Chapter 2

Daario had taken Jon to the harbour, where they had boarded a ship. They had been at sea for days and Daario had avoided him for the entire trip. Jon did not know where they were going and why, buy eventually surrendered and spent those days in silence with Ghost by his side.

They had finally docked at dawn, and they had been riding since. The sun had just moved towards the west; it was warm, but the wind, fragrant with flowers and trees, made the journey very pleasurable. Jon was sure he had never seen such vegetation in his life. He still did not know where they were, as Daario kept his silence, and he had stopped asking; Daario looked at him with hate and disgust, and Jon could not blame him.

Among the branches, Jon started seeing tall and long white walls from a far: blue roses climbed on them, making them look as if they were embroidered. They approached more and more and Jon realised those were the fortifications of a villa, to which the only entrance was a red door; the door was opened for Daario, and Jon saw an enormous courtyard with fountains of many shapes, low and rectangular, tall with statues, waterfalls, that delimited pathways; an intricate maze of hedgerows and lemon trees, and flowers, complemented the water games of the springs: it was all beautiful and peaceful there.

Suddenly, Jon realised that there was a huge black slope in the corner of the courtyard, and could not understand what that was.

The black slope started moving, and Jon's heart stopped. That was a dragon. The dragon turned his head towards Daario and Jon, when they passed the front door. Jon stopped breathing: that was Drogon; and he was curled up to protect something. The dragon moved, almost to show him the treasure he was hiding. Jon was hit by a pang in the hearth. Drogon still trusted him. Every night Jon wished Drogon had burned him when he killed Daenerys. He would have wanted to die with her. He came back from his thoughts, and saw what the dragon was protecting: a little girl, maybe three or four years old, with silver hair, who was playing with two small dragons. She would throw leaves and fruit in the air and then say "Dracarys": the little dragons would spit fire and the little girl would laugh.

"Daario." the little girl screamed, when they got close enough, and ran in Daario's arms.

The little girl looked at Jon puzzled. Jon saw she had dark grey eyes, like his.

"Who is he?" she asked Daario.

"That is not how your mother taught you to behave, is it?"

She nodded and introduced herself properly, like a future lady would have done: "I am Naerys Targaryen, daughter of Aegon and Daenerys Targaryen."

Then she looked at Daario again "Who is he? What is that?" she was now looking at the direwolf.

Jon could not breathe. The small white dragon with grey eyes from his dreams. This is what his dream was trying to tell him. His daughter. Ghost had started licking her feet and she was laughing and laughing. She was the most beautiful thing he had ever seen, together with Daenerys. How could this be? Then Daenerys must be...

Before he could form any thought about what he was experiencing, he heard a voice he had dreamt every night for years, and felt like his heart had just exploded.

"Naerys, to whom are you talking?"

"Daario, Mother. "

Daenerys walked out the main house, she smiled at Daario, and was about to run towards him, but she saw Ghost at her daughter's feet. Her heart started pounding really fast, she closed her eyes and took a deep breath; when she opened them again she saw Jon. And Jon saw her. They were both paralised by a multitude of intertwined feelings impossible to separate from one another. And the world was the way it should have been again. Aegon and Daenerys Targaryen, and their princess that was promised.

"Who is he, Mother?" Naerys insisted "What is this?" she kept her feet close to Ghost's mouth, and Ghost would lick them every now and then.

"She introduced herself very politely" Daario warned Daenerys "she already said she is the daughter of Aegon and Daenerys Targaryen".

Daenerys swallowed, walked towards Daario, and picked Naerys up from his arms. "Naerys, this is Aegon Targaryen, your father. And this is his direwolf Ghost. I told you he might find us." said Daenerys nervously, never stopping to look in Jon's eyes. How many times she had wondered how it would have been seeing him again, how terrified she was of him, of his unforgiving morale, of the fear that he never wanted her, of the fact that, to get rid of her, he had killed her.

