A fortnight after the loss at the Battle of Ice and Fire the remaining living forces retreated to Dragonstone. The sun has set and darkness has enveloped the sky. The remaining leaders stand around the painted table and discuss their losses and how they're possibly going to fight back now. Around the table sits Jon, Grey Worm, Varys, Tyrion, Jaime, Sansa, and Arya. They finally received a final count on the Unsullied and Dothraki.

"Half of Unsullied are gone." Grey Worm informed as he pulled pieces from the board and threw them into the flames of the hearth.

"Only 13,000 bloodriders are left Khaleesi." Added one of her bloodriders in Dothraki, copying the actions of Grey Worm.

She turned her head to meet Jon who had been looking away from her the entire meeting. "How many Northerners and knights of the Vale remain?" She asked. She was annoyed by his distance during this meeting but just as annoyed as she was concerned.

"Still waiting on an official count." He finally said.

Daenerys turned to Varys. "Have you sent word to Yara Greyjoy?" She asked.

"I have, however ferrying the dornish army would take far too much time. We don't know how much time because the only person who can tell us is currently in a deep sleep." Varys told her. Ever since his confrontation with the Night King, Bran had not awoken but was still breathing. "The Second Sons numbers have grown exponentially, they now command a force of 10,000. In order for you to retain the peace in Meereen they would only be able to send 8,000." Varys finished.

"Good. send for them." She said.

"I already have your grace."He informed her.

Sudden realization came to her head. "Daario won't be coming correct?" She said hoping he wouldn't but knowing Daario he probably would.

"I'm afraid he insisted your grace." he responded.

"Of course he did." She huffed. She looked right at Jon who for the first time since that meeting met her gaze.

"Who's Daario?" He asked. Daenerys began stuttering before Tyrion interjected.

"Ex-lover." he said.

Jon closed his eyes and sighed. "Of course he is." he muttered

Tyrion gave a tired look to Jon after he said this. "Emphasis on 'ex'." he said. Jon nodded looking to his side.

"So what's the next move?" Tyrion asked.

Daenerys walked around the board and landed on King's Landing. "We can't fight the army of the dead this close to Cersei, so we take King's Landing." She said.

Sansa looked at her annoyed. "We're in the middle of the Great War and you want us to go right back into your war?" she said.

"We cannot fight them with Cersei right behind us while we barely have an army." Daenerys argued. Her calm tone somehow more intimidating than angry yelling.

"We won't have any army at all if we storm King's Landing!" She screamed.

"Or maybe it'll be bigger." Tyrion said as he stood from his chair, tossing his wine glass to his side. "Most of the Lannister forces fight for Cersei because they fear her, if we take King's Landing with as little bloodshed as possible, we could recruit the Lannister forces into our armies and intimidate the Golden Company with Drogon and Rhaegal into fighting with us without pay." Tyrion spoke. "Euron Greyjoy will have the iron fleet here." He said pointing to Blackwater Bay right next to the Red Keep. "Unfortunately he will never bend the knee and most likely neither will his warriors therefore that would be 8,000 good men gone." Tyrion sighed.

"Well we have a faceless assassin right here. Sansa argued pointing to Arya. "Should we not just send her to kill Cersei?"

"Cersei will be taking every precaution there is. She is well aware of the existence of the faceless men and will only allow a select few near her." Jaime said. He should know. She told him this when he found out that she wasn't going to uphold her part of the agreement after the armistice before he left.

"Gather our forces." She said to her hand. "We storm the city in four days."

Varys immediately halted this suggestion. "If we storm the city then thousands of innocents will die, believe me this is not the right way" Varys said.

"Thousands more innocents will die if we don't take the city." Daenerys responded giving her advisor a nasty glare. "We storm the city."

Varys then turned to Jon in hopes he could sway her. "She listens to you, convince her this isn't right." Varys said.

