Chapter beta'd by RhaenaTargaryen

Additional help given by a reddit user in concrit thread.

This fic was 3rd place for mystery/thriller/horror/crime/suspense r/fanfiction 2021 best-of awards but I do not recommend that subreddit, too much drama and very biased mods. Instead visit my subreddit for fic exchanges at: r/FicReviewExchange

I started writing this before season 7 same out, but around the time the season 7 spoilers came out. Some of them were fake, some turned out legit. My fic is based loosely on both. The below paragraph is my original note when I first published this fic on ao3 years ago (now deleted).

The season 7 spoilers seemed OOC to me. So I'm trying to find a way to make the whole Jaime leaves Cersei and rides north thing at least somewhat believable. I tried to make the whole J/B thing that they'll probably shove down our throats in season 8 believable too because that seems OOC to me too. I don't think Jaime would be able to move on especially in such a short time, though I can see him trying and failing to and hopefully this fic is good at capturing that. Don't blame me for this blame the spoilers :XD Also this fic will span a few years period and include Jaime eventually returning to kings landing

One more thing

I also should mention this is a rewrite. I don't know how much will change or even if anything major will, but there will be changes. So if you read this years ago be prepared. There is also small additional scenes I'm adding in at times. And massive editing as my writing has improved a lot in the past few years.

"Not now!" Cersei exclaimed, pushing away from his embrace.

"When then?" He asked, frustrated . They hadn't slept together even once since Tommen's death many moons ago. Ever since then she preferred to spend her days drinking to unconsciousness and plotting revenge.

She often was gone long hours at a time visiting the castle dungeons and he could not help but wonder who or what was keeping her so occupied down there. Then when Daenerys and her armies had arrived a fortnight ago he'd seen even less of her.

When they did see each other she was either distant or belligerent towards him.

Her green eyes bore into him coldy. "Leave me."

"Cersei. We should at least talk. We never talked about Tommen."

"What is there to talk about?"

"Our baby boy killed himself."

"He betrayed us. He betrayed us both," she replied.

He sighed. They'd had this conversation a dozen times and he'd not been able to get through to her. Would he ever be able to reach her? He turned and left the room.

He walked a few steps before stopping and kicking a stone statue that decorated the halls. That accomplished nothing except a sharp pain in his foot. He stopped and sighed in anger and frustration. What could he do to get through to her? What could he do to comfort her?

He was sure she must be rather upset about the prospect of potentially losing her throne. Four days prior, they'd had a meeting with Daenerys and her allies at the dragon pit. Daenerys had offered to let Cersei stay on the throne until after the white walkers were defeated, at which point there would be a peaceful transference of power and they would be allowed to live out their days at Casterly Rock if they so choose. The only catch being that Cersei would have to send her armies, as well as the Tarly army that had allied with her, north to fight the white walker threat.

Cersei had, however, not only declined the offer but laughed in Daenerys' face, and accused her of being as mad as her father The Mad King, for there were no such things as white walkers and wights. However, she was quickly proven wrong only a few moments later, as Jon Snow arrived, bringing a wight with him. Cersei was visibly terrified and ordered The Mountain to kill it, which he could not.

Eventually, the two did manage to come to an agreement. They would band together to fight the white walker threat and then worry about who sat on the throne. Once more dragon glass was gathered to produce weapons that could kill white walkers the armies would all head north to fight them.

He sighed heavily as he walked away. He wanted more than anything to talk to her. About their son's death, about her reign which was certain to end once the white walkers were defeated, or about anything else that might be bothering her. He missed her and her distance hurt him. He was her other half. So why was she being so distant towards him?

—-

He spent the rest of the afternoon and a good part of the evening sulking in his chambers and engaging in restless fits of sleep. So he was more than happy when Bronn arrived at his chambers that evening. Bronn as per usual suggested that they take a trip to the brothel.

He would never ever betray Cersei, but the brothel was home to one beautiful young blonde in particular that resembled a young Cersei so much that he was sure she must be some distant bastard cousin of his. He did not and would not touch, not ever, but he did enjoy watching. He had taken to paying coin to watch this young blonde with men, all of whom he specified to the madam must be handsome and blonde. It was like watching himself with a younger Cersei.

He also was pleased that he would be able to inform Bronn that the prior day the servants he had assigned to the task had finally found a pretty young maiden with a castle all of her own. The woman was young, though not alarmingly so, just out of her teens. She was looking to find a man to protect her, and help her raise her four younger sisters, as they were now orphans with no brothers. He was sure Bronn would find her to be more than a suitable match.

