Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun
Chapter Fourteen.
Jamie sighed as he watched the landscape slowly roll past the windows of the wheelhouse, he hated it in here it was always too hot and he had no idea how sister was able to stand it. He would much rather be on a horse, galloping through the countryside and feeling the air blow through his hair but he had promised Father that he would stay in the wheelhouse.
Speaking of his father he was still angry with him for forcing Tyrion to stay at Casterly Rock, he clearly didn't care about his brother's well being so the only reason he had kept him back was to stop him from shaming the family name, he had admitted as much.
He missed his brother, he loved his sister more than anything in this world but she was not the most pleasant of company at the moment with her constant talk of how wonderful and handsome her future husband was and how she was going to be such a good queen, it was driving him insane. She didn't even seem to care about how each word was like a dagger to his heart.
Didn't she understand how much he loved her? Didn't she understand that he couldn't go on without her?
That was why he wished Tyrion was here, he would roll his eyes and make fun of everything their sister said not only to irritate her but to make him feel better about how she didn't seem to care that she was breaking his heart with every word of praise that she heaped on to her silver prince.
it added insult to injury that his sister was especially beautiful today, her long blond hair was pulled back into a braid and the dress she was wearing showed off her pale skin and quite a bit of her cleavage. Her neck was unadorned and he couldn't help but lean in to press a kiss to it while he groped one of her breasts through her dressed, now he was glad that Tyrion wasn't here.
"Jamie!" Cersei said warningly as she scooted away from her brother and shot him a glare. "We can't do that anymore! I am going to be Rhaegar's wife, what would he think of me if he knew what we were doing! He would never look at me or touch me!"
Jamie at the moment was distracted by what she said about not doing this anymore, doing what? Being together? Showing her how much he loved her? Is that what she meant? And he didn't want Rhaegar to touch her.
"Given this his mother and father are brother and sister I am sure he won't mind too much, why it just means you having something to talk about!" Jamie said bitterly as he crossed his arms. "Your Father and Mother are related, how interesting! Tell me my love, do you know I fuck my brother?" He mocked while making voice high, making it a near perfect imitation of his sister's in his personal opinion.
Cersei's glare intensified. "That is not funny Jamie, I've been waiting for this! For him my entire life and you will not ruin this for me, do you understand me?!"
"Oh, sweet sister I would never ruin anything for you." Jamie said with a sickly sweet smile on his face while his eyes burned with rage. "Why are you doing this to me? We came into this world together, we belong together. I love you Cersei, you don't need him! Let's just go, we can run across the Narrow Sea and just be together."
"I do need him! I will be a queen, father has promised me that ever since I was a little girl and I will be queen! Marrying you will not get me a crown!" Cersei stressed, not sure why her brother was being so stupid. "Now stop it! Stop being a child, I will marry Rheagar and you will find yourself a wife that father will approve of, understood?"
"Yes." Jamie growled before he turned his head to look at anything other than his sister, anger and sadness battled for dominance inside of him. "I hope your Dragon makes you very happy."
"I am sure he will." Cersei spat as she looked over her dress. "And you've no right to complain about anything I do, you left me first."
Jamie turned his head to look at his sister with confusion and disbelief playing on his face. "What in the name of all the gods are you on about?"
"You left me first, you left me to squire for that fat old lord." Cersei said bitterly. "I begged you not to go but you left anyway, you have no right to judge me."
Jamie looked at his sister like she had just grown a second head, she couldn't be serious could she? "Do you mean Lord Crakehall? That wasn't my choice! I begged father not to send me away but you know that he wouldn't listen to me, I would never leave you by choice and I hated every second that I was away from you."
"And I didn't choose to marry Rheagar but I am going to make the best of it, so why are you angry with me?" Cersei asked as she crossed her arms.
"I am angry because while it may be father ordering you to do it you have no problem going through with it, you will sleep with the prince and be happy about it and I am angry because the woman I love will not stop going on about how wonderful her new husband will be and how much she is going to enjoy being his queen, that is why I am angry with you?" Jamie ranted and then had to take a moment to catch his breath.
"Cersei, don't you love me?" Jamie asked and he hated how weak his voice sounded but he couldn't help it, he loved Cersei more than anything and she wasn't willing to fight to be with him at least not as hard as he was willing to fight with her.
