~~~Night, Artys's Cabin~~~
I sat at the table, tapping my fingers against the wood, watching the closed door.
On the table sat the two dragon eggs, resting on red-hot coal placed on a metal tray. The bronze one caught the candlelight and held it. The silver one sat still and pale beside it.
The door opened. Kinvara and Soyrn came in together, cloaked. In the hall behind them stood Unsullied at their posts, still as carved stone.
"Ñuha āeksio," Kinvara said, bowing her head slightly. Soyrn did the same.
My prince.
"How many times do I have to tell you call me my lord. Or master," I said, irritated. "Not my prince. Not in public, not in private. Nowhere."
The last thing I needed was the Arryn household guard hearing that.
"You said that only in public," she replied with a smirk.
"How do we start?" I said, ignoring her.
The sooner this was done, the better.
"The ceremony requires three things," she said, placing her bag on the table. "Fire, blood, and a life."
"A life?" Soyrn asked, straightening in his chair.
"Yes. To waken a life, a life must be given. That is the way of it." She moved toward the eggs, studying them carefully, her fingers hovering just above the surface without touching.
"Soyrn those pirates we captured on the way here. Where are they?"
"Bottom deck. In the cells," he replied.
"Bring them here."
"Wait." I stopped him before he reached the door and turned to Kinvara. "How many do you need?"
It was a good thing I hadn't had those idiots killed already. They had attacked us in their small boats despite seeing the full size of the fleet — absolute fools, but useful ones as it turned out.
"Two would be enough," she replied without looking up from the eggs.
"You heard her. Go."
While Soyrn was gone, Kinvara reached into her bag and withdrew a curved dragonglass dagger and placed it on the table beside the eggs without a word.
"The fire we have," she said, nodding toward the coals. "The blood will be yours — a few drops only."
"Zȳhon ānogar Valyrīo, māzīs iksi hen belmurtot, naejot tubion ñuhi ōños." she said.
The blood of Old Valyria, even diluted as it is, is enough to awaken the life within them.
"And the life?"
"They will arrive soon," I said.
The door opened again. Soyrn returned with four Unsullied and Kaelen behind them, dragging two bruised and barely conscious men, dried blood crusted on their faces.
"Are these two alive?" I asked, looking at them.
"Only unconscious, master. They resisted when we pulled them from the cell, so Kaelen was rather firm with them," Soyrn replied, glancing at one of the Unsullied.
"I only need their lives. It doesn't matter if they're unconscious," Kinvara said, already moving.
She picked up a wine cup and poured it slowly over both eggs. Where the wine touched the hot surface, it hissed and turned to steam.
What the hell why pour wine on it?
Then she closed her eyes and began to chant — words I didn't recognize, older than anything I had heard from her before. The syllables ran together like water over stone.
"Zȳhon ānogar, ñuha āeksio." Her eyes opened and found mine.
Your blood. Three drops would suffice, my prince.
I picked up the dragonglass knife from the table and drew it across my left palm, then let the blood fall over both eggs one by one.
First onto the bronze.
Then the silver.
Where it touched, the blood didn't run off. It sank into the shell and disappeared, like water into dry earth. For a moment, the faint lines on the surface glowed slightly deeper, then faded again.
"I think I've given more than three drops," I said.
She didn't reply. Her eyes moved to the Unsullied standing over the two unconscious men on the floor.
"Yne gīmī." she whispered.
The sacrifice.
"You heard her. Do it," I ordered, stepping back.
The Unsullied moved without hesitation, driving their spears cleanly through the chests of both men.
Kinvara ended her chant in the same breath, and from the fireplace behind us, threads of silver light drifted out — slow and strange curling across the floor and wrapping around both eggs like smoke that had forgotten which way was up.
Then everything went still.
The light faded. The smoke vanished. The eggs sat exactly as they had before.
The cabin fell silent except for the creak of the ship and the distant sound of the sea.
~~ Five Minutes Later ~~
Soyrn, Kinvara, and I stood around the table, staring at the eggs.
