Blood Upon The Snow ||| Cregan Stark

thirty-seven

Jacaera didn't think things could go that badly so quickly. It never crossed her mind.

Not even when she woke after her long slumber. When her riding leathers were dry, the others were surprised she was alive. She didn't hurry back home because she thought things would still be somewhat stable.

What she did do was try to find Daemon's sword. Dark Sister. Perhaps Aemond had stashed it somewhere in the castle. Jacaera spent many hours looking, even a day.

She reasoned that it was probably on him. He probably took it for himself. Would she have to dive into the river to get it?

Another reason Jacaera didn't leave immediately is that she hoped the news of Aemond's death reached her first. Jacaera couldn't fathom having to break the news to Rhaenyra that Daemon was dead.

It would ruin her. Worse than what her mistress of whispers had already done.

But then the news came. Hushed whispers between servants. No one wanted to tell Jacaera, for fear of her temper getting the better of her.

She'd walked in on it. Mutters about the unrest in King's Landing, how it was without a leader.

Jacaera had forced the servants to spill. To tell her everything they'd heard. Everything they knew.

And that was how she learned the city was lost. That Rhaenyra had been forced to flee while Jacaera did nothing in Harrenhal.

The final straw was hearing that one of the princes had died. That all of the dragons had been slain.

Another brother. Joff. The baby she was old enough to witness. Her little brother.

It seemed like the rage in Jacaera would be never-ending. The grief she would feel. Shame. For staying in Harrenhal so long, being useless.

No longer. No. She would kill Rhaenyra's enemies.

Her last enemy?

The army and betrayers in Tumbleton. They were the last ones, the ones that had been a threat.

If Rhaenyra fled, Jacaera assumed she would go to the Vale for refuge. To get to her son. And while she did that, Jacaera could try and win the war.

That army had three dragons, sure. But Cannibal had killed Vhagar and he had a thirst for dragon blood. He could do it. Jacaera was sure of it.

Even if she died, she would kill the last of the betrayers. Every one of them would pay for what had been done to her mother and brothers.

So without hesitation, Jacaera mounted her dragon and flew him for Tumbleton. To kill Rhaenyra's enemies.

***

There was someone else going for Tumbleton. Someone who'd been planning it for months, weeks. Waiting for them to get lax. Someone with an army.

Jacaera hadn't planned to stop. Hadn't planned to wait. She would have attacked Tumbleton head-on, had Cannibal kill their dragons and be done with it.

To her immediate surprise, Jacaera was met in the sky. By another dragon.

The appearance of it, at first, almost had Jacaera giving Cannibal the command to kill. It surprised her, activated her fight or flight.