Jace stood in a corridor he knew too well, the long inner way of Dragonstone that turned twice before the stair to the sea tower, though he could not recall how his feet had brought him there nor what business he had in this place. He hadn't been on Dragonstone in years, how was he here?
Before he could make sense of any of it a scream cut down the stone like a knife; it was so sharp it seemed to scrape his teeth. Following the scream came people who pressed past him at once as if a dam had broken. He was shoved in the shoulder and spun and found himself staring at his mother's back as she ran with her skirts gathered, and behind her came his grandsire and grandmother and his uncle with his hair loose and a look of joy on his face. Jace found himself following them as if an unnatural force was drawing him in that direction.
He ran with all of them wondering where they were going and why it seemed so urgent for them to get there, at the end of a corridor they all bent toward towards the same door at the end of the short hall. It was painted red a deep dark red, the colour of blood; there was never a door like this in Dragonstone. His chest tightened for no reason he could name. His legs faltered when his hand touched the wood, and a heaviness sat in his belly like cold iron. It was as if every instinct in his body told him not to go inside.
When he walked inside, he was greeted to the sight of all his loved ones circling someone. They all stood still, looking it was airy and it made Jace uncomfortable in the way he couldn't explain. Be carefully moved past everyone past handmaiden's, past midwives, past servants, passed his uncle and then his mother until finally he saw what they were looking at. Laena lay on the linen with her hair spread and her skin pale and damp, but despite that her lips curved in a wide smile that went ear to ear, and in her arms she held a small bundle bound in cloth. When she saw Jace she lifted it a little as if it were a cup that should be shared.
"Come see him, Jace," she said. "He is beautiful."
Jace could not make his feet move, and he shook his head, something in him wanted to turn and run and keep running until the wind took the breath from him, but hands found his elbows and urged him forward. He had just been grabbed by his uncle and his mother and was being urged forward by them. He tried to shake them free, but their grips were like iron and he couldn't free himself. "Stop!" Jace tried to shout but the voice died in his throat. He tried to push back with his feet, but all he did was slide along the ground like it was ice.
"He is so beautiful, Jace," Laena said again, it was her voice, but there was a profound wrongness to it. As if someone had taken her voice and made a mockery of it.
"He is so beautiful, Jace," she said a third time, and as she spoke he saw the flesh beneath the skin of her throat rise and fall in a way that did not match breath, and the skin over her collarbone swelled and settled like dough under a cloth. Something was crawling under her skin.
"Stop," he said, his voice cracked as he pleaded but no one stopped. "Stop. Let me go. Please."
Laena kept smiling and kept saying the same words and each time they came out faster snd faster. then all of a sudden, his entire family started telling Jace to look at him. They kept trying to force his head up so that he could look at the bundle in her arms. Jace closed his eyes and started chanting to himself that this wasn't real. It was a dream. It was a dream. It was a dream. It was a dream.
"THATS ENOUGH!" he shouted and he tore his arms free all at once and the circle around him fell away, the floor opened under his boots without warning. He dropped through it as if it were water and the red door and the bed and the faces tilted and slid away above him, and the scream that had started this all returned at the very bottom of the fall and ran up his spine.
He snapped upright with his hand clamped to his chest, though the chamber was not Dragonstone at all but the room they had given him in the palace at Turrani. He panted heavily as he try to recover from the nightmare he just experienced. The silk under him rustled when he shifted and the carved screen at the balcony was rattling slightly in the night wind.
He put his feet to the mat and rubbed his face with both hands and found his skin dry though he had expected sweat, he waited until the shake left his fingers before he stood and crossed to the basin. The water in it was cool enough that it woke him and felt refreshing at the same time. After that, he walked to his wardrobe and put on one of the robes that had been provided for him. Leng was quite hot even with the seabreeze cooling the city down a bit, these outfits were made for the heat.
He then walked out onto his balcony and leaned against the wall that encircled it. It had been five years, five years and he was still having this dream. No matter what he tried, he would never be able to stop his mind from drifting there. In a way it was humorous, there was likely none in the past nor the future as powerful as he when it came to dreaming, yet he was helpless when it came to his own mind.
'Maybe Visenya would have some advice...' he thought, though it was quickly followed by a chuckle. That Woman would sooner smile then offer any meaningful advice. 'No wonder Aegon, preferred the bed Rhaenys, she's much more pleasant.'
*rustle*
Jace stood up with his eyes wide. There's no way. Visenya was long dead. There's no way she could come back just because he was talking shit. He looked to the tree that rustled and gulped. "Visenya..." he said tentatively.
