A/N: Prompt: Excite.
03x06, 'The Climb'
The sun blazes overhead. Daenerys lifts a hand to her forehead, dabbing at the sweat. It's almost too hot for even her to bear.
Jorah and Ser Barristan suffer more. Both are almost as fair as she is; Jorah's forearms are going from red to brown beneath the sun's rays. The skin beneath Ser Barristan's cheekbones is fiery.
But they are in high spirits. How could they not be? Everything is going so well.
She turns in her saddle to where Jorah rides just behind her, flanking one side as Ser Barristan flanks the other.
"I want to ride a little further ahead," she says. Wants to leave the queen behind for just a moment, indulge in the adrenaline that courses through her veins.
Ser Barristan frowns. "Is that wise, Your Grace?"
"Don't worry, I won't go alone. Ser Jorah, will you accompany me?"
She doesn't fail to notice the significant look that Jorah casts at the other knight. "Of course, Khaleesi."
"I would be happy to—" Ser Barristan protests, but she cuts him off.
"Stay with the others," she tells him. "I need you and Grey Worm to take charge. We won't go far ahead. You'll catch us up soon enough."
Ser Barristan mislikes this idea, but he doesn't argue with her. Satisfied, she digs her heels into her horse's flanks and urges her to a canter. Jorah clicks his tongue and follows suit.
Dany grins to herself, pressing her horse on a little faster. The mare breaks out into a gallop. Pounding hooves indicate that Jorah has done the same and she laughs, giddy, as the dust swirls around them and the wind whips through her hair. Her heartrate increases, that adrenaline pumping faster, and Jorah is right there beside her, then outstripping her…
"Are you coming, Khaleesi?" he calls, a rare goad, and she rises to the challenge. There is nothing else, no crown, no mission, no dynasty on her shoulders, only the thrill of the competition, and she has never felt so alive.