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After the Blackfyre Rebellion

Maron and Daenerys together after Maron's return from the war ❤️

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“Women later began to participate in ruling (…) Kösem was a smart, resourceful woman, the smartest of them all. Unlike many harem women, she could speak and write in Ottoman Turkish well and she wrote her letters herself, not dictated them to scribes. There are examples of her authentic handwriting. We can even see some mistakes that are influenced by Greek prounciation, e.g. ‘helbette’ and ‘elbette’. Kösem became full administrator of the state when her son ascended the throne as a child. She even decided on appointments of Şeyhülislam, and she (not the padişah) was the Empire’s final decision maker. Kösem was also the person who directly presented decisions of the Divan to the padişah. She could issue her own direct orders as well. It was unprecedented in the Empire, but she was well-prepared and knew about state matters.(…) Kösem Sultan was a knowledgeable lady, who made good decisions, for example concerning the rebellion in Yemen. After her death in palace coup in 1651, the state went through some period of anarchy resulting from absence of a figure with padişah-like authority.” - Halil İnalcık in Tarihe Düşülen Notlar (volume 2)

“Kösem Sultan was an invisible structure that kept the state alive and prevented the dynasty from collapsing.” - Necdet Sakaoğlu in article entitled “Erkek tarihçiler Osmanlı tarihinin en güçlü kadınını nasıl kurban etti?” published in NTV Tarih no. 21 (October 2010) [based on Hüseyin Ayvansarayı’s words]

“Kösem undoubtedly became a symbol of state and ruling. French author of her times, Michel Baudier, painted her potrait as a woman-politician who was a figure of authority. Jean-Baptiste Tavernier, who described 17th century from later point of view, characterised her perfectly as a very clever woman, perfectly oriented in state matters. Later it was believed that she was the element keeping the state together when it was fated with difficult times. Her ability to maintain compusure, far-sightedness and carefully acquired knowledge with whom to form alliances and when to form them made her a symbol of politics and ruling. “ -  Özlem Kumrular in Kösem Sultan: İktidar, Hırs, Entrika

“Mahpeyker Kösem had a special place in Ottoman history. She lived in turbulent times. (…). there was excessive piety in Ahmed I, madness in Mustafa I, ruthlessness and inexperience in Osman II, alcoholism & sadism in Murad IV, Ibrahim’s epilepsy and lust for women. Kösem was a chief consort, stepmother, sister-in-law, mother and grandmother to sultans. She was the smartest and most far-sighted sultana in the Ottoman palace. She lived through more critical times than Hürrem, Nurbanu, Safiye, Turhan, and Gülnuş. While the others ruled through influencing their husbands and sons, Kösem effectively ruled the Empire herself during first years of her sons’ and grandson’s reigns.”- Necdet Sakaoğlu in Bu Mülkün Kadın Sultanları: Vâlide Sultanlar, Hâtunlar, Hasekiler, Kandınefendiler

“This lady, of Greek origin, is now around forty-five years old, very beautiful and kind-hearted, with delicate features, curious about entertainment and pleasure, virtuous, wise and sensible. Majestic and open-minded.” - Venetian ambassador Vincenzo Alessandri, taken from Relazioni degli ambasciatori veneti al senato: Le relazioni degli stati ottomani, 22:649

“Although her power contradicted with ‘men should have all authority’, she overcame the difficulties of such critical era, as the female leader coming from the harem. (…) She was known as a religious, charitable sultana. She had a galley built for the navy, freed many concubines from the palace harem and wedded them to well-know families of Istanbul, released prisoners by paying their bails, gave alms, had Qur’an read in the palace, and gave pilgrims water and sherbet on their way to Mecca.” - Necdet Sakaoğlu in Famous Ottoman Women

“[A]ll power and authority [is with] the mother, a woman completely different from that of Sultan Mustafa, in the prime of life and of lofty mind and spirit, [who] often took part in the government during the reign of her husband.” - Venetian ambassadorial report of 1623 [translation of the quote taken from The Imperial Harem: Women and Sovereignty in the Ottoman Empire by Leslie Peirce]

[Translations of quotes from sources originally not in English are mine, unless stated otherwise.]

Happy Birthday Dani! (@kosemsjasmines )

[zuzka03k]

No, she isn’t. The whole „evil Kösem” thing isn’t played straight in MYKS2.

