A Dangerous Liaison
asoiafkinkmeme prompt--Cersei/Jaime/Sansa, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, 7,380 words
(The characters are not my own but those of GRRM)
The night before he was to meet Ned Stark in a duel to the death, Jaime Lannister spent writing letters-to all the lords of Westeros, great and small, and to all the septons, to explain the whys and wherefores of the affair. Above all, he wanted the truth to be known-about his relationship with his sister, Queen Cersei, and with Lord Stark’s eldest daughter and Lady of Storm’s End, Sansa. When he had written his letters, he decided to take them with him in the morning-he would get Stark to send the ravens flying when he was dead.
All this, he thought bitterly, would not have happened if it had not been for Cersei and her godsdamned pride. Robert had been keen to strengthen his friendship with the Starks-Ned and he had been fostered together at the Eyrie. Had the girl been younger, he would have betrothed her to Joffrey, his son, but as she was born the year Ned and he rebelled against Aerys, she would be wedded to his brother Renly instead. Cersei should have been happy-she had hated the Starks, because Robert could never forget Lyanna and because Ned had wanted Jaime to join the Night’s Watch after Aerys’ death-and she had loathed the Tullys, because Tywin had tried to make a match of it with Jaime and Lysa and because she had often been unfavourably compared by Robert with Catelyn, who had been good enough to raise his bastard son alongside her own true-born children. But she was raging, because Robert’s brother, who did not need a wife, had been given one, while her Lannister cousins had been left wanting. It did not matter that the girl would not inherit her father’s title or lands-she had been swiftly followed by three brothers and another sister-but she felt Robert should have asked her advice, which he seldom did because he knew she would champion her family, as always. He had spoken to Jon Arryn and Arryn, concerned about Renly’s excessive friendliness with his Tyrell squire, suggested this marriage-perhaps he thought the Tyrells meant to use Renly to get them into King’s Landing and the Small Council. Arryn and Stannis, as well as the Lannisters, were suspicious of the Tyrells, who had been amongst the last to accept Robert as King after Aerys’ death.
So Robert had taken Renly and the rest of the court to Winterfell, where he had used his kingly majesty to engineer a swift marriage between Sansa and Renly. The wedding ceremony had been performed both in the sept and the godswood, since the bride followed both her mother’s and her father’s gods. She was a lovely girl, who would grow into a beauty in a few years, with her red hair, blue eyes, fine features, clear skin, curvaceous figure and height. She was also reputed to be good-natured, well-behaved, and pious and accomplished in all the womanly arts, which was enough for Cersei to complain that she was insipid. Cersei had been wild with jealousy when she had seen the girl-Jaime knew she hated her when Cersei took care to use her wiles to gain the girl’s confidence.
The wedding feast was joyous-everyone, from the Stark and Tully banner men to the Lannister guardsmen who had accompanied them, ate and drank to excess--but one could not say the same for the bedding. Although the bride and the groom were duly put to bed, with many bawdy jokes told and even bawdier songs sung-Tyrion and Robert had done themselves proud-it did not seem that Renly had actually consummated his marriage. At first, he complained that he had drunk too much wine at the wedding feast; then, that he was too tired from the day’s riding during the journey south; then, that his duties as Master of Laws and member of the Small Council in King’s Landing were onerous and numerous...Lord Renly was very inventive when he had to avoid something he did not want to do, while those in the know at King’s Landing made bets on whether or not Renly would actually bed his wife. Eventually, he told his wife that he wanted her to get to know him better before they became lovers as well as husband and wife; he felt that she was too young at fifteen to bear the burdens of motherhood. She, being a simple girl-a little fool, Cersei said-believed him and thought him to be the best and kindest of men and husbands.
Moreover, she had much to occupy herself with when she arrived at court. As Renly’s wife, she was a senior lady-in-waiting to the queen and had to be on duty almost every day. And then, there was her uncle and aunt’s household. Her aunt, Lady Lysa, was totally wrapped up in her sickly boy, Robert Arryn, so it fell to Sansa to help run her uncle’s household. And when her uncle grew irritated about what he called Lady Lysa mollycoddling his son, Sansa was the one who suggested a visit to the Quiet Isle-she had heard, she said, on her journey to King’s Landing, that the Elder Brother there was a reputed healer. Perhaps if she were to go there with her aunt, a few of her lord husband’s guardsmen and dear Sweetrobin to get at the truth of the matter? Her uncle heeded her pleas, for which Lady Lysa was grateful, and with Lord Renly’s blessings, they were off. Luckily for them all, the Elder Brother was able to find suitable remedies for Sweetrobin’s ailments; indeed, the child was so much better while they were at the isle that the ladies truly believed the gods had heard their prayers. They returned, a little earlier than expected to King’s Landing, which was well and good for Lady Lysa, who was able to present a much healthier little boy to her lord husband, much to his relief and great joy.
However, it was not well and good for Lady Sansa, for she walked in on her husband Renly and his knight Loras, sprawled asleep in her bed. She stood there, horrified, staring-the two men lay there, entwined in each other’s arms, as if they were lovers! She did not know what to do-she felt she must have failed her husband somehow; he must hate her, or he would not have turned to another man for solace. She quietly walked out of the room and went to another in her husband’s apartments, where she spent the night. She took care to avoid rising in the morning-she had always risen early, to see that he broke his fast-but she could not face either man today. But she could not hide in her rooms forever-she was back at court and the queen expected her good-sister to wait upon her.
So, Sansa went to Cersei’s rooms, where the women chatted, sewed and gossiped. She let the queen know that the Elder Brother at the Quiet Isle was truly an excellent healer; Lady Lysa was well-pleased with him and young Robert was well on the way to recovery. But there was something in her manner that must have worried the queen, for Cersei told her to stay when the other women left. When they were alone, she looked very hard at Sansa.
“My dear Sansa, you are usually the most lively and cheerful of my ladies-I had expected to see you even happier, now that your cousin has recovered, yet it seems to me that you look sad. Your eyes are puffy and red-have you been crying, sweetling?”
Sansa did not know what to say-she had spent much of the night weeping into her pillow-and she felt she would start weeping again, in response to Cersei’s question. She gulped back her tears and said, “Yes, Your Grace.”
“Why is that, my dear? Has Renly scolded you for staying away from him for so many days?”
“No, Your Grace-my lord husband permitted me to take his guards with me when I accompanied my aunt to the Quiet Isle. He has said nothing to me since...”
“Well, so he has not spoken harshly to you. Has the rascal consummated his marriage with you, now that you have returned?”
“No, Your Grace-he has not,” she whispered, feeling miserable, trying not to cry.
“Why is that, I wonder?” Cersei asked, rhetorically. She knew of Renly’s relationship with Loras, but she refused to share her knowledge with Robert.
