Dany was on the way to the council chambers when she saw Daario, who bowed before approaching her.

"Walk with me to the council chambers." Dany smiled.

"As you command, my queen." Daario returned the smile. In the absence of the spider, Daaroo had become a sort of a makeshift spymaster for her.

"What news do you have for me from the Free Cities?"

"The Dornish ships are approaching, their fleet as big as that of the ironborn. It seems that the Princess Elia did her job well, and the ships should be dropping anchor in Meeren within the week if the weather remains favorable. They seem to have faced a little trouble from Xaro Xaron Daxos but no great loss has happened. I was given this to forward to you, my queen."

"Who is it from then?" the letter was sealed with a seal she did not quite recognize.

"A rider was sent ahead from Yunkai by the Dornish ships, it could be a letter from the Spider…"

"Thank you for delivering this to me, I shall see to it and speak to you later. Please send envoys to Astapor and Yunkai, it is time I meet with ambassadors and settle the matter of who will rule in my stead." Dany commanded and walked into the chamber.

She broke the wax seal, her heart racing because she did not know what to expect with such a letter.

Your grace,

I hope my letter finds you well. I am sending it through a rider that I have arranged to meet in Yunkai so the word reaches you faster.

Our mission with the Princess was successful. We have the Dornish and Tyrell alliances and their armies will wait for you on the shores of Westeros, excited to finally obey their rightful ruler. Lady Olenna Tyrell asked that you should perhaps consider her only unmarried grandson "the rose of her family", young Willas Tyrell. The boy is tall, comely, alas after a jousting incident against Ser Jaime Lannister, he is left a cripple.

The realm is in grave danger, your grace and I wish that the weather is favorable, so you land as soon as possible. Cersei Lannister rules worse than your late father if he is a criterion by which we can judge. We have avoided King's Landing by all means necessary but news reached us that all of the men on her council have ended up with horribly painful deaths should they have the audacity to have a disagreeing opinion. The land is plundered, the people are hungry and dying in the streets every day, Holy land is destroyed and the people are terrified of Cersei's wickedness. She is called The Wicked Queen.

As I am writing this, I am travelling north to win their friendship to our side. Our precious jewel insisted to come with me to the north, despite missing her heart dearly.

I hope to see you soon.

Your faithful servant,

LV.

Dany smiled despite herself. Varys and Elia had won the entire south to her cause and from her knowledge they had the largest number of land soldiers. With Dragonstone, Storm's End and the Riverlands unoccupied, the Lannisters were left with little to no allies, if she won over the North to her cause, then the kingdom would be at her feet. And hopefully with minimum bloodshed. she thought.

"Your grace!" Rhaenys bowed first when Dany walked in the council room. "I hope you are well. Should I ask for refreshments to be brought to you?"

"Good morning, Rhaenys and no, thank you." Dany sat on her chair. "Daario brought me a letter from Lord Varys that has good news. Your lady mother and Varys won over the entire south of Westeros to our cause, and they are travelling north, or at least they were when Varys wrote this letter. Cersei seems to be ruling very poorly and we should haste home."

Rhaegar, Rhaenys and Aegon exchanged looks.

"Your grace, may I bring my cousin Quentyn forward? We have been speaking a lot and while he was last under King Tommen's rule, he claims to have knowledge of the ways of the Lannisters." Aegon suggested. Rhaegar promptly kept quiet.

"Yes, I think it would be interesting if we hear more than one side of a story. Perhaps it will help enough that we don't go fighting completely blind." she turned to Grey Worm. "Send one of the guards to bring Lord Tyrion, and another to bring forward Prince Quentyn." she got up and walked outside to wait on the terrace. She needed time to gather her thoughts and clear her head to listen carefully to everything these people had to say.

"You!"Cersei pointed at a shy maid that she had seen around the main hall several times. "Go find Lord Qyburn and tell him that his queen commands his presence."

Cersei bathed in the sunlight that was shining bright on her terrace and waited for Qyburn's arrival. He was one of the few people that she knew she could and should count on, unlike Jaime of whom she was very unsure of, especially recently. Their uncle's death made Jaime very uneasy around her, because he suspected that she had ordered it. And Jaime coming back from his mission in the riverlands in time for her unexpected coronation had created a vast gap between them.