Jon gave him a gave him an unreadable glare before he answered. "We storm the city." Varys closed his eyes and sighed before Daenerys dismissed her council. As everyone cleared out Varys was the last to leave eyeing Daenerys with his chin held up before bowing and exiting the room. The only ones remaining being Jon and Daenerys.

XXXX

After leaving the room Arya found Nymeria waiting for her in the hallway. The interaction between the Queen and her sister was rather confusing. Arya completely understood the Queen's motivations and was unable to grasp why Sansa was having such a difficult time with trusting Daenerys so she sought out her sister. While most would find Dragonstone a gloomy and desolate place, Arya didn't notice it too much. The House of Black and White wasn't the most welcoming place either and didn't have the outdoor scenery that came with Dragonstone.

After minutes of searching she finally found her sister standing on a ledge overlooking the bay. Arya quietly approached her from behind and seemed to spook her when she appeared beside her. "What's your issue with Daenerys?" Arya asked.

Sansa looked shocked at Arya's question as if the answer was obvious. "Why should I trust her? All she cares about is the throne, she doesn't care about what happens to the North and she'll break Jon's heart when he sees who she really is." She answered.

"Or what you think she really is?" Arya countered.

Sansa took a deep breath in frustration. "If she didn't care about the North then why would she come north to fight with us?" Arya asked.

"To gain our allegiance so we would fight with her in her war." Sansa answered.

"She had three dragons and the greatest army the world has ever seen when Jon went to Dragonstone, if all she wanted was for the North to fight for her then she could've just intimidated us into doing so." Arya countered.

"Why are you so defensive of her?" Sansa asked.

Arya sat there contemplating her answer for a bit before she came to a conclusion. "I like her, like the warriors I read about in my books. And Jon loves her and I trust him."

The two sisters sat there for a good amount of time staring out into the bay. Arya was finally ready to leave. "Well I'm going to go and find Jon, I'll leave Nymeria with you."

Sansa's shocked face was enough to make Arya almost burst into laughter as she had been so caught up in her own thoughts that she didn't even notice the giant wolf standing behind them. Arya took off ignoring the pleas from her sister to not leave her alone with Nymeria but soon enough she was out of earshot.

XXXX

Daenerys stood at the window looking out at the bay. You have to tell her. A voice said in the back of his head. It will be worse the longer you wait. He approached her hesitantly before joining her at the window. They stood there for a good minute before Daenerys broke the silence. "Ser Jorah was with me since I was sold to Drogo. He always stood by my side and even when I banished him he still refused to leave."

Jon nodded feeling sorrow for the old knight. He had come to respect and even forgive him for his past crimes that lead him to Daenerys. He was grateful to him for being there for her always and protecting her for all these years."And his reasons were because he loved me." She revealed.

Jon nodded knowingly at this. He'd observed the way he acted around Daenerys and his infatuation for her was obvious. "And my biggest regret is that I couldn't reciprocate his feelings. I couldn't love him." She paused before continuing. "The way I love you." she finished.

Jon turned to her in shock. No. He thought. Why would you say that now? She turned to him expectantly but he couldn't muster the words. Daenerys sighed in disappointment and turned to leave.

Jon snapped out of his trance and grabbed her wrist. "Daenerys wait." she hesitated to look at him at first but when she looked back she found his eyes were starting to fill with tears. She quickly moved to him, wiping away his tear stained cheeks.

"What's wrong?" she asked. This just filled Jon with more guilt knowing what he was about to tell her. "You can talk to me." she cupped his face.

"It's not an easy thing to talk about." He said with more tears spilling from his eyes and Daenerys still wiping them away. "Do you remember when you found me asleep in the crypts?"

"I remember." Daenerys responded. "You were crying then as you're crying now." He nodded as tears continued pouring out and she did her best to keep them at bay.

"Do you remember where I was sleeping?" Jon asked. Daenerys looked away to think for a moment and then remembered.

"You were behind a woman's tomb."

