Six years passed and Alica remained an unconsummated wife. But that was about the only thing that remained of that young girl she once was.

When she was around sixteen, she started to develop not only a woman's voluptuous body, but a maiden's beauty. She was one of the most stunning women in Casterly Rock, women envied her, and men envied Tywin, and questioned why he still refused to bed her. Alica had surprised everyone with how beautiful she became, especially when she visited Tiranhall, or they came to visit her.

Not only did she look like a proper maiden, she acted like one. While she still loved history, she put down the books more often to sew, sing, dance, and read poetry about knights and fair maidens. Alica discovered she did have talents in the womanly arts, and that she just decided to ignore them as a child.

Alica and Tywin got along well, especially as she started to mature. They didn't speak much during the day, but at supper, they would have engaging conversations about their days. She knew Tywin would never love her, but she did know that he cared about her wellbeing, which was all she could ask for in the end.

Tywin looked at Alica in a different light of endearment from when she was twelve. When originally, she was a humorous curiosity, now turned into respect and lust. He noticed these feelings on her eighteenth name day. While Tywin had the secret, occasional prostitute to warm his bed, he began to have eyes for her. Tywin had no idea why he was avoiding bedding his wife, she was obviously a woman now, there was nothing girlish about her. He eventually realized that it was his respect for her that kept him from doing so.

Meanwhile, Alica was desperately wanting her husband to bed her, but had no idea how to express it. She also worried that Lord Tywin would reject her request. As Alica grew and matured, she realized just how lucky she was. She had the world at her disposal. She had everything except for a child, and she wanted that the most. Alica had no idea if this was insanity, or actual dreams.

Alica went down for supper and when she walked in, she saw Tywin and Kevan talking. She waited at the door patiently. Today was the day she would confess her desires to her husband. She had even dressed herself in a gown with a low neckline, hoping to entice him. She grabbed her hands tightly as she waited, looking up at the ceiling and then back at Tywin and Kevan.

She eventually was acknowledged. Tywin stopped talking to Kevan and went to his wife. She smiled as he approached, her excitement bubble out of her when she meant to contain it. She blushed a little when Tywin stopped in front of her.

"Tywin." She started, but blushed even harder. "May I talk to you?" Alica asked. Tywin looked at her, then to his brother, who nodded. Tywin turned back to his wife and nodded. Alica lead Tywin about twenty feet from the dining hall and looked him in the eye, blushing harder. Her heart was beating at a million miles an hour, her mind racing even faster. This could be the most climactic event of her life, good or bad.

"Yes?" Tywin said. Alica then realized that she was holding a long pause. She cleared her throat and looked down. Tywin already knew what she was going to ask before she asked it, he just wanted to see how long it would take her.

"How was your day?" Alica stammered with an awkward smile. She cursed herself, she couldn't bear to say it, she would be humiliated if he said no. The thing she wanted most she couldn't even attain for herself. Alica was still brave, but when it came to this, she was a coward by nature.

Tywin knew well that was not what Alica wanted to say, but he would play along. There would come a time until her shyness faded and she would come crawling to him, begging for him to take her. He knew it was cruel, but he didn't care, he wanted her that way.

"I have news." Tywin said. "I will tell you at supper." Alica followed Tywin to where they usually sat during supper, Alica looked to see a group of people looking at her and laughing. She wanted to know what they had just said about her, but knew better than to ask. But she eventually caught wind of what they were whispering.

"The day Tywin finally decides to bed the little cunt, that's when I'll make my move." Said one of the women, Lady Pyra Lannister, wife of Stafford Lannister's son. There was laugher. Alica wondered what her move would be. Alica cleared her throat.

"Excuse me." Alica said to Tywin before standing up from her seat and walking over to Lady Pyra, who gave her a glare that masked her fear. "Do tell me what your move is, Pyra." Alica inquired.

"That's none of your business, you little cunt." Lady Pyra snapped.

"I am the wife of Lord Tywin, in case you have forgotten since you made your crude remarks." Alica replied.

"You're married in the sight of men, but not the gods." Pyra snapped again. "You are not one heart, for Lord Tywin will never love you. You are not one flesh, for he has not bedded you, and you are not one soul for you have not given him children. You daresay that you are his wife? Ha! If he wanted you, you would have been bred a long time ago."

