The she-wolf and the lion

Chapter 169 - the lion's shield maiden

Three weeks later.

Jaime and Lyra train together with swords and shields in the training yard. They clash blades with each other and laugh as they fend each other off.
"That's it, she wolf, show the little lion who his mistress is", Bronn, sitting on the paddock fence, says with a smirk.

Lyra blocks Jaime's attack with her shield and force him backwards.
"Seven hells, my love, I forgot how strong you are", Jaime says lightly, his sword clanging against Lyra's shield.
"I am the lion's shield maiden after all, your shield maiden, the lion's shield maiden and the dire wolf's daughter", Lyra reminds him. "And I grew up with sword and shield in hand, under my father's and uncles tutelage from a pretty young age, despite what my mother thought of it, she was honestly not very happy about it but accepted it since I am my father's heir, she wanted me to be more like a lady, I remarked to her myself that I was capable of being both a lady and a warrior."
"Oh yes, the lion's shield maiden and dire wolf's daughter, as well as the warrior princess of the North", Jaime says.

Lyra hears gentle footsteps in the sand behind her and spin around to meet the blades of her two eldest sons, she meets them with ease, first, 21 year old Daemon, as tall and as strong as his lordly lion father in his youth and with the same strength, slender build and beauty that made Jaime so sought-after by all the young maidens of the realm in his youth as well as for long since he grew in to manhood, and after him, 18 year old Gerion, bulky yet just as slender and quick as his brother, built more like the Stark men in their family, their dire wolf mother's kinsmen.

Jaime steps back and looks on proudly as his sons cross blades with their lady mother, the finest lady warrior of the realm, all three of them fending off each other's blades with ease.

They finish training with Bronn and Will jumping in to join the swordplay, all six of them clashing steel with each other, giving each other a chance to try their luck against each opponent.

When they're done, they're all steaming with sweat and gasping for breath and with thirst as they the exercise has gotten them all quite out of breath, thirsty and hungry. They walk to the castle together, holding on to each other for stability, not caring how ridiculous it may look.
"Food!" Daemon shouts in his best "lord Lannister" voice. "In the great hall."
"Ale!" Gerion adds in his own best "lord Stark" voice.
"And wine", Lyra adds as Jaime steadies her as they all walk to the great hall, removing their sword belts, cloaks and gloves as they sit down at the table.

The food and drink quickly arrives and they all dig in with gusto to replenish their strength and energy.
"We have a lesson later, Daemon", Jaime says.
"Where and what?" Daemon asks.
"Here in the great hall, four hours from now, our banner men are coming", Jaime says. "Your lady mother and Gerion will be in attendance as well, if your brother doesn't drink himself under the table on your great uncle Eddard's fine northern ale, Bronn, would you be so kind to escort my son to the privy and make sure he expels some of lord Eddard's fine ale there so he doesn't end up doing it on our guests later?"
"Yes, m'lord, come here, young man, follow me, we don't want to you puking your head off in front of your father's fine lords and ladies, now do we?" Bronn says, yanking Gerion out of his seat and dragging him along to the privy to make sure he pukes up at least some of the alcohol.
"Move the ale and wine away from my brother, get him lemon water instead", Daemon says to a servant girl.
"Yes, m'lord", the servant girl says, doing her young master's bidding.
"Thank you, Belle", Daemon says with a sweet smile to the girl, his paramour in secret, making her blush as she rushes to bring the lemon water.

Bronn, ever the sharp eyed soldier companion of the lord and lady of house Lannister, notices the look shared between the heir and the young girl and leans in to whisper in Jaime's ear.
"I believe there might be a problem, m'lord", Bronn whispers, glancing at Daemon and Belle.
"Have a talk with maester Craylen, do it naturally, like you are asking his advice on how to treat one of your battle wounds or like you're discussing the lessons for the children, or like I asked you to speak to him about some book he lent you or me or someone, let no one suspect a thing and make sure he sneaks the girl some moon tea, I don't want any more scandals in this family", Jaime whispers back.
"I will do it discreetly, I'll have to ask when my own son can start his lessons, after all", Bronn says lightly.
"Good, very good", Jaime says with a smile.

