A moon had passed since the weirwood tree had been planted. After Jaehaerys' arrival, the death toll stopped rising. At first, the workers remained cautious, though hopeful. As the days passed, their belief in the Lords of Harrenhal was renewed, not only in Jaehaerys, but even Daenerys became beloved by the people.
But Jaehaerys was treated almost like a deity. A mystique began to grow around him. He was the first and only man to have entered and left the Isle of Faces alive. Letters had even arrived from the citadel urging him to recount what he had seen inside the island. The letters became dismissive when the curse of Harrenhal was mentioned.
"Superstition and accidents. Magic has been dead for hundreds of years," said the maesters.
The prince seemed to find no satisfaction in rest, and the few times he left his estate were rare and mainly because Princess Daenerys forced him to take some time off.
"The old tree has grown almost twelve feet in a single moon," the princess massaged her husband's back.
The man was immersed in a book given to him by the man from the island. It turned out that the chest contained a set of books and artifacts from ancient Valyria, as well as others from the First Men. They were not about history, but about magic and dragons. They were academic books, which made them slightly complicated, as they used unfamiliar concepts and words. He felt like a biologist reading an advanced math book.
Jaehaerys already knew how to speak and read High Valyrian, but it was a surprise to him to be able to understand the books of the first men. They were a set of runes, similar to the Norse alphabet of his previous world. How could he read it? He attributed it to a gift from the gods of nature.
"And it will grow much more," said the prince.
"Is it true that it frees the souls of Harren's victims?" Dany had heard this before, but she was still a little skeptical. The fear that the death toll would resume made her hug him tightly every night.
"That's what the green man said. True or not, I have no way of knowing," he sighed with pleasure as he felt the princess's tender hands massage a knot of muscles.
"And the magic you read, is it real?" The princess had glanced at the books. However, she focused more on those about dragons.
"It is. Although Valyria requires human sacrifices, as exemplified by Harrenhal, I can assume that the Doom of Valyria was due to a similar condition. They abused magic so much that it ended up exploding in their faces," said Jae. He wore two pieces of glass in front of his eyes, held together by a wooden strip.
Medieval glasses. Dany had asked for some for herself, just out of vanity, as she thought her husband looked handsome in them. She asked for them more emphatically when she learned that they would relieve her headache when reading and make the letters easier to read.
"I don't want you to sacrifice anyone. Although perhaps Lady Whent would do," said Daenerys.
Jaehaerys thought of a funeral pyre, with Mirri Moz Dur replaced by Lady Shella. Only one substitute was needed for Khal Drogo, who would become Daenerys' husband in the books. He would love to contribute to the rebirth of the dragons, but he valued his own life.
"I'm afraid we'll have to wait for her to die of old age; hopefully, it won't be long." his mood soured.
He felt bad wishing death on someone, but the old woman seemed even meaner after the curse stopped. Her sharp tongue continued to haunt them. Jaehaerys was about to lock her in a tower and not tell anyone; they could find her in the ruins of the tower when they brought the stone to the walls.
"Can't you send her away?" asked the princess. Her hands began to wander over his chest, losing themselves under his woolen shirt.
"As much as I wish I could, giving her a home until the day she dies was part of the deal for Harrenhal," Jaehaerys sometimes wished the woman were alive.
He wanted her to see him transform the castle into something she could never have imagined, even in her wildest dreams.
"That home can be outside Harrenhal," Dany whispered in his ear.
Lately, the girl had begun to use her femininity more to keep him close. He knew she wasn't doing it out of a desire to manipulate him, but rather to stay near him. The curse had damaged her and created a fear of abandonment.
"This is the first time you've tried to seduce me to change my mind," his voice sounded firm. He felt the princess pull away. "You've spent too much time with Ros," he scolded her.
"Once Cersei said that my greatest weapon was between my legs," the girl didn't even understand why she said such a thing.
It was a need to justify her actions. "Do you think Cersei is a good example? You can ask Serena about her," Jaehaerys sighed heavily. She lowered her gaze. "Lady Shella will stay at Harrenhal. If you had made your point without trying to manipulate me, it might have worked." He didn't want this behavior to become a habit.
If he wanted a woman who sought to manipulate him, he would have taken Margaery Tyrell as his wife.
"Ros said—"
"Ros did it to get gold and pretty dresses," he decided he would have a serious talk with the redhead. "Ros is not my wife. Lately, I've had a lot of lords wanting a piece of the Harrenhal lands. I have to be cautious around them. Do I also have to be on guard against my wife?" It was harsh, but he considered it necessary.
Dany was a good person. Even living in King's Landing, she had managed to retain a certain innocence, and he didn't want that to change, not around him.
He felt the girl's arms wrap around him. He turned to look at her. She had a look of sadness, anger, and regret on her face.
"I'm sorry," he heard her whisper.
"Until now, I've trusted you. I don't want that to change. If you want something, you can ask for it, but don't mix our affairs as husband and wife with our affairs as lord and lady." He took her hands in his and kissed them.
'It's not surprising. In the other story, Dany manipulates Khal Drogo into agreeing to certain things that go against the very foundations of the Dothraki,' the idea of his wife married to another man bothered him.
In the silence of the embrace, the prince's thoughts continued to what he knew about the world into which he had been reincarnated.
His memories of the books and the series served him well, not for the plot or to guess the future. The world was so different that he could hardly imagine what would happen.
Jaehaerys, despite his differences with his older brother, would recognize that Rhaegar was a better king than Robert Baratheon could ever be.
The stag never put his fat ass on the throne. Westeros was not in debt; it remained a prosperous region. Although over the years, Baelish could make a dent in that, it would not be soon. Jaehaerys had to consider two things: whether to prepare for war or to prepare to win it, or both.
He would like to argue that war was avoidable, but it wasn't.
He had even sent assassins after Littlefinger and Varys. The assassins failed, plunging the court into chaos for a time. They did not discover who sent them; Jae covered his tracks well. But those two men were his greatest challenge. They were not easy to eliminate.
"How have your studies with Qyburn been?" he asked, breaking the moment.
And the girl seemed to regain her confidence, starting to talk about the pipes. Dany had even searched for copper mines within her territory to produce pipes. Jaehaerys listened to her in silence, intervening from time to time when the girl seemed to forget something or to suggest ideas.
They were a young couple, just like Harrenhal, their foundations still being laid.