Author's Note: Thank you again for all reviews! I can never get enough of them. This one is a shorter chapter. As always, feel free to let me know what you think. Read on!
It was late into the night. The evening air was silent save for the soft patter of footfalls as a lone figure moved quickly and quietly through the corridor. She had waited all day for this moment and she did not intend to waste any time. Quietly approaching her destination she checked her surroundings to make sure she was free from prying eyes.
Satisfied that she was indeed alone, Amarah gave a swift knock on Renly Baratheon's chamber door before proceeding inside without an invitation. As she walked in she saw a scramble on the bed as Renly suddenly rose without a stitch of clothing on seemingly oblivious to his state of undress. After Amarah quickly tossed a nearby blanket towards her naked uncle, he hastily covered up out of embarrassment.
"You can come out, Loras Tyrell" she told the person still hiding underneath the covers of the bed. "This concerns you as well."
With an obvious show of reluctance, Loras uncovered his head of blonde curls before reclining on the massive head board, all the while keeping his nakedness covered from the waist down. The look he gave her was not a terribly pleasant one.
"Amarah, what are you doing here?" Renly finally asked after overcoming the shock of her interruption.
"I have a proposition for you."
Intrigued, Renly seated himself on the side of the large bed and waited for her to continue. Loras's only reaction was to give her an irritated scowl.
"You want to be king do you not?" She waited for Renly to give an almost imperceptible nod of his head before continuing.
"Let us imagine I am the legitimate heir to the throne but would support your claim to it if you help me to leave this city before morning. What would you say?"
"But you're not the heir" Loras pointed out impatiently.
Giving him an icy glare to silence any further comments, Amarah returned her attention to Renly.
"I don't understand how you can inherit the throne" he said with a confused look.
"Surely you don't think my father could have spawned something as ridiculous as Joffrey" she answered, annoyed with his failure to see what she had discovered so long ago.
Renly still seemed at a bit of a loss, but Loras Tyrell's annoyed scowl suddenly disappeared as he caught onto her meaning. Wrapping the sheets securely around his waist, he stood and walked to where she observed them from the middle of the room. The closer he came, she could see the understanding dawn in his eyes.
Bending down to observe her face more closely, he seemed to be looking for any sign of trickery in her forthright gaze. Seemingly satisfied he pulled back slightly to question her further.
"If Robert is not his father, then who is?"
"Who do you think?" she questioned him in return. "Why is it that he appears so much more the Lannister than Baratheon?"
Renly mercifully seemed to have finally caught on to what she was implying. "Do you mean to say he's Jaime Lannister's bastard?"
"That is exactly what I mean" she replied without hesitation. "Him, Myrcella, and Tommen. I am Robert's only legitimate child thereby making me the true heir." Renly then came to join them in the center of the room.
"I have always wondered at the relationship between him and Cersei?" he murmured to himself. "How is it that you came to discover it?"
Amarah shook her head in denial with an inward grimace at the thought. "I would rather not relive that particular moment if it is all the same to you."
"An upset to your delicate sensibilities?" Loras mocked her.
Giving him a condescending smile, she replied. "No more than what I have just witnessed, Knight of Flowers." His title was meant to be one of honor but her jeering tone made a mockery of it. She had never liked Loras Tyrell as she considered him a smug, conniving ass, and no amount of bargaining would induce her to pretend to enjoy his company.
"Can we return to the topic at hand?" Renly interrupted their glaring match. "Your support would help if we put about the tale of Joffrey's birth, but how am I to raise the army to take control from the Lannisters?"
Amarah turned to Loras once again with a falsely sweet smile. "Surely your Knight of Flowers is useful for something other than just fucking."
Loras was less than pleased by her choice or wording but he could not deny her logic. "My father could be convinced to support you. If Highgarden enforces your claim to the throne, we can give you an army of thousands. More than enough to be a match for Lannister forces."
"And how can we convince him to support me rather than the Lannisters?" Renly was still not entirely convinced.
Amarah did not hesitate to offer the obvious solution. "Surely the Tyrell's have a daughter of marriageable age."
"Is that entirely necessary?" He looked rather petrified by the thought of marrying a Tyrell daughter.
"She's right" Loras seemed reluctant to agree. "My father must understand that our family will benefit in some way by your taking the throne if we expect his support."
"If you want power, Uncle, you must be willing to make sacrifices" Amarah gave him the hard truth. She sympathized with his plight as she was the victim of unfulfilled romance herself but the quest for power was never an easy one. This alliance she proposed was not her first choice. In fact, she doubted whether Renly had the true leadership necessary to rule the kingdoms, but she needed an escape plan and this was the only one available to her. If she could convince Renly of the wisdom of her plan, she would be free of King's Landing before the sun rose.
Renly took a brief moment to mull over what she and Loras had proposed before giving his answer. Finally, he turned to her and spoke. "Very well. I agree. Do you give your word that I have your absolute support?"
"You have my word" she replied not missing his emphasis of the word "absolute." There would be no running to Winterfell and Robb once she was clear of the city. A bargain had been struck and she was a woman of her word. Of course, this bargain in no way implied she could have no contact with the Starks. They were family after all. She would just make certain to keep that part of the plan to herself for the present.
"I would suggest you both put on some clothes so that we can make plans to leave as soon as possible." She regarded their similar states of undress with faint amusement. Blushing slightly at her comment, Renly did not hesitate to move behind a screen to put on some clothing, but Loras stayed where he was assessing her with a hard stare.
"Why are you willing to give up your claim to the throne simply for a means of escape?" he asked.
"You may not understand this, Loras Tyrell, but not everyone in the seven kingdoms desires power." He did not look as if he believed her but she did not much care if he did or not. "Simply see that you are ready to go before morning. I'd hate to be seen traveling about with a naked knight."
He followed Renly then to dress himself but not without giving her one last annoyed frown. While they busied themselves dressing, she exited the chamber to afford them a few moments in private. Once she was alone again in the quite passageway, she leaned against the cool, stone wall to give in to the sigh of relief she had hidden earlier. As she watched the torch flames play intricate shadows among the brown stone walls, she found herself lost in the mesmerizing display.
Gazing into the shadows, she imagined the faces of her family that she was abandoning to escape the capital. She saw Sansa's face full of wonder and hope, Arya's shrewd but playful eyes, and lastly her Uncle Ned's noble and proud bearing. She felt a tremendous amount of guilt leaving them here but there was nothing else she could have done. If she stayed, she had no doubt that Cersei and Joffrey would see to her death by whatever means necessary. Dying at the hands of Cersei Lannister would hardly leave her in a position to help those she loved, but at least if she escaped she could be of some use to them. She had told Renly that the desire for power sometimes required sacrifice. Well sometimes survival required a great sacrifice as well, and she had made it. There was no going back now.
A/N to Celes Warren: I really tried to work Littlefinger into this chapter but unfortunately it didn't work with the flow of things. However, I definitely plan to work in a scene with those two later on. It will be fun to see how she matches up against an old trickster like him:)