Lilia's world shattered at the sound of those words. It shattered in a way that she didn't think possible. She was right, the pack was splitting up, not only that, it was breaking apart and that thought terrified the hell out of her. She couldn't take that. "My Lady, are you alright?"
She couldn't move, or so she thought, before losing her balance and almost falling out of her horse. Fortunately for her, Ser Jaime had caught her in time but there she stood, in Jamie Lannister's arms.
The knight was absolutely shocked by her reaction and by a lot of things about her at that point, like the fact that she rode her horse like a man and she wore pretty interesting clothes while doing so. Nevertheless, all those thoughts were put aside when she looked at him. She was broken, and the worst part is that he knew he was responsible for that. He wanted the boy dead. No, cross that. He needed the boy dead, he could never open his mouth again to say a word of what he had seen. What Jamie never thought was going to happen was having the Stark girl in his arms, completely helpless and devastated over her brother's probable death. And then, when he thought things couldn't get any weirder, she started to cry.
Lilia would be as surprised as Jamie for her own acts if she wasn't busy enough crying over her brother's death. She knew it was impossible for someone to survive that kind of fall, she knew that if her brother wasn't dead, then he would be eventually. She knew that if by any chance Bran could survive, he would never be able to pursue his dream of becoming a knight in the King's Guard at the age of fourteen.
You might wonder if she was conscient of what she was doing? She was aware of the fact that she was crying in a Lannister's arms, grieving over the life of her beloved younger brother. She knew it but she didn't care at that moment. She didn't care if someone would see her break apart, she didn't care what the people would say because none of that mattered anymore. What mattered was Bran, the poor, curious and audacious lad who she never thought would have such a tragic accident.
"My Lady, don't you think it is best for you to go somewhere else?" the man suggested and she nodded. He helped her up and she looked around her, all eyes were on her, including the Southerner girls' gaze. They were looking with such... disdain... It infuriated her. How could those people be so ice cold?
"Next time you look at me like that think about how good it would be to know that your brother is in his death bed. Then, look at yourselves and imagine how ridiculous you would look and after you grieve endlessly, look at yourselves again and conclude that I did it with more grace in my pinky than you in your whole body" they gasped in shock. Jamie was eager to laugh at them, they truly needed someone like Lilia Stark in King's Landing to tell people off when needed. She reminded him of her sister when she was the Stark girl's age. Both were bold and feisty. He guided her off there, being guided by the young Lady. He was surprised that she would trust him enough to cry on his shoulder and, unlike what he thought, it didn't bother him like he thought it would. On the contrary, he felt relieved that she did because that meant that she would make his job a lot easier from that moment on.
Once they got to the destination, Lilia sat near a tree a little far from the main building. It was a beautiful place. She never thought she would bring someone other than family there but, surprisingly enough, she managed to bring her bodyguard... willingly...
She didn't cry for a few minutes, she just looked at nothing in particular. Jamie could look at her and see pain irradiate from her soul. She was hurting in all her body.
"My Lady, it's getting chilly. Would you like to..." as he was about to ask her to go inside, she put her hand up and signalled him to stop talking. She knew exactly what she needed. She needed to think things straight and recompose herself. She had to show up back in there with all her grace.
"I don't want to go back inside" she shortly stated. "I have to get back there in my best terms. And if you ever mention this to someone, even to your sister, I will make sure King Robert handles the matter fairly. Are we clear?"
"Yes, My Lady" just like Jamie had thought the night before, the young Lady Stark reminded him of her own twin. Cersei didn't like the girl too much but given the fact that she always says that whoever isn't a Lannister is an enemy... she isn't much of a loving person, at least not towards people who are not Jamie and her children. "At least, take my mantel. I don't want you to catch a fever"
"He looks after you, you know?" Jamie was a bit confused by her sentence. And then, for the first time in the time they had been standing there, her eyes met his own. "Bran. He wants to be a knight by the age of fourteen, he had been trying hard to get there. He said that if Jamie Lannister had entered the guard by the time he was fifteen, he wanted to do it when he was fourteen"
"I'm sure he would have been a great King's Guard if he had had the time" he tried to minorize the damage in her heart. Guilt was washing over him. He knew what he had done to the boy, he knew why he had done it and, as much as it seemed right in that moment, he was now coming to realize how bad the consequences were.
"Stop talking about it as if he were already dead" she commanded strictly. "As far as we know, he is still alive and may wake up at any moment"
"My Lady, take no offence in what I'm about to say but..." as he was, once again, trying to make her jump into the real world, she prevented him from doing so by speaking again, and just as before, too harshly for the lion's taste.
"If you know it might offend me, then you might as well keep your mouth shut. Have you never heard that saying... what is it like really? Oh, I think it is 'If you don't have anything interesting to say, then shut up', and I won't say the word in the middle because swearing is not Lady-like, but I think you've gotten my point quite clearly. Oh, and even if I said it wrong then don't even bother because that is the least of my corcerns. Now, do you have anything else you would like to say?" she harshly spoke. Even then, sarcasm kept being one of Lilia's main traits. She couldn't run from it, it wasn't in her nature. She wasn't a perfect Lady, not like her sister, not like her mother. And to be quite honest, that day she realized she really didn't want to be like them or anyone else for that matter. She wanted to be herself. "Good, I must change into more appropriate clothes and then I shall go see my dear brother. I'll let you escort me back to the castle and that will be it, are we clear?"
"Yes" the man nodded and she left ahead of him. All he could think of was how the fact that he thought she would trust him from that moment on was foolish. Of course, she wouldn't, she despised her presence and she didn't even make an effort to hide it. His job would never become any easier, she would never let that be.
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THE LITTLE PUP (EDITING AND REWRITING)
Fanfiction{Book 1: The She-Wolf of Winter} Lilia Stark was the second child born to Lady Catelyn and Lord Eddard Stark. For thirteen years she lived in the quiet, cold and mysterious North along with her siblings and her parents. But when Jon Arryn dies and K...
