Chapter 2

Jaime went to the Tower of the Hand, expecting to find Tyrion there, but instead found his father. The Lannister guards that were stationed throughout the tower directed Jaime to his father's solar. He was glad to find his father alone. Jaime wasn't looking forward to showing off his stump to Lord Tyrell.

"Jaime," his father said, as if they'd last seen each other at breakfast. "I had thought you'd be here when I arrived for the battle."

"I was delayed." Jaime closed the door softly. "How long have you known I was free?"

"The eunuch sent a raven a few days after your escape. I sent men into the Riverlands to look for you. Varys and I agreed that the fewer people who knew you were free, the fewer would be hunting you."

"Did Varys mention this?" He moved closer to the fire, to let his father see his missing hand.

Lord Tywin pushed himself out of his chair, breath hissing between his teeth. "Who did this? If Robb Stark thinks – "

"This was your goat's work. Vargo Hoat, the Lord of Harrenhal."

Lord Tywin looked away, disgusted. "No longer. Ser Gregor's taken the castle. Hoat will be dead soon. Can you use a sword with your left hand?"

I can hardly dress myself in the morning. Jaime held up the hand in question for his father's inspection. "Four fingers, a thumb, much like the other. Why shouldn't it work as well?"

Lord Tywin glanced at Jaime's stump again. "You cannot serve in the Kingsguard without a sword hand- "

"I can," he interrupted. "There's precedent. Crippled or whole, a knight of the Kingsguard serves for life."

"Cersei ended that when she replaced Ser Barristan on grounds of age. I've already provided a suitable gift to the Faith to persuade the High Septon to release you from your vows. Your sister was foolish to dismiss Selmy, but now that she has opened the gates-"

"-someone needs to close them again." Jaime stood. "No one ever asked me if I wanted to be Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, but it seems I am. I have a duty – "

"You do." Lord Tywin rose as well. "A duty to House Lannister. You are the heir to Casterly Rock. That is where you should be. That is where you will be. I'll not hear any more of these disgusting rumors about you and your sister." In a flash of madness, Jaime wanted to tell him that they weren't rumors, that he'd been fucking his sister for as long as he could remember, but reason prevailed. "You will marry and you will breed. As will your sister."

My sweet sister is breeding as we speak.

"It is past time you were wed, Jaime. Past time for you to produce heirs. It would be a good match, politically -"

"NO!" Jaime had heard all he could stand. No, he had heard more than he could stand. He was sick of it. Sick of lords and lies, sick of his father, his sister, sick of the whole bloody business. "No. No. No. How many times must I say no before you'll hear it? I'm a knight of the Kingsguard. The Lord Commander of the Kingsguard!"

"You truly wish to spend the rest of your life following Joffrey's orders? I never thought you were such a fool." His father resumed his seat. "And it seems a waste for the Stark girl to be nothing more than Joffrey's whore."

Jaime looked at his father in surprise. "What do you mean, his whore? She's to be his queen. It's a fine line, I realize."

"Tomorrow, Joffrey will set aside Sansa Stark. Mace Tyrell provided his entire host to defeat Stannis Baratheon. He did so with the expectation that his daughter would be Joffrey's queen. But Joffrey has expressed a desire to keep Sansa Stark for his…amusement. I would prefer to marry her into our house. For her children to be our legitimate heirs. Once her brother Robb Stark is dead…well, then she'll be heir to Winterfell. Her children will be heirs to Winterfell."

Jaime immediately saw what his father was about. "You planned for me to marry Sansa Stark? She's a child."

"She's sixteen years old. And Joffrey could not refuse to let her go if it was to marry you."

"If I won't marry her, you plan to let him torment that girl? Rape her and beat her for his entertainment?"

"He is king. Your sister thinks it is better he have an outlet, rather than take it out on Margaery Tyrell, as her family would not take kindly to it. And I can't have Sansa Stark marrying into another house. It would be a waste but…at least if she's ruined, no other house will want her."

"Do you hear what you're saying? I realize that the lion doesn't concern himself with the opinion of the sheep but to allow Joffrey to use this girl in such a depraved manner would bring shame on our entire house. You can't allow this." Jaime didn't know why he was surprised. At the end of Robert's Rebellion, more than one innocent had been murdered at his father's direction.

"You can stop it, Jaime. Claim her for yourself."

Jaime leaned forward resting his head on his hand. Do I really want to serve Joffrey? He'll never stop tormenting that girl. He'll likely rape her every night. Maybe even offer her to others. Jaime wasn't about to just sit by and watch, listen, while another king savaged an innocent. His father sensed Jaime's weakness, much like any lion can sense weakness in the herd.

"She'd make a fine wife for you, Jaime. She's young, she's beautiful. From what I hear, she's very gentle. Marry her and make her your Lady of Casterly Rock. The mother of your children – your heirs."

"Does Sansa Stark know about this? That you plan to marry her to me?"

"She doesn't have a choice. She'll do her duty to the crown. Will you do yours?"

"Surely there's someone else – some other Lannister relation you could marry her to." Jaime told himself that Sansa Stark wasn't his concern. That it was for Robb Stark to save his own sister. An image of Sansa Stark's watery blue eyes flashed in his head. I can't allow this to happen. Not again. Jaime met his father's eyes and could see that no other options would be offered to save Sansa from Joffrey's brutality. Jaime knew he made a mistake by allowing his father to see his desire to protect the girl. "I would leave here? Take the girl with me to Casterly Rock?" At least I won't have to see Cersei. See what she's become.

