This chapter has been edited due to content. I made minor edits in this chapter. If you want to see the unedited version GO HERE.
In my dream something was trying to suffocate me. It was too dark to tell what was going on. In a panic I woke up and saw where Sansa was.
"What is the occasion?" I asked after kissing her.
"Nameday." Sansa replied. "My gift to you."
"A gift worthy of a king."
My love and I started making love in the morning light.
"Father!" A child's voice said from beyond the door.
I cursed and as Jon managed to unlock the door I had wiped my mouth. When my my son, followed shortly by my daughter, we looked like we had merely been cuddled up to one another. The only thing giving away the truth were the chuckles my love kept letting out. That and a tinge of red that was on my face.
"Jon!" I said with a smile on my face. "Daenys!"
Jon had his mother's hair and my cheekbones. Daenys, on the other hand, had my hair and her mother's charm. Both would help bring the world into a new age. The wheel was slowly breaking and in their lifetimes it might crumble. At the moment, though, they had no more lofty goal than to be with me.
"Don't come up here." Sansa said and laughed. "The sheets are dirty."
"How did you break in this time?" I asked.
"I don't know." Jon said and looked away from me.
At such a young age he was a trouble maker. He had quickly taken to breaking into places he shouldn't be in. I could only pray that talent would be well used and not foretell his future as a common thief.
"Why didn't you stop him, Daenys?" I asked my daughter.
"I don't know." Daenys replied and looked to Sansa for help.
Daenys had a little more finesse than her brother. There were the signs of a good politician in her. Maybe that part of her mother was also in her blood. I shook my head as my stoic demeanor came crashing down. I wanted to hug them both but didn't want them to get...dirty.
"Jon! Daenys! Get back here!" A stern voice called out.
Brienne of Tarth paused at the doorway and quickly averted her eyes from me. Unlike my children, she knew very well what had recently transpired between my wife and I. The woman was visiting King's Landing to see Jaime Lannister. She was married to Tormund but the pair enjoyed adding Jaime to their numbers.
"If you go with Brienne now, after breakfast we'll ride Drogon." I said as Ghost entered the room.
The direwolf had been guarding the children but hadn't kept his focus. Like Jon, he avoided my gaze. Luckily my offer of a dragonback ride had caused my children to race towards the woman. I gave her a grateful nod and all of them left the room.
"You should have seen your face." Sansa chuckled. "I didn't know your face worked that way."
"I am glad I amused you." I retorted.
"You still want to open your gift?"
"I think my gift is opened enough."
"Jorah, I can tell when you're lying. Besides, you're a man."
"And what do you know of men?"
"Enough."
Her eyes lured me into their depths. Over the years she had learned how to be coy. I didn't know whether she had learned the trick to please me or herself. With a simple kiss we finished what we had started before.
"Thank you." I said as we started to clean up for the day.
"I think I am the one that should be thanking you." Sansa said with a smirk.
To others she was a stoic queen of the Iron Throne. To me she was a coy woman who was more than expressive. If I had never met Daenerys I would never have met Jon. If I had never met Jon and married him, I would never have married Sansa. It was possible that I could have a political marriage with her, but none of the intense feelings we had for each other.
I put a cover around me and walked to the balcony. The Sept of Baelor was gone as I hadn't wanted it replaced. The religion of the Seven Kingdoms was no longer reliant on new or old gods. Religion could be practiced but no monuments to any would stand in King's Landing. If there was going to be another chosen one, they would discover the truth on their own. The truth of prophecy would come out more peacefully if no one was certain of it. No one could rise up as a savior and hope to seek the Iron Throne.
I went back inside and got dressed. It felt odd not putting armor on and, instead, choosing the clothes of a king. There were still pieces of armor mixed into my usual clothes, but it didn't put the same weight on my shoulders as I was used to. I could move more freely but at the cost of security. It had taken the wisdom of Sansa and Tyrion to make me put away the dress of war.
The last item I put on was my arrowhead necklace. For a moment I merely looked at. It no longer held any power and its only purpose was to remember Khaleesi. To remember our journey together in this life and the love we would have in the next. A stronger man could have given it to the maesters to keep safe in the Citadel. But I liked having a remnant of her to remember our love by.
