𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐒𝐈𝐗𝐓𝐘-𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 | Dragon Pits

{ Joffrey }

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𝕯espite having spent most of his life in Kings Landing, Joffrey had never visited the dragon pits. Neither Robert nor Cersei particularly wanted any of their children going near anything that reminded them of the Targaryen dynasty. 

He looked around at the ancient architecture, before looking back down as he felt a hand squeeze his arm. Lyra was watching him with a raised eyebrow, a small smile on her face as Elia padded beside her. 

Tylar and Jaime walked behind them, with Drew listening in to their conversation with wide eyes. Mikael was back at the castle with Arah, who had decided not to come, as Joffrey did not trust Cersei not to bribe the servants and have his son thrown out of a window. 

She had done practically the same with Tommen.

The pits had fallen into dilapidation, not looking nearly as impressive as they once were. Joffrey could practically feel his mother growling as they emerged into the sunlight and made their way up to the seating area. Joffrey's face stayed in its unamused state as he saw the faces of others come into view.

His uncle was looking nervous as he waited by the furthest tent, but a somewhat familiar face appeared from the closest tent. The man's dark curls were pulled back into a bun and Joffrey just about recognized Lyra's brother, Jon, who was starting to smile as they came closer.

"I'll come and join you. I want to say hello to Jon first." Lyra muttered, pressing a kiss to Joffrey's cheek as the man nodded. He bowed his head at Jon, before walking past and to his own seat.

✧✦✧

{ Lyra }

Lyra smiled at Joffrey's back, before turning to Jon and beaming.

"Jon." He didn't say anything, instead pulling her into his arms for a tight hug. She clutched onto his cloak, burying her face into the thick fur as she tried to hold back tears. "I missed you."

Jon pulled away, looking at her with a warm smile.

"You've grown, Lyra. You look like mother now." Jon's Northern accent made Lyra realise just how homesick she had become, or how much she missed her siblings. "I can't believe that you are married, with a son."

"That tends to happen as you grow older." Lyra smiled, before looking at the scars on his face. "Did you get into a fight with a bear?"

"Something like that."

"And I see I was right." Jon cocked an eyebrow at Lyra's words. "Black does have a slimming effect on you."

Jon laughed, shaking his head as the siblings embraced once more.

"Oh and Lyra, this is Aoife." Lyra turned to her brother's wife. Aoife Rayder was nothing how Lyra had pictured her. The Wilding's hair was braided back, her eyes cold and calculating though a small grin playing on her lips. "Aoife, this is Lyra."

"Jon's told me stories. It's a pleasure to meet you," Aoife pulled Lyra into a hug, causing Lyra to smile as she met the first of her sisters-by-law. "We are sisters now. Anything you need, ask."

"Same here." Elia trotted over, curling back around Lyra as Aoife took a step back.

"Your wolf is bigger than Ghost." Aoife cocked her head, holding out a hand for the large wolf to sniff. Elia glanced at her, gave her hand a small lick, before headbutting Jon and slinking back to Joffrey's side.

"She's older than Ghost." Lyra watched her go, before smiling apologetically at them. "She and Joff are both slightly on edge because we've left Mikael back at the Keep and we don't want something happening to him."

"You could have brought him."

"Not with a dragon." Lyra shook her head. "Nor would I let him anywhere near Cersei or Euron."

"You still do not like them?" Jon asked, though the question was waved off as Tylar approached Lyra's side.

"Jon, good to see you." Tylar grinned, holding his hand out for the man to shake before turning back to Lyra. "His Grace wants to start soon."

"Of course. We'll talk after the meeting," Lyra promised, before sweeping back to her husband's side and perching beside him.

"Who are we missing?" Joffrey asked, looking around between the three tents as Lyra settled her skirts and tried to match names with faces though there were not many that she recognised.

"Daenerys and Coren." Tyrion replied, noticing that there was a definite difference between Joffrey's character now and what he used to be like as a teen. The boy had grown into a man and wore his crown with pride, as did Lyra.

"Where is she?" Cersei growled and Joffrey turned his head, cocking an eyebrow as he reminded her that she had no place at this table for negotiation. Cersei's face soured, before she leant back in her chair with a huff.

"She'll be here soon, I am sure." Joffrey turned back around, looking straight forward.

Lyra was lost in her thoughts, but they were interrupted by a loud screech, and she stood immediately, so that she was able to see the three dragons that were soaring over the pits. Elia began to growl, her fur rising up as Lyra grabbed onto the collar around the wolf's neck and held on. 

There were three dragons, the largest being a dark red colour, whilst the others were black and the last one was too high up in the sky for Lyra to get a clear look at. She glanced over at Jon, who nodded and shrugged.

The black dragon landed first, roaring at the crowd in the centre of the pits, as if to try and intimidate them. She could faintly make out a white haired woman sitting on the back of the beast, and, as the dragon lowered its wing, the woman descended gracefully before the beast took off again. 

The red dragon, the largest of the three, was the next to land, a tall man with dark hair, sliding off of its back. The man reached an arm out for Daenerys to take and began to lead her towards the tents already set up. Joffrey stood to meet his wife, turning to watch her.

