The Winter Queen

Chapter 24

Cregan

Today was his wife’s fourteenth nameday and marked the sixth day of their children’s lives and she still had not met any of them as she had still not woken up. Cregan knew that everyone was worried as everyday she slept, the odds of her ever rejoining the land of the living grew ever more slim.

As for the children themselves, they were all doing well. The wet nurses reported that all four babies suckled well and remained in good health which truly did please him. He just really wanted her wife to wake up so that together they could name their offspring and then send out to the King and the rest of the realm the good news about their children’s birth.

Rhaenyra 

After spending some quality time with her mother, suddenly fourteen bright pillars of light appeared even as her mother vanished. Then just as quickly, other figures appeared among them.

“Rhaenyra, daughter of Old Valyria and rider of the dragon Syrax. You have been chosen among the people of the world to herald in a new age. Your father, in his pride and arrogance, allowed himself to be missed by believing that his dreams were of things that were supposed to and meant to happen. They were not. He was supposed to be a strong and valiant leader of the House of the Dragon but he has proven to be spineless and weak. He was supposed to train you as you have always been our chosen one but instead, he has failed you. As such, he will forever be cursed. Dracara Targaryen is just the first and is a warning to him that if he keeps seeking additional children, he shall fail, siring only ever more inhuman beasts. 

We have ensured that all four of your sweet children will survive and thrive despite outside threats, going so far as anyone who attempts to bring them harm will find themselves harmed in the manner of their attempt. You shall be the Queen of Ice and Fire being able to wield cryomancy and pryomantic powers. Syrax will also be able to breath ice and fire. Your children shall have similar gifts, with Cregan, Benjen and Alys having only lesser cryomantic abilities but still being able to show that they are indeed children of the North. You will also awaken the long slumbering ice dragons from the Age of Heroes and shall be the first in two millennium to bond with one though all of the other Starks will later, including the babes, be able to as well.

In the future, you will be Queen and Wintertown will be renamed Queen’s Hearth as it will be the Realm’s new capital. Your blood, your line are the ones who will hold back and drive off what lies beyond the Wall. 

Be strong Dragon Queen and be well. We will always be watching you and guiding your path,” the beings said before fading away.

Then everything went dark once again before she heard a familiar voice call out from the darkness, “Rhaenyra, please come back to us. To me. Our children need you. Please darling wake up!" 

Cregan

He had been sitting beside his wife since shortly after taking his morning meal alongside his father and elder children and after having checked on his newborns. He hoped that somehow today she would finally return to him. It was hard for him to believe now that just a single year prior, all she had been was his Over Lord’s daughter and heir and now, she was his dear, sweet, bold, courageous wife and the mother of four miracles. The Gods' could not possibly wish to take her from him before he ever fully and truly got to know her and all she could be, could they?

So he spoke to his wife while holding her hands in his, “Rhaenyra, please come back to us. To me. Our children need you. Please darling, wake up!" 

Then he pressed a kiss to her hands and as he looked up at her face, his steel grey eyes met amethyst.

“Rhaenyra?" he asked, uncertain. “Praise the Gods'! You’ve come back! Thank you! Thank you! Oh darling! We feared you were lost to us!"