TVXQ | The Songs They Will Sing | Yunho/Jaejoong | 03
→ Warnings: Game of Thrones Fusion AU. Action. Darkfic. Romance . Violence. Minor character death.
→ A prince without a kingdom, a lord without a name, and how how the two of them carve themselves into history.
Character Profiles | Fanart | Prologue | Previous Chapter
The Songs They Will Sing
[03]
rice_queen // Reblog on Tumblr
The story of Jung Jihoon and Kim Yoojin began with a jousting tournament. A legend already from its inception in terms of sheer size and grandeur, its notoriety only increased when the crown prince of the Seven Kingdoms dropped the wreath of blue winter roses into the lap of an unknown girl from the North, crowning her the Queen of Love and Beauty in front of all the realm. After that, the truth diverged.
In some versions, Kim Yoojin was an innocent child, stolen away by a lustful Jung Jihoon, and her fiance incited war on behalf of her honor. In another version, Kim Yoojin was a seductress who enticed Jung Jihoon into bed, and he was forced to take responsibility for her breached maidenhead. In the versions the bards told to the smallfolk, far from the ears of the Crownlands, Kim Yoojin and Jung Jihoon had fallen madly in love and their forbidden romance had driven them into elopement.
The truth died along with the wolf-girl and the dragon-prince, but in all these stories the people passed on, no one ever remembered that throughout the events leading up to the Choi Rebellion, Jung Jihoon had a wife.
Her name was Park Kahi and she was a princess from the Sunspear, weak in body but strong in spirit. She had remained in King’s Landing with her two children as her husband waged war over another woman, hostage to the Mad King as chaos raged all around them. Then, when the Kingslayer from House Lee earned his title, the men from his house stormed into her tower, tore her babe from her arms, and dashed its skull against the stone walls of the Red Keep.
They say she looked her murderer in the eyes. They say he raped her before he killed her, the blood of her children still fresh on his hands. They called it war: House Lee whose knights betrayed their code of honor and House Choi whose King forgave them. Only the Lord Kim and his Northern honor had called it what it was-mindless, senseless murder-and for that reason, Park Yoochun was kind to Kim Hyoyeon in the months following her father’s death. Her brother raised his banners, calling himself the King in the North, and she suffered greatly for every single one of his victories. Yoochun remembered a little girl with frightened eyes, a lamb surrounded by hungry lions.
She was a wolf now. The iron curtain of courtesy that had been her armor was now her chosen sword. Men could not fight her with steel, not without humiliating themselves, and she used their pride to her advantage. Her late husband had been the youngest of House Lee, and now with them annihilated, she had the best claim to the Westerlands, the Warden of the West, and she was already backed by the Vale, the Wardens of the East. With the North, the East, and potentially the West…well, Jung Yunho would have to fight a war his dragons couldn’t win for him.
She would never hold the south, though. In the deserts of Dorne, succession passed in order of birth, so even though Yoochun was the oldest son, the seat would pass through both of his sisters because he could be Lord of the Sunspear. Unless Kim Hyoyeon proposed marriage with Hyojin…
Actually, his oldest sister would probably be more than receptive to the idea of Kim Hyoyeon in her bed. Yoochun resolved never to put the idea in her head.
Unbowed, unbent, unbroken-those were their words. Even the Conqueror who first united the Seven Kingdoms could only make peace with Dorne through marriage. The third child he may be, but a Prince he was, and the Sunspear would never fall into the hands of someone who already held three of the four corners of the Seven Kingdoms-not if he had anything to say about it.
//
“If you had planned to involve me in your schemes, I would have liked a warning, sweet sister,” Jaejoong said coolly, tossing the documents back on the table. “Your Lady Mother would not approve.”
“My Lady Mother birthed four children,” Hyoyeon retorted. “And yet I am the only one who remains to inherit.”
“So you wish to legitimize a bastard who has already taken the black?” he asked. “Are you mad?”
