Gold Rush | Ser Harwin

16.

Daerla

"Let's have a little chat, hey?" She says as she pulls me to a chair that I didn't notice before. She keeps the knife at my neck as she ties my arms and legs to the chair.

"Why are you doing this?" I ask when she's finished and is standing before me. She looks at me as though I'm a puzzle she's trying to figure out.

"You don't remember me," she says as though she's only just coming to this realisation. "At first I thought you might have just been in denial, or maybe trauma blocked out your memories."

"I don't know what you're talking about," I say and it's the truth. The first time I met her was on the day of my wedding.

  "I'm not from the dothraki lands," she says. "I was born in Dragonstone. My mother was a maid at the castle. I grew up beside you."

I don't remember any of this. I should remember this.

I shake my head and she steps closer, looking me in the eyes and punching me directly across the face. My jaw cracks and my cheek stings.

"You don't even remember," she spits. "We were best friends. We spent everyday playing together, we would sit outside and play with our toys, our toy dragons. When your mother and father died, I was the one who comforted you. No one else, me."

Still nothing. I don't remember my parents, I don't remember them dying.

She laughs before punching me again. My head spins and blood pours out of my mouth.

"One day you and I decided to go and see the dragon skulls. We both went down into the crypts and we started climbing over them," she says and I see tears in her eyes. "We didn't realise how fragile their bones are. So when you climbed on one, it snapped."

The snap of a bone. My body landing on the cold stone floor.

"There it is!" She says excitedly before punching me again. This girl has some serious strength. It's a shame she's going to have to die.

"What happened next, Daerla?" She says loudly, her voice echoing across the walls. "Come on, you remember."

I shake my head. I don't know. I don't remember. Her fist goes directly in my stomach and I scream out.

"No!" I yell as I feel excruciating pain. "I'm pregnant, I'm having a baby, please." For a moment pity flashes across her face, but it's over in a second. She smirks before punching me again in the stomach, over and over again.

I can feel blood pouring down my thighs. I know what she just did. My baby is dead.

"You blamed me," she says and tears run down her face. "You blamed me. You told them all it was me. And do you know what they all said?" I shake my head and she punches me again.

"They said, 'who even is Imrie?' And then they all laughed. They mocked me. I was a joke to them," she says. "And then your brother ordered for me to be punished for destroying valuable resources. A guard took me into a dark room, raped me and then sliced my face open with a rock when I had the nerve to fight back."

My stomach lurches and I throw up blood all over the floor. Imrie looks at the floor with disgust. My baby is dead. Their gone.

"I never saw you again," she says. "You disappeared to Kings Landing and I was shamed and disgraced. My mother was fired and we had to sell our bodies on the streets. I was 9. I was a child."

"I'm sorry," I murmur but I'm pretty sure I'm about to pass out.

"How could you be sorry?" She yells. "You don't even remember. Maybe this will help." She circles behind me and undos the ropes so that I slam onto the stone. My face hits it and I don't have the energy to get up. I roll onto my back.

"I have waited years for this," she whispers before pushing her dagger directly into my stomach. I feel sharp pain and pressure before everything goes black.

Harwin

  Ive never ran so fast in my life. All I know is that my pregnant wife is locked up somewhere and i don't know if she's dead or alive.

  We reach the door that Naerys directed us too and i running into it over and over again, trying to break it down.

  It finally slams open and that's when I see her. My beautiful wife. Face first in a pool of blood. Everywhere I see blood. Her blood. The maid who has been at Daerla's side for years is standing in the corner, a wicked smile curving across her mouth.

In an instant my sword is up and running towards the maid, the blade swinging and slicing into skin as it goes straight through her neck. Her head drops onto the ground with a thump, rolling to the side.

I stare at the head for a moment, the startled expression on her face. Then I'm turning towards Daerla.

"Darling," I say but she's out cold. I pick her up in my arms and walk out of the room. Naerys is with the physician so there should be room for one more.

"Harwin?" Her voice says and I look down at her, her brown eyes flutter open as she looks up at me.

"I'm here," I say softly as we walk through the castle. There are people everywhere. All wanting to see the fallen princess.

"The baby is dead," she says slowly before her head lols back. I hold myself together as we are greeted by the physician. I lay her down onto a bed and they get straight to work on her. I hold onto her hand and kiss it, tears threatening my eyes. Our baby is dead. And that monster killed it.

"Will she be alright?" I ask and one of the physicians stops and looks at me thoughtfully.

"She is made of strong stuff," he says before getting back to work. As they pull off her nightdress I see that her body is covered in bruises and small wounds. But there, directly in her stomach is a stab wound, thick and bloody.