Lo Quen's smile faded, his expression turning grave. "No. I want you to fight to survive, to fight for all the living. The Long Night is coming. The army of the dead will march south. Sandor Clegane, it's time to make your choice. Will you be buried with the past, or will you fight for the future?"
Sandor fell silent for a moment, studying the man seated on the throne.
There was something in the other man's calm, in the weight of his words, that struck a nerve.
After all his mockery just now, Lo Quen had shown no anger at all. That alone spoke volumes about his character.
Sandor licked his cracked lips and raised his rough, hoarse voice. "Fine. I'll do it. But I want wine. Enough to drink my fill."
"As much as you want."
Lo Quen agreed without hesitation and gestured to Luo Wen.
Luo Wen stepped forward and, with a single swing of his sword, cut through the rope binding the Hound.
Sandor rubbed his numbed wrists and bared his teeth in a grin.
Lo Quen's gaze turned cold as it shifted to Addam Marbrand, who had remained silent, contempt written plainly in his eyes. "Ser Addam Marbrand, acting on Tywin's orders, you launched a surprise attack on the Reach. Your methods were brutal, and countless nobles and smallfolk died as a result. By the laws of the Seven Kingdoms, I should sentence you to death. But winter cares nothing for law, only for numbers. I will give you a chance to atone with your sword in the coming war. What is your choice?"
Nearby, Tyrion watched Addam Marbrand below the dais, his expression conflicted.
He had just learned of Damion's death, and a quiet grief weighed on his heart.
Though Damion's house was not closely tied to his by blood, he was still a Lannister. Tyrion had never expected that even he would fall.
Addam lifted his head. His gaze passed over Lo Quen and locked onto Tyrion, standing in the shadows at the king's side. He let out a cold laugh, his eyes brimming with undisguised hatred. "Surrender to a foreign invader and a little monster who murdered his own kin? Don't make me laugh. I am a knight of the Westerlands. I choose loyalty. I choose death."
His words rang out, heavy with the stubborn pride of a Westerlands knight.
Lo Quen's face darkened completely, the last trace of patience draining from his eyes.
He looked to Luo Wen and gave a slight nod.
Just as Luo Wen was about to draw his sword, Sandor Clegane stepped forward on his own, grinning. "Give it to me, my lord. This kind of filthy work suits me just fine."
Luo Wen glanced at Lo Quen. After receiving silent approval, he handed over the sword hilt.
Sandor weighed the greatsword in his hand and walked toward Addam.
Addam spat on the ground. "Lannister traitor. What right do you have to execute me?"
Sandor burst into wild laughter, the sound echoing through the hall. "Because the Lannister name stinks worse than the scar on my bloody face!"
Before the echo faded, the greatsword came down with a roaring sweep.
Blood splashed across the cold stone floor.
Tyrion turned his head away, a tangle of emotions crossing his face.
He was not only mourning the death of a loyal knight, but also grieving for everything the name Lannister had come to represent. Through the deeds of his father and Cersei, it had rotted beyond redemption, reduced to a stinking joke.
He looked toward Lo Quen on the throne and suddenly understood why the king had allowed Myrcella to inherit Casterly Rock under the name of Baratheon.
Tyrion did not believe for a moment that Lo Quen was unaware of Myrcella's true bloodline.
...
That night, Lo Quen was staying in a high chamber of the Kingspyre Tower.
Jaelena, Janice, Daenerys, and Chai Yiq were all there.
Jaelena took Daenerys's hand, her voice bright with surprise. "Dany, I didn't expect you to make it back. Where are Ynys, Sansa, and Myrcella?"
Daenerys's silver-gold hair flowed softly in the moonlight spilling in through the window. She smiled, though there was a hint of playful reproach in it. "Roslin and Lynesse are close to their due dates. Ynys, Sansa, and Myrcella are at Conquest Keep helping to look after them. Not like certain people who've been so busy they couldn't even send a word."