Kösem was in a role no woman was before her in Ottoman Empire – she was a woman who governed on her own and it wasn’t a role expected of a woman or one subject to any real legal regulations, and the fact that she often formed an alternative source of power in time of weak, tyrannical or mentally ill rulers just made people more to treat her as usurper, someone who made difficult decisions that she wasn’t entitled to make, since they weren’t traditionally within female sphere of influence in the Ottoman Empire, especially in minds of certain bureaucrats. If she had been a padişah, nobody would have given her such wank for them.

This is best exemplified in one of the conversations between Kösem and Murad where he accuses her of being “plague that entered their dynasty by deceit” and “sick woman”. He mentions that yes padisahs made numerous painful sacrifices for the state, but here he is the PADISAH, so he may do what he wants, while she is not entitled to do so just for the fact she’s not the monarch in what was always absolute monarchy. He’s the only person who can make decisions concerning dynasty, no matter what sort of decisions they are, even if destructive ones. He is, nota bene, proven wrong in about this when in his final episode he is criticised by the mufti Yahya Efendi (who for some time was his big supporter) for ordering to execute Ibrahim and Mustafa, thus placing the end to the Ottoman dynasty, which decision is deemed as impossible to carry out. Similarly, he is also called out by Kösem upon executing Ahizade because even the padisah couldn’t execute the Grand Mufti – Kösem calls it “similar unflawlufness that what happened to Osman that she will not allow” even after Murad’s argumentation that since the public killed the sultan, he might execute the chief judge because who he is next to a padisah.

Halil Inalcik in one of his interviews stated that the fact that the mere fact that a woman was ruling the Empire over a padisah (in this case he was talking about Ibrahim’s reign) was viewed negatively and was labelled in chronicles written by contemporary bureaucrats as tagallüb, that is unlawful tyranny, “unjustified taking power into her hands”

It generally shows position of many women that dared to rule, even Elizabeth I in England had to face criticism of people calling her reign illegitimate, and she was a crowned queen regnant.

Czytaj dalej

[zuzka03k]

Rely On Me

In which I tear out everyone’s hearts and stomp all over them.  Strap in, friends.  Angst awaits us.  Hurt/comfort.

And for the people in the back:

Dragonwatch spoilers lie here.

This oneshot was written for @fairyprincesskendra, who was kind enough to write me a few stories about Dale. <3 As you have requested, dear Princess, here is a oneshot dedicated to Warren and Kendra.

Side note: I actually cried while writing this, which is something I’ve never done before.  Sorry not sorry.  Partly inspired by the song “Her Diamonds” by Rob Thomas.

—

She wasn’t eating, and he knew she wasn’t sleeping much.  She’d withdrawn into herself and had stopped talking to pretty much everyone.

Stan was concerned.

He’d tried talking to her. Tried to comfort her somehow.  His heart was hurting, too – he’d tried to connect with her over their mutual ache, but it hadn’t worked.  He hadn’t been able to get through to her, and she was slowly wasting away in front of him.  He’d caught her crying by herself in the darkness again last night, but when she realized she’d been found, she simply wiped her tears and walked away.

No one had been able to get through to her.  Not Tanu, not Ruth, neither Knox nor Tess.  She managed her responsibilities and carried herself with grace throughout the day, but at night she hid herself away.  Oddly enough, Marat seemed to be the one person she appeared to be the most comfortable around, however he had told Stan that all they ever did was sit together in silence when there was no business to attend to.  He’d also tried to get her to talk, but she hadn’t allowed herself to truly open up to anyone.

She needed help.  Stan could clearly see that she needed help.  They all could tell.

So when Ruth decided to take matters into her own hands, Stan didn’t even try to stop her.

They needed all the help they could get.

Czytaj dalej

[zuzka03k]

I’m worried about you, Sultana. There are rumours about us everywhere. I don’t want you to suffer because of me. We need to do something about it. What do you want to do?