Jon nodded and continued. "That was Lyanna Stark. I was told the previous night that the Robert's Rebellion was partially built on a lie. That in reality Rhaegar and Lyanna were in love and happily married."

Daenerys looked at him in confusion and a hint of joy. "Well I mean it's nice to know that my brother wasn't the monster everyone made him out to be but I fail to see what this has to do with you." She said.

"From their love came a child." He revealed. Daenerys' breath hitched in her throat and she removed her hands from his face, now allowing his tears to drop freely. She gripped the table for balance realising what he was saying. "My real name is Jaeherys Targaryen." he finished.

Now it was Daenerys' turn to fight back the tears. "Who told you this?" She murmured.

"Bran saw it in a vision and Samwell confirmed the marriage in a high septon's diary." He responded.

She removed her hands from the table and slowly walked towards him as a few tears started trickling. "How do you know it's true?"

"They wouldn't lie to me about this." Jon said.

"What happens to us?" She asked.

We can't. He thought. We can't, right? But those weren't the words that came out. "I need time." he said. It was a lie, he knew he couldn't but for some reason he didn't say that.

She sighed as she bowed her head but when she raised it again her expression became more serious. "And then there's the matter of the throne."

He was taken aback by this. How could this possibly be on her mind right now? He thought. "That's what you're thinking about?" He asked as the tears stopped pouring and he began to grow irritated.

"No matter what I do people always assume I am my father, what happens when they find out about you and try to place you on the throne instead of me?" she asked.

"I will refuse, I don't want that damn throne and I won't let anybody put me on it!" He yelled. He didn't know where all of this was coming her expression changed to one of worry as she came closer to him.

"Please, don't tell anyone, you know what will happen if you do." She pleaded to him. he did know what would happen if Sansa knew. If tonight was any evidence, she would gladly take any opportunity to boot Daenerys off the throne.

"I will tell Sansa and Arya once you have been coronated." He promised.

"Sansa will scheme to get me off the throne once I have it and you will be forced to take it." She argued. Jon didn't want to admit it but deep down he knew it to be true. Sansa might've been smarter now but her distrust for everyone would get her in serious trouble one of these days.

"There is a solution to it." This caught Daenerys' attention as she eyed him intently. "I still have a bastard's name, legitimize me, make me a Stark. The Starks don't have claims to the throne." She looked down clearly disappointed as it wasn't the solution she was hoping for. She looked up at Jon's face and couldn't believe that he was her brother's son, her nephew. She needed time to process it, she needed to be alone and as far away from him as possible.

"Goodnight." she said. "Jon Stark." with that she left the room distraught. When she left the room the hall was empty but little did she know that the spider was just beyond that door moments before, listening intently to the revelation. But little did he know of who was around the corner watching him.

XXXX

In the throne room of Dragonstone Tyrion sat on the stairs drinking wine from the bottle. They just lost to the Night King and now they were going off to fight Cersei in a war they weren't prepared for. He sat there in the throne room drinking his sorrows away wondering who's going to kill him first, his sister or the ice zombie.

The large, intricate doors of the throne room opened as Varys strode in and took a seat next to Tyrion. Tyrion barely acknowledged his presence and continued drinking. After Varys made himself as comfortable as can be on the steps leading to the strange jagged throne he started talking. "I must say I received some rather interesting news?" He started however Tyrion was not particularly interested in this news.

"What news could possibly be so interesting at this point?" Tyrion asked. He was tired and just wanted to drink until the Night King and his army finally caught up to them.

"The greatest secret in history that Ned Stark took to his grave."

This finally intrigued Tyrion. Ned Stark wasn't the kind of man to keep secrets. If it was one he was willing to take to his death then it must be earth shattering.

"Well, would you care to share it?" Tyrion motioned his hand in a way for Varys to continue.

"I have just discovered that Daenerys is not the rightful heir to the iron throne." He said abruptly.

Tyrion spit out his drink and coughed uncontrollably. Once his coughs eventually ceased he was able to squeak out a "What?"

