Some days have gone by. Bronn takes watch at night and I take it back at daybreak. There is a tension between Tyrion and I. I do not speak when I'm around him. I only speak to Bronn, Sandor and Lord Varys. I did not tell anyone about Tyrion keeping Shae here. I only talked to Lord Varys about my jealousy of any woman whom sleeps with Tyrion. And I was extremely vague. So, it surprised me when he opened the door to his chambers to find my old friend talking with the whore. Tyrion's whistling stops as he pauses in the doorway. Varys stands from the chair he was sitting in.
"My Lord." Varys greets him. Both of us walk in and I close the door behind us. I make eye contact with the eunuch and we nod to each other in greeting.
"You make me wait a long time," Shae says to Tyrion. No I'm sorry Lord Tyrion. Ugh! "But your friend keeps me company."
"We were just speaking of your bravery," Lord Varys says. "In the victory against the Stark auxiliary forces. I can't keep the laugh from escaping my mouth. They all turn to me.
"What's funny?" Shae asks me.
"I just didn't know that being knocked out at the start of the battle was considered to be bravery." Lord Tyrion shoots me a glare. "But it was quite a battle for those of us whom were conscious." I finish with a smirk towards Lord Varys.
"I did hear that you suffered a terrible head wound." Lord Varys says to the Imp. "The Northerners are such fearsome warriors." Lord Tyrion walks over to the table with the wine and pours himself some. Meanwhile, I stand by the door, smiling at everything going on. I swear, I never told Lord Varys about Shae. I only said that he was sleeping with whores and I was jealous.
"And I tell him the story of how we meet." Shae informed the room.
"To find so lovely a creature working in your father's kitchens," Lord Varys tells. "It almost beggars belief." Of course he knows that story is horse shit.
"Strange things do happen." Lord Tyrion replies. He glances to me for a second before continuing. "You should taste her fish pie."
"I don't think Lord Varys likes fish pie." Shae says.
"How can you tell?" Lord Varys asks her.
"I can always tell." Shae banters back.
"Men like Lord Varys and I can't let our disadvantages get the best of us." Lord Tyrion says. "We'll make a fisherman of him yet."
"I am glad your new friend was able to accompany you to the capital." Lord Varys starts. "Friends are such an important part of life." Tyrion's gaze flashes to me once again. This time his expression is a bit softer. "Unfortunate that your father didn't want her to come." His gaze became accusatory. "Rest easy, my lord. She did not tell me." Lord Varys gestured to me. "I have many little birds everywhere. You're lucky to have someone whom can express her frustrations with you without letting out your little secret. I am also very good at keeping secrets for my good friends." I see Tyrion relax slightly.
"Your discretion is legendary," Tyrion says to him. "Where your friends are concerned."
"How unspeakable of me to go on and on when all you want to do is rest." Lord Varys says to Shae as he stands from his seat. "I will leave you." He kisses the back of the whore's hand. "Welcome to King's Landing, my dear. This city is made brighter by your presence." Tyrion walks closer to me and the door to his chambers, but says nothing. Lord Varys turns to us. "We have a council meeting, my lord." I go to open the door only to have Tyrion put his hand on the door to stop my actions.
"I don't like threats." He says to Lord Varys in a hushed tone.
"Who threatened you?" Lord Varys asks. To my eyes he looked to be truly confused.
"I'm not Ned Stark. I understand the way this game is played." Tyrion replies.
"Ned Stark was a man of honor."
"And I am not." Tyrion says.
"Clearly." I say under my breath.
"Not now." Tyrion bites back at me. I roll my eyes. "Threaten me again and I'll have you thrown into the sea." He takes his hand away from the door, but it is quickly replaced with Lord Varys' finger.
"You might be disappointed in the results." He tells the Little Lannister. "Storms come and go, the big fish eat the little fish, and I keep on paddling." He takes his finger from the door to I begin to open it. "Come, my lord. We shouldn't keep the queen waiting." Once the door is opened, both lords walk through, leaving me as the last one to leave.