*rustle*
"Visenya stop—"
"Are you a fool, why do you keep yelling Visenya, shut up?!" a familiar whisper uttered. A body then dropped from the tree onto the balcony rolling forward as she took the impact.
"Sara!" Jace said with a smile as he saw the northern girl dust herself off. He went to go for a hug, but said girl pushed him.
"Don't give me that!" She hissed as she jabbed a finger into his chest. "Do you know how long I've been in that jungle for?"
Jace smiled and rubbed the back of his head.
"4 days!" She said almost shouting, while slapping his arm and chest, though she ended it with a closed fist punch which actually hurt.
Jace lifted his hands. "Alright, I earned that. I'm sorry," he said, though the grin didn't leave his face.
Sara's jaw set. "Four days," she said, keeping her voice quiet, "sleeping in trees, eating what didn't make me sick, I got chased by a tiger!"
Jace snorted but quickly covered it up as a cough when he saw the look of displeasure on her face. "That's terrible," he said unconvincingly. "Anyway it's done now. And you'll be glad to know I've an audience the day after tomorrow."
She eyed him. "And did she grant you what you came for, or are we going to be run out of the city like in Meereen?"
"We've not settled terms," he said with a small shrug, "But she wants our services, and I have a feeling she will give us what I want. At least we don't have to steal it."
"That would be a first," she muttered, and some tension left her shoulders. "Where are the others?"
"Cregan and Edryck are still in the cells," he said. "Cregan was a little mean to me earlier, so I thought he could do with another night in the cell. Edryck... is Edryck, I'd send him to the wall if I could."
She blinked. "You left him in the cell because he was mean to you?"
"Not just that, I also wanted to see you before he came here," he said with a soft voice.
Sara found herself blushing a little bit but she pushed it down. "You can't just keep them in there," she said weakly.
"He'll live," Jace said. "He still owes me for Kayakayanaya."
Her look went flat. "You mean the time the sand-warrior matrons tried to make him breed champions and you tried to take his place."
"I did not try to take his place," Jace said, trying not to laugh. "I offered to take the burden."
"Must have weighed on you terribly," she said with a blank stare.
"They were very strong, and I didn't come out of it without a few injuries of my own," he said, and that earned him a snort she tried to swallow.
She folded her arms. "He won't be pleased."
"He never is, he's such a bore nowadays," Jace said, and then he tipped his head, studying her. "You know you could've stayed at an inn in the city, you didn't have to stay in the jungle outside the palace."
"I wasn't going to sit on deck while you vanished into the palace cells," she said with slight annoyance, "and if the God-Empress decided to execute you I wanted to be close enough to pull you out."
"So you were worried," he said, and he couldn't help the small smile. "Or mayhaps you missed me a lot."
"Shut up," she said, as the heat climbed into her face, she looked past him like the garden not wanting to look him directly in the face.
He stepped in slowly so she could push him off if she wanted, when she didn't he put an arm around her waist. "I'm sorry I left you out there. Come morning I'll fetch Cregan and Edryck, we'll put food in all of us, and we can talk about what we are going to do next."
"Good," she said, and she tapped his chest with two fingers. "Now stop being annoying and kiss me," she said softly as her gray eyes stared into his sea-green ones.
"Yes my lady," Jace said with a grin stretched across his face.
Jace leans forward and kissed Sara on the lips, she hummed and pressed her lips against his wrapping her arms around his body as she shivered in his grasp. Jace slipped his tongue into her mouth and immediately tasted fruit; likely ones she had been picking from the jungle. His hands roamed over her body with a slowness that made her tremble, tracing the curve of her back beneath her worn shirt and sliding down to grip her hips firmly as he deepened the kiss, only to pull away from her mouth reluctantly, his lips trailing a hot path along her jawline and down to the sensitive skin of her neck where he pressed open-mouthed kisses that left her gasping for air with a soft "ahh" escaping her lips each time his teeth grazed her flesh.
Sara tried to catch her breath as his mouth worked against her pulse point, her voice coming out breathless and shaky as she whispered protests, "Jace, wait... I haven't washed yet, I'm all sweaty and dirty from the jungle," but Jace only murmured "Good, I like it" against her skin before running his tongue up the length of her neck in a teasing lick that tasted the salt of her exertion and made her shiver despite the warm breeze, eliciting a "mmm" from deep in her throat.