“I think I disgust him-I think he hates me and is too polite to say so,” said Sansa, feeling miserable but looking the queen in the eye.
“Oh? And why do you think so?” asked Cersei.
That is when Sansa told Cersei what she had seen. She had not wished to discuss it with Aunt Lysa, because her aunt was finally happy after such a long spell of grief. Moreover, she felt Lysa might be too embarrassed to discuss the matter with Renly, whereas Cersei, as his good-sister, might well be able to talk to him. Cersei was silent when Sansa finished describing what she had seen. Then she said thoughtfully,
“I wish the king had spoken to me of his plans to have Renly married off. I would not have suggested he wed Renly to a maiden, but to a young widow, who would have known what to do with him.” She looked at Sansa and explained, “You must understand, my dear Sansa, that Renly is one of those men who prefers others of his sex. He might not wish to lie with a woman. However, a woman who had some knowledge of men would have been able to win him over. You are very young and a maiden to boot; else I would have advised you to either make your husband jealous or seduce him.”
“What must I do to make him jealous, Your Grace, or seduce him? I know that I am young and a maiden, but I will not give up without a fight,” Sansa said, in a determined tone.
Cersei sighed, “Making him jealous-but will he get angry if he sees you paying attention to another man? Or will he be relieved instead?” She was silent for a while as she looked at Sansa and then said, “I think seduction is the better option-at least, you will learn how men and women behave between the sheets. I’m sure you know very little of this-neither your mother nor your septa would have spoken to you of such matters.”
“They spoke to me of it-my septa said I should try to look for something beautiful in the man I married and I would be sure to find it. And my mother told me that I should be patient and loving with my husband; that we would grow to love one another as she and my father had...”
“But-they did not tell you how to make your husband want to make love to you?” Cersei asked her interrogatively.
“No, Your Grace, they did not-they were concerned, when the marriage was not consummated, but then, when my lord husband said he wished to wait till I was older and knew him better, they were touched by his consideration. My mother said there was no hurry, and I agreed with her, until last night.” Sansa said, with a catch in her voice.
“My dear Sansa,” Cersei said, in the gentlest tone of voice, “of course, he was deceiving you and you fell for his tricks. Well, we must find a way around this. In the next few months, the king will go on progress through the Crownlands, the Stormlands and the Reach. And Lord Arryn will travel to the Riverlands and the Vale with your aunt and cousin. You and I, my dear good-sister, will be left on our own. Why not come and stay with me until your lord husband returns to the capital? I will, in the meantime, find a way around your problems.”
Sansa agreed to this and they parted. Cersei immediately sent a maid to fetch Ser Jaime Lannister from White Sword Tower or the practice grounds, wherever he might be found. When he arrived, she told him all that Sansa had said, and they both chuckled at the young girl’s naivety. Then she asked him, suddenly,
“Which knights of the Kingsguard will go with Robert on the progress?”
“Ser Mandon Moore, Ser Meryn Trant and Ser Boros Blount. Why?”
“Perhaps I might send the children to Casterly Rock to visit their grandfather. They can travel as far as the Twins with Lord Arryn and then go west. Ser Preston Greenfield, Ser Arys Oakheart and Sandor Clegane can go with them. Ser Barristan Selmy and you will stay here in King’s Landing.”
“It’s very kind of Your Grace to think of it-I’m sure father will be touched and Tyrion delighted,” said Jaime ironically.
“Lady Sansa will stay here with me, and you will guard us both.” Cersei said to him meaningfully.
“From everything other than myself, you mean?” he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.
They both laughed. “I want you to seduce her,” she said suddenly. “This is a golden opportunity-Renly has failed to consummate his marriage and has gone back to Loras. His wife feels it is all her fault. You must play Dragonknight to this young lady and convince her it isn’t. I will see to it she isn’t given moon tea or anything else to conceal her condition.”
“You must really hate the Starks,” he said, with a laugh.
“The Starks, the Tullys, the Baratheons and the Arryns,” she said, a cold anger in her voice.
“What do I get in return?” he asked, meaningfully, his arms snaking around her.
“What do you want?” she asked him.
“Well, why not give me what I have always wanted? Why not end this subterfuge? You know we control this kingdom-Casterly Rock holds more than is good of the royal debt. Why should you and I pretend any longer? When we have ruined Lady Sansa, let us tell the world about our relationship. Cast Robert aside and tell them the truth about the children,” he said persuasively. “The sept allowed the Targaryens to do as they wanted to-why should they stop us?”
“Is that what you want as your payment?” she asked Jaime.
“Yes.”
She was quiet for a while and then said, “I will have to wait for Robert to die before I do this. I know you are brave, Jaime, but do not forget-Rhaegar was brave too, but Robert still slew him in battle. We must be careful.”
He agreed to be guided by her and they parted.
It was a relief for Sansa to be alone at court. The king had left with Lord Renly, Ser Loras and a large retinue of lords and ladies; Lord Arryn had taken Lysa and Robert to the Riverlands and the Vale, where his lady and heir would henceforth reside; and the Princes Joffrey and Tommen and Princess Myrcella had gone to the Westerlands. The queen was there, of course, and had insisted on keeping her good-sister with her. She told Sansa she had found a solution to her problems-she was not to worry.
But Sansa could not help worrying. Only the knowledge that she had to make this marriage work kept her from sending a raven to her father, telling him all that had gone wrong. When she suggested it to the queen, Cersei dissuaded her, telling her that writing to her father would be the act of a child, not of a woman. “You are now a married woman, Sansa and you must find your own solutions to your problems. I’m glad you did not speak of this to Lysa-it would only have saddened her. What do you think will happen when your father gets your letter? He will ask that you be sent home to Winterfell. He might quarrel with the King and his Hand, blaming them for arranging this match. He might well ask that the king and the sept annul your marriage-I know it was also performed in the godswood and your father’s banner men will declare the marriage null and void if it is not consummated within a year. And then what will happen to you? You will be the talk of the country and not in a good way. No one will say it was Lord Renly’s fault that the marriage was never consummated-they will blame you and say that something about you disgusted him, which is why he turned to another man. And then, your father will have to find you another husband, which will be difficult, because no man will believe you are a maid. And you have a young sister and a cousin who must be married off-and then there are the boys, your brothers. On the other hand, if you stay on at court and do exactly as I say...we might yet save the situation.”
The queen revealed her solution when she and Sansa were the only persons of note left in Maegor’s Keep. Sansa listened to her, horrified, as she said, “You must get this out of your head, Sansa, that there is anything wrong with you. There is nothing wrong-you are inexperienced when it comes to men; that is all. And this can be remedied very easily. I know someone who is very keen to make your acquaintance and I will see to it that he meets you and convinces you that you are worthy of the greatest love and devotion. And no, I will not tell you who it is-I want you to be pleasantly surprised when you meet this man.”
