from my blood

The sound reached you as though from underwater, distant and distorted, carrying none of the joy it ought to have possessed. Instead, it settled within the dream like a warning.

You knew this place. Not because the dream informed you of its name, but because Dragon Dreams seldom wasted time with such trivialities. Knowledge simply existed inside them, fully formed and unquestionable until you woke up.

Ashford Meadow stretched before you exactly as it stood beyond the stone walls of Lord Ashford’s castle, yet transformed by that peculiar dream logic that rendered familiar places strange. The sunlight shone too brightly. The colors appeared too vivid. Every shadow seemed to conceal something waiting patiently to emerge like a serpent readying to strike.

And somewhere amidst the shifting sea of faces stood Baelor.

The certainty of it struck you with such force that relief flooded through your chest before you had even found him. You felt his presence long before your eyes looked upon him. An intimate thing. You had spent half your life seeking him in crowded halls and empty chambers alike, discovering him almost naturally amongst hundreds of others or when it was simply the two of you. Some childish part of you had once convinced itself this meant something. Some divine tether stretching invisibly between your souls. Age has done little to cure you of such romantic foolishness.

When at last you saw him, he stood precisely as memory insisted he should. Broad-shouldered and firm amidst the chaos surrounding him, his dark hair caught sunlight in bronze highlights inherited from the mother whose Dornish blood had forever marked him as different from the silver-haired brothers standing beside him.

Even from a distance there remained something reassuring about the sight of him. Baelor possessed that quality like no other. The ability to make disorder appear temporary. To stand in turmoil and convince others that reason would prevail in the end.

You tried to move toward him, but as dreams often did, the vision altered itself without warning. He disappeared; one moment he occupied the space before you, and the next he simply didn’t.

Panic rose immediately as you searched for him amongst the multitude, your gaze darting desperately from blurring face to blurring face as the crowd thickened around you. Voices merge into an incomprehensible murmur until the pitch ascends into ear piercing screams.

The dream continued to unravel around you.

You glanced to your feet; beneath your soles a dragon banner dragged through the dirt. Its threads had been torn somewhere along its length, the black fabric stained dark with something that might have been mud were it not for the way it glistened beneath the sunlight. Nearby lay a helm half-buried in dust, the back grotesquely caved in. The sight of it filled you with inexplicable dread. Your gaze lingered there only a moment before another image demanded your attention. A spear, its shaft nearly split through the center. Broken. You didn’t know why it horrified you, only that it did.

The crack came a heartbeat later. A violent sound that echoed across the dreamscape with enough force to rattle through your very veins. Steel striking steel rang sharply in your ears, the splintering of bones hidden beneath it.

The crowd fell silent then, and the sunlight dimmed.

And somewhere beyond the dust, banners, and deafening screams, a dragon fell shrieking through the sky.

You woke with a start, your pulse hammering against your ribs. The faraway sound of screams still ringing in your ears as your hands fisted the thick covers.

The darkness of your temporary chambers greeted you slowly, reality reassembling itself piece by piece around the lingering fragments of the illusion. Heavy curtains stirred faintly in the predawn breeze. A candle guttered upon the bedside table, its flame reduced to a tremble, drowning in its own wax. Next to you, still lost to his own much simpler dreams, lay Baelor. The tight coil around your heart loosened just slightly at the sight of him.

Beyond the stone walls of Ashford Castle came the distant sounds of a waking tournament camp. Horses, wagons, voices; ordinary noises belonging to an ordinary morning. Yet your vision remained, as always, like a specter of smoke.

You could never remember them like one would a memory. They faded soon after you woke, dissolving into phantasm spells you were never certain you dreamed at all. What lingered the most was the feeling and the brief flashes of blurry images. The conviction that something had been placed into your hands without explanation and you were expected to make sense of it.

Your journal waited within reach like it always did. As though some part of you understood long ago that there would never come a morning when you did not require it.

Carefully, so as to not wake your husband, you inched yourself off the canopied bed. By the time your fingers closed around the worn leather cover, you were already reaching backward through the fading dream, grasping desperately at the details before they escaped forever.

Dust in sunlight.

Screams.

A helm caved in.

A broken spear.

A dragon shrieking as it fell from the sky.

The phrases assembled themselves beneath your quill in hurried strokes, joining hundreds of others recorded across years of restless nights. Some of them had proven insignificant, mere occurrences that held no darker meaning, but enough had proven true to terrify you. At the moment, one in particular rang like a bell through your skull.

The dragon was dying again.

Somewhere beyond the castle walls the first rays of dawn spread across Ashford Meadow. Though you could not have said why, a terrible certainty settled heavily into the hollow space under your ribs. And that apprehension only grew in strength as you gazed at your husband’s sleeping form. Something was coming. Not today, perhaps, but soon.

Soon enough that you could almost feel the shadow of the Stranger moving toward you through the darkness, patient and inevitable as fate itself. And what else was the fate of every living thing but to die?

For a long while you simply sat there, the journal resting open upon your lap as the ink dried in uneven slants across the page. The words already seemed strangely detached from you. Urgent enough to drag themselves from your sleeping mind only moments before, yet now they sat trapped on parchment. Stripped of whatever terrible significance they had possessed in the dream.

Beside you, the bed shifted. The movement was slight, yet after years spent sharing chambers with him, you recognized it instantly. He woke slowly, unlike you. There was never anything abrupt about him. Even his consciousness seemed to arrive with deliberate purpose.

One arm reached across the sheets, no doubt seeking your warmth in the morning air. When he did not find you, he rolled onto his back, two-toned eyes blinking against the dim sun filtering through the curtains in rivers of light.

You watched and waited as his gaze found you. You saw him trail his eyes over you, taking in your sleep-mussed form with a domestic kind of affection. Next he found the journal, and alert understanding followed immediately.

It was always astonishing how quickly he knew. The realization streaked across his face like a shooting star in the sky. No questions were necessary, no explanations demanded. After so many years together, the sight of that book in your hands meant only one thing. 

Baelor pushed himself upright, the blankets gathering around his waist as he sat against the headboard, one hand dragging absently over his head of dark hair. Even now, with age and responsibility carving themselves into the planes of his face, there remained something reassuringly familiar about the sight of him half-awake and rumpled by sleep. Something that never failed to ease the swirling panic your dreams left behind. 

The kingdoms knew Baelor Breakspear as a prince, a warrior, and the heir to the Iron Throne. You knew him as this. The man who reached for you in his sleep. The man who made you sick with longing when he wasn’t around. The man who woke every morning and looked for you before anything else.

He murmured your name softly, concern already threading through the roughness of his voice. “Is all well?”

The question settled heavily between you. Not because you lacked an answer, but because you possessed too many, and none of them held any sense. Instinct urged you toward dismissal as it always did. A lifetime of skepticism and sideways glances had trained the reflex into you long ago.

You ought to have been well practiced at deception by now. Yet it never worked where your husband was concerned. Perhaps he knew you too well. Perhaps some stubborn part of you had never truly wanted to hide anything from him.

"It was nothing," you said anyway, lowering your eyes to the journal. The lie lasted less than a breath.

His silence met it with all the patience that had made him both your greatest comfort and your most infuriating adversary. He did not challenge you, nor did he point out the obvious falsehood. He simply waited as though he knew you would tell him eventually. As though he understood that whatever walls you attempted to build between the two of you would always collapse under their own weight. And predictably, they did, as easily as the moon changes its shape.

You exhaled softly as your fingers drifted across the edge of the journal before closing it. “I dreamed,” you murmured, the same admittance you owned a dozen times over.

His expression softened by what he already knew. "What did you see?"

"There was a tournament,” you began slowly. Already the details felt uncertain beneath your tongue.

