Daenerys held her breath, her violet eyes unblinking as she stared at the dragon egg amid the flames on the altar.
Blood and fire.
This was the method Melisandre had brought to hatch dragon eggs.
The stone egg lay at the center of an intricate magic circle drawn in fresh blood, surrounded by piles of oil-soaked firewood.
Flames rose, licking the blue-gray shell with a crackling hiss.
But these were no ordinary flames. When they touched the runes drawn in blood, an unseen force seemed to guide them. Their color deepened, their temperature soared, and they gave off an eerie red glow.
Stranger still, the flames did not seem to be merely burning around the egg. The stone egg greedily "sucked" them inside, and the markings on its shell glimmered like veins, flickering in and out.
Time passed slowly amid suffocating anticipation.
The flames on the altar gradually dwindled until only a heap of glowing dark-red embers remained.
Yet the stony patterns on the blue-gray dragon egg seemed to have come alive, a faint sheen rippling across them.
At last, just as Daenerys was about to abandon hope, a distinct crack appeared at the top of the shell.
Crack, crack...
The cracks spread like a spiderweb.
Then a small piece of shell was pushed out from within, and a wet little head covered in pale-blue scales struggled free.
The hatchling gave a faint but vibrant hiss and opened its eyes, their innocent depths reflecting the dancing firelight and Daenerys's delighted face.
"It worked..." Daenerys murmured, irrepressible joy shining in her eyes.
She carefully reached out. The pale-blue hatchling seemed to sense their shared nature and offered no resistance, instead rubbing its little head against her fingers.
Its tiny scales were cool and soft.
Standing beside her, the Red Priestess Melisandre's