Daenerys

As of late, the only companion which stayed with Dany, through all the hours of the day, was guilt ; even Jorah left her when she slept. She did not want to play the game, but it was necessary is she would finally claim the throne which her family lost. And I am not ready to play it by myself.

The news that Jon Stark was married already put a very large kink in the plans which had been finalised before she left the Capital. Together with Tyrion, Varys and Lady Olenna, Daenerys had decided that she would ask Jon Stark to marry her as a means to outflank the Kingslayer. If the King in the North accepted, it meant together they would have control of, and be allied with, most of Westeros, the only Kingdom being certain to support Lannister being his own, thus allowing Dany to strong-arm him into swearing fealty, and to make it an easier task, she would have Tyrion executed for the murder of his father; though that part was not decided with Tyrion present, and it made Dany sick in her stomach to agree to the action, which was suggested by Lady Olenna. But it would've all been in favour of taking back what is rightfully mine. Allowing the North to remain independent under the rule of Sansa Stark was a similar choice; it would sweeten the offer for the King in the North, making it more likely for him to accept. It was an excellent, simple plan, with the biggest risk of failure lying in whether or not Jon Stark would accept. But it seems the gods did not want him to even be given the choice, and my own addition to the story I told him was folly.

On the ride north, she hadn't been discussing with Jaime Lannister what was to happen with the Seven Kingdoms once the White Walkers were dealt with, she had been speaking to Jorah, mainly asking his counsel on how to best approach Jon Stark with the intention of gaining him as a husband, but she didn't tell him of her intention to claim she'd been discussing things with Lannister. That folly she'd thought of during the walk from Moat Cailin's courtyard to the main hall after Lannister opted to linger in the yard, waiting for his sister and the Stark girl. Dany's hope was it would help make Jon Stark accept, hearing that Jaime would consent to their union.

But then Jon Stark had told her he'd married soon before coming to meet them, and Lord Howland told his story to those in the main hall. Daenerys wanted to collapse in shock, to shout in anger, to vomit from disgust at what her brother had done to Lyanna, if it was indeed true. She knew if she said anything immediately, it would be said badly, so she listened to Jorah's advice. Her loyal friend told her to keep what emotion she might be feeling hidden. "Come across as accepting and willing to believe," Jorah told her. "We do not want to antagonise him." And that had been difficult, but she managed it, accepting defeat with that battle and resolving that she would have to discuss a new strategy with Tyrion & Varys when she got to Winterfell.

As for her guilt, it only started to plague her when Jon Stark brought up her lie as if it were a fact, believing it to be true, when he, Dany and Lannister were talking together on the day following the army's arrival at the fortress.

"You should've been in here, Ser Jaime," Stark said, sipping his wine. "To pass the time waiting for you, Queen Daenerys thought to offer me her hand in marriage."

That made Lannister laugh briefly. "Did she?" he asked, turning to her with his eyes narrowed. Her stomach began to drop.

"Yes, she told of the discussions the two of you had, that you'd be willing to swear fealty to the two of us. I was thinking only about how I was a married man, being given a sincere marriage proposal. I was waiting for you to be in the hall before we told you all of my true parentage and the fact I'd married Sansa."

"Pardon me, Stark?" Jaime said, serious. "But I never agreed to such conditions."

Stark's brow furrowed. "Queen Daenerys told me that the two of you had discussed this on the road." He eyed Dany, and Jaime turned his head to do the same, a serious look on his face.

"Is that what you told King Jon, Your Grace?" Jaime asked. "That I had agreed to swear fealty to the two of you if you married."

Daenerys stared down into her lap, frowning, and nodded. The Kignslayer stood slowly, slamming his goblet on the high table. "You lying, duplicitous snake." He turned to Jon. "Your Grace, the only agreements I made regarding the political situation of Westeros were that I would discuss them at an appropriate time, and that I would not speak for you in such matters. But it seems," he turned back to look at her, "this one wanted to get herself into a position where she could force me into swearing her fealty. With you as her husband, she would have the North as an ally and could be bully me into submission."

