Stannis did his best to keep his head held high as he walked the corridors with his daughter over his shoulder. He was infuriated with Sarah for her behaviour, but he somehow managed to find himself more infuriated with Robert and forcing the drink down his daughter's throat.
She didn't have it in her to say no. He shouldn't be mad at her. He should be annoyed by his damn fool of a brother. How could anyone ever say that he was fit to sit on the Iron Throne? Stannis ground his teeth together and shook his head back and forth. He should not think such things. Robert was his elder brother. He had the right to the Throne.
"My lord."
Stannis had flung the door open to Sarah's room and he continued to carry her into the room, tossing her back over his shoulder and allowing her to fall onto the bed. She bounced around slightly, still unconscious as he looked down at her.
"She's drank too much," Stannis grunted. "Wake her in the morning and tell her that I require her presence."
He ordered the maid to do her job, still watching his daughter for a few moments before turning on his heel. He stormed out from the room as the maid looked at the sleeping girl. She shook her head and made about dragging her out of the gown she wore.
...
"Do you have any idea how shameful your behaviour was last night?"
Sarah did her best to keep her head held high. She had awoken early to find her chamber empty and her body still covered in nightclothes. Her maid had left her breakfast, telling her that she needed to see her father.
Sarah asked how angry he had been. Apparently angry was a tame word for Stannis Baratheon.
She had skulked in her room, slowly gaining energy to get out of bed. Of course it took her longer than she had planned. Stannis had been roaming the corridors when he bumped into her maid and she had told him that Lady Sarah was awake.
Stannis had taken it upon himself to go to his daughter and see her that morning. That was how Sarah found herself curled up in her bed, her white nightgown still covering her body as she kept the covers to her chin as if they would protect her.
"You looked like a drunken fool, Sarah," Stannis said. "Your first night in King's Landing and people are already talking about you as if you are a common whore."
"I...I did nothing," Sarah spoke to her father. "I didn't realise that I had that much to drink. Honestly, father, I did not know how to refuse him. He was forward, and I did not want to seem rude."
Stannis regarded his daughter with hesitance, wondering how he should approach the subject. He often found himself unable to berate her. Stannis didn't know why. He suspected that it had something to do with the fact she was so well behaved.
"It was not until I stood when I felt myself sick," Sarah said. "I needed air and Ser Jaime followed me outside. He was the one who found me there...after I had spent my time listening to people talk of me as if I were some kind of leper."
Stannis's brow furrowed as he heard his daughter. He stepped further into her room, sitting on her bed as he watched her with an arched brow.
"They all spoke of me as if I were some ugly girl you had hidden away," Sarah said, looking down on the bed before she rested her chin on her kneecaps. She said nothing for a moment as she waited for her father to reply.
She fully expected him to yell at her. She waited for him to tell her not to be so pathetic.
"People will talk," Stannis drawled to her. "People will speak, Sarah. People who are beneath you and have nothing better to do than listen to court gossip."
Sarah looked into her father's eyes, noticing how they had softened slightly. She didn't think that she had ever seen him look at her without his stern orbs.
"You are a Baratheon. You are niece to the King," Stannis told her. "You are my daughter. I will be damned if you allow these people to affect you so."
Sarah's eyes fluttered down to her white sheet before Stannis sighed and ran his hand over his temple. He shook his head slowly, turning to look around her room for a moment.
"I do not blame you for this," Stannis told her. "I was angry with you. I was furious with you, but I know...I know that it is not your fault. It is my fool brother's fault. I should have stayed at the feast with you."
"No," Sarah replied. "I should have behaved more-"
"-Stop it," Stannis demanded her. "You cannot cope with alcohol. Your body makes decisions, you cannot control it."
"I am sorry," Sarah said, deeming it necessary to apologise to her father. Her mother told her that apologies were always necessary to make peace. "I do not wish to dishonour you, father."
Stannis shook his head at her, standing up and resting his hand on her shoulder. She looked up to him with wide eyes.
"You do not dishonour me," Stannis said. "Robert has already done enough to dishonour the Baratheon name. You...I need to keep look out for you, Sarah. It seems you are not suited to the world of King's Landing."
Sarah kept quiet as Stannis ran the back of his hand down her hair.
"Get dressed. I assume that you shall need some fresh air soon enough. It will make you feel better in the end," Stannis told her. "I shall see you for dinner this evening. I need to speak with Jon Arryn."
"Yes, father," Sarah agreed with him.
Stannis nodded his head softly to her and left her alone in the room. Sarah took a deep breath, happy enough that her father had left her alone unscathed. She had thought that he would yell at her more than he had.
