title though it was true she was Queen of Meereen – "not here?"

"I… there was an attack last night… one of her advisors is dead, another is terribly wounded." The girl did not meet his eyes, she looked on the verge of tears.

"Who?" He managed to get the word out.

"Ser Barristan has perished, and Grey Worm was… wounded." She told him. Daeron closed his eyes to hide his frustration. Now his aunt had managed to get one of the best knights who ever lived killed…

"I can see you are close to this Grey Worm…" He focused on being sympathetic to Missandei. "You should go be with him." Then, he walked back to his wife next to her brother's funeral pyre. He must have had an expression that betrayed his thoughts because she frowned with worry when she saw him. "Ser Barristan Selmy is dead." He explained.

"How?" Arianne's eyes widened.

"We'll have to ask my dear aunt…"

"Many things to ask your dear aunt." Ellaria completed with a disturbing sort of calm anger.

But said dear aunt was nowhere to be found. Soon enough, the news of Selmy's death propagated throughout the Pyramid and the 'Queen' decreed five days of mourning for her fallen knight. She barricaded herself in her rooms with only her closest advisors whose names Daeron had finally learnt. Missandei often came to see the guests and every time, she promised that, yes, the Queen would see them soon. Though, she never said when soon was supposed to be. Grey Worm, the captain of the Unsullied was still too weak to be by Daenerys' side. So that left only one close advisor, Daario Naharis… He was a sellsword who had pledged to Daenerys by killing his former captains and bringing their heads to Daenerys. Missandei explained the scene to them. He never left Daeron's aunt's side. So much so, that it did not take long for Prince Oberyn to guess that the man was Daenerys' lover. Sansa and Lady Catelyn, who was adjusting well to living with Daeron's family, seemed shocked by the idea, they were proper ladies after all. The others just rolled their eyes. Daenerys was incredibly careless with her personal life. If they knew, then surely others did as well and they would try to use that against her. Use Daario against her. Daeron wondered if the conveniently absent Meereenese husband knew what his wife was up to. Probably.

After three days or trying to get to his aunt, Daeron had had enough. On Ellaria's advice, despite Missandei's protest, he went up the Pyramid. Some unsullied tried to stop him. He decided not to unsheathe his sword and instructed Ser Richard to do the same. He had no wish to spill blood in the Pyramid. Yet, he was firm in the fact that peacefully or violently, he would see the Queen of Meereen. Daenerys might be their host, but he was the head of her House since her husband clearly did not count. Reluctantly, after long minutes of negotiation, two unsullied agreed to escort them in.

Surely enough, he found her in bed with Daario Naharis. The shock on their faces could have made him laugh. The man stumbled to his feet naked in search of his weapon. Daeron turned to Richard. "If this idiot does not leave this room in a minute, you are free to cut his manhood." Daenerys was fuming and covering herself with a silk sheet. She looked about to let out her outrage, Daeron did not give her the chance. "Find a robe, dear aunt, we need to talk." He glared at her and went to wait for her on the terrace.

Quentyn's death is inspired from the books, but I have not read this part yet. I hope you enjoyed Cat's story, don't hesitate to review.

Next chapter: Daenerys and Daeron have another altercation but bond over the dragons.

Guest reviews:

- (Bautista) Haha, I see we have the same opinion on her. I hope you're satisfied with Catelyn's state.

- (Hitman) Good! I could have had them meet in Westeros, but I really wanted Daeron to see Essos.

- No, Drogon will not be the largest, we agree.

- Thank you! For the foretelling of Daeron's arrival, I cannot reveal everything just yet, but if you want a clue, it was a character that appeared once or twice in Season 2 and spoke to Dany and then never reappeared for some reason.