When Sansa stammered something about the rights and wrongs...whether she ought or ought not to meet this man...would she not be unfaithful to her husband if she met this person the queen wanted her to meet...what would her mother and her septa say...Cersei said impatiently, “Sansa, his marriage vows appear not to mean very much to your lord husband-he has gone off with Ser Loras-did you not notice that? Why should you not be loved by someone other than him? Think of Queen Naerys and the Dragonknight-had she waited for King Aegon the Unworthy to love her, she could have waited forever. Instead, she turned to a better man. You should do the same. Teach him a lesson. And why worry so much about what your mother or your septa will say? People spoke ill of Queen Naerys-but her son still sat the Iron Throne.”
Sansa said no more, but waited apprehensively for the day to end-the queen said that the man in question would come to her after their evening meal, when they retired for the night. “And believe me, my dear,” the queen said earnestly. “I have been very careful to select only the best for you.” She was more intent when she prayed, both at the sept and in the godswood, as she asked for protection.
She would have avoided the evening meal altogether and stayed in her room, had the queen not insisted that she attend her in the great hall to talk to Ser Barristan, whom she liked very much, while the queen entertained her brother. When they were done, they bade the men good night-Ser Barristan said that Ser Jaime had asked to be given the duty of guarding the queen’s apartments while the king was away, and he had granted it.
Sansa was very quiet when she went back to her apartment. Her maid dressed her in a shift and brushed and plaited her hair after removing her elaborate gown and putting it away. She lay down in her bed and closed her eyes tight, her heart beating wildly as she waited...
Jaime slid the door open softly, shut and bolted it, and walked into Sansa’s room, as carefully as a cat or a thief. He had taken off his armour in Cersei’s room; they had dressed Lancel in it and told him to guard the royal apartments instead. He had come too late from Casterly Rock to accompany the king on his progress-but not too late to participate in Cersei’s plots.
Jaime walked up to the bed, and knelt down, to get a closer look at the girl. Gods, she was very young and beautiful! He gently brushed her lips with his own-she woke up with a startled gasp and nearly screamed when she saw him looming over her in the darkness. He laughed softly when he realised he had frightened her-and then kissed her again.
“Do forgive me for frightening you, Lady Sansa,” he said.
“You did not frighten me, ser,” she said, trying to sound dignified and unafraid.
“No?” he asked her smiling, as he picked her up in his arms, sat down on the bed, and put her in his lap so that they could look each other in the eye.
“No.” She said firmly. “I am not afraid.”
He said no more but began to kiss her, gently but persistently, not just on her lips, but all over her face. She returned his kisses shyly and did not demur as he slowly untied her shift and pushed it off her shoulders, to kiss her neck, her breasts and her stomach. She gasped softly when he did that, and began to undo the buttons of his tunic. He responded by taking the tunic and the shirt off and tossing it away, letting her touch him. She caressed him shyly-her touch left him feeling shaken by his need. He took her shift off and laid her down on the bed. He turned his back to her as he took off his breeches and then joined her. They continued to kiss and touch, as they explored each other’s bodies-he could sense her delight and excitement. He could tell that she was shyer than Cersei, and would need to be handled very gently and slowly. Dawn found them lying together on the bed, still engrossed in each other.
He kissed her again. “I will come again, sweet lady-will you be glad to see me tonight?”
“Yes ser, I will,” she whispered, too overwhelmed by her desire to say any more. She was blushing, gazing at him, her hunger all too visible in her eyes.
“You look lovely,” he said softly. “I shall think of you all day and await the night with impatience.”
She clung to him suddenly, weeping. “That is the nicest thing anyone has said to me,” she said, when he wiped her tears away and asked her what was wrong. He took his time saying his farewells, leaving her wanting more.
By the time Robert, Renly, Jon Arryn and the children returned from their journeys, three months had gone by--Lady Sansa was pregnant and had left court. Those midnight kisses and caresses had left her hungry for more, and Jaime had done all he could to satisfy her, in every way possible. This strange relationship, into which he had entered to ruin this lovely young girl, had instead drawn him closer to her. So when he recognized the early signs of pregnancy, he thought of getting the old hag who had helped Cersei abort her child by Robert. That would at least save Sansa’s reputation.
When he suggested this to Sansa, she refused at once, as did Cersei. Both women had their own reasons-Sansa wanted the baby because it was her own, whereas Cersei wanted Renly to discover the affair and end the marriage in the most scandalous way possible. When she learnt what Sansa planned to do, she agreed to help-she was certain that the impact of what this daughter of the honourable Starks and Tullys had done would have more effect if someone concerned (her father, the king or her uncle) were to take the time and effort to seek her out than if she were still at court to be questioned.
Sansa wanted to go to the Quiet Isle-she said the brothers had huts where pregnant women could stay. She would stay there under an assumed name, give birth to her baby, care for her child and arrange to place it somewhere suitable; if it were a girl, she would go to a mother house to be brought up as a septa, but if it were a boy, she would send him to Jaime, so that he could arrange for the child to be fostered and trained as a soldier. She would not go back to Renly-she said the marriage did not exist, since both of them had been unfaithful to each other. She had decided to become a silent sister. And she wanted no one from her family to learn about the affair or the child-she wanted Jaime and Cersei to simply tell the world that she had walked out of the Red Keep and King’s Landing one day without anyone seeing her leave or knowing where she went or why she left. She left behind all the fine clothes she had loved and took her plainest dresses-she would even have cut off her hair to prevent recognition, when Jaime suggested that she should use a dye instead. She had some jewels that she had been given by her parents, her uncles and her aunts on the occasion of her marriage-she insisted that Jaime have those sold, so that she should be able to pay for her needs. He did as she asked and had her discreetly conveyed to the Isle before the travellers returned.
However, at least one of them had reckoned without Robert. When he learned that Sansa had disappeared one day, without saying a word to anyone, with no message stating why she had left or where she had gone, he was incandescent with rage, which he vented upon Cersei. He knew she had hated the girl-she must have made the poor child’s life so miserable that she ran away. He felt responsible for her-she was his friend’s eldest child, and she had disappeared in a manner that was eerily reminiscent of an earlier disappearance.