"Before Rhaegar's death he supposedly had an annulment to his marriage with Elia Martell. Married another woman and had a trueborn son." Varys said. Tyrion couldn't believe his ears, but he knew his friend as a schemer and wasn't terribly convinced.

"And what was the source of your information?" The Lion Limp asked.

"The man himself." The eunuch answered. Tyrion had no understanding of when he could've possibly sent little birds to have this man openly admit he's the rightful heir to the throne. But he was a threat and he would need to deal with him as Hand of the Queen.

"Well where is he?" Tyrion asked.

"Last I saw him he was in the room of the painted table having a conversation with Daenerys about this very subject." He answered. Tyrion froze as his half drunk mind started putting the pieces together. He couldn't believe it and he almost refused to but as he thought about it more and more the more it started to make sense. What secret would Ned Stark take to the grave other than the fact that he was harboring the last living son of Rhaegar Targaryen.

"You're telling me…" Tyrion didn't want to say the words as if saying it would make it real.

"Jon Snow's actual name is Jaeherys Targaryen and he is the rightful heir to the iron throne." Varys said. Tyrion put his glass down and leaned back onto the stairs, exhaling audibly. "Well this certainly causes problems." he said.

"Or perhaps it solves them," Varys countered. Tyrion rose back to a sitting position realizing what his friend was suggesting. "What?" Tyrion questioned.

"Do you remember Meereen?" Varys asked. "It's rather hard to forget." Tyrion answered. "Do you remember the extreme lack of peace that our Queen did a rather terrible job at maintaining?" Tyrion thought back and remembered that times of peace were hard to come by in Meereen and when they did come they usually were followed by large scale attacks.

"The lord of Westeros aren't the same as the masters, Daenerys can keep them in line." Tyrion argued. "And how would she do that? You've seen how she treats people who step out of line, crucified the masters, allowed her brother to have his head doused in hot gold, burned the khals of the Vaes Dothrak alive." Tyrion was taken aback by his friends sudden turn against Daenerys.

"What are you suggesting?" He asked.

"Who do you believe would be a better ruler? Jon or Daenerys?"

Tyrion's face contorted into a frown at Varys' question. "Believe me our beloved Queen is not the only one who executes people who betray her." Tyrion said angrily.

"Do you remember Janos Slynt?" Tyrion asked.

"I do, he led the City Watch during the Massacre in King's Landing when Robert's bastards were all murdered." Varys answered.

"Yes, I sent him to the wall. He was there when Jon Snow elected Lord Commander." Tyrion said before taking another sip of his wine. "I was having a drink with Jon one night when he first came to Dragonstone and asked him what happened to Janos." Tyrion continued.

"And what happened?" Varys asked even though he had guessed what had happened at that point.

"He executed him for not obeying orders," Tyrion answered. "You see, Daenerys isn't the only leader who executes people who step out of line." he finished.

"But how did he execute Janos?" Varys asked. Realization at what his friend was getting at this time made Tyrion hesitate before answering. "Beheading." he answered.

"And how does our Queen execute people?" Varys asked. "Normally with Drogon," Tyrion answered looking down at his wine glass and swirling it around.

"I'm afraid that our queen has been teetering on the edge for some time now and is beginning to teeter and little too far to one side," Tyrion's head shot up as he said this. "Just because her last name is Targaryen doesn't make her mad!" Tyrion's anger started to grow at his friends ignorance.

Varys stood up now brushing himself off and straightening his clothes.

"I served a mad Targaryen once before and will not do so again," Varys said placing his hands back within his sleeves.

Now Tyrion stood up on the stairs. "Whatever you are thinking I believe you should rethink it. I will not tell Daenerys of what you've told me in light of everything you have done for me as long as you do not act on these notions of yours." Tyrion pleaded with Varys, he knew where each choice would lead and they all led to the same destination for his friend.

