Wife of the Wolf, Husband of the Sun

Chapter Eighty-Three

Jaime had never seen the King like this before, the king on his throne high above the rest of them was acting like a child who had been told that because he had been good and had done all that had been asked of him without complaint that he would be given an extra apple cake for his sweet after supper that night. It was not very becoming of a king, to squirm so atop his throne and it was little wonder that he would rip his skin open on the blades.

But better this than the man burning people alive. Jaime turned his gaze on to his Father who stood before the Iron Throne, Lord Mace Tyrell standing at his left and Lord Randyll Tarly standing at his right. Jaime tried to remember the last time that he had seen the Lord of Horn Hill and he could not recall when that would have been, though he was certain that he had seen at some feast or another.

Lord Randyll could not have been more different than the lord to which he was sworn, whereas Lord Mace was a rather comely man and it was clear that he had a terrible appetite and was always quick to offer soothing words to the King whereas Lord Randyll was tall and terrible and his eyes were as hard as flint and his mouth was a cruel, hard line and he did not seem a man who would ever offer any soothing words, certainly not quickly.

And yet the King seemed to be more greatly pleased with him than either Lord Mace or Lord Tywin, the news of the victory near Duskendale had reached the capital long before Lord Randyll or Lord Jon had arrived, brought to the King on a raven's wing. Jaime had not been charged with protecting him that day, he had been with Cersei but Ser Jonothor had been and he had spoken of how the King had laughed, as loudly as he had ever heard him do so to the point that he had been worried that he might choke on his own tongue.

The King had sent word that he wanted Lord Randyll and his Hand to return to capital as quickly as possible, Jaime had been with the King when he had made that decision in the Small Council chamber and the look on his Father's face had been one that he had seen before, whenever any of his family said something or did something that he did not approve of which meant that Jaime had seen that look quite often, even if it wasn't directed at him that much in his childhood.

Well, it was directed at him more often as of late. Jaime had to wonder if their Father would ever forgive either him or Cersei for what they had done at the tourney at Harrenhal, it seemed unlikely considering what Jaime knew of his Father. But that was fine, he didn't care about the Rock or House Lannister or any of it, not really, all he ever cared about, all he ever truly needed, was Cersei.

And Cersei had need of him now, more than ever before.

The King seemed to regain some control of himself, and when he spoke his voice was calm. "Lord Randyll, I greet you warmly and give you welcome to King's Landing. When word reached me of how you dealt with these vile traitors to the King's peace, I knew that I must send word for you to come to the capital that I might congratulate you in person."

"Your Grace does me great honour, I merely served as any loyal lord would." Lord Randyll's voice was cool and clipped as he spoke to the King.

Aerys nodded then and Jaime supposed that he must have been in a good mood indeed, while he doubted that Lord Tarly meant any offence with his words or his tone that had never saved anyone else when the King had deemed that they had offended him, or committed treason against him. "Indeed." The King spoke. "You speak such simple wisdom my Lord, such wisdom that even those lords who claim to be wise have forgotten." The King's eyes moved off of Lord Randyll and landed on Lord Tywin. "That a Lord, and a King, expect nothing but loyalty from their servants and the servants do not get rewarded for such service."

Lord Tywin was ever a glacier, his anger and displeasure was a subtle thing but it was there and Jaime could see a rage inside his Father that he had never seen before and were it not for the fact that Aerys was the King, then Jaime was sure that his Grace would not live long enough to regret those words.

If the King saw the rage his words had brought on then he did not care, much as like he revelled in it. The smirk on his face seemed to suggest that it was the latter. If Lord Randyll noticed the silent war than he paid it no mind, most likely due to the fact that he did have real wars that he needed to fight. "Regardless, I want you and your armies to march on Riverrun, at once."

Then why did your order him to come back here? It was the first thought that popped into Jaime's mind and he doubted that he was the only one thinking it. It was a waste of time to simply bring his armies back to the City when they were closer to the Riverlands then they had been simply to send them back out again after bringing them all the way to the capital.

Lord Randyll's presence had been a clever stroke, Jaime had to admit. As the Dornish raiders had ridden up into the Reach and burned fields and attacked trains of men and supplies and took small, unimportant castles, word had been sent to every castle that Lord Randyll had risen men to hunt down the raiders when in truth he had been moving west into the Stormlands and then rode up the Kingswood into the Crownlands where he was sent up to take the host that had come down from the Riverlands by surprise.

