Hear me Roar - English version

EPILOGUE

               Quick steps upon the cold floor. The handle turns. The door creaks. Two tiny feet rush toward the bed. Once atop the sheets, not without some struggle, his efforts are rewarded by laughter. His father's. It is, however, the comfort of his mother's arms that he seeks. Only, these are denied to him.

"Little lion..." she says tenderly, brushing the child's hair behind his ears.

"We've already explained to you that you cannot climb on Mommy."

"Yes..." he replies, with one of those imploring looks of which he holds the secret.

               He has fully understood how to coax his parents. It works every single time. It doesn't take long, therefore, for his mother to pull him back against her. Though she is careful that the little one does not touch her belly, now quite round.

"If you crack every time he pouts, he will never listen to you," her husband warns her.

"What do you want me to say? He knows how to get to me."

               With a laugh, he rises from the bed, the sheet wrapped around his hips, so the child won't see him naked. He slips behind the screen to announce:

"I've decided to enter the tourney."

"Excuse me?"

"I've been hiding for too long," he explains. "It is time for the golden lion to roar once more."

               Dumbfounded, she exchanges a look with her son. The little one is too young to understand the stakes debated by his parents but, in an effort of mimicry, assumes a look just as revolted as his mother's.

"You are the most important man in the country, Jaime. You cannot afford to..."

"Tyrion is the most important man in the country," he corrects her. "What is stopping me, then, from doing as I please?"

               The young woman sets the child down on the bed, though he keeps his arms outstretched toward her.

"This is what is stopping you," she says, grabbing her husband's golden hand in the process.

"My love..."

               He flashes the same imploring look as the little one had, just seconds earlier. Before him, even as his wife permits him to caress her cheek, she rolls her eyes.

"How many men have already died during a tourney? Kings, princes, hedge knights, it doesn't matter. It is too dangerous."

"Diana..."

"I am your queen, and I order you to yield."

               Annoyed, he takes a step back and resumes the chore of buttoning his tunic, made difficult by his prosthesis. Diana, seized by compassion, snatches the laces in a sudden movement. Jaime falls silent. He knows her; he knows she needs to calm down before cooperating.

"I am sorry," she says, finishing the first knot. "I am afraid, that is all."

"We must begin to live far from fear," replies Jaime, drawing her against his chest. "The realm has been at peace for years."

"The realm is at peace because I am constantly on my guard. If I let up, I dare not even imagine..."

"You always imagine the worst."

"I am realistic," she defends herself. "You, on the other hand, never imagine anything."

"Surely because you handle it for me..."

               To prevent his wife from firing back, Jaime locks her lips between his own. Diana's cheeks turn red. Never, even though they have two children, has she managed to remain indifferent to her husband. For a few moments, while their breaths mingle, she is no longer the Wolf of King's Landing, nor even Diana Stark of Winterfell. No, she is Diana Lannister.

               It is restful, in truth, to know that Jaime's arms are always ready to welcome her. So, every evening, when she joins him in their bed after days of negotiations, preparations, or debates, she returns to who she truly is. The ambitious young girl who first saw Jaime Lannister in the castle courtyard, imagining all the adventures they might live.

               A roar resounds behind the couple. Nothing very impressive, rather resembling the whimpering of a lion cub. Diana and Jaime turn, not without suppressing a laugh.

"Are you roaring now, Cregan?"

"I am a lion!"

"Those are the words of our house," Jaime explains to the child.

"Hear me roar."