Happy Birthday Nicole! (@kosemscrown)

[zuzka03k]

I can’t get over the Water Gardens in Dorne like they’re so beautiful and they’re such an enduring symbol of love (how Maron Martell raised this pink marble palace for Daenerys so she could be happier in Dorne like WOW we stan) and hope and kindness (how highborn children and “commoners” could play together) and they’re so thematically significant — Doran literally receives word on Oberyn’s (and the Mountain’s) death at the Water Gardens; he isn’t a warmonger, he’s taking the lives of all his subjects and especially the innocent children in Dorne he swore to protect into account even as he wants vengeance and justice for his brutally murdered family.

Honestly, it feels a little off that Daenerys Targaryen (our Dany in ASOIAF) didn’t really think much of the Water Gardens (ik Quentyn told her about them in ADWD, but we don’t know what she knows of them) but she was probably more preoccupied with the situation in Meereen at the time. I really hope that Dany gets to visit the Water Gardens and that’s the place where she first begins to heal and remember what she’s fighting for: not fire and blood to destroy her enemies, but fire and blood to protect her people, to protect innocent children.

[zuzka03k]

KO-FI

Hello everyone! After two years of drawing ASOIAF and my own characters I decided to create an account of KO-FI. Thanks for everyone who'll decide to support me <3

[zuzka03k]

Aemon the Dragonknight and Queen Naerys <3

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Helaena Targaryen <3

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Daenerys/Maron and Mariah/Daeron?

Daenerys/Maron:

Fake dating/marrieds

It’s not hard for her to pretend to be in love with Maron. She only realizes afterwards that she wasn’t pretending after all. Maron likes the sound of the word us.

Bodyswap

They’re both pretty uncomfortable. They like being in their own bodies, thank you very much.

Telepathy

For a long time, Maron is insecure about how Dany feels because he’s heard the propaganda about how she and Daemon had this star-crossed love story and Daemon’s known as the Warrior reborn, so whenever she feels he needs it—or, really, whenever she damn well pleases—she reminds him that a) she and Daemon were never a thing, and b) he’s thrice the man Daemon could ever be.

OH NO only one bed at the hotel

Dany is saucy by nature, Maron sleeps in the nude. The innkeep gets an earful that night.

Accidental time-travel

Her entire life she’s wished more than anything else that she could have known her mother, and with the time travel she finally gets to meet her. Dany asks Maron if there’s anywhere he wants to go (they time-traveled once, surely they could do it again) and he tells her he has everything he wants right here.

Their first kiss

At their wedding was their first. Their first real one was when he showed her the Water Gardens he built for her.

Meeting the parents

Both sets of parents are dead before they can meet each other, but Daeron thinks Maron is the bee’s knees and Mariah adores Dany. Apart from the obvious political advantages, they think Maron and Dany are very well-suited for one another.

Moving in together

Dany has this moment of crisis because, like, how do you decorate a palace from scratch?? and so she enlists the help of anyone she can find so it becomes this hodgepodge of different people’s interests and then just as Maron had surprised her with the palace, she surprises him with the interior. He makes a joke about how he doesn’t like it, and she is Not Amused.

A crossover of my choice

THE PRINCESS BRIDE

An AU of my choice

All I want is for her to verbally eviscerate Daemon.

Mariah/Daeron:

Fake dating/marrieds

Daeron’s convinced no one would believe a woman like Mariah would marry him, and she enjoys the look on his face when she says that he’s exactly the kind of man she’d like to marry.

Bodyswap

It’s such an absurd thing to happen that they both laugh about it for ages.

Telepathy

Mariah likes to MST3K the Small Council meetings, making it very hard for Daeron to concentrate on tax law when she’s mentally airing everyone’s dirty laundry.

OH NO only one bed at the hotel

The lie side by side and talk, about anything and everything.

Accidental time-travel

They travel back into the heyday of dragons and get to pet a few on the sly. Mariah is vindictively delighted that they like her best.

Their first kiss

She decides she doesn’t want her first kiss to be in front of half the realm including the octogenarian High Septon, and so she sneaks into his room and kisses him right then and there to get it out of the way, and then once more because she liked it.

Meeting the parents

Naerys loves Mariah, Aegon not so much. Mariah’s father is pretty neutral. He’s more interested in what the crown will give Dorne.

Moving in together

Daeron apologizes for the Red Keep, given its history and the fact that his father has an endless parade of mistresses and is simply an awful person, but she tells him that if Princess Nymeria could make it through her travails, so could Mariah.