She dressed quietly after bathing, washing her hair and leaving it to dry before she went outside. She dismissed the maids once they had helped her into the simple red dress. They left her alone in her room, sitting at her dressing table so that she could brush her hair. She pulled at the black curls, looking at her reflection in the mirror as she did so.
She wrote to Shireen and her mother, leaving the letters on her table to finish off when she thought of something more substantial to say to them. Sarah stood up, knowing that she couldn't hide in her chambers all day. She had to go and get some fresh air before a new wave of sickness came over her.
Wandering down the corridors, she saw people walk past her, some giggled as they went and others decided to ignore her presence. She knew that they were talking of her performance the previous night. Her maids had offered to come with her on the walk, but Sarah had said no.
She didn't need them following her around.
Sarah finally came to the outside of the walls. She found a small garden, filled with roses and other types of flowers. The smells were like nothing Sarah had ever known before. Roses on Dragonstone were a rare occurrence. She had never seen them in the gardens of Dragonstone. Come to think of it, she had only seen weeds in the courtyard, or large trees.
She bent down and looked at them, smelling the scent and wondering what Shireen would think of them. She kept quiet for a few moments and looked around the empty garden. The thoughts of Shireen brought a tear to her eyes. She missed her. She missed her terribly.
Sarah kept quiet and allowed the breeze to sway through her freshly washed hair.
"Feeling better, little stag?"
Sarah almost toppled over from her crouching position on the ground as she saw him saunter towards her. He kept quiet as he stood before her and she stood tall again.
"Much," Sarah inclined her head. "I recall that you helped me last night."
"I made sure that you didn't choke in your own sick," he told her. "I did nothing beyond my duty, believe me. Besides, your father soon found you."
"I know," Sarah said, her hands resting on her skirts. "I am well aware of what happened, much to my dismay."
"So you are," Jaime smirked back at her, his hands behind his back as he took in her attire.
Gone was the lavish gown which he had seen her in the previous night. The blue colour had been replaced with a simple red one. The sleeves went down to her wrists and the gown was straight on her thin posture. She was not curvaceous, nor did she have a body which men would lust. She was much too plain looking.
Yet Jaime did not doubt that she would find some suitor to take her in. He could quite easily see that happening for her. Men would be attracted to the Baratheon name. He assumed that was what Stannis wanted for her.
"Anyway, I should return indoors," Sarah said.
"Do you fear me, little stag?" Jaime asked her as she began to walk past him.
Sarah stopped moving, turning back around to look at him, her brow arched with amusement as she did so. Jaime stood where he was and she took in the white attire which he wore. It seemed that he was not dressed in his armour for the morning.
She supposed she wasn't surprised. She assumed the King had passed out on his bed. It didn't take the entire effort of the Kingsguard to look after him then.
She shook her head and wrinkled her nose as she heard Jaime speak to her. "No. Should I be, Ser Jaime?"
"No," Jaime shrugged. "You just seem jumpy. I wondered if my presence unnerved you."
"Everyone's presence in King's Landing unnerves me," Sarah replied, wishing the words had not fallen from her mouth as soon as she had said them.
Jaime looked at her with an amused grin as the girl shook her head, folding her arms over her stomach and turning to look towards Blackwater Bay. The place which could take her back home. Back to Shireen, back to her mother, back to normality. That was what she wanted very much.
It was all that she truly wanted, if she had to be honest.
"Have you made no friends yet?" Jaime wondered, a sort of mocking tone to his voice. "You could ask Varys if he could find you someone, or perhaps Baelish. I am sure he would be very happy to oblige."
"I doubt anyone in this city would contemplate associating with me."
"You're a Baratheon," Jaime reminded her. "Anyone would be happy to be seen with you."
"No," Sarah disagreed, "I think they are all far too happy to talk about me behind my back. I heard them last night."
She knew that she shouldn't be discussing this with the Kingslayer. Her father had warned her about him. He said that he was not trustworthy. Yet here she stood, telling him what had happened. She didn't know why. Perhaps she needed someone to talk to, or perhaps she was still upset about what she had heard the previous night.
She suspected that most people would be slightly wounded at the words which she had heard.
"What did they say?" Jaime wondered; his hands by his sides now before he pushed one through his hair. He looked at her with a cocked head as she shrugged to him. She didn't truly know if he would even care about her. Why should he?
"Oh, nothing horrific," Sarah replied, biting down on her bottom lip. "Just about why I was kept on Dragonstone for so long. People have a lot of theories about that. I just find it difficult to come to terms with people talking about me."
