Snow Ghost [Jaime Lannister]

Chapter IX. Kissed By Fire

The camp is silent now with whimpering of Locke's men who are being bound by Lyanna's soldiers. Brienne stands by the tree, her jaw bruised but her eyes wide with shock, watching the me she was supposed to protect command an army of shadows. I sheath Blackfyre with a sharp metallic click. I gesture to my men to unbind Jaime. 

As the ropes fall away, Jaime doesn't stand immediately. He stays on his knees, rubbing his raw wrists, staring at the mud. The silence between us is heavy vibrating with the ghost of the words I threw at him in the cage.

I walk over standing directly in front of him didn't reach out to touch him yet "Get up, Jaime" I quietly.

Jaime finally looks up, his eyes bloodshot and searching "Why? So you can tell me I'm a tool again? A piece of leverage?" He laughs jagging broken sound "That was a hell of a performance, Lyanna. Even I believed it. My heart actually stopped for a second" 

I drop to my knees in the mud so I eye-level with him "Jaime."

He feels disappointed and angry "I trusted you for the first time in years, the first time in years I fell in love with your purity, your difference, your beautiful heart, where is Lyanna, my love?"

"I am here, I made a mistake, I accept everything you, you will do, I am here"

"So if everything was a lie" I stare at him "Talk to me, I am listening if you will say that did not happen, I did not lie to you, I did not mess with you and play with your feelings, I didn't make fun of you in front of everyone, so if you are going to say you did not make fun of my feelings, I am listening or leave"

"I can not leave, I can not leave you, I can not tell you in ___"

"Lyanna, we are done, nothing of you is important to me now, go or I will break your heart more"

 I reach out and this time my fingers are gentle cupping his face, Jaime flinches then stills, leaning into her palm despite himself "I had to break you to save you" I whisper "Look at me. Look at my eyes" Jaime meets my gaze "Mother was ready to execute you. The Karstarks were sharpening their axes. If I had stayed in that cage and cried for you, they would have seen you as a threat to my virtue and killed you where you sat. I had to make them believe I hated you. I had to make you look pathetic and me look like a cold. It was the only way she would trust Brienne to take you out of that camp."

"And those men?"

"I've had men in the Riverlands for months. They were waiting for my signal. When we knew Locke would find you...."

Jaime stares at me "You played the North. You played me."

"I played the world, Jaime because I chose my family. And in this world, for better or worse... you are my family now I don't want lose you or Starks. But you are a fool, Jaime Lannister to think I would endure a year by your side, sharing my breath and my secrets, just for a political play? After I told you the truth? After I trusted you with the secret of who I really am" I whisper "Lyanna's daughter."

"I know. You're a terrifying woman, Lyanna Lannister" Jaime stands slowly, his legs still shaking from the adrenaline and the near-miss with the carving knife.

"I am a Snow, Jaime. I've spent my whole life navigating the lies of High Lords and the cold stares of the North. If I can fool them, I can certainly fool a lion who wears his heart on his sleeve whenever I'm near." I lean in closer "Things I do for love, Jaime" I murmur my smile widening into something dangerous and beautiful "Everything I did in that cage, every word that cut you, I did for love."

Jaime stares at me "Next time..." Jaime breathes "warn me before you break my heart. It's the only one I have left." he looks down at his ruined tunic, the dried blood, and the thick Riverlands mud caking his hair. He looks back at me, his eyes softening despite the chaos around us "I would kiss you properly for saving my life," a shadow of his old smirk returning to his lips, "but I'm covered in a year's worth of Tully filth and Locke's spit. I desperately need a shower, or at least a very deep river."