Dany allowed herself to look up at Stark. "Is this true Daenerys?" he demanded. And not using my title, not that I think he cares right now. She nodded, her face fallen. "Then it would seem you have just lost any good will you might have built with the two of us. Do you have anything to say for yourself?"

"I'm sorry," she managed, prompting a bitter chuckle from Lannister.

"That's rich," he said. "You've been caught in your lie and only now feel remorse. Did you think this wouldn't come up again? That King Jon wouldn't bring it up? I can't imagine Tryion would advise such an idiotic move, so I am forced to assume you came up with this lie by yourself. Might I suggest, if you plan to make any moves to outflank the two of us politically, you do so only with the counsel of your advisors."

"May I be excused?" Dany asked, with what dignity she could muster.

"Go," Jon told her plainly.

She'd spoken to neither of them since, from guilt and embarrassment, and they were only two days away from Winterfell. Dany had spent the journey further back in the column, while Stark and Lannister stayed at the front. Jorah had not been pleased with her when she had explained to him all that had happened, but he offered what counsel he could, advising to not wait too long before approaching the kings of Stark and Lannister, for it would make her come across as too weak to suffer a political defeat, but not to go too soon, because they would still be sore from her lie.

Now, Dany found herself walking up the Kingsroad with Jorah and Grey Worm at her side, her intention being to speak to Jon and Jaime. She would have done this earlier, but her own feelings had stopped her. Dany wanted to wait longer, but she needed to do one specific thing before they got to the castle, at least she thought it would be best to.

Initially, Daenerys had only half believed the claim Stark made about his parentage, that he was the bastard of Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark. Then she had thought Cersei Lannister might've had the right of it when she said he was only spinning this lie in order to marry his sister, Sansa. However, Dany's final impression came into place when Jorah told her plain and simple that in telling this story, he painted a target on himself:

"He has nothing to gain from this knowledge, and everything to lose," Jorah told her once they were in the chambers she'd been given to stay in. "Jon says he does not want the Iron Throne, and on that I think we can believe him, making it so that he has only told us this because he thinks we have the right to know, but even still, telling this story makes him a contender for the throne. He claims to be a bastard born of rape, which I think lends credibility to his story; who would pretend to be the result of such a crime? Other people will think the same. What they will also recognise is that he had been legitimised. It's why he uses Stark instead of a bastard name. That makes him first in the Targaryen line of succession for the throne."

"And some lords might make moves to put him on the throne, despite his own wishes," Dany said grimly. "I have to pray his wishes will be enough to prevent that. I'm confident he would rather go to his grave than sit the Iron Throne, with how he spoke about it."

"We have to hope so, though I doubt such things will happen until the future is more certain."

And that had been the most said about the matter in a single conversation between the two of them.

Even now, after two week to think, Daenerys was still unsure if she believed his claim entirely, so she intended to clear any of her doubt, at least for the nonce.

The army was camped on either side of the Kingsroad, so riders could transport messages up and down the column more easily. The road was well-travelled, making snow tightly packed down on the ground. The soil beneath was frozen solid more often than having turned to mud. Dany passed the Lannister horsemen, which made up the first section of the column behind the head made up of Jon Stark's party, Jaime Lanniser, his Hand, Ser Bronn of the Blackwater and Lord Dickon Tarly, whose men made up the second section of the column behind the head.

She found them on the west side of the road. There was laughter, there was quiet. The first person to spot her was the giant man with hair and beard the colour of bright ginger, who wore shaggy cloth. The group sitting round the campfire watched him walk to her, and the white direwolf followed at his side, showing no signs of aggression.

"What do you want, Little Queen?" the man asked.

"I have something to ask of your King," she replied. "Will you please let me pass?"

"He's not my King, but he is my friend, and I don't like it when I hear my friends have been lied to."

"And that is what I've come to speak to him about."

"Let her past, Tormund," Stark called from his seat by the fire. "I want to hear what she has to say."

