She fidgeted too much for his liking. She played with her sleeves and touched her hair repeatedly until he felt like unpinning the infernal mass and letting it fall down in her normal style. He knew she was nervous, walking across the castle's grounds with her husband by her side. What would she tell Lord Stark? A family chat about the Wildlings attack she was in, the man she killed, or mayhap they could discuss the child she lost and the husband who ignored her.
Jaime wanted nothing more than to skip the entire ludicrous meeting and just go out on a patrol with some of the Kingsguard instead. But Merilyn's earlier comment prevented him from acting upon that want. He didn't think he was always in the yard or never alone, but when she had said it, it had somehow rung true. Never before was Jaime's time in the yard monitored. And the damned woman was acting as if he had anything else to do.
He remembered what they had been doing just moments ago and smirked to himself. Maybe there were other things besides just sparring.
They stopped outside the doors to one of the guest quarters. He glanced down at Merilyn, who looked as if she was steeling herself for a battle. On impulse, he reached out and brushed a strand of her hair back from her face and leaned down, kissing her lightly on the forehead. Though he managed to suppress his own surprise at his actions, hers plainly showed on her face.
And then she smiled at him.
Not the smile she put on before walking into the hall at dinner. Not the smile she wore when trying to seem patient and understanding. And not the smile she had when she played the perfect wife part. It was the smile that made him feel breathless. It was the smile that he had missed but hadn't been aware he had.
He placed his hand on the small of her back, pushed open the door, and entered the room with her. Lord Stark was seated at a small writing table, staring into the fire pensively. Their entrance caught his attention and as he turned, he smiled seeing his eldest daughter standing in the room. Jaime knew, in an instant, where Merilyn got her smile. Merilyn hesitated a moment, staring up at Jaime and he realized she was waiting for his permission. He nodded for her to go and she flung herself forward into her father's waiting arms.
Jaime watched the pair impassively. Merilyn had missed her father greatly, that was obvious, and he was sure he saw the sheen of tears over her eyes for a brief second. While Lord Stark gave less away on his face, Jaime saw the tightness of the man's arms as he hugged his child.
"Touching reunion," King Baratheon grunted from the doorway. He strode in purposefully, "I'm seeing you sooner than I would've guessed."
Stark released Merilyn from his grasp and bowed to the King. She curtsied lightly and then, to his great surprise, walked back to Jaime and stood at his side. Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Stark stiffen. Hiding his amusement, Jaime wrapped an arm around her and stroked a thumb casually across Merilyn's neck. He saw her slight shiver, though she tried to hide it, and pushed down the wave of desire that crashed over him. Taking liberties with his daughter in front of him might push Lord Stark too far.
"Well, I'll make it short, your Grace," Stark began speaking, "the Lord Commander at the Wall say they've not enough men. The Wildlings are organized somehow. Led by a man they call King-Beyond-The-Wall. They're mostly crossing the Bay of Seals to enter into the North. No one has been able to discern a pattern from their attacks."
"How are they finding cover to hide away from our soldiers than?" The King demanded, staring into the fire.
Jaime put his hand onto Merilyn's back and made to lead her out of the room, but the King's voice stopped him.
"Nay, Lannister. Stay, for you will be part of this discussion."
Merilyn leaned towards the door, but Jaime latched onto part of her dress, signaling her to stay. She raised her eyebrows in a way that he found immediately endearing. He leaned down to her ear.
"If I must sit through this, then you will suffer with me as well. After all, I'm only here because of you."
The King and Lord Stark had moved to sit at the table, looking at a map that had been laid out upon it. The corner of Merilyn's lips upturned slightly and she followed Jaime to a seat.
"The only group of Wildlings to have been found were found camped out near Queenscrown. This is nothing unusual so it does us no good. Some member of their party knows the Seven Kingdoms intimately."
