17

17.

Brewing Storms.

304 ac

King's Landing. 

Tyrion's disclosure had stirred within her a new form of insight. While for years all she has done is try to forget the pain of their betrayal, those who betrayed her had not hesitated in seeking retaliation on others. On the one hand Tyrion and his desire for revenge, which led him to commit the ultimate atrocity against an innocent woman. A woman who he loved and who loved him.

And then Jon...Jon, who betrayed her.

Much thought she devoted to Jon Snow and the reason for his betrayal, deceit, and abandonment. Dany wasn't there to brood over the same issue again. She had already decided what she would do next. But if this conversation helped her to understand better who Jon really was, at least she could finally put his memory to rest.

At her request, Jon answered with more silence.

Dany shrugged and continued exploring the little market. At every stall that she approached, Dany made sure to leave at least one coin and take something in return. When her hands and pockets were full, she began to hand over to her guards what she could not carry herself.

She was surprised by Jon's voice after a while.

"I suppose that saying that our union would bring peace and rest to the Seven Kingdoms is not reason enough," he spoke, a voice with a hint of sarcasm.

Daenerys cut him a stern look, "I'm not naive or a simpleton, Jon. So don't take me for one."

"I offered a sensible solution," he said, through gritted teeth.

"Well, I don't take you for a sensible man," Daenerys replied.

"Well, you don't know me," he retorted. 

Unexpectedly, she responded with a burst of laughter at the irony of it.

Jon gave her a long, steady look that she was quick to avert. 

"Let's be clear." Daenerys cleared her throat. "You are not the first nor the only to approach me with this sort of proposal. All men who've pretended something from me have proceeded the same."

"I'm not like those men."

She scowled and gave him a harsh look.

"And what makes you different from those men? That your cause is the juster, the more selfless? I'd be wary of a man who thinks himself above others because he is selfless! It's almost a contradiction in terms."

"You have no reason to believe me and I understand that. But that is the truth," he said. 

Jon stopped and so did she. He stood there watching her with a scowling face. He looked almost frustrated.

"The difference is that they've wanted your power or your beauty, or both," he said, his tone adamant.

Dany who was a few steps up, looked down at him from above, the slightest smile on her face, "And you don't?"

His cheeks turned red.

"You know what I mean. I...I need your help," he stuttered. 

"And how do you think such help will come to you if not in the form of power?"

Jon took two steps forward, coming within inches of her face

"I think you are more than your power, Daenerys," he countered carefully. He looked into her eye. "And more than your beauty, for that matter."

Awkwardly, he shuffled past her, and for a moment she thought he would not speak any further. 

"But I understand what you mean. If you agree to fight for the North, the sacrifice would be too great for you and for your people. I can see that. But also," he turned around and looked at her, "No other person I have ever met has done what you have done. You are not like anybody else."

He said that again. 

Her stupid heart skipped a beat. 

She had to remember herself that what it seemed a major gain in the grand scheme of things, rendered useless once she was devoided of any use for them.

***

A blast of thunder came from heaven. Thick clouds had covered the expanse of the sky and a single heavy raindrop landed on his cheekbone as Jon glanced up. He remained silent as they kept striding the steep street, keeping a watchful eye on Daenerys and her surroundings. The narrower and the more exposed the streets became, the greater the danger was that in a single, fast move someone could surprise them.

Her guard and his were at a safe distance.

The mere idea of wanting to protect her from danger struck him unexpectedly. What was he doing?

"Do you think that if I had been here at the time of your appointment as King in the North, things would have been different?" she asked him, looking over at him, her eyebrow quirking. 

"I have no way to know," Jon answered shortly. 

She stared stoically ahead. "Your other sister, The Lady of Winterfell," she brought up, springing a reaction from him, "Lord Varys tells me that she is not pleased with my presence."

"How came Lord Varys to know that?" Jon questioned in a stern voice.

She shrugged it off and continued, "And yet you proposed a marriage alliance? You are either oblivious to your sister's ill disposition or you mean to deceive me into a marriage alliance that will secure the safety of your kin."

He instinctively stiffened at the possibility of any harm coming to his family. Jon looked over at her and met her insisting stare, urging him to snap at the implied threat. 

Instead of biting the bait, he swallowed hard and looked away.

"Always searching for the ulterior reasons of people, don't you?" he asked her. He breathed in the heavy air. "In the North, we are tough, stubborn people. What the Lannisters did, what your father did..."

"Sins of a father I didn't even meet," Dany almost snarled. 

"Yeah, I guess we have that in common."

She blinked in confusion. 

"What do you mean?"

Realization struck him; Jon didn't mean to let that out.

"I'm a bastard," he quickly said, "I never met my mother but all my life, I've carried with me hers and my father's faults."

"Being a bastard is not a sin," she said almost reassuringly. 

"But stems from one." 

She halted their pace, turning around to face him with an earnest expression.

"Being a bastard...It is important to a large part of the people of this country, but it has never meant too much to me. My name is Targaryen and that has only brought me trying times and shame." She took a deep breath and avoided his curious stare. "You are taking matters too far, anyway," she said, "The matter of crossed loyalties? How are you going to make that work?"

