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Jaime stepped out of the room, platter in hand and watched in silence as the guard outside the door set about drawing the heavy bolt into its place. A big fellow he was, a wildling if Jaime wasn’t mistaken.
“Such care isn’t required. She is hardly likely to go anywhere” Jaime found himself saying bitterly, the reminder of who exactly it was that was imprisoned in the room making him taste bile.
The man continued with his work without giving the least hint that he had heard him. Ah yes, the Kingslayer’s words held no weight now, especially here in Winterfell. On second thoughts he was glad that Cersei was held in such an impregnable room surrounded by two dozen guards instead of falling victim to Arya Stark.
The war was over. Daenarys Targaeryan sat on the Iron Throne now, ruler of the seven kingdoms. Her husband, The King in the North stood next to her along with her Hand, his little brother. The irony threatened to choke him and he hoped that Tywin Lannister was rolling in his grave. His two golden children held prisoner by the Starks until the Queen’s sentencing while his despised last born reigned as the second most powerful man in the land. The sheer ridiculousness of the situation was the only thing that kept Jaime sane. Unlike Cersei.
Jaime turned to leave when the moonlight spilling down the narrow steps leading up to the parapet, threw into sharp relief a rounded figure who appeared to be gazing south. Jaime hesitated for a moment before throwing caution to the wind and started to make his way up to join his good sister. His lips twisted into a mocking smile as he used his working hand to hold on to the grey stones while navigating the steep steps. Sansa Stark had imprisoned Cersei in the same tower little Bran Stark had found them eight years ago and it would be a truly delicious twist of fate if he were to fall from the tower steps and break his neck.
He managed to reach the parapet without mishap and made his way over to the lone figure standing at the edge.
“Good evening” he called out although he knew she had been aware of his presence the moment he had stepped on the parapet. ”Stargazing are we?”
She inclined her head slightly but made no move to answer him. Her gaze remained stubbornly fixed on the south.
“Are you looking for a raven?” he stepped forward genuinely curious. Tyrion and her bastard brother were at King’s Landing assisting the Targaeryan woman and a raven would mean some sort of news. Sometimes he thought that the boredom he felt at Winterfell would kill him off before the actual axe fell.
“A raven came from Tyrion at dawn. He will be arriving at Winterfell tonight “The words were spoken coldly.
“He would hardly want you forgoing sleep to wait for him in the middle of the night” Jaime pointed out absently while his mind processed the information. His relationship with his brother was…complicated. On one hand he still loved him as fiercely as he always had. On the other-the sting of betrayal was still too sharp.
“It is of no concern to me. Tyrion knows well that I shall do exactly as I choose in matters like this” her voice had turned even colder. He hadn’t thought it possible.
He took a good look at her for the first time since he had been brought to this accursed place. Gone was the pretty, gentle girl he had met at King’s Landing. In her place stood a cold, proud woman boasting of a beauty which appeared to be carved from ice. He wondered why Tyrion had chosen to continue with this marriage. She certainly didn’t look like the type to warm a bed.
“You have changed” He knew he was treading on dangerous ground but he couldn’t help himself. “I am afraid I never got to know you but Cersei gave me the impression that you were the epitome of softness”. Cersei had in point used some rather different words but well-details.
“A lot has happened to change me. To change all of us” she replied coolly. Her eyes never moved. “When I last saw your sister she was the Queen Regent and the most powerful woman in Westeros. Now she is a raving lunatic locked away in a tower waiting for her death”.
Jaime flinched, the words hitting hard. His good sister not only knew how to fight but also the best place to land a blow. Suddenly filled with a strong desire to hurt her just as she had hurt him , he spat his next words out without thinking them through.
“For a woman who hates Lannisters you didn’t waste much time before jumping into bed with one of them”
Silence. The north wind whistled through his hair reminding him that he wasn’t on Kings landing with the entire might of the Iron throne behind him but was instead a prisoner standing on the edge of a Tower in the middle of the night who had just insulted his jailer. He braced himself as Lady Sansa turned around for the first time in this entire conversation to look at him.
Her cold, blue gaze swept over him before finally fixing on his face, the sheer disgust and contempt in them making the hairs on the back of his neck tingle.
“I chose to spend my life with a good man Lannister, a kind man who I know will love and protect and cherish me till I die. The only man with whom I have felt safe in these last seven years of hell that you and your sister unleashed upon Westeros. It is unfortunate that he belongs to the House Lannister but sometimes one has to choose to ignore certain details to be with the person you want. I am sure a man who fucked his sister will agree to that”
For one dangerous moment Jaime glared into her pale blue eyes. He found that his breath was coming faster than usual and he found himself annoyed and angry beyond measure at her words although he couldn’t precisely say why. Was it because she had insulted him and Cersei? Or was it because she had implied that she and Tyrion were happy together? The idea that his traitor brother had found happiness both angered and gladdened him.