"You need to learn to live with it," Jaime said without missing a beat. "Believe me; no one says anything nice about anyone in King's Landing behind their backs. But to their faces, well, that is a different story."
Sarah was still struggling to come to terms with that. "I see that now."
Jaime observed her for a moment as she pushed her black hair behind her large ears. She seemed to know what she had done, for a moment later she pulled it back to cover them. Clearly she had grown up self conscious. Not that he could blame her for that. House Florent was not known for its beauty.
The girl had been thrust into a foreign world, no wonder she felt so alone with no one to talk with and a father like Stannis Baratheon.
"Allow me to impart some wisdom, little stag," Jaime spoke to her, smirking as he did so. "You need to develop an outer layer of skin if you are to stay in King's Landing."
He bowed his head to her, smirking as his green eyes caught her blue ones.
"Only then can words bounce off of you."
"Like they did for you?" Sarah wondered and Jaime continued to stare at her with wonder. He seemed to enjoy doing that; waiting for her to expand on her questions and show him what she already knew. "My father tells me what they call you. Does it not bother you?"
"You mean to be known as a Kingslayer?" Jaime asked her.
She nodded once.
"What does it matter if it bothers me?" Jaime asked her. "So long as no one can see that it bothers me then I am fine. Opinions do matter when you are a Lannister. They should not matter to a Baratheon either."
Jaime backtracked away from her, his hands behind his back as he went. Sarah stared after him as he called back to her, his voice low and deep;
"Surely Stannis does not let people tread all over him? I did assume that his daughter would hold the same attitude."
Sarah watched him turn around and make his way back inside as a long gust blew her hair behind her shoulders. She thought of what he had said then, pulling her hair back to her shoulders to cover her large ears.
...
"The girl is Stannis through and through."
Jaime listened as his sister laughed loudly. She had drunk far too much. He could see that. Any fool could see that. Though he supposed having Robert as a husband would drive anyone to despair. Jaime said nothing back to her as he sat in her living chambers, his arms folded as he picked at the grapes on the table in front of him.
It was a moment of rarity for Jaime to steal some time alone with his sister. It seemed that everyone in King's Landing was watching her. So when she had offered him the chance to be with her that night, he had jumped through hoops to be able to.
"Of course she has some unfortunate Florent traits," Cersei scoffed. "She hid the ears well, I noted that. Unfortunately you cannot hide your nose can you?"
"The girl is meek," Jaime said, not caring to discuss her appearance with his sister. He didn't care to discuss her at all. "She will not last long in King's Landing. Stannis would do well to find her a husband now and have her wed off."
"Can you honestly see anyone wanting to marry her?" Cersei wondered, filling up her wine glass and sitting across from Jaime. "The girl is fair, but she is plain. She has no striking beauty to her. Poor thing. She almost tripped twice when she entered the hall in her gown last night. I saw her wandering through the gardens today too."
"Did you?" Jaime wondered from Cersei, chewing on a grape with a bored expression on his face.
"She was with you," Cersei replied, sitting down in the chair next to Jaime. "What sound words of wisdom did you offer her?"
"Nothing," Jaime shrugged, not really thinking about what he had said to the girl. "I asked her if she was feeling better after last night-"
"-Oh yes," Cersei interrupted her brother. "She was found in the courtyard with you. Apparently she was drunk enough to rival Robert. Baelish tells me that Stannis came and carried her off to bed. Honestly, I can only imagine the berating she received from Stannis Baratheon, the Lord of Dragonstone."
"He spoke with your husband earlier today," Jaime said. "I could hear them yelling from outside the room. Stannis blames him for embarrassing his daughter. Robert replied that he would be sure the girl has a fine suitor for her shame."
Cersei sipped on her wine as she contemplated her brother's words. She knew what they really needed to speak about. Jon Arryn. There was something happening with him. He was becoming too inquisitive about everything.
"We have another issue according to my little spies," Cersei told her brother.
Jaime groaned and rolled his eyes. He didn't enjoy the politics of King's Landing. Give him a shield and a lance and he was happy enough.
"What have your little spies found out now?"
"They tell me that there has been some activity by Jon Arryn."
"What kind of activity?"
Cersei's lips narrowed. "Activity about my children. He's up to something."
"And?" Jaime shrugged. "What is he going to find? What evidence does he have? He's an old man, Cersei. Would anyone believe his ramblings if he did begin to investigate?"
"I don't know," Cersei said. "I just know that I don't intend to take the risk."
...
A/N: Thanks to anyone reading and to those who review! I hope you'll let me know what you think so far.