"Your grace." Qyburn bowed to her. "How may I be of service?"

"What news from the east, my lord? I hear that there is an army gathering, the army that Robert should have prevented by killing the Targaryen girl. We have heard fables of dragons for years now… Give me valuable information!"

"Your grace, I am afraid that my birds report it true.. I do not know of the dragons and whether they are a fable or not, but more and more merchants from Slaver's Bay report of that. What I do know, however, is that the Salt throne was taken by force from Balon Greyjoy's heirs and they sought alliances in the East… possibly with the Targaryen girl. In the north, Lord Eddard Stark's bastard was proclaimed King in the North, and Olenna Tyrell has closed Highgarden to all visitors outside of her tenants."

Jaime walked in just as Qyburn was finishing his report. Cersei looked bored at him and oddly, her look awfully reminded Jaime of the old Mad King.

"Cersei, may we have a private word?" Jaime requested, nodding at Qyburn to leave. He did not understand why Cersei put so much faith in the forsaken maester, but he was to an extent grateful that Qyburn had saved his life. The maester bowed to the golden twins before leaving.

"You are afraid, aren't you?" Cersei's looked pierced Jaime. "You are afraid of me, for the first time in your life. You are afraid because I am everything you should have been…" she took a sip from her goblet.

"I am not afraid, I am baffled." Jaime admitted. "I am baffled that you are not grieving for our baby boy. I am shocked that you blew up the Sept of Baelor, I am shocked that you are queen."

"I am my father's daughter, Jaime. His rightful heir. Our children died, and who else was to follow in their step? You? Do you think anyone would follow you? After everything you've done? Are you jealous?" she chuckled.

"I have even less desire to sit on that wicked throne than I had all those years ago." he admitted. "And I do not understand your desire, but true, who else would follow our glorious sons into the throne... It is only fitting that you do it."

"Don't you wish to be my consort now?" Cersei teased. "We could start our own dynasty… we could be open with the world about our love." Jaime's heart skipped a beat.

"Our own dynasty? Cersei, our children are dead. And do not speak to me of love, you have frowned upon me ever since I lost my hand." he spat at her. He knew she was mocking him, teasing only to attack, stalking her prey like the lioness she was.

"Our children are dead because of you." she spat back at him. "You should have been here to protect Joff from that treacherous whore Sansa, and our precious little brother that you so generously freed! I sent you to bring Myrcella home and what happened? She died because of Ellaria and her brood of bastards! And Tommen?" Cersei tilted her head. "You should have been a better father to him. He needed you and where I could not provide, you should have compensated. He died on his own account, betraying us both, for yet another treacherous whore."

"I know I should have protected Myrcella better." Jaime gritted his teeth. "But it is not my fault that Joffrey died, he had a Kingsguard about him and if I believed even for a second that Tyrion had a hand in his death, I would have executed him myself."

"Oh, yes, your oh-so-wise judgement to free the imp, has led to him feeding information about us to the Targaryen girl!" Cersei threw back at him. "She has named him Her Hand!"

Jaime was startled by this information, but of course it made sense. Tyrion was one of the smartest people in all of the Seven Kingdoms, the Targaryen girl had done well to go to him for counsel.

"What did Qyburn tell you?" Jaime demanded.

"We are surrounded by enemies, dear brother. And with the Freys dead, we have no allies except for our own kin whose alliance is doubtful at best… Olenna Tyrell, the old wretch has closed off Highgarden for all except her tenants.."

"Great! Winter is here and the biggest food provider of the realm has closed its doors because you blew up half their family! Brilliant move, Your Majesty!" Jaime mocked.

She ignored his mocking remark and continued. "The Targaryen girl will probably land soon and cause trouble from the east, the Gods know what shit pot are the Martells stirring and of course, the North is rallying behind Ned Stark's bastard and his whore of a daughter… I am the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and they must come and bow to me!" It was clear how frustrated she was. Jaime did not want to think about the amount of wine she had consumed today, he did not want to dwell on her slim figure and the signs that she was not eating properly, if she was eating at all.