After the moment was over I put it around my neck and hid it under my clothes.
"You still miss her, don't you?" Sansa said sadly as she looked at me.
"I always will." I replied and put a hand on her shoulder. "Until I see her again in the next life I will yearn for her. But I love you, Sansa, and that's why I married you. You own my heart completely like Khaleesi and Jon did before. There is no woman or man that will ever take me from your side in this world."
"I know, I am just jealous of a dead woman. In all our years together you have never shown me to be anything but loyal."
I kissed her and she returned my kiss. Unlike earlier, our kisses were chaste as we our beasts were tired. By the time the sun set we would again yearn to bring our bodies back to the same orgasms as earlier. For now, though, the day called to us.
Breakfast was a chaotic occasion like usual. Well not exactly like usual as Tormund was there. I had grown up thinking of wildlings as beasts without a sense of honor. Yet here one was who was fatherly as any Northerner. Daenys was the most easily swayed by the man's stories and clapped repeatedly. I smiled and shook my head.
"What?" I asked as I realized Brienne had asked me a question.
"You came up with a good solution to the lack of a Night's Watch and a need to punish the criminals." Brienne repeated with a soft smile.
"The Wall does need to be rebuilt as a memorial to all those who lost their lives during the War for the Dawn. After that it will need to be maintained."
"And when the Night King's army has turned into mere myths, future generations will come up with a different plan for the dishonored." Sansa said as she ate. "Of course we have ideas that are constantly being fleshed out."
Before the conversation could continue Ghost walked in and stood beside Jon. While the direwolf could be a creature worthy of honor and respect, he could also beg for food like any other child. My son was the one the direwolf had the easiest time using. Possibly Jon and Daenys would have dragons of their own when they got older. After some time and a considerable amount of money, dragons were again a part of the world. They stayed mostly in Dragonstone but would sometimes travel as far north as the Vale. Sansa was one of the few who had a dragon of her own. It was red and called Matron.
"I thought after all these years that Westeros would be what it once was." I said. "Instead I'm flying Drogon to give support to the men and women who are erasing the horrors of the war. Maybe in another few years I won't have to make those journeys."
Enough time had passed that those seeking to assassinate me were making themselves known. They weren't in great numbers but enough existed that I had to be careful. I had to be aware of everyone and everything around me. In recent days it was easy to see how Daenerys' father could've grown paranoid with age. It sometimes appeared as if all events were trying to destroy me.
"Can we see the dragons now?" Daenys asked excitedly once we had finished breakfast.
"It is time." I said with a brief nod. "I hope you enjoy your time in King's Landing, Brienne of Tarth and Tormund Giantsbane."
Shortly after saying my good-byes, my family and I headed to the Dragonpit. All except Ghost who decided to make sure Brienne and Tormund didn't do anything wrong. We went in a carriage that was guarded by the King's Guard. Jaime Lannister had been given permission to spend time with his two lovers. Unless something urgent called him to my side. Which I hoped wouldn't be the case. He deserved his happiness as did everyone.
"Maybe we should visit Winterfell." Sansa said as our children looked out. "Arya is probably going mad with her duties."
"At least she has Gendry by her side." I reassured her.
After Sansa had taken her place as my queen, Arya had felt obligated to become Lady of Winterfell. She had never been happy with the position but her loyalty to her family won out in the end. Once she had chosen Gendry Baratheon as her Lord, she became calmer. One of the last things she had done that allowed her to travel was helping the Dothraki return to Essos. It had been Sansa who had helped those who wanted to remain integrate themselves into Westerosi society.
Once the carriage stopped, Jon and Daenys rushed out towards the dragonpit. Sansa and I walked more calmly as the dragons landed. Sansa easily mounted Matron and waited for the rest of us to mount Drogon.
I helped Jon and Daenys make what was, to them, a hard climb. After a few minutes they were situated in front of me and held on tightly. My son and daughter squealed as Drogon took to the sky and Matron flew by his side. I let out a rare laugh as we flew around King's Landing.
In my life I had done bad things and I had watched the atrocities of others. But, for the moment, there was only happiness.
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