Princess in The North

Chapter 25: Lord of Light

“What do you mean that Ella is dying?” Stannis demanded, stepping towards Jon threateningly. The battle was over, and now the wounded were being healed, the prisoners being taken to cells, and the dead being collected.

“Her mother shot an arrow at her, it had to be laced with something.” Jon told him, obviously upset by this as well. “A maester looked at her. There’s nothing we can do.”

“My Lord,” the Red Woman said. “The Lord of Light will not let her die. She is needed to do what he has planned.”

“Tell that to the poison that is taking over her body. She hasn’t even opened her eyes in hours.” Jon told him. “She has a son! A son who wants his mother, and I’m going to be the one that has to tell him that she isn’t coming back.”

Stannis turned to the Red Woman. “Melisandre, can you heal her?”

“The Lord of Light will heal her, I will ask him to.”

“Do it.” 

“Don’t you dare burn her body.” Jon told the woman. “I will cut off your head myself.”

“She is my niece, Jon.” Stannis told him. “She is in my care, not yours.”

“She is my sister, Stannis. Don’t you dare think you care about her more than I do.” Jon spat.

“Enough fighting.” Daenerys said, her voice commanding the room.

Everyone fell silent.

“If someone can at least try to save her, is should be done.” She said. “There has been too much death today already. I do not want to add another name to the list.”

XXX

Jon stayed by Ella’s side, holding her cold, lifeless hand in his. She was lucky she made it this long, if there was even the slightest bit more in her system she could have died within minutes.

But no, Ella didn’t die without a fight. Not even poison could kill her quickly.

Still, Ella did not look alright. She always had life behind her skin, now her skin looked thin and pale. Her lips were chapped and her hair in a braided, tangled mess around her. The wound wasn’t bleeding anymore, but it still looked angry, especially with the veins always growing darker and farther out around the wound. Her chest only moved slightly with her breaths, like little puffs of air escaping her lungs before being replaced. Barely enough air to live on. It frightened Jon how she looked, he had never seen her like this before.

“You need to leave.” Melisandre told him as she entered the room with a large box in her arms and Stannis at her side. “I need all nonbelievers out of here. The Lord of Light will not take kindly to them being here for this.”

“I’m not leaving her.” 

Stannis grabbed Jon, and pulled him out of the chair, making Jon drop Ella’s hand.

“You will do as she says, and I will save my last Baratheon.” Stannis said, pushing Jon out of the room, tossing him to the floor. He closed and locked the door behind him.

Jon pounded on the door for a while, yelling. He didn’t trust them. He didn’t want them to hurt her worse. Ella had been through enough, and if she couldn’t die in peace, then there could not be gods. No one deserved more peace than Ella.

After a while, Jon just leaned against the door and listened. He could hear chanting, but it was too quiet for him to hear the words, even as it grew louder, the sounds just morphed together in some language he could not figure out.

Daenerys walked towards Jon, and sat down next to him. Ser Barristan next to her. It was late at night by now, and all that could be done after the battle for the day was done. But instead of resting, she had gone to see Jon.

“Do not fear, she could not get worse, she could only get better.” Daenerys told him. “It’s worth a shot at least, to save someone you love.” She looked up to Barristan. “I am fine here, dead Ser. Jon will make sure no one takes off my head.”

“She’s been through so much, Dany.” Jon told her, shaking his head. “I don’t know if I could have survived what she has gone through.”

“But didn’t you survive it with her?”

“Most of it I just witnessed.” Jon told her honestly. “I saw her lose a child. I saw her have a child. I saw her when she found out her brothers and sister were her half brothers and sister. I watched as her heart broke and she could do nothing about it. I saw her give up a man she loves because even if he was hers, she could not trust him anymore. I saw her leave her son behind. A son she loves more than anything, and in that son everyone can see his father so clearly. Can you imagine that? Having someone you love so much look like someone who you cannot have and cannot trust?”

“When you’re a mother you don’t care.” Daenerys told him. “You’re the child’s mother. You love the child no matter what they may look like.”

Jon looked at Daenerys. “You don’t know what her and Robb were like together. They were stronger together than they ever could be apart. Everything went wrong when she went back to Winterfell to have Ned.”

“How can you be stronger with someone else?” Daenerys asked. “You can only be strong on your own.”

“Sometimes you need to be able to fall back on someone.” Jon told her. They took turns being strong for the other. They were equals in a way that most marriages couldn’t have.”

“Are you in love with her?” Daenerys asked.

Jon shook his head. “She’s my sister, I just know her too well.”

“Have you ever been in love?”

“I never had the chance. No woman would look at me if my brother was the heir to Winterfell.” Jon told her honestly. 

“And...you’ve never...had a woman?” Daenerys looked like she was trying to word it carefully.

“No.”

“Why?”

“Because I have never been married, and I know how it feels to be a bastard. I don’t want my child to be a bastard. If the woman ever became pregnant, I would not be able to bear it.” Jon told her.

“You have honor, Jon.”

“Right now that isn’t the best thing to tell me.” Jon told Dany. “Everyone always says how honorable Robb is--was. Now he has been ruined because he had to be honorable.”

“What he did you Ella was wrong,” Daenerys agreed. “But you are not like your brother.” 

Jon looked at her for a moment. “You don’t even know him.”

“But from what you and Ella have told me, I know you could never do those things.” Dany whispered, her eyes flicking to his lips. “Not to me, not to her, not to anyone.”

Jon paused a moment, before taking the opportunity to kiss her, softly and sweetly.

The door swung open, and there stood Stannis. “It worked.”

Jon and Dany stood and rushed inside the room.

Ella was still unconscious, but her chest was making much larger movements, and come color back in her cheeks. The wound on her face was still there, but the veins around it had disappeared. Like magic.

“She’s alive.” Jon whispered.