Read. Enjoy. Review. (The reading and enjoying are for you, the reviews are for me!)
I own Evelyne Forrester, nothing more.
So the husband and I got really sunburnt on memorial day (him a bit more than me). And now our skin is peeling. Lucky me, by the time I'm back at work on Monday it will be done, he has to work this week ... looking like his skin is falling off. Anyway, last night we were laying on the couch having a competition to see who could peel the biggest strip of peeling skin.
It's a bit gross. But go find a love that will do that with you!
Chapter Eight: Three Questions, Three Answers
The minx and her brothers made it to Oldtown before he did. When he first arrived at the camp that surrounded Hightower he asked after her brothers, thinking that perhaps someone would at least know when they might arrive. Instead of getting a guess, the squire he asked directed him toward a group of dark green tents set up toward the outer edge of the camp.
He smiled to himself when he realized these pavilions were set up as close as possible to the castle's Godswood. Northerners were nothing if not predictable, it would seem. He found her holding court again, just as she had at Crakehall. Some of the faces were familiar, though some were new. Cersei had not come to this tournament, but she would be upset to learn that Lady Evelyne Forrester was still a bit of a novelty.
She was turned away from him, her red hair shining in the sun as she listened to the Greatjon tell a bawdy joke. A polite, southern lady would not have even smiled at the punchline but Evelyne did more than simply smile. She threw her head back and laughed, her curls dancing down her back in waves of fire.
She still did not notice him. But the Stark girl did. Her grey eyes widened when she caught sight of him and she stood up, working her way through the group so that she could sit beside her redheaded friend. Jaime wondered if Evelyne had told the girl about his proposal. He hoped that she had enough respect for his pride to keep from humiliating him.
And he held onto that hope as the girl whispered something in Evelyne's ear. But then the hope extinguished the moment Evelyne and the girl started to giggle before the Forrester girl turned her head so that her blue-eyed gaze could land on him. He thought she might ignore him at first, but with a smirk in Lyanna Stark's direction Evelyne spoke, "Ser Jaime Lannister," she greeted him. She turned toward the men in the group. "We have a champion in our midst, Sers," she informed them.
The men turned to look at him, some seemed surprised and happy to see him, others were aloof, and still others were glaring at him - no doubt disappointed that they had not been singled out by the minx when they joined her group as he had.
"Ser Jaime won the tournament at Crakehall, no more than two moon turns ago," Evelyne informed them. "Though he made a most ill-advised choice when he crowned his Queen of Love and Beauty."
Robert Baratheon chuckled, a loud booming noise. "I heard the girl despised him," he added his own opinion to the story Evelyne was weaving. "Only danced one dance with him and left her flower crown in the dirt when she left."
"It was in the grass, to tell it true," Jaime corrected the Storm Lord. Most of the group would know that they were speaking about Evelyne, but the new members seemed confused and intrigued.
Evelyne smiled at him as if pleased that he remembered, "I wouldn't go as far as to say the Lady despised him, Lord Robert," she corrected the big Baratheon man. "Toward the end he grew on her a bit, like a fungus on a tree."
That set them off laughing. Jaime ground his teeth together. He did not mind when Evelyne teased him when they were alone or through her letters, but he did not enjoy being mocked by an entire group. He took a deep breath, attempting to quiet his annoyance before he looked at Evelyne again, "Lady Evelyne, I was hoping you would accompany me on a walk through the Godswood."
She was the one he posed the question to, but his eyes sought out Ned Stark. He wondered what the long-faced Stark's reaction to his question would be. He wondered if Evelyne or Lyanna had told Ned that he had proposed marriage to the girl. He wondered if Stark would be jealous.
If he knew about the proposal, he did not let on.
If he was jealous of the attention Evelyne was giving Jaime, he did not let on.
If he was angry when she agreed to walk with Jaime, he did not let on.
