Winter Rose.

cxxviii.

They were within touching distance of the greenery now, but Rhaenar swooped up, climbing into the sky as Leirion took her higher and higher. Her hands tightened on the rough horns, the seats left on the ships below as they ascended above the clouds.

They were above Dragonstone now, heading to the other side of the island as they passed the small farming communities, and almost touched the smaller islands that surrounded them. To be back in the air again, felt freeing; even if one of her babies was no longer with them and buried beneath Winterfell. They were home, and they were together; and that's all she could ask for besides being safe.

Rhaenar knew as she gazed over the horizon, at the sun that peaked up from the west, that everything would be okay for a while, that being home would be healing as she looked over to her brother.

Despite having gotten off to a rocky start, there was no one living that she trusted more than he. Aegon was blood, her eldest brother, her rock. She watched him from the back of Leirion, the way his braid fluttered in the wind, his midnight blue eyes alight in the same excitement. Being on the back of a dragon was different from anything they'd ever experienced, like a horse but a thousand times faster. "Do you think it's time to head back now?" He questioned, turning from her to gaze at the space between the ground below and the sky above, the place that felt like aether.

Rhae paused. "Just a moment longer." There would always be a moment longer to appreciate the beauty of the blue sky, of the thick rolling white clouds that surrounded them like a blanket. No birds, just them above it all.

"Who do you think won?" He teased as he urged Rhaenys closer, the pair hovering together as Rhaegal flew around them.

She rolled her eyes. "Me obviously." A booming laugh echoed from deep within him as he shook his head, his eyes sweeping the sky around them. Of course Rhae would claim that, she wouldn't admit she'd lost.

As Rhaenar took another deep breath in, her hands clutching the horns, she smiled at her brother. "It won't be long before we'll be in the Red Keep." She mused. "What do you suppose we do? Will you stay?"

He nodded. "If my Queen permits it." Aegon teased gently, reaching up to smooth back some of the flyaway hairs. "But I must warn you, she's not always kind; she could say no." Rhae laughed at his words, at the lightness on his face. "She can cast me to the streets, or exile me if I look at her wrong."

"Perhaps she'll cast you out to Dragonstone, Targaryen Princes are known to live upon the old rock." Her eyes closed, missing Aegon's look as he turned to stare at her. Dragonstone? She wanted to give him Dragonstone?

He shook his head. "My place is by your side, Rhae. The only thing that can split us now is death." Aegon sounded so sure in his words, and she wanted to believe them, but her relationship with Jon had placed a shimmer of doubt inside of her that he could betray her for his other family. Not that Aegon was likely too, but there was the potential. "And even death will struggle to keep me in the hells."