Jaime eyed Tyrion over the cup of weak wine, sausage, and crust of bread he had been brought to break his fast. Tyrion had made haste to his brother's quarters directly following his talk with the King. He knew not how he would convey all that King Bran wished for Jaime to hear, but assumed that it would all be known by the time their conversation was over. So he had gathered a meal and a bundle of fresh clothing, and headed for the ruined part of the White Sword Tower. It was not a talk to which he was looking forward.
"In what dilapidated, forgotten corner of Casterly Rock have you got me?" Jaime leered harshly at his brother.
Tyrion drank slowly from his own goblet, trying to forestall the conversation he feared was inevitable. "We are not on The Rock." He answered lowly, almost emotionless, taking another swallow for good measure.
Jaime's brow shot upward accusingly. He had assumed Tyrion would have ensured he be held somewhere no one would pose questions. "Where then?" He asked dryly. "Not Winterfell surely. It's not nearly that cold." His smirk came out more hateful than he intended.
Tyrion stared at Jaime indignantly. "Just how far do you think me capable of dragging you?" He questioned.
Jaime's eyes widened as he comprehended Tyrion's meaning. "I am still in Kings Landing?" He gasped. Tyrion raised his brow in sarcastic reply, his face conveying more than he spoke.
Jaime could still read him like a parchment. "The Keep?" He leaned forward in disbelief. "You have kept me in the Red Keep this whole time?" He was shocked.
"Hidden you." Tyrion corrected.
Jaime chuckled bitterly. "Is my situation that dire?" He asked. "Is there a price on my head?" The thought did not alarm him as it once would have.
Tyrion shook his head and laughed. "No. Happily, the news of your resurrection has been better welcomed than I had anticipated." He relayed. "I had feared you would be held culpable for Cersei's crimes." Tyrion explained. "However, King Bran was quite amenable to your remaining here in The Keep. In fact, he wishes you moved to more appropriate accommodations." Tyrion told him.
"King? Bran?" Jaime wondered. His look warmed remembered the boy's reception of him at Winterfell. He imagined the kind and understanding ruler the young Stark would become. "Apparently much has changed since my death." He remarked.
Tyrion sighed deeply. "You have no idea." He agreed.
Jaime noted the sarcasm in Tyrion's voice, but let it pass. "Just how long have I been in exile?" He asked, part of him wanted to laugh, but most was concerned at the time that had passed. He had lost track of fortnights. Entire moons had come and gone without his notice.
"Almost a year." Tyrion reported.
Jaime sat pensively. "A year?" He repeated in a whisper, his breath leaving his lungs. His mind turned over the possible paths Brienne's life could have taken in such a time. He had to know.
"Level with me, Brother." Jaime's tone was deadly serious. "You have expressed to me that Brienne is well, but nothing more." His eyes were pained. "Please, tell me where she is? Still guarding Queen Sansa at Winterfell?" His tone was hopeful. At least there, he figured she would be safe.
"No, Jaime. She is not at Winterfell." Tyrion shook his head, and studied the space between them.
Fear began to build behind Jaime's eyes. He would never believe that Brienne would foresake her duty. He could think of only place more dear to her than Winterfell. "Evenfall? She has returned to her father's house." He offered, hopefully. She would no doubt be even more protected there. Tyrion replied with simply the shake of his head, unable to meet Jaime's hopeful gaze.
Both of the best options denied, Jaime's thoughts raced to determine where else she might be. Finally, reluctantly, another scenario formed behind his eyes. He remembered how that Wildling, Tormund Giantsbane, had set his sites on Brienne and done his best to garner her attentions and her affection. Had he succeeded in Jaime's absence? Had he won Brienne's heart? It was a possibility Jaime did not wish to contemplate.
Jaime stared blankly ahead of him, and voiced his fears. "Beyond The Wall?" He stammered, swallowing hard.
Tyrion was quick to assuage his brother's fear, understandingly the reference. "No." He answered, happy to give Jaime at least that much peace. "She is here." Tyrion responded, his words barely portraying the monumental importance of his news.
