Traitress

Joanna had been everything his son's whore was not. In fact, the whore was not even beautiful as many would say. Just foreign. Perhaps that was what men found exotic about her. Perhaps her Volanteen ways appealed to Tyrion who had an uncanny love for the histories of the Free cities.

Some part of him had hoped that Tyrion wouldn't continue to be a thorn at his side and embarrassment to his name and simply sail off and disappear just like his brother Gerion had done. But he never did and Tywin was forced to find some use for him.

His eyes glanced over the whore once more, sleeping in his bed. No, this flea-bottom slut could never compare to his late wife. Nobody did, not even his own daughter the queen. He remembered when Joanna had come to court as a maid of fourteen, the minstrels had sung sonnets and wrote poetry comparing her beauty to that of Aegon's bastard, Sheira Seastar.

Even he had had been enamoured by her, though his reasons for marrying her hadn't had everything to do with her beauty. He clenched his fists in anger when he remembered why she had appealed to him so much. Why she had appealed to King Aerys as well.

Joanna Lannister had been a cold and calculating woman, even as a supposedly innocent blushing maid. While other young women sewed, gossiped and danced like naïve idiots, Joanna would sit and observe everyone around her. He had found it intriguing, though years later, he had come to know it was her way of spying on others, listening to their conversations and capitalising on their knowledge.

He wondered if she had been a spy for Varys all along. Sending him Lannister secrets through the entirety of their marriage.

Within the first year of her remaining at court, he had fallen in love with her. But he found no way to gain her respect or attention. Oh, she acted the part, respected him as the heir to the Lannister fortunes, but it was always with cold indifference, as if he, Tywin Lannister, the future warden of the west did not matter at all.

It had taken him over two years to convince her to marry him. Her father giving in to his daughter's whims of refusing Tywin as a suitor and refusing to beat her into submission. He had wanted to throttle her himself (in mind only) for convincing her own father that far better men would make offers.

But he persisted. He was conniving too and he found out her interests through his own network of spies. Joanna loved to read. A lover of history, but the histories of war. The histories of men. She didn't even bother recounting the rare and occasional female warrior like Visenya Targaryen. She only spoke of the valour of mighty men and how war and strength make a man.

Her knowledge and interest were so much so that even Prince Aerys summoned her to share stories and discuss with him the merits of warfare and rulership with him. Tywin had always been present for those and was completely infatuated with her speech. At first he was going to admonish her and put her in her place for daring to interfere in politics and lead men in a field she had no business knowing.

But as cunning as Joanna had been, she had subtly only used examples from history along with sweet words of 'men knowing better, but look at what this Maester has said here.' And she had done it so well, that in his youth, even he had fallen for it.

Of course he was no fool. He saw the way Prince Aerys looked at her, the closer he got, the way he touched her hands, sent her little trinkets and tokens of affection. Tywin had competition. It was hard enough competing with a Prince, but Joanna ignored him the year Aerys became King and was often in his company.

Tongues started to wag, but not enough for a scandal. Joanna was always careful to have lady companions about her and she served Queen Rhaella so it wasn't unreasonable for her to be in the king's presence. It was when Queen Rhaella was ailing from a miscarriage, that Joanna was scarcely about and rumour had it that she had been 'comforting' King Aerys after the queen had lost the babies with her stories of Valyrion lore.

Others claimed, it was her cunt that did the comforting, but Tywin dismissed those rumours and executed or made life miserable for those who dared breathe a word against her. That was when she started noticing him again and they started talking to each other as they walked along hallways and danced with each other at banquets.

He hated dancing, but it pleased Joanna and if anything, he wanted to please her. She had such beautiful piercing blue eyes, deep smouldering sapphires that could melt the heart of any man, even those fabled Others. He had never been sure if those early years of her dancing was because she enjoyed it, or was her ruse as showing herself off as the most desirable woman in the seven kingdoms.

Aerys had arranged for a minor tourney to take his mind off Rhaella's miscarriage. Tywin had competed in the melee and the jousting at Joanna's request to 'prove his worth' and he did and she allowed him to wear her favour for the final joust against the king himself. It had not escaped his notice how King Aerys eyes had burned holes into his own as he strode forwards with Joanna's scarf wrapped around his lance.