It had certainly made the difference and turned the invading host back into the Riverlands and, by all accounts, made their retreat a bloody one. A dozen or so knights had been taken captive, all of them waited in the Black Cells to face the King's judgement and that might well account for the King's good mood as much as anything else, and according to some accounts Prince Oberyn Martell had fallen in battle as well but Jaime wasn't sure of that, if the Prince had died then his body would have been the greatest prize of all to bring back.

And Jaime did not think that either Lord Randyll or Lord Jon would overlook that, though an archer had sworn that it was the truth that one of his arrows had hit the Prince, but after a battle all men were known to boast about what they had done during one, no doubt that when siege was laid on Storm's End a thousand men was going to brag that they were the first over the wall and into the fray beyond them.

Lord Tywin choose that moment to speak out, whatever anger he might feel at an old wound being torn open he seemed to decide that it would be best to keep it hidden. "Your Grace, I do not think that would be the wisest decision at this moment. Pushing into the Riverlands at this moment would be sacrificing the advantage of fighting on our own land. And if the reports that the Northmen have come down from their land is accurate than charging headfirst into them would be a foolish move."

"I did not ask your opinion Tywin, it seems to me that you, and the paltry amount of men that you brought with you from Casterly Rock, have done naught but hang around my court like an unpleasant odor while all the others do the fighting. It does not please me." The King spoke as he narrowed his eyes, though he did seem to forget to mention that none of the knights that Mace Tyrell had brought with him had gone out to fight either, in fact, the King had ordered them all to remain within the city to ensure his own safety.

"I must agree with Lord Tywin, your Grace." Lord Randyll spoke before his Father was sentenced to death for treason, which the King was sure to do if Lord Tywin continued to glare at him in such a way. "When I was a young boy, on my first hunt in the woods near Horn Hill, my Father gave me a bit of wisdom. He told me that just because the stag is dying from the arrows in his side, does not mean that he cannot still gore you on his horns as he bleeds out."

That seemed to give the King some pause, at the very least. How much of that was the words that the man actually spoke and how much of it was just the fact that Lord Randyll was the King's new favourite Jaime could not say but in the end he supposed that it did not matter, it seemed that Lord Randyll and his father were of one mind in this and so long as the King was loyal to one of them, then that would simply have to do for the moment.

"Sometimes, the best thing you can do is to wait until the stag has bled out before you cut his throat, in the meantime you can go and hunt other animals to make sure that there is plenty of meat on your table, so long as you have your men keep an eye on which direction that your prey has staggered off to die." The King was silent for a moment, and the entire hall was silent as well as they waited to see what the Mad King would do next.

In the end, whatever tiny grain of sense and sanity that he still possessed seemed to win out and he asked what Lord Tarly planned to do, the raiders in the Reach were still a threat and Lord Tarly planned to ride back out to the Reach and deal with them in order to stop them from stopping their supplies and new men from getting to them.

Lord Tyrell for himself would go into the Stormlands with the thousand knights that he had brought with him as well as two thousand of of Lord Randyll's own men to enlarge his forces, both to make it safer to travel through the Stormlands and to make them more a threat as they laid siege on Storm's End. Once he was camped outside of the walls he would then write a raven to Highgarden, summoning more of his strength to him. The Lord of Highgarden promised the King that he would bring him the castle before the year was done.

Jaime's father would travel with Lord Tarly into the Reach and then with his own knights ride up into the Westerlands and then onward to Casterly Rock to place himself at the head of a host that had been growing as his two uncles had ridden to the Golden Tooth with the first host of men, both to protect that passage against any Dornish attack from the South and to be ready to move on the Riverlands from the West.

The King seemed as pleased as he was ever going to be and so gave them his leave to go and prepare for that, but not before he ordered his Hand, who had been standing at the foot of the Throne through out all of this meeting, to send word to the men that they had placed near Rosby to fall back to the capital so that they would be better defended.

"As you say, Your Grace. Lord Rosby won't be pleased, I'm afraid to say." Lord Jon spoke and the King let out a scoff of sheer contempt, his indigo eyes flashing with something that might have been anger, but just as easily might have been sheer amusement as well.

"Lord Jon, do you honestly think I care what Lord Gyles Rosby thinks? With that cough of his, he will be dead before the year is done, you see if I am wrong. And if Lord Rosby is upset by the lack of protection then write to him and inform him that the King extends an invitation to him for him to take shelter within the Red Keep, along with his men."