"We should say hello." Lyra smiled at her husband. "In an effort to be polite at least."

"If that's what you think is best."

"I think it will show her up." Lyra replied, hooking her arm through her husband's as the man led her towards the Dragon Queen.

"I don't believe we've all been formally introduced." Joffrey spoke as the got close enough, blocking the path of the pair. "Joffrey Baratheon and my wife, Lyra."

The white haired woman seemed to struggle to know what to do, leading to the man smiling and stepping forward.

"Coren Thorne and my wife, Daenerys Targaryen." Coren nodded at the pair, seemingly unsure of how to address them as they were both fighting against one another for the same throne. "Thank you for having us here. I assume you received the letter we sent you."

"I did receive your message and I read it, then I ignored it because I had more pressing matters to attend to," Joffrey smiled coldly as an awkward silence fell around them. 

"Well, we hope the talks go smoothly." Lyra smiled, breaking the silence. She didn't know what to make of either of the people ahead of her. They held one another's gaze for a moment longer, before retreating to their seats in the shade.

Tyrion sighed, standing up and beginning to talk as he moved to the centre of the pits.

"We are all facing a unique..." Euron interrupted him and Lyra had never wanted to gouge that man's eyes out as much as she did in that moment.

"Theon!" Tyrion stopped, looking over at Theon and then Joffrey. Lyra's eyebrow cocked at the sight of the Greyjoy, wondering why he dared to show himself after betraying Robb. "I have your sister. If you don't submit to me here and now, I'll kill her."

"I think we ought to begin with larger concerns." Tyrion tried to go back to the topic at hand as Euron continued to be rude.

"Why are you talking? You're the smallest concern here."

Lyra and Joffrey shared a look, rolling their eyes in annoyance.

"Sit down, Euron." Joffrey spoke as if he was scolding a dog, barely looking at the man. "Watch yourself."

Euron gulped as Elia opened her eyes, before sitting back down in his seat. Tyrion waited for a moment, before continuing on with his speech.

"We are a group of people who do not like one and other. This recent demonstration has shown that. We have suffered at each others hand, we have lost people we love at each other's hand." Lyra tilted her head slightly, as Joffrey leaned back in his chair and listened. "If all we wanted was more of the same, there would be no need for this gathering. We are entirely capable of waging war against each other without meeting face-to-face."

"So, what do you propose instead?" Joffrey asked and Jon stood up to interrupt the meeting, turning to face his sister.

"The dead are marching south, Lyra. The time has come and we need every soldier, that we can get, to fight them." Jon spoke, eyes wide and pleading. 

"You want a truce for the time being?" Joffrey said, nodding in Jon's direction before turning his eyes on Daenerys, who was shifting uncomfortably under Elia's stare.

"Yes. That's all."

"That's all?" Cersei spoke and Joffrey took a deep breath in, turning to face Lyra, who was looking equally as annoyed. "You could be plotting against us whilst we have our armies in the North and then attack out capital."

"Cersei!" Cersei stiffened at the sound of her son's voice. Lyra placed a hand on Joffrey's arm, hoping he'd calm down. "Hold your tongue."

Cersei closed her mouth, red beginning to form on her cheeks from being embarrassed by Joffrey in front of everyone there.

"In fact, you will just get in the way whilst this happens," Joffrey murmured. "You, Euron and Qyburn should leave. Tylar, Jaime and my wife are more than capable of advising me on this. Go."

"Elia, Mikael now." Lyra murmured to her wolf, patting her on the flank. Elia looked over at her, before loping off to the Red Keep and back to Mikael's side. Cersei, Euron and Qyburn followed after the wolf as Joffrey and Lyra huffed.

"What happened between you and your mother?" Tyrion asked, staring at Joffrey with wide eyes.

"Have you not heard?" Joffrey asked, cocking an eyebrow. "She blew up the Sept of Baelor, butchering most of the Small Council, nearly all of the Tyrell family, almost killing both my wife and son and then drove Tommen to throw himself out of the Red Keep's windows."

Tyrion looked down, before nodding.

"I was sorry to hear about Tommen. He was good and kind."

"He was." Joffrey nodded, before turning to look at Jon. "Our armies are ready. We can send them North when you need them. But I need assurance that our capital will not be marched on. I do not feel comfortable knowing that my son could potentially be in danger whilst we fight together."

"You will have written assurance." Daenerys confirmed. "We will also be going North to fight, so no harm will come to your city or any of the people inside of it."

"Good. When do you need the armies?"

"As soon as possible," Aoife confirmed. "It'll take months to march North and there's been no news on when the Night King will breach the Wall, so we must be prepared at a moment's notice."

"Then it's settled, we'll march North to battle the army of the dead with you."

𝐄𝐍𝐃 𝐎𝐅 𝐄𝐗𝐄𝐑𝐂𝐈𝐓𝐔𝐒

Hiya, 

This is the last chapter in part 7 and we only have one part left, which is kind of sad but cool at the same time. The last character has been introduced - Coren Thorne, and I'm excited for you guys to get to know him cause I do actually really like Coren.

Let me know what you think, and what your favourite part of book 7 was.

Love Li xx