"Trixie." I hear Shae call from behind me.
"You're not allowed to call me that." I bite back.
"Why? Can only Tyrion call you that?"
"Only my friends." I answer. For Bronn has called to me with that name before.
"And I am no friend to you?" She asks.
"No." I answer simply.
"Thank you." She says, stopping me from exiting once again.
"For what?"
"For not telling about me." She says. "Lord Varys said he heard of me. I whispered your nickname to myself and he defended you." I turn my head to look at her. "He said that you were voicing your frustrations, but you did not mention that Tyrion was keeping me here. Why?" I scoff at her words.
"Why?" I spit. "You ask me why I don't tell everyone about you? I may want you dead, but I don't want Tyrion dead. I don't want him to turn against me. Why would I want to get on the bad side of the one I love?" I say to her. She looks a bit shocked. "This city can eat you up and spit you out in a second if it wanted to. It's why I don't like being here. But, I am here to help that not happen to Tyrion. His own family hates him. The important ones anyway. It's my job to be someone he can confide in. Someone he can trust. I'm not going to hold his love for you against him." With that, I exit the room and close the door behind me. I look around and see that the two men are waiting for me just a couple steps away. Tyrion looks at me with guilt.
"Love is a powerful resource, my lord." Lord Varys tells Tyrion. "You better hope her love for you never fades. For she would be a dangerous enemy." Lord Varys smiles at me as he says this.
"I pray for that every day." Tyrion says. Both men turn and walk towards the small council meeting with me close on their heels.
I stood outside while the meeting was In session. I saw a cousin of the Lannisters come and go. It did not seem to be good news. On his way out I ask him one question.
"Excuse me." I call to him before he passes me.
"Yes?"
"Does the King Slayer still live?" I ask him.
"He does." Came his answer. "Can I ask you why you care?"
"Curiosity." I reply. That seemed to please him enough for him to continue on his way. When the meeting was over Lord Varys nodded to me as he walked with one of the other men. Tyrion came up to me.
"Come, Trixie, we have a dinner to prepare for." He says as he starts to walk away.
"And what dinner is that?" I ask.
"Janos and I are celebrating Bronn's appointment to Commander of the City Watch." He tells me.
"But isn't Janos the Commander of the City Watch?" I ask in confusion.
"Exactly." He says. "And he was paid off to betray Ned Stark. I won't have that happening to me." That is very smart. Later that night, Bronn and I stand on the balcony of the dining room as Tyrion eats with Janos. Podrick, the new squire, pours Janos some wine, but ends up spilling it.
"Damn it, boy!" Janos complains.
"Apologies, my lord."
"Leave us, Podrick." Tyrion says. "I believe we know how to pour our own wine." The poor boy slinks away.
"That's your new squire?" Janos asks. "I could've found you a proper lad."
"Myself, I prefer the improper ones." Tyrion defends his squire.
"Mm, that's a good red." Janos comments on the wine. "Dornish?"
"You know your wines, my lord." Tyrion says. That's when I tune out the conversation and look out at the scenery. The city at night was interesting. It was dark, but you could see a few windows lit up by candle light, The people inside laughing, drinking, maybe even fucking. I look out past the city and look to the water. The waves crash against the land, and the sound is calming. But what this Janos man did comes back into my head and I grow furious. He carried out orders to kill babies. It's heartbreaking. Sure, they were the late King Robert's bastards, but they were innocent children. How heartless can you be? I wouldn't be able to do it no matter how much someone wished to pay me. I am knocked out of my thoughts as Janos raises his voice.
"Are you drunk? I'll not have my honor questioned by an imp!" The man yells. I walk into the room with my dagger drawn. Tyrion looks at me and slightly shakes his head to stop me.
"I'm not questioning your honor, Lord Janos." He tells the man. "I'm denying it's existence." The man quickly stands from his chair and leans forward threateningly, so I run over.