"I do love you Jamie and I will always need you." Cersei said with a sweet smile as she took her brother's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze as she leaned in and gave him a gentle kiss and then whispered into his ear. "But I want to be the queen, I need to be the queen. I need it more than I need air. Please understand."
Jamie wanted to scream, he wanted shout and shake his sister till she understood that she didn't need a crown, she didn't need to be a queen when she had him. They could go to the free cities and he would work as a sellsword, they would go to sleep together in the same bed and be able to love one another without anyone ever knowing the truth.
It was a beautiful dream but he knew that Cersei would never go along with it, she wanted to be the queen and the queen she would be even if she had to move all seven heavens and all seven hells and slay all the gods singlehandedly to do it.
And the worst thing was that no matter how much it would hurt him to see his sister in the arms of another man he would still help her in anything she asked of him.
He was never able to deny his sister anything.
"I understand Cersei, I'm sorry sweet sister. I did not mean to yell at you." He pressed a kiss to her forehead and smoothed her blond hair below her braid. "Forgive me."
"I forgive you." Cersei said with a smug smile, as if by doing so she had bestowed on to her brother the greatest honour. "And in time you can join the Kingsguard, and then we'll never be far from one another."
"That will be wonderful." Jamie muttered as he turned to look back through the window, he didn't want to talk about this anymore.
For what seemed like like an eternity they sat in almost complete silence, the only noise being the creak of the wheels beneath them. The wheelhouse then suddenly came to a stop and Cersei gasped exictedly as she poked her head out her winder while Jamie did the same on his side.
The first thing anyone ever noticed about King's Landing was the red keep, at the very top of Aegon's hill it loomed, a red bloated spider with seven legs. Down below was the city its self with the great sept of baelor being the first thing that caught the eye after the keep.
Jamie knew that most would assume that King's Landing was all perfumed nobles and extravagant riches but he knew it wasn't true, when he was squiring for Lord Crakehall. Most of the time he had stayed in the red keep but when he was bored he had snuck out and he had gone exploring, even though he knew if his father found out it would be worse than the time he had found him dangling over the cliff face of Casterly.
He still hadn't forgiven Cersei for telling their father that he had been climbing.
While he had been exploring he found that only a small fraction of the city had any real wealth, while it was true that most of the city weren't languishing in flea bottom the people were still more poor than wealthy and he had received more than his share of dirty looks, it was clear to everyone who saw him that he was highborn and that had sent him running back to the Red Keep.
Why Cersei and Father were so desperate to be involved in this place was beyond him, he would rather just leave this place to slowly rot and languish at the hands of the Mad King but he knew his opinion meant little to his father, at least it did in this matter.
"Oh, Jamie isn't it beautiful!" Cersei said with a wild grin as she took in the city.
"Yes, very beautiful." Jamie muttered. "If you don't mind the smell of shit."
"Why have we stopped?" Cersei asked annoyed as she glanced around at their father's guards on their horses. "Prince Rheagar is expecting me and I will not keep him waiting!"
"Yes Lady Cersei!" The guards said and the horses and the wheelhouse countined down the road, Cersei nodded satisfied and pulled her head back back into the wheelhouse at the same time as Jamie did.
To get into the city the wheelhouse would normally pass through the Dragon Gate as that was the gate that the Kingsroad ran through but there was a large queue waiting to go through and Cersei was clearly impatient to get to her future husband and wouldn't wait any longer.
The closest gate that was nearest was the old gate and that wasn't good as to pass through the gate they would still need to have everything checked but it was also the longest way to Aegon's hill but Cersei did not care as she wanted to get in the city and she wanted to go now and Jamie and the Knights knew better than to argue with her but she would soon come to regret it.
Because to get to Aegon's hill the wheelhouse and the host would have to go through Flea Bottom.
Jamie had never made it to Flea Bottom when he went on his journeys around the city but he heard the stories that were spread around the court, that the people there were nearly savage from their hunger and were covered in dirt and they would eat rat droppings if they could find nothing else.
The lords and ladies made it sound like they were monsters instead of people who were simply desperate but Jamie knew that was the way of the world, it made it easy for them to live their lives of utter comfort if they didn't have to think about those below suffering as human.
It wasn't that he was in any place to judge, he was highborn as well and he profited from the low being kept in there place and he had no plans to change the way the world worked, you just had to make the best of what you got. It wasn't his fault that he got an advantage pver others.
