𝐖𝐞 𝐒𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐥 𝐁𝐮𝐫𝐧 𝐓𝐨𝐠𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 ➵ 𝓙𝓪𝓬𝓪𝓮𝓻𝔂𝓼 𝓥𝓮𝓵𝓪𝓻𝔂𝓸𝓷

𝟏𝟕 | 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐂𝐨𝐧𝐪𝐮𝐞𝐫𝐨𝐫'𝐬 𝐂𝐫𝐨𝐰𝐧

The days Saera had spent in the infirmity had bled together, Maesters coming in to check on her bruised ribs. They would ask her to cough every so often, pain shooting through her as she forced it, the maesters ensuring she did not spit or hack up any blood. The bruise on her eye had healed leaving nothing but the small cut where her skin had split. Her back and ribs ached, but were starting to feel better, the girl able to walk without doubling over in pain.

However, her mind was in a dark place. Sitting alone in the red keep infirmary had left her to her thoughts which were growing darker and more twisted by the second. Her love for Jace made her heart ache, missing him more and more with the passing of each and every hour. She wondered if Aemond was telling the truth, if Jace really had said "she's all yours." She couldn't be angry if he had said it, after how she had treated him.

Her body had grown stronger, almost fully healed on the fifth day when she was finally allowed back in her chambers. She moved into her room and let the wooden door close behind her, gazing at the floor where she had lay, sobbing and injured. Her eyes then moved to her daggers that still lay gleaming on the table, surprised they had not been confiscated after her behaviour. The small girl moved further inside, sitting down on her bed and letting out a sigh.

It was still morning, the air crisp and alive in the sunlight. Saera touched her bedsheets, thinking of how she and Jace had made love for the first time. Her expression tightened, heart aching once more. Her whole body felt heavy, weighed down by the sadness of losing him.

Her hand then moved to the bedpost, gazing at the chunks of wood that had been removed by her incessant dagger throwing. She touched the breaks in the wood, smiling slightly as she remembered how angry she had been with Jace, throwing her blade over and over again and hitting the same spot, before moving to another one. She pushed herself to her feet, approaching her daggers and picking one up in her hand. She felt weak, almost like a different person she had been when she had first arrived in King's Landing.

Saera balanced the familiar blade in her hand, turning to the bedpost and gazing at it. Who would she imagine this time? It would not be Jace.

Saera thought about Criston grabbing her, choking her, kicking her. She thought about how much pain he had caused her, looking down at her on the floor like she was pathetic. She pictured his handsome face, his curling dark hair. She scowled at the wooden bedpost, aiming her knife for where she imagined his forehead was. Then she threw it, the knife soaring and spinning, hitting exactly where she wanted it to go. She grinned, marching over and tugging it free before returning to the distance she had been at before.

Now Saera thought about Aegon holding Penelope, gripping her tightly and commanding her to be quiet while unbuckling his belt. She gritted her teeth at the pathetic Prince, imagining his smug drunken grin and heavy lidded gaze, lustfully staring back at her. She pictured the knife hitting his chest, piercing through the three headed green dragon sigil he wore almost every day. The knife soared through the air once again, hitting the same mark which was exactly where she wanted it. She marched over, tugging it free and once again stepping back in front of her dresser, holding her dagger tighter now.

It wasn't Aegon or Criston this time. It was Aemond, gazing at her with the same cold and unforgiving stare he always did, his one blue eye piercing her soul. Saera thought about how he had terrified her, hit her, threatened her. She thought about how abusive and awful he was, and how he would continue to treat her if she let him. She glared harder this time, aiming for the same mark and thinking about throwing her dagger right into the only eye he had left. The blade soared through the air once again, hitting its target. She realised then that she was not weak, despite what both Criston and Aemond had done to her. She would not stop fighting, not yet. She just had to focus on making them pay, as opposed to thinking about how they had hurt her.