15: Is It Betrayal?

                                    

                                          

                            

                                
                            
                              
                                  
                              
                              
                                
                                  
                                  
                                
                              
                             
                            
                            
                          
                          
Lyanna sat silently behind Aeron, her mind still reeling from everything that had just occurred. She almost died... In fact, she had been mere minutes away from being beheaded in front of a jeering crowd. The thought sat uneasily in her stomach, but what made her feel worse was that Helaena was still trapped in the living hell that was King's Landing. The one person in that entire city that hadn't somehow betrayed her, and Lyanna couldn't do anything to protect her. 
The woman found herself once again wishing she had a dragon, so she could fly high above the wretched city and- What? Set it ablaze? As tempting as the thought was, Lyanna didn't think she could live with that choice if she'd made it. 
Perhaps that's why the Gods hadn't made her a Targaryen, a fierce warrior of fire and blood. No, they'd made her a Stark. Ice flowed through her veins and maybe it was finally time for her to embrace that fact. 
"My Lady?" Ser Erryk's voice came from behind her, making her glance back at the knight. 
Pity filled her chest when Lyanna noticed that he looked one step away from keeling over, his eyes constantly glancing between the back of Aeron's head and the crashing waves leagues below them. In all honesty, the Stark understood how he felt. Especially with the recent events of her flight with Lucerys. 
"Just breathe, Ser," she tried to reassure him, pointing out the silhouette of Dragonstone that they were steadily approaching. "We're almost there, just try to think of something else. It's what I'm doing."
Erryk's eyes finally roamed to her face, his gaze softening as he looked at her. 
"And what are you thinking of, My Lady?"
"My brother," Lyanna answered with a sigh, her face twisting as she realized what she said. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to-"
"It's alright, My Lady," the knight replied quickly, shaking his head. "My brother made his choice and I have made mine, and I will stick by it."
She smiled back at him, reaching back to place her hand gently over his own. His hand, which Lyanna noticed he'd kept dutifully down at his sides and away from her. 
"You are the picture of duty, Ser Erryk. Thank you."
Lyanna let out a gasp as Abraxos started to descend, screwing her eyes tightly shut and trying to steer her mind away from recalling memories of her fall from Arrax. Memories of Vhagar lurching up at them from beneath the clouds, her gaping maw ready to swallow them whole. 
She still remembered Lucerys' scream, and the sound of Arrax's wing being torn from her body...
She remembered Aemond's face as he watched her fall, the horror that had clouded his face.
"And what would you know of family? Yours sent you away!"
His words still echoed through her head, stabbing her straight through the heart. 
"Lyanna?" Aeron called out for her from the ground, bringing the woman back into the present to realize that they'd already landed. "Are you alright, Little Wolf?"
"I'm fine, just... thinking," Lyanna answered, taking Erryk's extended hand to climb down from the back of the mighty beast. 
She stumbled on the way down, her foot catching briefly on Abraxos' scales. The Stark gasped as she fell through the air, although she wasn't free falling for long before two armored arms wrapped tightly around her. 
"I've got you, My Lady," Ser Erryk stated, placing her gently onto the ground. 
Lyanna noticed how his hands lingered at her waist before he quickly pulled them away and turned toward the castle, the tips of his ears red. She couldn't help but smile softly at his actions, shaking her head as Aeron glared at the back of the knight's head. 
"Thank you yet again, Ser Erryk," Lyanna spoke gently, trying to shake off the pit of guilt that was forming in her stomach. 
Guilt over how happy the brief touch had made her. As well as guilt that, no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't help her mind from imagining him as someone else.
———
Lyanna sat at the table in Rhaenyra's chambers, her mind going haywire over the events of the past week as she answered the Queen's questions. A Maestor was also tending to the small wounds littering her from the fight with Helaena's assailants while Rhaenyra herself stood behind the Stark woman, braiding her hair. 
"And you swear to me that nothing happened while you were imprisoned? That they didn't-" the Targaryen questioned worriedly, tying off the braid. 
"I swear. I would've told you and Aeron immediately if they had."
Rhaenyra nodded, knowing just as well as Lyanna did that if she'd shown any signs of torture or, gods forbid, worse then Aeron would've already been on his way to burn King's Landing to the ground. The Queen had actually been forced to order her uncle to his chambers to cool off after he finally took the time to notice the scratches and bruises across the Stark's skin. 
A beat of silence passed between the two women, both of the watching as the Maestor finished and began packing his tools. It wasn't until he was gone and the door was shut behind him that Lyanna turned to look at Rhaenyra with a serious expression on her face. 
"What are you going to do with Daemon?"
"What do you mean?" the Queen questioned, fidgeting with her rings as she refused to meet the other woman's eye. 
"You know just as well as me what he did," Lyanna stated, standing up from her seat. "That is a crime that cannot go unpunished- Consort or no."
Rhaenyra sighed, shaking her head before taking a step forward. 
"As much as I want to punish him for what he's done, we cannot win this war without him."
"Why not? Yes, the Greens have Sunfyre and Vhagar but we have Abraxos, Meleys, Syrax, Arrax, and Moondancer," the Stark argued, her glaze pleading with the woman before her. "Not to mention the countless unclaimed dragons on this very island. Silverwing, Vermithor, the Cannibal-"
"Stop it, Lyanna!" Rhaenyra raised her voice, making Lyanna flinch back and cease her rant. "They have more men than we do, and the little men that do follow me do so out of duty to my father or respect of my husband. No one is here for me!"
"I am," a voice echoed through the room, both women turning to see Rhaenys standing in the doorway. "You are a good queen, Rhaenyra. These men have never seen true battle so they are quick to rush to war. You alone are what holds them back, and that is why I chose to follow you. Not because of this ceaseless fight between man and woman but because I believe in you."
Rhaenyra looked close to tears as she gazed over at the older woman, tears that only came closer to the surface when Lyanna's arms wrapped comfortingly around her. 
"I'm sorry for arguing with you, I had no idea what you were going through," the Stark whispered, resting her chin on the Rhaenyra's shoulder as the Queen's hand came up to cradle the back of her head. "You are the Queen, just as you were always meant to be. Fuck anyone who says different."
"Thank you, both of you."