The Lion and the Dragon

Chapter Two

Ser Jaime had ushered her quickly, through the halls, hiding whenever someone approached. He was leading her to his quarters, she could tell.

"Stop it!", he snapped, as she sniffled, unable to hold back tears, "be silent!".

His grip on her hand was tight, painfully tight, as he pulled her, jerking her around corners, or roughly pushing her against walls, whenever someone came close to them, hiding just around the corner.

"Close your eyes", he whispered at one point, "do not open them until I say", he had warned.

For the rest of her life, she would wish that she'd listened to the Traitor Knight, as she now called him in her head.

The bodies of the loyal servants of House Targaryen littered the floor. The cook, and his daughter's, the steward, and some handmaidens. The women's dresses had been pushed up around their waists, and they'd been left like that, without a care. Their dead bodies now covering the floor.

She saw some of her own family there. And she couldn't help but gasp, as she began to hyperventilate. The traitor knight jerked her arm roughly, pulling her in front of himself now, shoving her quickly down the hall.

"Stop it!", he snapped, "be quiet!", but she couldn't help it. She wanted her mother, her father. But she was thankful she did not see them, among the bodies.

Finally, he opened the door to his quarters, pushing her in quickly, and entering behind her. He turned, and quickly shut the door, barring it as so no one could enter.

She watched, backing away to the center of the room, as he seemed to lean into the door for a moment, taking a deep breath, before turning to her. She looked at him nervously, as he seemed to catch his breath.

"Why have you brought me here?", she asked him, her voice a whisper.

"Had I not, you'd be dead", he answered.

"But-", she began to ask why he cared, when he cut her off.

"Are you injured?", he asked abruptly, noticing how she cradled her wrist in her hand.

In truth, her wrist and shoulder both burned, in the arm that he had roughly jerked her upwards by.

He walked to her slowly, pushing her hand away from her arm, examining her wrist, his eyes then moving up her arm and to her shoulder, pushing her sleeve up gently with his fingers, his eyes growing sad.

"I apologize, my Lady", he spoke softly. His eyes showed more hurt than just from injuring her arm.

She looked into his eyes then, "My family-", she began.

Ser Jaime's jaw tightened, and he took a step back from her, his hand falling away from her arm, his eyes still sad. He simply shook his head, from side to side.

"What?", she asked quietly, her breath catching in her throat, "where are they? Where are my parent?", she asked, her voice growing frantic.

"My lady-", was all he said. He couldn't look at her, it seemed, as his eye's fell to the ground.

"Where are they, Ser Jaime? Tell me now!", she commanded him, her eyes beginning to water.

He sighed, staring at the ground still.

"They-", he began, "they are dead, my Lady", he finished, and as the words left his mouth, it was as if her legs were useless, nothing more than pudding, her knees giving out, and she crumpled to the ground.

"You're lying!", she yelled as she cried into her hands.

"Please my Lady! Your voice! I'm not-", he began, but she looked up at him suddenly, her face angry.