His hands ventured lower still, fingers deftly working at the laces of her trousers as he continued to kiss and nip at her neck, pulling the strings loose until the fabric slackened around her waist with a faint *rustle*, and Sara moaned softly, her body arching into his touch even as she pleaded breathlessly, "Please, Jace, let's go inside first, someone might see," but Jace just grinned wickedly against her collarbone and said "No," he said before yanking her trousers down her legs in one swift motion, letting them pool at her ankles as the cool night air brushed against her exposed skin.
"Jace," she whined in a mix of embarrassment and desire as he lifted her shirt up over her breasts, exposing her to the moonlight, and began to lick a trail up her stomach, savoring the faint sheen of sweat there before latching onto one of her nipples with his mouth, sucking it gently at first and then harder while running his tongue in circles over the hardened peak with wet smacks, all the while his other hand slipped between her thighs, brushing through the dark, curly bush of hair there and pressing a finger into her tight, wet hole that clenched around him immediately.
"Aaaahhhh!" She moaned deeply, the sound vibrating through her chest as his finger explored her depths, curling inside her in a way that made sparks of pleasure shoot up her spine "Yess, Jace... oh gods, just like that" in a throaty whisper, biting her lip hard to stifle the louder cries building within her as her hole contracted rhythmically around his invading finger.
"Please... don't make me wait," she begged with a deep blush spreading across her cheeks and down her neck, her gray eyes dark with lust as she looked at him pleadingly, "I need you now, Jace," her body already aching for the fullness only he could provide after so many days apart in the wild.
Jace undid the tie of his robe with one hand, letting the fabric fall open and his hard cock flop out into the open air. It was thick and veined and already leaking at the tip from the anticipation, he lifted her effortlessly onto the balcony wall, her bum pressing against the cool stone as he lined his cock up with her slick entrance, her breath hitched sharply in her throat with a sharp "hiss" as he pushed the head inside, stretching her slowly at first with a pleasurable burn that made her inner walls flutter around him.
He sank deeper into her inch by inch, the tight heat of her enveloping him like a velvet glove that was almost too snug, sending waves of intense pleasure radiating through his groin as her wetness coated him fully with slippery squelches, while for Sara it felt like a perfect invasion that filled her completely, the pressure building exquisitely as he bottomed out inside her, hitting spots that made her toes curl and her mind go blissfully blank with the overwhelming sensation of being claimed so thoroughly, prompting her to cry out "Oh fuck, you're so big, it feels amazing."
Sara held onto him tightly, her arms wrapping around his shoulders and her legs locking around his waist to pull him even closer as he began to thrust inside her with a steady rhythm, each movement driving him deep and hard with resonant *slaps* of skin on skin, the friction building a fire between them that had her nails digging into his back for purchase with faint scratches.
They kissed again fiercely as he fucked her, their mouths crashing together in a messy tangle of tongues, muffling her moans and his grunts while the sounds of their bodies slapping together echoed softly in the night, the passion reigniting after their separation making every touch feel electric.
"You're so tight for me, Sara, like you were made just for me," Jace growled against her lips in a husky voice, thrusting harder to emphasize his words with a forceful *thump*, and she moaned loudly in agreement, nodding frantically as she panted out "Yes, yes, all for you," her voice breaking on another gasp when he angled his hips to hit that perfect spot inside her, "I love how you take my cock, my little wildcat, clenching around me like that, what would your family think," he continued with a smirk, and she whimpered "Gods, yes, I'm yours, do it me harder, make me scream your name," her body responding with shudders of pleasure to every filthy word that spilled from his mouth.
He tangled his fingers in her thick black curls, pulling her head back gently but firmly with a tug that made her yelp "Ah!" to expose more of her neck, which he kissed with renewed fervor, his lips and teeth grazing the skin there until he sucked hard enough to leave a mark that would remind her of this moment for days to come, "Mmm, mark me, Jace."
Sara's climax built suddenly and intensely, her body tensing around him as she bit down hard on his shoulder to muffle her cry of release, the sharp pain mixing with pleasure for Jace as her inner walls spasmed wildly around his cock with frantic pulses, milking him in rhythmic squeezes that pushed him right to the edge. Jace felt the tension coiling tight in his balls as he thrust a few more times, before he groaned in his throat "Fuck, Sara, I'm coming... take it all" and shot his seed inside her in hot, powerful spurts that filled her completely, the sensation of release washing over him in waves as he held her close, their bodies slick with sweat and trembling in the aftermath of their shared ecstasy, her final whisper of "Yes, fill me... oh gods, yes" echoing softly between them.
