Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken [Aegon Targaryen]

CHAPTER SEVEN - FURY

AS LENA SOBBED IN THE BACKGROUND, SARELLA WAS IN A FIT OF RAGE. It was Lannister men who attacked her home in the night, Lannister men who slaughtered her people and now who held her castle, and Lannister men who killed her brother. While still in the yard, she marched up to Aegon angrily.

"Where is he." She was referring to Loren Lannister, of course. The man staying in the castle with her and the man who had most certainly given the order.

"He left this morning."

"You trusted him, you allowed him into your home and supped with him as he plotted the murder of my brother and my people!" Her dark eyes burned with anger, and her teeth clenched in the moments she was not shouting. "I blame you for this. You, and myself. You should never have trusted him, and I should have never left! They never would have tried such a thing while I was there!"

"Princess," Jayne interrupted, ever cool and calculating, even when angry. "We cannot turn back the time, cannot stop this from happening, but we can have revenge. We can kill the men who did it, and take our home back."

"And we will," Sarella agreed, "but I am not finished being upset just yet."

Her head was spinning, muddling her thoughts and making her dizzy. Without excusing herself, she left the yard and retreated to her bedchambers, closing the door behind her. There she stood, in the middle of the large room, doing her best to straighten her emotions.

Only a minute passed before she heard a knock on the door. She opened it, ready to tell whoever it was to leave, but the words died on her lips once she saw Aegon standing there. "Princess, I—"

She found her words as he spoke. "Why are you here?"

A sarcastic retort came first as he opened his mouth, but turned to the truth seconds after. "I wished to see if you were all right."

"No, I am not all right. My brother is dead, some of my people are dead, and my home has been taken." She took a deep breath, and her voice quieted, but were still as lethal as before. "I only ask one thing. Did you know?"

"What?"

"Did you know what he was going to do? Was this all some sadistic ploy to make me bend the knee? Was this why you made a deal, why you brought me here? Because it was all part of your plan?"

"No! Seven hells, no! I agreed to a deal, and I intend to stick to it. As you said, a deal is a promise, and a promise is unbreakable."

"Do you swear it?"

"On Balerion and my sister's lives, I swear that I did not know nor support any of this. And, as per our agreement, I will help you take back your home and avenge your brother."

"Thank you." She nodded, breaking eye contact with him as she began to tear up. She quickly wiped them away as not to embarrass herself. But then Aegon took her arm and pulled her in to wrap his arms around her. Her forehead rested against his chest, and she broke down. "I was supposed to protect them. . . I was supposed to protect him. It was my duty, to my kingdom, to my little brother. I failed them."

"You did no such thing." He assured her, his tone soft. "It was my fault. I trusted him, I pulled you from your home and made you come here. For that, I apologize."

"Promise me one thing," she said suddenly, pulling out of his embrace to look him in his eyes.

"Of course."

"When Loren is found, I kill him. Me. Him, and the one who killed Myles."

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As it happened, revenge was a great driving force. Sarella refused to settle until the day they were to leave, and even then she would not stop. Aegon himself accompanied her first to Dragonstone, where he showed her his painted table. They planned out their attack, and Sarella sent letters to her bannermen.

The day they were to leave for Dorne Sarella lead the way. All of her banners had sent a reply, all in an uproar over their Prince's death. Good, Sarella thought, they need their anger.

"We leave at dawn," she had declared to Aegon, "no later."

And they had. As promised, he was ready to leave, to ride beside her on their way to Dorne. She allowed it, though insisted Jayne ride in the front as well. Lena would take the wheelhouse.

"Princess," Aegon said as they left the city, "we will take your city back. This I promise you."

"Don't," she replied stoically, staring straight ahead. "You cannot be sure."

"I can. With my dragons at our backs and a descendant of Nymeria at my side, I am sure. The gods favour us."

"Do they? If they favour us so much, then why did they allow my brother to be murdered so brutally?"

It had been described in great detail in the raven that had been sent. The way that the Lannister men had disembowelled her brother before taking his head and mounting it on a pike on the walls of Sunspear. They described how his blood stained the walls and the stone of the floors in the castle. Of how he screamed as they did it. Of how he tried and failed to defend himself.

See, Myles was never like Sarella. Myles never liked fighting, never had a talent for it. He enjoyed music and writing poetry and staying indoors. Sarella always thought that it was wonderful. But in the end, his beautiful words could not save him.

Words are wind, their father used to say.

"You will see," Aegon promised, "once we take the city, you will see."

"A little advice, Conqueror." She turned to look at him. "Do not rely on faith alone. It will fail you every time."