Perhaps after sharing such news, Bronn would be a good enough mood to do something other than fuck prostitudes. He'd like Bronn's opinion on how he should get Cersei to open up to him and get back to how she used to be. She'd always had a coldness about her, but it was as though she were made of ice now, and she never truly smiled anymore.

Bronn was the only one he could talk to about such a matter, for Brienne was halfway around the world right now as far as he knew. Besides that, he sensed she wouldn't be happy to give him advice on how to win Cersei's affections back. It was more than obvious she did not, nor would ever approve of his and Cersei's relationship.

He was mounting his horse with Bronn when he noticed that Bronn was heading in the wrong direction.

"Where the fuck are you going? The brothel is that way!" He protested.

Bronn turned his horse around and rode back to him. "I've had all the ones at the local brothel, haven't you? I say it's time we try something new. The brothel three hours away has five times the selection, too."

"A whore is a whore and a cunt is a cunt. I see no need to travel further," he argued, as he couldn't very well tell Bronn that he never touched any of the women and his only brothel-like activity was voyeurism of one particular Cersei-like blonde and her handsome blonde customers.

"There is someone really special I want you to meet at this brothel, and I promise you there are many more blondes at this brothel," Bronn said.

"Someone special? You become fond of a whore?" He asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Well fuck, maybe I have; but she ain't in no brothel; and that's not who I want you to meet. Now let's get a fucking move on."

"Well I'm rather intrigued now. Though I do wish you'd told me in advance. I've not had supper yet."

He supposed at least the ride would provide adequate time to talk. Maybe Bronn could help him figure out what to say or do to get Cersei back to her normal self. They'd never talked about Cersei, or anything too deep really, but he figured it couldn't hurt to bring it up.

"Fucking hell! Bronn, slow down!" He exclaimed as Bronn galloped off.

To his annoyance, Bronn kept enough of a distance that any conversation was impossible, but not far enough to lose sight of.

Resigned, he decided that he would be sure to talk to him first thing when they arrived at their destination.

—-

He was unmounting his horse and Bronn looked back at him as he secured his in the stable. "Fuck! I ate before we left but that ride has made me hungry for more than just a good fuck. Suppose we should share a meal before getting to the fun?"

"I hadn't eaten at all because nobody informed me we were going to be going on a three hour ride," he replied, the annoyance evident in his tone.

"Well fuck me sideways! It never crossed my mind that at six o clock you wouldn't have already eaten. What were you doing all evening?"

He let out a frustrated sigh. "Never mind that. Let's just get inside. I hope this place serves better food than Littlefinger's brothel."

—-

He had just finished telling Bronn about the castle and bride he had found, when he heard an all too familiar voice.

"Brother."

He quickly sprung up and began to unsheathe his sword. Tyrion had killed his father and he had vowed to kill him if their paths ever crossed again. Although they had seen each other at the dragon pit a few days ago, there had been too many enemies for him to make his move. Here in this brothel, however, there was no one to stop him.

Bronn jumped in between them before anything could happen. "He just wants to talk and negotiate with you. He has some information he feels may be of use to you.."

He glared at Bronn before continuing, "I talked to him at the dragon pit. There is nothing more to say, and nothing that will change my mind. We will send our help to defeat the white walkers as promised, but we will not agree to peaceful terms of surrender thereafter."

"Ah, my poor, naive, foolish brother. Do you really believe Cersei intends to send her troops to help with the white walker threat? Jon and Daenerys believe her lies for now, but at least they do not know her. I know that she would never let her armies help her enemies. I tried to tell everyone, but Daenerys said without proof nothing can be done. So I had our dear sweet sister followed. Several spies can attest that she intends to send no help. In fact, she hopes the undead army depletes our forces."

"Why would I believe anything that comes out of the mouth of the one who killed our own father?" He glared down coldy at his little brother.

"He was my father too, and you and I both know he was more than willing to let me die," Tyrion said, moving past him.

His knuckles tightened around his sword. "I masterminded your escape, risking the wrath of the women I love, and you betrayed me by killing my father; and now you expect me to trust you?"

Tyrion took a seat and looked back at him. "I did not plan to kill him. That night I went to confront him, rage at him for how he always treated me. I was angry, and rightfully so. I had the crossbow for self-defense in case he tried anything. You know what I found, brother? Shae, in his bed. My Shae. The only woman other than Tysha that I ever loved. I couldn't believe my eyes. I saw black as rage overtook me. Strangled her to death right in that bed. Then I went and I found him in the privy, and of course, you know what happened next."

