Chapter 4


Outside the villa, Daario was mounting his horse, trying to find the strength to leave Daenerys alone with Jon. There were affairs of which he needed to take care in Mereen, the hearings of the people, and mostly making sure that Daenerys would be shielded from Bran's magic. They had gathered wargs to leaf through the sky, witches to cast protective spells, priestesses to look into the flames. But they knew all of this would have never been enough against somebody that could be anywhere and see everything.

"I am going then." said Daario, more to convince himself than to communicate it to Daenerys.

"You said it already." Daenerys smiled.

"I don't want to." he kept staring in her eyes, trying to find an excuse to make him stay.

"I know you don't. You don't need to go today. There is order in Mereen, you can stay a bit longer." she put her hand on his.

"No. We have our obligations for keeping you safe, and having you rule at the same time. We have our way, and it is settled. We mustn't change it."

Daenerys was feeling anxious as well. Having Daario there would keep her away from Jon, would distract her. Without Daario, nothing would have pulled her away from Jon but the fear he could hurt her again "Well, it only takes a day of travel from Mereen. You sailed for a week to confuse Jon. You can be back in a few days."

Daario lowered his eyes.

She saw Daario was more scared than she was, so tried to console him "Nothing will happen. He barely managed to kill me once."

"No, my love. He managed to fool you once. You want to believe he is good." his teeth were grinding.

"He killed the woman he loved because he was persuaded I was a murderer. He was weak. Just weak." she was careful. Nonetheless, he had killed her. What was she doing now? Defending him?

"Isn't that worse?" asked Daario, turning his horse to take his way to the harbour.

Daenerys did not answer. She smiled and kissed Daario. "Come back as soon as you can. I promise you will find me as you left me." But she was scared that was not true.


When Daario had led him there from the harbour through the forest, Jon had not realised the villa was by the sea. No harbour, no constructions, not another soul, till the eyes could see. The sand was golden and hot, but a light breeze and the trees spread close to the water kept him cool. Ghost was going in and out of the sea, to then wag the water out of his coat, getting Naerys wet and laughing.

He thought about what he had hoped to have in his life, for him, and he realised there was nothing. The only purposes that came to mind were become a ranger, and save the living. But the was no desire for himself really. Aside from Daenerys: he had wanted her, not for the throne, not for her army, but because since he saw her for the first time she filled his head and his heart completely. Those eyes, her voice, her strength. He was raised with the thought he did not deserve anything from life, because he was a bastard. Even that was wrong: just because one's father did not recognise him, why shouldn't one had to hope for a good life. He knew now, Missandei made him think of that telling him that in Essos there were no bastards. Westeros, the North, created rigid rules for living that ultimately made people unhappy, and in the name of what?

He looked at his daughter: she was so merry, such a happy child. Daenerys had raised her that way. She was a good mother. And they were…well he did not know where they were yet, but sure that was not Westeros: even if his daughter had not had a father to give her a name, she was lighthearted. He thought that if his daughter had been born in Westeros in a similar situation, she would have been treated like scum, like he was, even when he was that little. He now understood the meaning of "a better world", the words that Daenerys had kept repeating.

"If I had been raised like her, thinking that I deserve to be happy, what would I have wanted for me?" he asked himself. One answer was always "Daenerys". And then he thought "I would have wanted what's mine. The Seven Kingdoms should have been mine. That was my right. And I would have made a good king. I was chosen as lord commander of the Watch. I was chosen as king in the North. Daenerys loved me, me, there must have been something good in me, then. Because of Tyrion, my sisters, and Bran, I lost everything before even having had a chance of realising I wanted it. Before even realising I deserved it." he looked at his daughter and thought "and I would have wanted her, though I would have never imaged her to be so wonderful."

He heard muffled steps on the sand, and then in no time Daenerys was sitting next to him. She was quiet, but he could feel she was tense.

"You are a wonderful mother. I know I have no right of saying that. But in case…I wanted to say it." he told her.

"Thank you." she bit her lip. She could not stay away from him, she thought.

"May I ask…where are we exactly?" asked her Jon.

"You cannot know. I don't trust you, and Bran mustn't find us."

Jon frowned "What does that mean?"

"Bran knows I am alive. We are not sure if he knows about Naerys or not, but if he knew, the situation would be even worse." she kept biting her lips. She did not know if Jon was ready to know. "Why am I protecting him? He must know what monsters he supported." she thought while her rage was mounting again.

