Days passed and soon it had been weeks since Joellyn had sent Robb the letter warning him about her father's plan for Robb's death. Joellyn and Oberyn continued to further develop their relationship with each other. They both began to feel as if they knew each other better, and they both enjoyed spending time with the other.

Joellyn had done her best to keep herself distracted and busy after sending the letter to Robb. Every morning she trained long and hard with Oberyn and she could feel herself continue to improve. After over a month of training together, Joellyn was really beginning to feel more confident. On this morning she actually managed to hold her own against him longer than she ever had before. Not that she was able to best him, but she was able to fight against him for a longer period of time than usual.

Training with Oberyn had so many layers to it. On the surface, Joellyn fought hard against him and worked hard to improve so that she might please him and feel as if she would be able to defend herself in a fight if it ever came down to it. At a deeper level, it was incredibly sexy to be this close to each other without making love. As a result, their training ended almost the same way every day. Joellyn and Oberyn would both get to the point where they felt like they could not stand it any longer, race back to the Keep, and make love to each other before starting the rest of their day. It was a pattern that she was happy with continuing.

On this particular morning, Joellyn was rushing back to the Keep with Oberyn trailing closely behind her. He called out to her, "I will catch you, my princess." She laughed and tried to increase her speed as she called back, "You will try, my prince." Though she was not facing him, Joellyn knew that her taunt would press him on more quickly.

As they crossed into the Keep and began rushing through corridors, Joellyn was only vaguely aware of the scene they must have been causing because she was enjoying this care free time too much. They rounded a few corners and went deeper into the Keep, but she soon squealed as she felt Oberyn grab her waist and pull her into him. He pressed her up against the wall of the corridor they were in and whispered in a husky voice, "You should know better than to taunt me."

Joellyn felt her heartrate increase with desire and taunted him again, "Well my prince, what ever will you do with me now that you have me?"

Almost instantly, Oberyn's lips were on hers, kissing her with wild desire. His lips did not linger long as he began kissing down her jaw, finding the place on her neck that made her weak at the knees. Joellyn felt hot desire rise in her and the desire only increased as he kissed his way down her neck and onto her chest. She had to stop him, but she did not in the least want to. They were still in a corridor of the Keep, so anyone could walk down the hall and find them. It took all of her will power, but she placed her hands on his shoulders and pushed him away.

Oberyn's eyes met her own and he cocked an eyebrow and smirked as he said, "Shall we find a more private place to continue this?"

Not in the least bit embarrassed, Joellyn moaned, "Gods, yes."

Oberyn took her hand and began leading her through the corridors back to their chambers. They were a few doors away from their own when Joellyn heard Sansa's voice in nearing them say, "I hear that you're a pervert," and Tyrion reply, "I am the imp. I have certain standards to maintain," then both of them began laughing. Joellyn was glad to hear the two of them joking and laughing with each other, but seeing them, or anyone, was the last thing she wanted right now.

The two couples soon met each other in the hallway. Since Oberyn still had Joellyn's hand in his own, his abrupt stop forced her to run into him. Joellyn felt Oberyn quickly pull her to stand in front of him and hugged her tightly to himself. As he did so, Joellyn felt his growing manhood press into her and it took all of her concentration to focus on being polite and cordial to her brother and friend.

Joellyn smiled and asked, "What on earth are you two talking about perverts for?"

Tyrion and Sansa looked at each other and laughed, then Tyrion replied, "Sansa heard me recite the list of names of people who deserve some sort of punishment from me or our family. She asked how to punish them and I mentioned I could speak to Varys to find out what, if any, perversions they had. I believe you know the rest dear sister."

Sansa chimed in, "What might you be doing this morning?"

Joellyn felt her face heat up with embarrassment as Oberyn kissed her neck softly before replying, "My lady wife is too tempting for me and, as it turns out, I am too tempting for her as well."