"We."

She gave him a look, but there was no venom in it. "Excuse me?"

Jon shifted a little restlessly on his feet.

"I expect our alliance to be reciprocal," he explained, answering in a low, measured voice, "The way I see it, that's how these things work. A marriage."

She remained skeptical.

"The North will come around, as they did when the Boltons ruled Winterfell. If anything, the coercion of impending doom both by ice or fire, or starvation will do enough to set their grievances at ease." A feral look crossed his features. "As for Sansa, or any member of my family, that will be only my problem to deal with. You won't have to worry."

Daenerys just stared at him, distrustingly.

"You think I'm asking for too much?" Jon asked her.

"I'm just trying to figure you out." Dany veered onto another street. "Marriage wasn't even an option to you before."

Confused, he frowned and looked at her questioningly. "Before? When?"

This time, she swallowed hard.

"When you arrived with your wight, first. You hadn't come to King's Landing with a plan. I want to know what spurred such a bold move."

"How do you know it wasn't my intention all along?"

"Again, you don't strike me like that kind of man."

"Again, your Grace, you know nothing about me."

A poignant silence passed and then she added, "I know what I need to know."

Jon sighed and ran a hand through his hair, growing impatient and restless. 

"If that's true and you've already decided what kind of person I am, then what are we doing here, Daenerys?"

Almost without meaning to, he talked to her with a confidence he hadn't had in him before.

***

The rest of the way up to Dragonpit, a light drizzle drenched them all. Jon decided that the southern weather just didn't suit him, the heaviness of the air coupled with the city's steepness made him feel trapped as if someone had their hand wrapped around his throat the whole time.

Daenerys looked no more comfortable than he did, her damp hair falling limp around her pale face, her exposed neck covered in tiny beads of rain and perspiration that trailed down her chest...and he decided he wasn't going to look at her anymore.

The people around them, however, did nothing but peek and pry. Some children were even more snoopy, running after them without any restrain.

Jon felt chased, while she seemed content and accompanied.

A strange thought popped into his mind then: she reminded him of Robb. Not in her ways but in the way other people were naturally drawn to her. Robb used to revel in that attention, and while Daenerys was the kind of person who had no problem with it, it was more a strange trait in her case.

Dany looked back once more, inadvertently making sure Jon was there. His confused expression betrayed that he didn't know what to make of all that was going on around them, between the bad weather and the children running around, shouting unintelligible, but never offensive, words.

Her hand closed around a sealant she bought from one of the stalls. Looking straight ahead, she bit her lip and looked up at the sky. He did not abide by her request, but it was not surprising either. Haphazard reasons moved Jon Snow, she learned after a time, besides of course his instinct to protect, which was reserved only for his noble cause and his siblings. It was not something she could help but be dismayed by, but at least it was what she'd been expecting.

The look he gave her made her hesitant, however. If Daario Naharis, or anyone who knew the whole truth, were also there to see her walk dangerously down the same path that had once doomed her, they would be scolding her right now.

As they reached Dragonpit, before the entrance, there was a long flight of steps overlooking the sea. This time when she looked back, she saw Jon walking up to it.

Curious, Daenerys followed him.

One of his hands went to rest on the stone railing, as he looked beyond wistfully. Dany came to stand next to him, at a healthy distance.

Quiet and intently, she listened to him.

"What kind of dreams did a person like you have as a child?" he asked, but it was rather rhetorical, "I used to have dreams too, but they were rather fancies. They say, here in Westeros, that we, bastards, are vicious and greedy creatures."

His gaze searched hers as if to gather her reaction to what he was telling her, but Dany remained impassive. "I'm not one to take good things for granted, Your Grace. I am grateful and proud of the honors that have been bestowed on me." A shift in his eyes made her turn her face away, something all too familiar in them, "But there's more in life than a crown and a throne, and the power they grant us to move the world around us. You are the living proof of that."

Swiftly, Dany looked over at him. Surprise reflected in her face.

"Why did you free the slaves of Essos? Why do they call you the breaker of chains? It can't be about power. Anyone else with three dragons and an army would have crossed the sea long before just to show off. I do...I do believe you see something else. More in people beyond their mistakes. More in humanity than the ugly, corrupted parts."

Looking down, she found his outstretched hand open and inviting.

"Take me as your husband, Daenerys, I will do everything in my power for you to find in me more than an equal and an ally. There will be trying times, dark times coming. But we can face them if we both have faith and hope that there's a possibility of a new, better world."

She shifted restlessly and sighed, turning her face away. His words striking too close to home. 

"In another time," she begun, "That would've been enough. Your words of faith. A gesture of commitment. In another time…" it would have been enough to hear you speak like this, to just...hear your voice, she thought inwardly, "But the trying and dark times have already come, and I have realized that is in these times that we find ourselves the most alone," she softly shook her head, "...and that's for the best."

Daenerys walked some steps back, restoring the distance between him.

"You've done well, Your Grace. Yet seldom that's ever enough," she said, and then turned around. "Let's go, Jon Snow. Justice awaits."

Notes:

Spoiler for the next chapter: Tyrion and Jaime's trial.