Hear me Roar - English version

CHAPTER 63 - You came to fight after all

               Leaning against a barricade, I quietly catch my breath. Tormund left me there after ensuring my injuries wouldn't prevent me from fighting. He took up his post before the gate to usher in every soldier still standing.

               I cannot believe that Viserion is dead, and that it was so easy to kill him. I find myself fearing for my brother's life, perched up there on Rhaegal, but also for my own. Daenerys will have me incinerated the instant she sets foot on the ground.

               Just as I prepare to stand back up, a flask of wine appears before my nose, and at the end of it, Jaime Lannister's hand.

"You saved me," I say, taking the flask. "Thank you."

"If I wanted to see you dead, I wouldn't have joined your ranks."

               Jaime settles down beside me. I return his bottle after taking a few gulps. It won't give me much energy, but perhaps the alcohol will numb me, so that I am no longer afraid to die.

"I remember the first time I saw you," I blurt out suddenly, nostalgic. "You had shoulder-length hair back then, of a brilliant blonde. In your gleaming Kingsguard armour. The dream of every Westerosi teenage girl."

"And yours?"

"I was a Westerosi teenage girl."

               The Lannister answers me with a chuckle. He has changed a lot since those days, far more on the inside than physically. He used to look like a prince and possessed all the nonchalant attitudes to match. Now, Jaime is a thoroughly respectable knight striving to make the right choices for the greater good.

"I remember you, too," he declares. "You were wearing a gown in the colours of Houses Stark and Baratheon, which you soiled by putting a knee to the ground. You were the most beautiful woman it had ever been my privilege to cross paths with."

               Surprised, I turn my head toward him, trying to detect an ounce of sarcasm in his expression. In vain. Such a compliment coming from a man like Jaime, known throughout the Seven Kingdoms for being exceedingly attractive, is a blessing for any woman of this country. Especially when one knows he is in love with Cersei.

"You only say that because we are going to die soon," I reply. "So that I don't slip away sad."

"I could hardly see myself dying without having told you at least once."

"Jaime..." I whisper, my cheeks burning red.

"Diana!"

               Arya screams my name from the battlements, more panicked than ever. Without waiting, I straighten up and head in her direction, but a hand restrains me. Jaime's, wrapped around my wrist.

"Lady Diana, do not die."

"I already promised that to your brother," I confess to him. "And I am not in the habit of breaking my promises. You, on the other hand..."

               Arya's voice echoes behind me once more. Time is short. Something unexpected is happening, and I feel as though I am the only one who can intervene.

"Do not die, Ser Jaime..."

"That is a vow I intend to honour."

"We have seven years to make up for," I hurl back, already facing away from him.

               Once certain my remark was well received, I rush up the battlements to join Arya. My little sister doesn't even need to present the situation to me; it is plain enough. The dead are piling themselves up on the barricade to create breaches through the flames and reach our walls. Indeed, that was unexpected.