Finding Hope - Jaime Lannister fanfic

The Lion and The Wolf

A/N: yes I looked up if gold can decay...

Chapter Twenty Three

~ The Lion and The Wolf ~

It was well into the evening when the two left, the Lion could walk on his own two feet but let the Wolf guide him every now and then. The Lion's pride was wounded, he knew what a pitiful sight he was to others, the pristine gold corroded into a dark rusty colour. 

Slowly they ascended the stairs to reach their assigned rooms in Harrenhall while guided by a lone Bolton soldier. At the door of Jaime's room, they both bid their good night's and left each other on their own.

Liya walked away only three doors further down before Brienne appeared from, which she guessed was, her own room. She'd taken a bath and the hair Liya had known to be blond, now almost seem to appear white in the moonlight drifting in from a small window.

"My lady," Brienne said courtly

"Please, call me Liya, we've been through enough to forgo the formalities," Liya said to her

"I will try," Brienne said with a slight smile but it quickly disappeared "how is he?" she asked as monotone as possible

Liya could see the concern in Brienne's eyes anyway. She'd most likely heard his screams, probably all of Harrenhall had heard them too "He's well, rest is what he needs now"

"Good" Brienne gave a slight nod "I'll let you do the same, but if you'd like, the bath's are still warm"

"I'm awfully tired, but a bath sounds very appealing" Liya smiled and bid Brienne good night and followed one of the Bolton men to guide her to the bathing area after grabbing a towel and some night robes from her bedroom.

The air felt warm and humid as she entered the bathing area, steam rose from the many baths in the room. Some soap, rags, and brushes lay around for cleaning. Taking off her mud streaked clothes felt liberating, she took it as a sign that their tiresome journey was coming to an end. The first step in the warm bath felt heavenly and send a pleasant chill down Liya's spine. The waterline remained just below her collarbone as she stood on her feet, the warm water relaxed the muscles of her body. With a brush and a bar of soap, she washed away all the dirt and grime from her body. A faint tan line appeared along her chest and wrists, something she'd never seen on her body before. The North does know it's summers, but the sun hardly ever stayed around long enough for the skin to colour like it did in the South.

After her skin was clean, Liya tackled her hair. It had tangled in all kinds of places making her grumble and grimace every time her fingers got caught in a knot. Liya dumped some of the hot water over her head with a small bucket to smoothen out her hair before combing it with her fingers again.

A sudden creak from the door made her quickly turn around and automatically taking her hands out of her hair and covering her chest from view, huddling away in a corner.

"Who's there?" Liya said in a quiet voice, though its echo made it sound louder in the room

"It's your lovely travelling companion from the last few months" His voice slightly rough

Liya wasn't pleased with his presence here but felt a little relief that it wasn't some unknown man either, so she didn't protest. Liya could hear the sounds of his bare feet on the tiles as he approached, each step closer made her want to grow smaller and smaller. She had subdued her body in the water, only her head appeared above the waterline, her hands still encircling herself trying to hide her figure.

Ser Jaime stood against one of the columns in his familiar dirty cotton and wool robes. With his remaining hand, he slowly pulled off his woollen and cotton shirt.