He had her maids go through her clothes and jewels to tell him what was missing; he had a list made of the missing jewels and he set the gold cloaks to questioning all the jewellers and money lenders in King’s Landing. Although Jaime had been discreet-he had sent an experienced man, who had served the Lannisters all his life and knew King’s Landing well-the many jewellers and money lenders he had visited to sell and pawn the missing jewels were able to provide a description of him. He had left King’s Landing after disposing of Sansa’s jewels-Jaime and Cersei had sent him back to Casterly Rock-but some of the hangers on in the Red Keep recalled that they had seen him with Ser Jaime. When Ser Jaime was questioned, he claimed that the man in question was an old servant of his father’s who had a son he wanted to place in the king’s service. He had left after receiving assurances from Ser Jaime. No, he did not know how this man had become acquainted with Lady Sansa and gained access to her jewels.
Matters stood thus for eight months or so, with Robert trying to discover if he, as king, had the right to put his wife and her brother to the question; Renly trying to get the opinions of various maesters learned in the law and Jaime and Cersei loudly proclaiming their innocence, when a silent brother from the Quiet Isle arrived at court, bearing a letter addressed to Ser Jaime from one Tysha Rivers. Ser Jaime was not at court-he had gone to attend a tourney with his sister, the queen, at Ashemark. And the king had gone hunting, taking Lord Renly with him.
However, Lord Arryn was there, as was Lord Stark, who had come south after aiding the Night’s Watch against the wildlings, whom he was now permitting to settle on the land called Brandon’s Gift. It seemed his two younger sons, Brandon and Rickard, would hold it as banner men under their brother Robb, while their half-brother, Jon Snow, donned the black. He had come to court to discuss possible alliances for his younger daughter, Arya, and to get news of his elder daughter, who, it seemed, had not written to her family since her disappearance from court. They immediately had the silent brother brought to them and gently but firmly took the letter from him, even though he spoke up and stated that he was to give the letter to none other than Ser Jaime. They opened and read the letter-Lord Stark’s face turned pale as he stared at it. Lord Arryn immediately sent all others, save Ser Vardis Egen and Jory Cassel, away. Lord Stark spoke when the others had left.
“I recognise Sansa’s hand,” he said quietly. “She has written to Jaime Lannister-it is evident they were intimate-telling him that she has given birth to his son. She says she is ailing-she has childbed fever, Jon-she has given the child to be nursed by a peasant woman who has lost her own babe. She asks him to care for the child if she should not recover. What has that man done to my daughter? How did matters come to such a pass?”
“I don’t know, Ned-your daughter, when she came to court, did not seem to be the sort to get involved in such an affair. Of course, some of the blame is Renly’s-he should have taken care to consummate the marriage instead of leaving it for later. I wonder why he did that. Why has she written to Ser Jaime about the child-why not the family? Why not her aunt, her parents, myself or Edmure? What does she think he can do?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” asked Eddard, “She did not want us to find her. The child is his-he broke his vow to protect a king, so seducing a young and inexperienced girl should have been child’s play for him. She wants him to take responsibility for the bastard he fathered upon her. I will go and see her-this is my grandson we speak of. Bastard or not, he will be provided for; we will care for him. I leave it to your discretion, Jon, to talk of this with Robert and Renly. “
So saying, he called on the men who had accompanied him and who now prepared to escort him, along with the silent brother, to the Quiet Isle. He took the brother aside and explained to him that the lady who had sent him with the letter was his daughter-the child she had borne was his grandson. The brother bowed his head when he heard the words and they left as quickly as they could.
When they arrived at the Quiet Isle, the silent brother took Lord Stark to the Elder Brother, to whom Eddard told his story. The Elder Brother immediately went himself to check on the woman called Tysha Rivers, and reported to Lord Eddard that he was unable to find a remedy for her fever-she would last no longer than a month or so. As Eddard wished to see her, the Elder Brother took him to her room, which she had kept as neatly as she was able. When he saw her, he dropped down to his knees beside her, his face wet with tears, and held her in his arms. She woke up out of her feverish sleep.
“Father!” she cried out, as she stared at him. “You’ve come-are all well at home? How are mother and the children?”
“All is well, Sansa,” he said, in a voice choked with tears. “We have anxiously awaited letters from you or news of you and had none. I came south to learn what had become of you, and now I find you here. Tell me, my dear, how did this come to pass?”
She told him everything: how she had discovered Renly and Loras; confided in Cersei and been advised by her to accept the addresses of a man the queen had selected to teach her the arts of love; her shock when she had recognised Ser Jaime, who had then proceeded to make love to her. She did not hide anything from her father-she told him how she had hesitated, had wanted to send him a raven to ask his advice, but had been dissuaded by the queen. She even repeated the arguments the queen had used to convince her to take her advice. Eddard listened carefully and then he asked Sansa to write down her account and sign it-he said he would take care of the child for her if she did so. She agreed to his request. He showed her account to the Elder Brother, who confirmed that Lady Sansa had said much the same when she had made her confession recently, when she knew she was dying. He then had her make a second copy of her account and had the Elder Brother sign it, after inserting his confirmation-keeping the first with him, he sent the second to Jon Arryn and asked him to present it to King Robert and Lord Renly.
The queen had returned to court by the time Lord Eddard’s messenger arrived from the Quiet Isle and presented his message to Lord Arryn, although Ser Jaime remained at Ashemark with Ser Addam Marbrand. Not only did Lord Arryn show the King and Lord Renly the message-he also had the queen called before them and Lord Stannis and asked her to answer to the charges made by Sansa in her statement. The queen denied them vigorously, saying that her good-sister slandered her and her brother for no good reason. She claimed that Sansa had been enraged when she found Renly and Loras together and was determined to be avenged upon them. She said that she had counselled patience and prayer, to which Sansa had responded with obscenities. She had tried to remonstrate with Sansa, reminding her that the king had done her house great honour by allying it with his own, but to no avail. She claimed she had begged Sansa to write to her father, but that Sansa had refused to do so, blaming everyone, from her parents to Lord Arryn and the king, for arranging her marriage to Renly.
“She was so enraged at Renly-her vanity was so wounded-that she was determined to drag everyone down into the mud with her. That is why I insisted she should stay with me-I did not want her to create a scandal in the country with her behaviour. She tried to throw herself at my brother; can you imagine that? She must have found some man, perhaps one of the Lannister guardsmen, to satisfy her, because when she left court, she was pregnant. And she forced Jaime to arrange to have her jewels sold or pawned-she threatened to ruin my poor brother’s reputation otherwise. I wanted her to stay at court and face the music, but he refused-he said she was a young girl, who was badly hurt and must be protected. There are times,” said Cersei bitterly, “when Jaime is too chivalrous for his own good.”
“I think,” said Lord Arryn firmly, “that we should also question Ser Jaime-we must insist he return to court. Ser Barristan was here while the rest of us were travelling-I think he should also be questioned regarding this matter.”
