Chapter 66: A Dragon’s H

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  I leaned against the windowsill, letting the night breeze cool the sweat on my bare chest. The wine burned sweet down my throat as I studied the sprawl of torchlit streets below, watg the flickering lights dance like fallen stars across the city.

  Each sip of the Dornish red reminded me of warmer days when such luxuries had been oher than carefully ratioreasures. Well, not that I ever got to drink wine when I was a kid, but yes.

  "Quite the view," I mused to no one in particur, trag the Red Keep's jagged shadow across the city. "eous that Stannis wants his hands on this."

  A rustle of silk drew my attentio. Turning, I found Cersei lying spyed across the bed like a butchered stag, limbs tethered to the bedposts with shreds of her own gown. Her usually immacute golden hair was a tangled mess against her naked body as she rawled on the crimsos. I couldn't help but appreciate its poetry.

  The proud lioness brought low, bound by the very trappings of her own luxury. The irony wasn't lost on me; how many others had she left simirly helpless in her ruthless climb and stay to power? I liked seeing her sed, so defeated.

  The Lannisters. They were the ones who betrayed my family Dynasty, and I relished ruining their Queen. “Argh… you…” Cersei said. Her gag hung askew; she must've worked it loose during our earlier… iations. Those lioness eyes tracked me with pure venom as sciousness fully recimed her. It made me smile.

  "Good m, sweetheart." I raised my chali a mog salute. "Sleep well?"

  Her chest heaved against the restraints. "You vile, inbred bastard! I'll see your cock fed to dogs before-"

  "Ah, ah." I clicked my tongue several times, crossing the room in three strides. The dagger materialized from my iory, and its edge kissed her pulse. "Screaming's poor manners after I've been so... aodating. Also, ‘inbred’ is a crazy insult ing from you.”

  My parents were siblings, and I was born, I had no trol over that sario. But Cersei fucked her brother out of her own choid gave birth to three inbred children. Wasn’t she worse in that sario?

  She froze, rage trembling through her like wildfire held in a gss vial. Smart girl. I could feel her pulse rag beh my bde, and each beat was a desperate rhythm against cold steel. Her self-preservation finally seemed to outweigh her fury.

  A knock shattered the tension. "Yrace?" The handmaiden's voice wavered through oak. "I've brought supper..." The timing couldn't have been worse, or perhaps better, depending on how one looked at it. The interruption forced both our hands.

  I arched a brow, studying her face with predatory focus. Cersei's throat bobbed against cold steel, the bde catg mplight with eaervous swallow. For a heartbeat, I thought she'd gamble and throw herself on the bde just to see me gutted by her guards.

  The wild look in those emerald eyes promised she'd sidered it, perhaps even weled the mutual destru. Then the fire banked, repced by that familiar Lannister calcution I'd e to expect from her family. Death wasn’t worth it.

  "Not… hungry," she rasped, never breaking our stare. Her fiwitched at her sides, but she kept them still—allowing me another small victory of trol.

  "But the Lord Hand insisted-" The maid's voice cracked with fusion.

  "Are you deaf, girl?" The knife pressed deeper, drawing a ruby bead that traced a delicate crimson path down pale skin. "Take your slop to the dogs. Go. Your Queen is busy taking a good cock," I ied enough venom into the words to send any servant scurrying.

  Sileretched like pulled taffy. Thereating footsteps, growing fainter until they vanished entirely down the corridor.

  I sheathed the bde with a chuckle. "See? Cooperation suits you." My thumb smeared the blood across her colrbone. "Now. Where's the Red Priestess and the Sand girls?"

  Her lips twisted. "Rotting in the bck cells where traitors-"

  My hand jerked, and wi her face like a sp, dark rivulets streaming down her features and staining her pristine white colr. She gasped, red droplets ging to her shes like m dew as I upehe ornate silver chalice. The sharp st of Dornish red filled the air between us. "Let's try that again. Where. Are. They."

  Each word fell like a hammer blow iense chamber, and I ensured she uood what’d happen if she kept pying.

  "Guarded by fifty men iower of the Hand!" She spat through the dripping vintage, defiance burning in her eyes despite her trembling shoulders. Her fingers clutched at her sodden dress. "You'll never reach them alive, you treasonous-"

  I caught her jaw, f eye tact. "Fifty men?" My ugh echoed off the vaulted ceiling. "I ate fifty men for breakfast. Also, you’re aware that your daughter is in Dorne…? Why did you capture Oberyn Martell’s daughters? Stupid bitch.”

  “....”

  My free hand trailed lower, her breath hitg as I palmed the bruise I'd left ohigh. "You'll order their release at dawn. Quietly. Or every lord in the realm will learn how the Lion Queen squeals when mounted proper."

  “I-”

  “I don’t think you quite uand the situation, Cersei,” I called her by her name for once, which made her spiraighten. “I kill you, your imp of a brother, and your sht here, right now, and leave this castle unscratched. Did you not get the report about how many soldiers I killed during the riot?”

  She fell silent. I watched as uanding finally dawned in Cersei's eyes. Her shoulders slumped slightly, the fight draining from her posture.

  "Fine," she whispered, her voice hoarse. "I'll have them released at dawn. Quietly. As you asked."

  "Smart girl." I smiled, patting her cheek and watg her grumble. The wiill stained her skin, making her look almost feverish in the dim light. "See how much easier things are when you cooperate? Be an obedient bitch, and your family line won’t end ht."

  Her jaw ched, but she gave a tight nod. My smile widened into a grin at that. The mighty lioness was reduced to submission by a cock. It was a beautiful sight.

  I stepped back, my hands moving to my belt. "Now then, since you've been so reasonable..." The leather slid free with a soft hiss. "I think you deserve a reward."

