glitter & gold | blackfyre rebellion

epilogue

196 AC, King's Landing

"Your grace!"

"My lady please, don't."

"My lady!"

While she walked in the corridor as fast as she could, servants, ladies and knights all bowed to her and warned her before she entered the room with great power.

Myriah was sitting on the bed, holding her son's hand, weeping loudly. Daeron was standing, holding Myriah in his arms and caressing her hair, someone could guess that he cried too due to the redness in his eyes. Baelor was standing in front of the window with his hands crossed at his back. On the left side of the bed, there was a pulled chair on which Rhaegel was sitting, his elbows were on the bed and his face was between his hands, he looked up to see her when she entered. On the corner there was his desk which Aelinor and Jena stand side by side together, their expressions were unreadable but both frowned with worry when they saw her. Aerys was sitting on the chair behind the desk. She knew -heard, that Brynden was in his own chambers, not well enough to walk just yet, he still had a heavy fever and Shiera was playing the role of a Maester. Other than them there was only one person missing in this room which was Elaena, who just greeted her alongside Maron and Daenerys.

But her eyes saw only Maekar, laying in the bed, looking dead already. There were deep scars on his face, two scratches on his forehead and a deep cut on his right cheekbone. Even from the door, she could see the shining whiteness of the cloths that his left arm was wrapped in.

Apparently, his left arm was cut in half during the battle and after it got stitched, he fought the next day and held the defence so that Baelor could attack and they could trap the rebels and crush them at once.

Bloody fool, that's what he was.

Myriah pulled the nasty-smelling ointment from the Maester between her cries and started to apply it to his face, hoping at least the scars there would vanish. Nobody knew if he could use his left arm again, he had a very high fever so whether he would wake up or not was up for debate too. His whole body was covered with bruises and marks, and he got a terrible hit from his chest at the beginning of the war, when he was in the Marchers. Maester Darvin didn't want to say it out loud, but things weren't fine for Maekar.

"Look at my baby boy.", she said with a shaking voice. She was having a mental breakdown. "Just look at him Daeron. Of course, it doesn't matter how he looks, his survival is more important but... he was a handsome boy, always so handsome and now look at him, bruised everywhere, they hurt my boy. And he even had a wife-"

"And what do you mean by that?", Dyanna snapped from her frozen state. Myriah wiped her tears and turned to her with surprise.

"Dyanna -I, I- only meant that-"

"You think he is going to die?", she asked with her sharp accent, Maron, Daenerys and Elaena entered the room alongside Percival. They all were watching her with cautious eyes -except Daeron and Baelor. The first one was watching his daughter-in-law with a curious expression while Baelor didn't turn to look at them. "Or maybe you hope he to die?"

"I would never!", Myriah made a horrified sound and declared. "He is my son!"

"Then maybe it would make you feel better to know that he does not see you as a mother.", she snapped. "Though I cannot say that I am blaming him. Three years and no letters do wonders for someone's relationships. Well, I know one thing he is not going to die. He would never leave his sons like this."

"You are being unfair.", Myriah's lips were trembling and her voice was not louder than a whisper. "I just meant-"

"He would stop loving me?", she raised her voice. Maekar could deny all he wants but Dyanna could feel the affection in his actions, the tenderness of his kisses and the burning feeling of his touches. "Not even an army of millions could achieve that."

"Dyanna-"

"Or maybe I would stop loving him? Is this what you wish for?", her voice was louder than usual and Myriah froze, Baelor turned towards them ever slightly and shared a look with Jena. "Why do I care how he looks or how bad his wounds are? As long as he is alive, I care for nothing else. Also, I am beautiful enough for both of us, I do not need him to be! Maybe you need to focus on his situation rather than how he will look. All these scars only show how brave my husband is and I would only be proud. I can do that if it bothers you this much!", she took the ointment from Myriah's hands and pushed her towards Daeron.

She sat on the bed and while biting her lips in order to fight her tears, she slowly applied the cream to the rest of his wounds while caressing his face softly. Baelor completely turned to her, watching her movements with a queer expression. Myriah too was watching her with empty eyes while Daeron kept holding her in her arms.

"Maekar defended the Marchers with bravery.", Myriah said after a minute. "When he wakes up, he will be named Prince of Summerhall and take the castle as his keep.", Daeron was only watching his daughter-in-law, he made an approving sound. "Therefore you need a proper crown now. Of course, the crown jewels are open to you now but I want you to take my crown while I wore it still when I was the Princess of Dorne. I think it would look lovely on you."

"Thank you.", Dyanna muttered. "Maekar will be quite happy when he hears it."

"He will.", Myriah approved and then suddenly she was hugging Dyanna tightly.

*

Daeron was sitting on the floor. There were fireworks in the sky and the court was beaming with victory. They were celebrating Daeron's win and Daemon's death.

A fortnight had passed, and Daeron punished everyone harshly, taking out his anger on them. The Maesters had named the incident the Battle of the Redgrass Field, due to the losses.

Maekar had woken up, Dyanna didn't leave his side not even once alongside Baelor, Brynden had managed to keep his balance while walking and Shiera didn't leave his side not even for one second. Myriah had locked herself to her chambers for a few days until she calmed down and ever since she was watching Maekar and Dyanna secretly. Daeron was visiting both his son and his brother.

He had been the king for twelve years now. When he first ascended to the throne a horrible thought crossed his mind. He wondered if would Daemon be the one who would come to take his soul to the other side. Now he was sure that it would be him.

Myriah entered the room and observed him for a while and took his crown from the corner and walked to Daeron, but didn't sit next to him.

"You need to attend to the feasts."

"Will you be on my side?"

"Always."

"What will we do now?", he asked in a vulnerable state. He horribly remembered a day twelve years ago, when he asked the exact same question Myriah.

"Now?", she asked once more. "Now we will rule."