When Ser Barristan was questioned about Lady Sansa’s manner to him, he said that it had been as it always was-very pleasant and gentle. He spoke of her with a certain grandfatherly affection; he said she loved to hear his tales of tourneys, jousts and wars long ago-he spoke of how much he had enjoyed her company as they chatted during the evenings some months ago. When he was shown the statement she had made to her father, and was shown the statement that the queen had made, he pursed his lips and said, “I don’t see Lady Sansa ever responding with an obscenity-she is not that sort of person. She is a sweet and gentle girl-I think she was very badly hurt by Lord Renly’s behaviour. And she was not the sort of woman to accost a guardsman in that manner-she is a shy girl; in fact, she is not the sort to boast about her looks or her accomplishments. She would not lie to her father or to the Elder Brother-she takes an oath to be truthful seriously. As for Ser Jaime-he insisted on guarding the queen’s chambers while the king and most members of the court were away. He has never been known to chase young women-but a man can lose his head when the woman in question is young, beautiful and in distress, which I think she was. And young Lancel Lannister arrived at court during that time-“
When Ser Jaime arrived at court, he confirmed his sister’s statement, saying that he had never paid any attention to Lady Sansa, whereas Lancel or someone who looked much like him, might have. However, Lancel, when questioned, denied ever being in the lady’s chamber-he claimed to have been asleep when all this was afoot. That was when Lord Stannis’ onion knight, Ser Davos Seaworth, who had heard of the scandal at court, suggested that the lady should provide as detailed a description as possible of the man with whom she had shared a bed for a month or more and who had fathered a bastard upon her. When Sansa did so, describing the wounds and scars he bore upon his body, Davos questioned the knights of the Kingsuard and the Lannister guardsmen who had been at court at that time, which led them to point a finger of suspicion at Ser Jaime. One of the guardsmen even recalled seeing Lancel wearing Ser Jaime’s armour and guarding the queen’s apartments more than once during those months.
Even as this scandal was bubbling over, Lord Stannis had begun to voice his suspicions regarding the paternity of his brother’s children to Lord Arryn. They had heard how Lady Sansa’s little boy, with his auburn curls, blue-green eyes, fine features and sturdy build, was a wonderful mixture of Lannister and Stark. “Whereas,” said Lord Stannis to Lord Jon, “Robert’s children seem like pure Lannister to me. I hear you brought up his bastard daughter Mya in the Vale-who does she resemble-her mother or her father?”
“She takes after Robert-black hair and blue eyes. Why?” asked Lord Jon, his curiosity piqued.
“I’ve seen Edric when I visited Storm’s End last,” said Lord Stannis thoughtfully. “He has big ears and a prominent jaw, like all Florents-even poor Shireen has that-but he has the Baratheon eyes and hair. What about Robert’s other bastards?”
That was how Lord Jon and Lord Stannis began to look for King Robert’s sixteen bastards-they soon found that most of them looked very much like Baratheons, thus increasing their suspicions regarding the paternity of the queen’s children. Their suspicions reached their zenith when they discovered Grand Maester Malleon’s book and read the sections on the Lannisters and Baratheons. They were ready to tell Robert of their suspicions when Cersei acted.
Cersei got Lancel, whom she had persuaded Robert to appoint as his squire, to poison his wine while he was on a hunt. However, Robert did not die of the poison-he was gored in the stomach by a boar, which he managed to kill. By this time, Lord Stannis, Lord Jon and Lord Renly had managed to get most of Robert’s bastard children out of the city. They, along with Lord Eddard, were summoned to his bedside, to bear witness to his last will and testament. It was then that Lord Jon voiced his suspicions regarding the paternity of Cersei’s children. Robert heard him out and then made a will, whereby he named his brother Stannis, Lord of Dragonstone, his heir. He also authorised them to bring the queen and her twin brother to justice, reminding them how they had mislead “poor Lady Sansa-she must be avenged”.
By this time, Lady Sansa had died of fever-her body was taken north for burial in the crypt at Winterfell, and her child, along with his nurse, accompanied it. Lord Eddard had already made his will, naming Lady Catelyn the guardian of his remaining children, and had stated that he did not intend to go north without avenging the insult to his daughter’s honour. He believed what Sansa had told him-she would not have lied to him about the father of her child, nor would she have lied when confessing to the Elder Brother. Whilst Lord Jon and Lord Renly secured the persons of the queen and her children, and Lord Stannis prepared for his coronation, Lord Eddard challenged Ser Jaime Lannister to a duel to the death, for seducing his daughter and then abandoning her.
Jaime had believed that Cersei would acknowledge their relationship, as she had promised, if he helped her bring about the ruin of Sansa Stark. However, when Robert died, after naming Stannis his heir, Cersei had no choice but to fight for the throne. She used the Lannister guardsmen and the gold cloaks to fight the Arryn and Baratheon soldiers who came for her and her children. She escaped the city, after stealing the crown jewels; taking the High Septon, who had been in her pay; and getting Lancel to capture a vessel and force its captain to take her, the High Septon and her children to Lannisport. She left Ser Jaime, Lancel and Tyrek, as well as the Lannister men-at-arms, to fight and die for her, as she sailed to Casterly Rock and freedom. When she got there, she had Joffrey crowned King of Westeros and proclaimed him to be Robert’s son and heir. She claimed that all the stories about her incestuous relations with her brother were lies, manufactured by Lord Arryn, to cover up the fact that he had wedded his niece, a woman since found guilty of adultery and perjury before men and gods, to her husband’s brother. “She must have been guilty,” her proclamation read, “or else the gods would not have taken her life, leaving her bastard child an orphan.”
When Jaime wrote to her, reminding her of the promises she had made him, the manner in which they had plotted Sansa’s disgrace and downfall, and their mutual affection, she denied everything, claiming that he was lying to save his life; to win favour from the Baratheons and Lord Arryn by claiming that his relationship with her had been more than that of a twin brother. The only means he had of countering her claims was to accept Lord Stark’s challenge and leave his confession for Stark to send on raven’s wings to every noble house and sept in Westeros.
After Jaime’s death in a duel that he had been expected to win, and after the lords and septons had received and read his last letter, Lord Tywin had no choice but to hand over his daughter and her children to King Stannis, who was good enough to send Tommen to be raised by the Night’s Watch and Myrcella to a mother house, to become a septa, whilst he had Cersei and Joffrey executed. The High Septon and Grand Maester Pycelle were removed from their posts-they had served the whims of a cruel and vicious woman, who had never deserved to be queen, according to the new king.
(The characters are not my own but those of GRRM)
The night before he was to meet Ned Stark in a duel to the death, Jaime Lannister spent writing letters-to all the lords of Westeros, great and small, and to all the septons, to explain the whys and wherefores of the affair. Above all, he wanted the truth to be known-about his relationship with his sister, Queen Cersei, and with Lord Stark’s eldest daughter and Lady of Storm’s End, Sansa. When he had written his letters, he decided to take them with him in the morning-he would get Stark to send the ravens flying when he was dead.
