lover's mercy - jaime lannister

TWENTY-FOUR

          It was the next day and she was now in the company with her mother that was meeting Stannis. She sat on a horse next to Steffon.

"Lady Stark and Lady Elyanna, I had not thought to find you in the Stormlands," Stannis addressed them.

"We had not thought to be here, Lord Stannis," Cat answered.

"Can that truly be you?" Renly asked.

"Who else might it be?"

"When I saw your banner, I couldn't be sure. Whose banner is that?"

"My own."

"I suppose if we used the same one, the battle would be terribly confusing. Why is your stag on fire?"

The Red Woman spoke, "The King has taken for his sigil the fiery heart of the Lord of Light."

"Ah, you must be this fire priestess we hear so much about," Renly analyzed her. "Mm, brother, now I understand why you found religion in your old age."

"Watch yourself, Renly."

"No, no, I'm relieved. I never really believed you're a fanatic. Charmless, rigid, a bore, yes, but not a godly man."

              "You should kneel," Melisandre said. "He's the Lord's chosen, born amidst salt and smoke."

             "Born amidst salt and smoke? Is he a ham?" Renly asked.

          "That's twice I've warned you," Stannis said.

           Steffon sighed, "Must you two really fight?"

              Stannis turned his attention to him, "And what are you doing here, Steffon, by Renly's side while he calls himself King?"

               "I can't simply take a ride through the countryside with my older brother," Steffon said. "Is that a crime as well?"

                Stannis rolled his eyes and shook his head.

          "Listen to yourselves," Cat said. "If you were sons of mine, I would knock your heads together and lock you in a bedchamber until you remembered that you were brothers."

          "It is strange to find you beside my brother, Lady Stark," Stannis stated. "Your husband was a supporter of my claim. Lord Eddard's integrity cost him his head. And you sit beside this pretender and chastise me."

        "We share a common enemy," her mother defended.

          "The Iron Throne is mine by right. All those that deny that are my foes."

         "The whole realm denies it, from Dorne to the Wall," Renly replied cruelly. "Old men deny it with their death rattle and unborn children deny it in their mother's wombs. No one wants you for their King. You never wanted any friends, brother. But a man without friends is a man without power."

          "For the sake of the mother who bore us, I will give you this one night to reconsider," Stannis said. "Strike your banners, come to me before dawn, and I will grant you your old seat in the council. I'll even name you my heir until a son is born to me. Otherwise I shall destroy you."

           "Look across those fields, brother. Can you see all those banners?"

          "You think a few bolts of cloth will make you King?"

            "No. The men holding those bolts of cloth will make me King."

           "We shall see, Renly. Come the dawn, we shall see," Stannis said before looking at his youngest brother. "Steffon, you can take his side or you can take mine. But if you take his, you are no longer a brother to me and I will have to destroy you, too."