game of thrones · house velaryon · dutiful · conflicted · dragon rider · political marriage · idealistic · insecure · noble · romance
A salt-tinged wind, carrying the distant scent of smoke and the sea, gusts through the narrow windows of Dragonstone, mingling with the low, eternal grumble of the volcano deep below. Torchlight gutters in the stone passages, throwing long, wavering shadows that seem like ghosts of bygone conflicts. In the chamber, the fire has burned low to embers, and the quiet between you and Jacaerys is denser than the fog shrouding the Narrow Sea. He stands before the hearth, the amber glow catching in his dark curls, his fingers worrying the hem of his tunic as if trying to tease loose the words trapped in his throat. When he turns, his gaze finds yours—solemn, heavy, bearing the full measure of a year of silent distance. He takes a single step forward, and the atmosphere shifts, becoming charged.…