All this, he thought bitterly, would not have happened if it had not been for Cersei and her godsdamned pride. Robert had been keen to strengthen his friendship with the Starks-Ned and he had been fostered together at the Eyrie. Had the girl been younger, he would have betrothed her to Joffrey, his son, but as she was born the year Ned and he rebelled against Aerys, she would be wedded to his brother Renly instead. Cersei should have been happy-she had hated the Starks, because Robert could never forget Lyanna and because Ned had wanted Jaime to join the Night’s Watch after Aerys’ death-and she had loathed the Tullys, because Tywin had tried to make a match of it with Jaime and Lysa and because she had often been unfavourably compared by Robert with Catelyn, who had been good enough to raise his bastard son alongside her own true-born children. But she was raging, because Robert’s brother, who did not need a wife, had been given one, while her Lannister cousins had been left wanting. It did not matter that the girl would not inherit her father’s title or lands-she had been swiftly followed by three brothers and another sister-but she felt Robert should have asked her advice, which he seldom did because he knew she would champion her family, as always. He had spoken to Jon Arryn and Arryn, concerned about Renly’s excessive friendliness with his Tyrell squire, suggested this marriage-perhaps he thought the Tyrells meant to use Renly to get them into King’s Landing and the Small Council. Arryn and Stannis, as well as the Lannisters, were suspicious of the Tyrells, who had been amongst the last to accept Robert as King after Aerys’ death.
So Robert had taken Renly and the rest of the court to Winterfell, where he had used his kingly majesty to engineer a swift marriage between Sansa and Renly. The wedding ceremony had been performed both in the sept and the godswood, since the bride followed both her mother’s and her father’s gods. She was a lovely girl, who would grow into a beauty in a few years, with her red hair, blue eyes, fine features, clear skin, curvaceous figure and height. She was also reputed to be good-natured, well-behaved, and pious and accomplished in all the womanly arts, which was enough for Cersei to complain that she was insipid. Cersei had been wild with jealousy when she had seen the girl-Jaime knew she hated her when Cersei took care to use her wiles to gain the girl’s confidence.
The wedding feast was joyous-everyone, from the Stark and Tully banner men to the Lannister guardsmen who had accompanied them, ate and drank to excess--but one could not say the same for the bedding. Although the bride and the groom were duly put to bed, with many bawdy jokes told and even bawdier songs sung-Tyrion and Robert had done themselves proud-it did not seem that Renly had actually consummated his marriage. At first, he complained that he had drunk too much wine at the wedding feast; then, that he was too tired from the day’s riding during the journey south; then, that his duties as Master of Laws and member of the Small Council in King’s Landing were onerous and numerous...Lord Renly was very inventive when he had to avoid something he did not want to do, while those in the know at King’s Landing made bets on whether or not Renly would actually bed his wife. Eventually, he told his wife that he wanted her to get to know him better before they became lovers as well as husband and wife; he felt that she was too young at fifteen to bear the burdens of motherhood. She, being a simple girl-a little fool, Cersei said-believed him and thought him to be the best and kindest of men and husbands.
Moreover, she had much to occupy herself with when she arrived at court. As Renly’s wife, she was a senior lady-in-waiting to the queen and had to be on duty almost every day. And then, there was her uncle and aunt’s household. Her aunt, Lady Lysa, was totally wrapped up in her sickly boy, Robert Arryn, so it fell to Sansa to help run her uncle’s household. And when her uncle grew irritated about what he called Lady Lysa mollycoddling his son, Sansa was the one who suggested a visit to the Quiet Isle-she had heard, she said, on her journey to King’s Landing, that the Elder Brother there was a reputed healer. Perhaps if she were to go there with her aunt, a few of her lord husband’s guardsmen and dear Sweetrobin to get at the truth of the matter? Her uncle heeded her pleas, for which Lady Lysa was grateful, and with Lord Renly’s blessings, they were off. Luckily for them all, the Elder Brother was able to find suitable remedies for Sweetrobin’s ailments; indeed, the child was so much better while they were at the isle that the ladies truly believed the gods had heard their prayers. They returned, a little earlier than expected to King’s Landing, which was well and good for Lady Lysa, who was able to present a much healthier little boy to her lord husband, much to his relief and great joy.
However, it was not well and good for Lady Sansa, for she walked in on her husband Renly and his knight Loras, sprawled asleep in her bed. She stood there, horrified, staring-the two men lay there, entwined in each other’s arms, as if they were lovers! She did not know what to do-she felt she must have failed her husband somehow; he must hate her, or he would not have turned to another man for solace. She quietly walked out of the room and went to another in her husband’s apartments, where she spent the night. She took care to avoid rising in the morning-she had always risen early, to see that he broke his fast-but she could not face either man today. But she could not hide in her rooms forever-she was back at court and the queen expected her good-sister to wait upon her.
So, Sansa went to Cersei’s rooms, where the women chatted, sewed and gossiped. She let the queen know that the Elder Brother at the Quiet Isle was truly an excellent healer; Lady Lysa was well-pleased with him and young Robert was well on the way to recovery. But there was something in her manner that must have worried the queen, for Cersei told her to stay when the other women left. When they were alone, she looked very hard at Sansa.
“My dear Sansa, you are usually the most lively and cheerful of my ladies-I had expected to see you even happier, now that your cousin has recovered, yet it seems to me that you look sad. Your eyes are puffy and red-have you been crying, sweetling?”
Sansa did not know what to say-she had spent much of the night weeping into her pillow-and she felt she would start weeping again, in response to Cersei’s question. She gulped back her tears and said, “Yes, Your Grace.”
“Why is that, my dear? Has Renly scolded you for staying away from him for so many days?”
“No, Your Grace-my lord husband permitted me to take his guards with me when I accompanied my aunt to the Quiet Isle. He has said nothing to me since...”
“Well, so he has not spoken harshly to you. Has the rascal consummated his marriage with you, now that you have returned?”
“No, Your Grace-he has not,” she whispered, feeling miserable, trying not to cry.
“Why is that, I wonder?” Cersei asked, rhetorically. She knew of Renly’s relationship with Loras, but she refused to share her knowledge with Robert.
“I think I disgust him-I think he hates me and is too polite to say so,” said Sansa, feeling miserable but looking the queen in the eye.
“Oh? And why do you think so?” asked Cersei.