Heavy frown marred Cersei's face and her eyes narrowed as she looked out the window, she snorted in disgust before she spoke. "Gods, look at them Jamie. They are wretched, why does the King put up with these peasants ruining his city?" She asked as if she expected him to have an actual answer.
"Because they outnumber us ten to one and if the King tried to do anything about them then it would end with all of us torn to pieces." Jamie thought to himself as he glanced out the window to look at the dozens of dirty faces glaring at the wheelhouse rolling past and he knew that if it weren't for his father's knights then they would be upon the wheelhouse and tip it over and tear them apart.
He wished now that he hadn't packed his sword away into one of his trunks.
He then realised that Cersei was staring at him, waiting for an answer that he hadn't given her yet. "I do not know Cersei, I'm sure the King knows what is best."
"Well, when Rheagar is King and I am the queen I will do something about these filthy urchins." Cersei said with a smile before she turned back to look out the window, her eyes scanning hatefully over every dirty little face she saw.
Jamie couldn't help but wonder what he did was so terrible that the gods had decided to curse him by making him love such a hateful woman.
Thankfully they finally made there way out of Flea Bottem and their surroundings became much richer and Jamie wasn't sure if he was more grateful than they were out of immediate danger or because Cersei seemed to calm down.
The rest of the ride to the red keep was spent in silence and Jamie heaved a sigh of relief when they stopped in front of the great keep, he really needed to stretch his legs.
As soon as Cersei and Jamie stepped out of the wheelhouse a large pale skinned man with long red hair calm towards them and seemed to study them intensely. "You are Lady Cersei?" He asked his sister. "My prince has been expecting you. I am Lord Connington, he sent me to escort you."
"Excellent." Cersei said with a please smile as she stepped forward. "Take me to him." She turned to face her guards. "You will all wait here or do whatever it is you do in your own time, I honestly do not care. Jamie, will you come with me?"
Jamie would normally say yes as he didn't not like the idea of his sister going off with a strange man even though he knew Lord Connington and that Cersei was perfectly safe with him if the whispers going around the court were true, unless he killed her in a jealous rage for trying to take his precious sliver prince from him.
"No, I'll give you and your future husband some time on your own." Jamie said trying to pretend that saying those words did not break his heart.
Cersei smiled brightly and Jamie couldn't help but smile back, Cersei always looked beautiful but she looked even more so when she smiled and when she smiled like she did now and the sun made her hair glow like was gold mined straight from one of Casterly's veins.
She looked like the most beautiful woman in the world.
Jon offered his arm and Cersei took it and he lead her inside, Jamie sighed and told the guards to place the trunks into there apartments while he went for a walk.
He wasn't sure how long he was walking around the red keep but he eventually found his way to a covered bridge that overlooked the training yard, as he looked down his jaw nearly dropped when he noticed who two of the knight's standing in the yard, sparring with one another were.
Arthur Dayne and Lewyn Martell, both men of the Kingsguard were dressed in their shinning white armour both wielding their swords, Dayne welding the fabled Dawn that marked him as the sword of the morning.
Neither of the two knights seemed to have the upper hand despite the stories of how a fierce a swordsman Arthur Dayne was supposed to be and Jamie couldn't help but wonder if perhaps the younger knight was holding back. Regardless they were both glorious in the way that they fought to the way that they held themselves.
"Impressive aren't they?" A man who had crept up behind Jamie asked and Jamie turned to see who it was who had surprised him.
He was a lean man in perhaps his early twenties with bronze skin and dark curly hair with eyes so brown they were almost as black as coal. He wore an arrogant smirk on his face as he looked Jamie up and down and smiled in a way that almost seemed to be approving, if not a little hungry. "You're Jamie, Tywin Lannister's eldest son."
"Yes, yes I am." Jamie said as he felt his guard slowly come up. "And who are you ser?"
The man chucked, a deep sounding thing. "Forgive me, I am used to everyone knowing who I am back home and I suppouse it was foolish of me to think that you would remember me. I am Oberyn Martell."
Jamie had been talking to one of the princes of Dorne and he could've smacked himself for not realising sooner, the man was clearly Dornish and what other Dornishman other than a Martell or a Dayne would come to King's Landing. "Forgive me, Prince Oberyn. I didn't realise it was you."
