B L O O M

As Long as it Takes

"When I was a child, my brother would tell me a bedtime story, about the man who murdered our father. Who stabbed him in the back and cut his throat. Who sat down on the Iron Throne and watched as his blood poured onto the floor."

Daenerys's eyes hadn't left Jaime as she spoke, her chilling voice suffocated the hall as Rose watched closely. Jaime stood, helpless in front of the Dragon Queen, and Rose couldn't do anything to stop it.

"He told me other stories as well. About all the things we would do to that man, once we took back the seven kingdoms and had him in our grasp. Your sister pledged to send her army north."

Jaime's eyes flickered to the side, onto Tyrion who also watched helplessly. Rose desperately tried to rip her eyes from Jaime. To hide her face to avoid hearing the condemning words she feared Daenerys would say. But, she couldn't seem to tear her eyes from the high table, with Jaime at its mercy.

"She did."

"I don't see an army." Daenerys's icy stare countered the warm anger that also glimmered beneath her skin. "I see one man, with one hand. It appears your sister lied to me."

"She lied to me as well. She never had any intention of sending her army north." Jaime attempted to reason with Daenerys, settling for listing Cersei's advantages. "She has Euron Greyjoy's fleet and twenty thousand fresh troops. The Golden Company from Essos, bought and paid for. Even if we defeat the dead, she'll have more than enough to destroy the survivors."

"We?"

"I promised to fight for the living, I intend to keep that promise." Jaime answered, making Rose smile with pride at the honorable man that she was proud to call brother.

"Your grace, I know my brother—" Tyrion said before Daenerys cut him off with a rageful stare.

"Like you knew your sister." Daenerys glared down at Tyrion, making Rose bite her lip anxiously.

"He came here alone, knowing full well how he'd be received. Why would he do that if he weren't telling the truth?" Rose speaks, rising from her chair to walk down the hall to stand beside Jaime. Her face desperately pleading with Daenerys as Dany scowled at her, all previous warmth gone.

"Perhaps he trusts his little brother and sister to defend him, right up to the movement he slits my throat." Dany added, her eyes locked on Rose's gentle brown eyes.

"You're right, we can't trust him. He attacked my father in the streets. He tried to destroy my house and my family, the same as he did yours." Sansa defended Daenerys, earning a look of bewilderment from Rose. Knowing that the two hadn't gotten along thus far.

"Do you want me to apologize? I won't. We were at war. Everything I did, I did for my House and my family. I'd do it all again." Jaime claimed, making Rose turn away from him in clear disgust.

"The things we do for love." Bran said, his dead voice catching everyone's attention. Rose kept her eyes locked with Jaime, her golden brother watching Bran with pain in his eyes.

The hall was silent as the two stared at one another, Bran and Jaime's confused stares confounding the rest as they watched quietly.

"So, why have you abandoned your House and family now?" Dany asked, scoffing at the obvious lie the Lannister traitor was spewing rom his deceitful mouth.

"Other than the fact that my family is here?" Jaime attempted to joke, before his face turned stoic and still once more. Glancing at Brienne, before turning to face the Dragon Queen once more. "Because this goes beyond loyalty, this is about survival."

Brienne stood from her chair with a determined look upon her face as she moved to stand beside Rose. Her large frame Standing beside Rose's small one was almost comical, but the humorless masks on their faces were anything but.