Later the same day, Bronn seeks out maester Craylen under the guise of discussing the possibility of maester Craylen starting lessons with Bronn's now four year son Robert.
"Oh, yes, before I forget, my wife asked me to get moon tea for one of the other ladies in lady Lyra's women's court, the unfortunate little thing has had some close contact with one of Lord Jaime's other soldiers and she fears they will both be sent away if news of their affair is brought before the lord and lady, the incident happened four days ago", Bronn adds after the discussion of lessons for his son is final.
"Yes, of course, moon tea, here, this should be enough to quench that small blaze, maester Craylen says.
"Thank you, maester, I will make sure the poor girl gets this right away", Bronn says before excusing himself.

He finds his wife in their rooms together with Belle, Jariella and a few other ladies of Lyra's court and carefully hands her the moon tea and goes to find Lyra while Cerelle transfers the moon tea into Belle's empty wine glass without anyone noticing.
"More wine, Belle?" Cerelle asks, pouring some Arbor gold wine into the glass, carefully mixing it with the strong moon tea.
"Thank you, Cerelle," Belle says, feeling herself starting to get a bit tipsy. "There's something I need to admit to you, Cerelle..."

Belle leans in to make sure that Daemon's sister and wife sitting around them, can't hear.
"I've slept with the lion lord", Belle whispers.
"Lord Jaime? Are you mad? Lady Lyra will have you flogged down to the bone through the streets of Lanisport and then feed you to the dogs for such a thing", Cerelle asks, seaming shocked.
"No, not lord Jaime, I tried but of course he said no, but I had his heir, lord Daemon", Belle says.
"So you are mad? When you couldn't have the lord, you went for the heir, when you couldn't have the father, you took the son", Cerelle says.

Cerelle sits back and watches as Belle gets more and more drunk. After a while she tells the servants to return Belle to her rooms.

When they're alone, Jariella and Cerelle lock eyes, Jariella has of course heard the entire conversation that transpired between the two women.
"Would I be a horrible sister if I snook some tears of Lys into her wine tonight? For trying to wreck my brother's marriage?" Jariella asks.
"Absolutely not, she's messing with your family and boasted about it to me, one of the people most likely to let you, your brothers, mother or father know about it, if not directly then through my husband", Cerelle says. "Bronn would most certainly sound the alarm to your mother and father if he heard what poison that snake is spitting."
"Come, let's visit the good maester", Jariella says, getting up and holding her hand out to help Cerelle.

They walk through the castle to the maester's rooms and knock on the door. Maester Craylen himself opens it and the two women walk in.
"Maester, I need something to help me sleep, some milk of the poppy would suffice", Jariella says, distracting maester Craylen while Cerelle carefully snatches a small bottle marked tears of Lys and hides it up her sleeve.
"Of course, m'lady", maester Craylen says, handing over enough milk of the poppy to last for several sleepless nights.
"Thank you", Jariella says as the two women return to the women's court.

A couple hours later, nighttime, Cerelle serves wine to Jariella and the other ladies gathered in a corner of the great hall before they all leave to get settled in to their beds.

She walks past Jariella, who secretly hands her the poison, in the shape of a small pearl and she drops it carefully into the goblet, adding a few drops of milk of the poppy and topping with a deep Dornish red wine.

A couple minutes after the wine has been drunk by everyone, Cerelle and Jariella both yawn and excuse themselves and go to their beds, they locks eyes when they stand outside Bronn's and Cerelle's chambers.
"If someone asks, we know nothing of what transpired tonight, we had both gone to bed after just having a small glass of wine and left the other ladies to themselves, even if your lord father asks, all we know is that Belle was in love with both your father and Daemon and that perhaps it was too much for her to see them with their wives, your lady mother and your sister-in law", Cerelle says when she sees Jariella starting to look worried.
"Nothing transpired tonight, all we did was drink wine, eat cheese and enjoyed each other's company", Jariella says calmly after taking a deep breath.
"Good", Cerelle says. "Good night to you, lady Jariella."
"Good night to you, lady Cerelle", Jariella says.

Just as Cerelle has fallen asleep, Bronn walks in, takes his clothes off and gets in to the bed and holds his sleeping wife to him.