Evelyne's own blue eyes followed Jaime's gaze to Ned for a moment before she stood from her spot and moved closer to him. "I would have thought that you had enough of Godswoods after the last one you were in, Ser Jaime," she taunted him as she came to stand beside him.
He smirked down at her, "As always, I need at least one more," he told her. He bent slightly so that he could whisper in her ear, "One more walk in a Godswood. One more rejection. One more smile. Always one more."
He held out his arm to the lady so that he could guide her on their walk, but she did not take it. "Then you shall have them," she told him before she very deliberately gathered her skirts in her left hand, the hand closest to him, and began to walk towards the woods.
He could hear her brothers laughing at them as he quickly followed her under the trees. He did not speak right away, he waited until they had found a path before he opened his mouth. Evelyne seemed content with the silence. She walked amongst the trees, a soft smile resting on her lips as she stopped every once in a while, pausing whenever they passed a tree or a flower that did not grow in the North.
"For a girl who is so sure that she is going to spend the rest of her life near the Wolfswood, you seem to enjoy the southern plants," Jaime observed as the moved onto the path.
"For a man who is such a proud, Lannister lion, you seem to be set on being rejected again," Evelyne fired back. But there wasn't too much bite to her words. They were softened by the smile playing at the corners of her mouth.
Jaime chuckled, "And who says that I am going to ask you again, my Lady?" he asked her.
She shrugged her shoulders, "You want things you can't have. The way I see it I am one of a small number of women that you can't have." Her eyes narrowed as she studied him, "You're still wearing riding clothes," she observed. "Did you just get here?"
Jaime cursed his impatience. He had set his squires on setting up his pavilion and he had been so impatient to see Evelyne that he had not changed before he sought her out. No doubt she would read more into it than he meant her to. She would think him distracted by love rather than annoyance.
"My squires had not unpacked my trunks yet," he told her, trying to force his voice to sound disinterested. "After such a long ride I wanted to walk and I did not want to wait until I could change out of my riding clothes." He paused, looking down at her and narrowing his eyes playfully, "I did not rush to see you, Lady Evelyne, I assure you."
She laughed, a light musical sound that Jaime could hear over and over again and he was sure that he would never tire of it. "I did not think that until you said it, Ser Jaime," she teased. "But whether you meant to seek me out or not it does not matter. You found me. What will you do with me now?"
Jaime's eyebrows knit together in confusion. He wondered if she was deliberately flirting with him. Her last question was suggestive enough without the smirk she sent his way once she'd asked it. Whatever she was doing, she was well aware of it. "I wonder how old Ned feels about his betrothed walking through the Godswood with the likes of me," Jaime said instead, changing the subject.
Evelyne glanced down, a light pink blush covering her cheek bones, "I don't know if he has much of an opinion," she admitted to him in a voice just above a whisper. "And I certainly wouldn't ask him."
"He doesn't know?" Jaime asked, surprised be the information. Evelyne turned to look at him, raising one eyebrow in a silent request for clarification. "He doesn't know that I asked for your hand?" Jaime clarified.
Evelyne shrugged one of her shoulders, "I don't know," she told him, pursing her lips. "I didn't tell him, though I did tell Lyanna. What she told him only the Gods know."
"Either way it's bad news for you," Jaime told her.
"Bad news?" Evelyne echoed back. "I don't understand."
"If you told Lyanna and she did not tell Ned then even your friend, his sister, does not think that the betrothal with her brother will turn into a marriage," Jaime explained to her. "And if you told her and she told Ned and he still let you stroll through the Godswood with me then he will never care for you the way a husband should care for his wife."
He didn't add it, but his tone spoke volumes. It spoke of the words I told you so, that would have fit in so well at the end of his statement.
Evelyne's blush had darkened. It was no longer a pink, but a red like her hair blazing its way over her cheeks and down her neck. "Whichever it is, it is no concern of yours. I'm sure your own betrothed would mislike you walking through the woods with me. Shall we ask her? I hear even the Tully girls have come to this tournament with their younger brother."
