284 AC Kings Landing Tywin Lannister II
Tywin sat at the desk in the suite of rooms that he had been provided with in the Red Keep and pondered the last few days. The undignified scramble to make the best matches was finally over, thank the Gods. He picked up his glass of wine and sipped at it, good Arbor red, suitably watered of course, and mused. Stannis Baratheon betrothed to Delena Florent, his son Jamie to Janna Tyrell, Jamie's was a match of sufficient position to satisfy him, so that was all that mattered. It gave him access to the Tyrell's who were still smarting after their rebuke by King Robert. Well actually by Ned Stark, if truth be told, for it had been Ned Stark who had proposed betrothing Stannis to Delana Flornet and to carving out great chunks of the western Reach to be incorporated into the Crownlands and the Stormlands. Jon Arryn had not been impressed one bit by his former charge's manoeuvrings on this matter, the 'Black Wolf' as Ned Stark was now being called had taken to the politics and backbiting of Kings Landing like a duck to water, much to Tywin's surprise. But the lad still had much to learn, and who better than his soon to be goodfather to teach him eh? Jamie and Janna made a lot of sense, it propped up the Tyrell's against their internal enemies, of which the Florent's were only among the most powerful, and Tywin had been able to wring some nice concessions out of that old hag Olenna Tyrell in the process.
Ah but his crowning achievement had been to get Ned Stark to agree to be betrothed to Cersei, and thus to an extent cancel out any perceived slight to the Iron Throne by betrothing Jamie to Janna Tyrell. The Northerner had been courted heavily by Olenna Tyrell with the hand of Janna Tyrell as the prize, and Ned Stark had, if Tywin had to admit grudgingly, played the game well. Of course Tywin was well aware of his debt to Ned Stark, and how the northerner had never explicitly mentioned it during their negotiations. Tywin had come to, no respect would be too generous a word, but to concede that Ned Stark was a young man who knew what he wanted and who had the potential to lead the North to greatness that it had never before achieved. And he would do it with Cersei at his side, and Lannister blood would mingle with Stark blood to rule in the North, and none would dare question the greatness of the Lannister line ever again, he had finally washed the stain of his drunken father's stupidly away in a masterstroke!
There was a knock on the door, a servant announced Jamie and Cersei, good, for it was time to let his children know of their duty to House Lannister.
The twins entered, Jamie was wearing a good set of leather breaches and a red tunic embroidered with golden lions, Cersei was resplendent in a dress of crimson and gold, he had to rather grudgingly admit that his daughter outshone her mother in beauty, if such a thing were even possible.
"Sit" he ordered, standing up and pouring each of them a glass of wine and handing it to them. Tywin perched on the edge of his desk, looming over his seated children.
"Drink, to the future of House Lannister!" he commanded and both the twins drank, rather warily he noticed. He suppressed a grimace; this pair would do their duty to their lineage, the time for childish games was over!
"You will be happy to know that I have just finished the arrangement for your betrothals. Jamie, you are to be married to Lady Janna Tyrell and Cersei you are to be married to Lord Eddard Stark."
A stunned silence greeted this for several seconds before Cersei screeched "That, that Barbarian, you will send me away to freeze to death in that hovel they call Winterfell! How could you!"
"Jamie?" he asked, looking at Cersei fuming while directing the question at his son.
"She is tolerably presentable I suppose, but I do hope she takes more after her father than her mother though…"
"Her father was a fool, her mother has the sharpest mind I've ever seen on a woman, you would do well to have a wife half as intelligent and cunning as Lady Olenna Tyrell Jamie" he responded, his eye's never leaving Cersei's defiant emerald orbs.
"Are you finished Cersei?" he asked, his voice low but rumbling with suppressed anger.
His daughter merely glared back defiantly at him "Lord Stark is the Lord of the largest realm in the Kingdom, a trusted friend and advisor of the King, and arguably the greatest general and warrior on the rebel's side. He killed Prince Rhaegar Targaryen at the Battle of the Bloody Ford, is reputed to have killed three of Jamie's former comrades in the Kings Guard…"
"Reputed Father? No, he killed them alright, he stuck them so full of crossbow bolts that they looked like pin cushions or so I hear it tell" snarled Jamie.
"And he gave me your brother back to me, after Aerys Targaryen trapped him in the Kings was Ned Stark who gave Jamie back his honour and his freedom after he slew the Mad King. Do you know what Lord Stark said of your brother Cersei? That Jamie was the only honourable member of the Kings Guard that he knew of, that Jamie put the lives of half a million before his vows to a Mad King, and that he acted as how a true knight should. House Lannister always pays its debt's Cersei, House Stark has given me back my son, you will marry Lord Stark for that reason and that reason alone girl, do you hear me?"
"He insulted me when we met, assaulted me, and drew his sword on the Red Cloaks when they tried to defend me! He is an animal father, a slavering beast! You cannot marry me to him, you cannot!"
"Lord Stark spoke to me on this matter immediately after it happened, maybe next time think before you try and hit the man they call 'The Black Wolf', besides your brother and Ser Barriston he is probably the foremost warrior in the land."
Cersei just looked at her father sullenly, her eyes blazing with suppressed anger.
"Your brother will do his duty and secure the future of House Lannister; you will do your duty and secure our alliance with House Stark, my word is final on this matter. Duty to one's House is the highest form of duty that one can do, it's…"
"It's lucky for you father that duty happens to always coincide with what you want, is it not?" spat Cersei, her fury finally coming to the surface.
Tywin stood up and took a step forwards, towering over his seated daughter "Jaime will be married in the Great Sept of Baelor in five days time, after that he will depart for the Westerlands with uncle Kevan and the bulk of the Lannister army. You and I will depart for Winterfell shortly afterwards, where you will be married in the tradition of the North's Old Gods in the Godswood of Winterfell."
"You, you are coming with me?" Cersei choked.
"Of course I am, just in case you get any foolish notions to run away or do something equally female and foolish! And your betrothed is a fascinating young man, full of ideas and with the endless vigour of youth, with many schemes to improve his realm and enrich its people. He and I have much to discuss, the trip to Winterfell will give he and I time to do this."
"And for you to work out the interest on the gold he will need to fulfil these dreams of his…" said Jamie sotto voiced.
Tywin gave Jamie a tight lipped smile at this and said "Indeed, and by the time I depart from Winterfell after your sister is safely married to Lord Eddard I expect to be receiving news from Casterly Rock that the next generation of Lannister's is on its way…"