Game of Thrones: What Doesn't Kill You Makes You Stronger

Chapter 21 of my Game of Thrones story, enjoy, this is a big one and the second last trial for Shireen and Devan, also their last major one.

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Now onto the story.

Disclaimer: Game of Thrones belongs to George R.R. Martin.

Chapter 21

Devan and Shireen smiled as they walked towards her house. They had been out, enjoying themselves; spending time with Edric and Joy, trying to help relax them. They were nervous as Joy's due date was approaching. It had been a nice day and they had dressed for comfort, taking the weather and such into account.

Devan was impressed with what he saw; ever since they started dating, Shireen's confidence had come on leaps and bounds. She was more assertive now, certainly a lot happier and no longer seemed to have issues with her appearance.

'It certainly shows, even in small ways; I remember at school, her skirt was the longest possible length, same with her socks.' Devan noted to himself. 'Yet now…it happened gradually; now she has no problem wearing her skirt shorter, doesn't feel the compulsive need to pull her socks up all the time.'

He grinned; noting that the old Shireen certainly would never dress the ways she was now. Shireen's outfit in-fact consisted of a dark blue, pleated, mid-thigh length skirt, a lighter blue button-up, short sleeved blouse and blue flats.

This meant that practically all her legs were showing and she also undid her top button, showing some slight cleavage.

Devan, dressed in a green jeans, a beige shirt, white socks and white baskets; couldn't deny he liked what he saw. Shireen knew that too and kept throwing him coy looks as they entered the house.

When they entered the house they were surprised however; to see Selyse present. She was packing certain items of clothing into a bag.

"Mum?" Shireen called out; her confusion evident.

Devan was startled too, for they recognized the clothing Selyse was packing. It was the very clothes they had worn the night they first made love.

'What the…what's going on here, how did she even get my clothes?' He wondered.

Selyse looked up; her expression severe. "Good. There you both are, come, we need to go."

"Go?" Shireen echoed; taken aback. "Go where?"

Selyse shook her head. "Enough questions, come, now."

It was clear she was glaring in disapproval at Shireen's outfit. Not wanting to antagonize her any further, the two teens complied and headed out to the car, getting in. Once in Selyse put the bag in the boot and got in, before driving away.

Shireen and Devan shared a nervous look; both of them wondering exactly what this was about. The car eventually stopped and they got out, Selyse retrieving the bag of clothes from the boot.

Devan looked around, still confused; Shireen however tensed, suddenly fearful as she beheld the building before them.

'The…The Temple, why are we here?' She wondered worriedly.

They were at the Temple of R'hllor, the centre of her mother's religion here. She looked to her mother; hoping for answers, but they were not forthcoming. So they had no choice but to enter the Temple, Selyse right behind them.

All eyes turned to them at once, and Shireen blushed, hearing the gasps and angry intakes of breath, noting the glares of the worshippers. She knew why they were looking at her in this way, the manner in which she was dressed.

"Look at her." One hissed. "Defiling her purity, showing so much flesh."

The others all muttered too, clearly berating Shireen for her somewhat revealing outfit.

Devan glared and shook her head. 'What's their problem, so Shireen looks good in a skirt, she's a modern woman.'

Yet they were immediately led to seats right at the front; Selyse handing over the bag of clothes to the man who seemed to be in charge. In addition to the clothes, Shireen's bedsheets from that night had also been handed over. They all took their seats and Shireen bit her lip, hearing the worshippers again.

Another started up. "Look at her, can't even sit right; that skirt is far too short, showing her legs like that, not even sitting properly, like a common whore."

She gently squeezed Devan's hand, to keep him from reacting. She had simply sat down, not tucking her skirt underneath her, since, due to its length, it would have been useless to do so. But clearly that did not sit well here. She could only pray that things didn't get worse.

As they watched, Selyse took her seat; the clothes and bedsheets were laid out on the altar. The man in charge, the head priest, began to speak.

"My dear followers, we will now purify with the righteous flame of R'hllor, that which has been soiled with the sun of lust, borne out of wedlock."

Shireen tensed, Devan stared, wide-eyed and shocked.

Gods, burn…Well, if it puts mum's mind at rest.' She thought to herself.

She could only watch, along with Devan as, to the worshipper's glee, the 'soiled' clothing and bedsheets were set alight.

Devan stared in disbelief at what he was seeing. 'Gods…'

Shireen watched as her white thong burnt to ashes. 'And I paid good money for that thong.'

However even as those objects were burnt away, it sadly wasn't the end for the pair. For contrary to Shireen's hopes, things soon took a turn for the worse. For, no sooner than had the items been burned, the priest spoke again, his words chilling.

"Now, the sin and sinner will be cleaned too; taught the error of their ways." He intoned.

Shireen started and Devan blurted out. "What?"

"Chain them!"

Before either teen could react, the worshippers grabbed them, dragging them from their seats. Shireen was terrified, desperately struggling, Devan struggled too, especially as, to their shock and horror, they soon had their shirts forcibly removed, exposing Shireen sky blue bra, making her blush harder.

Startled by this new development, Shireen cried out.

"What the…!?"

Devan growled; startled and infuriated at being stripped from the waist up. "Hey, what are you doing!?"

'This is going too far, they were only supposed to burn the clothes, show them that sin must be cleansed.' Selyse thought, worried and uncertain. "Wait, I believe they have learned their lesson, give them a chance!"

The priest glared at her. "Silence!"

Selyse shook her head. "This isn't how it's supposed to be!"

"You dare question the will of the Lord of Light!" The priest roared.