Jaime chuckled, she was trying to change the subject as he had. But he was not as kind as she was. He would not allow it. "I told you in one of my letters that I am no longer to be betrothed to Lady Lysa, it is you or no one, Evelyne."
"Then perhaps you should join the faith and become a Septon if the Kingsguard will not accept you. Or, while we're here in Old Town, join the Maester guild. Because you shall not have me."
"No?" he asked, arching one of his eyebrows. "Then correct me if I am wrong, but did you not ask in your latest letter if I would take you jumping off the cliffs at Casterly Rock. Far be it for me to try to understand the inner workings of a Lady's mind, but that seemed almost a welcoming of my advances."
"It was no such thing," Evelyne snapped at him, going as far as to reach out and slap his arm. The slap was hard enough to sting, but light enough not to anger him. He wondered how many times she had slapped her brothers with the same amount of force. She was quiet for a moment before she spoke, "So you received my last raven before you rode to Old Town?" she asked.
He nodded, smiling.
She stared at him expectantly, "Well?" she asked.
"Well, what?" Jaime asked back, mocking her impatience.
"Are you going to answer my other questions?"
"You'll have to remind me of what they are, my Lady," Jaime teased as they moved onto a different path, moving further into the wood.
"If you were as devoted to me as you said in your letters I would not have to remind you," Evelyne bit out. But a moment later she sighed, "I asked you three questions. Would you take me jumping off your cliffs? What you said to your father that swayed him to ask my father for a marriage arrangement? And how did he take my rejection? Three simple questions."
Jaime nodded, "Aye," he agreed, "they are simple enough."
"Then you will answer them?" Evelyne asked.
Jaime smirked at her, an idea forming in his mind. "Three questions you asked me, my Lady, and three answers I will give you. But on one condition."
"What condition?" Evelyne deadpanned, no doubt thinking that he was up to some sort of mischief.
"During the tournament I will approach you three times either to give you my favor or to ask for your own. If you refuse, you lose a question. If I lose, you lose a question. But if you agree to my request and I win, I will answer."
She did not look like she particularly liked his condition. But she was as curious as she was stubborn. She stopped walking, "Fine," she told him, growling out the word before she stuck her hand out to him.
Jaime stared down at her hand, his eyebrows raised. "What are you doing?" he asked her.
"Shaking on our deal," Evelyne told him as if it were the most obvious thing in the world. "My brother's do it all the time."
Jaime snorted, he had never met a woman who shook hands on a deal. But he was not going to deny himself the chance to touch Evelyne, and to perhaps make her feel a bit uncomfortable. "As you say, my Lady," he told her, placing her hand in his.
She shook their hands up and down once before she began to pull away. But he tightened his grip on her hand and pulled her closer to him. He pulled with such force that her left hand flew to his chest to steady herself. She gasped. He smirked as he lifted her right hand to his mouth and pressed his lips against it.
This time when he let go she did not wipe her hand on her skirts.
It was progress.
And he would take what he could get.
-.-.-.-.-
Jaime's first ride in the lists did not occur until the next afternoon. Evelyne sat all morning in the stands watching lesser lordlings and hedge knights ride and ride and ride. She was no longer the girl at Seaguard, she knew what to expect from tournaments now. She was no longer surprised by the blood or the violence. She did not scream or yell. She sat like a proper lady, as if it were all rather boring.
That is until the first ride with a knight she recognized. Jaime would ride first against one of the Frey knights, it did not much matter which one, there were so many after all. As Jaime got situated on his horse, Evelyne wondered if he would be able to find her. She sat close to the front row of the stands, but there were stands on both sides of the lists.
She shouldn't have worried. His answers to her questions shouldn't have mattered to her. But she did. And for some reason, they did. But she had no need to worry, there were lots of maidens hoping Jaime Lannister would give them one of his flowers, but only one of them had flame red hair. She was easy enough to spot.