“Ashford?” Baelor asked, trying to help clarify the missing pieces.

“I think so,” you sighed, the doubt frustrating you. Moments ago the images had seemed so vivid. Now they scattered like seeds in the wind whenever you attempted to examine them directly. You frowned as you tried to bring forth more. “There were clouds of dust and━” The cries that had split your skull returned with a violent jolt, reminding you of the panic mounting in their wake.

Reaching forward, you clutched Baelor’s hands with trembling fingers. He gripped them with a silent comfort, his thumb brushing along your knuckles. With wide fearful eyes and parted lips, you continued, “There were screams and I was afraid.”

His brow knitted slightly. “Afriad of what, my dear?”

“I don’t remember,” you chafed, voice sharpening more than you intended. The admission left behind a bitter taste. It was the same answer you had been giving since childhood. The same helpless lack of knowledge that haunted every vision. If the gods intended Dragon Dreams as gifts, they possessed a cruel sense of humor, for they offered revelation without understanding and expected gratitude in return.

“I cannot remember now,” you repeated more calmly, “but I was scared, and there was a dragon banner torn in the mud. And a helm.” The recollection of its gruesome destruction made your stomach churn. “The back of it was crushed inward.”

He brought your still quivering hands to his mouth. A kiss was pressed to the top of each as he willed you to keep going. The feel of his lips and the warmth of his breath a grounding solace. “Is there more?”

"There was a spear as well. Broken almost completely through the middle." Your gaze drifted downwards to the sheets where the morning light had begun spreading across the bed in pale ribbons of gold.

“The screams, Baelor,” Your cadence faltered as the ghost of them echoed in your mind. There were no words; you were not able to recognize them by voice. They were merely filled with anguish, raw and terrible anguish.

“It felt like death.” You swallowed, a tear you hadn’t even known had welled fell down the swell of your cheek. “When I woke, it was as if The Stranger himself stood over our bed.”

Your husband shifted closer until the warmth of him wrapped around you like a flame of endearment. One arm settled over your back as he drew you to him. The other came up to wipe away the stain of tears, the pad of his thumb a tender sweep across your skin. He cradled you against his chest, rocking as your unsteady palms clutched at him.

"The dream frightened you," he said gently, but you could hear the frantic underlying distress packed beneath his legendary composure. He was well versed in aftermaths like this, but you both knew each other well enough by now to pick up on one another’s tells.

As much as the dreams pained you, seeing you like this troubled him just the same.

You deepened your breath, tilting your face up to meet his. “That seems an understatement,” you whispered begrudgingly.

A faint smile tugged quickly at his mouth before disappearing again. “Then let us begin there.”

A soft groan escaped you before you could stifle it, and despite the heaviness of the morning, something almost resembling amusement flickered across his features. It never lasted long on mornings like these, though. Not when your pulse still raced beneath his hands and the remnants of the illusion clung to you like cobwebs hanging from rafters. Even so, he seized upon the opening with the same determination he always did. As though any crack in the wall of your fear was worth widening.

Others sought to ‘soothe’ your visions through denial. They dismissed them outright or treated them as symptoms of a maddening affliction best ignored. 

Baelor had never done either. Perhaps because he had witnessed too many of them unfold precisely as you foretold. Perhaps he had been there often enough to watch you wake trembling from dreams that later manifested in the waking world with dreadful veracity. Whatever the reason, he had long since developed a different strategy. He approached your fears not as delusions of a mad woman but as puzzles to be examined carefully and methodically. He separated what you knew from what you feared. In doing so, he widely succeeded in making the terror manageable.

“As I recall,” he said after a moment, his voice muffled against your hair. “Three months ago you dreamed of the Red Keep being overtaken by the sea.”

You narrowed your eyes suspiciously. “Yes?”

“The sea in question turned out to be water from the garden fountain splashing when Rhae dropped her castle toy into it.”

“That is true,” you sighed, “but when I dreamed of flames swallowing the stables, Aerion set a stable boy on fire the next day.”

A dark shadow passed over his face. “He did,” your husband conceded with a nod.

Grasping the front of his shirt, you looked up at him with worry-stricken eyes. “I dreamt of my mother dying hours before the gods took her. Only I did not know I did until it was happening.”

“My dear,” he started, hand smoothing over the back of your head.

“I know,” you interjected sharply, “what it feels like when I’ve dreamt of a death.”

Baelor’s hand did not still where it rested against your hair, nor did he immediately offer the reassurances that hovered so often on the edge of his tongue. He regarded you with the same grave attentiveness he had worn from the beginning of the conversation. Allowing the weight of your words to make home between you rather than rushing to sweep them aside.

Of all the cruelties your dreams inflicted, this was the worst. Not the visions themselves, or even the fear. It was the uncertainty that bled slowly into truth as you watched it become reality.

His gaze drifted toward the journal lying forgotten on the bed beside you. The worn cover looked almost ordinary in the birthing daylight, betraying none of the years of sleepless nights contained within its pages. Thousands upon thousands of predictions, warnings, nonsense, and tragedies. Entire futures reduced to disconnected phrases and broken observations.

When he spoke again, his voice carried a thoughtful weight that told you he was choosing his words carefully. “I know what it’s like when you’ve dreamt of death as well.”

When you drew your eyes back to him, his expression had softened into something melancholy. “There is a look you wear afterwards.”

“What look?” You asked, frowning.

A weary sort of affection touched his features. “As though you must wait for the sword to fall.”

The observation struck with uncomfortable accuracy. He was right. You spend so much time trapped inside your own mind that it was easy to forget how thoroughly he knew its workings. Easier still to forget that he watched you just as closely as you watched him. 

“I don’t know what it means yet,” you said, lowering your gaze, “but something horrible is coming.”

“My girl,” he consoled, bringing you to sit within his lap.

Your head rested upon his shoulder as his hands dragged up and down your back. Quiet words were spoken between you while the sun made its journey in the sky. In muffled voices Baelor tried to help you untangle your vision, offering theories of what the pieces might mean.

Eventually the demands of the morning intruded on the conversation. Servants arrived, clothes were selected, and water was brought for washing. The habitual act of preparation slowly reclaimed the chamber as the day strengthened beyond the windows.

You allowed your ladies to fuss over your hair while Baelor dressed nearby, fastening belts and buckles with soft clinks that reminded you too much of the sound of steel against steel. You listened, though, as he spoke of the day’s events. The tournaments being held, which lords would no doubt request an audience, mundane concerns belonging to the waking world.

And for a short time the gentle lilt of his voice settled you. The dream retreated farther and farther away, and the panic subsided to a dull throb in the corners of your mind.

Yet as you caught yourself staring at Baelor as he adjusted the cuffs of his doublet, sunlight lancing briefly across the dark bronze tones of his hair, a phrase returned with maddening persistence.

The dragon was dying again.

THE SPECTERED SMOKE OF THOSE WORDS FOLLOWED YOU THROUGH THE DAY. They lingered in every conversation and smile offered in passing, bleeding into your thoughts like wine clouding through water. No amount of reason could entirely banish them. Baelor’s steady reassurances had dulled the sharpest edges of your fear, but they had not removed it. They never truly did. The comfort he offered functioned more as an anchor. Something solid to grasp while the storm lashed around you.

Perhaps that was why you loved him so much. Though love felt absurdly inadequate even now, after a few years of marriage. The truth was both simpler and infinitely more embarrassing. You had worshiped him long before you ever loved him.

As a child, there had been no distinction in your mind between your uncle—Prince Baelor Targaryen—and the heroes who populated the stories told by your septa. He had seemed larger than life in those days. Noble where others were cruel, patient where others grew frustrated. Stable in a family renowned for volatility. While your younger brothers wielded wooden swords and provoked each other with tempers inherited from generations of dragonlords, you had wandered through the Red Keep corridors like a ghost.