Hyoyeon would have rolled her eyes, if she wasn’t too much of a lady to do so. “I can’t legitimize you without your consent,” she said. “This just holds that, should something ever happen to me, you would take lordship of the North. This doesn’t interfere with your responsibilities at the Wall-“
“The Lord Commander cannot declare for any House and he cannot partake in the affairs of the realm.” Jaejoong interrupted, his anger flaring. This was more reminiscent of the younger Hyoyeon, who charmed everyone with her sweet smiles and pretty words, but knew she could get her way with nothing more than a stamp of her little feet. “Maintaining neutrality has come at a high cost, I don’t think you understand--”
“Kangin named you his heir before they murdered him,” she snapped, patience wearing thin. She had been in the Capital then, and only a daughter besides, but their brother had not wanted House Lee to have any claim over Castle North. Ironically enough, House Lee had forced her hand in marriage anyway, and it was that union which allowed her rights to the Golden Rock. “If that day ever comes, then pass it over to a man of your choosing and you’ll never be the Lord of Castle North even one day of your life-but that decision will come from you and not from the Iron Throne.”
But you have placed me at odds with my duty. He had clung to his vows when he had nothing else in the world, and they had seen him through. If he was posed to become Lord of Castle North, he would be displaced whenever Junsu or Ryeowook returned. Jaejoong understood her reasoning, for it was born from sensibility rather than affection, but that didn’t stop him from being annoyed with her.
“There must always be a Kim in Castle North,” she said quietly, reaching out for him. Her fingers were soft and her nails were long; she’d never held a sword in these hands nor would she ever have a desire to. “My Lord Father gave you our name, not the bastard’s name. Besides, you needn’t worry too much. I don’t plan on having anything happen to me.”
Empty words, said in false bravado even she was aware of. Anything could happen to anyone; Choi Dongwook had proved that easily enough. Suddenly, Jaejoong thought of something.
“Are you planning to go south, then?” he asked bluntly. “Our Dragon King needs a Queen, is that why you are pushing for my legitimacy?, Because you plan on leaving Castle North yourself?”
To his surprise, Hyoyeon burst out laughing.
“Be the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms? You think I aspire to be his wife?” She scoffed. “Queens are subject to their Kings. Wives are subject to their husbands. Queen Hyori ruled as regent for years and both of her sons walked all over her. No, dear brother, I do not plan to be Queen. I intend to rule.”
//
Jung Yunho had spent his entire life baking beneath one burning sun or another, and yet he found himself adapting quickly to the chill of the North. This was part of his kingdom, after all, even if it was unlike the rest of the Kingdom he had seen so far. They were a strange sort of people, these northerners. The gods they prayed to had no names or faces. They lived their lives in the iron grip of winter. Their men were bearded and rough, but their loyalty could not be bought with threats or gold. Their women were plain, but the noble ones were as honorable as their lords and the raunchy ones swore as loudly as the men.
This was what Yonghwa was fighting to reclaim, but Yonghwa would never have taken to the North, not the way he had.
However, the Lady in the North was southern in all the ways that mattered. She had danced circles around him in the peace treaties, somehow managing to be both ruthlessly polite and ruthlessly aggressive. He had been thoroughly outclassed, but he would be prepared to do battle her way the next time they faced off. The fight to win the throne was one of fire and blood; the fight to keep throne, he found, was more of a cruel game.
On the eve of his departure from Castle North, Yunho excused himself early to tend to his dragon. The northerners had dug a crude, but functional pit just outside the castle walls, and that was where Jiyong returned to for rest. Yunho rounded the corner and started when he realized that his dragon was not alone.
The Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch was standing just outside the gate of the pit. Immediately, Yunho’s hand went to the hilt of his dagger, but Kim Jaejoong was only tossing bits of charred meat over the top of the fence. More surprisingly, his dragon, who rarely accepted food from the hands of strangers, was gobbling up the pieces as though they had come from Yunho’s own hands.
From their awakening as hatchlings to their present, Yunho had been both father and mother to his dragons, and he knew them as only a parent could know their child. Jiyong had been named after Yunho’s oldest brother, who passed into the next world before Yunho entered this one, and if he was anything like his namesake, then the Seven Kingdoms had been bereaved of a truly great man. But even if Jiyong was the gentlest of his siblings, he was still a dragon, and dragons were not gentle creatures.
He cleared his throat as he approached, the bells in his braids ringing softly in the wind, and Kim Jaejoong immediately stood at attention before bowing respectfully in his direction.
“My Lord.”