Once Jaime had his lion's head helm on, but lifted so that she could see his entire face, he rode forward, stopping in front of her section of stands. Evelyne smiled at him and seven started to stand from her seat when Jaime spoke, "Lady Lyanna," he called out, singling out her friend instead of her. "Would you take this rose?"
He was smirking, his green eyes sparkling as Evelyne dropped back into her seat and Lyanna looked uncertainly between the two of them before she stood up and accepted his offered crimson rose. It was a beautiful thing, she was not sure how they managed it, but the tips of each of the petals shone gold. Perhaps it had been dipped in a gold paint. Robert was unhappy on Lyanna's other side as the girl sat back down, smiling down at the rose.
"Calm yourself," Ned ordered his friend as Jaime rode away. "He does not want Lyanna, he means to tease Lady Evelyne. She wanted the rose."
Her friends turned to look at her, waiting for her to deny it. She couldn't, though she did not want the rose for the reason they assumed she wanted it. She shrugged her shoulders, "We have an agreement, Ser Jaime and I," she told them. "I asked him some questions and he agreed to answer them, but only if I accept his favor or give him my own and he wins his rides in the lists that round."
She explained it mostly for Ned's benefit, so that he would not think that she wanted Jaime instead of him. But it wouldn't have mattered much. He did not seem to care either way. It had not been jealousy in his voice when he said that she wanted the rose, and it was not relief in his eyes now. Jaime was right, Ned Stark would never want her.
Robert raised his eyebrows at her explanation, "Must have been some pretty important questions to make you want to give him your favor just to get the answers."
Evelyne nodded in spite of herself, "They are," she told him. Though I don't know why.
Jaime unhorsed the Frey knight in two and his round was over.
She had to wait five more rounds before his turn came again, this time against the strange red priest from Myr, Thoros he was called. He was normal enough in the lists, but Evelyne had heard that when he fought in the melee he fought with a flaming sword.
"He makes for an odd priest," Evelyne mused as he put on his red armor.
Ned nodded, "To hear him tell it he made a horrible priest in Myr so they sent him to Westeros to attempt to turn King Aerys away from the Seven and to his Fire God."
The northerners had no love for the Seven, they stuck to their Old Gods for the most part, but even Evelyne knew how hard it would be to sway the king's mind.
"I'm sure he thought it would be easy," Robert added, "The Targaryens and their fire, you know. But it has not worked yet."
"And in the meantime he has found a love of Dornish wines," Ned added.
Evelyne smiled at that, he seemed to be drinking some now. She was so interested in their conversation about the fighting priest that she did not notice when Jaime rode up in front of them again. She only turned when he called out her name, "Lady Evelyne." She looked up at him, her eyebrows raised, but made no move to stand up and walk toward him. He smiled at her, "Would you accept this rose?"
He held up another crimson rose, the petals sparkled gold at the tips. She stood from her seat and slowly approached him. "I see the way of it," she whispered as she held out her hand for the flower. "When I want you to approach me, you stay away. When I don't care, you give me your rose."
"Where would the fun be if I always did as you expected?" Jaime asked her, the gold in his eyes glinting in the sun. "Surely you should understand that. I enjoy you most when I have no idea what you plan to do next."
Evelyne smiled at him, holding the rose lightly in her hand. "I would drop this rose in the lists to be trampled by your horse if I did not want the answers to my questions," she told him.
Jaime laughed, she was sure this was the first time she had heard him laugh when he wasn't mocking her. It was a different kind of laugh, deep and full, from his chest. It made her smile, "I am surprised that you don't do it regardless, my Lady," he told her.
Then with a wink he lowered his helm and rode toward his end of the lists, ready to ride.
Evelyne sat back down in her seat, fidgeting with the rose in her hands as she waited. "Did you get an answer to one of your questions?" Lyanna asked her as the knights strapped their shields on and took their lances from their squires.
Evelyne shook her head, "He must win the round first. Then I will get my answer."
The first ride he almost knocked the lance out of the red priest's hands.
The second ride the lances clashed together, though neither splintered.