Jace pulled out of her slowly with a wet *pop*, his cock still semi-hard and glistening from their combined fluids. He watched intently as his seed began to leak from her sex in thick, pearly rivulets that trickled down her inner thighs, her folds still flushed and swollen from their passionate coupling, while her sex continued to twitch involuntarily with aftershocks of pleasure, clenching and releasing in tiny spasms that made her gasp softly with each residual pulse.
Sara slipped off the wall with a graceful hop, her legs a bit unsteady as she landed, and she hit him softly in the chest with the flat of her palm, her touch more affectionate than reprimanding as she said still panting heavily from their exertion, "Stop taking me in such strange places, Jace, one day we'll get caught and it'll be the end of us, especially if Cregan finds out."
"I didn't see you complain," Jace said with a teasing lilt in his voice as he leaned close to her, inhaling the musky scent of their lovemaking that clung to her skin like a perfume.
Sara blushed profusely, the color rising from her neck to her cheeks in a deep crimson that made her look even more alluring under the moonlight, her gray eyes sparkling with a mix of embarrassment and lingering desire, "You know I can't help myself when you kiss me like that, you make me forget everything else." She murmured.
She looked so cute and beautiful in that moment, with her thick black curls tousled wildly around her face and her lips swollen from their kisses, her expression a perfect blend of vulnerability and beauty that made Jace's heart skip a beat, "Next time I take you it'll be in a bed, all proper and slow just like a lady," he said softly, before pecking her gently on the lips in a chaste contrast to their earlier fervor.
Sara smiled adorably, her lips curving into a sweet, dimpled grin that lit up her features like dawn breaking over the horizon, and she kissed him back with equal softness, her hands coming up to cup his face briefly before she leaned into him, resting her head against his chest as their heartbeats synced. Though this ended as they heard a faint *creak* from inside the chambers, like wood shifting under weight, and Sara frowned immediately, her body tensing in his arms, "What was that?" She whispered, before pulling back slightly to look at him with wide eyes,"Jace, seriously, what was that sound?"
Jace paused for a moment, his senses sharpening as he listened to the night, before he chuckled, the sound rumbling with amusement rather than concern, "It's probably an assassin, sneaking around like they own the place," he said casually.
"What!" She whispered loudly, her eyes widening further as she clutched at his arm, her post-coital glow giving way to a flash of alarm that made her grip tighten instinctively.
Jace grinned broadly as he covered himself back up with the robe, tying it loosely around his waist with deft fingers, and explained in a nonchalant drawl, "Yeah, I met a guy today, classic rat if I'd ever seen one, shifty eyes, bad breath, the works, he tried to threaten me with some vague nonsense about declining the God-Empress, this is just him trying to be clever by sending a lackey after me, though I expected it a lot sooner to be fair."
Sara got annoyed instantly, her brow furrowing as she scrambled to get dressed, yanking up her trousers and fumbling with the laces while hissing at him under her breath, "Why didn't you tell me about this earlier, Jace? We could've been killed!"
"Don't worry your pretty little head about it," he said with a playful wink as he leaned in and kissed her nose lightly.
He walked back inside his room with a casual stride as he stretched his muscle. He scanned the bedroom quickly and noted nothing out of place, no shadows amiss or items disturbed, which meant the intruder was unlikely to be hiding there which left only the privy or the main chamber as possibilities.
Jace picked up a heavy metal jug from the small table next to his bed, the one still half-filled with water, and walked into the main chamber with feigned nonchalance, pretending to relax as he poured himself a pretend drink and stretched his arms overhead with a exaggerated yawn, but then the sharp twang of a crossbow string releasing echoed through the room, and Jace had already lifted the jug in a swift motion, catching the small bolt mid-flight as it embedded itself in the metal. though the force punched it out the other side and water that spilled to the floor.
Jace mocked the assassin with a bark of laughter, shaking the ruined jug as droplets flew everywhere, "The minister should get a refund if this is the best he had to offer, because that shot was pathetic, I've seen children throw stones with better aim!" He mocked.
The assassin dropped from above, leaping down from a hidden perch in the rafters, and rushed at Jace with a short sword drawn in a quick arc, the blade whistled through the air as he slashed horizontally toward Jace's chest in an attempt to end the fight quicklyr, but Jace stepped back just in time so the sword passed inches from his robe, and he laughed loudly "Too slow, try again if you can manage it without tripping over your own feet," he said, which made the assassin growl in frustration and follow up immediately with a downward chop aimed at Jace's shoulder, the blade coming down hard, but Jace sidestepped to the left and the sword hit the edge of a nearby table instead.