The proper designation should have been ‘Your Grace’, but few northerners paid much attention to titles beyond ‘My Lord’ and ‘My Lady’. Yunho beckoned him to rise with a wave of his hand. The other man had to incline his head upward to meet Yunho’s eyes and his build was noticeably slighter even under his thick cloak, but he inherited the same stillness than ran in his half-sister; if Kim Hyoyeon was a deep river, then Kim Jaejoong was a frozen lake.
“My dragons do not take to strangers easily,” Yunho said at last. The last man who had tried to saddle Jiyong was not a stranger to his dragon, but Jiyong had still set ablaze for his efforts.
“Is that so?” A shadow of a smile played about Kim Jaejoong’s lips and though his eyes never wavered from Yunho’s face, his next words were not meant for him. “I’m honored.”
Jiyong let out a resounding huff, as though he was in agreement, and a stab of annoyance pierced Yunho’s gut. It was unfair, even offensive, that his dragon had accepted the other man for no apparent reason when Kim Jaejoong’s wolf had not done the same for Yunho.
“I had not thought dragons could be tamed.” Jaejoong continued.
“Anything can be tamed,” Yunho replied. “Your direwolf is a creature of the wild, and you have tamed it.”
“Ghost is not broken,” Jaejoong said, and his smile was proud. “I could not take the wildness out of her any more than I can remove every last grain of sand from the deserts of Dorne.”
Do you speaking of your direwolf, or do you speak of the North? The men of the tribe had no patience for a man who spoke in riddles. Here in the Seven Kingdoms, it seemed riddles was all he heard.
“Tell me about the Wall,” he commanded abruptly. Park Yoochun and Shim Changmin could speak for the rest of his kingdom, but only Kim Jaejoong could tell him of the Wall.
“The Wall is a great barricade of ice, three-hundred miles long and seven-hundred feet high,” Jaejoong said slowly. “They say it is protected by spells, but our men guard the watchtowers anyway, just in case.” His dark eyes regard Yunho coolly. “But that is not what you wanted to know?”
“It is not.”
Kim Jaejoong was silent for a very long time before he finally spoke. “On my first scouting mission, I was placed under the command of Cho Banson, a decorated officer, second only to the Lord Commander, and one of the best rangers the Watch had to offer. On that same mission, we were discovered by the wildlings and before we were overtaken, Lord Cho commanded me to join the wildlings and learn of their plans. In order to prove myself, they ordered me to take Commander Cho’s life, and that’s what I did with my sword and a chopping block. Does that answer your question?”
“It does.”
The sun had dropped low beneath the horizon and torches were being lit from within the castle. Kim Jaejoong’s gaze remained steady in the firelight and Yunho felt a sudden need to test his stillness.
“What would you do if your duties placed you at odds with your king?” he asked, watching carefully.
Kim Jaejoong blinked and considered the question carefully before speaking. “My duties are at the Wall and nowhere else,” he said quietly. “But King as you are or Lord Commander as I am, we both serve the realm in our own way; thusly, we should always be in harmony.”
Yunho had hoped to hear an answer of fealty, but Kim Jaejoong had not given him the honeyed words he desired. Perhaps somewhere deep inside, he already knew what Kim Jaejoong’s answer would be, and he had just wanted to confirm his hypothesis-but what exactly he proved to himself, Yunho did not know.
“I wish to be alone,” he said at last. Suddenly, he couldn’t wait to be rid of Kim Jaejoong’s company. If the other man was surprised by his unexpected shift in attitude, he did not show it.
“Your grace.” The Lord Commander bowed once more and then departed.
//
Jaejoong knew little of ruling, only that his men were most acquiescent when they were under an illusion of safety and had food in their bellies. The Riverlands was torn apart by war, but the Reach and the Vale were virtually untouched and they would be eager to win favor with the new king. His people may not have fish, but they would have bread the first winter of his reign, and not many Kings could claim such good fortune. Jung Yunho captured the land with power, he captured their imagination with his dragons, and now it seemed he would capture their loyalty as well.
The best past was, of course, that the Dragon King could not have predicted this, so violently he had swept across the Stormlands and the Westerlands. Perhaps the Gods had blessed him after all.
You know nothing, Jung Yunho, he thought, and smiled. Was this what Yoona had seen in him? An ignorant child who lucked blindly into every single one of his good fortunes? No wonder she repeated those words to him so often, one for every time he acted a fool.
