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CHAPTER 3

"I don't understand."

"How much did Ser Jorah tell you?"

Dany hesitated. She didn't know how much Jon knew, but she decided that if anyone was going to understand resurrection, it was probably him. "He said your brother sent him to Kings Landing."

Jon nodded, "And Sam?"

Did they all know what happened to Jorah? Why were they being so damned cavalier about it?

"Sam asked why I hadn't been eating before the siege."

"And?"

She huffed. She was tired of repeating herself. "I thought I might be poisoned. Varys had tried to poison me before. And when he found out about your parentage, I thought he might try again. It was nothing." She didn't understand why they were fixating on this. She was alive. Even if Varys had tried to kill her, he hadn't succeeded.

Jon ran his hands through his hair. "I'm sorry I didn't see it sooner. I should have questioned your behavior right away. But you had lost so much- it would be enough to make anyone vengeful."

The Mad Queen.

"Jon, I -"

"I shouldn't have told Sansa about my mother and father- at least not until we had taken King's Landing. You would have been safe."

"What? Jon!" She was tired of being the only person who didn't understand what was happening. Why were they all being so cryptic? "I don't know what you're talking about. No one has explained anything to me. Not Jorah, not Sam, and now you. Please. I don't know why this matters. I know how it must have looked-"

Jon stopped her and took her hand. "You were right. Varys was poisoning you, Dany. For weeks, we think. He used your grief as an opportunity to make others believe you were losing your mind."

She looked at him in shocked disbelief, "How do you know that?"

"Tyrion received a letter from Varys after the siege. He must have sent it right before his execution. Its delivery was delayed by the battle. He doesn't confess to poisoning you directly, but he implies that your death would benefit the people of Westeros."

"Do you have the letter? I want to read it."

He pulled out a small scroll and handed it to her.

Old Friend,

Daenerys is a shadow of her former self. It will only be a matter of time before things come to an end. She is a conquerer, and she would take the world with fire and blood. She must be stopped. Jon Snow is just. He will unite the Seven Kingdoms. It is what is best for the realm.

I know you have done what you think is right. I must do the same.

"I've kept it on me since Tyrion gave it to me. I wanted to talk to you first. I had to be sure."

"Sure of my sanity, you mean." He looked at the floor.

Dany stared at the letter in silence. It was her chance to explain away her darkest thoughts. They were giving her an out. If she had been poisoned then she wasn't like her father. She wanted to believe it. She couldn't forget her thoughts as King's Landing fell. They haunted her. She wanted to believe they were the cause of some malicious substance. But she didn't believe it, and this letter didn't prove it.

"We think he started just after leaving Winterfell. Possibly on the journey to Dragonstone…As soon as he discovered I was a Targaryen."

"You got all that from this letter?"

"No, Varys made his intentions clear to me before he was executed. He made them clear to Tyrion. That's why Tyrion came to you."

She shook her head, "If Varys was poisoning me for weeks, how am I still alive?"

"Sam says there's a poison found in the bellies of certain fish that if given in consistent doses can cause paranoia, hostility, delusions...it's a gradual shift. But it would be enough to make anyone think they were losing their mind…He says it's not uncommon for the victims of this poison to kill themselves in the end."

"But I stopped eating. I was careful."

"The effects could last for weeks if he gave you enough."

"I don't understand. Why not just kill me and be done with it? He had the opportunity, and it certainly would have been easier."

He looked her in the eyes, "He didn't need to kill you outright. He needed to make you look mad like your father- that's a story the other noble houses would believe. He wanted to unite the Seven Kingdoms by giving them a common enemy. Once you'd been overthrown, he assumed you'd do the rest yourself."

"And you would be King."

"Dany. I don't want it."

"But you would have done it."

"You are my Queen. Now and always."

"Yes." Just your Queen.

The room started to spin and she put her head in her hands. She didn't know what to think. She had suspected betrayal, and she had been betrayed. But this…this seemed impossible. This convoluted plot to overthrow her. To drive her insane- it was all too much.

