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“The Dwarf!” Robert bellows, “Are you trying to have me fight another war?”
Gerion bristles at the insult to Tyrion, but, he holds his tongue.
It was sheer folly for Tywin to suggest it.
If Princess Loreza denied marrying her daughter to Tyrion, it was audacity of Tywin to think that Robert would allow it now. Tyrion was a clever boy; but, a boy was a boy and though a Lannister, this was no less an insult than it was so many years ago. Tywin never did learn. When he offered Tyrion as a baby to Princess Loreza, he’d meant it as an insult; after all, they were all surprised Tyrion lived but now…if Tywin wants to offer Cersei as Robert’s bride as he had once for Rhaegar, then, he is going to have to take his medicine.
To Robert, despite his feelings for the woman’s former husband or even her children, she was a different matter entirely. Or perhaps this was Jon Arryn’s doing.
Then again, he had only just arrived in King’s Landing. He has heard all sorts of things. He also heard about what had been done to her.
His brother believed he needed to show that they were firmly in-step with Robert’s cause so Tywin though to present the bodies of the Targaryen children to the new king. Well and good, even though he thought it was beyond the pale.
Tywin had been furious; he’d ordered the children smothered. His brother whispered to him that regarding the murder of children. He’d been furious to learn of it all. Children! If it had been his choice, he would have secured the children, not killed them. How difficult would have been to keep the girl and marry her off to Robert’s heir or shunt her off to the Silent Sisters. That would have been nothing. As for the boy, send him to the Night’s Watch or to the Faith. And for the life of him he could not even remember if the boy had been old enough to walk. That, of itself, said plenty.
But, no, Tywin would not have listed to him and because he did not, his brother sent his beasts. There was only one problem with that. Well, two though the new king was only concerned with one: Princess Elia lived. The problem was she had not lived well.
It was bad enough the children were butchered. The girl was stabbed over 50 times and the boy was ripped from the princess’ hands. He’d only just got here and still saw the signs of his brother’s doings. That alone had done them no favors. And Tywin’s man had done more and dishonored a princess.
Gregor Clegane and Amory Lorch had been handed over to the Dornish, of course. Tywin was many things, but, he was not going to accuse Princess Elia of lying outright. What were two now useless pawns besides? Jaime had seen enough and Crakehall and the rest, too. There was no denying what had been done or who did it.
While Tywin did not outright say it, his brother had known the possibility when he sent his own men to King’s Landing. For all that he does mistrust Tywin, he cannot imagine that Tywin hadn’t thought of the kind of men he was sending to King’s Landing. Killers of babes would not stop there, would they?
He knew for years his brother was capable of cruelty. He’d been there to witness what Tywin had done to Serra, after all. Tywin forced Serra to humiliate herself before all Lannisport after he had her stripped of her clothes and the jewels.
“She had the audacity to wear Mother’s jewels!” Oh, that had been funny when it came from Tywin and Kevan. It was not as though Mother was wearing them. Besides, would Serra have dared if their father did not allow it? Tywin may have thought it a slight against their mother, but, he never knew Jeyne Marbrand. He had known Serra. She had always been kind to him. He never forgot how Serra was driven from his life. All that for the crime of being a candlemaker’s daughter who caught the eye of their father.
Alas, Princess Elia was not a candlemaker’s daughter, was she? No, she was a Princess, twice over if one counted Dornish ways. He did not, not truly, but it seemed Robert softened on her for some reason that Tywin himself wasn’t privy to. And hadn’t that stuck in his older brother’s craw?
Tywin overplayed his hand once before when it came to the Princess Elia. If he had allowed her for Jaime, Aerys would have never sought her for his heir. And now this? It was a wonder his laughter did not make it past his throat.
Jon Arryn says archly, “We are trying to unify the realm. That will not work.”
In the spirit of mending fences, or at least the appearance of it, Robert, or rather Jon Arryn, demanded one more thing from their house. The price of being welcomed into the fold was restore the Princess’ honor by marriage to one of their own.
Jon Arryn tuts, “Doran Martell sent 10,000 men reluctantly. I do not want to imagine how many he would send if he was truly angry.”
“The Dornish do not have that many men. The Young Dragon must have embellished.”
Robert snarled. “He barely held Dorne and for a year at most. I do not care if nothing out of that damn fool’s mouth was a fallacy. I don’t want to hear another word about your son, either of them, really. Pick another kinsman unless you want to be the one marching down the Sept!”
Oh, he almost laughed that time.
Perhaps, his brother saw that. The next thing he knew he was the one offered up.
The laughter died in his throat.