Im Yoona was a wildling woman, whose hair was kissed by fire. She was a skinny little thing, but her small hands could thrust the spearhead into an enemy as well as a man could. She was sharp woman in every word she said and every thing she did. She was free and wild, and Jaejoong was taken by her in every sense of the word.
“You’re mine,” she had whispered that night in the cave as the falling snow quickly became a blizzard. “Mine, as I am yours. And if we die, we die. All men must die, Kim Jaejoong. But first we’ll live.”
“Yes,” he had whispered back, reverent. “First we’ll live.”
She was the only woman he ever laid with. Jaejoong was enamored with her and maybe he even loved her; but in the end, he lost her. An arrow found its way into her heart and she had bled out in his arms.
You know nothing, Kim Jaejoong.
Her favorite words, her dying words-he still repeated them to himself whenever he felt he was being reckless and they saved his life on more than one occasion. Did Jung Yunho have the same phantom whispering prudence in his kingly ear?
No matter. It was of no concern to him whose ass it was occupied the Iron Throne. Hyoyeon had secured for him a direct supply line of food from the Vale to accommodate the sudden increase of population at the Wall. Once the deserters were taken care of, everything should level out nicely and perhaps winter would come easier this year.
“Ghost, to me.”
His direwolf shuffled to his side and he buried his fingers in her coarse white coat. They would patrol the Wall that night, Ghost from the shadows of the forest and Jaejoong from upper battlements. Rumors had run abound among the new recruits during his visit to Castle North. Some were about the Lady in the North. Most were about the young Dragon King and the creatures of legend he had brought back into existence. Yet others--and he was quite surprised to hear of this--revolved around himself.
They called him a warg.
They weren’t completely wrong.
[ Next Chapter ]
Notes:
+ If you haven't seen the rest of rice_queen's flawless graphic edits, please take a look and send her some love! :)
+ Ban = Half; Son = Hand. Together = (Qhorin) Halfhand. (*ba-dum-tch*)
+ Why Yoona for Ygritte? Because her last name wasn't already listed, and because of this, and because...y'know. YoonJae. (Ha)
+ Questions, comments, send them my way. :)
→ A prince without a kingdom, a lord without a name, and how how the two of them carve themselves into history.
Character Profiles | Fanart | Prologue | Previous Chapter
The Songs They Will Sing
[03]
rice_queen // Reblog on Tumblr
The story of Jung Jihoon and Kim Yoojin began with a jousting tournament. A legend already from its inception in terms of sheer size and grandeur, its notoriety only increased when the crown prince of the Seven Kingdoms dropped the wreath of blue winter roses into the lap of an unknown girl from the North, crowning her the Queen of Love and Beauty in front of all the realm. After that, the truth diverged.
In some versions, Kim Yoojin was an innocent child, stolen away by a lustful Jung Jihoon, and her fiance incited war on behalf of her honor. In another version, Kim Yoojin was a seductress who enticed Jung Jihoon into bed, and he was forced to take responsibility for her breached maidenhead. In the versions the bards told to the smallfolk, far from the ears of the Crownlands, Kim Yoojin and Jung Jihoon had fallen madly in love and their forbidden romance had driven them into elopement.
The truth died along with the wolf-girl and the dragon-prince, but in all these stories the people passed on, no one ever remembered that throughout the events leading up to the Choi Rebellion, Jung Jihoon had a wife.
Her name was Park Kahi and she was a princess from the Sunspear, weak in body but strong in spirit. She had remained in King’s Landing with her two children as her husband waged war over another woman, hostage to the Mad King as chaos raged all around them. Then, when the Kingslayer from House Lee earned his title, the men from his house stormed into her tower, tore her babe from her arms, and dashed its skull against the stone walls of the Red Keep.
They say she looked her murderer in the eyes. They say he raped her before he killed her, the blood of her children still fresh on his hands. They called it war: House Lee whose knights betrayed their code of honor and House Choi whose King forgave them. Only the Lord Kim and his Northern honor had called it what it was-mindless, senseless murder-and for that reason, Park Yoochun was kind to Kim Hyoyeon in the months following her father’s death. Her brother raised his banners, calling himself the King in the North, and she suffered greatly for every single one of his victories. Yoochun remembered a little girl with frightened eyes, a lamb surrounded by hungry lions.
