Keeper

Oaths and How to Keep Them

Notes:

I had this entire chapter written out last night, and my computer whacked out and deleted the entire thing. A comment would be nice on this one simply because I'm not too fond of the second time around like I was the first one. I have the entirety of the bathroom at Harenhal already written out and am so looking forward to sharing it!

Jorah Mormont remembered the moments he told stories of Rhaella Targaryen to Daenerys. It was a long ride to the city of Astapor, and the Khaleesi seemed to be desperate for company, so he kept her attention with stories of her sister in her early years of visiting Bear Island. Recanting such stories made it feel like the events had occurred only yesterday, and not years ago. He'd been a different man back then.

She asked him so many questions. Many of which he could not give answers to, but he tried his best to provide her with that answers she sought.

Jorah remembered the nights that Daenerys Stormborn fell asleep with a smile on her face the fondest.

***

"Jaime, do you see my dagger?"

"Yes."

"Good, cause if I have to hear this infernal song one more time-"

Jaime snorted from where he sat atop the horse and rubbed at his raw wrists. The Bolton men had opted to keep Rhaella bound and away from Brienne in case either woman tried a means of escape, and there was no exit strategy available for any of them. They were well and truly at a loss.

His mind kept wandering simply because this was the closest he'd been to Rhaella Targaryen in years, and here she was allowing him to lace his fingers through her own. The bonds had been loose enough for her to slip her hand back to meet his.

"I hope you're pleased, the both of you. If you'd armed me, they would've never taken us."

Brienne grimaced from where she sat parallel to them. "You were armed when we were taken, you fool." She tutted.

I was in chains, if you recall. Our little match would've ended quickly if my hands weren't bound."

"You never did quite figure out how to keep me from jamming my foot into your knee." Rhaella replied. "Worked seventeen years ago and works even better now that you're an old man."

"All my life I've been hearing the same thing, Jaime Lannister. What a brilliant swordsman. You were slower then I expected, and more predictable."

"I've been sitting in a muddy pen wrapped in chains for the last year!" Jaime exclaimed.

"Doesn't matter. I'm a woman and I was still beating you. Maybe you were as good as people said, once upon a time. Maybe people just love to overpraise a famous name."

Rhaella kept her eyes locked on the path before them, trodden with horse hoof prints and the smell of soiled clothes. Her armor hung heavily on her wearied form, Blackfyre taken from her possession upon capture. She'd thought ahead to slip Keeper into the confines between her boot and her sock.

"When we make camp, you'll be raped. Both of you." His words felt like she'd ingested the most toxic of poisons, and Jaime felt suddenly empty when Rhaella wrenched her hand from his grasps and returned it to the reins of the horse. He hoped she knew that he'd do everything in his power to prevent her from being defiled by the likes of such men. "None of these fellows have ever been with a noble woman. You'd be wise not to resist."

"Well good on them, cause they don't get to start now." Rhaella seethed. "No one touches me without my permission."

"Would I be wise? They can knock my teeth out. I don't care about them."