What IF

Chapter 22

A Kraken Exile

To think that almost a year ago, she had sailed to Kings Landing with a full armada, ready to become queen of all the seven kingdoms how far things had changed, how far she had fallen.

It had all started when Theon arrived back home after being a hostage for all those years in the dreary North.

Her brother who she had loved even when he was taken away from them as children.

Her father had not cared for his return or that he was brought whole and safe from Ned Stark and barely cared to show any gratitude that his remaining son was alive. Or even to thank Robb Stark for that simple kindness.

Whilst she would never kiss the feet of the son of a man that sacked their castle, she would be grateful that her brother was safe.

That's what she had wanted for him, despite her ambitions. She did want that for him to live a peaceful life.

To have a semblance of safety.

But Theon was like her father in many ways, trying to prove himself a worthy man by trying to do feats that they can never hope to achieve and it ended with him almost being captured by the Boltons.

How she had wanted him to leave with her and not stay in a castle where he was soon to be the biggest target for the North and be put down by the Northmen who would surely come and take his life.

Her father's inaction was why she had rebelled against him in the end. That and the timing of her uncle's arriving and trying to claim the Iron Islands for themselves was why she had been successful in claiming the salt throne.

All she had to do was keep her men at bay as her father and uncles battled each other. She had achieved quite a lot

And all of it had been taken away by the dragons.

Yara had thought herself successful when she managed to lodge an arrow in the hide of the red dragon when it approached Kings Landing but all it did was manage to make the dragon angry.

She knew the fight was lost long before the war had begun, no way they would be able to withstand three fire breathing dragons and she was proven right.

Rhaenys had made quick work of her fleet. Opening them up and roasting her men for them to sink in the deep water like they weren't seasoned sailors she had travelled with.

She could imagine what a full force of the Trigon power would look like. With all three dragons and up to one hundred twenty thousand men, consisting of Dothraki blood riders, Unsullied and Second Sons.

There was no outcome in which a Lannister and Greyjoy alliance could have helped her.

But now she had a chance.

She just needed to change the mind of the feeble man who had taken the place of her brother.

'You want to sue for peace?' she asked him incredulously whilst holding back the bite in her tone.

Yara had to remember that Theon had been through a lot, just like she had. Whilst her pain was the loss of men that she had known as a little girl, Theon had also lost his sense of self, his pride and everything that made him who he was.

'It's the right thing to do' Theon replied somewhat hesitantly as if he didn't have faith in the idea.

At the very least it was a nice turn of pace being able to talk to him. When she had arrived a week ago, Theon had all but turned her away and only deferred to the red haired man and the blonde girl.

'Why would it be the right thing to do?' she asked him.

He took a breath and let his hand drift down to his crotch, almost as if he was expecting a different outcome but his wince always betraying what was now becoming his budding reality. Yara made a promise to herself to kill the woman who did this to her brother.