The Guardian - (AU) Jorah x Dany

(For anonymous using this prompt - four weeks later…….)

T H E  G U A R D I A N

She was getting married. (Again.) She was marrying someone whom she did not love. (Again.) He would stand aside faithfully and watch it all happen. (Again.) And he would protect her and love her and never dare speak a word about it. (Again and again and againagainagainagain)

It was as if he was doomed to live in that state forever. Perhaps that was the price he paid for betraying her once. He had prayed for home once, but now he prayed for her instead. He was loathe to stand by and watch as she sold herself to a slimy Ghiscari man, but he had no choice. At least the both of them could take comfort in the fact that she was the one giving herself away and not someone else. It was not her brother selling her to a savage, but herself to some pampered trickster.

“It is for my people,” she had told him.

What people? he had wanted to shout. What of me? Do I mean so little to you that you would forget that I am your people too?

But that was selfish and craven besides. He could not do such things to her. He had before, on the boat, and it had nearly cost him her. Speaking like that was folly, but it hurt him to watch her sell herself to yet another man that did not love her, this time for a city that did not want her either.

“You belong in Westeros,” he had tried to explain to her. “These are not your people.”

But she had not listened. “Do you not hear what they call me?” He had; he did. The look on her face was soft, but her words were tinged with hardness. “Mother - they call me Mother. And what kind of mother would I be if I simply abandoned my children before they are full grown?”

(And what kind of queen was she now that she had seemingly abandoned her rightful claim to the Iron Throne? But no, there was danger where thoughts like that lied. He would not think of them.)

“How fairs the Bear of the Dragon Queen?”

When Ser Jorah Mormont looked up, he saw Hizdahr zo Loraq walking towards him, a smile on his face. It looked slimy, but Jorah would never say that out loud, at least not to his face. “Well, my lord,” was his stiff response. He was standing guard outside if Daenerys’ bedchambers and had been for hours. It was late in the night; and he did not want this man disturbing her anymore than he had to.

“I am no lord, if truth be told,” Hizdahr said, lifting his hands in the air, “but I will be a king soon enough and peace will reign over Mereen once more.”

“With the Harpy on the throne, I should hope so.” Folly, folly - he had to be more careful about what he said. This may not have been Westeros, but this was a new kind of the game of thrones.

If he was insulted though, Hizdahr never showed it. “Your queen has done the right thing - the best thing for her people - and yet you are not content. Why is that so, bear?”

“She does not love you. She should be allowed to marry someone she loves and not forced into a corner.”

“And she loves you?” That slimy smile returned to Hizdahr’s face when he saw Jorah’s fall for a moment. “No, I think not. The bear can love a dragon, but a dragon could never stoop to a bear’s level.”

The truth of his words stung more than Jorah wanted to admit. Hizdahr had the right of it. He could love Dany all he wanted, but she would never love him in return the way he wanted her to. It was the same with all women he had loved. First Lynesse and now Dany. He should have been happy with his first wife, who had been lovely and sweet and name slowly forgotten…

“I wish to speak with my future wife,” Hizdahr announced.

Jorah shook is head. “The hour is late; and the queen is asleep.” He gave the Ghiscari noble a hard look. Only Jorah stood between Hizdahr and Dany and he meant to keep it that way for as long as he could. “You are not king just yet.”

“Here you stand, bear, forever guarding a woman that will always reject you,” Hizdahr said. There was almost sadness in his voice, but it was filled with mockery as well.

“Here I stand,” Jorah replied, the words gnawing at his heart, the Mormont words, the words of his father and his House that he had forsaken yet never forgotten.

Hizdahr looked at him carefully, as if sizing Jorah up, but then bowed slightly. “I would not want to disturb my queen’s rest. Give her my love for me, will you?” And then the man turned and walked away, disappearing behind a corner like the snake he was.

There was barely a moment for Jorah to relax again when the door opened behind him; and Dany stepped out of the bedroom. Her movements were slow, sleepiness still in her eyes and face. Jorah bowed to her quickly. “Your Grace, I thought you were asleep.”

“I heard voices,” she said, her voice still thick with grogginess. In these moments, he realized how young she was and guilt bit at his mind.

“Only a dream, my queen,” Jorah lied. He did not want to bother her with more thoughts of Hizdahr, and especially not about their conversation.

Dany smiled at him and gently put a hand on his scruffy face. It took everything in him not to close his eyes and lean into her touch. “My bear, always here to protect me, even from nightmares,” she sighed. “What would I do without you?”

No, what would I do without you? he thought sadly.

supernatural can have theirs, GoT can have this
(soz couldn’t source it :( )