"Don't you know that that is incredibly dangerous?"
Brienne sat in her chair, in front of the fire, all of Dany's ladies surrounding her in a semi-circle, standing while Brienne was sitting. For the first time in her life, Brienne felt small. She knew that she had done nothing wrong. There was nothing wrong with sleeping with your husband while you were pregnant, but, here, in the court of Queen Daenerys, it was incredibly wrong.
"You risked your baby's life," Daenerys continued, her tone incredulous and her eyes wide. The other women around her watched her carefully, some with disgust, some with envy. If it were one of them who had slept with their husband, Brienne would have been envious too, but she could not regret those few hours that she had had with Jaime.
Daenerys sighed. "I was going to allow you all to see your husbands and children, just once," she admitted, looking around the room. "I understand that you want to, that you miss them, and I will be benevolent. I miss my husband too." Brienne bitterly wondered if that were even true. Why would she choose to stay away from him if she missed him? All of this was her doing, this early confinement. "But, now, Lady Brienne, you will not be allowed to see your husband or your daughter. You put your baby at risk, the next generation of Westeros at risk."
Brienne's heart plummeted. She had not been able to see Joanna and now she would not be allowed to at all. Bile rose in her throat. She had not known that this would happen. If she had, would she have sent Jaime away? She knew with honesty that she probably would not have. She had wanted to see Jaime, so desperately, and she would never be able to send him away.
A few of the ladies were crying with happiness. They were the ones who had children that they were not allowed to see, while they were pregnant. Brienne understood the way they felt. It would be her watching them with envy after they saw their children.
Brienne could see Joanna in her mind, though she knew she would be different now, older. It had been her birthday a week ago. Brienne's constant fear was that Joanna would think that her mother had abandoned her. The thought made tears come to her eyes. She looked up and found Daenerys smiling.
"I hope that you understand that you put us all at risk by accepting the company of a man," she said softly, almost kindly. "Your punishment is not so severe, as you have already seen your husband, which is more than the rest of us have been able to have." Brienne wanted to scream at her, to remind her that it was her that had made this happen, but she calmed her anger. Daenerys was ill more than evil, mad more than cruel. But none of this should be affecting her or her baby.
Tears pricked behind Brienne's eyes and then slipped down her cheeks. She focussed her eyes on her lap, trying and failing to stop the tears coming. She heard the titters of the other ladies, some of whom thought that mockery of others would endear Daenerys to them. It never did. Only keeping to her rules, to protect 'the next generation of Westeros', which happened to be growing inside each of them, did that.
Brienne closed her eyes and, soon afterwards, felt Sansa's arms encircle her, her head leaning on top of Brienne's. "I'm so sorry," Sansa whispered. Brienne was pleased that Sansa would be allowed to see Tyrion at least. She could ask how Joanna was, how Jaime was truly coping. She could deliver a message. It was better than nothing but it was so far from what Brienne had expected her life to be when they had defeated Cersei.
XXX
Jaime burst into his brother's chambers, the sound of the slam of the door against the wall satisfying in its crash. He brought Joanna closer to his chest when she startled at the sound.
"Jaime," Tyrion said, looking up from the chess set he was sitting at. His voice was surprised and a bit confused.
"How could you let this happen?" Jaime growled. "You did this. You supported her. You brought her to Westeros." Tyrion looked back down at his chess set. Jaime saw that all of the pieces were in their original positions.
"What do you want me to say, Jaime?" he asked, his voice dull. "I'm sorry."
Jaime blinked away his tears. "You're sorry?" he repeated. "My wife, my pregnant wife, is locked up in there with her, away from her daughter, away from me." Jaime looked away as his voice caught. He pressed a kiss to Joanna's curls.
"Sansa is in there too!" Tyrion reminded him. "Don't claim all the wrongdoing, Jaime. Brienne is not the only one in there. You're not the only one who is alone."
Jaime looked down at the floor, taking in a shaky breath and ignoring the tears on his cheeks. "I can't see her. All the rest of you get to see your wives and I can't see her."
"You already saw her," Tyrion said, standing, his voice rising. "You saw her already. I don't-" Tyrion closed his eyes and then opened them "- Daenerys has sent me out of King's Landing on the day of the meeting, the only day that the women can come out apparently. A maester told her that a waxing moon in the fourth moon of the year was the only safe day for them."
Guilt settled heavily on Jame's chest. "Tyrion-"
"Don't," Tyrion snapped, pressing a palm into one of his eyes and then the other. "We have to work together, Jaime. We have to get them out before they- before they go into labour. Who knows what she is planning for that?"