A week before the wedding, he goes to her.
He should be a braver man than he feels when he is around her. Yet, he avoids her. His first attempt had been disastrous.
She lets him in because she has must, not because she was eager to see him. “You do not have to pay court to me. I am not going to run away if that is your fear.”
As if controlled by another, he says, “I am not fearful of that.”
Her eyes narrow. “Then why are you here?”
“We are to be married.”
She glances at him archly. “I am aware.” He is somewhat glad she is not broken completely, but, he is not certain he is enjoying this. But, he thinks it may be the Dornish in her.
“You have no thoughts on the subject?”
“I have plenty,” she replies tartly.
He presses, “And?”
“‘And’ what?”
“Do you have any expectations-”
She laughs bitterly, “From a Lannister?”
Damn Tywin to hell! He thinks it not for the first time and probably not the last.
He is too old to flush in shame like a maiden. “I meant from me in particular.”
Something behind her gaze flickers but it was gone quickly. “What expectations do you believe that I should have?”
He is not usually so disarmed by a woman. She was going to be his wife. Surely, he should be more controlled than this. “I-Do you not wish something from me as my wife?”
The silence is near deafening. Then, she heaves a heavy sigh. “When you are to bed another woman, please do so discretely. Otherwise, no.”
He is almost insulted that he does not even warrant an “if”.
“You think I will stray already?”
“Since you are so eager to please me, do me the courtesy of acting like you have any sense.” Blithely she adds, “We are not marrying for love.”
That was true enough.
“Is there nothing you want from me?”
Her lips turn downwards. “Can you get back the virtue your brother’s man stole from me? Can you bring back my children from the dead?”
He whispers, “No.”
Tears fill her eyes then, but, he cannot say they were from sadness or rage. He cannot tell from her tone either, but, he is chilled all the same. “Then, there is nothing you can give me that would make marrying a Lannister enticing.”
She turns her dark gaze towards him. At least she was not glaring at him, this time. “You wished to see me?”
“When we marry-“ She frowns, clearly displeased, but does not protest. He swallows and tries again, “Tarbeck Hall is being rebuilt for us.”
He insisted on it. Tywin owes him that much. Tywin is the reason he is being forced to marry her. He had not wanted to marry and now he is forced to marry a woman who probably hates all of them. Even if he heard nothing of her not wanting this marriage beyond that first time, he cannot imagine she was pleased by this. That was partly why he stayed away. That and his first attempt at speaking had been a disaster.
As inauspicious as that had been, he doubts she wants to share a roof with Tywin. And remembering Robert’s threat all too well, he was sure Tywin did not want her at Casterly Rock either. Quite frankly, he does not trust that she won’t try to kill her brother were they under the same roof. He does not like Tywin or trust him, but, he cannot allow that.
But, whether either of them wanted this or not, he was going to be her husband. His brother ordered her children killed. He does not have that many assurances besides this to give her.
She narrows her eyes and for a moment he thinks she might be able to read his thoughts. But, he shook his head to clear it of such stupidity.
All the same, she ultimately says, “Oh, thank you.”
He almost wanted to believe she was genuine.
She asks, “Was there anything else?”
He shook his head again. “No.”
Not knowing what else to say to her, he leaves.
At least the day of his wedding was a bright one. He could not say it was a happy one. Tywin had already left for Casterly Rock. Her brothers were not here. He had attended her last wedding. This one, that he never wanted for himself, was nowhere near that grand or as attended, even if attended by a king.
Tygett was here and she was walked to the Sept by her cousin, Manfrey. He was here to stand in for her father who had passed years ago.
Still, the cousin, Manfrey, had murder in his eyes he looked anywhere that wasn’t Elia, that was better than having her brother’s here. Prince Doran, he thinks, would have been tolerable, possibly, but, no doubt he was still furious. Gods knew that if what happened to his now wife had happened to Genna…But, the younger brother, Oberyn had a reputation that made him glad the man was leagues away.
But, he knew that the cousin would report everything to her brothers. He chafed at that knowledge.
The cousin was here to check that they had not harmed her…further. He could scream himself hoarse that he would let nothing more happen to her if they would believe it. Only, he knew they would not. Robert, or rather Jon Arryn did not seem to believe it, he doubted her brothers did. But, even Robert wasn’t foolish enough to allow her brothers to come.
He did not fear for his life, but, there were so many who still were plain in their revulsion of his kinsmen, that he welcomed not having to sleep with one eye open or having a person test his food.
That he was not victim to Martell boldness did not mean the wedding night was much better.
He had been prepared for not consummating it, but, for once, she demanded it of him. “I will not be the reason this marriage fails.”