"You had no reason to suspect who I was and the last time we saw one another was when we were little more than children." Oberyn said as he waved his hand to dismiss it, his eyes suddenly gained a dangerous edge as he seemed to realise something. "Why are you here? Oh wait, let me guess. Your lovely and oh so charming sister is to be Rhaegar's new queen."
The scorn in the Dornish prince's voice made Jamie flinch and normally he would not hesitate to rush to his sister's defence but he could find the will too, Cersei had...not been at her best when Oberyen and his sister had meet her. "Yes, she is." He said simply, there was nothing else he could say.
Oberyn hummed and took a step closer and Jamie had to remind himself to stand his ground, he was a lion and he would not cringe and he would not flee. "You know." Oberyn began. "My sister was going to marry Rhaegar, she was going to be the queen of the seven kingdoms."
"And now she isn't, now she's the wife of the warden of the North's second son." Jamie said. "Funny how life work's out, isn't it?"
For a moment Oberyn's face was like stone before he let out a little chuckle. "Indeed." Oberyn said before he stepped past Jamie and began to make his way inside.
"Prince Oberyn!" Jamie called and the prince stopped walking but didn't turn to face him. "Why are you here?"
Oberyn chuckled again and just slightly tilted his back to look at Jamie. "Lannister's aren't the only ones who pay their debts." And with that, he was gone.
Jamie suddenly felt like he was plunged into a vat of cold water, with one tiny action his family suddenly had an entire family of new enemies.
It could never be simple.
Cersei could hardly contain the bubble of excitement that brewed in her stomach, it was really happening. She was really here. She was in King's Landing and she was going to marry Rheagar and be a princess and soon she would be a queen as well.
It wouldn't be long, tales of the king's poor heath had reached the Westerlands. It was said that he did not even eat anymore and he barely slept or drank anymore, he was clinging to life by his fingernails by all accounts. She would be queen before too long.
And, maybe all he would need was a little push. She could do that, the king was a monster. She would lose no sleep over it and if her father and her future husband's plan worked...
Lord Connington stopped in front of a door and he knocked on it. "My Prince, Lady Cersei has arrived." He spoke through the door.
"Please show her in Jon." That gentle voice spoke and Cersei couldn't help but smile, his voice sounded so beautiful.
Lord Connington pushed the door open and he and Cersei walked into the room and her breath caught in her throat as she laid eyes on her prince.
He was so beautiful, his sliver hair was longer than hers and his eyes were the most striking purple she had ever seen in her entire life, for more pretty than Ashara Dayne's. He was muscular but slim and his hands ended with long, delicate fingers.
In that one moment Cersei was more attracted to her Prince than she had ever been to Jamie, she would gladly take Rhaegar into her bed whenever he asked it of her and she would gladly swell with his children and birth them all, dragons with golden hair and violet eyes or silver hair and green, they would be so beautiful.
"Your beauty is not overstated Lady Cersei." Rhaegar said with a smile as he gently took her hand and pressed a kiss to her knuckles and suddenly there was a new heat stirring in her loins. "Could you leave us for a moment Jon?"
The ginger man grunted and left the room, muttering under his breath as he went.
"I want you to know that I will do everthing in my power to make you happy." Rhaegar said as he gently held Cersei's hands. "But please I understand that I need you to do your duty, I need children."
"I understand my love." Cersei said as gazed adoringly up at her prince. "I'll give you as many as you want." And she would, she would do anything to keep him happy with her.
Her loves eyes narrowed a little. "Did your father, did he see you off?" He asked.
Cersei blinked for a moment as she tried to understand before it suddenly hit her, she slid her left hand into her right dress sleeve and slid out a scroll of paper. "Yes he did and he sends his regards." She said as she handed the paper over.
"Thank you Lady Cersei, that eases my mind know end." Rhaegar said as he walked back to his desk and sat down to read the scroll. "I am sure you are tired from you journey on the Kingsroad, do you know where your apartments or would you like me to summon a servant so they can show you the way?"
Cersei could not keep the disappointed pout off of her face but she understood that her love had important work to do so she refused the offer of a servant and left her future husband and king to his work.
It wouldn't be long now.
End of Chapter Fourteen
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The next batch of chapters should be focused on the Starks.