Taywin the Lioness

The Lioness and Her Cub

I laid there in my bed, still in Winterfell, do I ever miss the southern shores. The warmth of the sun beating down on my back, the sea so calm and lapping the rocks below. I would ride my horse sometimes over the shore and past the Stokeworth's mansion, Lolly Stokeworth might have been a a ding bat but I do miss her. We would spend hours just standing or splashing water on the other near the cape.

I pushed the thought aside but it always came back, Kings Landing, the city that I was born in and the city I wanted to rule. No, I want to rule the Seven Kingdoms but I would never. Then my mind realized it, Jon Arryn was murdered, he was in fine health for his age and just up and died. Someone had intended for him to die and his wife Lisa Arryn just up and left.

How I hated that bitch, she might be Lady Stark's sister but Lady Catelyn but Lady Stark had no idea what her sister was like anymore. And little Rob, poor boy and sickly thing from the start and always throwing fits over the slightest things. Now I was royalty and required nothing but the best, since I am a Lannister but that boy thought himself the King.

It was a sure thing to, Lisa Arryn hated us Lannisters and would do anything to see us fall but how could I believe such a woman would murder her husband. But yet again I could tell from the look on her face that she hated, loathed being married to Jon Arryn. She had wanted someone younger, someone she had already fell for. Lisa Arryn wasn't stupid but her heart was a woman's and very dangerous, she would have to be convinced to do such. But who could convince her?

I pondered over this but was distracted by a knock at the door, it was soft but I understood it. It had meant 'I will be nice but you are letting me in' so I sat up and stumbled out of bed and reached for my robe and tied it around me before opening the door.

I let the door crack open and peek out, I saw my Mother standing there, in all her radiance in the morning light. It had only been a day since Brandon Stark's fall, in which every Stark blamed me. I tried telling the them that it wasn't my fault, I never saw him slip and I didn't see anyone push him.

I opened the door more and curtsied," Mother." She stepped in, her skirts swishing behind her. She stopped t the middle of the room and took a seat by the fire and tightening her furs around her shoulders, her green eyes beckoned me to join her.

Closing the door and straightening my robe and gown beneath before I went to the fire and took my seat next to where she had sat. Her eyes seemed to dim as she spoke," I told you earlier that I would speak to you in private. I know how you feel," Her long hand weaved through my hair, her hair," I felt the same once. I was frightened and afraid."

Her face softened and became less grave," There was once a time I felt something for Robert," not my 'father' but his name," it was years ago. It was the time when I was getting married to him, when the sept doors opened I was the happiest young girl ever. My heart fluttered in my chest as I saw him. Tall, black bearded and lean, a warrior, my King."

Then her face changed, it became bitter and unforgiving," That was before I realized that I was nothing to him, he had loved another woman and still does. I will not lie to you Taywin, men like your Father are pigs and care not of you." She then pulled me into a motherly hug," I will never make you marry such, I will leave it up to you."

When she pulled back I saw the tears in her beautiful eyes, she was a lioness and I her cub, she then placed a kiss on my forehead, her lips were soft and warm in this northern cold wasteland. She then held my shoulders and gave me some advice that I would later take to heart," In this world Taywin, anyone that is not us, is an enemy." With this she left me in my room lone with my thoughts.

I bowed my head in respect, I knew what she had meant. She wants me to trust her and my family alone,  that is her wish. She wants nothing with these Starks, these northerners but somewhere in my heart I found it hard to hate them. But a mother's wishes aren't to be set aside so idly.

I found it hard to hate my friends, or were they my friends. Did they fake it all? Do they even like me?

Those thoughts filled and swarmed my mind, my Mother had left minutes ago and yet still I'm wondering what her words really meant. Then it hit me, I realized it like the cold wind that wakes the watcher on the walls. The howl of direwolves in the night under a moon light night. The sudden wetness of stepping under a waterfall.

I was asked to play the game of thrones. I was asked to take  chance of my life on the Iron Throne, to never trust another but myself, to be alone. No happiness, no ending to the torment of ruling and playing in the shadows.

I will win or I will die, there never was a middle ground, nor will there be. But, what if I were to win? I would be Queen of the Iron Throne and the Seven Kingdoms. My Mother knew I had a chance, even if it is a small one, she knew. She understood the game and wants me to understand as well.

So be it Mother...

***

So sorry that it is short but I didn't want to run in two chapters at once. I will make it up though. Need to still get in the thoughts and dialogue of the story and the game itself and the feelings of Taywin with other characters, I promise that next will be longer and more details!

Don't hate me :)

-Samantha