A few weeks later, she had rewarded his efforts and had finally agreed to marry him. Tywin could not help, but feel a happier and completed man. He was the soon to be Warden of the West, had the favour of the king and he was marrying one of the most beautiful women of the seven kingdoms. A woman who was intelligent, obedient, interesting and would keep his bloodlines pure. He had no loyalty to any other family by marrying her.

It was the wedding night when things turned sour. How Aerys took certain liberties during the bedding ceremony. Touching her breasts and daring to stroke her cunt where Tywin could see. He had been so enraged, enough to commit treason, but Joanna had soothed him and he had soon lost himself in the throes of passion and her supple body.

He had been too enraptured, too aroused and too much in love to notice that Joanna was no virgin. She had used some whore's trick to show blood upon the sheets the next day, but he had not known, not until many years after her death, that she was no better than the whore lying on his bed here. Something in the back of his mind must have known back then though. She had been too easy to push into, no unyielding resistance as one would expect of a virgin, no matter how well she had faked gasped in pain.

Their first few years at court had happy even though Joanna had not conceived children for him right away. She spent her time serving the queen and had taken a peculiar interest in botany. The year after their marriage, Queen Rhaella had suffered another miscarriage, with Joanna strangely away from the queen and her lord husband.

Instead she had again attended Aerys as she had the year before when the queen had miscarried previously and comforted him. Tywin had not been impressed, warning Joanna of the things that were being said about her.

"Who would dare say anything about me? I am the wife of the King's Hand. The wife of a Lannister. The king enjoys my company for my knowledge of warfare and lore just as you do. I had my handmaiden Costia with me. I would never put myself in a compromising position my lord."

She had sounded so sincere and offended at the thought of the slanderous gossip surrounding her name. It wasn't her he didn't trust; it was Aerys.

The queen however, couldn't stand the gossip surrounding one of her ladies and promptly dismissed Joanna from her service once she recovered from her miscarriage

Joanna had muttered bitterly to him that the queen was jealous and upset because Joanna had not attended her as she bled upon the birthing bed and instead was ordered to placate the king. Tywin had accepted this as she whispered such words to him as she lay naked against his body.

Her story made sense and he believed her, but some part of his conscience was gnawing at him. Telling him that she was false. The king was known to take many handmaidens and ladies in waiting to his bed and that Queen Rhaella was known for dismissing such women from her service.

Instead Joanna simply stayed at court as the Hand's wife and kept to herself. It was several weeks later when she told him she was with child and he was overjoyed. They had been married for nearly three years and he had been waiting for his own son and heir.

He sent her down to Casterly Rock, ignoring Aerys's anguished remarks about being parted from so beautiful a woman. His remarks were disturbing to say the least, and it had caused a rift between him and the king, but Tywin supposed it was said in taciturn to hurt the queen who had since failed to bear more children after Prince Rheagar.

When Joanna's time grew near, Tywin headed down to Casterly Rock, ever at her beck and call, lying with her within the night, marvelling in private at her swollen belly (he never showed her affection in public) and the promise it held. He had given her full authority to govern his lands while he was away for weeks at a time serving as Hand of the King, to administer justice settle disputes and arrange marriages.

Being with child did nothing to hinder her competence and effectiveness. The peasants and Lannister bannermen feared her as much as they did him. Anything he did now on his own lands were credited to her. He ruled the seven kingdoms and she ruled him as the saying went. It had been partially true. So blinded was he by his love for her.

Against custom, he had stayed with her during childbirth, anxious at how difficult and long it had taken. Joanna was everything a man could want in a wife and for her first pregnancy, she had borne him two healthy children. A daughter, he had named Cersei, and a son and heir that she had named Jaime.

Tywin stayed with Joanna for several weeks after the birth, watching her nurture and nurse his children before departing back to King's Landing. Joanna had insisted her handmaid, Costia accompany him back to the capital to wait upon one of her Westerling friends at court who served the queen along with several herbs and plants she sent up with her handmaid as a gift.

It would prove to be a gloomy year at best. Queen Rhaella was cuffed on the face by Aerys after she gave birth to a stillborn daughter and only Tywin's intervention had stopped Aerys from becoming any more violent. Fortunately, Costia and Lady Westerling were there to attend to the queen as he convinced Aerys to leave the queen in her grief.