That is when Sansa told Cersei what she had seen. She had not wished to discuss it with Aunt Lysa, because her aunt was finally happy after such a long spell of grief. Moreover, she felt Lysa might be too embarrassed to discuss the matter with Renly, whereas Cersei, as his good-sister, might well be able to talk to him. Cersei was silent when Sansa finished describing what she had seen. Then she said thoughtfully,
“I wish the king had spoken to me of his plans to have Renly married off. I would not have suggested he wed Renly to a maiden, but to a young widow, who would have known what to do with him.” She looked at Sansa and explained, “You must understand, my dear Sansa, that Renly is one of those men who prefers others of his sex. He might not wish to lie with a woman. However, a woman who had some knowledge of men would have been able to win him over. You are very young and a maiden to boot; else I would have advised you to either make your husband jealous or seduce him.”
“What must I do to make him jealous, Your Grace, or seduce him? I know that I am young and a maiden, but I will not give up without a fight,” Sansa said, in a determined tone.
Cersei sighed, “Making him jealous-but will he get angry if he sees you paying attention to another man? Or will he be relieved instead?” She was silent for a while as she looked at Sansa and then said, “I think seduction is the better option-at least, you will learn how men and women behave between the sheets. I’m sure you know very little of this-neither your mother nor your septa would have spoken to you of such matters.”
“They spoke to me of it-my septa said I should try to look for something beautiful in the man I married and I would be sure to find it. And my mother told me that I should be patient and loving with my husband; that we would grow to love one another as she and my father had...”
“But-they did not tell you how to make your husband want to make love to you?” Cersei asked her interrogatively.
“No, Your Grace, they did not-they were concerned, when the marriage was not consummated, but then, when my lord husband said he wished to wait till I was older and knew him better, they were touched by his consideration. My mother said there was no hurry, and I agreed with her, until last night.” Sansa said, with a catch in her voice.
“My dear Sansa,” Cersei said, in the gentlest tone of voice, “of course, he was deceiving you and you fell for his tricks. Well, we must find a way around this. In the next few months, the king will go on progress through the Crownlands, the Stormlands and the Reach. And Lord Arryn will travel to the Riverlands and the Vale with your aunt and cousin. You and I, my dear good-sister, will be left on our own. Why not come and stay with me until your lord husband returns to the capital? I will, in the meantime, find a way around your problems.”
Sansa agreed to this and they parted. Cersei immediately sent a maid to fetch Ser Jaime Lannister from White Sword Tower or the practice grounds, wherever he might be found. When he arrived, she told him all that Sansa had said, and they both chuckled at the young girl’s naivety. Then she asked him, suddenly,
“Which knights of the Kingsguard will go with Robert on the progress?”
“Ser Mandon Moore, Ser Meryn Trant and Ser Boros Blount. Why?”
“Perhaps I might send the children to Casterly Rock to visit their grandfather. They can travel as far as the Twins with Lord Arryn and then go west. Ser Preston Greenfield, Ser Arys Oakheart and Sandor Clegane can go with them. Ser Barristan Selmy and you will stay here in King’s Landing.”
“It’s very kind of Your Grace to think of it-I’m sure father will be touched and Tyrion delighted,” said Jaime ironically.
“Lady Sansa will stay here with me, and you will guard us both.” Cersei said to him meaningfully.
“From everything other than myself, you mean?” he said with a mischievous glint in his eye.
They both laughed. “I want you to seduce her,” she said suddenly. “This is a golden opportunity-Renly has failed to consummate his marriage and has gone back to Loras. His wife feels it is all her fault. You must play Dragonknight to this young lady and convince her it isn’t. I will see to it she isn’t given moon tea or anything else to conceal her condition.”
“You must really hate the Starks,” he said, with a laugh.
“The Starks, the Tullys, the Baratheons and the Arryns,” she said, a cold anger in her voice.
“What do I get in return?” he asked, meaningfully, his arms snaking around her.
“What do you want?” she asked him.
“Well, why not give me what I have always wanted? Why not end this subterfuge? You know we control this kingdom-Casterly Rock holds more than is good of the royal debt. Why should you and I pretend any longer? When we have ruined Lady Sansa, let us tell the world about our relationship. Cast Robert aside and tell them the truth about the children,” he said persuasively. “The sept allowed the Targaryens to do as they wanted to-why should they stop us?”
“Is that what you want as your payment?” she asked Jaime.
“Yes.”
She was quiet for a while and then said, “I will have to wait for Robert to die before I do this. I know you are brave, Jaime, but do not forget-Rhaegar was brave too, but Robert still slew him in battle. We must be careful.”
He agreed to be guided by her and they parted.
It was a relief for Sansa to be alone at court. The king had left with Lord Renly, Ser Loras and a large retinue of lords and ladies; Lord Arryn had taken Lysa and Robert to the Riverlands and the Vale, where his lady and heir would henceforth reside; and the Princes Joffrey and Tommen and Princess Myrcella had gone to the Westerlands. The queen was there, of course, and had insisted on keeping her good-sister with her. She told Sansa she had found a solution to her problems-she was not to worry.
But Sansa could not help worrying. Only the knowledge that she had to make this marriage work kept her from sending a raven to her father, telling him all that had gone wrong. When she suggested it to the queen, Cersei dissuaded her, telling her that writing to her father would be the act of a child, not of a woman. “You are now a married woman, Sansa and you must find your own solutions to your problems. I’m glad you did not speak of this to Lysa-it would only have saddened her. What do you think will happen when your father gets your letter? He will ask that you be sent home to Winterfell. He might quarrel with the King and his Hand, blaming them for arranging this match. He might well ask that the king and the sept annul your marriage-I know it was also performed in the godswood and your father’s banner men will declare the marriage null and void if it is not consummated within a year. And then what will happen to you? You will be the talk of the country and not in a good way. No one will say it was Lord Renly’s fault that the marriage was never consummated-they will blame you and say that something about you disgusted him, which is why he turned to another man. And then, your father will have to find you another husband, which will be difficult, because no man will believe you are a maid. And you have a young sister and a cousin who must be married off-and then there are the boys, your brothers. On the other hand, if you stay on at court and do exactly as I say...we might yet save the situation.”
The queen revealed her solution when she and Sansa were the only persons of note left in Maegor’s Keep. Sansa listened to her, horrified, as she said, “You must get this out of your head, Sansa, that there is anything wrong with you. There is nothing wrong-you are inexperienced when it comes to men; that is all. And this can be remedied very easily. I know someone who is very keen to make your acquaintance and I will see to it that he meets you and convinces you that you are worthy of the greatest love and devotion. And no, I will not tell you who it is-I want you to be pleasantly surprised when you meet this man.”
