The Wolf and The Lion || Jaime Lannister

Forty Nine

Rayna

Tonight there will be a feast to celebrate the victory and the independence of the North.
While it is being prepared I call a meeting.
Jaime, Sansa, Jon, Brienne, Podrick, Tormund, Davos, and Bronn sit around a table.
"I called you here because you are the people I trust"
"What about the Blackfish, Lord Royce and Lord Baelish?" Davos asks.
"They are powerful men, some whom would rather seek to control me than to advise me except for me uncle who is working to retake the Riverlands, Lord Royce will be my ambassador to the Vale and Littlefinger, well he won't be staying here for too much longer"
They each look confused, except for Jaime who wears a small, proud little smile.
"I am a Northern Queen and therefore I must publicly remain true to Northern Traditions", I begin "The Kings of Old had no hands or Kingsguards, none of the southern traditions but with the state the North is in I will need some form of council to assist me and that is why you are here"
"You want me to sit on a small council", Bronn laughs.
"Well you're here because you are Jaimes right hand man and as an anointed knight and a sellsword I believe you can help me in replenishing my armies"
Jaime blurts out incredulously "You want an army of sellswords?"
"No but winter is coming and so are the dead, we need men and Bronn I believe you will be quite convincing in recruiting men"
"Your not wrong there" he says "But I want payment"
Jaime gives me a look as if he's saying 'if you mentioned this I would have warned you'.
"I'll take care of your payment", Jaime assures him.
"Now Jon, I am putting you in charge of making the necessary preparations for the white walkers, you know them better than any of us, anything you need I will assist you with"
"Thank you", he nods "I have Samwell Tarly on his way to the citadel to find out what he can"
"Ser Davos, you spent many years serving Stannis Baratheon, a King, and I believe that your experience is invaluable, you have shown your loyalty to my brother and I ask that you remain in the North to serve and advise us"
"I would be honoured your grace", he says bashfully. I know that he needs a purpose here and I will give him one.
"Tormund, will you act as a representative for the freefolk who are welcome in the North"
He nods and he doesn't need words for me to know that he is thankful, as am I for his help in the battle of the bastards.
I look to Brienne and then to Jaime. I will always regret my jealousy and how I treated Brienne. I know in my gut that she did love Jaime, perhaps she still does but he loves me and Brienne has protected me better than most.
"Brienne I name you protector of the Queen, in a position that I would say is equivalent to Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, you saved me from the Bolton's and you have remained true to your every oath and I would be honoured to have you protecting me"
She stares in awe and shock for a moment then smiles brightly. "Thank you your Grace, I am honoured"
Jaime smiles to himself and looks both proud of us and relieved.
"Jaime", I say as I look at him. Even now after all this time looking at him takes my breath away. When I first laid eyes on him I thought he was the most handsome man in the seven kingdoms, even now years later with a bit of grey coming through his hair and all the grief of the past few years having aged him he is still the most handsome man I have ever seen. I try not to blush or show too much affection, even though everyone seated at this table knows about us "You are a soldier and an experienced commander, I ask that you lead my armies"
"Of course", he accepts and I know that position will give him the purpose he's been lacking since he was removed from the Kingsguard.
"The Northern Lords will not accept a Lannister leading the Northern army", Sansa interrupts.
"No they won't, I will call them for a meeting in the following days, I've already sent ravens to our bannermen"
I know Sansa will be difficult but she is right. She is one of the smartest people I know and unlike me she won't let emotions get in the way. She will tell me exactly what she thinks.
"Rayna, the Lords will want to know why Jaime is still here, what will you tell them?" She asks.
"The truth", I answer. I am their queen they will have to accept it.
"Which part of it, the one you told me or the one you told Jon?"
The room is dead silent as I glare at Sansa. She wouldn't dare expose what Jaime did to Bran.
"Rayna what does she mean?" Jon asks.
It's Bronn who breaks the silence "I think that's our cue to leave"
Everyone except Jaime, Jon, Sansa and I leaves.
"Rayna?" Jon asks.
"Sansa you should choose your words very carefully", I warn. I told her the truth about Jaime when everything went to shit in Kings Landing, when Father was prisoner. She was too young to fully understand, too young to feel angry. Now she is angry. "Anger makes people do unfortunate things"
"If you plan to marry him and bring him into our home and our family you both should be honest", she says.
Jaime shifts in his chair uncomfortably and Jon tenses up and asks him "What could you have possibly done that I don't know about?"
Funnily enough I remember asking the same question about Jaime before Father told me everything.
Jaime opens his mouth to speak and I know he will confess.
"Sansa, Jon already knows Jaime was in a relationship with Cersei", I say cutting off Jaime immediately and trying to cover up the truth. Jon can be hotheaded and if he finds out Jaime crippled Bran...
"My mistake", she says smiling stiffly.
"Jon could you leave us please, Sansa and I have a few things we need to discuss"
He stands and leaves without any argument, not wanting to get involved in what is about the come.
"You know why I did it", Jaime says to Sansa.
"I know but still you are here while my brother isn't", Sansa growls.
"Jaime wait for me outside", I order.
He squeezes my hand and eyes me carefully. I can tell he's more worried about me snapping at Sansa than him being exposed.
I wait until he leaves and closes the door behind him before I speak.
"Why would you say that?"
She doesn't flinch, she remains strong and steady as she says "He crippled our little brother who is most likely dead"
"He did it to save his family, his children", I say, I came to terms with what he did and why years ago. I would have done the same for my family.
"Yes his children, the sadistic king who had our fathers head removed and tormented me for years", she snaps and I can see the shadows in her eyes. The anger that remains there. Something I'm far too familiar with.
