The red comet was still soaring through the clear blue sky leaving its blood-red trail behind. It couldn’t have been too long since the day he left Castle Black, yet Jon Snow felt like he had been riding for weeks. He didn’t do much but ride all day long. At least when he was headed north of the Wall, his brothers were with him and their company suited him. Their silly conversations and the ways they were trying to outsmart each other distracted him from the long way ahead. Distracted him from her.
Now, however, he was accompanied by two gold cloaks sent as an escort to King’s Landing. They didn’t talk much and whenever he asked them why his brother had summoned him, they would simply ignore him. So Jon was left with his own thoughts being his only friend… and that was exhausting. She was always there, regardless whether he was awake, asleep, or simply reminiscing the past. He couldn’t escape her, not on this road, where there was only him, his thoughts and of course, her. The way she smiled that day was the saddest thing, the thing that tore at him afterwards... the way she smiled. Full of hope, full of dreams… a childish smile. He still wasn’t sure if he did the right thing, but it never, even for a moment, felt like he did.
Daenerys was someone who never failed amazing him, surprising him. She was someone who one lifetime wasn’t long enough to figure out. When she was next to him, he would spend every possible moment watching her, trying to figure out what she was thinking of or what her next move might be. He never did. Even he felt intimidated by her existence. She was his Queen after all. But was that all she was to him? His Queen?
He had been in love once before, but this was nothing like that. Although complicated, he never felt uncertain of his feelings towards Ygritte. But Dany… was not easy to love. Not only because the world was against them, nor because Jon’s heritage got in their way. It was because he never felt like he could reach her. She could so effortlessly switch from being the warmest, most loving person he had ever known to coldness so sharp that often left him feeling colder than any freezing day beyond the Wall. So was it love? ...what he felt about her, or was it just amazement of how a person like her could even be real? God knows he wasn’t the only one amazed by the purpled-eyed beauty after all.
As the days passed and the riding continued, Jon forgot to even try not thinking of her. Each day he missed her more than the previous and each day brought more troubling thoughts, more pain, until he couldn’t even remember the sound of her voice. The gates of King’s Landing came like a blessing and he smiled at the irony of it.
“You look terrible.” a familiar voice spoke. Jon remembered his voice. “Nice to see you too, Tyrion.” He got off his horse and shook the imp’s hand as the heavy gates closed behind them. The city still carried evidence of that day. The gate stood tall but the wall around the city wasn’t forming a full circle yet. Everyone on the streets, builder or otherwise, was working on the houses, but even so, half the city was still in black ruins. You could even see piles of ash lurking in some of the corners. At the very least, the bodies weren’t there anymore, nor the smell of burned flesh. That was the thing that kept Jon awake most nights since the last time he walked these streets. The smell of burned flesh.
“So? Do I need to wait even longer to find out why I am here?” he asked as they walked towards the Red Keep.
“Just a little longer.” the imp smiled politely.
“Why? I am sure it was your idea having me here anyway.” He watched one man place one stone next to another completing the sixth row of a wall.
“I am afraid I cannot take the credit for this one, it belongs to our King.”
When the heavy iron doors of the throne room opened in front of him, Jon’s legs hesitated, he closed his eyes as if entering that room would make it real. He never imagined himself stepping inside this room again. But when he opened his eyes, unlike the rest of the city, there was no trace of Daenerys Targaryen ever being here. A reflection of the tall simple walls that evolved into a heavily decorated dome, covered the glistening marble floor. In the middle of the room, the six stone-carved columns, each leaving a hint in the honor of one of the six kingdoms, opened a path towards the new throne. And at the end of the aisle awaited The King of The Six Kingdoms.
“Your Grace” Jon Snow bowed in front of his brother.
“Leave us” spoke the King while gesturing Jon to rise. After all members but the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard left the room, Bran spoke “It’s good to see you brother, but I am afraid we don’t have much time. We need your help.” Tyrion explained as best and as short he could about the new threats from the South and the West as well as about Drogon.
“This is why I came all this way? I am the last person Drogon will listen to.” Jon was trying to make sense of everything he just heard and for some reason, he felt responsible for it all.
“I don’t like this anymore than you do, but we have lost too many good men trying to stop him, we have to try everything and like it or not, you are the last Targaryen, Jon.” Brienne widened her eyes in surprise and looked at the crippled King shifting uncomfortably on the throne using his arms.“I am confident he wouldn’t harm you, if he wanted you dead, you would be by now.”
Of course he would do this, Jon thought. Without his mother to tame him, Drogon was just a beast… a monster. He lowered his eyes over the glistening floor feeling guilty and responsible. All those people, cities... I did this, I should be the one to fix it...or die trying. “I will go.” is all he managed to say, knowing that another long ride is awaited him. A ride with no one else but him, his thoughts and his guilt.
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