"I don't understand."

"Your brother wants me dead. He can spy on us. We had to cast spells on the cities, and on this place, to keep his sight out. We have wargs to watch the sky, and red priestesses to look in the flames. We don't allow the people in the cities to talk about me. He mustn't know anything."

She could see his pain, it was nearly tangible. Her heart was teared between her love for him and her anger. Love won this time "I know how much you love your brother, but I wanted to be honest. I have proof he is not the man you think he is."

"He had the sight, and he let you burn the city, and let me kill you. And he did not stop us. I kept thinking about it all these years. If he knew, he could have stopped us. He chose millions of deaths and to destroy his brother in order to rule the Seven Kingdoms. I know he is evil."

She did not expect this reply. He had sustained Sansa even when he knew Sansa hated her. He had changed, after all. In Westeros he would have found an explanation to defend Bran, and excuse, to lie to himself. Now, his eyes were wide open. "What do you mean with 'destroy his brother'?"

"Do you think I could breathe after what I did? Without you? I have never loved anything in my life as much as I love you. Anything. I have dreamt you every night. You are the only thing I could think about during the day. You have been with me all these years, and the pain of having survived you has been ripping my heart since." he could not tell what she was feeling at that moment, she was looking at him like she did the first time they met, in Dragonstone. He continued clenching his jaw "The person who used to be MY COUSIN stole our throne, had me kill you, and not only that, he wants to kill you again."

"Our throne?" her heartbeat was so fast she could barely swallow.

"It should have been ours. It was what was supposed to happen, since you were a child that could not count to twenty and I was a bastard in Winterfell, as you said. You were right. It should have been us. It will have to be Naerys'. It is her right. We need to take it back."

"I am not doing anything Jon. I am not risking everything for a kingdom that never wanted me as a queen."

"If we don't kill him, he will hunt you for the rest of your life. And from what I gathered, he will live thousands of years as third eyed raven."

"I am not leaving my daughter. And I will not raise her to think that her purpose is ruling a kingdom that does not want her. And that, to achieve that, she might die."

"I don't want our daughter to hide all of her life. As long as Bran lives, she will be in danger. You will be in danger." he could not bear this thought.

"Jon, I am not going to be pushed around by you as I was before. Do you understand? We are safe here. I am ruling over a big part of Essos, Naerys is happy, and Daario and I have gathered a big army again, and have the situation under control. You don't get to decide. I am not leaving my daughter without a mother, I am not going into battle, or back in a world where the person you have loved the most in your entire existence stabs you in the heart. Am I clear?"

"I just want to protect you...and our daughter. I..." he was about to say "I love you" but he stopped.

"I have been doing a great job at protecting our daughter, thank you; Daario has done a wonderful job at that too. Your effort is really not necessary." she realised she had hurt him badly as soon as she said those words. She was about to take his hand, but luckily he apologised before she could betray herself.

"You are right. I am sorry." he had upset her, and took her hand to calm her. Just for a moment she did not move, let him touch her. Just for a moment, and then she took her hand away. They were both avoiding each others' eyes.

Jon started talking again to get out of that struggle "Why does he want to kill you again?"

"Because Naerys is the princess that was promised, to start a new era of prosperity for the realm of men. Bran's purpose is to destroy it instead. We are not sure he knows she exists, but he knows that the prince, or princess, that was promised would come from me. And you, of course. That is why he did not stop us when we destroyed each other." her voice broke at the end. She took a deep breath and continued "I am actually surprised he did not try to kill you."

"The fate he reserved me in the beginning was worse than death, it was a living hell." his voice broke as well "And, when I left for Essos to know you...to find you in your journey, I made well sure he thought I was dead. Tormund and I faked my death and then he burned me. That is what Bran saw. But that cave in which we did it had a hidden exit, and the advantage of being a Targaryen is that one does not burn on a pyre. As you well know." he smiled at her.

She smiled back, but then went pensive "Why did you pretend you were dead, if you didn't know he would have tried to kill you?"

"Because he did not stop me from killing you. I did not want to see or hear from him, or Sansa, ever again."

She looked him in the eyes just for a moment, and it was too much, for both of them. Fortunately, Naerys called them, and they could come back to a bigger world than just the one with the two of them.

TO BE CONTINUED