While you were a child, you idolized your uncle. As you grew into a young lady, that glorification flowed into admiration. Which became an almost all-consuming love as you reached adulthood.

You remembered it with painful clarity. The way your heart leapt whenever he greeted you. The ridiculous care with which you had chosen your dresses for dinners. The countless hours spent lingering wherever he happened to be, pretending coincidence while desperately hoping for his attention. At the time you had not recognized those feelings for what they were.

You had simply known that his presence soothed something restless inside you. He made the world seem less frightening when he occupied it. That unlike nearly everyone else, he listened to you.

When you realized the depth of your devotion to him, the longing almost drove you to the madness you’d been accused of your whole life. For a niece to be fond of her uncle was one thing. For her to be sickeningly in love with him was something else altogether. You had yearned for him. It tormented you, and there had been moments where you genuinely believed yourself afflicted by it.

Marriage prospects came and went with increasing frequency as your reputation spread through the Seven Kingdoms. Noble lords feared your dreams and what they implied. A few merely found you strange. Meanwhile, your heart had already chosen its ruin.

Not that he made matters easier. He should have dismissed you; any sensible man would’ve, but he did not. He remained a grounding solace. The one person who never looked at you as though madness lurked beneath your skin, never reducing your visions to hysteria. Over time he had become your refuge so completely that you scarcely noticed it happening.

Looking back, it seemed almost inevitable. A tragedy years in the making or a love story to be told generations to come. The distinction depended entirely upon who was telling it.

After your marriage to Baelor, you became less plagued. The dreams remained as they always would, but their aftermath no longer consumed entire weeks of your life. He helped gather the scattered pieces when you could not. He listened when panic threatened reason. He stayed beside you through every sleepless night.

In many ways he had become the barrier standing between you and the abyss.

You suspected that may be why the most recent dream unsettled you so profoundly. Because somewhere within its tangled imagery lay the unmistakable sensation of losing something irreplaceable.

By midday Ashford Meadow had transformed into the spectacle everyone expected. Knights crowded the lists in armor polished to mirror brightness. Nobles filled the stands draped in fine fabrics and jewels. Banners snapped proudly overhead while merchants shouted from cramped stalls lining the tournament grounds. 

The entire meadow seemed alive with movement and noise, a celebration unfolding under cloudless skies. To anyone paying attention, it appeared a perfect summer day.

Yet unease continued prickling at the back of your neck. You found yourself searching the crowds repeatedly. Looking for signs from the vision, or whatever devil had birthed it.

Baelor noticed as he noticed everything. Several times throughout the day his hand found the small of your back as he sought to ground you. Once he leaned close enough to quietly ask whether you were well.

You brushed it off, and he pretended to believe you for the time being. The arrangement would suit both of you until you said otherwise. Unfortunately, the gods had never shown much regard for mortal arrangements.

The afternoon deteriorated steadily thereafter. Each passing hour carried with it another small irritation that accumulated under your skin until everything seemed to vibrate with tension. The atmosphere began to sour around you.

You remembered watching your brother ride that afternoon. Aerion’s armor had gleamed darkly beneath the summer sun, every inch the image of a dragon prince. The crowd cheered when he entered the field. For a moment, he appeared precisely what he should’ve been. Then he reminded everyone who he truly was.

You had been seated beside Baelor in the royal viewing box when your brother deliberately angled his lance downward at the last moment. The strike had not been aimed at Ser Humfrey Hardying, but at the man’s horse.

The poor animal had screamed, a horrible sound. The horse’s leg had tangled under it as momentum carried both rider and mount violently into the ground. Ser Humfrey had been thrown with such force that the crack of breaking bone echoed all the way to the royal seats.

The crowd grew angry. You had watched outrage spread through the spectators like wildfire consuming dry brush. Voices multiplied rapidly until the entire meadow seemed on the verge of erupting. The Kingsguard had been forced to intervene before that outrage transformed into something uglier. 

Even now, hours later, you could still remember the expression on Aerion’s face as he removed his helm. Smug, amused, and utterly pleased with himself. As if crippling another man for sport had been a clever jest.

The memory left a bitter taste in your mouth.

Which was why, when the chamber doors burst open shortly after sunset and a Kingsguard entered with visible urgency, your first reaction was to cringe and wonder what fresh hell had descended now.

Your father sat near the hearth with the rigid posture of a man perpetually prepared for disappointment. Though, you said he had every right to be irritable, as Daeron and Egg had still not been found. And he had likely wasted an entire day looking for them. Baelor occupied the chair beside him, quietly discussing the day's events with Lord Ashford. You were working distractedly on a piece of embroidery that had long since ceased receiving your attention.

The arrival of the Kingsguard shattered the mood in the Great Hall.

“Your Grace, my prince,” he addressed your husband and father at once. "There has been an incident involving Prince Aerion."

A muscle jumped in your father’s jaw. The poor man looked neither surprised nor alarmed, merely exhausted. “Of course there has,” Maekar muttered.

The Kingsguard hesitated before continuing. As the details emerged, a dreadful picture began assembling itself before you. There had been a puppeteer, a Dornish girl. Aerion took offence to the show and reacted as he always did, with cruelty and humiliation. A hedge knight named Ser Duncan had intervened, striking your brother many times.

“Also, my prince,” the Kingsguard directed at your father. “The prince Aegon was present.”

“Egg has been found?” you perked up, speaking for the first time.

“Yes, Princess,” the Kingsguard nodded. “The boy was with the hedge knight.”

You felt a fraction of relief where your youngest brother was concerned. He was alive and well and had apparently gone on some sort of adventure.

“Take Ser Duncan to the castle cells,” your husband ordered. “Ensure Aegon is seen safely inside.”

You watched him from your seat, seeing as he had already begun piecing together the shape of the disaster before it arrived. The firelight painted a warm cast across the hard lines of his face as he leaned forward, forearms resting upon his knees. Ever the thoughtful and composed heir. Entirely unaware that every time you looked at him your stomach twisted.

The dragon was dying again.

The words whispered through your skull as you forced your gaze away.

What seemed like an eternity later, you were seated at the table of a hastily put together trial board in the castle study. Your husband, as heir and Hand of the King, presided over the group made up of Lord Ashford, Tyrell, and your father. Aerion was in attendance as well, seated at the end of the table cracking nuts with the hilt of his knife. 

The repetitive noise grated on your already frazzled nerves.

You sat tensely beside Baelor, your hands folded in your lap as you observed the proceeding. Though no one suggested you leave, you suspected Lord Ashford and Tyrell wondered why you remained. Women rarely attended such matters. Then again, people rarely possessed prophetic dreams either, and your family had long ago ceased expecting you to conform to ordinary customs.

The chamber door groaned open, and Ser Duncan was escorted inside. The hedge knight looked even larger in the confined space than he had seemed from the recounting of the attack. Broad shouldered and towering in his simple clothing. Despite his intimidating size, though, there remained an almost endearing awkwardness about him.

It was silent for a moment, the only sound being your brother's irritating consumption of walnuts. Ser Duncan quickly darted his eyes over the gathering at the table before stuttering, “T-Trial by combat. That is my right.”

“I refuse,” Aerion said immediately, his tone petulant and childish as he continued to chew.

Your father let out a slow breath through his nose. The sound every bit the mark of a man losing his patience. "You cannot refuse,” his voice rumbled.

“Any knight accused of a crime has the right to demand as such.” Baelor calmly pointed out, turning to face your brother. “Unless you withdraw your claim.”