So she had been prepared to let him be the reason?
“You cannot want this?”
She looks as though she wants to laugh at him. “This has never been about what I want. This is required of us for the realm’s peace. Our king wants this done, so it needs to be done.”
Incredulously, he asks, “You care so much for Robert? Or the realm’s peace?”
Just what was his wife? If he was her, he would not care if the realm burned. But, here she was trying to protect it? Why?
She looks angry at the implication. “Ten thousand men were sacrificed to the Targaryen cause so that my children and I could be safe. They were wasted by the former Crown Prince. I will not be responsible for more of my people’s blood simply because I do not wish to do my duty to the realm, no matter how distasteful I find it.”
Distasteful. His mouth curls at the sour thought. He is distasteful to her. How wonderful. His pity tempers him, though. Perhaps Tywin had chosen well.
“And that is all it takes?”
She looks him fully in the face, but, the eyes, gods her eyes, they are dead. “You do not have my son’s blood on your hands. That already makes you better than the last man who spent himself in me.”
What an endorsement, he thinks bitterly. He never had a problem getting a woman to come to bed with him and this one bound to him thinks him better than a rapist. But, she was right. Gods be damned she was right.
At least, they only have to do this once.
He tried to keep it as brief as possible and after they were done, they cleaned themselves off. He let her go first and while she did so, he called a maid to get rid of the sheets. She was right, he tells himself again. There was no way around preventing this marriage or fulfilling the requirements thoroughly. For her because they stole her virtue and for them because they need to show that they take their oaths seriously. It needed to be as above board as possible. No matter how brilliant a fool was, none could have come up with a more potent jape.
When they both laid back down, they did so at a distance.
He found no sleep that night. He could not close his eyes. Each time he tried all he could see was the way she forced herself to accept his touch.
Though he knew he tried to be as gentle as he could, there was nothing he could do about how she flinched and closed her eyes to him or that while he spent the night awake, his bride cried herself to sleep.
“You had your children’s bones taken to Sunspear?”
She looks up from her sewing. He almost asks who she was doing that for, but, then realizes she was mending one of his shirts. Kevan and Tygett had wives to do that for them and they were all in Casterly Rock. Gods knew she was never going to mend Tywin’s. It was not Jaime’s either. For all he knew Jaime did not go near her.
He asked his nephew about that.
Jaime smiled at him then, but, the expression was not one that suited his nephew. It was an ugly, twisted thing. His nephew says, “I knew the monster had to die. What I did not know was that there was no time to kill him and save the children. I did not know that the children needed saving. And the monster is dead, the children’s mother is my aunt, and I am cursed for what should have been my finest act.”
That ugly smile slipped from Jaime’s face. They never spoke of it again.
She answers, “Yes.”
Her dark eyes are devoid of all emotion except mild curiosity as though wondering why he cares so much. They do not discuss the children if it could be helped. He tells himself that the ashes themselves made no difference to him, but, the maids and guards said she visited the Sept every day. Why would she distance herself from them?
“Why?”
She frowns now. “Manfrey was already taking my uncle’s.”
He looks away slightly. Right, the cousin who was sent as an emissary to ensure Dorne was brought back into the fold.
But, he knew better and he knew that was not an answer.
“They were resting alongside their father.”
He almost steps back at the fury etched into her face. “He did not care for them in life, why should I allow that farce when they are dead?”
His own opinions on Rhaegar’s actions aside, he ventures, “Wife?”
“He had the time to abscond with Lady Stark and hide her in the lands of my people. He had the time to bow and scrape to his father. He had the time to forge that ridiculous suit of armor. The only thing he did not make the time for was trying to keep them safe. I will not let him play dutiful father to them now.”
As acerbic as he knew she could be, she never so much as raised her voice to him before. That she was now was almost as shocking as her words.
“In life, my children were never safe here. They deserve peace in death. I am, was, their mother. This, I can give them. I owe them that much since I was too weak to keep them safe from your brother’s butchers.”
He itched to speak, but, he restrained himself. He could either defend her or he could defend his brother and there was no defense for Tywin in this.
But, there was a change he did not quite understand. It came back to Robert Baratheon who was now calling his future bride “Cousin”, not that it amounted to much beyond Sunspear given back the dowry they paid to the Targaryens and now, apparently this.
“How did you get our king to agree?”
She scoffs. “I told him the truth about his betrothed and about how his dear friend was making a fool out of him.”
“I do not understand.”
She gives him a withering look. “You have seen Lord Stark, yes? And his boy?”