A crossover of my choice

The Incredibles AU. Even canon Daeron and Mariah were a Power Couple—let’s give them actual powers :D

An AU of my choice

The First Blackfyre Rebellion succeeds and Daeron and his family are forced into exile in Essos, where they have to decide if they even want to go back or whether Essos will be the beginning of something great for them.

[zuzka03k]

Daenerys and Maron Martell <3

[zuzka03k]

Daena the Defiant, next Queen Who Should Be <3

[zuzka03k]

Meta: A Tale of Three Daenerys’

An element of authenticity George R. R. Martin adds to the ASOIAF universe is the repetition of names. The same names appear repeatedly within specific cultures and the spread and popularity of certain names is used to illustrate how one culture has influenced another. Just look at the wide popularity of Targaryen names throughout Westeros, especially Alysanne. 

With Daenerys Targaryen, GRRM has created two other characters with her name, so far: Daenerys, daughter of Aegon IV and Naerys, and Daenerys, daughter of Alysanne and Jaehaerys I. Both of these characters seem to be used to lay the groundwork for elements of the canon era Daenerys’ story and character arc.

Daenerys, the Retconned Princess

In The World of Ice and Fire, Jaehaerys I and Alysanne do not have a daughter named Daenerys. In fact, in the main series, Daenerys of Dorne is referred to as the first. But with the release of Fire and Blood Vol 1, Martin restructured the birth order of Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s children, which included not just reshuffling, but also removing and adding children. One of those additions was Princess Daenerys, who took the place of Alyssa as the second born child and oldest daughter of the family. 

So the question is, why did Martin retcon TWOIAF just to add a new Daenerys? Part of the reason is likely to flesh out the reign of Jaehaerys and Alysanne with more information and loss. But why name her Daenerys and not Rhaenys after their grandmother or any other name? There is a wealth of Targaryen names Martin could have given this new child, but he chose Daenerys, the name of one of his main five characters in the core series. He likely made that choice to give additional foreshadowing for the canon era character. 

At first glance, the two Daenerys’ don’t have much in common with Jaehaerys and Alysanne’s daughter being born into a stable family and kingdom as their oldest living child who grew into a confident girl but died young, while our Dany was born an orphan and an exile, and grew up constantly afraid, gaining confidence and strength in her teens. In that way they are narrative foils. But where the foreshadowing comes in is with how Alysanne views her daughter.

Based on a combination of moments in Fire and Blood, there is a possibility that Alysanne had the gift of foresight, like other Targaryens in the series. For some unexplained reason, Alysanne is very insistent on Daenerys becoming queen after her father. This is strange because equal primogeniture is not the norm in their culture. Visenya did not become queen regnant, her younger brother Aegon became king. Rhaena did not become queen regnant, her two younger brothers and uncle became kings, though Aegon the Uncrowned was only a claimant. What’s more, Alysanne never pushes for Rhaena’s rights over Jaehaerys’. But she does push for Daenerys’ rights over her son’s. Why? Because she knows Daenerys will be a great queen: 

[Princess Daenerys] so enchanted Alysanne that for a time Her Grace even began to eschew council sessions, preferring to spend her days playing with her daughter and reading her the stories that her own mother had once read to her. “She is so clever, she will be reading to me before long,” she told the king. “She is going to be a great queen, I know it.” – Fire and Blood

This is a rare issue where Alysanne is certain about something, but turns out to be wrong, since her daughter dies before having the opportunity to become queen regnant. It is very possible that Alysanne’s certainty over her daughter’s future and Martin’s purpose for retconning this child into existence was to foreshadow Dany’s eventual position as Queen of Westeros. Often with prophetic visions, they can be misunderstood by the person experiencing them as seen with Daeron the Drunken and Daemon II Blackfyre in the Dunk and Egg novellas. While both of their dreams came true, they happened very differently than what they initially believed. So the great queen named Daenerys who Alysanne might have seen wasn’t her daughter but her distant descendant. 

Daenerys of Dorne 

The Princess Daenerys who married Maron Martell was initially mentioned in passing in a Dunk and Egg novella, The Sworn Sword, but wasn’t named in the text until A Dance With Dragons where her connection to both the canon era Dany and Martell family was emphasized. She is cited by Davos as the person Dany was named after and is the source of the Targaryen blood that gives Quentyn the belief that he can tame one of the dragons. She is also the reason the Water Gardens were built and through that palace was able to impact every generation of Dornish children after her. 