The assassin pulled his sword free with a quick yank and spun around to face Jace again, thrusting forward straight at his abdomen in a sharp jab, but Jace twisted his body to the side and grabbed the assassin's extended arm at the wrist with his free hand, using the man's forward momentum to pull him off balance and hurl him bodily over the damaged table, where he crashed down onto the cushions beyond with a thud and a geunt of pain as his back hit the floor hard, knocking the wind out of him momentarily while the table legs buckled under the impact.
"You're swinging like you've never held a sword before, did they pull you from the kitchens?" He said as he crossed his arms, which enraged the assassin further as he got up and pressed the assault with a series of rapid thrusts, first high toward Jace's chest with a jab, then low at his thigh with another thrust, and finally a feint high followed by a real slash at the midsection—but Jace parried the first thrust by slapping the flat of the blade aside with the broken jug handle still in his grip, making a clang, dodged the second by hopping sideways, and then caught the third slash by stepping inside the arc and grabbing the assassin's sword arm again, twisting it sharply to force him to drop the weapon with a pained cry.
The assassin yanked his arm free with a desperate pull and lunged at Jace bare-handed now, aiming a punch straight at his jaw, but Jace leaned back to let it miss by a hair, then countered by shoving the assassin hard in the chest with both hands, sending him staggering backward into a divan covered in cushions where he tripped over the edge and fell onto it; the furniture sliding back a foot from the force and cushions tumbling to the floor, but the man rolled off immediately and grabbed a fallen cushion to throw at Jace's face as a distraction, following it up with a kick aimed at his groin while scrambling up.
Jace batted the cushion away easily with one hand and blocked the kick by bringing his knee up to deflect it with a smack of flesh on flesh, then grabbed the assassin's leg mid-kick and used it to flip him over onto his back again with a slam that shook the room, the assassin's head hitting the floor with a thud and eliciting a groan as he lay there dazed for a second, but he kicked out with his free leg at Jace's ankle in an attempt to trip him, it made Jace hop back, giving the assassin time to kip up to his feet and retrieve his dropped sword with a quick bend and snatch.
Now armed again, the assassin slashed diagonally upward from low to high toward Jace's torso with a slash that whistled sharply, but Jace evaded by leaning back and then closed in with a punch of his own to the assassin's gut, landing it solidly which made the man double over, followed by Jace grabbing him by the collar and throwing him sideways into a screen divider that toppled over. The assassin tumbled through it and landed in a heap on the other side with a growl of frustration as he pushed the debris off and rose once more, his breathing heavy and ragged now.
The assassin charged one last time with a wild horizontal swing at Jace's neck, Jace ducked under it completely and rose up behind the overextended arm, "This is getting embarrassing for you," he said feeling slightly bad for the man, just as Sara burst into the room fully dressed and armed with a dagger, "Jace, stop messing around and finish this before he gets lucky!" She chided him
Jace rolled his eyes dramatically, dodging one last swipe with an exaggerated flourish "Fine, if you insist on ruining my fun," he muttered then pivoted smoothly under the next incoming slash, he closed the distance in an instant, grabbed a dagger from the assassin's own belt with a quick snatch, and in a reverse grip stabbed it deep into the man's neck, the blade sinking true and ending the threat in a spray of blood that stained the tiles.
"You're so boring," Jace said to Sara with a mock pout, wiping the blood from his hands on the assassins outfit as he stepped back from the collapsing body.
She made a face at him, her nose wrinkling in a mix of exasperation and annoyance as she sheathed her dagger and crossed her arms. "I can only apologise for wanting to keep you alive." She replied wryly.
Jace yawned as he dropped the dagger on the assassins corpse. "I'm going to get some sleep, maybe throw the body off the balcony or something," he said as he walked past her.
Sara glared at him. "I'm not your servant you know," she replied.
"Bold of you to speak to your Prince in such a way, did you know I'm the future king?" Jace replied as he turned from the doorway.
Sara rolled her eyes. "You're as much of a Prince as I am a true born, now go off to bed and let me clean up your mess again."
"Thank you Saraaaa." Jace quickly ducked into the other room as she threw the metal jug at him.
(AN: So as you can see Jace is very much haunted by what happened with his Aunt Laena five years ago. I'm purposely keeping it vague for spoilers, but I've left hints as to what happened to her. Also Sara and Jace are seeing each other secretly. Cregan is not aware of their romance, but that's to be expected as her expect Jace to marry her. Anyway these chapters are going a bit too slow for my liking so imma speed the pace up a bit. Hope you enjoyed it.)
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