"Highgarden, Winterfell and Dorne will never ally themselves with us. The Riverlands and the Stormlands lack leadership, I agree that our kin has questionable reasons to be with us, so our only hope for allies is in the ironborn and rumor has it with the old squid dead, his heirs ran off to the dragon queen…"

"You recognize her as a queen?" Cersei shot him a murderous look.

"She will be if we fall, and how will we not when we do not have allies?"

"We have an army."

"A hungry, exhausted of war army of mercenaries that put their faith in our father."

"I listened to him for forty years, do you think I really did not learn from him? I will lead our army alongside you, and soon we will have an armada to crush all our enemies with."

"Where will you find an armada? Who will equip it? Fund it? All of the royal ships burned at Blackwater bay!"

"Another thing to thank that treacherous valonqar for. He burned our chance to crush her!"

"You must be mad if you thought Robert's petty ships could crush her armies of Unsullied."

"It seems to me that you are moving to her side,or are you just trying to undermine me to stroke your bruised ego? If so,you'll regret mocking me, little brother."

As most war council meetings, this was long, tedious and probably fruitless because no one truly knew the outcome of war except for the carnage, and Dany wanted these people to suffer the least.

"The ships will be here within the week. Daario also reported that Illyrio is on his way here and he has agreed to be my ambassador and rule in my stead." she announced. She was aware that she had to pay the merchant for what he did for her all those years ago and she could imagine him as the perfect ambassador to work for her in the three cities. "I have commanded the Dothraki to start preparing for the voyage, the Unsullied are getting ready too, as should you. It's time to go home." With those words she left the chamber and went outside to walk around the gardens. The sun was scorching but she did not mind sitting in the shade of the trees and watching life below in the city go by. She had met with the leaders of the different Meeren factions and told them of her plans, and she had warned that should there be trouble, she would bring the dragon wrath with her.

"Your grace, may I have a word?" Prince Quentyn bowed before her. She gestured for him to sit next to her. "I wish to apologize of my crude ways on our first meeting. I foolishly believed you would agree and unite with me because of our common cause…"

"Our common cause?"

"Yes, your grace. Our common cause is going home, is it not?" he smiled charmingly. Dany could see the beauty of this boy and she saw the similarities between him and her niece and nephew but she did not feel attracted to him.

"Oh, yes. I want to go home, but my reason for wanting to go home is to take what is mine and put things to their order. Every report that I have heard so far tells tales of our home bleeding and being torn apart, and I am afraid that if I wait any longer, there will be no home to go to. Our country needs peace and to be brought back to prosperity." she smiled sadly. "And in regards to your earlier proposition, my advice to you, dear prince, is to show more courtesy for the lady you wish to court next time. Demanding someone's hand as if they are an object to be bought or stolen is appalling and is below your princely status." she smiled to soften the atmosphere. "I completely understand why you did what you did and so I hold no grudges to you or yours. I see that you and Aegon have become fast friends and that pleases me greatly."

Quentyn nodded. "I am pleased that we are sailing home soon. I know my father will have assembled the armies and prepared to join you in the war to come. I know he buried his head in the dunes when he should have come to your aid, but his ways are … odd to say the least." Dany looked at him confused.

"My lord, Lord Varys reported that your sister Arienne rules and leads Dorne now. And from Lord Tyrion I heard that Ellaria Sand murdered your father. I am sorry for your loss… I thought you knew."

Quentyn froze. It had been a long time since he had been home, and he knew that his father would not send him on such an important mission if Dorne's place in the world did not depend on it. Quentyn knew that Doran's choice to send his eldest son was a glimmer of hope that he would atone for his father's sins, but hearing the news of his death hurt. He never wished that this day would come, he did not expect that it would come so soon and before he would be able to bring the dragon queen home. He failed his father, but at least he had atoned to some extent for his sins. The House Targaryen bore no grudges against the Martells and the dragon queen was going home, even if she would not be his wife.

"Thank you for telling me." Quentyn nodded. "It is incredibly sad to hear, and I hope my sister judges justly the fate of the murderers, but until such time comes, we have more important things to focus on. Now, if you will excuse me, I am late for a training session." he smiled sadly, bowed again before leaving her.