He had seen the man. They found the sister, dead of some sort of fever, he heard. They also found the three errant Kingsguard who were now as dead as the sister. Stark had also returned with fewer companions he left with and a child. But, the man left the capitol quickly. Obviously, his wife must have learned of it. But, what was this about?
Uncomprehending, he repeats, “The boy?”
She huffs but he can see her irritation and, since he was familiar with it, the fury. “The bastard Stark tried to claim as his own. It’s his sister’s by Rhaegar. The little fool went willingly.”
That explains the fury, he supposed. A Targaryen may be mad, one knew that. But, all this fuss over a woman, a girl really, who went willingly?
Perhaps Tywin’s plan would succeed after all.
He could hardly tell that to his wife who, despite not saying his brother’s name, probably hated him as much as she did Clegane and Lorch. Thankfully, she does not seem to even notice the flow of his thoughts.
Shaking her head, she says, “Her brother tried to cover it up rather clumsily.”
That was quite something, but, something else disturbed him.
He asks, “How could you tell?”
For a moment she looks cowed. “I did not quite know then, but, I saw the boy’s face.”
She sits up and her face hardens. “Eddard Stark can try to shield his sister’s perfidy, but, he is not a very good liar. If he was fighting in the Riverlands and the Stormlands, how did some faceless woman find him in Dorne long enough to give him the child he fathered during the time he was off doing his fighting? Any fool could figure it out if they took a minute.”
He swallows his retort. He had not thought about it.
“He will not thank you.”
She laughs bitterly, “His wife may. From what I recall, she was Lord Brandon’s betrothed. If Lady Lyanna lived long enough, no doubt Lady Catelyn would have had concerns of her own about her husband’s sister.” His wife gives him a wry smile. “I did not do it for his thanks.”
He lets the last float away from his thoughts. “She did not live long enough.”
That makes things rather neat for his niece, but, he doubted that was his wife’s goal. She is innocent in many ways, and gentle to most, but this just sets him on edge. She can bear a grudge even after death and Lyanna Stark only fucked her husband. What would she want to do to Tywin?
Airily, she says, “It is quite a pity, is not?”
His wife has no has not pity for the girl and he gives her a sharp look. She probably suspected he had other women. Remembering their wedding night, perhaps she even hopes for it. Still, the rare time he made do with one, he had gone to the brothel. He never took a tumble among the ladies of the household. He reminds himself to keep to that.
He wants to know, “So, you decided to create a rift between the king and Lord Stark?”
She points out, “Lord Stark created a rift between himself and the king. If he was a man of honor, then he would have realized that he has a duty towards those who suffered the consequences of her participation.”
He does not want to defend the man, but, he has to point out, “She was his sister.”
She waves a dismissive hand. “There were many sisters at Gulltown, Summerhall, Ashford, at the Bells, at the Trident, even here.” She scowls at him and he does not even try to pretend ignorance about what she means.
She looks away briefly, but, when she turns back to him her face is composed in that courtly mask she often favors. “Lord Stark no problem ruining their lives as he marched. Some of the men who were with him at that decrepit tower must have sisters as well. His sister shirked her duty as my husband had. He had no right to protect her when there were so many who suffered because she went willingly.”
He believes her. No doubt there was some pity for those nameless women, who she probably likens to herself, where there was none for the Stark girl. He understood. If the girl had resisted the prince, then none of what happened after would have occurred and it was not as though his wife believed only the girl responsible. She clearly had not excused her former husband.
But, he doubted it was that only. Still, there was something so calculated about this posthumous revenge upon her dead rival that he is almost charmed by it. Was that not dangerous?
He presses, “You chose to reveal this because-”
Obviously, it worked if she gets to have her children back to her own people. He wants to see what she says.
She almost smiles. “I was able to prove that I am loyal to the king. That was that.”
“And are you loyal to Robert?”
Perhaps, she was in a way. Robert punished those who did her and her children ill, even if she knew he was relieved the children were out of the way. Robert got her a match she would have otherwise not been worthy of anymore. Robert sat them besides him at the high table. And now this?
He’d heard stories of what his mother had done to get Ellyn Reyne out of Casterly Rock and gods knew Joanna had not shed a tear when the crone died. Perhaps his wife will be a fine Lannister yet.
She sneers. “If you brother can seek to curry favor with Robert, so can I.”
Or perhaps not.
For the first time since his wife had been presented as a Lannister to Casterly Rock, they had returned to it because of the king’s newest request of them. Robert demanded Cersei be examined for her purity before he would marry her.
His wife smiled at Tywin for the first time since she became one of them. “Oh, come now, Goodbrother it was not meant as an offence.”