Unlike the previous Daenerys, there are quite a few parallels between Daenerys of Dorne and the canon era Dany. They were both the products of extremely unhappy and abusive marriages. They each had significant age gaps between them and their siblings, with their older brother having reached adulthood and had a child or children of his own. Their brothers married them to men outside of their culture. While Dany was exchanged for the promise of an army to take back Westeros, Princess Daenerys’s marriage was part of a treaty that united Dorne with the rest of Westeros. Both women marry for duty despite loving other men. Each of them are particularly protective and caring toward children. They also look beyond the social status of individuals and see that everyone is equally worthy of protection and a quality life.

While Dany pushes for freedom and justice in Slaver’s Bay, Princess Daenerys used her position in Dorne to benefit children regardless of class:

“Beautiful and peaceful,” the prince said. “Cool breezes, sparkling water, and the laughter of children. The Water Gardens are my favorite place in this world, ser. One of my ancestors had them built to please his Targaryen bride and free her from the dust and heat of Sunspear. Daenerys was her name. She was sister to King Daeron the Good, and it was her marriage that made Dorne part of the Seven Kingdoms. The whole realm knew that the girl loved Daeron’s bastard brother Daemon Blackfyre, and was loved by him in turn, but the king was wise enough to see that the good of thousands must come before the desires of two, even if those two were dear to him. It was Daenerys who filled the gardens with laughing children. Her own children at the start, but later the sons and daughters of lords and landed knights were brought in to be companions to the boys and girls of princely blood. And one summer’s day when it was scorching hot, she took pity on the children of her grooms and cooks and serving men and invited them to use the pools and fountains too, a tradition that has endured till this day." 

——

"I told the story to Ser Balon, but not all of it. As the children splashed in the pools, Daenerys watched from amongst the orange trees, and a realization came to her. She could not tell the highborn from the low. Naked, they were only children. All innocent, all vulnerable, all deserving of long life, love, protection. ‘There is your realm,’ she told her son and heir, 'remember them, in everything you do.’ My own mother said those same words to me when I was old enough to leave the pools. It is an easy thing for a prince to call the spears, but in the end the children pay the price. For their sake, the wise prince will wage no war without good cause, nor any war he cannot hope to win.– ADWD

It might seem like a simple thing to allow commoner children to play alongside highborn and royal children, but this is hugely significant since it allows children of higher stations to form positive relationships with children of lower classes. This act essentially put all of the children who stay at the Water Gardens on equal footing, even temporarily so they can all see that at their core, they are all made the same. This allows the royalty and nobility to empathize with commoners which will impact the choices that will impact everyone. Princess Daenerys’ impact on the ruling family kept Dorne from mostly out of the War of the Five Kings, meaning that while the common people of nearly every region have been slaughtered and abused in the conflict, only one Dornishman has died so far, Oberyn Martell, a prince in full control of his actions rather than thousands of commoners ordered onto the battlefield.

Even though Dany is still a queen at war in the series, there are similarities between her motivation and choices. As noted above, both Daenerys’ have a weakness for children. Princess Daenerys fills the Water Gardens with “laughing children”. Dany wishes to do the same:

I want to make my kingdom beautiful, to fill it with fat men and pretty maids and laughing children. I want my people to smile when they see me ride by, the way Viserys said they smiled for my father.– ACOK

But more than that dream, when it comes to children Dany shows she is willing to take direct action to protect and avenge them. When the slavers of Meereen murder slave children and taunt Dany by mounting their bodies on milepost, Dany made sure to see them herself: "I will see every one, and count them, and look upon their faces. And I will remember.” (ASOS) Then she avenged them by killing the exact number of slavers. Even when she doubts whether she did the right thing, she insists it was done for the children. Then, when Drogon kills a child, Hazzea, Dany tries to chain all of her dragons so that never happens again, though she only manages to capture two of the three. Despite the fact that she considers the dragons to be her own children, it only takes the death of one child to push her to imprison them, showing just how much she prioritizes the lives of these people. Even when it comes to the children of the slavers, Dany refuses to harm them regardless of what crimes the adult slaver commit:

Dany had grown fond of her young charges. Some were shy and some were bold, some sweet and some sullen, but all were innocent. – ADWD