"Very well, your Grace." Jon Connington said with a tight nod and a frown that he was doing a terrible job of hiding. "I am also afraid that there is another matter, and it is rather an urgent one. A raven arrived a few moments before your Grace summoned us all here, I'm afraid that I only had the time to read most of it but it seems that Lord Quellon had risen in rebellion as well, he has taken Lord Lucerys and Lord Symond as his hostages and his fleet has sworn itself to the boy king."

"And that is why Lord Tyrell and I must return to our own lands as soon as we are able, the trouble that Dornish raiders are causing for us to get our armies where we need to and the chaos they are causing is quite enough trouble as it is, we do not need to place Ironborn reavers atop of them. Before anything else, if we are to put down this rebellion, then we need to chase the Dornish back behind their mountains and throw the Ironborn back into the sea." Lord Tywin spoke, as soon as the Hand of the King had finished.

But as always, when speaking to a madman, it was never a sure thing if they were even listening to you and if they were that if they would care. At that moment the King did seem to care, in that he was completely enraged and gripping the sides of the Iron Throne so tightly that Jaime did not doubt that Grand Maester Pycelle would be needed to tend to his cuts again.

"Lord Lucerys is my Master of Ships, Lord Symond is my Master of Laws. By what right does Lord Quellon dare to take them hostage!" The King snarled, almost like a wounded animal. "I am the King, I will not suffer this treason any longer, I will not! Lord Quellon is a traitor, then he will die for that. I will have him tied to my pyre, I swear that I will! We must send your fleets out to deal with him. Tywin, the fleet from Lannisport can be at the Islands in the quickest amount of time, can it not?"

Lord Tywin's face was unreadable as ever, though his voice was not such a mask of perfect calm with a note of growing irritation. "It can, your Grace. But at the moment I am not disposed to order them to sail against the Iron Islands. I must defend the coastline from them and from any other threats at sea. A raven arrived the night before, while your Grace was abed. It seems that Gulltown has fallen to the armies of the Vale much faster than anyone had expected and with the fall of the city the Gulltown fleet has rejoined with the rest of the Vale proper, which means our superiority at sea is no longer unquestioned."

The King scoffed and turned his gaze on to Mace Tyrell. "Lord Mace, you will have the Redwyne fleet sail on Lord Quellon's miserable rocks. That will put an end to him quick enough."

Lord Mace's face quivered and he forced a pleasant smile on his face and when he spoke his words were honeyed, to better hide the taste of disappointment. "A thousand pardons, your Grace. But if I am to bring his Grace Storm's End in any short amount of time, then I will need Lord Redwyne's fleet to maintain a blockade to make certain that the castle cannot be resupplied from the sea, more than that what ships I do leave behind will be needed to defend the Reach as well."

"Your Grace does of course still have the royal fleet at his command, as well as all the ships of the Lords of the Narrow Sea." Lord Tywin spoke before the King, who looked liable to call for the Pyromancers at any moment, could respond to that. "It is not an unimpressive number of ships to be sure, more than enough to threaten the Iron Islands while the majority of their strength is away raiding if your Grace truly cannot wait for Lord Quellon to face your justice."

"Are you such a fool Tywin?" The King asked with a scowl. "Or are you merely a traitor? If I send my ships and the ships of the Narrow Sea lords away then I am left with no ships to protect Blackwater Bay, the Ironborn could sail right up to the city and sack it."

"Yes, exactly. You need those ships to defend your city and we need our ships to defend our lands, Lord Quellon is a traitor and I swear to you your Grace that he will be punished for that however you see fit to do so but we cannot do that until we have put this rebellion down." Lord Tywin reasoned and it seemed that his reason had reached the King, though not happily.

Thankfully it seemed that was the end of the meeting with no more surprising news to upset the King and they were all dismissed, Jaime was included in that dismissal with the order to go and reprieve Ser Lewyn who was guarding Cersei and to send the Dornish knight to the King once Jaime had taken over for guarding them.

It did not take him long to arrive at Cersei's apartments, Ser Lewyn standing outside the door of them. The Dornish knight did not look well, the man was older than Jaime but ever since the King had made a butcher of him the man had seemed pale and drawn with heavy bags around his eyes that Jaime knew came from not being able to sleep.

That awful show of Lewyn executing the Stormland nobles instead of the King's headsman had been a test, according to the King to ensure that Prince Lewyn was loyal to him, after all at the time the loyalty of the Dornishmen were uncertain and how could he sleep if he had a traitor's blade near him as he eat and drank and slept?

