149

----

299 AC

Volantis

Daemon Blackfyre

----

Thank the gods father agreed with my plan, the gold to purchase the Unsullied will arrive shortly and we can set off. The trip to Meereen will be long even taking the dragon roads with all of the Golden Company but it will be necessary. Sending someone on my behalf will only serve to have the gold stolen, I need to be there.

This is the last of the gold my father is willing to invest into this war in his own words but it is enough. The gifts I received from Marinna which came from the murdered Elephant party Triarchs are enough to pay the troops of the Golden company for at least another year.

We will acquire the Unsullied and 'free' them so we can still have the tiger cloaks join us. Without the slaves being free the Tiger Cloaks will likely side against us in an attempt to free them themselves. Benerro has been sending priests to the slave cities to rile up the slaves and many outbreaks have happened.

But with the full Golden company and the remaining Dothraki combined with the Unsullied, we should be able to pull Marinna in on our plans. She has been slowing her own attempts to march at one of the other free cities with the news from the Summer Isles.

Eragon Targaryen is king of the Summer Isles and is looking to be a dangerous threat, the Summer Isles can muster a massive fleet. With that fleet he may come straight here to deal with 'The Blackfyre threat' and if that is the case we need to be ready. Marinna has been avoiding my attempts to work together to directly get rid of this threat together. She only told me Benerro will see no harm come to his promised prince.

That puts my House in danger, if Eragon showed up tomorrow and demanded the red priests they would have the Tiger cloaks attack the Golden Company. Marinna has control but not as much as the Red faith has over those men. Volantis is no longer safe and the alliance with Marinna seems to be falling apart now.

I need to get the men we do have and head to Meereen to buy the Unsullied, then I can test the waters on Marinna. If she still wants to conquest Essos she will need to help me first claim the Iron throne. I plan to head straight for Westeros once we have the Unsullied and carving out a seat of power.

With a strong seat I will be able to negotiate for the three hands of marriage we still can use in our family for more men. I am still praying the Reach will side with us and give us the food and one hundred thousand men we need to win this war. If not there are many houses that would like to take their Lord Paramount's position in return for supporting me. The Iron Isles also could be useful to pull to my side, their fleet alone is a huge boon and I likely don't even need to give them a marriage. I can just promise to let them keep any lands they can take and they will jump on the opportunity.

I can always toss them back out to sea when I am more secure in my throne, no one likes the Iron born anyway. It could even be used to improve the view people have of me.

I smile as I leave my room and head down the hall to meet with one of my 'spies'.

I have some men sitting closely with the Targaryens of Volantis and they feed me valuable information. The crazy fucks burn people to the red god and sing worship to their 'kinsman' who likely dislikes them. I am closer related to Eragon than they are and I know for a fact he would sooner see me dead than agree to call me kinsman.

I walk into the meeting room where I will await my guest with the latest information and take a seat as my guard posts at the door.

"Don't let anyone in except Zaver." Both nod and I smile as I get comfortable.

----

"Welcome, I almost thought you wouldn't show we agreed to meet earlier than this." I sit forward annoyed I was made to wait and Zaver shrugs and takes the seat across from me.

"I couldn't help it, it is hard to slip in and out of the fortified Villa the Targaryens have. I was caught last time coming back and had to use the excuse I was off whoring to get in. I won't be making contact for a while next time and you will just have to wait for me to show up." I feel the urge to strike this barbarian but instead smile and nod.

"So be it." I wave him on and he pulls out a water skin and starts pouring some into a cup.

The red fluid a blood-red color reflecting the light and made my throat feel dry as I hold my hand out.

"Pass me one of those." I order and he nods and grabs another cup and pours some into it for me with a smile on his face.

"Alright so first I have overhead Daeron the oldest of the 'Targaryens' say he will sail to Summer Isles himself if they don't receive a response soon. That had me curious and I looked into it and found they sent gifts to their 'extended family' down in the new Summer Kingdom." So they are planning to try to unite with them to push some kind of agenda.

This means we need to move sooner than I thought, we can't wait for them to spring a trap on us here. We will leave as soon as all the gold is secured and the Golden Company is loaded up for travel.