The third ride the red priest got cocky, drank half a sack of wine before they started. With one good blow Jaime knocked him off his horse and the priest fell, vomiting before he hit the ground.
It was a sickening sight, but Evelyne smiled all the same. She would get at least one answer.
Jaime rode around the lists once, a victory lap before he returned to his starting point and climbed off his charger. He would ride no more that day. His squire began to take off his armor. Once he was free of it he looked up in the stands and caught Evelyne's eye. He smiled at her and nodded toward the path that led out of the tourney fields.
She let him squirm for a moment before she nodded.
She stood from her seat, "Please excuse me," she murmured to her companions.
Lyanna tried to stand up too, to accompany her, but Evelyne told her she would be fine on her own and to stay. "You'll miss the last rounds," one of the younger Crakehall knights warned her.
"And you can tell me how they end at supper tonight," Evelyne told him with a smile that was friendly enough to be considered flirting. She did not honestly care how they ended though, her brothers were done for the day. And so was Jaime.
He was waiting for her just past the stands. "Well met, Lady Evelyne," he told her as she approached. He was grinning at her, "I must thank you for the luck you gave me against the warrior priest."
Evelyne shook her head, "It is not your thanks I want, but answers."
Jaime chuckled and shook his head, "Stubborn and singleminded," he murmured. But he turned to her and offered her his arm. Evelyne hesitated for a moment before she placed her hand on his offered arm and allowed him to escort her up the path. "I will answer your first question," he announced after they had been walking for a few minutes. "What was it again, remind me?"
"If I were ever to visit Casterly Rock, would you take me to jump off the cliffs?" Evelyne asked, amending her question slightly.
Jaime chuckled, he had caught her change, "I do not believe that was the exact phrasing of the question, but I will answer it anyway." He paused, just long enough for her to realize that his next words would be his answer. "Yes."
He said it so simply, so matter-of-factly. Evelyne raised her eyebrows. She wasn't sure why, but she had expected a more complicated answer than that. His simple yes surprised her.
She smiled at him though, and nodded, "To new adventures then, Ser Jaime."
He smiled too, lifting her hand from his arm so that he could press a kiss against the back of it. She arched her right eyebrow, the knight was far too liberal with the way he touched her. He smirked, waiting for her to say something about it. When she didn't he lowered her hand back to his arm and nodded, "To our new adventures, Lady Evelyne."
...
The next day she had more knights to watch. Both Asher and Rodrick rode in the morning as well as Robert Baratheon and Jaime Lannister. The Gods were good to Evelyne, Jaime did not ride against either of her brothers. And for that she was thankful. She knew enough of the Lannister knights teasing ways to know that if he rode against one of her brothers he would try to present one of his crimson and gold roses to her, testing not only her desire for the answers to her questions, but also her loyalty to her family.
He did, however, ride against Robert. The young Storm Lord was ready first, he presented his yellow rose to Lyanna. "No surprise there," Evelyne murmured as the man rode away.
Lyanna glanced at her friend, her eyebrows raised slightly, "What do you mean?" she whispered back.
Evelyne shrugged nonchalantly, "Only that I went looking for you in your pavilion after supper last night and you weren't there. Your handmaid said that she had received a note on your behalf while we supped and that after reading it you announced that you were going to go to the Godswood. If I had been of the mind of interrupting your secret meeting with Lord Robert, I might have followed you."
Lyanna's grey eyes flicked to her brother to make sure that he was not paying them attention, "You didn't, did you?" she asked, her voice rushed.
Evelyne studied her friend, "No?" she answered, her voice coming up at the end, making the word a question rather than a statement. "Though now I'm beginning to wonder if I should have. What would I have seen if I did, Lyanna?"
"Nothing!" Lyanna told her quickly, shaking her head. "Just promise me that you won't speak anymore about it. Especially not in front of Ned." Evelyne nodded her agreement though her friend still looked worried. A moment later Lyanna forced a smile on her face and sat up a bit taller, "Oh look!" she told Evelyne in a falsely bright tone. "Ser Jaime!"