Joellyn looked long enough to see that Sansa was blushing and Tyrion looked, for once in his life when sex was being discussed, horrified as he said, "Prince Oberyn, I am well aware that you fuck my baby sister. I don't need to be reminded of it."

Still holding onto her from behind, Oberyn replied, "But your sister is a beautiful woman," and since he was clearly not going to let it go Joellyn cut him off by saying, "My prince, not everyone is as open as you are in Dorne."

Fortunately, they were spared much more awkwardness by Podrick rushing up to the four of them and saying to Tyrion, "Your father called a meeting of the small council. Yours and Prince Oberyn's presence have been requested immediately."

Tyrion bowed to thank Podrick, dismissing the boy, then turned back to Joellyn and Oberyn and asked, "Shall I tell our Lord Father that Prince Oberyn is..." and paused to think for a moment before continuing, "otherwise engaged and will come soon as he is ready?"

Joellyn felt Oberyn release her, then grabbed her hand and continued toward their chambers, "That will work well. Thank you."

Before they closed the door to their chamber behind them, Joellyn called to Sansa, "I will come visit you in your chamber later," then lost herself in her husband.

After they had their fill of each other for the time, Oberyn left to go to the small council meeting and Joellyn left to carry through on her promise to come visit Sansa. Since the two of them frequented each other's chambers anyway, they had done away with the formality of knocking on each other's doors. That was why Joellyn was surprised that Sansa's door was locked and she was not able to enter.

Joellyn knocked on the door and called out, "Sansa, is everything alright?"

Joellyn was surprised again when the door opened after a few moments because she had heard no movement in the room. Sansa did not greet her but crossed the room and sat down in her seat by the window and stared across the waters.

Closing the door behind her, Joellyn questioned, "Sansa, you are worrying me. This is not like you."

For the first time since arriving at her room, Sansa turned and met Joellyn's eyes and Joellyn was disturbed to see them red from tears, so she rushed to Sansa asking, "My friend, what has happened," and reached for Sansa's hands. However, Sansa pulled her hands away and pulled her knees to her chest, wrapped her arms around her knees, buried her head, and began crying again.

Joellyn sat in stunned silence for a moment, then anxiety began to fill her belly, so she plead, "Sansa, you want to be alone right now, but I beg you please tell me what is going on."

Sansa raised her head and met Joellyn's eyes and Joellyn saw nothing but pain and anger contained in Sansa's. She began her reply saying, "My family has had nothing put loss and pain since we encountered your family. First Bran, then my Father. Gods know what has happened to Arya. Now I hear from the servants that your family has killed my mother and my brother."

Joellyn felt as if she was going to become sick. Her letter had not made it to Robb in time or he chose to ignore it. Robb and Catelyn Stark were dead. Sansa, other than maybe Arya, was alone in this world and she still didn't even know Theon had killed Bran and Rickon. Joellyn began to reply, "Sansa, I..." but Sansa cut her off.

"Don't try to comfort me Joellyn. How can I possibly continue our friendship? Every bit of pain in my life stems from your family. Every time I look at you I see your sister, your father, or Joffrey and am reminded of what has happened. This pain is too much. You are too much. I must ask you to leave at once and do not seek me out again."

Joellyn continued to feel stunned, but cared about Sansa enough to respect her wishes. She worked very hard to level her voice and not show Sansa the pain that she was feeling as she said, "Very well. You will not be bothered by me again." Joellyn regretted the tone of her words as soon as she said them, for Joellyn heard Cersei's voice come out of her own mouth. She sounded too much like her sister when trying to hide her emotions, and Sansa's eyes showed even more hurt as she recognized the unfriendly tone.

