Breaker, Broken | Jorah Mormont

Chapter 21

Her fortnight flew by.

She was ready the moment they arrived in Dorne, but all the same, observed her promise to give everyone at least their two weeks of rest.

And then, she called the banners.

"The Iron Fleet and my ships are going to fill Blackwater Bay and prevent Cersei's escape," Saera told her War Council. "The Reach and Dorne's armies will surround from the south. The Northerners and the men of the Riverlands will come from the north. I've tasked the Knights of the Vale and a few men from the other Houses with riding alongside Gendry to Storm's End, where they will root the Lannister army out. I sent word to Yara Greyjoy after we arrived in Dorne. She will head straight for the Iron Islands. I have only two heads I want. Euron Greyjoy and the Mountain. The warriors who kill them will be given all the rewards they can ever dream of."

She tilted her head up, staring at Lady Olenna. "Cersei will be captured and delivered directly to you. Arya Stark wishes to take part in it; I think you'll find in her a willing executioner."

Lady Olenna waved her hand dismissively. "I don't care who lops off her head as long as it is done in front of me."

"Good. Then we sail for King's Landing on the morrow. By the time we arrive, our army will be in formation. Their signal to advance will be Viserion and I flying overhead. I will give Cersei's army the same opportunity I gave all the others. If they surrender, they will not be harmed. Lord Varys has heard reports that all civilians are being shoveled into the Red Keep; Cersei thinks I'd be stupid enough to burn all of it down just to get to her. I won't. When the army surrenders, I will have them ring the bells and we will march together to the Red Keep. We will let the people go back to their homes and we will go in to find Cersei. She will be executed before I have the High Septon crown me. Only when I have sat through the ceremony will I sit on that throne and then our work begins."

She smiled weakly, "Get some rest. We won't be at ease until this war is over."

Were it not for Jorah holding her, she probably wouldn't have slept a wink. He smoothed his hands up and down her back until he felt her breathing slow down, then lay still to make sure she'd actually fallen asleep.

She dreamt of being a young girl again, watching her brother train in the yard, rushing to her mother's side when she came into her chambers with Viserys for Saera to read him a bedtime story. How she'd loved her little brother.

Where was he now? Where was Rhaegar? Gone. Their own choices killed them. Viserys had become a monster and because he'd been foolish enough to threaten a Khal, he'd burned. Rhaegar had been so obsessed with prophecy, so blind to the harm he caused the woman he had a duty to and the harm he bestowed on one he supposedly 'loved' despite her being a child, that he met his end and never got to know what became of his children. Two killed brutally, the third alive and well and surprisingly humble.

It may have been known as Robert's Rebellion, but the war had been Rhaegar's fault. She was closing an open circle, fixing what she could, the things he shattered. He wouldn't see it, wouldn't be able to tell her if he was proud or not.

This wasn't how things were meant to go. If her father hadn't been so cruel, if Rhaegar wasn't so selfish, her brother would've sat the throne. She'd have been married to someone from a good house, she would have already popped out several children, even if it killed her.

She'd have a little brother and a little sister who would have grown up adoring her.

But she wasn't there for Daenerys when she needed it the most. She was never able to make up for it. And now her sister thought of her as an enemy.