Chapter 247: Stannis and Edward
If something happened to the king, Raymont was the one who would take his position.
"Uncle, what should we do? I have never seen a father like this before." Said Raymont as he looked at his uncle beside him. He did not look at Brienne because he himself did not know what to do. Raymont did not imagine that Varys's words would come true this fast, and he would have to face his mad father.
Stannis did not reply to Raymont's question but looked at the knight, kneeling on the ground. His brother, Edward, had told him many secrets and among them was his feeling towards his guard, Brienne. But Edward also told him about what happened between him and the lord of light.
"You know who did this, Lady Brienne?" Asked Stannis as he looked at the kneeling knight.
"I know, your highness." Said Brienne while gritting her teeth. Everyone could hear the sound of her gritting her teeth.
"Good, I will stop Edward, but I need you to deliver me her head. Can you do that?" Said Stannis as he turned his eyes towards his brother in the skies. It seemed it was finally his time to die because Edward had already trusted him with one last mission.
After hearing Stannis's words, although Brienne wanted to stay here and save her king, she knew she could not fight in a battle between dragons. Plus, she needed to kill that bitch with her own hand. That was why she nodded her head, but before she jumped on her horse, a group stopped her.
"We are coming with you." Said Oberyn, followed by his daughters. Not only did Oberyn lose a nephew, but they also lose a princess position. Oberyn and his nephew had taken a long time to persuade Theresa to marry into House Martel and promised her and many things, but she died in the end.
"But I will have Corenna for my own." Said Brienne before kicking her horse and moving in the direction of Harrenhal. Oberyn did not say anything before following her with the group from Dorne.
"Uncle, what do you think?" Asked Raymont after Brienne and the group left. He figured that his uncle knew something about this situation or he would not behave like that.
"After the battle against the dead, your father told me that he would turn mad if he lost another child. It was a curse from the lord of light. Your father asked me to kill him if that happens before he could hurt any of you as well." Said Stannis with a gloomy expression. He did not believe that what his brother was afraid of was about to happen.
Was Stannis going to kill Edward? Could he do that, even if he could?
At the moment, Stannis started to remember all their time they spent together and the battles and wars they went through to get to this point. Among the present, Stannis was the one who spent the most time with Edward and knew him quite well. That was why Edward trusted him with his condition. Edward could not find anyone better than Stannis to finish the job of killing him and ending his madness.
After hearing everything, Raymont and everyone's expression changed since they did not believe that they had to lose their father, as well. At this time, a sound came shouting at the group for even thinking about killing Edward.
"You can't do that!!!!!!" Shouted Jasmine as loud as she could when she heard Stannis's words. The girl was on the verge of a breakdown after hearing her uncle's words.
But Raymont, who saw no solution to this problem except going with what his father decided, ordered his men to restrain Jasmine and take her to the tent.
He could not allow Jasmine to ride her dragon, Stormshadow, and fight them while they tried to restrain their father.
"No!!!!! Leave me alone!!!" Shouted Jasmine as she tried to fight against Mark Flip, who listened to Raymont's words. Raymont was the king when Edward was in no condition to do that, and everyone listened to his words.
Stormshadow started making a ruckus after feeling her rider's emotions. But Raymont made his way to the dragon and stopped it.
"Stormshadow, please stop. I don't want to hurt you, and I don't want Jasmine to get hurt." Said Raymont in high Valyrian as he patted the dragon to stop him from doing anything before returning to his uncle's side.
"What is the plan, uncle?" Asked Raymont as he looked at Stannis, wanting to know if his father made the required plan to stop himself if anything was to happen.
"We have to act before King's Landing is completely destroyed, or the things would turn awful. Bantāzma and Gēlion should wake up after some time, but they would not allow us to hurt Edward. We should strike before that." Said Stannis as he walked to his dragon, Firestorm, and rose to the sky. The rest followed him on the top of their dragons.
Stannis's heart was bleeding because he had to kill his brother at this moment with his own hands. Stannis was not close to any one of his family except Edward and his mother, and he already lost his mother long ago.
Stannis admired and followed Edward with all his heart since the rebellion. He did not want to see him die, not by his hands at least.
When Stannis was facing Edward that day, Stannis could not believe a word Edward said.
After Edward asked him to kill him at any price at that time, Stannis wanted to punch Edward in the face for saying those words.
How could Edward ask him to do that? Stannis had lost his elder son not long ago, and Edward was asking him to kill his own brother. Stannis intended to ignore Edward's request until the end.
But after seeing Edward's madness while attacking King's Landing, he finally realized why his brother asked him to do that with his own hands. Edward's eyes were all white as if he was not there, and since the two dragons were bound to him by blood, they were the same, attacking and burning King's Landing and everyone living in it.
Stannis knew that Edward would attack anyone in this state, even his children. And Edward did not want to regret the last few hours of his life.
And Stannis's heart could only accept Edward's request because he saw how Edward got hurt badly after losing Lyonel and Theresa. Stannis himself felt that, and he thought that there was no meaning for his life. But Edward was much worse than him since he loved his children like nothing else, and witnessing the death of two of them because of his actions had destroyed Edward's heart entirely.
And in the end, Stannis decided to sacrifice himself if needed to save his nephews and children, as well. If Edward escaped from King's Landing and continued with his rampage, he and his dragons would not leave a place in this realm without burning it.
And Stannis could not allow it since the empire his brother had spent his life building would die on his hands if he let him be without stopping him.
After seeing his uncle fly with his dragon, intending to fight his father, Raymont could not sit still without helping him.
Although he loved his father and wished he would not need to kill him during this fight, Raymont's ambition to rule this vast empire made him come to this decision this fast. Before flying away, he looked at his brothers and spoke.
"You have to help. Uncle, Stannis, and I are no match for father and his dragons. I knew it is hard for you to do that since it is already hard for me, but we had to do this, and there is no time for hesitation. Father did not want to hurt any of us, and that is why he asked uncle Stannis to do that." Said Raymont with a downhearted expression on his face as he looked at his siblings. He knew that part of him was doing this for his ambition, but he was also afraid that his father's work all those years would go to waste if he did not stop him.
Jasmine was already taken away and put to sleep by force since she was not in the right state of mind to witness this scene.