He had ridden in front of her again, another crimson and gold tipped rose in his hand, "Lady Evelyne, would you accept this rose?" he asked her.
She smiled when she stood this time. Once she had taken the rose Jaime winked at her and rode away.
One the first ride Robert landed a glancing blow on the left shoulder of Jaime's gold plated armor, just barely making the blonde knight spin in his saddle. While Jaime stayed seated on his horse he did not have enough time to strike at Robert. The Storm Lord won the point for that round.
On the second ride Jaime's lance shot past Robert's and struck him in the chest, dead center. The crowd yelled their approval as bent back on his horse, squeezing his thighs tightly around the horse to stay seated. He remained on his horse, but his armor was dented and his chest would be bruised. The lion won that point.
On the third ride the riders' lances hit each other, the wood began to splinter, but it was Jaime's that struck true. At the last moment, no doubt when Robert thought it would be a tie, Jaime tilted his arm, his lance pushing under Robert's to strike him just inside his left shoulder and under his collarbone. Above his heart. Evelyne had heard her bothers talking enough to know that this was where all knights aimed during a joust. She watched as Robert twisted toward the left and back at the same time. There was so much force in Jaime's strike that he did not have time to tighten his legs. He fell from his horse. The last point went to Jaime.
They did not leave the tourney field early that day, it would draw too much attention. Too much suspicion. He met her in the Godswood before supper. He beat her to it, she found him leaning against a tree near the gate, waiting for her. "I believe I owe you an answer, Lady Evelyne," he told her by way of greeting.
Evelyne smiled at him, "I believe you do," she agreed. She did not hesitate when she placed her hand on his outstretched arm. They started to walk. "What did you say to persuade your father to set aside Lady Lysa for me?" she asked him. "Did you sway his mind? His heart? Or his greed?"
Jaime chuckled, "That is technically four questions, my Lady," he told her, holding up four fingers on his right hand. "I'm sure you can count."
"Then answer the first and I can guess at the second, third, and fourth."
Jaime chuckled, "You're clever, minx," he told her. He was quiet for a moment, thinking. She wondered if he would lie to her. Give her an answer that was both courteous and flirtatious. Something that a knight would be expected to say to a maiden, even if it wasn't the truth. He sighed, "I told him that you were the only woman I have ever met who does not bore me. I told him that if I could ever persuade you to consent to marrying me it would be because you wanted to marry me not because you wanted to marry a Lannister and all that came with it."
Evelyne smiled, thinking back to when her mother had tried to change her mind by tempting her with all the gold and jewels she would receive as Lady of the Rock. She had told her mother that she did not care for such things and that had been the truth. She was pleased that Jaime knew that about her too.
Jaime continued, "I did not tell my father that when you laugh it sounds like music. And when we danced I forgot the steps to a dance I had known my whole like because I was too busy watching you. I did not tell him that your skin is as pale as the moon or that when you're happy your sparkle like the stars. I did not tell him any of those things, but he must have seen them in my face because he asked me if you were beautiful."
Evelyne scoffed quietly, turning away from him so that he could not see the blush that was rising on her cheeks from his words. So he was going with a flirtatious version of the truth, she did not doubt what he said what he told his father. She did doubt whether he believed any of it, "And pray, what did you tell him?" she asked.
"I told him that you were the most beautiful woman I had ever laid eyes on," Jaime told her, looking away from her as if it were an obvious fact, rather than a ridiculous opinion. "He told me that was how he used to think of my mother."
Evelyne laughed, "So you touched his heart then?"
Jaime nodded, "Though the suggestion of getting control of a portion of your family's ironwood as part of your dowry probably did not hurt either."
"Heart and greed," Evelyne murmured, betting a better picture of Lord Tywin Lannister.
Jaime nodded, "Though I was all heart."
Evelyne scoffed, "I'm sure you were, Ser Jaime," her voice sounded too sarcastic, even to her own ears. "No one could ever doubt that."