Tywin, as prickly as he is, would see this as an offence. That Elia is saying this rankles him further.
Kevan, always who was closest to Tywin, carefully interjects before Tywin does, “How do you mean?”
She turns towards his second older brother, “Our king was already betrayed once, twice if you count her brother’s machinations to keep the girl’s willing dishonor secret. Can you imagine if that girl had lived, and His Grace insisted upon making her his queen?”
There is a collective shudder in the room. That would have been beyond the pale!
He stares at his wife who catches his stare. But, she gives him a placid look and shrugs her shoulders. Even if she was being truthful, he did not think she meant to call attention to the girl to be helpful.
She stares at him, mildly annoyed, as they ride abreast of one another. “Your brother’s actions are plainer than water. No doubt this has to do with his plans for that niece of yours.”
He did not deny it. Tywin foolishly promised Cersei was going to be a queen once. That had proved false when Aerys turned to Dorne for a bride. And now, there was a very different king. But, that did not mean his own wife had nothing to say.
And say, she did: “I do not care how pretty you think she is, if Robert is still hung up on the girl, it will do her no favors.”
But, he is immediately placed on his guard, when she speaks again because it was to Tywin. “It is not the first time a king demanded that a woman of noble birth be tested thusly.”
He sees Tywin’s jaw clench. Just what-
The breath is nearly knocked out of him when Elia, still in that light tone, asks her brother, “Was it not you when as Hand of the King some years ago who advised the former king test any woman he was considering for the former Crown Prince? Surely, it should be no difference for this king?”
He almost chokes on his wine. She does not say it, but her meaning is plain to him: Tywin thought to use the test to invalidate Elia as a bride for Rhaegar.
Elia continues, lightly, as though she does not feel the heat of Tywin’s glare: “Since our niece is as chaste as you say, surely there is no harm in the whole realm knowing it?”
The problem with that, he later learned, was Cersei had not been pure. Because the Archmaester himself and Robert’s own boyhood Maester, Cressen, had been the ones to test Cersei’s virtue rather than Pycelle, everyone knew it now, too.
When he returns to Tarbeck Hall, he forces himself to ask the question he has been dreading since they left Casterly Rock.
He hisses, “Did you know?”
She rolls her eyes. “I did not.”
At least she does not pretend to be ignorant! But, he did not know whether to believe her. He thought that her goading Tywin was just for the sake of it. Now, however…
She sees his doubts and sneers at him. “How could I possibly know? Before you brought me here, the last time I so much as saw a hair on her head was at that accursed tourney. She is hardly going to speak to me about dishonoring herself.”
He swallows his retort. Cersei does not like Elia; she never has. As polite as they were to one another when the situation demanded it, he knows that his wife and niece are not friends. At first, it was about Rhaegar being taken from her and next Cersei inherited Tywin’s dislike of her.
He remembers when they first learned about this farce. “You had to know something!”
Elia throws up her hands. “Come now, husband, if your brother wants someone to blame, besides his tarnished jewel, he can look to himself. If he spent more time with his own children then trying to kill mine, perhaps he would have prevented his son from becoming a kingslayer or his daughter from dishonoring herself.”
She leans closer to him and continues, “And if he wants to remain blameless, and I do not see how since they are his children, perhaps, he can look to your brothers, sister, both good-sisters, or you. This is not my doing and I will not have you pretend otherwise.”
He spat then, but, he held his tongue. As much as he hated her in that moment, he hated more that she was right.
It was only until he left her that he realized this was their first argument and she’d won it.
He did not like that he could not say what that meant.
After that, he took to avoiding her unless required. His anger had lessened to nothing because, she had been right. It did not mean he wanted to see her even though she was always unfailingly polite to him.
It was not as though he avoided her completely. They still took meals in the hall and they went over the books with the steward together.
He supposed he was grateful she did not appear to take joy in his family’s misery. But, then again, that had been self-inflicted. Seeing his brother brought low is something she likely did enjoy even if it was never reflected on her face or in her actions. He understood it even if he hated it. He could not pretend otherwise.
But, he could not avoid her forever. In fact, that changed quickly and once again, he thought sourly, it was Robert’s doing.
“I cannot go” she said, of Robert’s wedding to a wealthy Gulltown Arryn.
He’d been angry at the letter from King’s Landing himself. Tywin was probably seething now. Once more Cersei was passed over and this time it was their fault for not being more careful with her. Well, everyone’s fault besides his wife and she was the only one of them Robert seemed not to hate.