Aerion just smiled. It wasn’t a pleasant grin or even a subtle one. It was the smile he wore whenever some fresh cruelty occurred to him. “A trail of seven,” he declared. “That is my right, I do believe.”

Your father spoke something, sharp and perplexed, but you could not hear him. Even when Baelor began explaining something, the words did not rise above the sudden roar inside your skull.

Dust clouded around you as screams split your ears. You heard the splintering of broken wood and the metallic clang of steel on steel. The image of the falling dragon blinked in and out of your vision. It all came on so violently that your breath snagged in your throat. Something painful lurched inside your chest. The sensation was so powerful you forgot where you were, and the words escaped before you realized you had spoken.

"The dragon is dying again."

The sentence emerged scarcely louder than a whisper. Yet somehow everyone heard it, and heads turned as your stomach dropped. You wanted to disappear into your own embarrassment while Lord Ashford and Tyrell abruptly became fascinated by random objects in the study. Poor Ser Duncan simply looked utterly bewildered.

The same could not be said for your family, though. Baelor's head snapped toward you immediately; concern darkened his features. Your father frowned at you. Aerion laughed with unmistakable delight at your expense.

"The dragons are already dead, sister," he said lazily. "Have been for some time now." His violet eyes gleamed with familiar malice. “Or did it slip your simple mind?”

The words landed exactly as intended. Your brother had spent years finding inventive ways to mock you. Madness, your dreams, your reputation, and marriage—nothing remained beyond his reach. Ordinarily you would have ignored him. Tonight, however, the dream sat too close to your skin. Dust still swirled in your eyes, and you could still hear wailing.

At the same moment your father reached across and struck Aerion sharply across the back of his head. The crack echoed through the hall. Aerion jerked forward with a curse.

"Enough," Maekar growled.

Under the table, Baelor’s hands sought yours, warm and protective. You had not realized your hands were trembling until his fingers closed gently around them. He had done this very thing hundreds of times, but tonight it only served to make matters worse. The instant his skin touched yours, another image flashed through your mind. The damaged helm, steel caved in like jagged teeth.

You sucked in a sharp breath, yanking your hand from his.

He battled with his urge to reach for you again. He knew to crowd you in such a state would do no good, though. “My love?” he softly called instead.

You could hear him, but focusing became increasingly harder. The study blurred around the edges. The walls seemed farther away than they ought to have been, and the air felt suddenly difficult to breathe. You pushed your chair back, the legs scraping loudly along the stone floor. Every eye in the room returned to you.

“Excuse me,” you said, voice strained.

Baelor was halfway to his feet before you had finished speaking. The worry on his face only worsened the panic. "I will escort you,” he offered.

"No,” the word came out sharp as a dragon's tooth. You regretted the clipped tone instantly. “I only need a moment,” you assured him.

He nodded reluctantly, allowing you the dignity of retreat. 

You gave hurried apologies to the room and gathered your skirts before turning towards the door. The moment it closed behind you, the careful mask of composure started to crack. The corridor lay empty and silent, glowing with flickering torchlight. Your footsteps echoed as you rushed to your chambers, one hand pressed tightly against your ribs as if it might contain the dread building there.

Again and again and again. You were plagued by the damnable phrase. 

The dragon is dying again.

BY THE TIME YOU REACHED YOUR CHAMBERS, YOUR PULSE WAS THUDDING SO FIERCELY YOU COULD FEEL IT BEHIND YOUR EYES. The door closed behind you with a heavy thud as silence followed quickly. At first it felt like relief. Too soon did it become its own kind of torment.

You crossed the room aimlessly and then crossed it again. The restless fuzz beneath your skin refused to settle. It felt as though your body understood something your mind had yet to grasp. Every instinct howled that danger approached while reason struggled desperately to identify from where.

Stopping in front of the hearth, you peered into the flames. Amber light danced wildly across rough stone like a ballroom of cinders. Ordinarily the sight might soothe you. Fire possessed a peculiar intimacy for those descended from the destruction of the Doom. Something ancient lingered within it. A reminder of old blood and older histories.

You thought of Valyria, of dragons, and the death of both. You wondered if this was how Daenys had felt. Pondering if the Dreamer had spent days upon days within the Freehold pacing chambers much like these. If she too had been haunted by fragments she couldn’t fully understand. Whether she spent sleepless nights plagued by images of fire and death.

The histories spoke only of certain facts. Daenys foresaw the Doom, and her father listened. The Targaryens fled, and Valyria perished. Simple and neat, the sort of story people preferred telling generations later. You doubted reality had been so accommodating, seeing that dreams never were.

You pressed trembling fingers to your temple, trying to cast out the endless torment. But the conviction remained. You knew it with the very same instinctive knowledge that came with every true dream you experienced. Something was wrong. Something was terribly, irrevocably wrong.

Sinking into a chair near the fire, you tried forcing yourself to breathe evenly. You mused over the pieces of the dream that would not leave you be. The thought that perhaps the business with Aerion and Ser Duncan might be the root of it. You dreamed of a tournament, a destroyed helm, and a broken spear. All things that would be present in a trial by combat or trial of seven; whatever they had agreed upon. But that would mean someone must die because when you feel death in a vision, that’s always the case.

The Stanger does not make mistakes.

A crack split your heart at the thought of anyone dying, even Aerion, cruel as he may be. Restlessness drove you to the window overlooking the darkened grounds. The land had become little more than a sea of shadows writhing in the moonlight. Here and there isolated torches glowed among the encampments like fickle beacons of hope.

The sound of the door opening nearly made you jump. You turned immediately as Baelor entered the chamber. The moment you saw him, some part of the panic eased. Not much, but enough to remind you why his presence had always felt like coming home. You wanted to rush to him, throw yourself into his arms until all your troubles ran away frightened from your brave husband. But your shame from your earlier episode kept you riveted to the stone.

He closed the door quietly behind him before looking across the room to you. He regarded you with tender heed as if he expected to find you in this exact state.

“My love,” he greeted gently so as not to startle you.

“I am alright,” you said immediately, the lie sounding pathetic even to you.

Baelor sighed, and though you knew it wasn’t from irritation, the young girl in you wanted to weep at the notion of vexing him.

“My dear wife,” he murmured, low and affectionate. “I love you too greatly to believe that.”

Slowly, he crossed the floor until he stood before you. His gaze studied your expression as he reached for you in case you might pull away again. When you allowed him to grasp your hands, he smiled gratefully as he eased your body to lean into his. “I take it the dream still ails you,” he remarked, thumbs smoothing along your hips.

Your eyes burned unexpectedly with the tears of a dozen fires. “I cannot stop thinking about it,” you admitted, the vulnerability impossible to hide.

“What frightens you the most?” He asked, his eyes softening around the corners.

Everything.

The answer sat precariously close to the edge of your tongue. You were afraid of everything. The dream, the omen of death, the inexplicable feeling that he himself was in danger. The anguish clawing at your ribs with talons that felt as if they were shredding you from the inside.

“I keep seeing a dragon dying.” You say instead, swallowing back your emotions. Baelor listened without interruption even as you took a long moment to gather the rest of your words. “I fear… I fear that it means someone in our family will die. I thought perhaps Aerion giving the business with that hedge knight, but—”

Your throat closed up with the revolting things you were about to say. “There is a dark cloud hanging over you, my love.” When you finished speaking, silence settled thickly between you.

“My heart,” he murmured, drawing you closer to press you into an embrace. There was a sort of desperation in his hold that surprised you. As if some great sorrow had claimed him while you were separated. “My precious girl,” he continued, “I am not going anywhere. I am here; right here.”

The fabric of his ebony doublet rubbed against your face as you buried yourself into his chest. Your hands fisting the material as you tried tirelessly to believe him. The Stranger’s shadow still draped over you, though, imposing and demanding.

