Game of Thrones One Shots

Lover's Quarrel, (Tywin Lannister)

The looming presence of an unspoken topic hovered around the Red Keep at all hours of the day. In the morn when the sun had barely peeked over the horizon of the Narrow Sea, it remained. When she would sit at the table, full of lavish fruits and cheeses to dine with her beloved, it remained. As the court adjourned and people began to return to their mundane lives bustling about the many corridors and halls, it remained.

It wouldn't leave. It was the ugly topic of uncomfortable family drama that everyone knew about, but nobody was willing to speak to. Tyrion was incarcerated.

While not her son by blood, he was made her stepson after she had been wed to his father, Tywin Lannister. The old lion of Casterly Rock had accepted a marriage request after her father had been more than generous with his grain reserves in the last winter. Shortly after the wedding and subsequent consummation, it was relayed to the aged man that his wife was unable to bear children. But by that point, she had won his heart and he decided to forego the idea of another heir in favor of keeping his young wife.

When he had won the Battle of Blackwater Bay, and then the War of Five Kings, she rejoiced. Her heart swelled at the parchment that had been sent informing her that she would be escorted to Kings Landing to live with her lord husband, the new Hand of the King. She felt everything in her world falling into place as she entered the Red Keep's gates to be greeted by the magnificent audience of her love. But perfection never lasted.

His discontent for his son grew with each passing day as Tyrion inserted himself into political matters. He voiced these thoughts freely to her as the two of them would lie in the darkness of night. It had been many moons since the last time she attempted to squelch the fighting between father and son, but even with her soft words of reason, the man was insistent on his feelings. 'He only lives because he is a Lannister.' Tywin would continually repeat as he brushed a warm calloused hand down her shoulder to the small of her back. He hated the man, and in his heart of hearts he knew that the man likely hated him too.

"I already told you I do not think the trial is an appropriate use of your time." The knife Tywin held in his hand scratched against the glass plate he ate from. A buffet for two of aged cheeses, fresh fruits, and crackling bread sat in front of the two of them.

"He is my step-son as much as he is your son." She retaliated in a calmed tone, graciously accepting the portion of bread he had cut for her. "I feel as though my presence is necessary."

Tywin had a hard time arguing with his wife. The two had rarely quarreled, but this was the one thing they refused to see eye to eye on. In public, it was pertinent that they present the perfect and ideal lifestyle. It was a display of the Lannister's power; a display of how nothing could go wrong in their lives when they lived united.

"Tyrion will only assume your stance on the matter as siding with me." He broke a piece of hard cheese from its block and held it out to her, pleased when she continued to eat as they usually did. "He will grow to resent you more than he already does."

She crinkled her nose at the strong wine that was served, disliking the way it scorched her throat as the alcoholic beverage slid down her tongue. "Tyrion doesn't resent me."

Tywin responded with the curious raise of his brow, his elbow shifted to his forearm as he rested against the black-painted arm of the chair and looked to his wife. "Does he not?" He shook his head after a short sigh of exhaustion escaped his lips. "I've heard differently."

"He dislikes you for taking a wife younger than he and for not casting me aside when you found out I could not give you any children. He knows it not my doing or my fault."

He thought for a moment, narrowing his eyes as he swiped his tongue across the back of his teeth. She was right, but that did not make the sentiment any different. For, if Tyrion truly did not resent his stepmother, he would hold his tongue more often when speaking about her. "I could cast you aside and take another if that is what you wish."