She was a wolf now. The iron curtain of courtesy that had been her armor was now her chosen sword. Men could not fight her with steel, not without humiliating themselves, and she used their pride to her advantage. Her late husband had been the youngest of House Lee, and now with them annihilated, she had the best claim to the Westerlands, the Warden of the West, and she was already backed by the Vale, the Wardens of the East. With the North, the East, and potentially the West…well, Jung Yunho would have to fight a war his dragons couldn’t win for him.
She would never hold the south, though. In the deserts of Dorne, succession passed in order of birth, so even though Yoochun was the oldest son, the seat would pass through both of his sisters because he could be Lord of the Sunspear. Unless Kim Hyoyeon proposed marriage with Hyojin…
Actually, his oldest sister would probably be more than receptive to the idea of Kim Hyoyeon in her bed. Yoochun resolved never to put the idea in her head.
Unbowed, unbent, unbroken-those were their words. Even the Conqueror who first united the Seven Kingdoms could only make peace with Dorne through marriage. The third child he may be, but a Prince he was, and the Sunspear would never fall into the hands of someone who already held three of the four corners of the Seven Kingdoms-not if he had anything to say about it.
//
“If you had planned to involve me in your schemes, I would have liked a warning, sweet sister,” Jaejoong said coolly, tossing the documents back on the table. “Your Lady Mother would not approve.”
“My Lady Mother birthed four children,” Hyoyeon retorted. “And yet I am the only one who remains to inherit.”
“So you wish to legitimize a bastard who has already taken the black?” he asked. “Are you mad?”
Hyoyeon would have rolled her eyes, if she wasn’t too much of a lady to do so. “I can’t legitimize you without your consent,” she said. “This just holds that, should something ever happen to me, you would take lordship of the North. This doesn’t interfere with your responsibilities at the Wall-“
“The Lord Commander cannot declare for any House and he cannot partake in the affairs of the realm.” Jaejoong interrupted, his anger flaring. This was more reminiscent of the younger Hyoyeon, who charmed everyone with her sweet smiles and pretty words, but knew she could get her way with nothing more than a stamp of her little feet. “Maintaining neutrality has come at a high cost, I don’t think you understand--”
“Kangin named you his heir before they murdered him,” she snapped, patience wearing thin. She had been in the Capital then, and only a daughter besides, but their brother had not wanted House Lee to have any claim over Castle North. Ironically enough, House Lee had forced her hand in marriage anyway, and it was that union which allowed her rights to the Golden Rock. “If that day ever comes, then pass it over to a man of your choosing and you’ll never be the Lord of Castle North even one day of your life-but that decision will come from you and not from the Iron Throne.”
But you have placed me at odds with my duty. He had clung to his vows when he had nothing else in the world, and they had seen him through. If he was posed to become Lord of Castle North, he would be displaced whenever Junsu or Ryeowook returned. Jaejoong understood her reasoning, for it was born from sensibility rather than affection, but that didn’t stop him from being annoyed with her.
“There must always be a Kim in Castle North,” she said quietly, reaching out for him. Her fingers were soft and her nails were long; she’d never held a sword in these hands nor would she ever have a desire to. “My Lord Father gave you our name, not the bastard’s name. Besides, you needn’t worry too much. I don’t plan on having anything happen to me.”
Empty words, said in false bravado even she was aware of. Anything could happen to anyone; Choi Dongwook had proved that easily enough. Suddenly, Jaejoong thought of something.
“Are you planning to go south, then?” he asked bluntly. “Our Dragon King needs a Queen, is that why you are pushing for my legitimacy?, Because you plan on leaving Castle North yourself?”
To his surprise, Hyoyeon burst out laughing.
“Be the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms? You think I aspire to be his wife?” She scoffed. “Queens are subject to their Kings. Wives are subject to their husbands. Queen Hyori ruled as regent for years and both of her sons walked all over her. No, dear brother, I do not plan to be Queen. I intend to rule.”