"Dany, are you alright?"

"I don't feel well suddenly."

He helped her lay back, "I should have waited until you were better to tell you. I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I needed to know."

"I'll let you rest. Good evening, Your Grace." He stood to leave the room.

"Jon, wait." She knew this wasn't the right time to ask, but she had another question sitting uneasily in her mind, "What do you know of Ser Jorah's…resurrection?"

"Not much more than you, I expect. I doubt he really knows. I know he was dead and now he's alive. I know Bran sent him here and Sam came with him. He saw you fall from Drogon. He was the one that carried you to the Keep. He hasn't said much else, and I haven't asked."

"I don't see how it was possible. We burned the bodies. He should have been ash."

"He should be dead. So should I. Dragons should be extinct. White Walkers should have been a legend. After everything we've seen, is it that hard to believe a man could be resurrected from a funeral pyre?"

She couldn't argue. She had walked into a pyre herself and come out unharmed.

"What's it like? To come back, I mean."

"It's hard to explain. Coming back is…violent. Frightening. Confusing."

"Did you know Bran had such power?"

"No, but there's a lot I don't know about Bran anymore. It could be possible."

She nodded, "How do you think he fits into all of this?"

"I don't know. Lady Melissandre believed we are only brought back when we can serve a higher purpose." He gave an incredulous shrug.

"What is your higher purpose, Jon Snow?"

He gave a small laugh, "I ask myself the same question."

She smirked at him. "And Jorah's?"

He paused and looked at her as if weighing the risk of what he was about to say. "He loved you. He fought for you. He died for you. He came back for you. His purpose seems pretty clear to me." He didn't need to say anything more.

She looked at her hands, "Thank you."

"I'll check in tomorrow. Goodnight, Dany."

"Goodnight, Jon."

Dracarys

Fire filled the streets and buildings fell around her. Mothers clung to their children. Men ran for their lives. All were eaten by flame.

"We will liberate all the people of the world! From Winterfell to Dorne, from Lannisport to Qarth, from the Summer Isles to the Jade Sea, women, men, and children…with fire and blood!"

She stood in front of the Iron Throne. The room was dusted with ash and the air threatened to choke her. She reached out to touch the chair and as she did it melted into a red-hot pool at her feet. Slowly threads of burning metal grew up her body like weeds. Inch by inch she felt them sting and mar her skin; wrapping around her body until they consumed her completely. Until there was nothing left of her.

She called out, but no one came. There was no one left…

"Khaleesi, I'm here. It's just a dream."

"Jorah," she said weakly.

"Shhhh. It's alright. It's over now." He gently wiped the tears from her face, then turned to retrieve a damp cloth from the bowl on the bedside table. "Your fever is back. I've sent for Sam. He should be here soon." He ran the cloth over her forehead and smoothed her hair.

"No, I'm alright now." She didn't want to seem weak or fragile.

"Then let him look at you for my sake." It wasn't a request.

"Very well then."

He looked at her with a worried expression, "Would you like to talk about your dream?"

"No."

He knew better than to push her. "You should eat something. When I came back earlier you were already asleep. I didn't want to wake you." He stood to grab a tray from the table near the fireplace. "It's just broth. The stew had gotten cold, so I had them bring this in case you woke." He placed the tray on the bedside table and moved to help her prop herself up.

"I'm not very hungry." She was hungry, and he knew it.

He looked at her with a skeptical expression. "Please, Khaleesi. You need your strength. You have a kingdom waiting for you."

"If I eat will you tell me why Bran Stark sent you here?" It was all she had to bargain with.

He smirked, "As you wish."

He helped her get settled and then took a seat on the bed.

"There's a lot I can't explain, and there's even more that I don't know." She nodded for him to continue. "Sam tended to me after I…woke. Most of what I understand about the event, I learned from him. He said they found my body amidst the debris of the pyre."