"I had my doubts," Soyrn said flatly. "Master, I believe she has taken us for fools. I know her kind and their tricks—"
"You have lived in Volantis, Master Soyrn. You know our magic is real," Kinvara replied calmly.
"I don't doubt the magic. I doubt your ability to bring back dragons," he said, smiling politely at her.
Before either of them could continue, I noticed something.
A crack. On both eggs. At the same moment.
The sound made everyone in the cabin turn. Even the Unsullied at the door looked over.
A bronze head pushed through the shell first — narrow and sharp-featured, its scales the deep reddish-brown of old copper, still slick and catching the firelight. The shell fragment balanced on its head for a moment before it shook free.
Two amber eyes blinked open, slow and scanning, taking in the room with the careful look of something seeing the world for the first time.
From the silver egg, a tail came first, pale as moonlight, curling free of the broken shell. The rest followed — smaller than its bronze sibling, more delicate in build, its scales fine and close-set, shimmering faintly silver where the fire touched them.
When its eyes opened, they were a pale grey, almost colourless, like light through winter cloud.
Both hatchlings stepped out fully and stood on the hot coals beneath them without flinching.
The bronze one opened its mouth — a sound between a hiss and a cry, small and sharp. The silver one turned toward it and answered, softer.
"Ahrrr." The sound filled the quiet cabin.
I stepped closer and crouched down, bringing myself level with them.
They looked at me.
Then both moved forward, stumbling slightly on unsteady legs, wings half-spread for balance.
The bronze one pressed its snout against my fingers warm, dry, scales smooth as worked leather. It made a low sound in its throat and held still.
I held still too.
I looked up at Soyrn.
His eyes were wet.
"Finally," he said quietly. "The dream of Lady Athenodora has come true." He spoke my maternal grandmother's name the way men speak the names of the dead they loved.
"Aōt Sir Jaehōs gīmī, ñuha āeksio. Āeksio ōño ānogar iōragon ondossa." Kinvara whispered beside me.
The Lord of Light has blessed you, my prince. The prince that was promised has brought dragons back into the world.
I looked at the two of them for a long moment and for once I had nothing clever to say.
I straightened up.
"Not one word of this leaves this cabin," I said, looking at each of them in turn. "No one comes near this deck. And make absolutely certain Lord Royce does not find out."
"And if the King learns of it?" Soyrn asked quietly. "If any man in the realm learns dragons have returned, they will stop at nothing to take them — or destroy them."
"Mantarys," I said.
"Hidden in the New Valyria. People avoid it for a reason — the ruins, the darkness, the stories of monsters and killers. No one goes there willingly. We take Elyria and Tolos first. Then Mantarys. Until then, the dragons stay in this room."
The realm was still at peace. There was still time before the chaos came. I would raise them in silence, away from every eye in Westeros and Essos that would move against them if they knew.
I looked at the two small creatures.
The bronze had curled up against my hand and closed its eyes. The silver had already found the warmest part of the metal sheet, tucked its head beneath one wing, and gone to sleep.
Two dragons. Both mine.
"I get why you chose Mantarys," Soyrn said cautiously, "but that place is avoided for a reason. It won't be easy to hide them there. And once they grow, people will notice."
"Then where do you think I should hide them where they can grow in peace?" I asked.
"Asshai," Kinvara interjected. "I have followers of the Lord of Light there. We can use them. The city is vast, empty in parts, and feared. It would be perfect."
She added, "No one would dare interfere there."
I looked at Soyrn.
He nodded slowly.
"Asshai is far. Even from Slaver's Bay. But safer than Mantarys."
"Then it is decided," I said. "Asshai it is."
"Though we will need a fleet capable of supplying them without drawing attention," Soyrn added.
"I will take care of that," he said with a small bow.
"Should we name them then?" Kinvara asked with a small smile, looking at the dragons. "A name befitting such mighty beings that will make the world kneel."
"I am open to suggestions," I said, sitting back down and carefully picking up the bronze dragon, placing it on my lap.
I exhaled slowly.
Well.
I finally have the nukes.
POV Ends