He decided to leave court again to return home, only to find that his father had died in the most humiliating way and that Joanna had caught his father's whore wearing one of his mother's gowns and some of her own jewels.

"Make her pay," she whispered into his ear.

"Her very presence is shameful to us all. Being treated almost as if she was the wife of a Lannister and daring to wear the clothes of women born of higher station then herself?"

"I'll have her whipped to death," he promised. He was already seething in anger over his father's messes and folly.

"No, that is much too merciful. Make her walk a penance for the House and the Gods she has offended. She can walk through the streets naked as the Gods made her, confessing to every man that she is a whore and a thief and let us see what mercy the commoners give to her then. Septa Josephine can ring the bell and announce her shame to all of Lannisport and Casterly Rock"

Tywin had given in to his wife's wishes and watched in satisfaction as justice was met.

The years went by quietly and Joanna was solely focused on raising her children. It was when she was called to return to court and present her children to the king that things took a turn for the worst. Aerys had openly insulted Joanna in front of the whole court. Tywin for the life of him, could not fathom why, but suspected the king was again growing bored and tired of him and that insulting the Hand's wife was his way of showing it.

Joanna had been mortified and had remained at the tourney white faced in anger.

It was then at that moment that he realised had been a mistake to bring her out of his lands and back into the fold. For had she simply remained as Lady Lannister of Casterly Rock, perhaps she would have remained loyal to him, her secrets unknown, her loyalty unquestioned and she completely devoted to him.

But things were not to be. Her anger must have cooled for Aerys summoned her again for comfort as Costia informed them that the queen had fallen into labour early and the babe was not likely to survive.

Tywin had forbid her to go and in all the years they had been married, Joanna had disobeyed him and had been secretly visiting the king in the weeks after the queen gave birth to a timid and small boy the king named Aegon.

Tywin found out eventually. He caught them together. Not exactly in a compromising position, but very close, her hands clasped in his.

When he angrily confronted Joanna about it later in his chambers, she sweetly told him it was pity that moved her for Aerys told her his worries about the safety of his kingdom. He had only one son to give it to as the other was not like to live long as the Maester had told him. He was grieved and sought her assurance and comfort.

"Your comfort? Why you? Why always you?" It was the first time he accused her. At least indirectly. It was getting harder to ignore the gossip now. Ignore the same reoccurring situation and Joanna's sweet lies that went with it.

"How can you say that to me? You must know years ago that Aerys, you and I even before we wed were friends and exchanged histories of warfare!"

"Yes, but I don't think it is sentimentality on his part. Once maybe, but no longer. He has frequently put you in compromising positions and you, madam, without any thought to your reputation continuously let him do so! He insulted you just a few weeks ago in front of the whole court and yet you show him pity?"

Her mouth faded into a grim line and she turned away from him.

"I was shocked, but it is only grief that ails him. Rhaella has birthed him nothing but little corpses. She has brought him nothing but death. Would you not be grieved and angry if your wife could not yield you live children? And to think the kingdom will be left into the hands of that soft mouse of a prince!"

He had been slightly mollified, believing Joanna's lies that Aerys was merely aggrieved with his wife, but the truth had been so much more sinister. Weeks later, one of his Lannister spies had requested a private audience with him and revealed the plot.

Tywin had been anguished, but he had managed to catch Joanna unawares and he forcibly took her back to Casterly Rock himself. Aerys did not pursue and kept quiet about the matter.

Through tears Joanna swore it was all false, that the baby was his. Yes, Aerys had ordered her to his bed, but it had been against her will and she was a victim in all of this. She had pinned the blame on Tywin by making her appear at court when she could have been safe back at Casterly Rock.

His throat ached at her accusations, but he confined her to her chambers anyway. For her own safety and his peace of mind.

When that hideous monster had emerged from her body into the Maester's arms and she began to bleed out, Tywin had dismissed the Maester, the midwives and the serving women. He could not lie to himself anymore.

His hands wrapped around her throat.

"Tell me the truth! Tell me you whore!"

He shook her.

"You fucking whore. Tell me!"

Mocking laughter followed. Delirium and blood loss had made Joanna spill most of her secrets in but a few simple words.

"I've been the king's lover all these years. He was going to make me his second wife. My son with him would have been king…would have ridden the dragon…azor ahai. Not that quivering fool Rhaegar…"

She never got to finish. Tywin's hands began to squeeze her neck and he watched in anger and despair as the life faded from her eyes.