After the debacle with the Stark girl, it did not seem to matter to Robert who he married. That had been their chance to make Cersei a queen and it turned into nothing but a disaster. Jon Arryn had been clear on Cersei being no longer deemed suitable. No amount of gold could entice Robert to marry a woman held in low standing by Arryn.
But the invitation has been sent. Perhaps as a goad or perhaps it meant that Robert held no ill will towards them for Cersei’s fall. It did not mean that he would be welcomed to King’s Landing without his wife.
He frowns and asks, “Why not?”
Solemnly, she tells him, “I am with child”.
What? He had not expected-They’d only coupled on their wedding night. But, he finds himself smiling. Him? A father?
But, he looks to her and…she was not smiling.
He frowns. “You are not happy?”
For a moment, he sees rage in her face, but, it was gone too quickly. The rage was replaced with dismay and a weariness he did not like to see in her. “Did you know when I was born, I was born a month too early? My brother, Doran, after seeing two of my brothers die in the cradle, believed that I was going to follow quickly. I did not, however, I was ill as a child.”
He looked away slightly, embarrassed. “I heard some things.”
She smiled bitterly knowing what he meant. He heard she was sickly as a child. He had also been there when Tywin had thrown Tyrion at Princess Loreza instead of Jaime for the woman who was now his wife.
She looks at him knowingly and then her expression slips into one of such deep sorrow that he finds himself looking away again. “While I was successful in having children, both times I did I was closer to death.”
That he also knew even if he does not put it to voice. He remembers Tywin fuming that she never succumbed to death in the childbed. And now even those children are dead and not because of a simple illness. The fact remains, she was not without children because she was not fertile.
Still, he almost startles. While they do not avoid discussing her children, neither one of them mentions them with regularity. What Tywin’s men had done to them, to her, will always be between them and he does not want to add to her misery.
He is slightly hesitant to speak but he wants to. This is far from how he wanted to go about this or perhaps the best way, he is compelled to say, “I promise, wife, I will take the best of precautions with you.”
She cautions him, “You should not make promises like that.”
He exhales slightly, “I am not. I cannot control things such as these, but, you are having my child. I will arrange the best of care for you. I owe you that much.”
She replies, “I am not that far along but you care for them so much already.”
He says simply, “It is my child.”
She whispers, “Yes, yes are right about that.”
But the sweet moment is tarnished knowing that while she does not mention her first children in a more concrete way, he knows she is thinking of them. How could she not? This child will not know them. They will only know what was done to them; what his family had done to them and their mother.
He tells himself that this will be their child, his child. It will be different. His child is no risk to anyone. Nothing is gained from harming his child. His brother will not do this to him.
One day after he returns from King’s Landing, he finds her sitting in the garden. It puts a smile on his face. She comes here every day. The closer he gets he sees her with a hand across her burgeoning belly.
Hears her whisper: “Soon…”
When she notices him, she turns toward him and her hands slip down to her side. She turns towards him, her hand slipping towards her side. She looks embarrassed but her mask is quick to come together.
He asks, “Have you thought of names?”
She tells him, “No.”
His eyes widen slightly. “No?”
She shakes her head. “Rhaegar named my first children. His right as a father, he called it. It is only fair you name this one.”
Even though the time of the child’s birth draws nearer, Elia rarely mentions her “first children” as she calls them. She mentions her first husband even more rarely. He does not want to mention them now. But, he doubts she mentions because she relishes doing it. The blank look on her face says as much.
Part of her must have seen that her answer shook him because she adds, “I want him to look like you.”
He tries and fails to deny her attempt at reconciliation. “You want it to be a boy?”
She throws her head back and laughs in a way that he rarely gets to hear even now. Eventually, she tells him, “It does not matter to me.”
Doesn’t it usually? He wonders at that, but, then again, perhaps it does not matter to her. So long as they live, that would be good enough, he thinks soberly.
Her face clouds over. “Does it matter to you?”
He rushes to assure her, “No it does not.” He’s a fourth son and all his brothers have sons of their own. “I hope they are healthy.”
She turns back to the roses. “As you should”, she says.
They just sit there for a while. It is nice.
True to form, she almost dies giving birth to them. But, she lives.
For a while, he was uncertain because it took her some time to awake. But, the Maester from Dorne, Caleotte, said that it was to be expected. And while Elia’s brothers could not be here, because no matter if Robert softened towards her, Jon Arryn certainly did not trust the Dornish, Doran had sent the Maester who was there to witness Elia’s own birth. The Maester or their master, might have little if any love for him, but, they loved her and wanted only the best for her.
