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Melisandre's voice echoed through the empty Hand's Tower, carrying that faint, half-mad quality of a true believer.
Lynn looked into those burning red eyes and nearly laughed out loud.
I'm the prince that was promised?
How the hell would I know that?
That Lord of Light of yours , sounds like a fraud to me.
Oh, wait. I'm the fraud. Which means this is me conning myself.
His face gave away nothing.
He looked at the red-robed woman calmly. He had a role to play here , the savior who already knew everything and could only feel pity for the ignorance of mortals. Charlatans everywhere ran the same routine.
"You came all the way from Dragonstone just to tell me this?"
Melisandre's red eyes flared with fresh intensity.
She read his composure as confirmation. Of course he already knew. He knows his own destiny. He's simply been waiting , waiting for the right moment. Not like that fool Stannis, who had ambition and nothing else, shackled by hollow sentiment.
"Yes."
Her voice trembled.
"I followed a false king. Now I have found the true light."
She walked toward him as she spoke, slow and deliberate. Her gaze held the look of a worshipper approaching their god.
As she drew closer, Lynn's attention dropped to the stone at her throat , a ruby roughly the size of a pigeon's egg. It didn't sit still the way a gemstone should. Something moved inside it, a slow pulse of flame, radiating faint warmth and light. In the dimness of the Hand's Tower, it was impossible to miss.
He knew exactly what that was. A very good item.
"That thing on your neck," Lynn said, reaching out to point at it. "Interesting."
Melisandre stiffened almost imperceptibly.
She lowered her head and touched the ruby, her fingers gentle. Her expression became complicated.
Reliance. Reverence.
"It is a gift from the Lord of Light." She lifted her head. "And the source of my life. I have lived for over a thousand years. As long as I wear it, I keep my youth — untouched by age or decay." She paused. "But if I lose it, I revert to what I truly am. Instantly. Nothing but dry bones."
Just as expected.
She had told Varys she had lived for hundreds of years, that she was born in Volantis near Slaver's Bay. In a private conversation later, she had told Arya the truth more plainly: over four hundred years old. But certain things she said suggested she hadn't just read about historical events , she had lived through them. Her real age was likely well past a thousand.
Lynn filed that away. The ruby was her life-extension cheat.
"There are many more stones like this one," Melisandre added. "Shades of Asshai, in my homeland. Any of them, once blessed by the Lord of Light, can do the same thing."
Many more in Asshai?
Lynn's eyes sharpened just slightly. That was worth knowing.
He rose from his seat and walked toward her. He had a full head of height on her. Standing this close, at this angle, the effect was unmistakable , Melisandre felt it like the shadow of something enormous falling over her. Her breath caught.
Lynn said nothing.
He simply reached out and touched the ruby with one finger. Lightly. Just a brush of contact against warm stone.
The moment his fingertip met it ,
A blue panel snapped open in front of him. Visible only to him.
[Ding! Detected: 'Lord of Light' Authority Fragment (Incomplete)]
[Decompose?]
[Decomposition yields: Skill , Eternal Youth / Magic , Flame Rekindling]
The words hit him like a physical blow.
Holy shit.
Eternal Youth?
Resurrection magic?!
What in the actual hell , what kind of god-tier abilities are these?
Even if Flame Rekindling was just a low-tier resurrection spell , it was still resurrection. An extra life. And more than that, it wasn't a one-use ability.
Lynn's heart hammered against his ribs. His hand wasn't quite steady.
Decompose. Obviously decompose. Hand it over right now.
But just as his mind reached for "Yes" ,
He remembered what she had just said.
Lose the stone. Die.
She used the ruby necklace to hold her form , young, beautiful, striking. The few times she had been completely alone, the illusion had slipped. Beneath it: an ancient, withered thing. Sparse hair. Skin like parchment. Barely recognizable as human.
Take the Shade of Asshai, and she would age to death on the spot.
Lynn's hand went still.
He looked at the woman in front of him.
Extraordinary figure. Beautiful face. A rare mage.
Kill her for two skills?
That felt... wrong, actually. Like a bad trade.
A living, breathing asset who could provide real, ongoing value , wasn't that worth more than two static abilities on a panel? She'd already said it herself: Asshai had more. He could go there eventually, decompose every stone in the city. Might get skills he couldn't even imagine yet.
Gutting a resource this useful for a shortcut , that was picking up loose coins and dropping gold.
Not worth it.
Definitely not worth it.
Still. The ruby was genuinely tempting.
He wanted the woman.
He wanted the stone too.
Lynn withdrew his hand.
The battle inside him was real.
He looked at her steadily.
"You say you've found the true light."
"Why should I believe you?"
"How do I know you won't do to me what you did to him , one day, when it's convenient?"
The color drained from Melisandre's face.
Lynn's eyes were looking through her, not at her. She felt it like cold water.
He doubts me. He's testing me. If I can't prove my loyalty here, he'll turn me away , write me off as an opportunist and throw me out like nothing.
No.
I finally found him. The true prince that was promised. After everything.
I cannot lose this.
A desperate idea surfaced in her mind. She needed to prove herself. Completely. Without reservation.
She dropped to her knees before him.
The sound of it echoed in the empty hall.
She raised her head. Those red eyes burned with absolute resolve, with the fanaticism of a martyr who had already made her choice.
Then she reached up and began to undo her robe.
"My master—"
The robe fell away. The body beneath it was flawless , pale and perfect as carved ivory. Her voice shook with the force of what she was offering.
"My body. My soul. Everything I am. It all belongs to you."
"From this day, I am your most humble and loyal servant."
Even as she spoke, her hands moved to the ruby at her throat , the stone that was keeping her alive. No hesitation. Not the faintest tremor of doubt.
"If you need proof of my loyalty—"
She unclasped the necklace. Held the ruby in both palms. Raised it above her head.
"Then take it."
"To give my life for you is the highest honor I could ever receive."
Her voice rang through the hall and faded into silence.
Martyr's ecstasy. Absolute devotion.
Lynn looked at the woman kneeling before him , bare, unguarded, holding her own life out to him with both hands. He looked at the flush across her face, at those flame-lit eyes.
He had absolutely no idea what to do.
➤ Next: Hand It Over
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