46: Chapter 46 The Unfastened Hook

Only one candle remained in the bedchamber. Daenerys sat before the vanity. In the mirror, she had removed her crown, her silver-gold hair cascading over her shoulders. Her nightgown was white with thin straps. Below her collarbone, a small section of the edge of a golden dragon claw mark peeked out from the neckline. Her fingers were unconsciously twirling the chain of an emerald necklace.

The door was pushed open. There were footsteps, along with the rustling sound of a tail dragging on the floor.

"Don't move. I have something for you."

He approached from behind, holding a crooked little gold box—it was clearly hammered from gold coins by his own hands.

The edges weren't even polished smooth, and there was a dent on the lid made by a fingernail. It opened. Inside, the box was lined with a layer of soft cloth, and embedded in the cloth was a teardrop-shaped emerald. A delicate gold ring was threaded through its top.

Daenerys looked at the emerald. A flash of surprise flickered in her purple eyes—quick and bright—before being suppressed. She picked up the small box, examined it closely, and then looked up at his face in the mirror.

"The ruby on that hair accessory was dirty. The moonstone was too small. This color—it's exactly the same as the green dress you wore the day you returned to Dragonstone."

The corners of her mouth curled slightly.

"I wasn't wearing a green dress that day. It was blue."

Drogon's vertical pupils contracted. His tail froze.

"Impossible. I have a very good memory. It was green."

"It was blue. You said yourself that the color was like the seawater of Slavers Bay. You also said that since the seawater is blue, I should wear green—you said green looks better with silver hair than blue does." She tilted her head, looking at him in the mirror. "That's exactly what you said. Your exact words."

Silence. The tip of his tail trembled slightly behind him—a concomitant symptom of his brain working at high speed.

"...Then it was blue-green. Somewhere between blue and green. Emeralds are also between blue and green. So my color choice is correct. A logical loop."

Daenerys finally couldn't help but laugh. It wasn't the laugh of a queen to a subordinate, but the kind of "I knew you'd say that" laugh.

She looked down and picked up the emerald, holding it against the candlelight to see its luster. Light passed through the ice fractures, casting a small blue-green spot of light on her palm.

"Silly. Green it is, then. Thank you."

She took a gold chain from the drawer—the one that previously held the moonstone. She removed the moonstone and put it in the jewelry box, then picked up the emerald and threaded it onto the chain. Then she looked up at him in the mirror.

"Help me put it on."

Drogon picked up the necklace, his hands reaching around her neck.

His fingers accidentally brushed the skin on the side of her neck—her skin was cooler than his hands. His fingers carried the bloodline of a dragon, with a constant high temperature. The temperature difference made both of them pause for a moment.

The clasp of the gold chain was very small, and his nails were too hard. The clasp bounced off his fingertips twice. Click. It didn't fasten. Click. It didn't fasten again. His tail began to draw circles behind him.

"...You have too much hair. It's blocking my view."

Daenerys reached out and lifted the silver hair from her nape, revealing her neck. Her neck was slender and long, her skin glowing with a warm light under the candlelight, with faint blue veins visible beneath the surface.

Above her collarbone, a small section of the edge of the golden dragon claw mark peeked out from the neckline of her nightgown, echoing the silver mark on his chest.

"How about now?"

Drogon's throat went dry. His vertical pupils stared at her exposed nape, his pupils dilating slightly.

Dragon instinct—Lust Suppression Rate 35%—emitted an extremely faint hum deep within his consciousness. It wasn't a system warning, but an instinctive hum, like Dragon Breath held in the throat without being exhaled.

His fingers accidentally brushed the skin of her nape as he fastened the chain. Her skin was very smooth, and his fingertips were very hot. The contact lasted only a fraction of a second.

Click. The clasp finally closed.

"...Done."

He stepped back, moving so fast it was as if he'd been burned. His tail flicked twice behind him before he forcibly held it down. He couldn't keep it still; the tip of the tail was still trembling.

Daenerys watched him holding his tail in the mirror. She lowered her eyes, the corners of her mouth curling slightly. She didn't call him out, but simply let down her silver hair and touched the emerald between her collarbones. The emerald pressed against her skin, slowly warming from its icy coldness.

"Tomorrow's Court session—you are not allowed to be absent."

"Fine. But I'm only staying for half an hour."

"One hour."

"Forty minutes."

"Fifty minutes. Plus, you have dinner with me tonight."

His tail slumped dejectedly behind him. "You're getting better and better at bargaining."

Daenerys looked at him in the mirror. The curve of her lips widened slightly more than before. "I learned it from a dragon who only knows how to bargain."