"If you think I'll stand here and take this from you, dwarf-" I hold my dagger to the man's neck and he stops talking.
"Dwarf?" Tyrion says.
"You should've stopped at imp." I say in the man's ear.
"And, yes, you will stand here and take it from me." Tyrion says. "Unless you'd like to take it from both of my friends here." Bronn walks up on the man's other side. I allow him to look that way slightly. "I intend to serve as Hand of the King until my father returns from the war. And seeing as you betrayed the last Hand of the King, well, I just wouldn't feel safe with you lurking about."
"What are you t-" Lord Janos starts to defend himself. "My friends at court will not allow this! The queen herself has granted-"
"The queen regent." Tyrion reminds the man. "And you're a fool to believe she is your friend."
"We shall hear what Joffrey has to say about this." Lord Janos says.
"No, we shan't." Tyrion says. He looks over at Bronn and I step away as the footsteps of the City Watch soldiers come into the room. I stand behind Tyrion's chair as the men surround Lord Janos. "There's a ship leaving for Eastwatch-by-the-sea tonight. From there I'm afraid it's rather a long walk to Castle Black. I hope you enjoy the Wall. I found it surprisingly beautiful... in a brutal, horribly uncomfortable sort of way."
"The lads will escort you." Bronn tells the man. "The streets aren't safe at night, my lord."
"These men are under my command!" Lord Janos shouts. "I command you to arrest this cutthroat."
"His name is Bronn." I say.
"And he is the new commander of the City Watch." Tyrion informs the man.
"Boys." Bronn orders the men. They seized Lord Janos.
"I have friends at court!" The man says. "Powerful friends! The king himself made me a lord!" Once the man was dragged out of the room Bronn and I sit across from each other at the table. Tyrion pours both of us a chalice of wine.
"To the new commander." Tyrion says and we clink our cups together before drinking the wine inside. There is a slight pause before Tyrion addresses us. "If I told you to murder an infant girl, say, still at her mother's breast, would you do it without question?" I pause in shock, but answer quickly.
"No." I say, matter of fact. "I would question it profusely. Children are innocent of anything. They had no choice to be brought into the world. It's against everything I believe in. Not to mention I may be a mother some day. I would be devastated if my child was taken from me only to be slaughtered before my eyes."
"That's where we differ, Little Trixie." Bronn says to me. "I'd ask only one question. 'How much?'" I look at him in shock. Then I look to Tyrion. Him and I are feeling the shame shock. Even with this information I can't blame Bronn. His whole life has revolved around doing anything violent for money. Everything revolves around money these days.
The next night, during supper, Cersei came to Tyrion's chambers while Shae was out. What luck. Don't ask me what she was doing. I'm not here to look after a whore. I'm here to look after and protect Tyrion. He asks me to step outside so he can speak with his sister in private. I can barely hear them through the door. They talk about Lord Janos and the fact that their mother died when Tyrion was born. She holds that against him. Cersei then exits Tyrion's chambers and closes the door behind her. She glares at me before walking away.
"Trixie, you can come back in." I hear Tyrion say. I do as he wishes and sit in the chair across from him when he gestures to it. He pushes his plate of food towards me. I look at him in confusion. "Eat." He tells me. "I've lost my apatite."
"What happened?" I ask as I reluctantly start eating the food from his place.
"I don't feel like talking about it." He says looking away from me.
"It must have been something truly awful for you not to confide in me about it." I say.
"Cersei got me thinking about our mother."
"I'm sorry." I say. "You don't have to tell me. It's sort of common knowledge about your birth." I look to the plate in front of me and try to avoid eye contact. We sat in silence for the rest of the night. Bronn ends up escorting Shae to the bed chambers and I leave. I can only hope that everything works out
A/N: I want to thank Jean dwarf. Thank you so much for your reviews. I look forward to reading more.
Also, if anyone would like to leave a review, I would love to read them.