"Here? In Kings Landing?" Jaime held his breath, unable to believe she was so near. Then a thousand questions entered his mind. There was only one he could voice. "Why?" He could not fathom that Brienne of Tarth would quit her oath to House Stark. Or had they quit her? What had it been like for her at Winterfell after he left? He felt hollow at the thought that he was to blame.
"I dishonored her." Jaime said, guilt in his tone. "She has been turned out by Queen Sansa." He conjectured. "And by her father, as well." His face drained of color.
Tyrion studied him, noting the dire dread with which he contemplated his interpretation of Brienne's fate. He shook his head to relieve Jaime's fear. "No. She has not." Tyrion shook his head. "Quite the contrary." His expression softened. "Ser Brienne's true friends and her father rallied around her in her time of..." He trailed of, not wishing to broach the truth that way. "After you left." He finished, vaguely.
Jaime's face grew even more confused. "I do not understand." He questioned. "Yet, she is in the Capital?" He struggled to find a reason to explain her change in circumstance.
Tyrion sighed, remembering his conversation with King Bran not an hour before. If Jaime was to learn the truth, now was as good a time as any, and better he learn it from someone who cared for him. "She is here...in the Keep." Tyrion corrected.
Jaime's eyes registered a moment of shock, not imagining that the woman he loved was so close to him. "What?" He questioned incredulously, certain he had heard Tyrion incorrectly.
Tyrion did not answer, but merely stared, acknowledging the truth of his revelation through his silence. Jaime understood that his brother would never weave a falsehood about something so dear to him. As realization sank in, Jaime's expression softened, as if he were almost beginning to feel Brienne through some type of bond. His heart felt as though she were just on the other side of his door. Every part of him yearned to run out of the room in search of her.
"Brienne is here?" Jaime repeated Tyrion's words in a whisper. "How? Why?" He was desperate to learn all that had transpired to bring her to Kings Landing. As the news sunk in Jaime's anger rose, not only for the time he had stolen from himself and Brienne, but at Tyrion for keeping him a virtual prisoner when she was but mere paces away.
"Brienne has been named Lord Commander of King Bran's Kingsguard." Tyrion informed him.
Jaime inhaled sharply, imagining how perfect Brienne would be in that role. "I could not be pressed to name any better in all the kingdoms to assume those duties." Jaime said proudly. He knew how much it must have meant to Brienne. His heart soared at the thought of her in the golden armor of the Lord Commander. Then he looked at Tyrion earnestly. It was clear in Jaime's eyes that he loved Brienne.
"The King knows I am here. He wishes my return to the open, and she is residing in The Keep. Why have you kept me locked away all this time?" Jaime voice was dry and suspicious. He did not realize his fist curled like talons around the cup of wine he held.
Tyrion took a steadying sip from his own goblet. "Brienne has only just arrived in the city, and King Bran's knowledge has only just recently been made known to me." He explained. "I had no way of knowing how you would be received." He confessed.
"Am I now a traitor?" Jaime's scoff was met by a glaring unapologetic look from Tyrion.
"You did not only abandon Brienne when you left Winterfell." Tyrion said seriously, noting how Jaime's jaw clenched at his description. "Remember, you arrived in the North and begged to be trusted." He recounted. "If not for Brienne vouching for you, on her honor, you might have been executed then and there." He spoke plainly. "Only to throw aside any loyalty you had to House Stark, or that you promised to Daenarys Targaryen, and return to Cersei." He accused.
"Daenarys Targaryen is the reason I have been in this room for almost a year." Jaime's voice rose with his anger. "I came close to death because of her." He choked."She is the one who marched upon Kings Landing. It was her dragon that destroyed The Keep." He listed, finally roaring his anger at Tyrion like the dragon fire which nearly took his life. "She is the reason I was forced to leave the woman I love." His face was pained and his eyes grew distant remembering Brienne's tears when he rode away.
