ever since the wedding, jonah’s mind has been taken by something dark. he’s plagued by nightmares, destructive thoughts, and even more devastating actions that follow the destructive thoughts. he thinks the throne to the iron islands is cursed, that every man who sits upon it is doomed to madness but jonah’s naive almost narcissistic view of his own mind, he thought he was different. in the beginning, he was. he was a kind, merciful king who wanted his kingdom to grow and prosper together. now, nearly 25 years later, his kingdom is in shambles and he is a shadow of who he wanted to be.
the only thing keeping him sane is blythe. every time he looks at her, he’s at peace, he forgets all the despicable things he’s done, every time he holds her he’s brought back to a happier and easier time in his life. jonah’s older now, nearly 46 years old, but when he touches blythe he feels like he’s 19 again. he feels like he’s in the garden again with his secret commoner girlfriend. he relives his wedding day when he looks in her eyes. he loves her so much. he doesn’t know how she does it but she calms the raging war in his head.
“i got you new fabrics. they’re are suppose to be coming in from forte in a week,” he tells his wife with his baritone voice, a soft smile on his lips as she watches his love work, “i don’t really know what i got but i got a lot of colors and different types. i know the fabrics there are some of your favorites.” jonah told her with a sweet smile as he stares at her with nothing but affection in his puppy dog eyes. he laughed softly when he heard her giggle, his large hand holding on her’s before looking in the mirror.
he’s almost startled by how different he looks––obviously, he doesn’t spend much time looking in mirror now a days. he looks grey, his hair is duller than usual, and his eyes, the most startling of them all, weren’t dark brown anymore. his hues were an unsettling light chestnut, they looked like his father––he looked like his father. the man looked away from his reflection to look down at his wife, taking her hand into both of his, kneading her palm with his thumbs. “everything you make me makes me look handsome.” he teases as he takes the fabric off off his shoulder, wrapping the silky fabric around her neck to pull her to his chest with a bright smile, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. “i think this color actually…” he gently guides blythe in front of him to look at their reflection, “looks beautiful on you, but every color looks beautiful on you.” he smiled at their reflection. “i think you should make a nightgown with it or maybe a dress? i love when you wear silk.”
it became clear to blythe a long time ago that the jonah she knew and loved was a very different person compared to the valiant king that everyone knew and loved. she could see something shift in his eyes when his attention left her, getting darker, more vengeful and vicious. unrecognizable. but it was the gleam in his eyes whenever his attention returned to her that kept her at his side, happily oblivious to the horrors he committed when she turned a blind eye. some days it was harder to ignore, and those were the days that she spent doting over her beautiful grandchildren, making sure that they were surviving without the attention of their distant mother. nico had become visibly bothered by her father’s inexplicable actions, lately, and it never ceases to make the already-anxious women’s nerves burst into flames.
regardless, all of blythe’s anxieties seem to float away after she’s gottena few glasses of wine in her, and her beautiful husband looks at her with that familiar, loving glint in his eyes. blythe gets visibly excited at the prospect of new fabrics coming in from other kingdoms, a blinding smile appearing on her face, as she leans forward to pepper kisses across the man’s cheeks. “you always know just the way to cheer me up, my angel,” blythe insists as her dainty hands gently grab the collar of jonah’s shirt, delicately pulling him to her height and pressing a soft kiss to his pillowy lips. “thank you.”
blythe glowed under the attention of the love of her life, nearly glimmering as he kisses her forehead. a girlish giggle leaves her lip as the man guides her to the mirror to look at her own reflection in the blue silk, making her cheeks burn with his loving compliments. visions of the two of them in matching garments flooded her mind. her, in a long, silk gown, with delicate lace accents, and jonah in a sleek off-white suit, and a matching blue silk shirt. it gives her outfit ideas for the upcoming summer solstice party in forte. “i think you might be on to something, my love,” she agrees enthusiastically, nodding gently a few times before turning around in the man’s grasp and wrapping her long arms around his neck, leaning up to softly kiss him, pulling away with a last peck on the nose.
“angel,” blythe nudges her nose against him, before looking into his eyes and giving him an age-old look to show that she needs to say something serious, and imperative. “i think that you need to seriously consider spending more time with our daughter,” blythe tells him in a pleading voice, sounding a little more desperate than she thought she would. taking a nervous breath, she rallies on. “i know that you’re a very busy man, and that things in the kingdoms have fallen to absolute smithereens since the... the wedding,” blythe feels a familiar lump rising in her throat, but she takes a moment to swallow it, and calm herself with a deep breath, suppressing the intrusive memories of liu that flood to her mind, “but nico, she... she needs you. she needs to know you are still her father, not just her predecessor.”