Lewyn had protested that he was loyal, that he had sworn the oath to obey the king, to have no wife or children and to hold no lands but the King did not want to hear it. The King wanted for there to be blood.

And so Lewyn had drawn his blade and done as was bid of him, till his blade was dull and all his white armour was stained with red. Jaime could not judge him, he would not. How could he? After all, every time Jaime shut his eyes all he saw was the woman who on the King's order he had burned alive, her screams still echoing in his ears to this day.

He was sworn to obey, after all. Just as Ser Lewyn had been so sworn.

Of course when it was clear that the Dornish had indeed risen in rebellion against the Crown, well, the King seemed to have forgotten all about his test and had been ready to have the Knight burned alive but, of all people, it had been Varys who had put a stop to it. The Spider had been the one to remind him that Ser Lewyn had done nothing to suggest that he would commit treason, that he had done all that had been asked of him and passed the King's test and having him near might at least make the Dornish think twice about attacking the capital.

Well, Prince Oberyn had certainly proved that last point wrong. Jaime had to wonder if the man even remembered that his Uncle was still within the capital, or come to that if he had even cared. From what little that Jaime could remember about the man, it seems like an eternity since Prince Oberyn had been within the capital, after all, he never seemed like the sort of man who would stop and consider the consequences of his actions.

Regardless of all of that, the King had agreed to spare Prince Lewyn but that had not stopped him from muttering in the man's presence and casting him dirty looks every now and then and in fear for their lives, most of the royal court had done much the same. Perhaps in the end, it would have been kinder if Aerys had put the man to death, he was certainly not the same man that he had been before.

"Ser Lewyn," Jaime spoke and the older man turned to look at him. "The King has sent me to relive you from guarding Princess Cersei, the King has requested your presence to guard him."

"I see." The Dornishman was also quieter than he had been before, he nodded and stepped away from the door. "Then I entrust the Princess into your capable hands, Ser Jaime." And like a specter, he was gone.

Jaime let out a sigh once the man had left his sight and opened the door and walked into the apartments. Cersei was sitting at a table in the middle of the chamber, she had chosen a dress of crimson and gold with rubies in her hair and to Jaime, she looked like a goddess, she was the Maiden made flesh and Jaime at that moment loved her more than anything.

Cersei looked up when the door opened and once she saw that it was Jaime she rose from her chair and hurried over to him and Jaime opened his arms for her, kissing the side of her head and resting one of his hands on the back of her golden curls and she buried her face into his chest and the two of them just stood there together, embracing one another.

As always, it was Cersei who pulled away first. Her green eyes were as sharp as ever and were looking at him intently. "Well, what did the King say? What was the meeting about?"

Jaime was sworn to keep the King's secrets of course, but when it came to it, a vow or Cersei then Jaime was always going to choose Cersei, again and again, and again. At any rate, it wasn't as if Cersei asked him to reveal something that the King told him in confidence. She just wished to know what had occurred at the meeting that she was not invited too.

And so Jaime related all that had been discussed and when he was done, Cersei did not look pleased. She spun on her feet and began to pace the length of the room, back and forth. "Has Father not spoken to you at all?" Cersei asked without even looking at him, nor stopping with her pacing. "Not even a word since he's arrived? He's not speaking to me at all. I invited him to break his fast with me yesterday morning and he ignored me, he did not even send a refusal. He just ignored me!"

Jaime frowned but said nothing as Cersei continued to pace and speak. "He can not do this to us, he can't. I know that he would be upset with us for a little while but you are his son and I am his daughter, he can not just pretend that we do not exist anymore. I am going to be the Queen." Cersei snarled, reached up and pulled off her hair net which she flung into the corner.

Jaime walked over to pick the hair net up as Cersei continued to pace up and down and he put it on the table where she had been sitting. "Even if Father was speaking to us, I doubt that it would make much matter," Jaime admitted and his words had made Cersei stop pacing, she was looking at him now and her mouth had fallen open.

"I cannot see that the King would allow you to return to Casterly Rock, certainly he would not allow you to take the babe with you. He would ensure that you you both remain here, it might be the only reason after all that Father decided to still support him." And he wondered if that was why Lord Tywin was truly so wrought with them both, because their choices at Harrenhal had made certain that he was caught and snared with no one to turn to.