//
Jung Yunho had spent his entire life baking beneath one burning sun or another, and yet he found himself adapting quickly to the chill of the North. This was part of his kingdom, after all, even if it was unlike the rest of the Kingdom he had seen so far. They were a strange sort of people, these northerners. The gods they prayed to had no names or faces. They lived their lives in the iron grip of winter. Their men were bearded and rough, but their loyalty could not be bought with threats or gold. Their women were plain, but the noble ones were as honorable as their lords and the raunchy ones swore as loudly as the men.
This was what Yonghwa was fighting to reclaim, but Yonghwa would never have taken to the North, not the way he had.
However, the Lady in the North was southern in all the ways that mattered. She had danced circles around him in the peace treaties, somehow managing to be both ruthlessly polite and ruthlessly aggressive. He had been thoroughly outclassed, but he would be prepared to do battle her way the next time they faced off. The fight to win the throne was one of fire and blood; the fight to keep throne, he found, was more of a cruel game.
On the eve of his departure from Castle North, Yunho excused himself early to tend to his dragon. The northerners had dug a crude, but functional pit just outside the castle walls, and that was where Jiyong returned to for rest. Yunho rounded the corner and started when he realized that his dragon was not alone.
The Lord Commander of the Night’s Watch was standing just outside the gate of the pit. Immediately, Yunho’s hand went to the hilt of his dagger, but Kim Jaejoong was only tossing bits of charred meat over the top of the fence. More surprisingly, his dragon, who rarely accepted food from the hands of strangers, was gobbling up the pieces as though they had come from Yunho’s own hands.
From their awakening as hatchlings to their present, Yunho had been both father and mother to his dragons, and he knew them as only a parent could know their child. Jiyong had been named after Yunho’s oldest brother, who passed into the next world before Yunho entered this one, and if he was anything like his namesake, then the Seven Kingdoms had been bereaved of a truly great man. But even if Jiyong was the gentlest of his siblings, he was still a dragon, and dragons were not gentle creatures.
He cleared his throat as he approached, the bells in his braids ringing softly in the wind, and Kim Jaejoong immediately stood at attention before bowing respectfully in his direction.
“My Lord.”
The proper designation should have been ‘Your Grace’, but few northerners paid much attention to titles beyond ‘My Lord’ and ‘My Lady’. Yunho beckoned him to rise with a wave of his hand. The other man had to incline his head upward to meet Yunho’s eyes and his build was noticeably slighter even under his thick cloak, but he inherited the same stillness than ran in his half-sister; if Kim Hyoyeon was a deep river, then Kim Jaejoong was a frozen lake.
“My dragons do not take to strangers easily,” Yunho said at last. The last man who had tried to saddle Jiyong was not a stranger to his dragon, but Jiyong had still set ablaze for his efforts.
“Is that so?” A shadow of a smile played about Kim Jaejoong’s lips and though his eyes never wavered from Yunho’s face, his next words were not meant for him. “I’m honored.”
Jiyong let out a resounding huff, as though he was in agreement, and a stab of annoyance pierced Yunho’s gut. It was unfair, even offensive, that his dragon had accepted the other man for no apparent reason when Kim Jaejoong’s wolf had not done the same for Yunho.
“I had not thought dragons could be tamed.” Jaejoong continued.
“Anything can be tamed,” Yunho replied. “Your direwolf is a creature of the wild, and you have tamed it.”
“Ghost is not broken,” Jaejoong said, and his smile was proud. “I could not take the wildness out of her any more than I can remove every last grain of sand from the deserts of Dorne.”
Do you speaking of your direwolf, or do you speak of the North? The men of the tribe had no patience for a man who spoke in riddles. Here in the Seven Kingdoms, it seemed riddles was all he heard.
“Tell me about the Wall,” he commanded abruptly. Park Yoochun and Shim Changmin could speak for the rest of his kingdom, but only Kim Jaejoong could tell him of the Wall.
“The Wall is a great barricade of ice, three-hundred miles long and seven-hundred feet high,” Jaejoong said slowly. “They say it is protected by spells, but our men guard the watchtowers anyway, just in case.” His dark eyes regard Yunho coolly. “But that is not what you wanted to know?”
“It is not.”
Kim Jaejoong was silent for a very long time before he finally spoke. “On my first scouting mission, I was placed under the command of Cho Banson, a decorated officer, second only to the Lord Commander, and one of the best rangers the Watch had to offer. On that same mission, we were discovered by the wildlings and before we were overtaken, Lord Cho commanded me to join the wildlings and learn of their plans. In order to prove myself, they ordered me to take Commander Cho’s life, and that’s what I did with my sword and a chopping block. Does that answer your question?”
