Jaime didn't speak the rest of the way. Just sat there silently as we trekked along through the forest. To be frank, I was terrified of what might happen to him if his wound was left untreated. We rode on that way for a long time until it was nightfall. Brienne and I were helped down - although shoved would be a better word - off our horses and made to sit by the fire, our hands and still bound by fraying rope. Jaime was awake by now but he still hadn't said a word to us. He wouldn't even look at me. It pained me to see him like this.
"Eat." Brienne told him suddenly, nodding towards the food on the spit.
He said nothing.
"What are you doing?" she asked, eyeing him.
"I'm dying," he said softly in the firelight.
It felt like someone was squeezing my heart with their fist. I shook my head at him.
"No, you're not. You can't!" I said vehemently.
His emerald orbs slowly lifted to mine dejectedly before looking down at the ground again.
"You can't die. You need to live to take revenge," Brienne backed me up.
"I don't care about revenge," he whispered into the darkness.
"You coward. A little misfortune and you're giving up," Brienne spat.
I scoffed.
"A misfor - misfortune? He lost his hand, Brienne!" I shot back, arching my eyebrows, "Honestly, think before you speak!"
"It was my sword hand! I was that hand!" Jaime spoke up suddenly, his green eyes glancing over at me gratefully.
"You have a taste - one taste of the real world where people have important things taken from them-" she started and out of the corner of my eye, I thought I saw her eyes flit to me, "-and you whine and cry and quit. You sound like a bloody woman!"
We were all silent for a moment, the fire crackling in the background of our conversation. I picked up a piece of the food that was offered us and handed it over to Jaime. Shooting me a small smile, he took it from my hand, his skin brushing mine as he did. Butterflies erupted in my stomach at that one small touch but I shrugged it off. What good would feelings do me now?
"I know what you did for me. You told them Tarth was full of sapphires. It's called the Sapphire Isle because of the blue of its water. You knew that. Why did you help me?" Brienne asked him then.
He didn't speak, didn't utter one single word. Only glanced at me, those breathtaking green eyes meeting my brown ones in the dark of the night. With my heart beating fast, I realized in that moment why he had helped spare Brienne... He had done it for me...