Where the strongest parallel comes into play is with the way both Daenerys’ realize that there is no fundamental difference between people of different social classes since they are the same when brought down to their bare essentials:

On another island two lovers kissed in the shade of tall green trees, with no more shame than Dothraki at a wedding. Without clothing, [Dany] could not tell if they were slave or free. – ASOS

As the children splashed in the pools, Daenerys watched from amongst the orange trees, and a realization came to her. She could not tell the highborn from the low. Naked, they were only children. All innocent, all vulnerable, all deserving of long life, love, protection. – ADWD

The only thing that separates the highborn from the low or the free and the enslaved are societal restrictions. Since there are no natural physical differences between people of different ranks in society, that means they are all deserving of freedom and good lives. While Princess Daenerys acted upon this realization to effect change through the inclusion of all children from different walks of life into the Water Gardens, Dany fights for the freedom of slaves and allows freedmen places of power in her government and gives them a voice at court alongside people who were born free. Here are just a few of the many examples of Dany attempting to establish equality for the freedmen:

Reznak would have summoned another tokar next, but Dany insisted that he call upon a freedman. Thereafter she alternated between the former masters and the former slaves. – ADWD

Rylona Rhee had played the harp as sweetly as the Maiden. When she had been a slave in Yunkai, she had played for every highborn family in the city. In Meereen she had become a leader amongst the Yunkish freedmen, their voice in Dany’s councils. –  ADWD

“The freedmen work too cheaply, Magnificence,” Reznak said. “Some call themselves journeymen, or even masters, titles that belong by rights only to the craftsmen of the guilds. The masons and the bricklayers do respectfully petition Your Worship to uphold their ancient rights and customs.” “The freedmen work cheaply because they are hungry,” Dany pointed out. “If I forbid them to carve stone or lay bricks, the chandlers, the weavers, and the goldsmiths will soon be at my gates asking that they be excluded from those trades as well.” She considered a moment. “Let it be written that henceforth only guild members shall be permitted to name themselves journeymen or masters … provided the guilds open their rolls to any freedman who can demonstrate the requisite skills.” – ADWD

Princess Daenerys also helped to cement a permanent peace between House Targaryen and House Martell with her marriage uniting Westeros. That combined with the tradition of creating a closer bond between people of different classes and the continued caution on thinking of the people while making decisions that will affect them, she continues her legacy of peace. Our Dany also keeps the people who choose to follow her at the forefront of her thoughts with every decision she makes. She too wishes for peace and takes action to achieve that, even at her own detriment. 

“Peace is my desire. You say that you can help me end the nightly slaughter in my streets. I say do it. Put an end to this shadow war, my lord. That is your quest. Give me ninety days and ninety nights without a murder, and I will know that you are worthy of a throne. Can you do that?” - Daenerys IV ADWD

She thought of Doreah, of Quaro, of Eroeh … of a little girl she had never met, whose name had been Hazzea. Better a few should die in the pit than thousands at the gates. This is the price of peace, I pay it willingly. If I look back, I am lost. - Daenerys VIII ADWD

Like all good queens she put her people first—else she would never have wed Hizdahr zo Loraq—but the girl in her still yearned for poetry, passion, and laughter. – ADWD

Conclusion

While the three Daenerys’ don’t have anything close to similar lives, each of the Daenerys’ of the past seem to intentionally have call backs or call forwards to the canon era Dany. Both of them seem to foreshadow Dany’s current and future storylines with pushes for social progress and her future as the reigning Queen of Westeros. So far, Martin has included only three characters with this name, but with the positive change Dany is bringing to Essos and will bring to Westeros when she helps save the world from the Others, it would only be natural for the name to grow in popularity.

[zuzka03k]

Can they already turn Fablehaven into a tv series or something, I want to see the scene where Lena and Patton reunite AND CRY MY EYES OUT due to them being so damn cute

[zuzka03k]

Bracken : Still don’t trust me? At least you’re not stupid.

Seth : Don’t give me too much credit.

THEIR INTERACTIONS IN PRISON SEND ME EVERY SINGLE TIME

[zuzka03k]

Take me to Dragonstone and make me your wife

Check my Instagram: zuzka_03k

[zuzka03k]

Daemon you ignorant slut