A rough sob made Jaime quickly look up and there it was, Cersei had buried her face in her hands and was crying. Cersei did not weep, not in front of anyone except for him and so Jaime hurried to her side and took her into his arms once again and held her as she cried. "It will be all right Cersei, I promise you that it will be all right. I will keep you safe, no one is ever going to hurt you. I promise."

Cersei pulled away again after a while and rubbed roughly at her eyes, angry at herself for showing any weakness he knew but Jaime would never tell anyone. If she could not be weak with him, then who else could she be weak with? Cersei reached out for his wrist and took hold of it gently and began to lead him towards her bedchamber. "Come with me."

A knight was never one to deny his lady and so Jaime followed her and then fell into her bed with her and for a perfect moment, all the horror and the terror and the fear and the rage all disappeared as one as the entire world fell away and all that mattered to him in that moment was Cersei. Her touch made everything better.

Dusk fell on them all to shortly and Jaime began to fall away and Cersei reached out to him and rested her hand on his arm and he looked back on her, his gaze falling down to her belly where her next babe was growing and this one was his and pride grew in every inch of him, her belly was still flat but she had told him that her moonblood had not come when it should have.

Rhaegar had not left so long ago that anyone should suspect anything strange had happened, Cersei had told him that he had laid with her the night before he had left and while that thought was still enough to light a rage in him it didn't matter. Jaime was sure that this one was his. "Don't go yet." Cersei asked, sleep making her voice sound deeper.

"I have too." Jaime admitted as he looked at her face and stretched out his hand to cup her cheek. "I need to go to the tower and speak to my sworn brothers, I will be back with you tomorrow. I swear." Jaime leaned forward and caught her lips in a kiss and then rose from the bed, reaching down to gather his clothes and then left the chambers once he was dressed, pretending that he did not notice that Cersei was pouting all the way as he left her.

Jaime then made his way to the White Sword tower and walked into the common room on the ground floor where his sworn brothers would be waiting for him. The room was emptier than normal, with only two of his brothers waiting for him and Jaime sat down at the table with Ser Barristan and Ser Jonothor.

The Lord Commander was not in the city any more and so starting the meeting went to the member of the kingsguard with the most seniority and no one was going to deny that belonged to Ser Barristan. "Brothers, who guards the King?" The old knight asked.

"Ser Lewyn." Jaime answered and Ser Barristan nodded.

"Has there been any word from the Lord Commander?" Ser Jonothor asked. "Or Ser Arthur or Ser Oswell or the Prince, surely it is our duty for us to know where they are?"

"I do not disagree, but alas there has been no word and the King does not seem to be overly concerned about Prince Rhaegar or our brother's whereabouts. Until the time comes that he is, our duties are limited to our first. Protecting the King and his family." The fact that was much more difficult when it was just the four of them, well, that was left unsaid.

There was not much more for them to speak and so they all return to the cells and Jaime laid his head on the bed and shut his eyes and dreamed of Cersei and a warm beach, with their babe in her arms and little Rhaenys toddling along the shore, with her little hand in his and on there know what their names where, no one cared enough to ask.

Sadly it seemed that even his dreams could not last, as a hand came to rest on his shoulder and began to shake him awake and when his eyes opened he found that it was Ser Jonothor looking down at him and shaking him. "You need to wake Ser Jaime, and you must come with me now."

Jaime stumbled out of his bed and gathered his clothes and his armor and hurriedly dressed himself all the while a thousand thoughts of what had gone wrong kept flashing through his head. Once he was dressed he hurried after Ser Jonothor out of the tower, too terrified to ask what it was that had happened.

But once he was out in the courtyard, he understood.

There, atop his stallion with what seemed like half the court and most of the servants standing around him, was Prince Rhaegar Targaryn.

End of Chapter Eighty-Three

First of all, let me just say again that I am sorry for the wait between this chapter and the last one. Sadly, my Father has died and we need to have him buried and it's been a bit of mess getting all of that dealt with and at the same time, dealing with my own grief and everything else so again, sorry for the wait.

I hope everyone enjoyed this chapter and yes, Rhaegar is now back in King's Landing, if only for a bit but we will get to that. Next chapter will either be a Ned chapter or a Cersei chapter, either of which I am really looking forward to writing and I hope that you are looking forward to reading. Maybe let me know in a review which you would like to see next.

Oh and Jaime? "he never seemed like the sort of man who would stop and consider the consequences of his actions." Congratulations on the total lack of self awareness.

Anywho, please leave a favorite, a follow and a review if you enjoyed. Constructive criticism is always welcome.

With much love,

DiscordantSymphony