LION'S LEGACY | ROBB STARK [2]

61

LION'S LEGACY
61. Hope

      At Harrenhall, Annalys was standing in one of the rooms in the highest points of Harrenhal. She took a deep breath, placing a hand on her stomach as she began to feel the baby kick.

She had been forced to see the maester and he concluded by the way she was carrying, it was a girl. She thought so, too. The only times she carried girls were when they were twins, but she had carried three boys that weren't twins. However, her pregnancy now was nothing like those times. It was different in a way she could not explain.

As much as she was happy that because it wasn't a boy, which meant the baby would survive, she was terrified of the fact that another one of her children would be taken from her. Her baby girl. A baby she wouldn't get to see for a very long time, if not ever. A baby that would be treated as nothing more than a pawn for the Whore of Highgarden to keep the throne.

It broke her heart.

Tears began to fill Annalys' eyes at the thought. She started to cry, beginning to wonder if it would have been easier to just kill herself, not to save herself but to save her baby from a horrific life.

She locked eyes on the knife that laid on her now empty plate of food. She began to walk toward it, a determined look on her face. However, she suddenly froze when she heard what sounded like footsteps on the roof of the tower.

She frowned, turning toward the door to the balcony. She opened the doors before walking out onto the balcony.

She glanced around, finding there to be nothing in sight. They were no lit candles anywhere in the distance, seeing as though it was the dead of night. Everyone was sleeping. Everyone but her.

  Hearing a low growl, Annalys' eyes widened. She whipped herself around, practically crying in relief as she looked up to see Rhaegal had landed on top of the roof.

She thought he was dead.

It was as though a weight had lifted from her shoulders at the sight of the green dragon. She felt as relieved as she did when she learned that her children were still alive. In a way, Rhaegal was her child. An outcasted child just like Torra had been before she took them in.

Rhaegal wasn't treated like a pet as the direwolves were. She let him do as he pleased. He was allowed to go off to wherever he wanted and no matter how long he had been gone, he always came back.

"Rhaegal," Annalys managed to get out, crying tears of joy at the sight of him.

Rhaegal flapped his wings a single time before leaning his head down until it was close to Annalys'.

   For the first time in months, Annalys smiled in genuine happiness. She lifted her right hand, beginning to reach her hand to pet him. "I've missed you, Rhaegal. More than you'll ever know. When they said they killed you, it broke my heart as much as when they said they killed my children. In a way, you are one of my children. You've been there in times where I wanted to die but somehow, you were always there to give me hope. Like right now. You've given me hope."