Tormund scrunched up his nose and turned, walking back to the fire. The direwolf sniffed her up and down as she made the rest of the way toward the group. Stark & Lannister had stood and stepped out from the circle around the fire. The Stark girl was staring dead at Dany, a cold anger in her eyes. Daenerys focused her attention on Jon & Jaime. They were who she'd come to see.

"Come to apologise properly?" Jaime asked sarcastically.

"Yes. It was wrong of me to lie about your having agreed to certain terms, so I ask that you forgive me for it."

"I hope realise, even if we do forgive you, Your Grace, the two of us can never fully trust you from now on," Jon said. "You are the one who've caused that, no one else."

"I understand, Your Grace, and I will do my best to repair that trust in time."

"Then you are forgiven." His voice portrayed no emotion. "Is that all you wanted to say?"

"No. I still do not believe entirely your story of being my nephew by Rhaegar."

"And what do you want me to do about that? Lord Howland told it all in the main hall, you have no more information than I do, and you know that I gain nothing."

"There is something I would like to see, if I'm to be entirely convinced. If you would follow me?"

Jon squinted. "Very well," he said slowly. Turning back toward the group around the fire, "Edd, Kedge, Arya." He looked to Tormund. "Could you come as well?"

"Aye," Tormund replied.

Those who Stark had named joined him, as did his direwolf and the Kingslayer, with Ser Bronn. Dickon Tarly came of his own accord. Daenerys led the way back down the Kingsroad, walking steadily as to allow everyone to keep pace, or close enough. The direwolf made sure to put himself between her and his master.

"What is it that you want to see?" Stark asked, not unkindly.

"If you have Targaryen blood, and there is only one way I can make myself certain of that."

He stopped dead in his tracks. She turned enough to face him. "I hope you're not taking me to be engulfed by dragon fire."

"No. I want only to see how Drogon and Viseron react to you."

Jon squinted. "Very well."

They continued to walk, all the way to the place on the Kingsroad where breaking off would take them to where the dragons had been making nests for themselves. It was a small woodland populated by tall pines and sentinels, the snow reaching 6 feet up their trunks. There was a path where the dragon had breathed small fires to melt away the snow, making it easier for Dany to walk to them.

Coming to the nests, they were not as deep as the ones in the Kingwoods. Piles of loose bones sat at the centre of the two pits where her children stayed. The white direwolf hunched down and bared his teeth at first, but he soon began to slow stalk through the snow toward Viseron, whom she was taking Jon to. The rest of those walking with them stopped at the tree line as Dany advised. "Only King Jon is needed," she said.

Both dragons noticed the two of them and watched Dany, Jon and the direwolf slowly walking toward Viseron. They got right in front of him. The ivory white dragon's first interest was the direwolf. The two beast got so close to each other their noses almost touched as they inspected each other.

"Reach out your hand," Dany told Jon, who was holding himself rather well for his situation. Normally, she would expect a man's fear to be obvious, staring down the snout of the intimidating mass of scales and leather which was one of her children. Viseron took notice of Jon and stretched out his neck to meet him. The pair, man and dragon, stared into each other's eyes. "I'm going to step away, do not run. I promise he will not hurt you."

She climbed up the shallow side of the pit, walking backwards, watching as her child interacted with her supposed nephew. Once Dany was a short distance away, Jon took a step toward the dragon.

Flesh met scale. Viseron leaned into Jon's hand and closed his eyes, letting air through his nostrils.

Then, all of a sudden, the ivory beast sent back its head and roared into the air, spreading his great leather wings. Drogon took up the roar himself, and even the direwolf sat on his haunches and sent back his head to howl with them. Jon took only one step backward, bringing his arm back by his side, staring up at the dragon in front of him. Viseron then dropped back down onto his front claws and pushed his nose into Jon's body. Dany did not know what to feel at that moment. All I know is that I am thankfully not alone in this world. I am not the last Targaryen.

"I'm now convinced," she called to Jon. "It is good to finally meet you, nephew."