  Her eyes widened as I approached the bed again, but she didn't protest. She knew better now… and she was starting to be ho with herself. The dles guttered in their holders, casting dang shadows across the walls as I moved closer.

  ****

  Dawhrough the open baly doors, painting stripes across tangled sheets and golden skin. I traced the bruise blooming along Cersei's shoulder—a souvenir from st night's iations. Her breath hitched when my thumb dug into the mark, though she kept her eyes fixed on the ceiling above us.

  The silk sheets smelled of sex and fear and Dornish red, an intoxig blend that made my mouth curl at the edges.

  The door creaked open without ceremony.

  Meryn Trant's boots froze halfway across the threshold. I watched the realization hit him like a crossbow bolt—the Queen's bare shoulder peeking above linens, my haing there like a king g quered nd. His eyes darted between Cersei's bnk stare and my grin, and his fiwitched toward his sword hilt.

  "Close your mouth, Trant," I drawled, giving Cersei's shoulder a squeeze, moving my hand within the b c us and squeezing her breasts underh. "You'll catch flies."

  The knight's jaed shut, face flushing the same ugly puce as a corpse left too long in the sun. It made up for how he was urgihrough the streets, this bastard. Cersei's body tensed beh my palm, her trapped breath trembling like a plucked lute string. For a heartbeat, I thought she might scream. Might try to leap from the bed and scream like she wao cw my eyes out. Might beg her loyal dog to strike me down.

  “You’re te, Trant…” Instead, she spoke in that cold, clipped tohat made lesser men piss themselves. "Release the Red Priestess. And the Dornish girls. See them beyond the Mud Gate with and mounts."

  Meryn's gaze flicked to the wiained sheets. "Yrace...?"

  "Do it." The and cracked through the chamber like a whip. "They're i. This... man proved as much." Her throat bobbed on the lie, fingers digging into the mattress. “Be respectful to them when leading them outside.”

  I ughed. A low, rich sound made Meryn's hand leap back to his sword. "Hmm? Rex, dog. Your mistress isn't in danger." My thumb stroked the hollow of Cersei's throat. "Don’t let these bruises fool you. She loves being hit, you see. Right, sweetheart?"

  Her pulse thrummed against my palm. "...Yes. I love being hit by you"

  Meryn's lips peeled ba a silent snarl. For half a breath, I almost wished he'd charge for whatever reason—a final excuse to paint these walls with Lannister blood. But duty strangled ce, as it always did with these golden-cloaked puppets.

  “As you wish, Yrace.” The knight spun on his heel, armor g as he stormed from the chamber. The door smmed hard enough to rouse half the keep.

  Cersei flinched.

  I dropped the ad swung my legs over the bed's edge, letting the sheet pool around my waist. M light gilded the scars mapping my back, and if not for the System having long healed me, there would have been scars of Dothraki whips a knives.

  "Dress up,” I ordered, stretg a little as I locked eyes with her. “Ach me something bck. Dragons look best against shadow."

  She stared at me in silence before nodding. Cersei moved like a woman sleepwalking, fingers fumbling at the gs of a burgundy gow draped over a chair.

  I leaned against the bedpost, admiring the py of muscles beh pale skin as she bent to retrieve my boots. The silk g to her thighs where I'd split the seams st night. I enjoyed my view for the few minutes.

  "Ah, not that," I said when she reached for her jewel chest. "Leave the rubies. s weigh heavy on running whores."

  Her hands trembled as she fastened a pin wool cloak around her shoulders instead. I shrugged into the bck doublet she offered—b Lannister crimson lining—and buckled my sword ay back. The fieel whispered as it settled between my shoulder bdes, a growing friend eager for blood.

  "Boots," I reminded her. Cersei stared at the footwear near my feet like they were scorpions. “What, you thought you could just bring them near me and be done? Slut. Crouch dout them on my feet.”

  "You imbecile. My son—"

  "Will piss himself when he finds your bed cold, smelling like sex," I said, jerking her close by the braid I'd woven arouhroat st night. "Don’t waste my time, and we might outpace the rumors."

  “....”

  A few mier, after we were doing ready, it was time to leave. "e here," I ordered. She stepped closer, and I grabbed her waist. She stumbled against my chest, her eyes wide with fusion. Before she could protest, I scooped her into my arms.

  Her mouth opened in shock. "What are you-"

  I strode toward the baly, boots g over scattered gss from st night's wihe dawn air rushed through my hair as I stepped onto the stone railing, the city sprawlih us like a mert's carpet.

  “Wait, wait-! What is going on?!” Cersei's scream pierced the dawn as I leaped. I’d chosen the side fag the sea so that people didn’t notice us. Her nails dug into my shoulders through the bck doublet while we plummeted from her tower. The wind whipped her golden hair into my face as she thrashed in panic.

  I cmped my hand over her mouth, mufflierrified shriek. The ground rushed up to meet us, the stony shrowing rger with each heartbeat.

  Then came the familiar burween my shoulder bdes. My wings burst through the fabriy doublet, unfurling like dark sails against the m sky. The sudden uplift jerked us skyward, transf our deadly fall into a graceful glide.

  Cersei's eyes bulged as she stared at my draic appendages, her scream dying ihroat. We soared away from the Red Keep's walls, taking a detour through the sky to avoid being seen.

  The wind carried us higher, and dawn's light paihe city gold beh our shadow. “Be grateful,” I said, “Rhaegar Targaryen could have never shown you this.”

  Cersei trembled in my arms, her face buried against my chest, as we flew away from King's Landing. A grin split my face as I ehe m breeze. I don’t like being exposed, but all of this turned out great. It was ohing for a dragon to kidnap princesses, but a whole other to steal queens instead. This was a lot of fun.

  But now, I had to decide where to take my base for the short time until Stannis’ attack.

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