He wanted to accuse Tyrion of lying, but from the look on his face, he could tell he was telling the truth."I did not know. But still, It is no excuse. If I'd known there was any chance of you ever doing that, then you know I would have never plotted your escape."

"So you would rather have let me die then?" Tyrion asked, looking genuinely hurt.

He felt himself soften and put his sword back in its holster. "You would not have died. I had made a deal with father. You know that. You would have been sent to the wall."

"You and I both discussed that before. As I told you then and will tell you now, that is no life. Not for me. It would be a fate worse than death."

He took a seat next to Tyrion. He took a long sip of wine before answering as calmly as possible. "Apparently not worse than helping our enemies to take the throne our sister sits on. Tell me, when you were good and free, why didn't you just stay free? Why join with our enemies and plot to take the throne your very nephew sat on? You never hated Tommen, not as you did Joffrey, so why?"

"Ah yes, a lovely life in exile drinking to my heart's content and fucking random whores every night. As wonderful as that sounds, and I do mean that sincerely dear brother; I needed a bit more out of life. To help the dragon queen gives me a sense of purpose. Why, it even has the added bonus of taking from our dear sweet sister what she holds most dear, her precious power. As for Tommen, you and I both know the boy had no real power and was being controlled by our dear, sweet sister. Back to the topic at hand though, our dear sister does plan to betray our agreed upon plan. My spies will inform Daenerys of Cersei's betrayal, very shortly. It is only because of our kinship that I worked to convince them to give me some time."

"Cersei would not lie. Not to me. She said it right in front of me and everyone else that we would send help to fight the white walkers, and so she will. And if she were lying, she would not have kept it from me for this long."

"Cersei has lied to you a thousand times. Did she ever tell you she was fucking Lancel while you were in captivity?"

He scoffed and rolled his eyes dismissively. "Why would I believe that?"

"Believe it or not, it is the truth," replied Tyrion.

He stood up and raised his fist, ready to strike his little brother for the first time ever.

"I'm sorry, Jaime. But he tells the truth," butted in Bronn, squeezing himself in between the two chairs..

"How would you know?" He asked.

Bronn stood face to face and looked him in the eyes. "I was there with him all those years ago. I was just outside the tent where he interrogated Lancel about the hidden wildfire caches. I heard everything. Tyrion threatened to tell you about him and Cersei and the poor boy was terrified. He quickly gave up the info that was sought."

He glanced from Bronn to Tyrion and back to Bronn again, not knowing whether or not to believe them or not. He didn't think Bronn would lie about something like this, and he'd thought Bronn was his friend, But then again, Bronn had known Tyrion first; perhaps he was plotting with Tyrion to turn him against Cersei. "You're lying. You're both lying," he said unsurely.

"She ever tell you why she had to do her walk of shame?" Bronn asked.

"The incest, of course."

"You never thought it odd that you weren't charged as well? Or that people weren't calling even more for the removal of Tommen from the throne?" Bronn asked.

He had never given it much thought before. At the time of the accusations, he had been far away. And then Myrcella had died in his arms and the accusations against Cersei had paled in comparison. If she were accused of incest with not him, but Lancel, it would certainly explain why he wasn't charged, as well as why there wasn't more of an uproar to remove Tommen from power.

"Are you telling me that the charge was for fucking Lancel, then?"

"Aye," replied Tyrion.

"I may have been in Dorne, but I think I would have known if Cersei had been accused of fucking our cousin!"

"From what I've heard from the small folk, no official mention was made of Lancel. He had repented by joining the Faith and his guilt was severe enough that they saw no need to shame him further. Therefore they never named the other party. I'm sure most assumed it to be you, and assumed because you were male that was why you were not to be punished," explained Tyrion.

"Such guilt he had that he didn't even confess to me," said Jaime dryly. "That's assuming that any of this is even true."

Tyrion eyed him sadly. "I'm sorry, but it is the truth. You need to decide how to proceed going forward from here. I know you may need some time, but I can only give you a week at best, and even that is pushing it. I know Cersei will not surrender, not ever. I believe, however, that the Lannister army, as well as the Tarly army, will follow your command over hers. Then it's only Euron's armies and fleets who will not be helping with the White Walker threat. "

"So you would ask me to betray my own house?"

"You know as well as I do that many more lives will be lost if we do not have everyone we can to fight this threat. Just think about it. A week from today, meet back here with me and tell me of your decision. "

"My decision will be the same then as it is now. Unlike you, I will not betray my house."

"Then I shall hope you change your mind. I will be here one week from now awaiting your decision. Stay safe brother," and with those words, Tyrion walked away.

I welcome all comments/thoughts including comments as you read (seriously I love chapter by chapter comments!)