Tyrion leaned forward, his expression severe. "Your actions are why you presently find yourself in this situation." He forced Jaime to see the truth. The older Lannister could not argue. "As for breaking Brienne's heart, you did that, and you did it for Cersei." Tyrion shot back.
Jaime shook his head vigorously. "No." He declared. "I did not leave Brienne for Cersei." He lamented. "I left her because of Cersei." He rued bitterly.
"That is what I do not understand?" Tyrion answered. "You say you loved Brienne..." He began.
"I do love her." Jaime corrected abruptly.
Tyrion looked at him quizzically. "Tell me, then, why did you leave her?" He entreated.
Jaime stared at Tyrion in disbelief. "Surely, you know why." He answered incredulously.
Tyrion was silent for a moment, contemplating what he understood was the truth. He then nodded solemnly. "Cersei would have known." He offered.
Jaime too, gestured his affirmative. "And she would have killed Brienne."
"Queen Sansa informed me that Cersei's troops had ambushed Daenarys's armada." He continued. "By the time I left Winterfell, Cersei was well on her way to victory." He spoke as if in a stupor, remembering how he had watched the vision of Brienne sleeping that night, and had been terrified for her safety. "There would have been nowhere Brienne could have escaped her wrath. Our sister would have tortured her, slaughtered her." Jaime's heart shattered as if it had happened just the way he was describing. "And she would have made me watch." He exhaled deeply, the breath draining from his lungs. "I could not let that happen. Not when I was the only one who could stop it." His eyes grew wet with tears at the vision his mind did not want to see.
"You truly do love Brienne." Tyrion stated in awe. Jaime had loved Brienne enough to give her up.
Jaime nodded sadly. "With all my heart." He affirmed.
"Surely you could have protected Brienne at Winterfell." Tyrion protested.
Jaime regarded him with sad eyes. "She sent Bronn to kill us, and he managed to find us there." He reminded Tyrion. "The only reason Bronn did not take our heads, is because the man is an opportunist." Jaime almost chuckled.
For a faint moment, the shadow of humor crossed Tyrion's face as well. "Bronn is always on the look out for the better offer." He almost complimented.
Jaime returned to the seriousness of their topic. "There was no place Cersei's reach did not extend. She would have found Brienne." He seemed to shrink in defeat.
"I fear you were correct." Tyrion agreed.
"And there was another, who did not deserve to be subjected to her evil." Jaime grew emotionless. "I had a duty to the child she carried, to protect it, from her." He said with regret.
Tyrion's sigh was as lifeless as his brother's. "Jaime." He interrupted, it seemed his unfortunate duty to bear the news of what had been discovered of their sister's falsehood.
Jaime held up his hand. He had already deduced what Tyrion had to report. "I know." He voiced mournfully, not for the child that did not exist, he was already father to two souls protected from her in the Heavens. He was almost relieved that Myrcella and Tommen would never be marred by their mother's monstrous evil. He understood that there had never been hope for Joffrey, and that he would be Cersei's companion in the Hells. Perhaps it was better that no other living babe would be corrupted by Cersei's treachery. Jaime grieved that it was his fear for the child who had been a lie, that had part of the reason he had left Brienne.
"I was a moon on the road each time, to and from Winterfell." He stared ahead into the fire. "I spent another glorious turn in Brienne's arms there." Jaime almost smiled at the memory. "Cersei had to have been at least that far along when she told me, before I left for the North." His sweet regard at the thought of Brienne was replaced by a mask of cold hate. "Yet when I reached her upon my return, her belly was flat as the day I left. I knew the moment I saw her." He admitted. "It was a lie." Jaime said in disgust. He drank greedily from his cup, trying to wash down the taste of betrayal.
Jaime's cold expression was unchanged as he went on. "She saw us at the Dragon Pit, Brienne and me." He explained. "She saw the way we looked at each other." His countenance softened at the mention of Brienne. "Cersei had to have realized my heart belonged to another." He supposed. "She must have thought it was the only way to keep me." Jaime's bitter look returned as he watched the flames.