Merilyn was intently studying the map. Every so often she would glance up at her father with a look of admiration and then go back to staring at the map. He knew the Stark family was close. The girl sitting in the chair so near to him had never known anything different from the life she had in the North until Jaime had taken her away from it all. And yet, she still sat here. Many, many marriages that he knew were so much like his sister and Baratheon's. Without loyalty, without happiness. But today his wife had stormed into his rooms, her hair in curled strands falling down her back and her eyes alight in determination, demanding to go home. And not home to Winterfell, but home to his home. She always surprised him.
Out of boredom mostly, Jaime let his hand caress her neck softly. He twirled a finger around in a circle at the base softly, almost absentmindedly. There was no real need for him to intently listen to the King and Stark's conversation. The men and money Baratheon needed would be provided, whether Jaime agreed with their strategy or not.
It was delightful to be able to touch a woman in public. Secrecy was never Jaime's comfort and it felt almost like he was declaring his territory every time he touched Merilyn. Something about that was more satisfying than the thrill of secrets and possibly being caught. His eyes caught her reddening skin and quick breaths. From just his hand upon her neck, she was reacting. Seven hells, he hated Willas in that moment more than he hated any man. It'd been too long since he'd been in her bed.
Baratheon stood unexpectedly and Jaime tore his gaze away from her face, though his hand remained, continuing the slow circles.
"I'll see to it Arryn comes by then. We'll see each other at the Small Council tonight and you'll be off again tomorrow."
The men stood and bowed in respect to the King as he left and Merilyn looked at her father, upset.
"Are you to leave so soon?"
Stark nodded, "Mer, the Wildlings are burning through the North, killing and sacking as they go. My Bannermen are at a loss for what to do. The Wall cannot stop many of them and until we figure out how to stop the sheer number of them, I have no choice but to keep going."
She bowed her head in understanding; "Lord Tyrion said something about one of my brothers coming to harm?"
Jaime heard the worry in her voice, knew the lack of answers to her questions had frustrated her to no end. The cruel comment from Joffery about dead Northern dogs had been the reason she had run out of the Hall and down those steps, several months ago. He had had no answers for her, even though he had wished he could set her mind at ease.
"Theon was injured in a scuffle with the Wildlings at one point. He was taken back to Winterfell to heal. None of your brothers have come to any harm."
The relief she felt was reflected in her shoulders as they relaxed. She directly stared at her father, "And Jon?"
Stark looked away, "He's gone to the Wall with Benjen."
She nodded and her gaze softened as she looked at her father, "You are tired. Eat and sleep, Father, please."
"If you tell me how you've been while I'll eat, then I will sleep for awhile yet more easily."
So she talked while he ate and Jaime watched her.
She talked of the kindness of the people at Castlerly Rock, the beauty of the ocean near it, the smell of salt in the air instead of snow. She talked of Tommen's fawn he had adopted recently and how she had gotten to feed it once. She talked of Jaime's frequency in the yard and his intense love of sparring. She talked of the beauty of King's Landing and how she was excited to have seen the place her father had always told stories about.
All the while she talked, Jaime watched her. She was happy, truly happy talking to her father. Her smile was wide; her words came quick and easy to her. He was amazed at her words often, though when she spoke of the greyness that encompassed Castlerly Rock he had to question her sanity. Everyone knew the North was the very embodiment of grey. She never once spoke of her unhappiness or the pain she felt. She complimented Jaime more than he deserved and he wondered how she could bear to say things of that nature about him, when all he had done was bring her to grief.
As Stark came to the end of his meal, Merilyn stood and kissed him atop his head, bidding him a good rest and comfort. She and Jaime took their leave from the room and headed back towards hers. The sun had long disappeared from sight and the moon hung in the black sky, being the brightest source of light.
"He seems older now, like there's more to carry on his shoulders," she remarked sadly.
He looked at her in surprise, struck by how she was talking to him so casually, as if they regularly talked about her family. He cleared his throat, "I'm sure it is more likely your outlook that has changed than his appearance. Though the raids have gotten worse and they must take a toll."
Merilyn sighed, "I wish sometimes he had not been the Watcher of the North, but instead a more normal man. Then he would never know these troubles and be much happier."
