A Rest of Swords

Part twelve

"Jaime?" Brienne's whispered voice leaked through the gap in the door that had just opened, accompanied by a beam of light that the torches radiated from the corridor. It was late, the sun outside the window had gone hours ago and with only the fire breaking the darkness, the room was lit up as her voice did to his dark thoughts and worries.
"Jaime are you awake?"

"Of course", he said, immediately getting up on his feet and on his way to the door, to her. He had been pacing up and down at first, but at some point, the physical and mental exhaustion had triumphed over his nerves and he had laid down, unable to find peace though.
"As if I could sleep while some floors away your father is rolling the dices of my fortune."
Despite his tone, Brienne couldn't suppress a smirk.

"How poetic", she said. "But it's not like that. You know he really can't do anything." Her voice was calm and soft, but Jaime just rose his eyebrows doubtingly.

"He can send me away", he detected drily, mostly to hide the fear and hopelessness that surely would have spoken from his voice otherwise. He didn't ask what she had told him. Actually, he didn't care. As long as it had its effect.

"No, he can't." She closed the door behind her, leaving them in the semi-darkness of the glowing fire.

"What do you mean?"

"He can't", she said, leading him to the bed where he followed her gesture to lie down with her. He didn't wonder at it at all, even though she had been given her own room next to his. She apparently didn't even think about it when she stripped off her boots, he noticed with a sensation of warmth spreading in his body despite his troubled thoughts. They had been sharing a bed for such a long time now that it felt as natural as breathing.
"Because", she went on, shifting to find a comfortable position, "I told him I would go too if he forces you to leave." She said it light-heartedly, is if it were the clearest thing in the world. Then she sighed, cuddling to him. Jaime lifted his arm obediently to make more space, but his brow was wrinkled in confusion.

"But you're the heiress", he detected unnecessarily once they were comfortably settled. "You can't leave." To his surprise, he felt Brienne's lips form a smile against his chest.

"I know", she simply said, lifting her head a little to look at him with calm, soothing eyes. "And he knows that too."
Jaime nodded slowly. Her tactic was simple, obvious even, and she seemed to be sure of its working out.

"I hope you're right."

"I am. I know him", she added before she settled back down to close her eyes. "Trust me."
She smiled when she could feel how Jaime placed a kiss on her hair.

"Always."

o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o~o

Brienne had been right. He wasn't sent away. He was allowed to stay as a guest, how Lord Selwyn accentuated, a term he was only too familiar with from their time in Winterfell. It said I don't trust you, but you're being tolerated for her sake. Jaime had looked at Brienne, who slightly nodded to him encouragingly, and he had humbly accepted.
Being in her father's company was still uncomfortable, he could feel his eyes following him at table and when they walked about the castle, Brienne utterly adorable in her excitement to make him acquainted with every corner of the grounds. Jaime tried to ignore the suspicious glances from the Lord and his staff, and he managed quite successfully most of the time, delighting in his beloved's happiness as much as if it were his own.
Not that he was unhappy. He loved Tarth. It was beautiful, green, lively but calm, everything that his life had not been so far.
Then he even thought to notice that Lord Selwyn's expressions seemed to change when he watched them. Perhaps it was just his wishful thinking, but as the days went by, became weeks that finally turned into the second month after their arrival, he was almost sure that he was overthinking his initial apprehension. His eyes were softer now, sometimes glowing with an emotion Jaime couldn't quite estimate, but that left him with a spark of hope. The meals became more relaxed, he and Brienne could laugh more, the conversation was more carefree - and when Jaime kissed her one evening as she handed him his plate back, his eyes met Lord Selwyn's, who slightly nodded at him. He bowed his head in reply and they resumed eating in silence.
That was when he knew something had changed. He would go and ask what he had planned to do from the beginning, he decided. Perhaps the time had come.