The Time Curse (Game of Thrones/House of the Dragon Fanfic)

Chapter 12: Madness Takes Its Toll

Morgana felt Jaehaerys' smile against her bare neck as his sweat-soaked body collapsed on top of hers, still shaking with erotic relief. 

Her time with Jaehaerys had been the longest without a jump. After four months she remained. She cursed her own naivety as she felt the hope blossom in her chest. The hope that she might never time jump again. She wanted to believe that she could love... she wanted to believe she could stay. 

The young prince Jaehaerys kissed her lips once more before standing. They should have been to council ages ago but they couldn't seem to dull their fiery passions. He stared at her in awe as she dressed them both with a flick of her wrist. 

"You tempt me, enchantress." He smirked crawling back onto the bed and hovering above her now clothed form. 

"Is it working?" She whispered. Her grey eyes captured his own. 

She could almost feel his eyes tracing the darkened grey lines coating her skin. Warning of her imminent departure. 

"Why must you go?" He whispered, more to himself than to her.

It felt like an arrow through the heart as she peered up into his gorgeous saddened face. "It is my curse, dear one." She whispered back, so as not to tempt the fates to take her too soon for dramatic effect. 

"I love you."

"I know, dear one. But I can not stay. I can never stay..."

He kissed her once more, tears filling his lovely purple eyes as he regained his footing on the floor. Her eyes followed him as he forced himself to walk out the door. He turned back to look at her and they both knew at that moment... She wouldn't be there when he returned. 

She collapsed onto her knees tears streaming down her face as she screamed in agony. Her heart was breaking once more, a feeling she was growing all too accustomed to. 

Morgana glared at the stone replica of her own face, a mockery that signified another restart. 

Another guttural roar escaped her throat as she dug her fingernails into the icy northern snow, "What have I done to deserve this pain?! What crimes have I committed so vile to justify mother magic's punishment?! Did I not fight in the war? Did I not stay loyal to my friends? Did I not avoid the Slytherin darkness?"

"Did you?" The familiar voice sent a shock down her spine as the world grew all to still. Her head bent at an awkward angle to see him standing there, dressed in white robes and smiling that cursed smile. 

"Dumbledore?" She whispered softly as the falling snow. 

"Do you truly believe you escaped the darkness? The madness of your own blood? You have become what I always knew you would... a dark lady." Dumbledore's footsteps made no sound as he approached her. 

"You're dead... You're not here...This is all in my head... I won't go mad... I refuse to go mad." Morgana closed her eyes to the world mentally begging her nightmare to fade. 

"Of course, this is in your head, Morgana... But does that not suggest that you are mad already?" 

"SHUT IT! I'm not mad! I'm not evil! I'm good! I'm fucking good!" Tears streamed down her reddening cheeks once more. 

"Are you? Left on your own you showed your true, Slytherin blood...Look at all you've done without the guidance of the light. You slaughtered an entire village, killing them through torture without feeling a thing. You helped Maegor murder his own nephew to steal a throne that was never his. You play with the hearts of those Targaryens, forcing them to love you just so they hurt when you leave... You want to be good... but it's not in your blood, is it?" She could practically feel the patronizing pat on her head, the same one he had done a thousand times before. 

"I'M NOT EVIL! I WAS PROTECTING THEM!"

"WHO MORGANA? Who were you protecting? Harry? Hermione? Ron? How about poor cousin Draco? or Sirius? Remus. Tonk. DID YOU SAVE ANYONE BUT YOURSELF, SLYTHERIN? And now in this brave new world... do you truly believe any of their lives were better, having you in them?" 

"STOP IT!" 

The wind picked up around them as Morgana's magic grew more chaotic with her growing panic. 

"Recognize what you are! You aren't light! You aren't good!"

"LEAVE ME ALONE!" 

"Maybe you did do the other's a favor by leaving our world. The only greater good is a world without you in it." 

"ENOUGH!" Magic exploded around her and as she opened her eyes, Dumbledore was gone and she was alone once more. 

"I'm not mad... I'm not fucking mad..." She whispered to herself over and over again as she sunk once more into her own never ending despair.