Selyse looked around, nobody was listening to her, those sitting all around her glared, she was trapped, alone. She could only watch helplessly as Shireen and Devan were secured to large hooks in the wall, normally used to hang lanterns of candelabras, with heavy duty chains, attached to manacles which were locked securely around their wrists.

Shireen felt herself breathing heavily; terrified by this turn of events, both she and Devan had been secured in this position, facing the wall. She gasped as her bra was unclipped and the straps pushed down from her shoulders, although her bra still covered her breasts.

'What is all this…?' She thought fearfully.

She soon got her answer; before all the worshippers; the priest held aloft a leather whip. Selyse tensed in dismay, this wasn't how it was supposed to be. With the rest of the congregation all eager for the punishment to be done, the priest turned to the two chained up teens.

Pain replaced confusion for Devan and he yelped as the first lash struck his back, hard. He instantly felt the warm liquid and knew the blow had broken the skin, he was bleeding. He yelped again and soon was screaming non-stop as his lashes continued.

The whip struck him fifteen times. Shireen could see what was happening and watched in horror and fear. She cried out in pain as the whip was turned on her, although not as hard as Devan, it struck up to seven times. On the seventh strike Shireen cried out again, tears in her eyes.

Her entire body jerked and her face flamed as she felt her skirt flip up and knew what had happened. The shrieks of disgust from the worshippers confirmed it.

'Crap they, they saw my panties.' She realized in dismay.

It was true, her skirt had flipped up and her white, lace edged panties were briefly displayed to the furious congregation.

"Yet more shame!" One yelled.

Another bellowed. "Those belong on a slut, not a young woman!"

Selyse gasped in dismay as the remaining eight lashes struck her daughter's back, harder than the previous seven, causing her to bleed like Devan. Soon both teens were slumped against their chains, tears spilling from their eyes as their lashes bled.

But then, a rather fervent follower leapt to his feet.

"We must burn the sin, he is the one doing this to her, ruining her!" He bellowed.

Shireen gasped as she realized what this meant. "NO!"

Selyse couldn't stay silent any longer. "What, no, he made a mistake, but he's just a boy, he won't do it anymore!"

But her pleading fell on deaf ears as, amidst yells and the cacophony of noise, Devan was removed from the shackles and, despite his struggles, his hands were tied in front of him. They soon began trying to force him onto the burning altar, one was bringing straw to feed the flames, to ensure Devan would be burned to death.

"Stop this!" Selyse screamed as Shireen cried and pleaded, struggling against her chains. "He doesn't deserve this!"

But they ignored her and continued; until suddenly, Devan's struggles upset the burning altar, knocking it over, along with some of the worshippers. The key for Shireen's shackles landed on the ground.

Unfortunately the straw quickly caught fire and burned, setting alight the curtains and soon, most of the building. Screams followed and soon, completely ignoring the kids, who were still trapped, the worshippers began rushing to the exits, trying to escape.

"No!" Selyse cried out.

She tried to reach her daughter and Devan, trying to save them, but the nearby followers grabbed her and dragged her away.

Devan struggled desperately, he knew what to do, the problem was dealing with the pain.

"Damn, shit, arg…!" He grit his teeth.

He heard Shireen screaming as the flames caused some of the roof to collapse. "No, Devan, Devan!"

Finally however he was able to burn through the ropes, although burns covered the side of his arms and hands. Those weren't his only burns; his legs, entire right arm and back were all burned too.

"Shireen!" He cried out; standing up; ignoring the pain.

She turned her gaze towards him, looking desperate. "HURRY!"

He tensed, horrified to see she too had been burned; on her legs and arms. Spotting the key he immediately grabbed it, only to drop it with a cry due to the heat. He shook his head, grit his teeth and picked it up again. He endured the pain and used the key to release Shireen's shackles. He then quickly picked her up, carrying her bridal style and she wrapped her arms around his shoulders.

He then hurried, weaving through the temple, finding a way through the fire. He reached the door and kicked it open before getting out into the fresh air. He made it down to the grass in front of the burning building before collapsing to his knees, coughing harshly, as was Shireen. He heard the yells and looked up, some of the worshippers had been trying to approach and finish the job no doubt, but the police and other emergency services were present and had already taken charge of the situation.

They had come to expect trouble after all, from the R'hllor cult. As Shireen and Devan were loaded into an ambulance and taken to hospital, Selyse turned to the officers and immediately agreed to testify, to tell them everything.

Later, in the hospital, Shireen made her way to Devan's ward; her burns and lashes had been treated and she was found to be in good health now. She wanted to see if Devan was alright too; so she knocked on the door and entered. Devan looked up and smiled at her; he was lying, face down on the bed.

"Hey."

She bit her lip. "You okay?"

He nodded. "I guess, they, they want to me to stay longer…Guess I was hurt worse than I thought."

"Oh…" She replied sadly.

"I'm glad you're okay though." He told her sincerely.

She grinned and leaned closer to him. Without hesitating, they kissed; when the parted Shireen sighed.

"I can't believe it." She said in amazement. "Mum actually tried to save us, to stop them, she never wanted it to go as far as it did…"

Devan nodded, at that moment they heard footsteps and saw Stannis rushing towards them.

"Shireen!" He cried out before; surprisingly, embracing her tightly. "Gods I was so worried."

Shireen bit her lip and decided she had to tell him about her mother, what had actually happened. "Dad, I um, there's something you have to hear…about mum."

With that, she began to tell him the truth.

End of chapter, hope you enjoyed it, read and review please.

Well, next up we will see Arya and Gendry's final trial, hope you're ready for it.