Jaime waited at her bedside at Casterly Rock for Arya to wake up. He knew she wouldn't be happy to see him but he also knew that he needed to set things straight between them as soon as possible. Though to be honest, he wasn't sure what straight would even look like.

"Gods... " Arya groaned as she woke up. "Just what I've always dreamed of, waking up with a lump on my head and a smug Lannister at my bedside."

Her words were brave given the circumstances but he had noted the moment of fear in her eyes when she first opened them. The fear had quickly been replaced by anger but it had been there nonetheless.

"Maester Tarik says the pain in your head should clear up in a few hours." Jaime told her, ignoring her angry words. "I asked him if the blood on your clothes was yours or someone else's"

Arya looked down at herself and discovered that her clothes had been changed. The fear returned to her eyes, immediately followed by anger.

"I wasn't here when your clothes were changed." Jaime told her before she could say anything. "Some of the maids helped you. I'm not interested in taking advantage of you like that. Apparently the men my father hired were not so kind. Maester Tarik tells me he believes they raped you. Is that true?"

"Yes…" She breathed. "Among other things."

"Then you won't object if I have them executed?" He said.

"What?"

"I've already sent my men to Lannisport and had them captured. They hadn't gone far. They should be back here by evening. Do prefer hanging or beheading? Or I could just have them sent to the wall?" He quipped.

"Why? Why bother to punish them when you're going to eventually do the same thing? Though I don't suppose you think that wifely duty counts as rape." She said,

"I think it does count as rape. Which is why I'm not going to force you. My father says we must be married. We will go to the sept and say the words for everyone to hear. And someone will send my father a bird and tell him that it is done. But that is all that will happen between us. Is that clear?"

"If you say so." She said, her tone and her eyes held mistrust.

"Good." Jaime got up to take his leave of her.

"Where is my sword?" She called after him.

"Locked up for safekeeping for now." He said. "I'll send for you when your rapists arrive. Perhaps you'd like to see their execution."

"Are you going to do it yourself?"

"We have a headsman." Jaime said.

She gave him a look of contempt. "My father always said the man who passes the sentence should swing the sword."

Ned Stark and his honor were haunting him even now. He remembered the incident on the kingsroad years earlier when Ned had killed one of his children's direwolves for much the same reason. "Fine. I'll do it myself if you wish."

She only nodded and Jaime left her room.

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The men arrived shortly after Jaime had sent dinner up to Arya's room. He went up there himself to tell her that it was time for the execution. She was still in bed eating, four guards outside her door, when he arrived at her room.

"My men have returned. It's time." He told her without preamble.

She set her tray aside on the bedside table and flipped back the bed covers. He noticed her cringe of pain when she tried to rise from the bed. She took a few steps and reached for a robe hanging over the back of a nearby chair. It was clearly painful for her to walk. She was supporting much of her weight by leaning on the chair. She had hid the pain well somehow when she got off the ship. She turned to face him and took a few more steps, breathing unsteady due to the pain.

"Perhaps you'd prefer to watch from the window." Jaime suggested.

She glared at him."I'm fine. I can do this." She almost hissed.

"Perhaps you can but you shouldn't." Jaime scooped her up to carry her before she could protest.

She protested anyway. "Hey, what are you doing? Put me down!" Arya struggled against him and Jaime only held onto her tighter.

"Stop struggling." He told her as they went out into the hallway. "You'll only hurt yourself. I'll put you down when we reach the courtyard."

She stopped struggling by the time they reached the end of the hallway. It even seemed like her head rested on his shoulder for a few seconds before she realized what she was doing and her body went stiff again. Jaime carried her down several staircases and hallways, through the great hall and out into the courtyard. Four prisoners waited for them there. He placed Arya on a bench not ten feet from where the prisoners were.

"What's going on?" One of the sellsword prisoners demanded. "Your father said we'd be free to go once we brought the girl safely to Lannisport."

"Safely, did you say?" Jaime asked. "Take a look at the future lady Lannister and explain to me how all those bruises happened if you were keeping her safe?"

The prisoners glanced at one another warily. "We didn't know she was to be your wife. We thought she was just some prisoner."

"Lady Stark told me that you raped her and our Maester tells us that someone did indeed take her against her will. If you didn't do it then you at least allowed it to happen. Either way way you failed in your duty."

"They did do it." Arya spoke up. "All four of them. Enough times that I stopped counting."

"The word of Lady Arya is enough for me." Jaime said then turned to the Lannister men. "Fetch me a block."

A chopping block was brought and Jaime chose an ax rather than a sword. He wasn't sure he could behead them cleanly using a sword in his left hand. An executioner's sword was meant to be two handed. The weight of the ax would help in this case. He gave them each the same words. "In the name of King Tommen of house Baratheon, I Jaime Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock and Warden of the West do hereby sentence you to die."

Jaime turned to Arya when the deed was done. She looked shaken but relieved. He went to her and picked her up again. She didn't protest this time. She was limp in his arms, almost relaxed. If he didn't know better he might think she was grateful for what he had done. Some part of him had hoped that she would be, that this would be a step towards her learning not to hate him. It would be nice if the woman who he was about to marry wasn't out kill him. It would also be good if word of this reached his father. Tywin would be glad to hear of it because it would mean that his son was taking his new position seriously.

Jaime brought Arya back to her bed. "Ser Jaime?" She called out to him after he tried to leave. "Thank you for that. I know you only did it to make it clear that no one harms a Lannister, and it doesn't mean that I'm willing to marry you, but thank you nonetheless."

He only nodded and took his leave of her.