She had not changed. If anything she was more beautiful. The gloomy clothes she had worn in Winterfell and King's Landing were gone. The had a light dress, the colour of her eyes, her back was naked, she was wearing her hair up, but small strands of hair fell on the side of her beautiful face. He had never thought he would see her again, but in his dreams. Maybe this was a dream. A daughter and his Daenerys, right in front of him. This must have been a dream.

The little girl turned to Jon and gave him the biggest smile "Why did it take you so long?"

Jon tried to pull himself together "I am sorry. I was lost. I could not find my way without your mother."

"Did you lose yourself after you killed mother?"

Daenerys put her down, to not make her feel she was shaking.

Jon was in pain, in his stomach, in his heart "I got lost before then. That is why I killed her. I shouldn't have." Jon started crying for the shame, for the pain, for the joy: he could not keep track of what he was feeling anymore.

Naerys got to Jon and lifted her arms to be picked up by her father "Don't be sad, father. We are well now, mother and I. Drogon travelled the sky and brought us to Daario, and Daario asked a red lady to bring mother back. Nobody knew I was there too. Only mother knew. So she asked the red lady to bring me back too. And now we are here.".

He knelt and hugged her and kissed her hands "You are just a dream. A beautiful dream. I thought I was damned and now I see you and your mother and it is all a dream again."

Daario put his hand on Daenerys' back, as he saw she was about to pass out. She seemed to recover a little. "My love, can you see Neethi and tell her to draw a bath for your father, and to be prepared to serve dinner for all of us?"

"Yes, Mother." she started running towards the house. Then she came back: "May I be excused, father?"

Jon kissed her hands "Of course.".

Jon raised and looked at Daenerys. He realised he not only had killed the woman he loved, but also their child. She was trying really hard not to cry. And she was shaking. He made a step towards her, she moved backwards, and Daario moved in front of her. Daenerys did not smile, lowered her eyes, and said "Daario will show you to your chambers." And she walked in the house.


Dining room


Daenerys had known mostly deserts, of sand, of rocks, or of ice, in her life, so she had wanted every room in her villa to be painted with trees and flowers, so that she would always feel in a garden. The walls of the dining room showed her beloved lemon trees in a garden of lilacs. Now she could not stop promenading the room, not even the pretty painted plants could calm her. She was angry at herself, for having missed him, for the instinct she had of running in his arms, for hating him and loving him at the same time; she was angry at Jon, for what he had done; at life, that could not let them be happy; at his family, who ruined their love. She was angry and in pain and she wanted to scream.

"Why didn't you tell me?" asked frustrated Daenerys.

"Because if I had told you we were coming, you would have spent all these days not sleeping, and not eating, torturing yourself. I was trying to protect you for a few more days. Until I'll have the chance." answered Daario.

"What do you mean?"

"You love him. I can see it from the pain with which you look at him."

"I loved the man I met at Dragonstone. Then that man went away, and another came, a coward, who killed me. And this was a life ago. I died and was brought back since then, I had a child, I took my reign here in Essos back. I do not know the man you brought here."

"He is Naerys' father."

"Yes, and that is why I had ordered you to bring him here, in case he had appeared in Mereen asking questions. Naerys has the right to know her father. I just...I did not think it would be so hard..."

Daario put his arms around her "Calm down. Nothing is happening. You do not have to do anything. You can hide in your chambers and never talk to him." he kissed her "Or better: we can hide in your chambers and never talk to him." he tickled her back, she smiled at first, and then laughed, and he kissed her again.

She felt observed, turned around and there Jon was, staring at them.

"I am sorry I did not mean to..." he was embarrassed. And hurt. And jealous. What was he expecting, that she would have been waiting for him after he killed her? He felt like an idiot. He had never made her laugh like that, nor reassured her. He was always sad with her, worried for the army of the dead, worried for his sisters, and then he killed her. After the journey he had done, to see what it was like to be her, to be a ruler, to care for the people, now he was faced with what she would have needed from him, as a man, her companion.

