A Shadow and a Wolf

Shae I

On the other side of the castle, in the servant's wing, a young black-haired woman with dark eyes laid on a simple bed among many others. Shae got the opportunity to go to sleep before the other handmaidens since her mistress had left the wedding before everyone else. But she was there during the whole ceremony until the time for the bedding came. She was there when the king threatened to come and see Sansa to rape her in the night while two Kingsguards would hold her. She had wanted to plant the dagger attached to her leg in the throat of the monster. But it was suicidal and proved useless finally. It wasn't her who saved the poor girl. It was Tyrion, threatening to geld the king when he insisted for the bedding ceremony. Shae saw everything from over the dais. She feared for Tyrion's life when the hall went silent, but it was over soon enough. Tyrion escaped by pretending to be drunker than he was. Shae had seen Tyrion drunk more than often. She knew when he reached his limits and how he acted when he was really drunk. All this had been an act. Everything except the gelding threat.

He had protected Sansa as he did before. Shae never cared about that once. Tyrion had placed her as Sansa's personal handmaiden not long after they arrived in King's Landing because Shae was bored. But he also charged her to keep an eye on Sansa, to prevent anything bad from happening to her. Shae didn't complain. She liked the girl. Sansa reminded Shae of herself when she was her age. She had lost everything and everyone she loved. She had become her confident and worked closely with Tyrion to prevent Joffrey from hurting her. Shae felt useful during this period. She was doing something good, something else than fucking a man who paid her.

Then, one day, Tyrion came to see Sansa. He asked to speak to her alone, something Shae couldn't understand. She voiced her protests loudly and refused to leave, something Sansa granted her. Then Tyrion spoke and she learned the crushing truth: they would marry. Not me and Tyrion. Sansa and Tyrion. It was a good thing Sansa was shocked as well as she was, or else the girl could have discovered there was something between Shae and Tyrion. She couldn't believe it. Yet it was true, the wedding of this day was proof enough now. That wasn't supposed to be like this. She and her lion were supposed to be together. Tyrion was hers. And Shae was his. They had said it to each other not long before the Battle of Blackwater. Shae could never forget that night.

She was waiting in the Tower of the Hand. Tyrion lived here at this time, before his father kicked him out when he came back. She had liked to sleep with Tyrion in the Hand's bed. It gave her the impression to wield some power. And these nights with him... they were wonderful. When she met Tyrion for the first time she wasn't really sure what to expect from him. She was a camp follower back then, serving some knight in Tywin Lannister's army. She couldn't even remember his name. Then one day she heard the son of Lord Tywin (the second one, the one they called the Imp, not the first and handsome one Shae spotted briefly at the beginning of the campaign) had arrived with three thousand hill tribes men from the Vale of Arryn. Shae didn't pay much attention to this first. But then, a few days later, as they neared the Green Fork, some sellsword approached her while she was washing the knight's clothes. They began to chat about all and everything. Shae liked this one. Then he declared she would be very fitting. Shae refused first. He was a sellsword and, even though he seemed quite funny and of good company, she couldn't accept. He would never offer her more than her knight. But that wasn't for him he wanted her. It was for the lord he served: Tyrion Lannister. Shae had been dumbfounded then. She had heard a lot of rumors about the Imp, some horrible, some very funny. What would await her with him? Though, it seemed to be a reasonable risk to take. He was the son of Tywin Lannister, the richest men in the Seven Kingdoms. She would be paid at least ten times what she was right now. That could even be her chance to leave whoring after some time. She had dropped the wet clothes and followed Bronn to Tyrion's tent. And when the knight tried to stop her, Bronn broke his arm.