“You have spent a lifetime enduring the weight of dreams that would break most people,” your husband spoke again. “You are stronger than most men, but you don’t have to bear it alone.”

“You say that now,” you whispered into his warmth. 

“I have said it for years,” he countered, fingers threading through your hair.

Lifting your head, you gazed at him thoughtfully. "Because you are impossibly patient."

“That may be true,” he smiled.

Despite yourself, a weak laugh bubbled over the turmoil. His grin widened at the sound of it.

“There she is,” he softly celebrated. “I have longed for your smile all day.” 

The affection in those words hurt almost as much as it comforted. Because all you could think was that your dream wanted to take him from you. But you banished the thought with a violent internal shake of your head. That was the one thing you could not bear. If the gods snatched him from you, that would truly rid you of the last of your sanity. You were not certain you could live without him anymore.

Baelor noticed you spiraling. Without hesitation, he cupped your face in his hands, pulling you into him once again. His lips stamped along your jaw in small grounding kisses. Eventually he reached your ear, planting one more to the shell of it before he spoke.

“You need sleep.”

You giggled faintly as his breath tickled your skin. “I think sleep may be the problem.”

"Perhaps,” he mused, his hand moving slowly down your back. "But exhaustion has never improved a prophecy."

After several more minutes of coaxing, he finally convinced you to surrender. You allowed him to settle you beneath the blankets before climbing in beside you. You were drawn together immediately, his arm wrapping around your waist. You shifted in as close as you could get, back resting fully to his chest, his soft breaths ghosting along your neck.

His embrace and the low glow from the fire caused your eyes to finally grow heavy. The last thing you remembered before sleep claimed you was the sound of Baelor's heartbeat beneath your ear.

AT FIRST THERE WAS ONLY DUST.

Golden clouds of it that rose from tournament grounds beneath pounding hooves and booted feet. It whipped like a storm through shafts of sunlight, suspended within the summer air like motes of brass.

You stood in the middle of it all. The dust wrapping itself around your ribs, cloying to tissue as it dragged you deeper within it. Your pulse sounded in your ears like the striking of a smith’s hammer upon the anvil. Turning frantically, you searched the field, panic simmering in your blood.

Men thundered across the land in armor as horses squealed. The splintering of wood scattered through the air as lances shattered on impact. Steel flashed blindingly in the sun while shouts of pain and exertion blended over one another. A crowd erupted into gasps and cheers as the horrors persisted around you.

You knew he was here somewhere. The same way you always knew things inside your dreams. You caught sight of him in the blurring sunlight. The three-headed dragon worked into his breastplate, unmistakable even through the haze of dust and movement. The sight of him was like taking breath after nearly drowning.

The vision continued, and the gods, in their infinite cruelty, finally granted you the clarity you had been begging for. The fragments that had tormented you suddenly began fitting together.

The dust, the broken spear, the helm, and the falling dragon. All of it finally joined in a single horrifying picture.

Everything around you faded away as it happened. All you could see was him and the mace that came down upon the back of his head with a sickening impact. He stumbled, a hand going to his skull. The fingers came away bloody. He seemed confused at the very notion. Baelor fell to the ground, his back hitting dirt with the jarring sound of finality.

You cried out, a raw and gut-wrenching noise that startled you. Sometimes you could scream until your lungs bled and no sound would emerge.

The dream broke around you, and with your own cries splitting your ears, you knew he was dead.

You woke up shrieking. The sound tore from your throat so violently it left your chest burning. Your heart pounded so hard it rattled your teeth. You choked around your tears, air refusing to enter your lungs like a stubborn mount resisting the reigns.

Strong hands caught your shoulders. “My love—”

You fought against your husband without truly meaning to. Panic had consumed every rational thought in your mind. 

“No!” The word broke apart around a sob. "No, no, no—"

He spoke your name sternly, one of the only times he would ever address you in such a tone.

His voice reached through the deluge of terror. A gasp of relief so strong it all but sliced open the flesh of your throat spilled out. You twisted toward him so quickly the blankets tangled around your legs. The solace of his presence struck so hard it became agony.

Before you realized it you were clutching handfuls of his nightshirt with both hands, holding him as though you might hold together his very blood and bones.

"My heart," he murmured, pulling you closer. "Easy now."

You buried your face into his shoulder. The panic refused to release you, causing your limbs to shake with the strain. Every time you closed your eyes, you saw him falling again; his copper coated fingers.

“Hush now,” he consoled, hands rubbing soothing circles on your back. “It is alright.”

Those words felt almost laughable, or maybe you were simply that deep into a state of hysterics. But how could that possibly be true? How were you supposed to tell the man you loved more than your own life that you had just watched him die?

It took a long while before you could speak. Longer still before the frenzy loosened enough for coherent thought to return. And Baelor remained with you through it as your tears soaked his shirt.

Eventually your breathing slowed enough that he gently tilted your chin upward. He regarded you with the same tender heed as before. “What happened?” he asked softly.

The question cracked what little composure you had managed to recover. Fresh tears flooded your eyes.

“I saw it,” you whispered, voice trembling. “It is clear now.” You had to gather every ounce of courage to even allow the next words to make it out into the air. “You… you died.”

Confusion flickered briefly across his face. “What do you mean?”

You swallowed hard against the bile that wanted to spew from your mouth. “You were there,” you said unevenly, your fingers tightening on his sleeve. “On the tourney field fighting in the trial.”

A shadow passed over his features like a storm cloud. It was more than enough to have dread immediately coil stricter inside your stomach. You suddenly felt very cold, as if you’d trudged through northern snow in nothing but your nightgown.

“Baelor…” His name was spoken with thinly veiled agitation. Had you been in a sounder mental state, you would have felt guilty for it. “Why would you be fighting?”

The silence that followed seemed to stretch forever. Your husband would not look at you, and that wasn’t like him. The pit in your stomach deepened.

When he finally spoke, his voice carried the tone of a man choosing his words with great deliberation. "I intended to tell you tomorrow."

“No,” you shook your head so fiercely it hurt. You leaned away from him as fear replaced every drop of blood in your veins.

"The hedge knight is unlikely to find six men willing to stand beside him,” he reasoned, reaching to bring you back to him.

You flinched away, and you saw the hurt blink in his eyes, but you could barely think. It felt as though a butcher had strung you up and began dismembering you for a feast.

“He defended an innocent against cruelty,” Baelor continued with overflowing gentleness. “Whatever else may come of this, Ser Duncan acted honorably.”

You stared at him, unable to think or breathe. “You cannot be serious,” you accused. Horror surged through you at the mere thought of him in that battle. “Baelor—”

“It is not yet decided,” he assuaged. The words were meant to console, but they only made something inside you splinter farther.

As though there remained doubt. As if you had not just seen it with your own eyes. As though the gods had not ripped open your skull and forced the vision into it.

“But you intend to do it.” Your voice sounded strange, thin and fragile.

Baelor’s expression softened further, which somehow only worsened the ache clawing your chest to ribbons. “If Ser Duncan cannot find the men he needs, then yes.”

The room seemed to tilt as if you were falling down some great hole that you would never find your way out of again. You stared at him, certain your eyes held the violence of a dragon flying to war.

“No,” you said. The word emerged like a plea and a command all in one.

“Listen to me—”

“No,” you argued, pushing away from him entirely this time, scrambling across the bed to put several feet between you.

The movement startled him.

Good. You thought. 

He needed to be shaken. You wanted him frightened, anything that might make him understand the sheer magnitude of what you saw.

“You cannot fight,” you insisted. 

