Author's Note: Thank you so much for the wonderful reviews, and here's another chapter as proof of my thanks:) I had to stick a bit closer to book dialogue in different parts of this one because a lot of information had to be covered, and I even left a good deal of it out to streamline things a bit. Hope you like it!
The walk across the yard to where Roose Bolton awaited them was a quiet one. The soldiers who escorted them didn't seem particularly communicative, but Amarah had no desire to engage them in conversation. All of her attention was on Jaime who leaned heavily on her arm as they made their way through the wide courtyard. He had looked better in the dim wet of the bathhouse, but once they stepped outside, the cooler air seemed to have a negative affect on his constitution. He had instantly gone pale but still managed to scowl when one of the soldiers had asked if he needed to be carried into the hall. Jaime's pride would never have allowed such a thing even if he had to crawl across the dirt yard on his hands and knees.
Instead, he opted to take Amarah's arm as they went to meet their captor. She held him up as best she could, but he was a heavy man and she only a slip of a woman. Brienne walked on the other side of him in the case that Amarah's small supply of strength was unable to support him the entire way. It was an awkward journey, but they eventually reached the cold, stone hall where Jaime immediately released her arm. Once the punishing pressure of his weight had been removed, Amarah breathed an internal sigh of relief. She was a bit sore from where he had leaned on her bruises, but she caught him flashing her an apology over any discomfort he may have caused. A bit taken aback by the apologetic look, she realized that she would need to grow accustomed to this Jaime. The other one would never have bothered to apologize for something so slight. She returned his silent apology with a quick nod of acknowledgement before their small trio trudged into the great hall.
The room was large and lined on all sides by huge, gray boulders. It was so large in fact that it appeared to be even greater in size than the massive throne room of the Red Keep. Large fireplaces lined the walls every ten feet or so, but Amarah noticed that none of the fires had been lit, leaving the place in a damp, chilly darkness. Lord Bolton sat at a long table near the center of the room attended by a single cup bearer. He didn't bother to rise as they approached. Amarah noted that he still looked as pale and intimidating as he had when they first arrived four days ago. His black, soulless eyes gleamed like dragon's glass as he assessed their small party with a shrewd gaze.
Amarah gave him a courteous nod of her head in greeting. "Thank you for receiving us, my lord." She felt no real gratitude toward him whatsoever, but the many lessons of polite behavior which had been instilled into her over the years prompted the insincere greeting.
He gave her a half-smile in return that chilled her more than the cool air of the room. "Welcome, my lady. You make the loneliness of this great hall more palatable just by your presence. Please be seated by me."
Amarah took the offered seat while Jaime quickly slid into the one directly across from her. She assumed his haste was to keep Bolton from knowing he was too weak to stand for much longer. It was probably a useless gesture as Bolton was already keenly aware of Jaime's weak state. Brienne chose to sit to Amarah's right, struggling to climb over the wooden bench in that ridiculous dress the maester had chosen for her. The color suited her ill, but there was nothing to be done about it Qyburn had said. It was the largest dress he could find and even that did not fit the large woman very well.
Amarah turned her attention away from Brienne's discomfort to focus on the slippery villain before her. She didn't trust Roose Bolton despite any hospitality he had chosen to give them. He wanted something and this was an end to the means to achieve it. She just didn't know yet what it was he desired, but she had no doubt they would find out soon enough. He might claim to serve Robb Stark, but she had an inkling that his only true loyalty was to himself.
He slowly leaned forward to pluck one the many fruits from a bowl set in front of him. "Do try these" he encouraged them. "They are most sweet, and help move the bowels as well. Lord Vargo took them from an inn before he burnt it."
That last statement was enough to make Amarah decline to take the fruit, and Jaime didn't seem too interested in the offer either. "My bowels move fine, that goat's no lord, and your prunes don't interest me half so much as your intentions." Amarah gave a small smile at his directness. Despite his lack of strength, it was a good sign he was on the mend if he was able to stand up to the leeching lord.
Roose seemed unaffected by his speech though. "I suppose you wonder what I mean to do with the both of you" he said looking back-and-forth between Jaime and Amarah.
"The thought had crossed our minds once or twice" Amarah said with deceptive sweetness. Bolton's look told her he was not fooled by the polite demeanor.