And while he is not certain he loves her yet, he is so very grateful to her. How could he not be? She toiled and gave him twins. Not only is he a father, but, he is a father to twins! A boy and a girl at that.
He does not think he stopped smiling since he learned his wife had awoken.
Gods, he cannot possibly describe how happy he is and now that Elia was awake the air of celebration only grew.
Almost. While there is celebration all throughout their home as suits the birth of children, he finds himself thinking of Tywin holed up in his rooms, stewing in misery probably. His brother’s twins were ruined and they did so by themselves.
He wonders if his brother hoped he would become a widower, that Elia would have taken the children with her. They were his children, but, they were hers too, and for that perhaps his brother will dislike them.
Will he ever be brave enough to ask? Probably not. And it does not matter anyway. He cannot find it in himself to care what his brother thinks about his having twins with Lannister hair and eyes.
When she was healthy enough to take them into her hands, she looked down and she laughed. The joy in her was palpable.
When finally tore her gaze away from them, she looked to him. “They look like you.”
He agrees, because how could he not? “They do. How do you feel about that?”
Despite previous words and his fears about how his wife would feel once she learns that she had given him children more like him than her, a smile blooms on her face then. Firmly, she says, “I am glad.”
It was a relief.
“They are healthy?”
He rushes to assure her. “Yes.”
She shuffles back to rest on pillows. “Have you named them?”
She said she wanted Lannister names for them. He had not asked her reasons exactly, but, it made a certain amount of sense. He does not know when she would be allowed to visit her home again. Robert’s charity had not extended that far. Still, their children were going to live in the West, grow in the West, and as much as she dislikes Tywin, he was their liege. They also looked like Lannisters. It was the best for them. As much as they had an inauspicious beginning, he could hardly complain about an agreeable wife.
He tells her, “He is Gerold for my grandfather and she is Jeyne for my mother. I hope they are acceptable to you.”
She smiles so widely he can see all her teeth. “It is, more than,” she says.
He finds himself smiling back.
Over the next year he watches his children grow. He is endlessly awed by them. The way they learn to crawl, the way they started taking their first tumbling steps.
He loves them terribly.
He indulges them awfully even though he thinks his brothers would think him a fool. But, he only feels like one when he sees his wife watching. And now, now she is staring at him from the doorway while carrying Jeyne on his back with Gerold clutching one of his legs.
She begins, “You indulge them so.”
“They are young yet. Soon enough Gerold will be playing with swords and we will have to get Jeyne a pony.”
Her lips twitch. “You think so?”
“Yes.”
She asks idly, “You look forward to it?”
He nods agreeably. “I do. I cannot wait.”
Smirking, she remarks, “You love them so much.”
“How can I not? They are mine.”
She huffs. “They are that, aren’t they?”
He retorts, “They are yours too.”
She pointedly runs each of her hands across the golden curls on both Gerold and Jeyne’s heads. “They are all Lannister.”
“Lann” his twins chirp sunnily.
They both laugh at that. They will have to work at that, he thinks. But, despite his earlier words, there is time.
With her gaze fixed on the children, Elia repeats, “All Lannister.”
He asks, “Is that so bad?”
The room is quiet for long while before she lets out a shaky breath. She reveals, “Once, I would have thought so.”
The realization does not crush him. It cannot because he remembers full well how they came to marry.
As if to curb that blow’s sting, she gives him a faint smile and declares, “Now they are here, I would not have it any other way.”
Time went on until one morning Elia was not there to break her fast with him.
That did not always happen, they had other duties, after all, but, the night before while they were dining together she had demurred when he asked her what she was going to do today.
She does not quite look him in the eyes when she admits, “I have a surprise prepared for tomorrow.”
His brow scrunches. Confused, he asks, “What is tomorrow? What is so special about it?”
As far as he remembered, it was no special day. It was not either of their name days and the twins’ name days were some months ago. They had no special guests to prepare for.
Her face falls, but, she recovers enough to tell him, “It is special to me.” She begs him, “Indulge me, won’t you, Husband?”
Willing to give in, he nods, “Will you let me know tomorrow?”
She laughs at that, but, there was something not quite carefree about it. “You will definitely come to know.”
He goes looking for her but cannot find her in her rooms. Instead, he asks one of her ladies who tells him she was in the nursery. That confuses him. Elia visits in the afternoon. Not the morning. He was not opposed to it, but, if Elia visited them in the mornings, it was when he was with her.
He meets the nurse outside and his confusion grows and since he is honest with himself, his alarm grows too.
He demands of Alys, the day nurse. “Why are you out here?”
The twins were always cared for by nurses.