He raised his hands in front of him, meaning to pacify you. "My love—"

“You cannot!” Your voice cracked around the wail. The tears had returned entirely now, streaming freely down your face. Why didn’t he understand? Why was it now when he chose to disregard one of your dreams?

“I saw it,” you said, hands coming to clutch together at your chest. “I saw you die.”

The words echoed through the darkness of the chamber.

“Ser Duncan defended an innocent,” Baelor said carefully. “If honorable men abandon him now, then what becomes of justice?”

The words struck you like a slap. They were far too reasonable, and reason had no place here. It couldn’t save him. It couldn’t change what you had seen.

“You are not listening to me,” you cried. The desperation in your voice was becoming unbearable. You could hear it, the edge of full delirium taking over. “You will die.”

“I know what you saw,” he murmured, tilting his head. The look he gave you was solemn enough to send your heart racing more than it already was.

“No, you don’t,” you said, shaking your head. “If you did, you would not still be entertaining such an absurd idea.”

You rose from the bed so abruptly your legs nearly fell out from under you. The need to move was strong, the tremors wracking your body deeming it impossible to remain still. “I saw you fall. I watched you die, and you’re speaking to me of justice?”

Baelor stood slowly with a great deal more grace than you. He approached you like one would a frightened animal. It made you want to scream.

“I must do this, my love,” he said. There was a sorrowful tone to his voice. It only served to heighten your distress. 

 You laughed, a horrible sound that was sharp and wet with tears. The breaking of a dam overwhelmed by floodwaters. “You must? Must!”

“Honor demands—” he tried, but you interrupted him.

“Honor?” The word burst from you as your hands flew up helplessly. The gesture was wild and frantic. Every bit the crazed princess half the realm already believed you to be. You did not care. Dignity felt utterly meaningless when compared to the prospect of losing him. “What honor exists in dying for a man you've met twice?”

The question pierced the room with the force of a thrown dagger. Baelor did not hesitate, though. Steadfast in his resolve to forfeit his own life, it seemed. “The honor of doing what is right.”

A nearly inhuman noise tumbled from your throat. “And what of me?”

You saw the guilt flicker through his eyes. He took a quick step towards you, but you retreated further into the room. You could see the visible pain your withdrawal caused him. But he persisted, moving for you again. He reached toward you, the gesture coming from his instinct to comfort you. Under any other circumstances you would have fallen into it instantly.

Instead, when his fingers grazed your arm, something inside you finally snapped. Your hand moved, swift like lighting a match, and cracked across his cheek. The force caused his head to whip to the side as your palm stung. The silence that shadowed was absolute. You both froze, and for a daunting moment neither of you breathed.

You hadn't meant to. The strike had been born from desperation rather than true anger. Regret chilled over you as you brought that same hand up to cover your mouth. “I—”

His head turned slowly back to face you. A red mark had already begun appearing against his skin. He looked more determined now than he had the whole argument. That somehow made everything worse.

He reached for you again. In your fractured state, you shoved him, both palms pushed on his chest. It was not enough to move him. Nothing ever moved Baelor when he decided to stand his ground. Still, you shoved him again. The effort was pathetic and childish. Entirely born from the helplessness that had haunted you your entire life.

For as long as you could remember, the dreams came and people died. There was never anything you could do to stop it. You had learned to live with it the best you could. But this time the Stranger was coming for the man who held every breath you took in his hands.

“Enough.” He caught your wrist before you could push him again. The motion swift and firm as his voice rumbled with steel-backed command. “Enough, wife.”

You couldn’t protest when he pulled you forward into him. Every ounce of fight vanished as your body went slack against his. A torrent of sobs tore through you. Your forehead struck his chest as your knees threatened to buckle. 

Baelor wrapped both arms around you, their solid strength the only thing keeping you upright.

You clutched handfuls of his nightshirt, your nails digging desperately into the fabric. As though enough force might keep him anchored to the world; keep him alive.

“Please,” you begged, the word dissolving into a wail. “Please.”

His embrace tightened and you felt his nose nudge into your hair. His lips brushed your temple, and still you cried and shook. Still you clung to him as if he was bleeding out already in your arms.

Eventually his hand slid beneath your chin, patient and soft. He tilted your face up, forcing you to look at him. Moonlight spilled across his face. Those familiar mismatched eyes and the features you knew better than your own.

“You cannot leave me,” you whispered. A doomed bargain offered to uncaring gods.

He stared at you, something raw and aching unfurling in his eyes. Slowly he nodded, as though he believed he could keep that promise. Then, with all the reverence he held for you, he leaned forward and kissed you. It was a hard press of his mouth to yours, the sort that said words not meant for the open air.

“The gods themselves could not tear me from you,” he rumbled. The sound coming from deep in his chest, enveloping your trembling frame with the warmth of his breath. He pulled away only an inch, just enough to permit himself to breathe you in.

Your blood still sang of the atrocity to come, but your heart thrummed hard in your chest for an entirely new reason. Your lungs expanded in quick, short breaths, not due to fear but all encompassing desire.

“But my vision—”

“Shh,” Baelor urged. “We will discuss it, but let me care for you, my sweet wife.”

As his lips descended on yours once again, you could do nothing but fall into him.

His hands came to rest on your waist, his thumbs digging into each of your hipbones. Your mouths move together as his tongue finds the seam of your lips, begging entrance. You part for him, and he licks into your mouth, the heat pouring from him to you and from you to him. The blood of the dragon mingling and mixing.

You edge closer to him, tipping up on the points of your toes. Baelor, knowing your needs so well, perceived what you wanted. He hooked his hold around the backs of your thighs, hoisting you into his arms. Hands fly to his shoulders to find solid muscle to grip. Your legs circled his waist, tightening around him as he carried you to the bed.

His two-toned eyes stoked the fire building in your core as they met yours once he settled you on the sheets. He knelt at the foot of the bed, pulling his nightshirt over his head. The slow reveal of his skin was a teasing torture, the dark salt peppered hair on his chest tempting your composure. The garment was lost to the floor once he was free of it.

You surged forward, palms sliding and exploring the planes of his chest. A hiss leaves his kissed red lips when your nails dig into the flesh of his pectoral, some of your earlier discontent breaking through.

He captures your hands with quick movements, binding your wrist as he pushes you back down to the mattress. The skirt of your nightgown rucked up in the descent, the soft warmth of your thighs now bare for his hungry gaze. Releasing your wrists, his hand ran up the side of one leg, drawing it up to bend at the knee. 

“Baelor,” you gasped, breathless, fisting the sheets beside you.

He positions your other leg before making home between them, his shoulders bearing the weight of them. The thin gauze of your nightgown is bunched completely at your ribs, your stomach quivering as his breath tickled. He kisses the plush flesh there, moving steadily downwards.

“Baelor,” you whine again.

He hushes you, fingers soothing along your hip. “Tell me,” he says, adding another kiss right above your core. “I won’t deny you anything; you need only tell me what you want.”

His touch continued to tease with light brushes across sensitive skin. He knew full well what you craved, but he wanted to hear you say it. He would not take you unless you voiced your desires. It stemmed from his need for consent but also the guilty pleasure he found from hearing such words from your sweet lips.

A shiver ran through you as his head dipped lower to bend towards the junction of your thighs. You took in an uneven breath, gathering the words in the back of your throat.

“Please, husband,” you pleaded. “Your mouth… I need you.” Your hips rose just slightly, urging him to close the distance. “Banish the dream from my mind.”

“Gladly,” he rasped, the scruff of his beard burning your inner thighs as he parted your folds with his tongue. “It has been too long since I’ve tasted you, my love.”

Gods, it had been quite long. The journey to Ashford and even some time before that. Too long had you gone without the heat of his tongue feasting on you. 

