Blood Upon The Snow ||| Cregan Stark

forty-two

She wasn't pregnant. But maybe Jacaera wished she was. When she was marching and riding horses while she bled. The girl was in pain when her back and stomach cramped.

It was unfair, she was reminded. That men would never have to experience it. And she couldn't even complain because none of them would understand; they would only use it as a reason women shouldn't have been allowed to march in the first place.

And so she dealt with it quietly. Only little groans when the pain was particularly bad.

The worst, though, was that Jacaera was insatiable. She didn't know why the gods had cursed her with it; feeling so incredibly needy while she was bleeding. And it was a curse, because it was unseemly to do anything.

By the time they reached the rivermen, it had finished itself and despite the exhaustion from being on the road, Cregan took her again to satisfy the craving before things were too chaotic.

With the rivermen, they'd be at King's Landing in two days. They weren't sure what exactly would await them; a city they'd have to siege or surrender. Jacaera wasn't sure what she preferred; all she knew was that Aegon would die.

They met back together, Jacaera introduced Cregan to the Lads, and they came together to devise a plan.

Their army massively outnumbered what they could possibly expect to find in the city. Especially with the soldiers who vowed themselves to Jacaera after she killed their lord.

There were plans for each scenario. A siege, fighting through the city, taking the Red Keep, and surrender.

But Jacaera had a few things to make clear.

"There are people inside the Red Keep, should we take it by force, I wish to be spared," Jacaera announced, looking at her lords. She needed to make it clear not everyone inside that castle was an enemy or needed to be arrested.

"My grandsire, Corlys Velaryon, will be spared. As well as Princess Jaehaera, Aegon's daughter." There were a few grumbles but Jacaera would hear none of it. "The girl has done nothing to deserve my wrath. Her father does not speak for her."

She was just a child. If Jacaera was truly cruel, she would have ordered her death. But she wasn't intentionally cruel to that level. Not like Aegon.

Besides, she was Helaena's daughter too. Helaena had been killed by the war the same as everyone else Jacaera loved. It was to honour her.

"And the Dowager Queen Alicent."

That had more people fussing. The mother of the usurper, the woman who enabled him. Why would she want to spare the woman? She should be killed for her crimes against the crown.

"It is not my own wish. But out of obligation to my own mother who wished her to be spared. My mother is dead. I will not disrespect her by going against her wish."

Jacaera truly would have preferred to have Alicent arrested and executed. But Rhaenyra had spared her, held some type of feeling for her to have kept her alive when they took the city.

Besides, living while all of her children were dead due to her poor decisions would be a worse punishment than killing her outright anyway.