“It does.”
The sun had dropped low beneath the horizon and torches were being lit from within the castle. Kim Jaejoong’s gaze remained steady in the firelight and Yunho felt a sudden need to test his stillness.
“What would you do if your duties placed you at odds with your king?” he asked, watching carefully.
Kim Jaejoong blinked and considered the question carefully before speaking. “My duties are at the Wall and nowhere else,” he said quietly. “But King as you are or Lord Commander as I am, we both serve the realm in our own way; thusly, we should always be in harmony.”
Yunho had hoped to hear an answer of fealty, but Kim Jaejoong had not given him the honeyed words he desired. Perhaps somewhere deep inside, he already knew what Kim Jaejoong’s answer would be, and he had just wanted to confirm his hypothesis-but what exactly he proved to himself, Yunho did not know.
“I wish to be alone,” he said at last. Suddenly, he couldn’t wait to be rid of Kim Jaejoong’s company. If the other man was surprised by his unexpected shift in attitude, he did not show it.
“Your grace.” The Lord Commander bowed once more and then departed.
//
Jaejoong knew little of ruling, only that his men were most acquiescent when they were under an illusion of safety and had food in their bellies. The Riverlands was torn apart by war, but the Reach and the Vale were virtually untouched and they would be eager to win favor with the new king. His people may not have fish, but they would have bread the first winter of his reign, and not many Kings could claim such good fortune. Jung Yunho captured the land with power, he captured their imagination with his dragons, and now it seemed he would capture their loyalty as well.
The best past was, of course, that the Dragon King could not have predicted this, so violently he had swept across the Stormlands and the Westerlands. Perhaps the Gods had blessed him after all.
You know nothing, Jung Yunho, he thought, and smiled. Was this what Yoona had seen in him? An ignorant child who lucked blindly into every single one of his good fortunes? No wonder she repeated those words to him so often, one for every time he acted a fool.
Im Yoona was a wildling woman, whose hair was kissed by fire. She was a skinny little thing, but her small hands could thrust the spearhead into an enemy as well as a man could. She was sharp woman in every word she said and every thing she did. She was free and wild, and Jaejoong was taken by her in every sense of the word.
“You’re mine,” she had whispered that night in the cave as the falling snow quickly became a blizzard. “Mine, as I am yours. And if we die, we die. All men must die, Kim Jaejoong. But first we’ll live.”
“Yes,” he had whispered back, reverent. “First we’ll live.”
She was the only woman he ever laid with. Jaejoong was enamored with her and maybe he even loved her; but in the end, he lost her. An arrow found its way into her heart and she had bled out in his arms.
You know nothing, Kim Jaejoong.
Her favorite words, her dying words-he still repeated them to himself whenever he felt he was being reckless and they saved his life on more than one occasion. Did Jung Yunho have the same phantom whispering prudence in his kingly ear?
No matter. It was of no concern to him whose ass it was occupied the Iron Throne. Hyoyeon had secured for him a direct supply line of food from the Vale to accommodate the sudden increase of population at the Wall. Once the deserters were taken care of, everything should level out nicely and perhaps winter would come easier this year.
“Ghost, to me.”
His direwolf shuffled to his side and he buried his fingers in her coarse white coat. They would patrol the Wall that night, Ghost from the shadows of the forest and Jaejoong from upper battlements. Rumors had run abound among the new recruits during his visit to Castle North. Some were about the Lady in the North. Most were about the young Dragon King and the creatures of legend he had brought back into existence. Yet others--and he was quite surprised to hear of this--revolved around himself.
They called him a warg.
They weren’t completely wrong.
[ Next Chapter ]
Notes:
+ If you haven't seen the rest of rice_queen's flawless graphic edits, please take a look and send her some love! :)
+ Ban = Half; Son = Hand. Together = (Qhorin) Halfhand. (*ba-dum-tch*)
+ Why Yoona for Ygritte? Because her last name wasn't already listed, and because of this, and because...y'know. YoonJae. (Ha)
+ Questions, comments, send them my way. :)