David acceded and the boy-prince George, under protection of the Christian man called Enuk Arkun, traveled to the khan's court in Iran, where he was treated with honor.
[6][7] Within a year or so, George was allowed to return to Georgia, where he joined his father in the exhausting service along the defensive lines in Shirvan, which had been erected by Hulegu against the rival Mongol khan Berke.
It is said that the king was gripped by unbounded grief; the anguish of his father's love was compounded by the memory of the marvellous beauty of an 18-year-old boy, his bravery and his military prowess.
He broke into heart-rending sobs and cried out to death when he saw the charming remains of his child, of his George, lying lifeless, discoloured, bathed in the tears of the people".His body was briefly rested at the Sioni cathedral in Tbilisi and then buried at Mtskheta.
The sorrowful king David VII died within two years, leaving his troubled kingdom to Demetrius, a younger son of his third marriage to Queen Gvantsa.