"You're a much sought after pair" he told them in that soft, whispery tone as he reached forward to pluck another of his prized prunes from the bowl. "Stannis Baratheon has been going mad looking of you, my lady. It's been said that he's offered five thousand dragons for your return. Also, it seems your cousin Robb Stark would like you returned to him as well if the legion of men he sent searching for you are any indication, though he's offered no reward, and I have no doubt the Lannisters would pay a tidy sum to have you in their hands as well. You're quite the popular lady it would seem."
He gave Amarah a glimpse of a dismal smile at his assessment of her worth, and she returned it with one of her own. "Rather a valuable pawn, my lord. I'm to be bought and sold like a chicken at market it would seem, and I assume you've already decided who to sell your procured wares to."
Bolton simply turned his gaze to Jaime then, ignoring her implied question about his intention regarding what to do with her. "Ser Jaime here has no less value I would deem. Edmure Tully has offered one thousand dragons to have you once again occupying his dungeons."
Jaime flashed him a cutting smile in response. "My sister would pay ten times that to ensure my safe return."
"Ten thousand dragons is quite a sum" Roose replied as if he were still contemplating which offer to accept.
Amarah was not fooled by his behavior. It was clear that he had already made up his mind what to do but found some sort of sadistic enjoyment out of toying with them. She refused to play his game though, and continued to sit in silence as she awaited his decision on how to deal with them.
At this point in the conversation Amarah looked to Jaime who was currently struggling with his bread. He was trying to hold his bandaged stump on the loaf while attempting to use his fumbling, left hand to tear off a piece to eat it. She almost leaned across the table to do the task for him before catching the impulse. Jaime might accept her help in private, but he would not appreciate her embarrassing him in such a way by weakening him in the eyes of a man he considered his enemy. However, Lord Bolton himself noticed Jaime's struggles before calling one of him men to do the task for him. Amarah could tell by the look on his face that he was in danger of slipping into another bout of self-pity. She ignored him though in favor of tearing away at her own bread and eating it.
"Do you plan to give Harrenhal to Vargo Hoat, Lord Bolton?" Brienne questioned from the other side of Amarah, speaking up for the first time in this exchange.
Bolton gave her an unconcerned look as if she were somehow beneath his notice before answering. "Yes, my lady. It was to be his prize for his service to me. I'm leaving soon in any case for the wedding of Edmure Tully to Lady Roslin Frey. My king demands my presence at the Twins for the blessed event."
Amarah's gaze snapped from the bread before her to the man's cold gaze. "Edmure weds the Frey girl? What of Robb's treaty with Walder that he would wed her?"
"It seems your cousin does not place a high value on keeping his word, my lady. He cannot wed the Frey girl as he has already wed a Westerling of the Crag. Her name is Jeyne I believe."
Amarah felt all the breath sucked from her lungs at his casual announcement of Robb's marriage. However, the news was anything but a trivial tidbit of gossip to her. How could he do this? she wondered as she pictured Robb's handsome, honest face. He must have loved her greatly to break a valuable treaty in this time of war. It shouldn't have surprised her how much this hurt, but it did. He had broken his word as a king to marry this woman, and by doing so had irrevocably severed any bond between them. It was one thing to marry another for duty, for even then she would know she still held a place in his heart, but he didn't marry for duty. He had done it because he wanted to. He had wanted someone other than her, and it hurt like nothing she had ever imagined possible. She clenched her hands together until her nails drew small drops of blood from the palm of her hand. Anything to take her mind off the pain that threatened to close around her heart and squeeze it dry. As she sat in stunned silence, she could feel Jaime's gaze on her but couldn't return it. She didn't want him to see her so weak.
"This cannot be true" she dimly heard Brienne try to argue through the ringing in her ears. "King Robb was sworn to wed a Frey, He would never break the faith, he – "
Amarah cut her off with a harsh tone refusing to hear another word about Robb. "Apparently he has. What reason would Lord Bolton have to lie?"
"None, my lady. It is the truth" he said, casually spitting out a prune into his hand before disposing of it and reaching for another one.
"How does Walder Frey take to dining on Trout rather than Wolf?"
This question came from Jaime. Amarah chanced a look at him then after she had disciplined her raging emotions under better control. He was looking at her with a searching gaze, but she refused to let him see her thoughts, resurrecting her walls of protection once again. Once Jaime saw her reluctance to expose her feelings to him, he gave an almost imperceptible shake of his head before looking toward their host, awaiting his reply.
