"It's all right, Loki." Elena calmed him by stroking his fur softly. The pup looked up at her, staring at her with his big eyes.

"They won't dare to hurt us." Elena said to no one in particular. She looked up at the night's sky, thinking. It was the first night there in King's Landing and already she couldn't get any sleep. She was thinking about how she was going to find the man who knew more about Ethan and how to defeat him. Damon had told her that he'd be here, in King's Landing. That still left Elena with a lot of options and questions though. How was she ever going to find one man in this city?

"Is stargazing a hobby of yours?" Elena turned her head when she heard his voice, spotting Jaime who was walking towards her with his golden armour still on.

"Not particularly." She answered and looked back at the horizon. She was sitting in one of the gardens of the palace that overlooked parts of the city and the sea on the other side. It was beautiful to say the least, especially with the stars reflecting in the water.

"It does look very tempting here though, more tempting than sleeping." Elena continued when Jaime sat down next to her. He sighed deeply and followed her eyes towards the water, leaning one of his hands on his knee.

It was weird for Elena because she didn't even feel the need to kill him right there. Somewhere deep inside she had accepted the fact that he was to become her husband and that she'd have to live with him for the rest of her life.

She could feel his eyes burning into the side of her head yet he didn't speak. Elena was almost relieved when Jaime didn't sit down too close next to her.

"Must be very different compared to the sight of Winterfell." This time Elena looked at Jaime. She was bewildered at the fact that he hadn't threatened her in any way. He looked back from the water and into her eyes.

"It's the same stars." Elena said. "Only the people are different." Loki yawned next to her, stretching his legs and paws. Elena looked from him back to Jaime, seeing some hints of pain in his eyes. She knew that before he rode for Harrenhal he'd arrived back from Dorne.

"I'm sorry about Myrcella." Elena didn't know why she was apologizing to him, a lion, whilst he had killed more of her kin than she ever did his.

Jaime only looked at her with his eyebrows slightly furrowed. "Why are you here?"

"Excuse me?"

"Why did you come here? Why did you accept the offer?" Jaime asked. "It doesn't seem like a wolf to just give up on war and surrender."

Elena looked down at her hands that were folded in her lap. "Neither does it for you." She said. "I was raised learning that Lannisters deemed their pride the most valuable thing in their possession. Especially for the Kingslayer."

"Don't call me that." There was a slight tone of anger in his voice. Elena sealed her mouth shut, studying the face of her soon to be husband. The people hadn't lied when it came to his appearance. Maybe he was the most handsome man in Westeros, but for Elena nobody could beat Robb. She'd always prefer auburn curls over golden locks.

"I came here to protect my family, I'm sure you can understand." Elena looked back at the sea. "I guess I'm more a guardian than a Stark."

"What about a dragon?" Elena straightened up immediately, her hands clenching into fists.

"C'mon, it's not a secret." Jaime scoffed. "Your brother has been working for me for years, of course I know about your father."

Elena stood up, looking down at Jaime for a moment. "He's not my brother." She snapped and then stormed away, Loki following suit.

~

"Somewhere in King's Landing." Elena mumbled. She was standing in the midst of the market with the sept of bealor on her right side. "Very helpful." She sighed and adjusted her black hood that covered her wings.

The handmaidens, Felicity and Angelina had made a dress especially for her so that her wings could move freely without being constructed by the dress. Even though they had kept that in mind, they didn't bother to make the dress less tight. Elena could barely breathe.

The hood they had given her to shield her wings from prying eyes. Some people still thought that guardians were devils sent by the White Walkers, Elena did agree with the first one.

"Lady Elena." She jumped slightly when she felt a hand on her shoulder and immediately spun around to face him. Under her hood her hand had found its way around Gillian's dagger, grasping its hilt tightly.

"Sam!" She yelled in a scolding tone. "You frightened me." She continued in a hushed voice.

"Might I ask what you're searching for?" Sam looked down at her with a frown on his face.

"Look, Sam, I appreciate you looking after me but I really don't need a squire that's chasing me all day." Elena huffed and crossed her arms, slightly flinching when her dress stopped her from doing so. It was getting on her nerves, the bloody dress and the way she couldn't move her wings and how she constantly needed to hide herself.

"So please leave me be." Elena dismissed him and turned around, her eyes searching for something but not knowing for what.

"You won't find him there, you know."

"Excuse me?" Elena turned around and looked up at Sam.

"The man you're looking for, Liane." Sam chuckled softly. "You won't find him in the sept of Bealor."

"What're you talking about?"

"Don't play stupid." Sam crossed his arms. "Look, there's a reason why I'm your squire. I mean, who would want to be the squire of the guardian that killed men of his own country? Not to talk about the incident at the Twins, that scared the hell out of a lot of people."