You whined as his mouth pressed deeper into your warmth. His strong hands gripping the pliant flesh of your thighs, his tongue teasing your entrance. Warm and wet, it licked a path up to that swollen bundle of nerves at the apex.

He groaned into you, the sound a heavy vibration against your core. “Sīr dōna, ñuha ābrazȳrys.”(So sweet, my wife.)

His arms drew you closer, a moan clawing up his throat as he lapped at your arousal. He opened you to him with a desperation that convinced you he truly was trying to dispel the vision from your thoughts. He was nothing if not devoted to you, especially when he was between your legs.

Your hands flew to his head, nails piercing his scalp when his lips wrapped around your clit. He sucks it into his mouth, lathering the tip of his tongue over it in maddening strokes. Each caress of it has your lungs seizing, breath stalling, as little moans escape from you. You can feel the tension building inside of you, low in your stomach. You cry out when he pulls away, relief and frustration threading together.

He moves back down to your entrance, dripping with spit and slick alike. He eases the tip of his tongue inside, and your head falls back into the pillows as your thighs close around his head. 

“Baelor,” you gasp his name into the writhing shadows.

His warm breath ghosts over your aching core as he pulls away. Untangling himself from your limbs takes several minutes, but once he does, he’s quick to pry your legs back open. He does nothing at first. Pleas and a thousand begging words are ready to spill from your mouth, hips bucking towards him.

“If you want my mouth, wife, you must keep your legs open,” he orders, voice firm and grounding.

They shake as you widen the space between them, but mercifully he returns. His lips find you again quickly, his tongue plunging inside you before you could react. It curls up, pushing deeper within your walls, and you moan, hips jumping closer to his sweet torment. 

His nose nudges against your clit as he grunts, tugging you further into him. Both his arms coiling strong around your thighs, hips lifting off the bed while he buries his face into your cunt. He groans again, and the tremor of his deep lilt seeps through your stomach to the place where the knot of your pleasure grew tighter.

It is too much and not enough all at once. Your hands grapple at his shoulders, fingers unsteady, as you search for something to hold onto. The scratch of his beard as he brings you to the edge sends small sparks of pleasure dulled pain down your spine.

He must feel it in the quiver of your body because he speeds up the motion of his tongue. The muscle thrusts and flicks rapidly as you clench around it. Your hips rocked into him while he pushed as you pulled.

“Come for me, my love,” he urged, the sound of it muffled where he was pressed against you. His thumb finds your clit, rubbing it in quick circles.

“Please— oh gods,” you spoke into the air, a whimper accompanying the words as your peak crashed over you. Heat spreads from your core up through your veins, your body shaking through the release. He guides you through it, tongue slowing its movements as it subsides. 

“That’s it, sweet girl,” he soothes as you slowly relax back into the sheets. Kisses are stamped across the expanse of your belly. His lips, slick with your arousal, gave offerings of his love for you. As he paid his homage upwards, he rested his head on the sweat-slick skin of your chest, grazing your breast with his mouth.

He gazed up at you, beard and chin covered in your essence. His eyes shimmered with the reverence of a thousand disciples. “Not even death could take me from the honor of seeing you like that.”

Fresh tears welled up in your eyes as your hands ran up the length of his back, trying to remind yourself that he was still here. He hushed you softly when he saw, lips moving to your face to make his expedition across the flushed skin. His hips rocked into yours, his cock sliding along your sensitive folds. Your breaths grew more ragged with each kiss of his mouth as your legs bent to cradle him.

His lips found yours again, covering your mouth in a deep kiss that tasted of the intoxicating mix of him and you. Your teeth knocked together as he leaned his body to cover you, close and safe and warm. He kissed the last traces of tears away, putting in their place the joining of you both. He drank in your gasp when his fingers slid down, dipping between your slit. Two fingers spread you open, teasing your already soaking entrance.

“Baelor, please,” you beg, drawing back to take in a few short breaths. 

He coos at you softly, his eyes burning your flushed skin with their heat. A smile graces his features as he watches you, his fingers moving up to circle your clit. The pressure is heavy and firm, making your thighs tense on either side of his hips.

“I’ve got you,” he soothes, his free hand coming to smooth back your hair. His head falls to your neck where his tongue swipes across the sweat beaded on your collar bone. A low groan rumbles in his chest at the taste. He continues to lick along your skin, lips stamping searing kisses here and there. His digits shift from your clit downwards to play at your opening. You barely have time to steal a breath before those two thick fingers slip inside. You gasp around a moan, the stretch of them welcome and familiar. 

They move, sinking to the knuckles before curling up. Your walls clench around them as they find a steady pace, surely meant to bring you to another pinnacle. The warmth of that promised pleasure traveled over your skin like fire as he pumped them in and out. 

“Sīr bāne, sīr ȳrda syt nyke,” Baelor murmurs into your throat. (So warm, so tight for me.)

“Oh gods,” you moaned at his words, head tossed back into the pillows. You clutch at him, nails digging into the tanned skin of his back. You feel the flesh break when he nudges that spot deep within you, your eyes screwing shut against the mounting tension. It was happening quickly, your second climax sneaking up on you while your husband drove it closer and closer.

Your limbs tremble as he works, your blood all but singing in your veins. The wet muscle still at your neck is scorching, as if he intended to brand his possession there. When he raises his face, his eyes watch with rapt attention as your lashes flutter and your lips part with your impending release.

“Let go for me, my heart,” he orders, fingers quickening their relentless pace, pressing hard against that magical spot at the end of you. “Māzigon syt aōha valzȳrys.” (Come for your husband.)

A high-pitched whine slips through your lips as his words send you over the edge. It climbs higher and higher until it finally peaks with rushing heat. Your back arches with a cry of his name loud enough to reach the dark halls and any specters lingering in them. The exquisite feeling of clenching around his fingers rolls through you, the digits curling up a few more times as he helps you through it a second time. He gazes adoringly at you, thighs shaking, chest heaving, your slick running down his wrist.

“Beautiful,” he whispers as he removes his fingers. You bite back a quiet sound as your release drips from you like sweet syrup. 

You meet his eyes as he sits back for a moment. He looks distraught, sick with need, and longing. You almost want to weep again at the sight of him. The stress from the day past and the way in which he took you apart ignited your already frazzled nerves. “Valzȳrys—” (Husband.)

He hummed, cutting off your whimper of his one of many titles. Draping his body back over yours, he thumbs under your eyes, ridding your waterline of unshed tears. “None of that,” he insists gently.

There was no space between you as he peppered soft kisses to your cheek and down by the corner of your mouth. “You are so good for me,” he breathes, elbow bracing by your head so as not to crush you with his weight. “My pretty wife.”

“Baelor, I…” You barely manage the words, your body and mind heavy with exhaustion.

“It’s alright,” he reassured, “I know.”

He leans away just slightly, his hands covering your thighs once more, caressing the soft damp skin. Palms splay out around the backs of them, spreading you open for him. The cool air hits and you shiver as he hauls you down closer to where he wants you. You do not have the strength to fight his direction, not that you would want to. Giving into him was one of the easiest things you had ever done aside from loving him.

The length of his cock rests on your thigh as he settles back between them. He takes it in his hand running the tip up and down your folds. You whine softly, head reeling, already humming with overwhelming sensation. Your breath grows heavy when he lines himself up with your entrance, the broad head parting your cunt so he might slide the rest of the way in.

He eases the length of it inside slowly, chest swelling with deep breaths. His brows were heavy set as he guided you through taking each inch, always so careful with you. He huffs out a low groan of your name once you reach the hilt, the hair at the base tickling your swollen clit.

“There we are, dōna riña,” he murmurs. (Sweet girl.)