"Unburnt?"

Jorah only nodded in response.

"How is that possible?"

"I don't know, but I think it could have something to do with this." He untied a small leather pouch hanging from his neck and shook the contents into his palm. Out fell a small red stone.

"What is it?"

"Sam says they found it under the breastplate of my armor- or what was left of it. I thought, perhaps, you had put it there."

Dany rolled the stone in her palm, "No, I don't recognize it. I'm sorry." She handed the stone back to him and he refastened it around his neck.

"No matter." He seemed to be trying to piece things together as he spoke.

"When did you wake?"

"Not long after you left for Dragonstone. I wanted to go after you right away, but Sam said I wasn't strong enough."

"I find that hard to believe, but I suppose being dead would take a toll." She smiled at him, and he gave a low chuckle.

"I have to admit I wasn't a very good patient. When news of the Greyjoy attack on your fleet reached Winterfell…" He shook his head and she could hear the guilt filling his voice, "They should have anticipated an attack. You never should have been so exposed." He paused and looked at her earnestly, "I'm sorry about Rhaegal and Missandei. I can't imagine how you felt, after losing Viserion."

"And you."

They looked at each other in silence.

Surely you must know how much you mean to me. I was lost without you.

Jorah looked at the floor, "I'm sorry for all of the pain you had to endure alone."

She wanted to tell him that she had died with him- that death had changed her, and she never wanted to lose him again. But she said nothing.

"Why did Bran Stark send you to King's Landing?"

Jorah let out a deep sigh, "Not long after the attack, the boy came to me and told me that I needed to head straight for King's Landing. He said 'A power beyond her control is turning her thoughts dark and vengeful. If you do not reach her before the bells stop ringing, thousands will die and she will be lost forever.' I left for King's Landing that night."

Thousands will die.

"A power beyond my control…"

"He must have foreseen Varys' plot."

"Or something else."

"Khaleesi?"

She stared at the flames in the fireplace. "Every time a Targaryen is born, the gods toss the coin and the world holds its breath to see how it will land."

"You are not your father."

She looked at him, "You can't know. You can't know that's not who I really am."

"You're not-"

"I wanted to burn the city, Jorah. I wanted to take Drogon and punish this city for everything it had cost me. That's what Bran meant."

"But you didn't." His expression was almost frightened. Not of her, but for her.

"I might have if I hadn't heard you in the crowd."

"You weren't yourself, Khaleesi."

"Maybe I was. Maybe I was more myself than I have ever been."

"Daenerys, I know your heart. I have seen your compassion. You are not a tyrant."

"I've killed before."

"Never the innocent. Never those you were trying to lsave." He was emphatic.

"A Queen should not consider slaughtering her people."

"Thoughts are not actions, Khaleesi. Don't torture yourself over decisions you did not make."

There was a quiet knock at the door.

"Come in," Jorah said, but his eyes did not leave hers.

Sam entered looking tired and worn, "Sorry I'm late, Your Grace. I was with Tyrion. Ser Jaime just passed."

Tyrion. Jon said Varys had made his intentions clear to Tyrion, and Tyrion had betrayed him for it. Maybe Tyrion knew the truth.

"Sam, arrange for a wheelchair to be sent to me. I want to speak with Tyrion."

Both Jorah and Sam began to object, but she raised a hand to silence them. "Now."

This was originally two separate chapters, but it didn't feel like either one quite stood on their own. That means that the next chapter will probably be on the shorter side.

But yeah, I know it seems like A LOT of emphasis on this poison business (considering that in this version of the story she didn't burn an entire city to the ground), but I want to illustrate Dany's internal battle with not really knowing if she was poisoned or if she's going mad. That dilemma will be important in the following chapters. Anyway. Thank you all for reading, following, favoriting, and reviewing (even that guy who insulted the Jorleesi fandom. You still read it, dude). I'm just so relieved a handful of you are enjoying it. It's such a huge boost.