Tyrion joined Jaime in his study of the hearth. "The maester examined every inch of Cersei's body, inside and out, before they laid her upon the pyre." He described. "There was never any babe." He said, confirming Jaime's suspensions, his voice trailing off.
Jaime sat for a moment, reflecting upon the news, silently bemoaning the fact that he had ever thought he loved Cersei. It was only now, when he had felt the real affection of a good woman, of Brienne, did he understand that what he had with Cersei was never love. It had only ever been carnal. All those years, Jaime had told himself that it had been love, but it never was. It was never like what he felt, what he had shared with the woman he left, with Brienne.
"There was no limit to the depths of that demon's evil." Jaime muttered through gritted teeth. "It is best that she is rotting in some Hell." He swore, and with that proclamation, he felt a weight lifted from him. At that his entire focus now turned to Brienne, and the almost insurmountable quest to win her back.
Unable to bear sitting any longer, and feeling the walls closing in upon him, Jaime rose and crossed the small distance to the hearth. He leaned his elbow against the stone wall, and settled all of his exhausted weight against it. After a moment, a wry involuntary chuckle left Tyrion's lips as he considered all that had passed.
Jaime turned hatefully, the flames casting an ominous glare over his features. "I find very little humor in this, Brother." He told Tyrion angrily.
Tyrion looked up at Jaime soberly. "I assure you, there is nothing I find amusing here." He corrected Jaime's misunderstanding. "I am simply marveling at the irony of life." He explained.
"I know." Jaime gave an aggravated nod. "How ironic that I left the woman I love, for a lie." It pained him to give voice to his grave error.
"Yes." Tyrion agreed. "However, that is not of what I speak." He began. Jaime only stared him with a confused and furrowed brow.
Tyrion inhaled deeply, and let out the breath slowly. Suddenly, he felt sick. The time had come to tell Jaime of the real babe he had left behind. How could he find words to divulge such knowledge to the child's father. However, he trudged on, reluctantly. This was what King Bran had asked of him. He would see it through. "The true irony is that while Cersei's belly did not burgeon with your babe..." He paused. "...Brienne's did." Tyrion felt hollow at finally speaking those words.
Jaime stared at Tyrion, his head spinning. The entire world rolled in and out in waves beneath him. Surely he had heard his brother wrong. "What?" He sputtered. "What did you say?" He spoke through a mouth suddenly bone dry, a tongue at once heavy and useless. His eyes were wild, as he clamored for understanding.
By the look on Tyrion's face, Jaime could tell he had not misunderstood. "Brienne gave birth to your son, at Winterfell, nine months after you left her." Tyrion repeated compassionately.
Jaime stumbled to the chair across from Tyrion, he grasped for the arm and missed. Momentum propelling him forward, he turned to sit, the shock of Tyrion's news still ringing in his ears. His gate and grasp unsteady, his eyes wide with confusion, Jaime's equilibrium failed as he sat, and he plummeted to floor, landing on his backside with a loud thud. His brain hardly registered the jolt. "Brienne gave... bir... my son." He struggled to comprehend the entirety of circumstances that swirled in his mind, until finally he realized what it all meant. He had abandoned the woman he loved to carry and birth his child, alone, and he had done it all for a heartless monster and her lie.
Still reeling, Jaime looked up, his eyes not truly seeing. "Oh Tyrion." He gasped. "What have I done?" He beseeched his brother, as if his sole companion these many months had any answers at all. Tyrion could only study Jaime in sympathy. He had no solutions to give.
Jaime's mind filled with images of how lovely Brienne must have been, large with his child. They would have shared the joy of feeling their child growing within her. He pictured himself grasping her hand, and whispering encouragement to her as she brought their babe into the world. He had missed all of it. "Is she? Is he? Are they? ... Alright?" He rasped, his voice choked with emotion.
