𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓𝐄𝐄𝐍 | Pleading
{ Daenerys }
✧✦✧
𝕴f Daenerys had been a little less concerned for her dragons, then standing in front of the Thirteen would have intimidated her. They were standing and staring at her, outraged that she would dare bring this issue to them. But these were her dragons, her children, and she could not have them missing.
They were her boys.
"I did not leave the comfort of my home to come to yours and be called a thief." The Spice King was fuming, twisting and snarling at the accusation. Korvarro, Coren and Jorah were standing at the back of the room, hands on their weapons, glaring at the Thirteen who sat around, becoming more and more outraged.
"No one is calling you a thief." Xaro spat back. "Who is she to accuse us?"
"Please, they're my children. I'm begging you." Daenerys pleaded, looking between them. Did none of them have children? Or know what it felt like?
"Begging us?" The Silk King scoffed. "It wasn't very long ago you were threatening us."
"Without me, the dragons will die." Daenerys was growing angry, trying to keep the frustration from getting to her face.
"It will be for the best. Your dragons will bring the world nothing but death and misery, my dear." The endearment made her stomach shiver in repulsion. She hated that name. "If I knew where they were, I would not tell you."
"You are cruel, my friend. The Mother of Dragons is in the right." Pyatt Pree spoke up, which was suspicious. He was the conjuror if Daenerys could remember it properly. "She must be reunited with her babies. I will help you, Khaleesi."
"How?"
"I will take you to the House of the Undying where I have put them." It took a moment for the words to process, before Daenerys turned to him, anger now clear on her face.
"You have my dragons?"
"When I learned you were coming to our city, I made an arrangement with the King of Qarth. He procured them for me." There was a presence behind her, and Daenerys didn't need to turn to know that Coren was now standing behind her, most likely waiting for the confirmation to kill the conjuror.
"There is no King of Qarth." Daenerys stated. Turning, she looked for Xaro to confirm it, but the man was already nodding and standing, as Daenerys' heart dropped.
"There is now." He smiled, as if in a welcoming sort of manner, as if he expected her to be pleased about it. "That was the other half of the arrangement."
Coren had been right about him.
"You would keep your gates and your minds closed to everything outside your walls, but Qarth cannot remain the greatest city that ever was if it refuses to change. I will open Qarth to the world as I have forced it to open itself to me." Xaro was not speaking to her anymore, turning to the Thirteen as Pyatt Pree made to join his side.
Daenerys took that time to turn to Coren, her eyes wide and unsure as she thought about what she should do. Coren was glancing around, before fixing his eyes on her and nodding his head. He'd trust her decision, trust her judgement.
"Your ambition is an inspiration. But like all upstarts, you overreach."
"An upstart and a charlatan? Empires have been built by less." Xaro truly seemed proud of himself, and in that moment, Daenerys wanted nothing more than to see him dead, but she would have to wait for her revenge, wait for a better time. Now was not it. "Those on the margins often come to control the center, and those in the center make room for them, willingly or otherwise."
"The Mother of Dragons will be with her babies. She will give them her love and they will thrive by her side, forever." With that ominous message, Pyatt Pree's doppelgangers slit the throats of the other members of the Thirteen simultaneously, with the same grin on their face.
"We're leaving." Coren hissed, latching onto her hand and dragging her from the room, though they came face to face with another Pyatt Pree. Coren and Kovarro were not quick enough to draw their swords and kill it, though Jorah had been waiting behind it, stabbing it quickly.
The version still managed to speak, grinning with the same, stained purple lips.
"A mother should be with her children." Jorah pulled the sword back, and Pyatt Pree collapsed into a pile of empty clothes, a mere illusion. Another Pyatt Pree appeared, causing the four of them to twist back to stare at it.
"Where will you run to, Daenerys Stormborn?" It almost crooned, seemingly happy above all else that it held the upper hand. "Your dragons wait for you in the House of the Undying. Come see them."
Daenerys watched it still, before a hand tugged her out of the place.
✧✦✧
It took them a while to find the place that Pyatt Pree had spoken of, and when they did find it, Daenerys was unamused to find it boarded up. She peered in through the entryway, huffing at the sight of it and shaking her head. She had to get in to this room, to find her dragons, all of them.
"Careful, Khaleesi. Xaro owns this city and the warlocks have a thousand eyes watching for you. I found one. A ship with a good captain. She leaves for Astapor tomorrow."
"Astapor?" Daenerys turned, staring up at the old knight, her eyebrows furrowed.
"We cannot stay here."
"They have my dragons." Daenerys shook her head at even the possibility of leaving without her boys. "A mother does not flee without her children!"
"They're not your children." Jorah stopped her short. "I know they call you the Mother of Dragons and I know you love them, but you didn't grow them in your womb. They didn't suckle at your breast. They are dragons, Khaleesi. And if we stay in Qarth, we'll die."
"You should sail to Astapor. I'm sure you'll be safe there." Daenerys snarked in response, glaring at the door as if she could burn it down herself. There was a quiet snort from behind her, and Daenerys spun, to see Coren biting his lip and looking at the scenery in the distance, trying not to laugh.
Jorah seemed unamused with both teenagers, though Coren was hardly that anymore.
"You know I would die for you. I will never abandon you." He pointed out, as Daenerys watched him. "I'm sworn to protect you, to serve."
"Then serve me." Daenerys replied. It was quite simple truthfully. "If my dragons are in the House of the Undying, then take me there."
"That is what the warlock wants." Daenerys already knew that this was a trap. She didn't need to be told in a patronising sort of way. "He told you so himself. If you enter that place, you will never leave again. His magic is strong."
"And what of my magic? You saw me step into the fire." Daenerys reminded him, shaking her head. "You watched the witch burn. What did the flames do to me? Do you remember?"
"Nothing." Coren answered her rhetorical questions dutifully, despite knowing that Daenerys didn't need them answered. She turned to him, cocking an eyebrow. "What?"
"Are you going to help me?"
"Of course." Coren nodded with a grin. "I love a good trap. It's more fun when you know the fighting is coming for you."
Jorah reached past Daenerys to smack Coren over the head, as the Westerosi teen scowled.
"They are my children. And they are the only children I will ever have." Daenerys turned back to Jorah, squaring her shoulders once more. She knew that her emotional attachment to the dragons probably came from the fact that they were born the day she burned her husband, and said goodbye to her child that had come out a monster. They had replaced her own child in a way. But as Mirri Maz Dur had told her that she would never have another child, the dragons would have to do, in a sense. "Take me to them."
Jorah nodded, as Coren nudged her shoulder.
"We'll get them back." He promised. "Then, we kill Xaro."
"Yes, then we kill him." Daenerys agreed with Coren, who was beaming at the thought. She knew that he too was probably missing Falkor, who seemed to adore the man, just as she missed all of them. "And we steal his ships."
"A sound plan."
Hiya,
There's something about dragons having emotional attachments to Thorne men that I love. Can confirm, Dany and Coren are snarky teenagers, who don't want to be doing this, but oh well. Hopefully, we get the dragons back soon, I miss Falkor, and the others. Anyway...
Let me know what you think,
Love Li xx