"I will do what I believe is best and I suggest you do the same," Varys said before leaving Tyrion alone in the throne room to contemplate what to do next. As Varys opened the doors the hall was empty except it was not empty moments before. The same person who observed from around the corner as he listened to Jon and Daenerys conversed overheard the entire conversation that just occured between the dwarf and the eunuch.

XXXX

It was early morning and the sun was shining high in the sky. It was a beautiful day with not a cloud in sight. Jaime remembered that day in the dragonpit when he first saw a wight. He knew they were a threat but he never expected something of this magnitude. The sheer ferocity at which they fought and the Night King himself terrified him. Made his sister look like just another soldier. But Jaime knew she wasn't, his sister was smart and she would have something planned for Daenerys. He needed to try to convince her of a different way of defeating his sister, he didn't know what that way was but maybe he could convince her to wait a few more days to review their strategy. He entered the room of the painted table and found Daenerys staring out the window watching her dragons flying across Blackwater Bay. Drogon appeared to be nearly perfectly fine but Rhaegal had holes torn through his wings and was struggling to retrieve fish out of the water. He cleared his throat but her she kept her attention to the outside. He decided he would just join her at the window, when he did she found she was staring at Jon Snow and Ghost sleeping in the grass. He looked at her and she seemed to be saddened by the sight but he decided not to talk to her about it.

Jaime cleared his throat once more and she finally gave him her attention. Her mistrust for him was still ever so evident but at least she wasn't desperate to kill him every time she saw his face. He took a deep breath before getting to what he wanted to discuss with her. "Your grace I'm here to ask that you delay the attack on King's Landing to think through our strategy more." Jaime said.

Daenerys' eyes grew angrier and more mistrustful. "I know my sister your grace, she'll be expecting the attack and she'll have something planned believe me we have some time we should rethink our strategy." Jaime said not looking Daenerys in the eyes, feeling shame every time he did. She looked so much like her mother. Queen Rhaella. It pained him that he couldn't protect her from the Mad King but he'll be damned if he can't protect her daughter.

"Or perhaps you are conspiring with your sister to give her more time for this 'plan' you say she has." Daenerys said turning back to the window.

Jaime was shocked that she didn't even consider for a moment what he was trying to tell her. "Your grace I..."

"Enough Ser Jaime. You may leave now." She interrupted. He realised there was no swaying her and he would need to take matters into his own hands. He gave a short bow before dismissing himself and leaving.

XXXXX

Jaime spent the rest of the day in his room sleeping and waiting for the day to end and darkness to envelop the sky. Once it did he left his room, hooded with a glove over his golden hand. He left down to the docks to find a rowboat. He descended down the long stairs avoiding unsullied guards and dothraki on his way. Once he reached the bottom he was met with someone he didn't expect to see. Tyrion stood by a boat with a torch in hand and a boat filled with supplies. "Going somewhere?" he said raising his eyebrows.

"The Red Keep." Jaime nodded.

Tyrion started walking towards him his eyes filled with concern. "Why are you going back to her?" He asked clearly misunderstanding Jaime's motives.

"Cersei has something planned, I don't know what it is but if past events are any indication it could result in the deaths of thousands." He answered as realisation started to come into his brothers eyes before he continued. "I might be the only one who can convince her otherwise."

But Tyrion nodded his head in disagreeance. "She's too far gone brother, you can't save her." Tyrion said.

"Maybe not, but maybe I can save all those people in King's Landing, innocent of otherwise." Jaime said. Tyrion's breath got heavier as tears started appearing in his eyes.

"You do know that the likelihood of your return is unlikely." Tyrion stated.

"I do." Jaime responded. He quickly dropped to one knee to bring his brother in for a tight hug before pulling away and looking into his eyes. "I'll be alright brother, don't worry yourself too much."

Tyrion nodded as Jaime pulled away and entered the row boat. It brought some form of joy to watch his brother attempt to row with one hand. Tyrion stood there on the dock until Jaime grew into a speck in the distance. He let out a sigh and then turned around to head back into the castle.