Cersei started to laugh almost hysterically as Jaime told her the young seamstress's answer. "What a foolish thing to refuse! This could give many opportunities to her."
Jaime nodded as he drank his wine at supper. "I told you this, but she could not be convinced. Let it go, Cersei, she will not budge."
Cersei narrowed her eyes as she stared off into the distance. "Does she love her family?"
"Yes. She loves her brother the most, feeds him, clothes him and so on."
Cersei gave him a wicked smile. "That's how you get her, Jaime. Use her brother. Make him your squire."
Jaime tilted his head to the side in curiosity. "Tell me the truth, Cersei. Why do you want this girl? She's nothing."
"I think she might be useful to me," Cersei said. "To us. Someday. For now, I want her hands, I want them to make my dresses. I am the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, I need to look the part."
Jaime thought it strange that his sister had lied to him about her reason for wanting the Waters girl. She was a bastard with a whore as a mother, she had no money, no usefulness that Jaime could see besides that of her sewing skills.
Cersei eyed the liquid in her cup. "Jon Arryn is becoming suspicious, Jaime. I think he knows."
Jaime shook his head. "How could he, we've been careful. Extremely so."
"I don't know, but I don't like it." Cersei said softly, drinking her wine. Jaime stepped behind her, rubbing her arms gently as she laid her head onto his shoulders.
"Do I need to take care of him?" Jaime asked just as softly, but his words were firm and certain. His voice held no hesitation and it warmed Cersei's heart.
"No." Cersei turned her lips to his neck, pecking him. "Not yet. We need to find out what he knows. If we must then we shall dispose of him."
"You're no better than the dirt off of me boots," a man yelled at Taria as he gripped her arm painfully in his large hand. Her nails scratched at him, she could he was drunk by the strong stench in his breath. It almost made her gag, but she quickly swallowed it not wanting to worsen the situation.
She had accidentally bumped into him and spilled his drink over his coat and tunic. Taria tried to apologize, but the man was far too angry to hear her. He leaned closer to her and said, "Maybe I should fuck you as payment for what-"
"Many pardons for your spilt drink, Lia will take care you," Lord Baelish suggested as he gently took Taria from the man and put another girl into his hands. Taria looked away as he started to grunt impatiently.
She and Lord Baelish walked calmly to his study, his hand still around her arm. In the brothel, the place hardly allowed any light into the rooms and Lord Baelish's study was no different. He had scrolls and papers and stacked books surrounding the place. Dark red and gold drapes hung around the windows, she assumed his study was also where he slept since there was a bed in an adjoining room across.
"I would ask if you would like some wine, but your mother tells me you do not like the taste," he said as he poured himself a cup.
Taria shook her head. "No, I do not like the taste. Thank you for what you did."
"It's always the drunks that keep me here, they like what they like as long as they've paid handsomely I sometimes turn the other cheek," he told her. "You're a sweet girl, Taria. You should not be in a place like this...but your mother is not as young as she used to be. When she is gone, you will fill her position."
Taria's jaw hardened at the fate that would hers someday soon. "You've never let me forget about it, m'lord."
"Someone told me that the Kingslayer has been following you for a fortnight. What does he want," he inquired curiously as he eyed her when he drank his wine.
Taria sighed and spoke nervously, "The Queen needs a new seamstress. She likes my dresses, Ser Jaime came to me on her behalf to offer me the position. I refused him and he won't let it go."
Lord Baelish nodded. "This would give anyone every opportunity and future they could ever dream of especially someone like you. You would be grateful to the Queen and then in debt to her as you are to me. She could make you do anything she wanted."
"Just as you are doing, yes?" Taria boldly snapped at him. Lord Baelish gave her a small smile.
"Perhaps. You're an honorable person, you believe in paying kindness with a favor," he responded.
"I believe in my brother and his happiness," she corrected firmly. "I'm doing this to protect him. If he weren't in any harm, then I would refuse this life and perhaps run away across the Narrow Sea, but alas, I cannot."
"I did not mean to upset you, Taria," he said unsympathetically.
Taria bit her tongue from countering his statement. She crossed her arms over her chest and asked, "What shall I do then, m'lord? Ser Jaime is persistent."
"As of this moment, do nothing," he replied. "Keep your head low and mind your business unless the Queen gives you an royal order. No one refuses their graces."
Taria nodded and curtsied before leaving his study and walking up to their apartments just above the brothel.
"Do you know where Gisella is," a deep voice asked her. Taria turned around and saw an old man dress in blue attire. Her eyes found the Hand of the King sigil pinned onto his breast.
Taria quickly curtsied and greeted, "My lord hand, I'm sorry I did not see you."
He gave her a nod. "It's quite alright, girl."
Taria noticed that half of his teeth were missing and forced herself not to stare at the Lord of the Eyrie for too long. She reminded herself that he was a powerful man and that he was Hand of the King. "I'm afraid I do not know where my mother is…"
He looked surprised for a moment as he questioned, "You are Gisella's daughter?"
She nodded. "We look nothing alike I'm afraid."
He nodded and politely asked, "Do you know where she could be? I need to speak to her."