"He had no love for Joffrey", I remind her.
"So he did it for Cersei, hadn't he already begun courting you when he pushed Bran, hadn't you already begun to fall for him before Bran caught them having sex in the tower"
Perhaps Jaime should have stayed here, not to defend himself but to stop me from snapping violently. However I clench my fist and try to restrain myself.
"Yes, Jaime spoke to me at the feast, yes we connected then Cersei summoned him to the tower to scream at him for it then they ended up fucking, and Bran saw them. Jaime didn't want to do it, he is a good man, he didn't want to cripple a little boy or to hurt him but he did it because he knew if Bran mentioned it to anyone Robert would have killed Cersei and the children"
"So he did it for Cersei", she says. I can see what she's doing. She's trying to put doubt and anger into my mind towards Jaime. That ship sailed years ago.
"He did it to protect his family, he crippled a boy to save his family", I repeat then my voice begins to raise "And I would have done the same and worse to protect our family, I did everything I could to protect our family, to protect you"
She swallows hard and can't meet my gaze.
"I tried to protect you the most, I tried to shield you from Joffrey as much as I could, I took the brunt of Cersei's cruelty so you wouldn't have to, I tried so hard to make sure you wouldn't be hurt if that escape failed"
"But it did fail", she snaps "You were gone and no one was left to protect me, except for Littlefinger. They married me to Tyrion Lannister when I was still a child, I was a prisoner for years while you were free"
"If you ran with me from those guards you would be dead. Yes you were a prisoner and they married you to Tyrion Lannister but he never even touched you Sansa, unlike my husband", I half scream at her and she flinches. She can't look at me as I walk closer to her "I remember Jaime having to stop me from trying to get to Arya when I saw her hiding because he knew if I ran to her I'd be cut down, he was the one who saved me that night. I could have gotten on a ship and sailed far away with him but no I sent him to find you, to help you escape and he would have helped you if Littlefinger didn't implicate you in Joffreys murder"
"In the end it was Littlefinger who helped me escape", she says but her wall is breaking and I can see what Littlefinger has done. He's been speaking to her, getting inside her head.
"Really, you know if I wasn't wed to Ramsay Littlefinger would have married you to him, be grateful you were married to Tyrion and not to Ramsay", I say icily as my voice raises "I sent you away to safety when I thought it could be dangerous, I did it to protect you, I have always done everything I can to protect you and you dare stand here and say I didn't do enough"
She finally gives in "I'm sorry"
I lean against the table and exhale in frustration.
"Sansa, as far as we know you and me are the last trueborn Starks, we cannot be fighting like this", I say as calmly as I can and I know who has been trying to turn Sansa against me "Have you been speaking to Littlefinger?"
"Yes", she says naively. She trusts him.
"Don't", I order.
"He said that if I don't convince you to leave Jaime then-"
"Then what?", I ask seeing the apprehension in her eyes.
"Then the Northerners will rebel, that they will force you to abdicate if you marry a Lannister"
Ironically she is doing this to protect me but I can't help but laugh as I figure out Littlefingers plan.
"He once said his end goal is to be the King of the Seven Kingdoms with me by his side. His first step towards that is becoming the King in the North by marrying me and if I marry Jaime then he will remove me and marry the next heir to Winterfell, you"
"He wouldn't, he's so old", she says in disgust.
"Don't be naive you are only a few years younger than me, now that you look like a grown woman you must avoid him at all cost"
"What will you do?"
"He is conspiring to manipulate me into marriage and take power for himself and if that doesn't work then to have me removed from power so he can take it for himself. That is treason"
"You're going to kill him", she realises.
"Yes"
I stand and go to leave but she stops me.
"I'm sorry about what I said, about Jaime", she says pleading for forgiveness. As cold as she might have been she knows that I love her and I know that she loves me.
"Jon isn't the sharpest man, I can cover it up. You and I are the only ones who know the full truth, if it is exposed I won't even be able to protect him"
She takes my hand "Rayna, you know that the Lords will be furious if you marry Jaime. They say Robb lost the war the moment he married Talisa, don't make the same mistake he did", she says softly, almost pleading.
I try to ignore what she says but I know it will gnaw at me as it is the truth.
"Sansa I need to be able to trust you"
"You can", she promises "I'm sorry, Littlefinger is just-"
"I know what he is", I finish "I understand how he gets inside your head but I need to promise you to stay away from him"
"I promise", she says holding my hands tightly.
"Then Sansa Stark I name you hand of the Queen"

Jaime

I don't think they realise just how thin the doors are here. Good thing she sent Jon away otherwise he would have heard the whole conversation. Although I wouldn't be surprised if he managed to hear Rayna screaming at Sansa from down the hall.
A lot of what Sansa's saying is right.
They will be furious if I marry Rayna.
They compare her to Robb in many ways, I'm sure if we marry they'll compare it to Robb marrying Talisa.
No matter how much I prove my loyalty to her I will always be a Lannister. I will always be seen as an enemy here no matter how much praise Rayna gives me publicly. No matter what I do I am the Kingslayer. Now and always.
I can't be her downfall.
I remember her begging me to do the honourable thing and leave her, all those years ago.
She may be Queen but I am not welcome in the North.
She is lying to Jon, withholding the truth to save me. It's time to do the honourable thing and tell the truth.
She has her family now. They will protect her more than I can. I will only bring her down.
I should know by now that it's impossible to love a Queen.
I need her, I need her more than I've ever needed anyone but I want to be a good man.
The best thing I can do is leave before I cause a revolt against her.
I can only pray she forgives me for this.