"Let's sit" said Daario, sneeringly.

They slowly and awkwardly sat at the table when, thankfully, Naerys stormed the room "I am starving, let's eat." She climbed on Jon's lap and put her head on his heart.


Naerys' bedroom


Dinner had been very...polite. They discussed Mereen, and Slaver's bay, the Wildlings, the weather. After dinner, Naerys had insisted for Ghost to sleep into her bed with her and for her father to put her to bed and tell her a story, the story of the dragon and the wolf.

Jon had fallen asleep as well, and when Daenerys went to check on her daughter, she found her sleeping with her head on her father's chest, hugging Ghost.

Daenerys sat for a moment at the feet of the bed, looking at this scene, and she found herself smiling, only to be pierced with anger and sadness again. It was a chilly night, and she tried to cover her daughter before leaving, but Jon opened his eyes. He understood what she wanted to do, and helped roll the little girl over the pillow, and covered her with a blanket. Jon and Daenerys both left the room quietly.

"I am sorry, I did not mean to wake you..." she said.

"No, I am sorry I fell asleep and did not check on her..." he answered.

They both chuckled nervously.

"Can we talk?" he asked.

"I'd rather not for now." she said, and exited in the courtyard. It was a quiet night, with a chilly wind that made them shiver slightly, the sky was clear and full of stars, reflected by the water by the pathways.

He followed her "You do not have to talk. Could you just listen?"

She was visibly in pain, but he could not keep this in anymore; he had repeated this speech to her in his dreams every night: he had to say it to her, with the hope of making things better.

"Every night in my dreams I made a different choice. I trusted whom I thought was my family. I should have trusted you. Every night in my dreams I kissed you, after you said nobody loved you. As I should have done. Every night I married you, after you asked me to rule together. I never killed you. In my dreams, I have never killed you."

"In my dreams I never burned King's Landing to the ground." she was shaking again.

"Those deaths are on me. We exasperated you. You had helped us and we did not thank you. You had lost the people that had been your family. And I, the man who was supposed to be your new family, pushed you away. And then I killed you. And I am sorry.".

"I burned King's Landing to the ground.".

"And I did not stop you. You needed me and all I did was killing you. The mistake was mine, you needed help and I betrayed you. I was weak, I was indecisive, I was useless. I gave you nothing but pain. I took away everything for which you fought. I did not understand your vision. I did not know. And I took your life. But if you'll allow me, I want to spend the rest of my days making amends for that. Please..." he tried to take her hand but she moved backwards and lowered her eyes.

"What is happening? I woke up and you were not there." Daario came out from the house to look for Daenerys. He seemed really worried.

"I am sorry I worried you." she took Daario's hand "I went to Naerys bedroom to check on her, and..." Daenerys was agitated and uncomfortable.

"I am sorry I have upset you both." Jon apologised, he hesitated "I don't really know how...this is beautiful and unexpected and...".

"This is beautiful for you. And for Naerys. But for Daenerys is just really hard." Daario corrected him. He could not hold back anymore "You killed her" he was finally letting on how furious he was "How could you? I love her with all my heart, and even if she burned the entire world and was about to burn me, I would still love her. I could never kill her. How could you? You kissed her, and killed her. How could you? I have never wanted to kill anybody like I want to kill you.".

"I have been asking the same question to myself for four years now. And you must know: if you wanted to kill me, I would not try to stop you." Jon looked like an empty shell now, so much that even Daario did not know what to say anymore.

Daenerys looked at Daario with severity "Perhaps we should go to sleep now. It has been a long day. Very long. We can talk about it tomorrow." she sweetly pulled Daario away from Jon "Good night, Jon.". She hadn't wished him good night in years, and it felt familiar, it felt safe, and then the thorns of his betrayal stung her again. She turned around and entered the house, and Daario followed her.

TO BE CONTINUED