However, it could not be undone, so Joellyn turned and rushed out of Sansa's room. Tears filled her eyes as she rushed away and was not paying attention, so she rushed headlong into a strong body and fell to the ground. Unable to hold in her emotions any more, Joellyn let her tears fall freely and began weeping. She should have been embarrassed to be a Lannister and show this much pain publically, but she felt as if she had lost a lot too. Her whole goal in sending information to Robb was to keep him safe so that Sansa would always have him. She had failed in her goal, failed her friend, and lost her friend. She was going to let herself feel these emotions.

She was pulled away from her weeping momentarily when a female voice asked, "My lady, what is the matter?"

Joellyn looked up and wiped tears away and saw that she was looking at the woman who had brought Jaime back to King's Landing. What was her name? She was so excited about Jaime being back that she had forgotten this woman's name.

Again, the tall blonde woman asked, "My lady, are you well? Something is the matter. Please let me help you."

Joellyn shook her head to pull herself out of her grief, "I am... I am well. Just grieved."

The woman's eyes filled with sympathy, "My lady, let me escort you back to your chambers. Or someone who can help you. Should we find Ser Jaime or your husband?"

Joellyn shook her head again, "They are in a small council meeting. They will be busy. I would be glad of your company back to my room."

The woman smiled in return. It was not a beautiful smile, as she was not a beautiful lady, but she seemed genuine and friendly as she helped Joellyn up and walked with her back to Joellyn's chambers and asked, "If you do not mind me asking, you still do seem terribly upset. Is there something that is the matter?"

Joellyn's crying was at least more under control than it was before, but she had to continue wiping away tears as she replied, "My friend has lost everyone in her family and blames my family for it, as she should. But she no longer wishes to be my friend. She says it is too painful."

The woman's blue eyes filled with sadness, "Who is she?"

Joellyn's heart was heavy as she said, "Sansa Stark." Even hearing Sansa's name brought the pain more forward. Joellyn had never experienced rejection like this on such a personal level. Sansa was disgusted with Joellyn because Joellyn was a Lannister.

Joellyn quickly realized that the woman had stopped in her tracks and asked, "Stark? Sansa Stark?"

Joellyn nodded and asked, "Why, my lady?"

Her blue eyes filled with more sadness than before as she said, "Lady Catelyn is dead?"

Joellyn nodded weakly in response, and the woman seemed to shrink as she whispered, "I failed her."

Joellyn went to her, put her arm in the other woman's, and continued walking toward her chamber and asked, "How have you failed her?"

The woman replied, "I pledged myself to her service. I swore to protect her. She sent me away to bring Ser Jaime back to the capital in hope's that they would release Sansa. I fought back. I wanted to stay and keep her safe, but she made me promise to look over Sansa instead. If I had stayed, she could still be alive."

In spite of the pain Joellyn felt, she felt she had to comfort this woman. She was feeling genuine guilt about fulfilling Catelyn Stark's request and had safely delivered Jaime back. She could not let this woman blame herself, "No, my lady. You would also be dead if you had stayed. You, Robb, Catelyn, all Robb's men, and my brother. You brought my brother back. For that my family is greatly indebted to you. You cannot blame yourself for what my family did to the Starks. You should blame me, Jaime, and my family as well. Everyone else is." At that last statement, Joellyn's eyes filled with tears again.

The woman kept her arm wrapped in Joellyn's as she replied, "My lady, it is not you nor your brother. You are both good people. Good people trapped in a bad family. You should not blame yourself. Nor should you let others place blame on you. You are not guilty of your father's sins. Or your sister's."

Joellyn smiled up at the woman that was accompanying her. This woman did not know her at all, but here she was providing comfort to someone who was the enemy of the Starks in the eyes of the rest of the world, "Thank you, my lady. It means more than I can say to hear you say that."

The woman smiled softly back, "There is no need to call me a lady. I am no lady. Please just call me Brienne."

Joellyn felt relieved to finally know her name, "Brienne. Thank you for keeping me company. I am still not well, but you have relieved some of the guilt I am feeling."

Brienne shook her head as they arrived at Joellyn's chambers, "You should feel no guilt, my lady. There is nothing you could have done to prevent it. It's not as if you knew what was going to happen."

