Chapter Text
It started one night.
Daenerys was wandering by the Godswood, suffocated by the northerners’ distrustful glances and unearned hostility. Sure, she was the mad king’s daughter but haven’t she proven time and time again that she is not her father?
“Northern fools.” She huffed, while Ghost was held up behind her by the hunt. She may not be able to bring her dragons for protection, and she didn’t want anyone coming with her as she “broods”, but the white wolf just wouldn’t let her go on her own. Its owner must have had a very serious talk with the wolf to be by her side at all times if he wasn’t around.
“Brooding, am I, boy?” She chortled. “I suppose I’ve been spending a lot of time with your owner, I picked-up on his habit.”
She looked back, smiling at Ghost who is casually enjoying its hunt, she saw a nearby hot spring and her feet moved at its own accord. How come Jon’s never taken her here yet?
“Well, look what do we have here?” A man carrying a bow and arrow snickered at her, moving in her direction.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you.” Dany told him with unwavering confidence, Ghost is just nearby, she will be safe.
“Feisty little one, aye?” The man smiled at her, showing his crooked and yellowish teeth, “I always loved a challenge.”
Dany stood her ground, lifting her chin slightly. “Touch even a single strand of my hair and you will lose your head.”
“Says who?”
“Seven hells, Puck. This is that Targaryen bitch.” A second man suddenly appeared, sporting the same look as the man she assumed was Puck.
“I don’t give a rat’s ass. We can share her, ya know?” The man smirked.
“You really shouldn’t be wandering alone, a girl as pretty as you.” He made to grab her but Dany ran in the other direction, making her way back to where she know Ghost was. Until another set of arms encaged her, the three men now laughing at her wiggling form that is trying to break free from him. She bit the man’s hand, making him screech. “The bitch bit me!”
The other man grabbed her hair as she tried running away once again, and then she was thrown on the ground. The man hit her face with the back of his hand, making her wince as she felt the blood oozing from her lip and cheek. She kicked and punched at whatever she could, trying to move the man off her until a flash of white appeared. The next thing she knows, Ghost was biting at the man’s leg, the other two seated on the ground with injured hands and torso. From a distance she could hear her dragons’ thunderous growl, then heavy footsteps coming at their direction.
“Who did this?” Jon seethed as he looked once again at her face. He turned back to the three men in trial, shooting daggers at them with his glare. “I asked a question, who hit the Queen?” He said with a calm voice but everyone knows it’s just as deadly as it was calm.
“I— I did, Your Grace. I am sorry. I didn’t—“
The man never got to finish what he was about to say as Longclaw sliced through his neck, his head rolling on the ground a moment later.
“Please, Your Grace. I didn’t touch her. Please, spare me. He...” the other man pointed at the remaining man alive beside him. “He grabbed her, I never touched the Queen, please.”
“That makes you less guilty, then?” Jon asked him and the man sobbed as he nodded yes. Dany moved to touch Jon’s hand, “He’s your banner man’s son, perhaps we could decide another punishment or wait for the other lords?” She whispered to him but Jon shook his head. “No, Dany.”
And then, in a blink of an eye, two more heads joined the one already on the ground. Even Dany let out a gasp.
/
“Jon, the northern lords won’t be happy with what happened tonight.”
“They hurt you, Dany. If Ghost wasn’t there, what do you think they would have done?”
“Still, we should’ve waited until morning to pass down the sentence.”
He sat down on the bed, exhausted from the events of the night. “Not all of them can be trusted, Dany. Please don’t wander alone like that again.”
“I know that, but—“
“If you knew, why were you in the middle of forest at that time?” He shouted, which shocked her. Jon never raises his voice to her, he never had. The dragons in her lashed out as well.
“I’m not some stupid little girl, Jon. If Ghost wasn’t there I am sure any of my dragons would’ve burned the entire forest just to get to me. Don’t treat me like I’m some kind of a child who needs your protection!”
“Then stop acting like it!”
“I can protect myself.”
Jon stood up, raising his hands as if mocking her. “Like how you did tonight?”
“Get out.” She sneered at him. “Out, Jon.”
He was too angry to reason with her, and so he decided to go, taking Longclaw with him and left her chambers.
///
“Are you and Jon still not speaking?” By now, she must be used to Arya popping out of nowhere but she was still a bit startled.
“Your brother was stupid.” Dany told her.
“Ah, that’s a yes, then. He could be really thick in the head, yes.” She tittered. “But he’s just very protective of those important to him.”
Dany knew that, Jon and her have been together for a few moons now, and she had grown close enough with his siblings/cousins to see how much he protects and cares for them. And as some of the northern lords are still hostile towards her, Jon had been overly protective. “I know, I just, I wish we could’ve waited for the northern lords first as a way of showing respect to them, perhaps?”
Arya laughed, “I’m sorry, Your Grace. Since when do we care about the northern lords?” She lifted her brows to Dany. “It’s Jon. I told you he’s fiercely protective of you. I was surprised he didn’t behead them at sight.”
“And I told you to stop calling me that, Lady Stark.” She decided to tease the young woman back.
The dark-haired girl groaned, making Dany chuckle. “Save that for Sansa...Daenerys.” Arya saying her name in an exaggerated manner. “I’m sure he will be fine. Maybe he will just brood a little.”