Jaime closed his eyes. Tyrion sounded as broken as he felt. The prospect of Brienne not having a safe delivery petrified Jaime. Even though Joanna had been born without issue, the thought of both of their mothers having died in childbirth was still in the back of Jaime's mind. If Brienne was not properly helped to deliver, who knew what sort of danger she would be in?
The thought made Jaime feel sick. He could not be a father to Joanna, not without Brienne there to be a mother. And what if the baby survived and Brienne died? It was all too much to cope with.
"What can be done?" Jaime asked quietly.
Tyrion sighed. "I want to speak to Jon."
XXX
Jaime arrived outside of the king's chamber two days after the conversation he and Tyrion had had about their wives, which had ended in them getting very drunk together, while Joanna watched on, giggling at their antics. Jaime had a feeling that Brienne would not have been impressed. They hadn't discussed Jaime doing this, but Jaime did not have the patience that Tyrion's aptitude for politics allowed him. He was going to speak to the king and he was going to speak to him now, before it was too late.
The guards were reluctant to admit Jaime. There were not many people in the Seven Kingdoms who liked Jaime and that was particularly the case in King's Landing, where most of the guards were either loyal to Daenerys - whose father he had killed - or Jon, who was a Northerner. Nobody hated a Lannister as much as a Northerner.
Thus, in order to be admitted to Jon's apartments, Jaime had to make a lot of noise, to attract Jon's attention and, then, demand entrance. It didn't take very long to complete all of this and he soon found himself sitting in front of the king's fireplace, drinking his wine.
"What can I help you with, Ser Jaime?" Jon asked quietly, as though he did not know why Jaime would be there. Jaime narrowed his eyes.
"Your wife has my wife held prisoner."
Jon sighed. Jaime scowled. "The queen is subject to no one."
"The queen should be subject to her people," Jaime protested. "The people that put her on the throne have a right to good treatment, not kidnapping."
Jon looked away from Jaime. "Queen Daenerys is worried about her second pregnancy ending as her first did. She was once told that she would never bear children. She simply wants to protect the heir."
"And my child has to suffer too? Your sister is locked up in there!"
Jon met Jaime's eyes. "What do you want me to say, Ser Jaime? Neither Lady Brienne nor Lady Sansa, nor any of the other women staying with the queen, are in any danger, nor in ill health. She wants to look after them. When the pregnancy is over-" Jon paused, looking down and then up again "- everything will get back to normal."
Jaime could hear how much Jon wanted to believe that in his voice. Jaime opened his mouth to tell him that he was delusional and Jon put up his hand to cut him off. "Ser Jaime, I have excused your comments up to this point as concern for your wife but I will not ignore them any longer. You edge close to treason."
Jaime turned away, anger swelling inside him like an infection. "Execute me then," he said tightly, turning back. Jon's lips thinned. "I have watched the Seven Kingdoms suffer under a mad king. I watched as people said that it would return to normal after this and then after that and it never did. I watched your grandfather and uncle die and I listened as Daenerys' father raped her mother over and over again and all along everybody told me that I was serving my king. I was not. I was serving a mad man who had no right to his throne." Jaime jabbed his finger into Jon's chest. "Do not trick yourself into believing you are doing right by your wife. If she truly loved her people, she would not subject them to this madness."
With that, Jaime whirled around, eager to return to his daughter and read her a story before she went to sleep. When his hand clasped the handle to leave, he heard a sharp intake of breath. Turning, he found Jon's hand covering his face, his shoulders shaking.
He released his anger with a sigh. If Brienne was in the position Daenerys was in, what would Jaime do? He would not be able to do anything to hurt her. She was his wife and his love. He would react precisely as Jon was, with hope that his love would return and with tears. Jaime swallowed, his shoulders slumped.
"Let's work together," he offered. "There is a way out of this without pain. Just- let's get Brienne and Sansa and the others safe." Jon swallowed audibly. "Please."
Jon met Jaime's eyes. "No pain," he repeated, his voice dull and low.
"No pain," Jaime confirmed, wondering how he would convince an angry Arya that that was the way forward. Jon nodded slowly.
XXX
Sansa grasped the bed frame next to her as she hauled herself out of her bed. Pain ripped through her stomach and she fell slightly, crying out, a deep and guttural sound, her hand clenching against the bed frame, as though it was that which had hurt her.
The pain lasted, the longest one yet. A sob escaped from her throat. She had tried to pretend that it wasn't happening, had tried to give her husband, Jaime, Jon and Arya more time to get her free, to where a midwife would be allowed in to help her, but she couldn't pretend any longer. The pains were lasting longer and coming closer together. The baby was coming.