He vaguely remembers that she had nursed her first children herself, but he had not said anything when she requested a wetnurse for their twins. He allowed it, after all, she had nearly died giving birth to them. Once they started to eat solid foods, he kept nurses for him because she preferred it that way.
Alys is too well trained to frown, but, he can see her confusion. “My lady demanded some time alone with the children.”
Elia has never done that.
Dread growing, he wrenches the door open.
It is quiet in there. Too quiet.
Elia stands at a window gazing out, away from the children’s cots. “Elia?”
She turns towards him, her face blank. “Oh, good, you are here.”
It’s too quiet, he thinks. He rushes towards the cots. He nearly vomits.
Their eyes are closed. They look so peaceful, he thinks, as his throat goes tight. There was no mistaking it: his babies were dead.
He wrenches his gaze away from his children and looks at his wife. A white-hot rage fills him. He lets it because he feels himself cracking and tearing apart.
He lunges for her and grabs her by the shoulders. She does not even try to get away. “They were your children.”
She does not so much as flinch now. She only sneers. “They were Lannisters.”
He shakes her again. “They were little more than babies!”
Her lips curl up and her eyes are hard. “Rhaenys and Aegon were too. That did not stop your brother from killing them!”
He growls even as he feels tears threaten to flow. “My brother, not me! How could you? You of all people? Have I been cruel to you?”
She shakes her head wildly. “No. It had nothing to do with you, not truly.”
His voice cracks as he demands to know, “Then why? I deserve honesty from you!”
“Because it is not right for them to have lived a day longer than my Aegon had.”
She starts crying in earnest and her words from the night fill his mind. Their…his children…were as old as Aegon would have been. And he had not even noticed.
He does not even recall doing it, but, he pulled out the dagger he kept at his hip and plunged it into her.
Even as she gasps and whimpers, clutching at him, she says, “Thank you, Gerion!”
She never calls him by his name…
He finds himself yelling, “For what?’
Her tears are flowing freely but she laughs fully. “For setting me free.” Blood starts to fill her mouth, but, her words are clear: "I can go be with my children now.”
She dies in his arms with a smile on her face.
He lets out an inhuman sound as he drops her to the ground.
The nurse rushed in.
He turns his bloodied blade towards her and watched the light dim from her eyes too.
What was one more death at the hands of a Lannister?
He buried the children’s bones in the garden. He takes Elia’s bones to Sunspear himself.
Doran receives him well, and Oberyn with suspicion, but, he can see the question in his once good brothers’ eyes so he answers honestly. “She would want to be buried with her children.”
They do not disagree. However, the day he was set to get back to Tarbeck Hall, Oberyn comes to him. “Your letter said the nurse killed her.”
He nods sharply. “Elia walked in on the nurse killing our children.” He paid off the nurse’s kin and let the lie spread.
Though he has become quite good at telling the lie he can sense Oberyn does not believe him. But, even he does not question it. Tywin had not.
But, the way Oberyn accepts it, tells him far too much. There is a truth that her brothers were never going to speak aloud: they never expected Elia to leave the Westerlands alive.
Had not she herself told him once that she was marked for death the moment she was born?
Once he had been pleased at the thought that she could be more of a Lannister. He’d been fooling himself thinking that she would find it a benefit.
A handful of years later, he finds himself in Sunspear again to visit her bones.
He thought he would hate her forever, but, he does not think he ever did. While they had been married, he had been fooling himself. They were bound to one another in death. There was no other way they could have been severed. He just wished she had left their children out of it, but, he brought them into it by being a Lannister and the Lannisters killed her children.
Once he thought he would have hated her, and some days he does, mostly he hopes she found her peace like he found some measure of it.
He tells the effigy: “Tarbeck is thriving and I have a child, Joy. A sweet girl.” He likes to imagine that had Rhaenys or Jeyne lived they would have been just as sweet.
But, Joy is a Hill, not a Lannister. He never married again. He could not bring himself to do it.
He was not a man of faith, but, he likes to think she can hear him wherever she was. He stares at the effigy’s face. It’s a good likeness but she’s smiling in it. She looks so carefree in a way he realizes she never was for the duration of their marriage. It hurts his heart to know he could not have fixed that. It is equally painful to realize that she never could bring herself to give him the chance to try. “I am going to Essos to find Brightroar. The ship is the Laughing Lion.”
He forces himself to smile. “You would probably think it is a stupid name and an even stupider plan.”
Weeks later he was cursing himself.
Damn fool he was, he thought he could restore Lannister honor and all he did was kill others and kill himself.
A Lannister to the end.
When he takes his final, labored breath, he hears Elia’s laughter.