Tyrion spoke softly in reply. "Queen Sansa wrote to me that Brienne endured a very difficult birth, but that the boy was strong and healthy." He said.
"Difficult?" Jaime repeated in a frenzy, worry consuming him.
Tyrion shook his head remorsefully. "I am sorry. I do not have knowledge of the details." He apologized. "Only that the Queen herself attended her, and Brienne has been returned to full health." He tried to give Jaime some relief.
Jaime eyes flickered furiously. "She must be alright. She's here." He conjectured. "Have you seen her?" He asked, desperate for news of them.
Tyrion lowered his chin. "I have." He announced. "She seems fine." He relayed gladly.
Again, Jaime's mind searched for coherent thoughts. "Lord Commander?" He spoke the title in dread. He knew that meant her vow would forbid her from raising their child. "Where is the babe? She has been forced to give him up?" He was nearly frantic at the notion.
"No." Tyrion comforted. "King Bran has changed much." He said. "Many of the old customs are gone." He smiled. "The King has allowed Brienne's babe to remain here with her." Tyrion imparted.
Relief washed over Jaime. "Thank the Gods." He sighed heavily. "Have you seen him?" He begged.
Tyrion grew silent, and shadow falling over his face. "I have, he is a fine babe. Extraordinary, one might say." He beamed. With that declaration his eyes then saddened. "I have only spent a short amount of time with him." He admitted. "Brienne will not allow me to visit often." He lamented.
"Will not allow you to visit?" Jaime was baffled. "But, you are his uncle?" He declared. Then it occurred to him, that his child had been born to Brienne out of wedlock. He glared at Tyrion. "Surely, you have legitimized my son." Jaime criticized.
"I have not." Tyrion looked down, unable to meet his brother's eyes. "I offered. Brienne refused." He explained. "She wishes nothing from our family." He said, sadly. "Her father has legitimatized the boy. He is of Tarth." Tyrion detailed.
"There were many who saw us together at Winterfell. It must be known that the boy is my son." Jaime prodded. "Has she not declared his paternity?" He asked.
Tyrion sighed. "It is my belief that such an acknowledgment is the last thing Brienne wishes known about her child." He studied his fingers, folded in his lap. "She never speaks of you, Jaime." Tyrion said, unable to look at his brother.
Jaime's face grew even more pained and stricken. "She hates me." He proclaimed, his mood falling even further.
"Could you blame her?" Tyrion replied, bluntly. "You go to her, Knight her, fight by her side, declare yourself to her, and make her think you love her." Tyrion listed.
"I do love her!" Jaime seethed.
"Even so." Tyrion wanted to understand. "How does this news comes as such a shock to you?" He questions. "You of all people know that she is as much a woman as any other female. Did you not think it possible for her to conceive a child?" He judged.
"I wasn't thinking of anything?" Jaime confessed. "Only her." His voice was tinged with longing, as he thought of Brienne and the family he might have had.
Tyrion considered his declaration. "Be that as it may. You began a relationship with her. You took her maidenhead, and made her think you wish to be with her." He trudged on, remembering Brienne's admission of virginity on the evening following the battle. "Then you left her like some whore." He admonished.
"Do not call her that! She is no whore!" Jaime bellowed, his fists clenched at his sides. "She is the most virtuous, honorable person I have ever known. She was, she is too good for a wretch like me." His eyes were wistful and distant recalling Brienne, and how he had come to love her more than anything in the world. His love for Brienne had been strong enough to cause him to leave Cersei. He had loved her enough to let her go, when he realized the danger in which he had put her. However, it did not hurt any less. "I too thought we would be together forever. I wanted to make make her my wife." Jaime's chest felt hollow as it filled with his desire for Brienne.
Tyrion relented only a bit, seeing Jaime's agitation. "Of course she is not a whore, but she was treated like one." He scolded. "Just what do think they call her?" He asked rhetorically.
"Lord Commander. I would hope." Jaime replied staunchly. He knew that some had called her The Maid of Tarth. He was aware that others had been even more cruel when Brienne was young. He wished he could have cut them all down.
