Chapter 41: Connington

The fog descended and Jon could not see the King or anyone else.

"Your Grace?!" He called out.

He got no response and so he called out again. "Your Grace?!"

This time he got a response.

"I am safe, keep going, we shall meet where we agreed." The King's voice sounded deeper.

"This place does that to you." A voice that he recognised said.

Jon turned to his right and gasped. Standing before hi in a black shirt and trousers, his silver hair long and flowing, was his Silver Prince.

Jon immediately fell to his knees and kissed the shoes that his Prince wore. "Your Highness."

His Prince did not immediately tell him to rise, instead, he allowed Jon to remain with his mouth pressed to the Prince's shoe. Then after a beat, he said. "Rise, Jon."

Jon rose. He looked at the Prince, committing every detail to his memory. The angular shape of the Prince's nose, his strong jaw, the purple eyes that seemed more at peace than they ever had when the Prince had lived.

"How?" Jon asked eventually.

"This place." The Prince said.

"I…magic?" Jon asked.

"Yes." The Prince said.

There was a pause, then the Prince continued. "You have done your duty well, Jon."

Jon blushed. "I…thank you, Your Highness." He had been terrified that the Prince would think him a failure.

"Aegon is prepared for what is to come. That is good. He will need all that you have taught him." The Prince said.

"I have done my best to fulfil your wishes, Sir." Jon said.

The Prince nodded, then said something that surprised him. "You must not see him as an extension of me, Jon."

"Sir?" Jon replied, hoping his embarrassment wasn't writ on his face.

The Prince looked at him with the gaze that had made Jon fall for him to begin with. A gaze that said he knew everything that Jon thought, even before Jon himself had thought it.

"I know that you have cared for me for many years. That you have nurtured hopes for something more. It cannot be. And I have no wish for my son to bear that burden." The Prince said.

Jon opened his mouth to protest, he would never dare try and place his feelings onto the King. The King was the Dragon, and he was a mere mortal.

Before he could so much as get a word out though, the Prince spoke. "I know what you have been thinking Jon. The benefit of this place is that it allows one to see within oneself. And you have seen it and realised it as well."

Jon frowned. "What do you mean, Your Highness?" He didn't understand.

The Prince smiled in that same enigmatic manner that he had often done when they had been squires and he knew something, some great secret that he would reveal in good time.

This time, his voice was soft when he answered. "You shall see soon enough, Jon. But know that great challenges are coming, and my son will need you. Clear your mind and make ready for service."

Jon was far too much a soldier not to understand a command when he heard one. Therefore, he straightened, his shoulders back. He held his head high. "I will give my life for the King." He meant it.

The Prince smiled, a sad smile then. "Good. Now go, the journey is not over yet."

Jon blinked and the fog had disappeared, the mountains and their fire were before him, and there standing at the edge was the King.