His father relaxed, now that he was victorious. "You will leave after Joffrey's marriage to the Tyrell girl. Now that you are here, your betrothal will be announced tomorrow. And you and the Stark girl will marry as soon as possible. You will be released from your vows due to your injury –"

"No! You will not say that." Jaime refused to be humiliated. To be shown as weak before the entire realm. "If you must give a reason for my leaving the Kingsguard, let it be that the High Septon was so moved by my love for the Stark girl, he knew the gods would not keep us apart," Jaime suggested bitterly.

Tywin seemed amused. Not that he smiled. "As you wish. I must get back to my office…there are letters to be written and I must prepare for the presentation to the court tomorrow. Thank you, Jaime."

He sighed, rising from his seat. "Where's Tyrion? I'd like to see him."

…...

Jaime climbed several flights of stairs, until he finally reached the small room in Maeger's Holdfast where his father said Cersei was "seeing to Tyrion's health most carefully." I'll just bet, Jaime had thought, knowing how Cersei felt about Tyrion. Jaime found Tyrion lying in bed, a huge gash across his face.

He sat beside the bed as Tyrion opened his eyes. "It's been too long since I've seen you, brother," Jaime said with a fond smile.

Tyrion looked at him carefully. "It was back in Winterfell. Before this godforsaken war began. Where there were plenty of whores and plenty of wine. Are you going to share that?" he asked, looking longingly at the large jug of wine Jaime had brought with him.

As he poured them each a cup, Jaime grinned at his brother. "You did well, Tyrion. You freed me from Riverrun. You saved the city from Stannis Baratheon. I'm proud of you. I'm proud you're my brother. You just may turn out to be the true warrior in this family."

Tyrion sipped his wine, looking Jaime over. "I fear you're the only one who would give me any credit at all." Jaime saw Tyrion looking at his stump, and moved it from view, taking a large gulp of wine. "Perhaps I didn't free you soon enough, Jaime."

Jaime shook his head. "I encountered some of father's soldiers of fortune on the journey here. Turns out they weren't as loyal as he had thought. I'll have a new hand forged of gold and be good as new. Why shouldn't I fight with the left hand, instead of the right?" He refilled his cup, ignoring Tyrion's sympathetic look. Jaime knew Tyrion could see right through his bravado and he appreciated that his brother didn't comment on it.

"Will you get me out of here, Jaime? Away from our sweet sister." He held his cup out to Jaime for a refill. "I know she's responsible for this," he said, moving his hand over his scar. "That she ordered me killed. If I stay here for much longer, under her control, she'll finish what she started."

Jaime knew Cersei hated Tyrion, but he found it hard to believe that she would kill him. Of course, she's already proven that I don't know her at all. "I can ask father to move your chambers back to the Tower of the Hand. There's room. I'm having Sansa Stark's chambers moved there first thing in the morning."

"Sansa Stark," Tyrion asked curiously. "What concern is she of yours?"

"Tomorrow Joffrey will set aside Sansa Stark in favor of Margaery Tyrell. And I will be dismissed from the Kingsguard. Father had planned to dismiss me as a useless cripple. But now, I shall be released from my vows in order to marry my one true love. Sansa Stark."

Tyrion sipped his wine, looking at Jaime curiously, knowing there was more to the story. "Lady Sansa is a lovely girl. I had no idea that you were so enraptured. That you were so fond of her that you would leave the Kingsguard. In fact, I had no idea that you had exchanged more than two words with her."

"Joffrey had two of his guards beating Sansa outside his chambers. If I didn't agree to marry the girl, father and Cersei were going to let Joffrey have her. As a plaything." He turned to Tyrion. "I could not have stood by while another mad king savaged an innocent woman. Turned this girl into an outcast. His whore. There'd be no honor in serving in Joffrey's Kingsguard."

"Not long ago, after Robb Stark had a particularly good victory, Joffrey brought Sansa into the throne room, before the entire court, and had the Kingsguard strip her and beat her. I stopped him once I saw it but…he can't be watched all the time."

Jaime poured a third cup of wine. "Well, I can see to it that Sansa is protected. I know what it's like to be alone. With no hope. In pain. Wanting nothing more than a moment's kindness." Jaime looked at the ground self-consciously. "Sansa Stark needs protection. Perhaps this way I can be of some small use to someone." He looked at his useless stump, anger and humiliation taking hold of him again.

"What about Cersei? Have you spoken to our sweet sister? I wonder, how does she take the news of your impending nuptials."

Jaime hesitated. "I went to see her when I arrived and…she was fucking some oaf. It seemed the wrong time to speak to her," he said with a grim smile.

"Osmund Kettleblack. A new knight of the Kingsguard." He considered Jaime before continuing. "Also cousin Lancel, one of Kettleblack's brothers and I suspect several Lannister guards and Goldcloaks." The brothers sat in silence while Jaime drained another cup of wine, staring at his useless stump. "I'm sorry, Jaime."

"What for? What do I care if our sister's a whore?"

They both know that Tyrion has always known about the relationship between the twins, though they never spoke of it. "You've always been a romantic, brother. I'd say it's rather romantic that you are giving up the Kingsguard to save this girl." Jaime gave Tyrion a long-suffering look. "I don't mean that you love her, but…you are saving the girl from a terrible fate."

"I'm no hero, Tyrion. The truth is I've never liked court and…if I can help the Stark girl and get some peace…it seemed the right thing to do."

His brother smiled. "You should know that, for someone so young, she's built up some very thick walls around herself. I expect her courtesy will wear on your nerves but…it's her armor. Her way of protecting herself."

"She was so broken, so vulnerable when I saw her tonight. She'll be Lady of Casterly Rock; that should make her happy; to be lady of a large castle. She'll be far from Joffrey and I'll do what I can to see to her comfort. It's not as if I will have anything else to concern myself with after tomorrow. Sansa Stark may be my last chance for honor in this life."

...

Thanks for reading! In the next chapter I'll pick up with Sansa and her perspective & Cersei and Jaime finally speak.