Tyrion's glance was almost one of disgust as he continued. "The Kingslayer's Whore, is what they now whisper behind her back." The words tasted vile in his mouth. "And what do you think they will call your son?" He hurled his interrogation at Jaime vehemently.
Jaime slumped with the weight of Tyrion's descriptions. His ears echoed as he imagined the cruelty of those who would shout 'Kingslayer's Bastard' at an innocent child. "It is my fault." He bemoaned. "I did this to her, to them." He chastised himself, his voice nearly a whimper. "I only meant to keep her safe." He repeated. "My only thought was to protect her." Jaime's regret consumed him.
"Well." Tyrion reminded him indignantly. "She certainly has a lot more to think about now." He shamed Jaime, that Brienne was now left to raise their child alone.
Seeing the torment in Jaime's eyes, Tyrion regretted throwing blame at him like a weapon. "Brienne is an excellent mother." He attempted to assuage Jaime's worries, at least somewhat. "Even Cersei, with as much as she loved her children was not as devoted a mother as Brienne." Tyrion smiled warmly. "That babe is her very world." He assured Jaime.
"Of that I am certain." Jaime's face become soft, imagining Brienne as a mother. His mind tried to conjure a vision of what their son must look like. He hoped the boy had been blessed with Brienne's beautiful blue eyes.
"What is his name?" Jaime asked, his tone pained.
"Galladon." Tyrion answered. "Galladon of Tarth." He said.
"After her brother." Jaime lamented, nodding in reluctant acceptance. "So, she does not wish any part of me in the child's life.' His heart was shattering into a million pieces.
Tyrion sipped his wine pensively. "I would not say that?" He answered.
Jaime eyed him suspiciously. "What do you mean?" He asked, at a loss to determine his brother's meaning.
It was not just the wine that warmed Tyrion's spirit as he spoke. There was yet one piece of information that he knew might lift his brother's heart. As if there might yet be some hope for Jaime in Brienne's life. "Queen Sansa imparted to me through our correspondence that Galladon is but the child's middle man." His eyes flashed knowingly. "The boy's full name is Jaimes Galladon of Tarth." He smiled proudly.
Jaime stared dumbfounded, considering the fact that even through her hurt and anger, Brienne had named their child for him. Even if she did not share the boy's given name with most of the world, his son at least carried that much if him. His breathing calmed a bit, and he allowed himself to believe he could have the chance to fix that which he had broken. Tyrion clambered from his chair and stretched his legs, allowing Jaime a moment to contemplate all they had discussed. He sat his goblet on the rickety table next to them.
The change in Jaime was not lost on Tyrion. "You see." He suggested as he made his way to the door. "Do not resign yourself to a life of loneliness just yet." His smile was small, but carried a glimmer of prospect. "You may still be able to win her back. I do believe that somewhere beneath her hurt and fury, Brienne still loves you." Tyrion told Jaime. He reached the door, and turned the knob. The door slid open quietly, his eyes never straying from Jaime still hunched upon the floor. Without another word, Tyrion left his brother to his tortured thoughts. Jaime's mind barely registered that he did not hear Tyrion turn the key in the lock to bar him inside.
Jaime did not know how long he sat alone in silence, his heart broken, his mind struggling to grasp what he had learned. Bitter tears streamed down his cheeks. His thoughts were focused only upon Brienne and the son she had bore him. He could not fathom what she had gone through, or what she must think of him. Hers was the only opinion for which Jaime cared in the world, and he had certainly destroyed any good she thought of him. The life he had dreamed of with her was gone, and he would never be whole without her.
Shattered once again, now much worse than any damage the bricks had inflicted upon him. Jaime's anguished thoughts pivoted around Brienne. He could only conjure visions of what her life had held these past months, and how much she must despise him. "Oh Brienne." Jaime sobbed. "I'm sorry." He spoke desperately into the darkness. "My Love. I am so sorry." Jaime wept uncontrollably.