Chapter Text
“I am sorry for your misery, brother. But grateful that my own has been so narrowly avoided.”
Tyrion gave him a commiserative smile.
Once again Jaime found himself in his brother’s quarters, holding yet another glass of wine. This time though he did not intend to drink… he intended to merely deliver the one bit of good news this whole ordeal had afforded.
But Tyrion was unlikely to allow anyone to rest in his rooms for long with a glass of wine appearing in their hand.
Really he should have told his brother the news yesterday but given that his marriage proposal had just been summarily rejected he’d felt justified in shutting himself away and wallowing for a night in his own misery.
“So how did the unrivalled Brienne of Tarth react to your noble gesture?”
Of course, Tyrion had to then bring Brienne up, that slightly knowing smile on his face. Well, news of his dismal failure to win her hand would spread soon enough.
“I asked her to wed me and she would not have me.”
“You… did what?”
Jaime just stared bleakly at his wine cup.
He had hoped Tyrion might take pity on him and spare him from going over the details but his brother was merciless in delving every last word he had spoken out of him. When he finished recounting it, Tyrion just sat wordlessly shaking his head at him.
Eventually he sighed and said,
“So you will find another bride among the hordes of nubile and willing women that will fall at your feet, does it matter so very much?”
Jaime could imagine his future bride now, inoffensively pretty, impeccably polite and correct, knew which dress to wear for which occasion and how properly to address each member of court. Her curtsy would be a sight to behold. She would never refer to him as anything other than ‘my Lord Husband’ and would come when called, lie motionless and proper underneath him during their bedding and endure her duty from then on until her belly swelled with child.
An easy marriage, a simple one and the last thing he wanted.
Tyrion had been watching him carefully and a rather sly smile formed on his face as he took a gulp from his glass.
“Unless of course, you had your heart set on a wedding night with the Lady of Tarth?”
“I don’t think of her in that manner...”
It was an honest enough answer, yes he had on occasion been moved to lust by the woman but when he had proposed marriage he had not given much thought to that aspect.
“So your wish to wed her had nothing to do with any physical desire. It was purely pragmatic.”
“Yes.”
Of course it was, he wanted a wife who knew him, who held no illusions about what he was. Desires of the flesh were secondary concerns.
Tyrion looked wholly unconvinced.
“So if the Maid of Tarth were to stride in here, still adamant that she would not marry you, but demand that you relieve her of the title over there on that table, you would say no?”
Jaime tried to hide his smile behind his cup by taking a sip. The image of Brienne marching in and demanding he relieve her of her maidenhead was an amusing one after-all, almost absurd.
“Oh gods, you wouldn’t would you? Well… looks like I owe Bronn a drink.”
“Stop putting thoughts in my head that don’t belong there brother.”
Tyrion actually looked affronted.
“I am doing nothing of the sort!”
“She doesn’t want to marry me.”
His brother held up a finger to forestall his descent into self-pity.
“Yet… she doesn’t want to marry you yet.”
Tyrion settled back into his chair, drumming his fingers absently against his cup and staring at him. Finally he tilted his head and asked,
“Did it never occur to you to be…romantic?”
“She would not have appreciated it.”
In fact Jaime was willing to bet significant sums that she would have thought he was making fun of her if he’d attempted it, given how long it had taken him to convince her to keep his gift of the necklace.
“She’s a woman, of course she would. You can’t just walk up and demand a marriage, there has to be a wooing first. Gifts, copious amounts of wine, subtle suggestions about your prowess in the bedchamber…none of these would go amiss.”
Jaime tried valiantly to imagine making suggestions about his sexual ability to Brienne and failed utterly to visualize any situation that did not end up with him getting some form of terrible injury in recompense. He was entirely sure the only reason he’d gotten away with his lewdness on the road was that she had sworn to Lady Stark to deliver him home alive.
“It’s Brienne.”
“And, despite appearances, she is a woman. And women wish to be wooed.”
There was a pause and then,
“You really told her you wished to marry her in order to avoid employing a guard?”
Jaime sighed,
“It was meant to be a joke.”
Tyrion grimaced and took a long gulp of his wine.
“You know, I think that is a very serious contender for the single worst proposal of all time, you should be proud, brother.”
They clinked their cups in a mocking toast.
“You might also want to advise your future bride to avoid Joffrey, the news his favoured toy is being given leave to return home has upset him greatly.”
Seven hells, another thing to worry about. He hadn’t known Joffrey was so attached to the Stark girl given that he was engaged to another. He’d have to find Brienne as soon as possible, make sure she wasn’t going to be anywhere in the vicinity of the boy for at least the next month.