He had stayed hunched over the side of the bed afterwards. Her dead bloodied body behind him as he buried his face in his hands and sobbed for hours and hours.

Everyone had assumed she had died birthing the dwarf. Tywin had wanted to kill the monstrosity, but Jaime's love for the infant, deformed though he was, stayed his hand. Jamie named him Tyrion too and Tywin was forced to raise him as his own. He had inherited Joanna's golden hair so nobody could claim anything else, but he knew those mismatched eyes had something to do with the unholy union between Joanna and Aerys.

He had returned to court after insulting the Martell's during their visit to his lands and he was cold and distant to everyone. Even to Aerys who hadn't even mocked him at all or offered condolences. The infant Prince Aegon had died and Aerys was once again left with only one heir to assure the security of his kingdom.

It was a year later when the Queen had born another son, Prince Jaeherys who died in suspicious circumstances under the care of the handmaiden Costia that his interests in his wife's infidelity was ignited and he brought Costia in for questioning.

Beatings and rapes by his soldiers forced her to speak and the things she confessed to made Tywin sick to his stomach and feel ever so betrayed. It was why he never married again, never trusting a woman to hold his heart after he learned the truth about Joanna's betrayals.

Joanna had been the king's paramour shortly after coming to court to serve Rhaella who had been a princess at the time. The gossips were not false. The servants had seen them. Seen her spend the night with him, with Costia as an overseer to mask their affair and for many nights after.

Joanna had wanted Aerys to make her his wife, but despite the king's love for her, like his father before him, he believed in prophecy and sought to keep his bloodline pure. Joanna had not been pleased and would not settle for concubine status and so had turned her affections to Tywin instead.

Hearing such a confession leave her mouth had made Tywin want to scream at the top of his lungs, but he kept silent.

Costia had continued hoping her confessions would allow her to live.

"She continued the affair after you were married, using moon's tea to stop her birthing children so that she wouldn't have divided loyalties if Aerys took her to wife and got rid of you. He didn't and kept making empty promises so she instructed me to mix in herbs in the queen's wine to make her miscarry. She caused all of them my lord, even when she finally got herself with child by you and left King's Landing. She instructed me to go back and stop any live children being born to Rhaella so that she could marry the king and give him heirs."

In a rare moment of empathy, Tywin pitied the Targaryen queen who had been the victim of his wife's jealous cruelty and ambition.

"The king insulted her because she dropped contact with him since he would not make her his second queen and that is why he insulted her. She had me put in extra doses of tansy and some drops of the tears of Lys to make the queen miscarry and die so that Aerys would turn to her. It wasn't strong enough. The queen survived, so did the babe for a time. But Aerys went running to her in pity and rekindled his love. He could see that Rhaella was barren and cursed. Joanna told him it was because she was unfaithful and had many lovers. He promised to be rid of the queen in time, and make her his queen instead. Lady Genna Lannister overheard them and she is loyal to the house of her birth and sent the spy to you."

Tywin sipped some wine as he continued to watch the Volanteen whore sleep. Joanna had had her due in the end, birthing that hideous monster and dying by his hand instead before she could openly shame him and his house, but sometimes when he thought about it, he wondered…had she loved him at all?

It didn't matter now. He had burned Costia alive to ensure her silence along with the many love letters Joanna had received from Aerys, he had had found hidden behind some moveable bricks in their sleeping quarters that the handmaiden had told him about. He hoped to the Gods that Aerys had burned Joanna's correspondence. He assumed so. Not a breath of them was ever mentioned.

He looked down at the whore, resisting the urge to pour wine on her and disrespect her as much as he could.

He couldn't hurt Aerys anymore. Jamie had avenged him in that regard, but it wasn't enough.

He could hurt Aerys's monstrous offspring and Tywin took fierce joy in fucking the woman Tyrion loved.

It was the only way he could find closure and seek vengeance on the man that had ruined his married life and on the whore that had birthed Tyrion.

Tyrion would die anguished and betrayed just as his mother and father had.

Tywin set the wine cup down and headed to the privy. He would do his business there before he would head down to the dungeons and tell Tyrion the truth about the origins of his birth, his whore mother and that the love of his life was now Tywin Lannister's very own paramour.