Daenerys crept quietly out of bed. She had put a relaxing cream on Stannis's chest and hoped that it would keep him asleep as Asha rather noisily moved her things to the large ship that commanded a fleet. She put back on her coat and only turned back for a minute, regretting her actions after what transpired last night. Once a dragon was scorned, they only burned everything in their sight. She sighed and left. It felt good to finally be able to give Asha what she wanted and desired: freedom. She had known what it was to be denied that, too. But Asha probably couldn't have guessed what Daenerys had in mind for her. Dany crept down to the deeply underground chamber where they kept Drogon chained up. She had came down here less and less, forgetting about the pain that she felt when she looked at his chains. She petted his tough skin and he almost bit her. An anger like its mother. She undid his shackles and commanded him to fly. He did, breaking the walls of stone faster than she could imagine. She peered out and saw him fly into the sky.

Daenerys met Asha at the docks and they were the last to board. "I thought the plan was off."

"No, as if I would just forget about you for a good romp."

"It has happened before." Asha smiled. "How was he?"

"Mysterious as always. Are you ready?"

Daenerys went to the captain's chambers as she watched Asha command the head of the fleet. She seemed so natural, like it was what she was born to do. Yelling orders at her men and standing so regally. Dany never knew what was natural to her. First, she was meant to deliver an army to make her brother King. Then, she thought she had to be take his place and rule all of Westeros. Finally, she needed to grow until she was ready and rule elsewhere. But she couldn't, the dragon always called to her. She felt it was her true nature, but it was so dangerous. She had to sacrifice what seemed like herself to rule now. And did she rule or did Stannis?

Asha came busting in to their chambers. They had elected to share. Dany always enjoyed the comfort of sharing a bed with her handmaidens. Asha was not a cuddler, per say, but her body was strong and made Dany feel small but comforted. At the moment, Dany sat on the bed and Asha sat pouring a drink on the small dining table. "Do you want to tell me what's really going on?"

"What do you mean? I'm taking you home."

"We could have taken this boat and perhaps a few ships to work out this treaty. You took a hundred."

She took a drink that Asha offered her. It was not the sweet wine she was used to but something rougher like the sea. Dany coughed gently. "When I first transferred you over as my servant, Stannis said that the Iron Islands didn't care about you. They just wanted you out of the way. What if we were to make you Queen?"

Asha smiled, though never given to the physicality of affection, Asha clapped Dany hard on the shoulders. Dany winced. "I will not only pledge this fleet, but I've freed Drogon. He is following us even now, above in the sky."

"You are really showing him what you are now, aren't you?"

"Yes." She paused. "I'm showing them never to dismiss a woman."

"That's something I can get behind." Asha clinked her class with Dany's.

XX

"Daenerys..." Stannis said sleepily and felt for her. He closed his eyes gently again. Somewhere between lucidity and awake.

"Stannis!" He heard Davos's familiar voice. "Come in."

"There you are, I've been looking for you all morning -"

"-Where'd Daenerys?"

"Stannis, she fled with a quarter of the fleet and with Asha, it's rumored."

"What? She promised me she wasn't planning anything against me."

"A woman's promise." Davos said.

"No, a queen." I love a conqueror, not a girl. He felt his chest. There was a salve on it that had mostly melted into his skin. Of course.

"What will we do?"

"I will go back to my chambers and dress, and hear council."

"What about Daenerys?"

"We won't know much of her movements until she lands, will we?"

"No, but we can't let her just leave and plan -"

"- She is a queen, not some girl we need to rescue from her own mind."

XX

They had finally landed. She stepped off the boat and set foot on her own soil again. The darkness that seemed to empathize her people's strong and sometimes coarse spirits. She could hear them whispering and knew that it wasn't exactly a delightful homecoming, where she would be taken back with honor and made queen. She had instructed Daenerys to hold back until she could feel the mood herself. She knew her people had no respect for any occupants of the Iron Throne and would probably break away from the Seven Kingdoms, if they could well afford to.

"Euron." She walked into his chambers.

"Asha. What are you doing here?" He looked surprised, as he fumbled with the papers on his desk.

"I'm here to make myself queen."

"That worked well last time. Aren't you the Stannis's bitch?"

Asha laughed. "I was never that. Give up Euron. My husband is dead. I have the support of the Queen."

"And the King?"

"Fuck the King." And she really meant it. She saw what he had done to her brother.

"Then you have nothing. What can that little dragon bitch do?"

"You'd be surprised. Hey, didn't you want her once?"

"For her dragons and her army. She has no dragons."

"Really?" Daenerys entered the room. "The rumor mill must be slow around here."

"Queen Daenerys." Despite him not respecting the Iron Throne, he still respected a lady as beautiful as Dany and bowed.

"It's so funny how they can call us bitches behind our back, and bow to our face. I quite like it." Dany said and stood besides Asha. "Now here's what I have to offer, unoffically, of course."

"You let Asha take her rightful place as queen and I won't use my dragon to blow you or your people up."

"Where is this dragon?"

"Oh, it's only waiting for me to give him the order."

"I give orders around here." Euron said.

"Not anymore." Dany said through gritted teeth.

"I will not bow out."

"No? Have it your way? I'll kill you myself." Dany left the room and Asha followed. She had no doubt that Euron's men could destroy Dany's, but a dragon was a different story. As men stormed the island, Dany rode a small boat with a handful of men out to the cave just off the water a few miles back. She called to Drogon and she climbed onto his back. His skin felt rough around his thighs. For awhile, it hurt, but then her skin became strong like hers and she became used to it. She felt free for the first time in months. Being at Stannis's will had been suffocating at times, now she had the power to burn cities and destroy anyone who crossed her. And she did. Euron never did surrender until he fell into a pile of bones. Asha was now queen.

XXX

"News, my King."

"Go on, Davos."

"The Queen's fleet, or rather the Queen's dragon has killed Euron. Queen Asha reigns now."

"Her future plans?"

"There are none, but people do whisper."

Stannis picked at his nails, gruff from digging into them repeatedly. "Shireen told me. They whisper she will kill us all, me with her dragons. Do you think it's true?"

"I don't know."

"I will not act, until I know what she plans."

Stannis thought back to that night again, the last night that they had spent together.

"I promise, okay? Now go. I swear to all the gods you wouldn't trust me if I was always attached to your hip."

"I do trust you and I won't go."

The memory made him laugh. He had only seen her as a stern, composed Queen. This was something different. Their alliance was brittle at the moment, not yet forged. His warrior mind had already made things turn to war many times. No, he would do nothing.