Chapter 15.3- The Seadragon's Roar

“Rhaenys? What are you—“ He stopped as he looked around himself, staring at all of us for a few seconds before he looked down at his own body. He gasped as he tried to wiggle in place.

“Oh” He said, and I could see the realization set in. Corlys was a smart man, and it did not take a genius to figure out just what’s going on.

“How long do I have?” He asked, turning to the Maester. The question did what nothing else had, it managed to set off Mother. With a gasp, she fell into the seat next to his bed and grabbed his hand. She was shedding silent tears. It might have been the question, it also might have been just how weak his voice sounded. Corlys Velaryon had spent most of his life as a powerful man, a leader of men, and his voice showed it. At least his voice showed it before today. Now, there was a weakness in it, he could barely speak above a whisper. He had to murmur the question he asked twice before the Maester could make out the words enough to understand.

“A few hours, My lord. Maybe a day but you would have grown too weak to speak by then” he said, clinical as ever.

“So these are to be my last moments then” He said, and he tried squeezing Mother’s hand but I could see the way his face contorted in pain even as his hand managed to tighten only a smidge before he gave up the effort.

“Don’t cry, my love. You know I hate to see you cry” he said, and if he expected that to help at all then he was mistaken as the tears got even worse as she sat by his side. I felt them prick at the sides of my eyes at that.

“Leave us for now” He ordered, and we listened. I was the first out the door. Where the hell was Laena? It was jut beginning to truly sink in. Corlys Velaryon was dying. And even worse, it was my fault. If I had never come into this world, he would have lived for decades more. He would have had so much more time to be happy. He would have seen both his children married, he would have witnessed the birth of his granddaughters who he would dote on. All that would never happen. All because I thought I was smarter than I really was.

I caught a glint from the corner of my eyes and just managed to lean backwards in time for an arrow to fly through the space I’d just been about to occupy. My eyes turned to the would-be assailant and found him nocking another arrow from a rooftop. He fired in no time, and I barely managed to hurl my body behind a wagon to avoid the hit.

There was a roar, a crash, multiple screams in a matter of seconds and I turned to see the Bronze form of Vhagar flying off with my assailant clutched in her talons. What the actual fuck?