They walked into her room and Jaime shut the door behind him. Her eyes showed some surprise and he saw her glance nervously at the bed. He smirked lightly.
"I didn't follow you in to accost you. I have no wishes to be further interrupted by your guard again. I merely wished to converse before having to attend another fucking council meeting."
She blanched at his language, but then half-smiled, "Why do they need you instead of your father? He is still the Lord of Castlerly Rock, is he not?"
"My father finds it fitting that I catch up on all subjects of being a Lord, since I missed some of these lessons when I was in the Kingsguard. Being present for these meetings instead of him is the first step," he undid his buttons and stripped off his overshirt leaving him in the light cloth shirt from earlier. He sat down heavily in the chair by the fire.
He could feel Merilyn watching him as he rolled up his sleeves and leaned his head against the back of his chair. His temple was beginning to ache. Suddenly he felt soft fingers hesitantly slip over his forehead, gently rubbing in slow circles. The touch made him moan aloud softly. He didn't open his eyes, unsure if it would stop her from continuing or not, but merely kept enjoying the quiet touching. He found it oddly pleasing that she was willing touching him of her own accord. The warmth of the fire watched over him and he grew drowsy.
"My lord," hands pushed at his chest insistently, "Ser?"
He opened his eyes blearily and saw Merilyn looking at him with concern. Realizing he had fallen asleep, he straightened immediately and shook himself.
"What time is it?" He demanded, standing up and grabbing his overshirt.
"I let you sleep as long as possible. I only woke you because the council will convene soon. There's food there for you," she pointed at the table, "if you would have it."
"They'll serve some at the council for those who didn't go to the Hall tonight. I'll eat there." He pulled on his overshirt and ran a hand through his hair. He looked down at his wife, "Did you eat?"
"I sent Leila down to the kitchens for food. More than likely I'll hear about my absence from the hall tomorrow," she made a slight face, "but I was tired and wished to not see anyone."
"Tell Leila to prepare your things. We'll leave for Castlerly Rock tomorrow."
He was rewarded with another smile, "Oh, really? Do you mean it?"
She clapped her hands together like a pleased child and grinned brightly as he nodded. She seemed to be overcome with happiness, as she then stood on her toes and kissed him soundly on the lips. When she realised her actions, she blushed brightly and looked down, embarrassed. Jaime laughed softly and kissed her forehead in response.
"Get some sleep soon. We'll set out early in the morning." Without waiting for another burst of physical affection, he left the smiling girl in her room and headed down for a few hours of men arguing pointlessly.
He made the decision to return to her rooms after the council had adjourned. He was tired and wanted to sleep, but he wanted to sleep with her, for some reason. He excused himself from thinking about it by telling himself it had been a long time since he slept with his wife and there was no crime against such a thing.
The door was unbarred and he walked in quietly. Undressing quickly, he slipped into the bed where she slept soundly. Her hair was bound in a loose braid and she wore the slip from earlier. Careful to only touch her gently, he wrapped an arm about her loosely and laid his head down on the pillow next to hers. He heard her murmur softly and adjust her body slightly, but she remained asleep. And though he knew the peace could not last and that nothing good could come from this emotion, Jaime could not remember a time where he felt more comforted than that moment.
Thank you, thank you for all the wonderful reviews! And a special thanks to delphine862 for being my 100th review. I thank you all for reading and reviewing as it really inspires me to keep writing. I'd like to address a couple of questions before I sign off.
1. Where's Luna? - Luna was left at Castlerly Rock as Merilyn didn't think she would be gone from home that long. Don't worry she'll be returning to the story with quite the dramatic scene.
2. Where did Willas come from/all the theories? - Allas, I cannot give this away as it is a little bit of the mystery to the story. But I will give away that Willas is NOT a Cersei spy. I love hearing the theories so keep them coming!
3. Smut? - There will be more scenes between the two. I just have to drink enough alcohol to write them. :) So be patient and it will come your way.
Thanks again for your continued support. XOXO Lady F