“Don’t you think it’s a bit odd? Jon’s never acted like that before.”
“Oh, he has, when he took back Winterfell from Ramsey Bolton, he almost beat that bastard to a pulp.” Dany shot her a pointed look, reminding her that she hates that word. Bastard , such a primitive way of thinking. Arya looked apologetic enough, so she continued.
“He had mentioned that but...”
“Daenerys, Jon has always been quiet, but he sure is just as deadly. Always have been.”
“I suppose so.” Dany relented. “Like a certain someone I know, keeps popping out of nowhere. One day, she will give me a shock, I tell you.” They shared a laugh before Arya prepared to leave. She looked back at Dany.
“Don’t think too much on it, he’ll be alright.”
/
Three knocks, before the door to her chambers opened. As soon as it did, she found herself surrounded by strong arms, whispering soft words in a northern burr.
“I’m sorry.” They said at the same time. When they broke the embrace, she reached to touch his face, her hand running at the bags below his eyes, black and heavy. So he hadn’t been sleeping much just as her, then? What a pair they are.
“I didn’t mean it, Dany. I don’t know what came over me.”
“No, you’re right. I, I was careless. I shouldn’t be wandering like that at night, most especially unaccompanied.” Jon had warned her and she didn’t listen, she was only planning on getting fresh air for a few moment until curiousity got the better of her and she decided to venture further into the forest. “The northerners are beginning to warm up to me, but I should’ve deemed it still dangerous.”
“You’re the farthest thing from a damsel in distress.” He said, pressing his forehead against hers. “You have a fuckin’ dragon, what was I thinking?”
“Jon, it’s alright. We can move past it.”
“No. No, I was wrong and I want to apologize. I’m sorry. And you were right, we should’ve waited but I just—“ He looked lost for words. “I was so angry and I wanted to punish someone as soon as I saw blood on you.”
“It’s alright now, my love. I apologize for my behavior as well.” She pecked his lips. “Come on.” She tugged at his hand, smiling sweetly at him. “I have missed you.”
He stole another kiss at the side of her face. “I have missed you too.”
///
“Yield. I yield.” The man shouted, his face bloody and body bruised from the punch and kick he received from the King.
“You were supposed to be guarding her.” Jon said as he prepared to launch another punch at the guard, until a voice stopped her.
“Jon! What do you think you’re doing?”
Jon suddenly got up, he looked down at the Northern guard lying on the ground, then back at his own fists, still clenched and bloody. What is he doing?
“Jon, talk to me.”
He couldn’t look at her, couldn’t meet her eyes. He was so ashamed of how he acted, why had he pounced on a man who is already yielding? It was like his emotion was heightened, “Something is wrong with me, Dany.”
“Nothing is wrong.” Dany tried persuading him but they both knew better. “We’ll talk to Bran, he could help.”
He nodded at her, he knows his blood boils and he can be as ferocious as a wolf or merciless like a dragon but sometime after he was brought back, he started feeling the darkness looming on him. Sometimes it’s just a dark cloud following him around waiting to unleash it’s thunder, but other times it’s a storm, ready to wreck everything on its path, especially when it involves the safety of the people he loves most in the world.
“What if it’s something that can’t be cured?”
Dany held his hands, bloody and bruised from the little display he had with the poor northern guard at the courtyard. “We will figure it out, Jon. Together.”
///
“My son killed for a foreign whore!” A drunk Lord Glover started shouting in the dinning hall where everyone in the Winterfell castle was feasting. A look of shock painted everyone else’s faces, turning their heads at the direction of the King, who is still seated by the high table.
“Watch your tongue, Lord Glover.” He warned. But the old lord was drunk and determined to unleash his own fury.
“Or what? You would behead me like you did my son?”
“I’m warning you, my lord.”
“All for a foreign invader, a daughter of a mad King. For all we know she is just as mad as her father.” A group of men tried holding off Glover, stop him from throwing more insults. “All fo a taste of a silver-haired whore!”
That was it. The dragon was awake and ready for blood. Jon stood, pointing to the two guards, then nodding to Lord Glover.
“Take him outside.”
His red-headed sister stood to follow him, worried of how the next events would unfold. “Jon, you can’t.”
“Sansa, stay out of it.”
“Jon, listen to your sister. Words are wind, Jon.” He is now faced with his sister and Dany, both asking him to reconsider things. But something inside him is telling him to go on.
He didn’t stop, even as Dany calls after him. “I’ve been called worse, it doesn’t matter! Jon!”
Moments later, there they stood at the courtyard, with Jon passing the sentence. And with everyone else watching in horror.
“Any last words, Lord Glover?”
“You are mad...” He tried turning his head, nodding at Dany’s direction. “...Just like that mad King father of hers.”
Every person present had to look away from the scene, Lord Glover might not be liked by many but he is of an old northern house. They all look at Jon in disbelief, trying to see how the quiet awkward boy who used to run around Winterfell can be the same man standing here with a sword drenched by a man who did nothing but utter a few insulting words.
“The coin has landed, my dear Lord Hand. And I’m afraid it wasn’t as we expected.” The spider whispered at the dwarf.