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A thunderous roar split the air.
Three enormous beasts descended from the sky, whipping up a violent gust as they landed atop the wall beside the Dragonpit.
They climbed down step by step, a little awkward in movement, but there was nothing clumsy about the sheer force they radiated.
Wild, primal, unmistakably the presence of apex predators. The sight alone made several faces in the gathering visibly pale.
If Jimmy's arrival had been striking because the man looked impressive, then Daenerys's arrival was something else entirely.
It was the dragons that looked magnificent.
Only then did Cersei truly understand what Jaime had faced on the Rose Road.
Only then did she understand why they had dared come to King's Landing and bargain with her at all.
The soldiers she relied on so heavily likely would not survive a single breath from one of those creatures.
Fine.
Then she would hear them out and see what they wanted.
This was still her city. They had come without invitation. Surely they were not planning to call it a negotiation and attempt an assassination.
That would violate the old laws of noble conduct.
Cersei, naturally, had remembered the rules only when they suited her. This from a woman who had once sworn before the Seven and broken that oath without hesitation.
Then again, she had learned from Tywin, and Tywin had never been a man overly burdened by principles either. Otherwise, there would never have been any bloody wedding plot with the Freys in the first place.
Once everyone had taken their seats, Cersei cast another glance at the three dragons circling overhead and steadied herself.
"Go on, then," she said with a sneer. "We're not children frightened by stories in the dark. Don't expect to scare me with tales of White Walkers."
"This is no tale," came the reply. "It's the truth."
Two large crates were carried forward and set in the center of the gathering.
Then Sandor and Sigorn each drove a boot into one.
The crates toppled over.
A horrifying snarl burst out.
It was hard to believe it, but the two wights inside, little more than rotting skeletons at this point, were still moving, and moving quickly.
More unsettling still, they no longer even had the organs needed to make sound, yet they were still screaming.
It was not a voice at all.
It was the shriek of something unnatural, something that felt as if it came from the soul itself.
Only their icy blue eyes remained fully intact.
Those were the only parts of them that still looked complete.
One of the wights lunged straight at Cersei, only to be yanked back by Sigorn.
The other made for Jaime, startling even him badly enough that he recoiled against his chair before Sandor dragged it away as well.
The two wights twisted free again and came clawing back toward Sigorn and Sandor.
Both men drew ordinary steel swords from their waists.
One hacked off a wight's legs.
The other sliced his target in half at the waist.
And still the things writhed.
Still, they screamed.
Then Robb stepped forward.
"So. You understand now that this isn't some trick."
He looked around the chamber as he spoke.
"The Crownlands, the Riverlands, Casterly Rock, the North. How many people live in all those lands combined? Ten million, perhaps?"
"And beneath those lands, how many dead lie buried? More than even the old gods and the Seven could ever count."
"Beyond the Wall, everything that once breathed has become one of these."
"If we do not stand together and stop them, then even if you win the Iron Throne, this is all you will have left to rule."
He gestured toward the wights writhing on the floor.
"This is no longer a game of crowns. It is a matter of survival."
"If we lose this war, then any victory you win afterward will mean nothing."
He stepped closer to the remains.
"As you can see, ordinary steel cannot kill them."
"There are only two reliable ways to destroy them. One is fire."
Qyburn himself stepped forward to light the torch Robb held out. Robb lowered it to the severed legs still twitching on the stone.
The flames took hold quickly.
Only then did the legs stop moving.
"The other," Robb said, lifting his gaze again, "is dragonglass."
Robb held up the dragonglass dagger for all to see. One strike was enough. The weight went still.
"And yes," he continued, "there is one other way. Valyrian steel can kill them as well."
He drew the sword at his waist and drove it cleanly into the creature.
One by one, Robb demonstrated every known way to destroy the dead. Then he looked up and spoke with finality.
"If we do not unite the strength of all Westeros, this war cannot be won."
"If you do not wish to end up like that, then set aside these pointless rivalries for now."
He let the words settle, then said, "Now make your choice."
Cersei studied him coldly.
"King in the North. Robb Stark. And what exactly is your role in all this?"
"They are beyond the Wall. You and I are still enemies. Not long ago, your people attacked our grain convoys and pushed hundreds of thousands in King's Landing toward hunger."
"And now you ask for peace? You ask me to send my armies to fight alongside yours?"
Her voice sharpened.
"How am I supposed to know you won't throw my men away as cannon fodder?"
"And even if you don't, what guarantee do I have that they'll ever come back?"
Then came the real point.
"If you would swear fealty to me. To the Iron Throne…"
Robb stared at her as she kept pressing for submission, and for a moment he could barely believe what he was hearing.
Did she truly have so little self-awareness?
From pushing Bran out of a tower… to Ned's death… to imprisoning Sansa… to hunting Arya…
Without Jimmy, House Stark would have been wiped from the world. And now she still had the nerve to speak of loyalty.
At last, Robb turned toward Daenerys.
"My apologies," he said, "but I cannot swear myself to two queens."
"The North has already bent the knee to Daenerys Targaryen."
He paused, then continued.
"However, because of the assurances once given to Tyrion, the armies of the North will not take part in the struggle for the Iron Throne."
"But the Riverlands belong to House Tully. And because the North rode south, the Riverlands were dragged into this ruin."
"So the North will help House Tully restore order there."
Cersei's expression hardened.
"So there is no agreement to be had."
She rose from her seat.
"You said it yourself. The dead are still north of the Wall. If anyone is ruined first, it will be you."
"Do what you like, If you manage to destroy them, I'll be grateful."
With that, she turned and walked away.
Jimmy watched her go, then circled a finger beside his temple and gave a helpless little look that said everything.
Daenerys turned to Robb, her face stern.
"You should not have handled that so bluntly. I appreciate your loyalty, but a ruler must know when to bend."
Jimmy snorted.
"Oh, come on, Your Grace. Do you really think that if Robb had swallowed his pride and sworn to her, she would have joined the war?"
"Not a chance."
"She was looking for an excuse."
He counted it off plainly.
"If Robb had agreed, then the very next day she'd demand Bran, Rickon, Sansa, and Arya be sent to King's Landing as hostages."
"She'd put on a show and name Ned Hand of the King, all while tightening a leash around every Stark she could reach."
He looked in the direction Cersei had gone.
"She's a madwoman. No bottom line. No rules."
"If I hadn't promised Tyrion, I'd have solved this already, then gathered all the bannermen and shown them the wights."
"That would've been far easier than trying to reason with Cersei."
The moment those words left his mouth, Tyrion nearly went pale.
It was not that he feared Jimmy would break his word.
Jimmy might act detached, as though the whole world amused him from a distance, but when he made a promise, he kept it.
He had said that as long as Tyrion served as Hand, the North would stay out of the struggle for the Iron Throne, except to reclaim the Riverlands for House Tully.
He had also said that as long as Cersei did not provoke him, he would not kill her.
Tyrion believed him.
Jimmy, with Horus at his side, absolutely had the power to kill anyone in Westeros.
And if he said he would refrain, then he would.
The problem was that not everyone else would show the same restraint.
Because Jimmy was not the only one here who could kill Cersei.
There was also Daenerys.
And she had come with three dragons.
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