Guilt clawed its way back in to Joellyn's stomach. She had known what was going to happen. She had tried to prevent it, but it was not enough. Joellyn just meekly nodded her head as Brienne said, "I will take my leave. If I see your brothers or your husband, I will let them know that you are in need of company."

Joellyn thanked Brienne and went into her room and sat down by the window to think. Brienne was a strange woman, but she had brought Joellyn some small form of comfort when she wanted to give into the darkness and cry until she could cry no more. But Joellyn could not ease the pain or the guilt she was feeling. Ned, Catelyn, Robb, Bran, and Rickon. All of them were dead because of the Lannister family. No one knew anything about Arya. All Sansa had left in the world was a bastard brother at the Wall that she would never see again.

At this thought, Joellyn thought of Jon for the first time in a while. Her heart ached for him as well. He would be receiving news at the Wall of the happenings of Westeros. He would know that his family was dying away and that there was nothing he could do about it. He probably felt more helpless than Joellyn did here. At least here, Joellyn could learn information and try to send it out. Jon made his vows and was destined to live out the rest of his life at the Wall while his family was quickly dying away. Now that she was alone, she let herself feel all that she wanted to feel and began crying again.

She didn't know how long she cried, but she felt someone lifting her, carry her across the room, then lay her in bed. She felt a hand smooth out her hair and the hand lingered on her cheek. As she opened her eyes, she was hardly surprised to see Oberyn kneeling beside the bed with a look of sadness on his face.

He smiled softy at her and said, "I am sorry I could not have been with you when you heard the news. How are you, my princess?"

Joellyn felt her eyes fill with tears again as she shook her head. Oberyn joined her in bed and opened his arms, when she gratefully went into and began crying softly again.

Oberyn rubbed her back comfortingly and asked, "What can I do?"

Joellyn shook her head again and rested it on his chest as she calmed herself, then said, "There is nothing you can do unless you can make Sansa forgive me for the crime of being a Lannister."

She felt Oberyn breathe in a deep breath and let it out before he said, "There is no one that can forgive you of that. You were born a Lannister. Though you married a Martell, you will always be a Lannister. You bear the weight of what your family has done."

Joellyn resumed crying again, but Oberyn placed a hand under her chin, tilted her face up to look into his eyes, wiped away her tears, and continued, "That does not mean that you are guilty of this. No matter what Sansa thinks." Then silence fell between them for a moment before he said, "We now have something more in common."

Joellyn sniffled and took a deep breath to calm herself, "What is that?"

Oberyn said flatly, "We both want revenge because of something your father has done."

Joellyn took pause to measure her emotions and her feelings. Did she want revenge? Was that the word for it? Her father had not been the source of Ned, Bran, and Rickon dying, but he had been the one to orchestrate Sansa's marriage to Tyrion and the murder of Robb and Catelyn. Her father's actions had cost Sansa her happiness and Joellyn her friend. The more she thought on her father's actions, the more convinced she became that Oberyn's words were true. She did want revenge. Her father deserved some action against him for all of the pain he had wrought. Both with the Martells and the Starks.

Joellyn nodded in response to Oberyn's statement and said, "But what can we do?"

Oberyn held her tighter, "Do not worry, my princess. The right course of action will reveal itself."

Joellyn nestled into Oberyn's embrace. When she had first traveled to Winterfell all that time ago, she would have never dreamed of doing anything to purposefully defy her father. Now she was married to a man who was seeking revenge against her father and she had developed that desire as well. Oberyn's words to her may well have been true. To the world, she would always be a Lannister, and the Lannister house words did apply to what she was feeling. She would "pay her debts" and let her father "hear her roar," but the Martell words may have been truer for her now. She was now standing, "unbowed, unbent, and unbroken," willing to go against her family for the good of her husband, friend, and all of Westeros.