"Brienne," she panted, allowing herself to sink slowly to the floor, lolling her head back against the mattress. "Brienne!" she cried, louder, and then she ground her teeth together. How did women do this more than once? Her insides were ripping apart.
Brienne finally appeared in Sansa's doorway, her face white, her pregnant stomach as large as Sansa's. "It's coming," she stated more than asked. Sansa nodded hurriedly anyway.
"Tyrion," she started and then screamed as pain exploded inside her again. Tears tracked down her cheeks. "Brienne, please, Tyrion," she groaned. "Tyrion!" She felt more than saw as Brienne sank down next to her, taking her hand.
"You can do this, Sansa," Brienne said. Sansa looked up. Brienne's face was shining with sweat. Sansa shook her head.
"Not without Tyrion," she wept. Her hand went to her stomach.
"Sansa, the baby is coming," Brienne pressed. "You need to get back onto the bed and take your undergarments off."
Sansa sobbed. "Tyrion, Tyrion, he said he'd be here."
"I know, I know," Brienne said, wiping the hair back from her face. "We'll find him. We'll get him. I promise, Sansa, but we have to look after the baby and that means you have to get on the bed."
Sansa bowed to Brienne's experience. "Help me up," she said, her voice thick. Brienne nodded, taking a moment to pull herself to her feet first and then assisting Sansa.
XXX
Daenerys awoke to the sound of a scream. She shot up in bed, looking around her, feeling for the knife she kept in her pillow. She held it out but found her room full of nothing but darkness. Letting out a sigh, she fell back. It was likely the remnants of a dream. She had been having nice dreams, of her child and of Jon. She felt her husband's absence like a missing limb.
Just as Dany closed her eyes again, there was another scream. There was no mistaking it this time. She had not been asleep at all. She jumped out of bed with a huff, not even bothering to put a robe on. It was likely one of her ladies. Perhaps they had seen a snake.
She found a crowd gathered outside of Sansa Stark's room. "Get out of the way," she said impatiently, batting away the attentions of her ladies. She stood in the doorframe, unconscious of the cold against her feet or shoulders.
Sansa's room was dark but for a few candles. Dany tutted. She had banned candles a few weeks ago. Smoke was not good for her ladies. When the sun set, her ladies went to bed. She didn't like to think of where these had come from. Perhaps one of her ladies had hidden them. Dany's heart raced. Perhaps there was a plot, against her, to set her on fire.
She let out a laugh, though, as she remembered that she was born of fire. She would lose nothing but clothes if she were set aflame. She was Daenerys Targaryen, mother of dragons.
Her laugh attracted the attention of Lady Brienne, who was by Sansa's bedside. Dany furrowed her brow and then there was another scream.
She turned on the spot, eyes wide, wondering where it had come from. There was another.
"Stop it!" she ordered. "Stop that immediately!"
"Your grace, she is in childbirth," one of her ladies said, a horrible hissing noise in her ear. Dany stepped backwards, away from it and discovered that it had not been so close after all. She shook her head.
"Childbirth," she said, nodding and reapproaching Sansa's door frame. Dany studied Sansa's face, sweating and contorted with pain. She bit her lip.
"Your grace," Sansa cried, upon seeing her. Her eyes were wide and shining. "Your grace, please, Tyrion." She was begging. Dany did not understand what she was saying. Did she think that Dany's name was Tyrion? Was childbirth addling her mind? "Tyrion, please!"
One of her ladies hissed again. "Your grace, she wishes to have her husband by her side."
"Her husband?" Dany repeated, confused. "Why would she want her husband? He did this to her! He is causing her so much pain!"
The thought was so confusing to Dany that she felt a sudden pain inside her, likely the baby kicking. A second one came and she stumbled, one of her ladies grasping her at the last minute. Dany batted her hand away, shaking her head and backing away.
"I must- I must-"
She found her way to the door, the main door to the confinement chambers. Two guards stood outside. Their eyes widened upon seeing her, only wearing her short nightgown. "Guards, guards," she said, stumbling out, her large pregnant belly going before her. "You must arrest Tyrion Lannister. He has- he has caused pain to my lady. You must arrest him!" They didn't move, only shared a look. Dany's eyes widened. "Now!"
They ran, leaving Dany alone.
She leaned back against the stone wall, feeling it pleasingly cool against her skin. Cool- cool- she wanted it to be colder. Sansa's screams were dancing around her head like a tortured melody. She wanted cold and she wanted silence. Her hand dragging along the wall, Dany wandered away from her chambers.