"Trout makes a tasty enough supper" Bolton replied. "But Lord Frey has been forced to break the engagement between Arya Stark and my poor Elmar." He said this last sentence while gesturing to the lone cup bearer who attended them. The boy was no more than fifteen, and he didn't appear to be too disappointed over the broken engagement with Arya.
"Has my cousin been found?" Amarah questioned him, thinking a betrothal rather pointless in any case if the girl in question had gone missing.
He gave her another of his veiled smiles at her inquiry. "Of course. My men are returning her to the north as we speak."
Amarah didn't believe a word he spoke, but kept her skepticism to herself. If Arya had been found she would know about it, and this man was a liar. A good one, but a liar all the same. "What a relief to know that she is under your safe protection" she lied blandly. "If only Sansa could be given the opportunity to return to her home as well."
Bolton shook his head in denial of that wish. "Lady Sansa will not be leaving the capital any time soon. She has been wed to the imp and will likely stay there for some time."
Amarah didn't think she could be any more shocked after news of Robb's marriage, but apparently she had been wrong. She did her best to mask her surprise before looking to Jaime to glimpse his reaction to the news. She could see the same astonishment reflected in his gaze, but he hid it better than she. How odd it was to picture Sansa married to Tyrion. As much as Amarah loved her cousin, the girl would have no appreciation for the man she had married. Sansa had always dreamed of the knights in the songs her septa would sing to her. Tyrion would never be the man to fulfill those fantasies, and Amarah pitied them both. Forced into an unwanted marriage by Tyrion's father to bring the Starks to heel.
"Enough of this talk" Amarah spoke then, tired of dancing to this man's tune any longer. "We've played your little game and eaten your food. Now suppose you tell us whose money will buy the prizes you've been so fortunate as to acquire."
Their host looked her over with a speculative gaze that made her uneasy, but she didn't let it show on her face. She just returned his look with a hard stare. "Ser Jaime, were I to send you back to your father, I assume you would in no way place any blame for your disfigurement on my head."
"Send me to my family and I'll sing your praises like a songbird of how you rescued the son of mighty Tywin Lannister from the sellsword who separated me from my hand." Amarah knew that if Jaime gave Bolton any other response than that, he would be handed back over to the goat without a thought.
Bolton seemed satisfied enough by that reply. "I will trust your word, Ser." That was probably not something Jaime heard very often.
After offering his decision of what to do with Jaime, Bolton turned his gaze back to Amarah. Once she heard him agree to send Jaime back to his father, Amarah surmised that Bolton had made a decision to serve a different lord in this war. So it came as no surprise when he came down with his decision for her. "You will be accompanying Ser Jaime to the capital, my lady. I trust that delivering such a prize as you can gain me some small favor with the lord of Casterly Rock."
Only the gods knew what atrocities awaited Amarah at the hands of Tywin Lannister, but she held to the thin hope that Tyrion would somehow protect her. Despite the changes in Jaime, she in no way expected him to shield her from his father's manipulative nature. She hid all these thoughts, however, as she returned his edict with a benign smile. "As you wish, my lord."
"You cannot give my lady to Twyin Lannister" Brienne injected on her behalf. "We have sworn to return Sansa Stark to her lady mother."
Roose Bolton dismissed Brienne's worries with a curt wave of his hand. "Your lady will go wherever I wish to send her, and I don't recall mentioning you in that order. Ser Jaime and Lady Amarah will go on to the capital escorted by my men, and you will stay here. I cannot deprive Lord Hoat of all his prizes."
Amarah felt terror strike her heart at these words. She could not leave Brienne behind at the mercy of this rabble. "You'll not take her from my side" she whispered fiercely to the pale man beside her.
At the moment of her refusal to cooperate, Bolton's gaze went from flippant dismissal to cold, banked fury in the blink of an eye. He pinned her with his chilling gaze, and she felt the freezing effects of that menacing look all the way to the marrow of her bones. "I wasn't aware I had left that topic open for discussion, Lady Amarah. You go and your knight stays. She had better concern herself less with your affairs and more with sapphires if she knows what's best."
Hmmm… what will our girl do now? What will Jaime do for her? Please review! Thanks for reading!