Alica looked down at her feet, she knew Pyra was right. Alica turned away and walked out of the dining hall, not looking back and trying to hold her tears until she got to her chambers.

Tywin heard Pyra's melodic laughter and just barely caught sight of Alica leaving. He didn't assume Pyra said anything to make Alica lose her appetite, that wouldn't be like Alica to be unsettled by words. Tywin continued to eat his supper, wondering why Alica left.

Alica, meanwhile, was in her chambers in tears, her face buried into her pillow. Pyra's truths were too cruel for Alica to handle. She kept her sobs muffled by her pillow, not wanting anyone to hear any sort of weakness from her. Alica hadn't cried since that fateful day she discovered she was going to be married to Lord Tywin. Alica realized how much she had changed during her six years at Casterly Rock, she wondered if it was for the better or for the worse.

There was a knock at her door, Alica sat up in her bed and looked at the door nervously.

"Come in." Alica muttered after a few moments, looking down at her hand in hopes she wouldn't have to make eye contact with whoever came in.

The door opened to reveal Tywin holding a small plate of food. The sight was a curiosity, why would Tywin be giving her supper personally? She found the strength to lift her head to look at Tywin, revealing the mess she was in. She had nothing to say to him.

"It seems Lady Pyra has a brave tongue." Tywin said as he walked up to his wife, sitting down next to her on the bed. "I have half a mind to have it removed." He added. Alica blushed, looking away from Tywin in embarrassment. "I have brought you supper, and I expect you to eat."

"I'm not hungry." Alica muttered.

"It is rude to disobey your husband." Tywin said, offering her the plate. She veered to look upon her husband once again, and hesitantly, she took the plate, grabbed the fork, and speared a piece of cheese and brought it to her mouth, hesitantly taking a bite. It was bland to her, even though it was her favorite kind of cheese.

"Pyra told me what she told you." Tywin started. "She will not speak that way to you again." Alica just stared at the food on her plate for several seconds before saying.

"She's right you know."

"Foolish girl, I thought you would know better." Tywin replied. "When did you become so soft? I remember the girl who would have killed Pyra when she said those things."

"That girl is long gone." Alica said. "And you know it."

"Do not assume I complain about how you've changed." Tywin spoke. "I even commend you."

"Then why call me foolish?" Alica asked.

"You're foolish for listening to her, not for leaving her intact."

"What's so foolish? We haven't been wed in the sight of the gods."

"You say that like it's a tragedy." Tywin observed out loud. Alica stopped dead. No, she could have not given that away, not like this. She took another bite to avoid responding for a moment, seeing if she could gather words that would not reveal her feelings.

She couldn't.

"It is." Alica accidentally said. She gasped when it came out. She should have chewed a little longer. "I mean-"

"Don't play games, girl, confess your feelings." Tywin interrupted.

"I have been wed to you for six years, yet I am still a maiden." Alica started. "Eighteen years old is no age to be a maiden, or childless for that matter."

"There's the honest girl I once knew." Tywin said, a rare smirk curved his lips.

"I'm so sorry." Alica said nervously.

"Why apologize?"

"Because you don't want me." Alica replied. "You never did."

Tywin grabbed the plate from her and set it on the table next to her bed.

"I'll take that as a challenge." Tywin said. He cupped her face and grabbed her by the waist, pulling her closer to him so that their bodies touched. "My sons are incapable of being the future lord of Casterly Rock. One chooses to be an glorified bodyguard, the other would turn this place into his whorehouse." Tywin began to explain, looking Alica in the eye. "My time in this world will be up eventually, hopefully later rather than sooner, and I will need a son to take my place." Tywin kissed Alica on the forehead. "When did you last bleed?" He asked.

"Twelve days ago." Alica told him, provoking another rare smile from the old lion.

"Perfect." Tywin said before he left the bed and stood up. "Alica, it is easier for me to undress you when you are standing."

Alica's lips parted, her eyes looking at him with desperation, her mind racing. She eventually scrambled to her feet and wrapped her arms around Tywin. It felt intimate, finally she was able to embrace her husband the way she had dreamed of.

The side of Alica's face rested in Tywin's chest, feeling his breathing, feeling a warmth she never expected from him. She smiled, feeling closer to being whole for the first time in a long time.