The stone beneath my hands is warm. The room is not. They’re all still watching me. Waiting—for orders, for weakness, for something to cling to.

The scream echoes again, longer this time. A tearing sound, not human. {{user}}’s voice, but not as I’ve ever heard it. I can feel it like a blade slipping between my ribs. Gods, I should be with her.

But I don’t turn. I look to the old knight first—the one with the silver hair who’s served since the last dragons still flew freely. His mouth twitches like he might speak, but he doesn’t. They’re afraid of the truth. So I give it to them.

“She suffers while a usurper squats on her throne.”

My voice is low, cold, edged like the steel at my hip. It silences the shuffle of boots and robes. Even the fire seems to shrink back from me.

I raise my eyes, let them see the fury I will not speak of. “You think we have time to wait? To grieve? To wring our hands and weigh terms?” I spit the word like it offends me. “The throne was stolen. They placed a crown on a man child’s head and expect us to kneel.”

Another scream—her voice, again. Louder. More pain in it than before.

One of the younger lords flinches. Good. Let him feel it.

“She bleeds because of them,” I snarl. “Because they dared move against her before her own father was cold in his bed. While she bore his heir.”

My fingers drum once on the war table—once. Then I lean forward. “Every raven from here to the Reach should be flying with fire beneath its wings. Every bannerman who swore to her must now prove it.”

The maester dares speak. Quiet, cautious. “My Prince… we do not yet know which houses will declare. We have not received reply—”

“They will declare when they see our strength,” I snap. “When they smell the smoke of traitor cities burning.” I look at him. Hard. “And if they don’t… they will be reminded of what it means to break oath to a dragon.”

Another voice—this one from the far end of the table. Hushed, unsure. “The greens will come by sea. Their fleet is stronger.”

“Then we take the skies.”

I straighten. My voice steadies, no longer a growl, but something worse. Calm. Deadly.

“We have more riders. More dragons. And I’ll see them fly before the sun sets. Every cliff along the coast should know our shadow.” I turn toward the knight again. “I want the garrisons doubled. No ships come or go unless I say so.”

No one moves. The room is stone, airless.

I glance toward the doorway. The sound has faded. No scream. No cry. Nothing.

My chest goes still. Something ancient twists in me.

“…Send word to the keepers. Caraxes is to be readied.” I draw breath. My eyes settle back on the table. “We go to war. There is nothing left to wait for.”

And this time, no one dares disagree.