Taria thought about it for a moment before answering, "Go to Shadowblack Lane. Aegon's hill is her favorite place to be, she goes through the lane to get there."
Jon Arryn gave her a parting nod and then walked away from her after saying kindly, "Thank you, you've been most helpful."
"She's not in any trouble, is she, m'lord?" Taria called out to him.
Jon stopped in his steps and said, "No. She is in no trouble."
Taria smiled thankfully at him as he left her. She took out some bread and began to cook their supper for the evening. She jumped in fright when the door burst open and Marian came running in with the widest smile on his face she had ever seen.
"What is it?!" She asked worriedly.
"I've been made a squire," he said excitedly. "No more working the master and making weapons for others, or dirty hands and late nights."
Taria was at a loss for words and her mouth opened and closed a couple of times before she asked, "How is this possible?"
Marian sighed and then sat at the table, picking at his bread. "I don't know. I only received the letter this morn. It is all very strange since we are not nobles...Ser Duncan the Tall was just as we were and yet he became a legend-a knight that history sings about. I want to be like him."
Taria bit her lip, she did not want to spoil her brother's dreams for they were her dreams as well. She hoped that he would be free of this life and make something of himself, be written in the history books and have bards sing about him. That was her dream, she dreamed it every night.
"Who will you squire for?"
"Ser Jaime Lannister, he's one of the best so I shall learn much from him," Marian told her.
Taria stopped what she was doing and glanced at him. She licked her lips, trying to calm her anger as she placed the knife down. She wanted to tell him to refuse Ser Jaime, to stay here, but she didn't have the heart to tell him so. She closed her eyes and forced a smile onto her face when she turned around to face him.
"I am happy for you, Marian," she said. "You make the most while you are there and don't let them play games with you."
He nodded. "You forget, sister, that I know the people in this city just as you do."
"I know...I'm worried is all," she told him. "I will worry for you."
Marian grumbled, "I know you do. I'm thankful to have a sister like you."
Taria ruffed his curls and laughed when he groaned and pushed her hand away, fixing his hair. "You better be or I'll let you starve."
Marian stopped laughing at the mention of no food and said, "Please don't. I can't cook and neither can mother. Her food tastes like goat fur."
Taria chuckled. "Goat fur? A very peculiar taste you have."
Taria stormed through the crowd in the street, running down stairs as she called out, "Ser Jaime! Ser Jaime!"
Jaime stopped walking and slowly turned to her, her chest heaved up and down as sweat began on the crown of her head. Taria glared at him as she said, "You made my brother your squire."
He nodded. "I did."
"Why?"
"I see potential in him," he said as a puzzled expression came onto her face. "Do you not see what I see?"
"Of course I do, ser," she seethed. "He's my brother. I'm worried about him and what will happen while he squires for you and your family."
"You don't trust his honor?"
"I don't trust your family," she snapped softly, looking into his eyes which impressed Jaime as most men would never have said those words to his face and looked him in the eyes as they did so. No one ever told him the truth, but this girl had a mind of her own. For a moment, she reminded him of himself when he was younger.
"Then I guess the only way to protect your brother from my family would be to accept the position," he suggested then his lips curled into a victorious smile.
Her lips thinned as her brows furrowed in confusion. "How could you...when someone says no, they mean it! You do not bully them into a corner and threaten their family! Why are you so cruel?!"
Jaime shook his head. "It is not I that is cruel, my lady. I do what I must to win as we would you."
She scoffed and looked at him in hatred. "Do not presume to know me, Ser Jaime, for I would never hurt someone just to win. My life is not a game."
Jaime lifted his chin and said firmly, "I'm not forcing you to take the position. It is merely a suggestion to if you want to protect your precious younger brother."
Taria let out a heavy sigh. "I shall never be her spy. I'm there for my brother."
"You're there to serve the Queen," he told her before he turned around and started to walk away. "I'll expect your attendance in the Throne Room on the morrow."
"You knew I couldn't refuse," she realized softly and looked shocked for a moment. She knew that this behavior should not surprise her, but it did. "You used my brother's dream to get my acceptance."
"Like I said before, I do what I must to win," he called out to her over his shoulder as he walked further and further away.
Taria felt helpless as usual, she knew that this would not end well for anyone, but yet she could not refuse. It was her brother's life at stake, he would be pulled into their games. She wondered what Lord Baelish would do once he found out about the Lannister's plan for her and her brother. She didn't know if she wanted to feel guilty or not for leaving their mother behind.
It would be for the best...she always hated us anyways, she thought grimly. Mother would do just well without us on her shoulders. The burdens the gods gave her, she used to say to us when we were little and didn't stop crying out for food.
TBC…
THANK YOU FOR THE REVIEWS, FOLLOWS, AND FAVORITES!
Okay so this is set before Jon Arryn's death and the arrival to Winterfell which I am excited for since I already have it planned and those chapters surrounding that are gonna be good. I think it might not happen until chapter 8...I don't know. I hoped you liked this chapter.
REVIEW. FOLLOW. FAVORITE. Until next time...