Her violet eyes flicked toward Lo Quen, and she blinked meaningfully.
Lo Quen rubbed his nose, a trace of guilt passing through him.
His women were about to give birth, yet he was still far away at war.
But he quickly steadied himself. He had already given them everything he could give.
Titles, status, and a secure future for their children.
"All right, Dany…"
He smiled. "Stop teasing me. I'll write to Conquest Keep at once and wish Roslin and Lynesse a safe delivery."
He already had everything planned out.
After Oldtown was sacked by the Ironborn and House Hightower wiped out, Lynesse's second child would inherit all that remained of House Hightower.
As for Roslin's children, they would bear the responsibility of ruling the Riverlands, Harrenhal, and The Twins.
At the thought of The Twins, his eyes turned cold. The debt owed by House Frey would be settled once and for all when they marched north through the Neck.
His gaze shifted to the three fossilized dragon eggs resting on a velvet cushion in the center of the room.
One was deep bronze, one a soft, lustrous green, and the last a clear sea-blue, like three massive gemstones.
He looked at Chai Yiq and said, "Choose one."
Chai Yiq paused.
Among all the Flame Knights, she was the only one without a dragon assigned to her in name.
The dragon she rode, Ashshadow, belonged to Lo Quen. She merely held it in trust.
She understood this was a reward and an acknowledgment from her husband, the King.
She stepped forward, her gaze lingering over the three eggs before finally settling on the sea-blue one.
Something about its color stirred her heart.
"This one," she said softly, her fingertips carefully touching the cold, stone-like surface. "It reminds me of the Hidden Sea by Carcosa, the color of its deepest and calmest depths."
Lo Quen took the sea-blue dragon egg. It was cold and heavy in his hands.
He focused his mind, and the vast Magic within him surged like a roaring river, pouring through his palm into the egg.
The skill [Dragonbond Lineage] was activated!
In an instant, the change was dramatic.
The fossilized egg began to heat up at an astonishing speed. Its surface was no longer lifeless stone but glowed with a soft blue light, as if a miniature ocean were sealed within.
Ever since the Black Stone in Oldtown had been activated, the world's magical tides had grown increasingly violent. Now, Lo Quen could clearly feel the dense Magic of the outside world being greedily drawn into the egg, hastening the hatching.
A faint cracking sound rang out as fine fissures spread rapidly across the shell.
Soon, a small head covered in sapphire-like scales broke through and emerged.
It let out a light, clear hiss, and a pair of eyes like molten blue crystal curiously took in the world.
Daenerys and Jaelena couldn't help but crowd closer, gasping in wonder.
The little creature was breathtakingly beautiful.
It continued struggling until it finally freed itself from the shell.
Its body was slender and elegant, every scale polished like the finest sapphire, pure and translucent, catching the light in shifting, radiant hues.
Its wings were not thick membranes but possessed a strange, semi-transparent quality, glowing with a dreamy pink-blue tint. When spread, they looked like two pieces of crystal brushed by sunset.
This young dragon was even more beautiful than the famed purple dragon, Duskshadow. It carried a purity and nobility untouched by dust or filth, as though it did not belong to the mortal world at all.
Chai Yiq reached out and gently stroked the dragon's neck.
The hatchling seemed to revel in her touch, rubbing its small head against her fingers and letting out soft, purring sounds.
Clumsily pushing aside the fragments of its shell, it curled into Chai Yiq's arms and closed its eyes, as if ready to fall asleep right then and there.
Lo Quen watched the scene with a satisfied smile. "Give it a name."
Chai Yiq tilted her head, gazing at the warm blue miracle in her arms, tenderness rippling through her eyes. "Let's call it Seaheart, the heart of the sea."
"Seaheart…"
Lo Quen repeated the name softly. Dany and Jaelena nodded in approval.
The name suited it perfectly.
As deep as the ocean, as precious as a gemstone, a glimmer of hope rising from the depths.
...
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