"Get to the point."

"I'm on your side, Elena." Sam confessed and walked slightly closer to her and crouched down to her level. "I knew Damon. I've functioned as spy here for him to tell him everything about Ethan and what he's doing."

"Then why hasn't he told me about you?" Elena frowned.

"For both our safety." Sam said. "Plus, I'm just a normal guy. Not a guardian or anything."

"Then how did you come to meet my brother?"

"I was his neighbour." Sam lifted his eyebrows a bit. "And his best friend even though he never admitted it." Sam stepped closer and started to whisper. "He never really confessed his feelings but I know he likes me."

"Sure you do." Elena chuckled and softly pushed Sam away. "That's still not enough though. Even a bloody stranger could know Damon is as stubborn as a cow."

"He sent me a letter once. Told me about you, how he found you after a battle and carried you on his back towards one of the castles near the Wall so you could meet the Last Guardians." When Elena continued to not look very convinced Sam quickly added: "I could get the letter if you want but it's in my own home a few hours from here."

"That won't be necessary." Elena smiled and laid her hand on Sam's shoulder. "I know you're not lying. Guardian thingy, remember?" She chuckled. "So, where to?"

"Lucky for you I already collected all the information we need." Sam said. "So we'll only have to stop by a house to collect something."

"Collect what?" Elena frowned.

"You'll see." Sam grasped her hand and laid it down on his arm to guide her through the crowded streets. "On the way though I'll explain what I know."

"Go ahead then." Elena grasped his arm a bit tighter in her hands, looking around nervously. "I'm all ears."

"Right. You know about what Ethan did to Damon's family, yes?"

"He killed his wife and child." Elena said. "After he had brought me to the North."

"But did you also know Ethan loved Damon's wife, Evelyn?" Sam looked down at Elena and saw how she shook her head no with a frown on her face. "So get this, he loved her with all he had. It was the only true emotion or feeling that was left inside Ethan after losing his mother and letting you go. But the moment he killed her, the moment he drove a dagger through Evelyn's heart was the moment the last bit of humanity left him and the darkness took over."

"But, I don't understand, why would he kill her when he loved her?" Elena pulled on Sam's arm and looked up at his hazel eyes.

"Because he knew that Damon had made a mistake which brought Evelyn in immediate danger. He'd rather kill her than see how numerous men raped her and then killed her themselves. Can't argue with his reason there though."

"What did Damon do then?"

"That's a story for another time." Sam sighed and ran a hand though his hair. "What matters is that what was left of Ethan in that moment was sucked into the dagger he had used to kill Evelyn. The fact that he had to kill her, the love of his life, was too much for him to bear. As from that moment he wasn't Ethan anymore, he became the Dark One. He's immortal now, no weapon can kill him or even weaken him. The only thing that can is that dagger because it will bring the last part of what is left of the true Ethan back into his body. Hopefully, as Liane predicted, it will make him vulnerable again. Maybe even thus far that he's himself again."

Elena remained silent for a while while Sam guided them through the streets. "Let me guess, Ethan destroyed the dagger."

"Lucky for us, he didn't. At first he didn't know about it and now we've hidden it somewhere he will never find it." Sam stopped in the middle of the streets and looked at something in front of him. "Until today."

Elena followed his gaze and saw a house, blackened and broken. It seemed to have been burned down and left for years. "Is that..?"

"Your home." Sam looked at her with a small smile playing on his lips.

"You hid the only dagger that could kill Ethan in his own home?!"

"It's the last place he'd think to look." Sam shrugged and then pulled Elena with him, through the door and into the house. The floor creaked and moaned under their feet, the dust crawling into their noses.

An uneasy feeling crept onto Elena's spine, Goosebumps forming on her skin. This had been her home yet she couldn't remember a thing. She couldn't even remember her own mother or father for that matter.

"Here." Sam knelt down on the floor and lifted one of the planks, revealing a silver dagger. Its hilt was engraved with dragons and on its blade was a message in a language Elena didn't understand.

"What does that mean?" Elena asked while she took the dagger when Sam handed it to her. She twisted in around in her hands and felt the power radiating from it, like she was holding a crown or a dragon egg.

"From light comes darkness and from darkness comes light." Sam said. "I had to ask Liane about that one, I can't speak valyrian."

"So what, I just stab Ethan with this and he dies?" Elena held the dagger in her hand while looking at Sam. After what Sam had just told her, she wasn't sure if she really wanted to hurt Ethan like that. He'd probably die after. But if there really was a chance that they could bring him back, the real Ethan, the one from before Evelyn's death, Elena wanted to take it. He was her brother after all and she'd heard from both Damon and Sam that Ethan truly loved her like a sister.

Sam smirked. "If only it were that easy."