She had turned back again. He knew he should leave but he couldn’t help asking one last question.
“Did Tyrion send news as to our fates? Or is the Queen too busy to start killing people?”
Sansa did not speak for a long moment. He had just decided that no answer was forthcoming when her voice rung out, clear and lacking in any form of emotion. “Cersei is to be put to death next month”
Even knowing the outcome didn’t prevent the rush of grief that overwhelmed him on hearing her words. Cersei, his beautiful, golden, warm sister, the woman he had loved for almost all of his life. She had been a cruel woman, a ruthless, selfish woman but he had loved her. Even now, when all she did was look at him with that frighteningly vacant stare, he loved her. He clenched his teeth and swore that he wouldn’t cry before this frigid bitch.
“And me?”
“You too are to be executed on the same date”
He nodded. He had expected it. The Queen was hardly likely to forgive the man who had murdered her father.
“But” his good sister’s voice had him stilling. She continued, the words clearly costing her effort “Tyrion writes that you will be given opportunities to-escape. You will have to leave Westeros of course but the Queen has privately assured him that she won’t put much effort into finding you if you never show your face in Westeros ever again”.
Jaime stared at her. “Why?” he demanded incredulously.
“The Queen is a fair woman. She understands that her father was a cruel man and while she cannot risk looking weak by publicly pardoning you she is willing to make some concessions privately”
“Ah yes, dooming a man to exile while taking everything and everyone away from him is a fine concession” Jaime spat.
Sansa’s back straightened and her posture grew more rigid although she didn’t turn to face him. “It’s the least you deserve” she said acidly. ”Besides you clearly aren’t as friendless as you think. In addition to Tyrion, you also possess the devotion of one of my knights”
Jaime swallowed. Brienne. He had avoided her ever since he had been brought to Winterfell. He had a feeling she had been doing the same too.
Looking at her was painful. The short period of time he had spent with her during the war had been…different. She had been different from everything he had known. And he had been a different Jaime, a happier Jaime, a Jaime that he had wanted to be when he had been young. A Jaime that he could have been if he hadn’t been born the son of Tywin Lannister ,if he hadn’t slain his king, if he hadn’t fallen in love with his sister.
When the war had been coming to an end and the fighting had reached its peak, he had sometimes tried to escape the daily horror by fantasising about being in a different world, a world where he had married the Maid of Tarth and fulfilled his purpose as an honourable knight. Where he and Brienne had had golden haired children whom he had openly loved and cherished, a world where they had lived out their life in peace like so many before them had.
“I would not ask that of her “he mumbled, willing the taste of acid to go away. “She lives to be a knight. I would not plunge her into exile with me”
“I believe the Free cities too need honourable soldiers” Sansa said coolly. “I could be mistaken but I believe Lady Brienne might enjoy such a life, even if it means exile. She has nothing more to look forward to in Winterfell and she is of too honourable a disposition to navigate life alone in Westeros”
Jaime gave a harsh barking laugh. He knew extremely well the problems attached to Brienne of Tarth’s sense of honour. It had nearly got them killed several times on their journey together.
“Why are you telling me this?” he asked curiously. He was well aware that Sansa Stark despised him and Cersei with all her heart and he had no idea why she was extending this olive branch.
She was silent for a minute. Slowly, she replied giving him the impression that she was choosing her words with great care.
“War-has changed everything I knew or thought I knew. I no longer recognize the people I used to love, I no longer believe in what I used to believe and I can now count the number of people I hold dear on one hand”
She stopped. Jaime wisely refrained from saying anything.
“Your brother” she paused for a moment. “Your brother-I hold dear. It is for his sake that I allow you to feed your sister when all my instincts tell me to let Arya skin her alive and it is for his sake that I let you roam free around Winterfell instead of throwing you off this tower as you once did to my brother Bran.”
Jaime flinched. The Starks’s anger was stronger than he had thought.
“I cannot wish him pain and I know that to see you killed would break his heart. My advice to you is therefore this, Kingslayer- take the Queen’s offer and leave”
The wind had picked up, Jamie thought. It now swirled around them ruffling her skirts and even whipping a strand of her tightly braided red hair loose. He realised with a start that he was shivering from the cold.
“I’ll leave you to your watch then my Lady” he said slowly, suddenly glad he couldn’t see her face. She inclined her head slightly and he turned to leave. Reaching the stairs he started his descent but stopped suddenly. There was something he had to say.
“Take care of him” He cleared his throat, a dull, deep sadness overwhelming him. His sister,his brother and all for what?
“For what it’s worth I’m glad he has you”
It was barely audible but he heard her answering whisper.
“I’m glad I have him too”
Jaime nodded one last time and left leaving the Lady of Winterfell to her vigil.