His hips roll with the first thrust, shallow and testing, before he pulls almost all the way out. He enters you again with a deep drive that knocks the air from your lungs. Wrapping your legs around his waist, he angles your hips to take him deeper. The pace he sets is near obsessive worship, sliding you along the sheets with each plunge. 

“Oh,” you cry out as his cock nudges against that perfect spot inside you.

Fire dances along your body everywhere his hands touch you. A taut knot of pleasure tightens in your stomach, seeping into the very marrow of your bones. All you can feel is him, the solid pressure of his weight atop you as he savored every gasp and moan you gifted him. You can hear how wet you are and feel it dripping from you as it welcomes his cock inside you.

You want only this for the rest of your life, him alive and with you. The mere thought of it being taken from you made your lips tremble and your arms throw themselves around his shoulders. You tugged at him until he came down to meet you. 

“My love,” he rasps, his eyes glimmering with his own need.

Without warning, your husband flips you, sitting up as he settles you into his lap. You gasp with the momentum, palms steadying yourself on his shoulders. His chest presses against your breast, warm and heavy. His cock remained inside you, your cunt sucking him deeper in this new position.

Every drop of air leaves you in a rush. His hands go to your hips, pulling you into him, rolling your body with his as he thrust upwards. The deep drag of him pulled keening sobs from your throat as your eyes began to burn. You could feel him in your womb almost, each ascending drive of his cock fervent and devoted to bringing you pleasure.

“On me,” he demanded, forehead coming to rest on yours. “Think of nothing else hae mazeman ao apart va ñuha orvorta.” (as I take you apart on my cock.)

 No other words were spoken as he rocked your hips into his. It was a slow, agonizingly deep grind that turned your body to liquid heat. You felt boneless as he tilted his hips upwards, meeting you with a languid press that seemed to reach the very center of your being. Your breath came in heavy pants against his mouth as your arms coiled tighter around his shoulders, hands going to rest over the crown of his head.

The thick heat builds in your belly, growing as it spreads to your core, gushing like blood from a fresh cut. You can feel his cock twitching inside you when your walls clench around the length.

“One last time, ñuha jorrāelagon,” he manages through heavy breaths. (My love.) He was nearing his end; you could tell in the way his chest heaved and his sounds of pleasure flew more freely. “Can you do that for me?”

You nodded frantically as the feathered mattress bounced on the creaking bedframe. “Yes, please, Baelor,” you whine, nails piercing his scalp.

His movements, still deep and aching, struck up against that toe-curling place again and again. The pleasure came over you like a fever, hot and all-consuming. Tears threatened to fall as a sharp gasp tore from your throat. A ringing takes over your hearing once that knot of molten fire shatters. Your legs tremble with the force of your release, cunt spasming around his cock, your back arching, pushing your breast more firmly against his sweat-slick chest.

“There we go, take it,” he moans, jaw clenching with the oncoming of his own climax. His thrusts grow sloppy, his hands tighten at your hips as his breaths become interrupted with deep sighs and groans. You can feel the desperation clawing at him, the need to fill you up impossible to ignore.

His head falls to your chest, face buried in your breasts as he fills you with his cock. A deep, drawn out moan of your name leaves his lips when he spills himself inside you. Hips jumping up until they slowed, the warmth of his seed spreading inside you making you whimper.

You stayed just how you were for a time, Baelor’s hands stroking lines up and down your back as you both allowed your pulses to return to normal. Your cheek rested on his shoulder, and your finger had traced the same freckle numerous times now. You never wanted to move again. And you would not have if it weren’t for your husband deciding for you.

Lifting you off his lap slightly, he freed himself from you before laying you back among the pillows. He stretches out beside you, quick to pull you into his arms. He gazed down at you, eyes heavy and lidded, as he placed a single kiss to your forehead.

Tiredness crept up on you, your eyes growing droopy as your head lay on his chest. You could feel his fingers playing with your messy hair, undoing the tangles while a thick cover of the unspoken settled over you. It prickled at the back of your mind, but you couldn’t gather the strength to bring it to voice again.

“Sleep, my love,” Baelor urged, his fingers in your hair and the slow strokes up your back lulling you further into the rest. “I am here.”

As the hand of sleep pulled you under, you held on to the sound of his breathing. A quiet prayer sent out to any deity that would listen that the fates had gotten this one wrong.

THEY BURNED HIM BEFORE SUNSET.

The pyre stood alone within an open field beyond Ashford’s walls, where the summer grass bowed softly beneath the afternoon wind. It seemed unsuitable for a prince of the realm. Entirely too unassuming for the remarkable man he had been. Dry timber had been stacked carefully according to ancient custom. Baelor lay at the center of it, wrapped in white linens much like the sheets you woke up alone in this morning.

For a single blissful, arrogant moment you had thought all had turned out well after all. But then your hand had drifted across the bed in search of him, only to be met with the chill of absence. He had been gone for some time before you woke, the blankets long since void of his warmth. 

The realization had struck with nauseating force. He had left you sleeping as he went to the place where you had seen his death. 

Your knees ached from where you had fallen as you threw the blankets aside so violently they had tangled around your ankles. Dignity had become a luxury you no longer possessed since you had darted from the chamber in nothing but your nightgown, your hair still loose and messed from the pleasure of the night before.

The guards and servants populating the halls had been startled. You could not blame them. You surely looked quite shocking, but even now, afterwards, you had no will to care.

The castle had been a blur around you; every corridor felt impossibly long. You had rounded a corner at a near sprint when you collided with something solid. The impact stole the breath from your already overworked lungs as strong hands caught you by the shoulders to stop you from falling.

When you looked up, you had been met with the face of your father. He still wore his armor, the steel smeared with dirt and dust. A shallow gash crossed one cheekbone, dried blood tracing its way toward the edge of his jaw. Another cut marred his brow where sweat had washed crimson into thin rivers across his temple.

Grief had been hiding in his violet eyes, so concealed you might have missed it if you didn’t already know what had happened. He didn’t need to say anything, didn’t need to give voice to what you had seen with your own eyes. The strength had vanished from your legs, and you collapsed. Your father caught you, his arms closed around you, though you felt the slight hitch in his breathing as your weight struck him.

Perhaps for the first time since you had been a little girl frightened of storms, you had clung to your father without hesitation.

He had been awkward in his comfort, but he gave it nonetheless. Now, as you glanced toward him at your side, you thought maybe he needed consoling in the moment as well. 

The pyre caught slowly. Flames licked hungrily at the lower logs before climbing higher, consuming dry wood with soft crackling sighs. You tried not to think too hard about your husband within those flames being eaten away by their heat as smoke rose high to the heavens in slow, twisting ribbons.

Dragonlords returned to fire as they always had. Even now when the dragons have been gone from this earth for decades.

The Septon’s words reached your ears without meaning. You felt nothing as you stared into the fire, the sorrow too vast to comprehend. It had hollowed you from inside until there seemed little left besides the aching cavity where your heart had once lived.

Yesterday you had wondered whether Daenys the Dreamer had felt the same as you had, carrying the burden of prophecy. Now you wondered whether the gods granted such visions for any purpose beyond cruelty.

You had seen his death because they had deemed it. You had begged and wept until your throat bled. You surrendered every scrap of dignity before the man you loved in hopes of changing what was to come. None of it mattered. Fate had listened to every desperate plea and answered with silence. You didn’t know who you were angrier at: Baelor and the gods.

The flames rose higher as heat washed across your face. You couldn’t look away even when those in attendance began to leave. You remained because you knew once you left you would never again be in the presence of him. You couldn’t bear to walk away yet because beyond that fire laid the man who had taught you that your dreams need not be faced alone. Yet he had left you to suffer them without him. After promising he would never part from you, he had left you utterly by yourself.