~

"So who's this Liane guy?" Elena asked Sam, they were walking through the streets and back to the Red Keep. They had taken a detour though, Elena was enjoying Sam's company and he had a lot to tell about his childhood with Damon. Seemed the two had gotten into a lot of trouble together.

"Back in the good old days Damon, Liane and I were some sort of a golden trio. We did everything together. But we also had our differences and different futures laid out before us, I was to become a lord, Damon a guardian of a sort and Liane a measter. He never became one though but he has the mind and knowledge of one. Immediately after the incident he started looking into Ethan's case and did everything he could to find a way to kill him if necessary." Sam said. "We never really liked Ethan to be honest. Always whining about us coming home late and making trouble. He never could stop holding speeches about responsibility."

"Look where that got him." Elena scoffed.

"Tell me about it." Sam smiled but then frowned when they arrived at the stairs before the Sept of Bealor. "Was it today?" He scrunched his eyebrows and looked up at the entrance of the sept, seeing a woman with a brown rag covering her body with the high sparrow next to her.

"What's happening?" Elena looked up at Sam, glancing between him and the woman in the distance. "Is that Margaery?" She squinted her eyes so she could look better.

"Rich or poor. Noble or common. If we sin, we must atone. Margaery of house Tyrell came to us as sinner, she stood before the gods in the holy sept and lied. She took a blind eye to her brother's sins. She disgraced her house, her king, and herself." The High Sparrow spoke.

Elena turned her head when she heard lots of hoofs on stone, seeing Jaime in front of a whole army riding through the city. She looked at Jaime and noticed that he was in full armour, the golden chest plate glowing in the sun like his hair did. Then Olenna, Margaery's mother climbed out of one of the carriages that was escorted by the troop, looking up at her daughter with fear in her eyes.

"Lord Tyrell, ser Jaime." The High Sparrow addressed them coldly.

"Sorry to interrupt. We're here for Margaery and Loras Tyrell. Give them to us and we'll be on our way." Jaime said, sitting up on his horse and practically staring the High Sparrow down with his cold iron eyes.

"I don't have the authority to give them to you. And you don't have the authority to take them." The people cheered when the High Sparrow said that, maybe it made them feel somewhat powerful, that their own chosen leader could speak up to the King's uncle and probably one of the most powerful men in Westeros.

Jaime suddenly spurted his horse and rode up onto the stairs and towards the High Sparrow. Elena's hand shot out to Sam without noticing, grasping his hand tightly and squeezing it.

"I speak for King Tommen of house Baratheon, the first of his name."

"The gods don't recognize his authority in this matter."

"You've already insulted one great house, won't happen twice. Every last sparrow will die before Margaery Tyrell walks down that street." Jaime said casually. The army behind him suddenly all pointed their spear at the sparrow, their bodies ready to attack any minute.

"We have to do something. They'll kill everyone if it means they'd restore their pride." Elena whispered to Sam and made an attempt to walk forward.

"Don't, this isn't your fight." Sam pulled her back and held her tightly against him.

"And it, in the service of the gods, would please each and everyone one of us. We yearn for it." there was a long moment of silence as Jaime and the sparrow stared each other down, their eyes never leaving the other's.  "But there is no call for it today, there will be no walk of atonement." Elena took in a deep breath of relief, letting go of Sam's hand.

"Queen Margaery has already atoned for her sins. By bringing another into the true light of the seven." Suddenly Tommen walked through the doors of the Sept, standing next to Margaery and looking at her with love in his eyes. He truly loved her.

"Together we announce a new age of harmony. A holy alliance between the crown and the faith." People were cheering loudly as Tommen held Margaery's hand in the air, smiling proudly while the Sparrow yelled the words towards the cheering and applauding crowd.

"The crown and the faith are the twin pillars upon which the world rests. Together we will restore the seven kingdoms to glory." Tommen yelled and the cheering became deafening, the common people mostly. Jaime and Olenna on the other hand stood there dumbfounded. They were beaten by their own son/grandson.

"What does that mean?" Elena whispered to Sam.

"It means the faith is going to rule everything and everyone from now on." Sam looked down at the bulge on Elena's back where her wings were hidden underneath her black hood. "So you'd better hide yourself before they take you. They don't take too kindly on Guardians."

"No worries there, Dear Sammie." Elena looked at her side immediately and saw Ethan there, smiling widely as he looked at Tommen. His raven black hair was hanging before his green eyes but his wings were gone it seemed. Ethan looked down at Elena as he laid his hand on her waist. "She's safe with me."

Author's note

Hey guys,

Don't worry, I'm not gonna rent or give a speech or something. I just wanted to say an huge thank you to @AveryStreeter01 for making an amazing cover for this book. Check her out!

(only about 7 chapters left guys, hang on tight!!)