Jaime raised his right hand to his heart, pretending to be wounded, "And to think, I was going to be a gentleman and answer your third question today, now you will have to wait until tomorrow."
Evelyne laughed as she removed her hand from his arm, "Assuming that you win tomorrow," she teased before she turned and walked out of the Godswood on her own, leaving Jaime on his own.
Author's Note:
Oh poor Jaime, he's laying it on thick and Evelyne is not buying any of it.
Or maybe she is, and just won't admit it to herself. And perhaps Jaime means more of what he says than he is willing to admit to himself.
We've got a stubborn pair here guys.
A very stubborn pair.
It would be a shame if a couple chapters down the road an author threw a wrench into the the mix wouldn't it?
But I wouldn't do that would I?
Anyway, hope that you enjoyed this chapter, it was a little longer than usual to make up for the fact that Monday's chapter was shorter than usual.
Did you like it? If so, write a review. They make me happy! The box is waiting!
If you didn't like it, then what are you still doing here? Get outta here! :p (Kidding ... sort of ...)
Anyway, thank you to the lovely creatures who added this story to their favorites and alerts lists. You guys are wonderful.
But even more wonderful are those who reviewed the last chapter! You guys are FANTASTIC.
Outlawwoman: I left it like that because I'm completely evil. Kidding, I left it like that because I wanted Jaime to answer her questions in person. I wanted this chapter. So there could be no more letters. I'm glad that you're addicted though. And I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as well!
DREAMLESSLY17: Hello! Thank you for your review! I'm glad that you love this story and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as well.
jd: Only good? Oh no, I'm slipping. Kidding. I'm glad you enjoyed it. Fingers crossed that this chapter was enjoyable too!
The Mikaelson Cupcake: Thank you! I'm glad that you enjoyed the letters. They were a lot of fun to write, but I was worried that they weren't going to be enough. Writing an entire chapter as just letters between two characters was not something I had ever tried before. But it might be something that I try again. Hope you enjoyed this chapter!
HPuni101: I'm glad he wasn't out of character. He's always so hard that it was entertaining and terrifying to write him a bit softer. As to what other tactics he may use ... there will be some Tywin/Evelyne interaction coming up in just a few chapters if things go the way I plan.
lilnightmare17: Thank you! I'm glad you liked it and I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as well. I think it was a fun one.
Guest: I'm glad that you enjoyed the last chapter. That was the goal of the letters. Jaime was being flirtatious and probably didn't mean half of what he said (at least he thinks so) but Evelyne's getting to know him. And while she won't admit it to herself, she likes him a bit. Perhaps not enough to say yes to him, but at least enough that she kept writing. I hope you enjoyed this chapter as well!
EarthBorn93: I love Tywin because he's exactly as you describe. In the books/show he's all about protecting the family name and reputation often at the expense of the members of his family. But there are times, really brief flashes, where you can see that he does care for his children, at least as much as he will allow himself to. I personally think that he is so distant with them because he cared so much for Joanna and was hurt so much when she died that he won't let himself care for anyone else in that way anymore. But if he hand't lost her, he'd be a very different man. Still hard, still deadly, but more loving toward his children.
Sakura1607: Don't worry, I won't take that one down. One shots and completed stories are completely safe. It's the in progress ones that you need to watch out for. (Though I really shouldn't admit that in an in progress story...) At the time I deleted the other Daryl stories I hadn't updated them in at least a year ... I had three in progress stories at once and I just ran out of steam, none of them were fun anymore. And I think that's when it's time to get rid of them. Obviously I devote quite a bit of time to these stories (at least I hope it's obvious) and when they're not fun anymore I don't really see the point in forcing myself to continue you know?
But don't worry, I'm still having a lot of fun with this one! And thank you! that's a huge compliment. I'm glad you'll read anything I post as long as you know the characters. That's amazing!
That's all I've got for now guys! See you back here on probably Friday!
Chloe Jane.