The door creaked open and a woman came in, pausing when she caught sight of Jaime. Turning her eyes to Tyrion, she asked slightly apprehensively,
“You are busy?”
“Ah….This is Shae… my… my…”
His brother appeared to be grasping for words that were not there and the woman appeared content to watch him do it.
“My companion,” Tyrion eventually settled on. It appeared to be the right thing to say because a small smile appeared on her lips and she crossed the rest of the way to the table, gracefully taking a seat next to his brother. She leant forward on her hand; eyes flickered over Jaime, considering.
“And who is this?”
Her accent was pronounced but he couldn’t place it…something from over the narrow sea perhaps.
“This is my brother, Jaime.”
“He is handsome.”
Tyrion looked rather put out by that.
“Yes, he is. Thank you for pointing that out. He’s also in love with a giantess who I hear is not to be trifled with.”
Jaime sighed, placing his cup down in front of him, looking from the woman to his brother. Very firmly he said,
“She’s not a giantess and I am not in love with her.”
“But she is not to be trifled with?”
Tyrion smiled at him teasingly and he nodded slightly in reply, a small smile of his own forming.
The woman-Shae- tilted her head, dark curls falling over her shoulder as she looked from brother to brother, “I thought I was not allowed to speak with members of your family.”
“Jaime is….different.”
He watched the way Tyrion’s eyes lingered on the woman, clearly a low-born girl, dressed as a lady’s maid. History repeats itself… and he doubted it would have a happier ending this time.
Suddenly any good mood that had been forming deserted him.
“Well I’d best take my leave… I have to inform father about my latest failure.”
She was not hiding.
This was what Brienne had told herself as she’d snuck out of her rooms at first light, nervously expecting Jaime to accost her from around every corner. It was not hiding, merely looking for some space in which to clear her rather confused thoughts.
Having found a reasonably deserted rooftop, she’d secluded herself away in one of the little seating areas covered with creeping vines and flowers. Hoped Jaime wouldn’t think to look for her up here. She needed time to sit and work through the idea that he had actually proposed marriage. And had seemingly thought she would leap at the chance.
Someone appeared at her shoulder,
“Lady Brienne?”
She nodded shortly. Apparently avoiding everyone in King’s Landing was near impossible.
Her visitor moved very gracefully for a large man, insinuating himself into the seat opposite her. Large but not tall, she easily dwarfed him by a head and a half.
“I’m Lord Varys, your betrothed may have mentioned me to you?”
His voice was strangely breathy, rising and falling with a musical cadence…she thought she might remember him now, hadn’t he been standing by the throne when she’d first been presented to Joffrey?
There was no point pretending she didn’t know who he was talking about.
“Not my betrothed.”
She paused, then begrudgingly added,
“And no he hasn’t.”
“Oh of course, my apologies. Your little love story is rather the talk of court I’m afraid.”
He was looking at her with something like sympathy, but there was an assessing quality to his gaze that she didn’t like…it reminded her of being sat opposite Lady Olenna.
Brienne hated this place, it was like a battleground and she was stranded in the middle without weapons or armour, without even knowing the rules of engagement…and with everyone trying to decide if she was worth making a potential ally. She wished they would all just leave her alone, perhaps a dungeon cell would have even been preferable to this.
“You’re afraid?”
“Yes, there have been those who have taken it with a…less than graceful temper.”
Cersei. She hadn’t even considered how Jaime’s sister would react when she heard.
“Such an unusual choice in bride does rather stir tongues. Very few people would have thought Jaime Lannister the type of man to choose a bride with any… substance.”
This is what she had been saving Jaime from, from people laughing at him behind his back. If he’d married her they would have constantly been whispering, pointing, laughing with pity.
“Don’t mock him.”
He looked surprised,
“My lady, far from it! I was praising his choice. Most men have their heads turned by the inconsequential…beauty, charm, fleeting things. So few seek true value in their potential brides.”
With his shimmering dull green robe he almost seemed to blend back into the foliage behind him. She found herself wondering who this strange man was and why he’d chosen to seek her out.
“Why are you telling me this?”
“I rather enjoy curiosities… most people are so dull, don’t you find? And you, my lady, are exceptionally curious. A woman who dresses like a man and disdains the intrigues of court.”
He gave her a small, rather sad smile then.
“Some advice, my lady…curiosities have a limited lifespan in King’s Landing, unless they find some way to become indispensable. Marry Jaime Lannister, accept the protection the position brings or I fear your time among us may be lamentably brief.”