"This is most helpful, it is only confirming my suspicions but I am grateful nonetheless." Zaver scratches uncomfortably at his neck and it strikes me as a bit odd as I look at it but I soon am distracted as he holds his hand out.

"Payment?" Is that all he has?

"Payment for that little bit of information? I have a few coins to spare for you but I would like more the next time we meet." I doubt we ever will meet again as I bring out a few gold coins and place them in his outstretched hand.

"We won't be meeting again." I blink in surprise looking up at Zaver as his voice sounded oddly feminine all of a sudden.

"What do you me-." I feel a chill on my back and reach for my stomach as it twists and turns.

Warmth runs down my face and I bring my hand to my nose and then hold it out seeing it covered in blood. My eyes widen as I feel my vision start to spin and my muscles become numb.

Looking up I see 'Zaver' pocketing the gold I gave 'him' and he gives me a small smile.

"If you want to spy on someone you need to make sure they are not trained in the art themselves. I spotted Zaver immediately and followed him back and forth from here and another place, he wasn't just spying for you. I killed him just this morning and have been looking forward to meeting you in person for the first time, cant say I am impressed. You even sought out the method with which I planned to kill you on your own." 'She points at the cup I knocked over as I grip my chest in pain.

"Who are you?!" I fear these are my last words but I at least want to know who it was that put an end to my life.

My dreams, My promise to my mother and father, I swore to put our family on the throne and become a good king. I failed everyone, I failed and got myself poisoned in a simple exchange of information.

"Saera Targaryen." I grit my teeth as I stumble to the floor, footsteps approach me and I am flipped onto my back.

Her hand goes to her neck and Zaver's face is peeled off to reveal slicked-back short silver hair and Purple eyes looking down at me. She leans over me and places a hand on my cheek, she wipes the blood away from my nose and holds it up to look at it.

"The blood of the black dragon, I wonder if this makes me a Kin slayer." Her voice gets softer or my hearing starts to go out as she wipes the blood off on my shirt.

The last thing on my mind as darkness overtakes everything is strangely the black egg I have seen my sister Ciri favor.

----

299 AC

Volantis

Cirilla Blackfyre

----

Looking down at Daemon's dead body makes my whole body feel like it is stiff, I can't even move a finger.

One moment I see him walking around acting a haughty fool and the next he is lifeless on a table with men standing around him with judging eyes. Many men already talking about what they need to do now that Daemon is dead. Not even time for the body to go cold and they are wanting to know what their next plans will be.

"Get out." My voice comes out chocked but loud enough they all hear me and turn to look at me. "I said get out." I feel my eyes burn as I look around and no one meets my eyes long before heading for the door.

I hear sobbing and turn to look at Helaena who is laying her head on Daemon's chest, for all the times he was rude with her she always cared for him.

"Helaena.." She shakes her head, grieving for one more family member we will have to send off before their time should have been. "Don't worry we will find who did this and end them, no one will be left that had a hand in this." She lifts her head and her red eyes and tear-stained face makes my heart clench even more than the blood-stained fingerprint on Daemon's shirt.

"We should send him off in the same way we sent mother off." Flames.

I nod and hug her, her face laying on my chest as I look down at the pale face of my only brother and feel the weight start to build on my shoulders.

I will ignore it for now, my brother needs to be put to rest and then I can focus on getting us out of here. Helaena is all I have left now and I won't lose her too, her safety is my top priority.

----

A pyre with Daemon's body is standing Infront of me and I say goodbye one last time to my brother before turning around to grab Helaena's hand. She wipes a tear from her eye before looking over her shoulder and nodding at someone causing me to look back.

A red priest brings forth a familiar chest and my eyebrows raise in confusion.

"What is he doing?" I ask my sister as this is obviously her plan.

"He is getting it ready for us, he was there when Eragon hatched his own eggs." I snap my head forward and watch the man place the eggs on my brother's body.

The black one over his heart, the green one on his stomach, and the cream and gold one on his pelvis.

"Do you trust me?" Helaena asks and I feel a strong wave of heat from my side as I look over and see she is holding a torch with a soft golden flame on it.

The golden flame looks weak and almost about to flicker out but it also feels scorching hot even from where I am standing.

"I trust you." She smiles and takes the first step forward pulling me toward the pyre.