When Sansa stammered something about the rights and wrongs...whether she ought or ought not to meet this man...would she not be unfaithful to her husband if she met this person the queen wanted her to meet...what would her mother and her septa say...Cersei said impatiently, “Sansa, his marriage vows appear not to mean very much to your lord husband-he has gone off with Ser Loras-did you not notice that? Why should you not be loved by someone other than him? Think of Queen Naerys and the Dragonknight-had she waited for King Aegon the Unworthy to love her, she could have waited forever. Instead, she turned to a better man. You should do the same. Teach him a lesson. And why worry so much about what your mother or your septa will say? People spoke ill of Queen Naerys-but her son still sat the Iron Throne.”
Sansa said no more, but waited apprehensively for the day to end-the queen said that the man in question would come to her after their evening meal, when they retired for the night. “And believe me, my dear,” the queen said earnestly. “I have been very careful to select only the best for you.” She was more intent when she prayed, both at the sept and in the godswood, as she asked for protection.
She would have avoided the evening meal altogether and stayed in her room, had the queen not insisted that she attend her in the great hall to talk to Ser Barristan, whom she liked very much, while the queen entertained her brother. When they were done, they bade the men good night-Ser Barristan said that Ser Jaime had asked to be given the duty of guarding the queen’s apartments while the king was away, and he had granted it.
Sansa was very quiet when she went back to her apartment. Her maid dressed her in a shift and brushed and plaited her hair after removing her elaborate gown and putting it away. She lay down in her bed and closed her eyes tight, her heart beating wildly as she waited...
Jaime slid the door open softly, shut and bolted it, and walked into Sansa’s room, as carefully as a cat or a thief. He had taken off his armour in Cersei’s room; they had dressed Lancel in it and told him to guard the royal apartments instead. He had come too late from Casterly Rock to accompany the king on his progress-but not too late to participate in Cersei’s plots.
Jaime walked up to the bed, and knelt down, to get a closer look at the girl. Gods, she was very young and beautiful! He gently brushed her lips with his own-she woke up with a startled gasp and nearly screamed when she saw him looming over her in the darkness. He laughed softly when he realised he had frightened her-and then kissed her again.
“Do forgive me for frightening you, Lady Sansa,” he said.
“You did not frighten me, ser,” she said, trying to sound dignified and unafraid.
“No?” he asked her smiling, as he picked her up in his arms, sat down on the bed, and put her in his lap so that they could look each other in the eye.
“No.” She said firmly. “I am not afraid.”
He said no more but began to kiss her, gently but persistently, not just on her lips, but all over her face. She returned his kisses shyly and did not demur as he slowly untied her shift and pushed it off her shoulders, to kiss her neck, her breasts and her stomach. She gasped softly when he did that, and began to undo the buttons of his tunic. He responded by taking the tunic and the shirt off and tossing it away, letting her touch him. She caressed him shyly-her touch left him feeling shaken by his need. He took her shift off and laid her down on the bed. He turned his back to her as he took off his breeches and then joined her. They continued to kiss and touch, as they explored each other’s bodies-he could sense her delight and excitement. He could tell that she was shyer than Cersei, and would need to be handled very gently and slowly. Dawn found them lying together on the bed, still engrossed in each other.
He kissed her again. “I will come again, sweet lady-will you be glad to see me tonight?”
“Yes ser, I will,” she whispered, too overwhelmed by her desire to say any more. She was blushing, gazing at him, her hunger all too visible in her eyes.
“You look lovely,” he said softly. “I shall think of you all day and await the night with impatience.”
She clung to him suddenly, weeping. “That is the nicest thing anyone has said to me,” she said, when he wiped her tears away and asked her what was wrong. He took his time saying his farewells, leaving her wanting more.
By the time Robert, Renly, Jon Arryn and the children returned from their journeys, three months had gone by--Lady Sansa was pregnant and had left court. Those midnight kisses and caresses had left her hungry for more, and Jaime had done all he could to satisfy her, in every way possible. This strange relationship, into which he had entered to ruin this lovely young girl, had instead drawn him closer to her. So when he recognized the early signs of pregnancy, he thought of getting the old hag who had helped Cersei abort her child by Robert. That would at least save Sansa’s reputation.
When he suggested this to Sansa, she refused at once, as did Cersei. Both women had their own reasons-Sansa wanted the baby because it was her own, whereas Cersei wanted Renly to discover the affair and end the marriage in the most scandalous way possible. When she learnt what Sansa planned to do, she agreed to help-she was certain that the impact of what this daughter of the honourable Starks and Tullys had done would have more effect if someone concerned (her father, the king or her uncle) were to take the time and effort to seek her out than if she were still at court to be questioned.
Sansa wanted to go to the Quiet Isle-she said the brothers had huts where pregnant women could stay. She would stay there under an assumed name, give birth to her baby, care for her child and arrange to place it somewhere suitable; if it were a girl, she would go to a mother house to be brought up as a septa, but if it were a boy, she would send him to Jaime, so that he could arrange for the child to be fostered and trained as a soldier. She would not go back to Renly-she said the marriage did not exist, since both of them had been unfaithful to each other. She had decided to become a silent sister. And she wanted no one from her family to learn about the affair or the child-she wanted Jaime and Cersei to simply tell the world that she had walked out of the Red Keep and King’s Landing one day without anyone seeing her leave or knowing where she went or why she left. She left behind all the fine clothes she had loved and took her plainest dresses-she would even have cut off her hair to prevent recognition, when Jaime suggested that she should use a dye instead. She had some jewels that she had been given by her parents, her uncles and her aunts on the occasion of her marriage-she insisted that Jaime have those sold, so that she should be able to pay for her needs. He did as she asked and had her discreetly conveyed to the Isle before the travellers returned.
However, at least one of them had reckoned without Robert. When he learned that Sansa had disappeared one day, without saying a word to anyone, with no message stating why she had left or where she had gone, he was incandescent with rage, which he vented upon Cersei. He knew she had hated the girl-she must have made the poor child’s life so miserable that she ran away. He felt responsible for her-she was his friend’s eldest child, and she had disappeared in a manner that was eerily reminiscent of an earlier disappearance.
He had her maids go through her clothes and jewels to tell him what was missing; he had a list made of the missing jewels and he set the gold cloaks to questioning all the jewellers and money lenders in King’s Landing. Although Jaime had been discreet-he had sent an experienced man, who had served the Lannisters all his life and knew King’s Landing well-the many jewellers and money lenders he had visited to sell and pawn the missing jewels were able to provide a description of him. He had left King’s Landing after disposing of Sansa’s jewels-Jaime and Cersei had sent him back to Casterly Rock-but some of the hangers on in the Red Keep recalled that they had seen him with Ser Jaime. When Ser Jaime was questioned, he claimed that the man in question was an old servant of his father’s who had a son he wanted to place in the king’s service. He had left after receiving assurances from Ser Jaime. No, he did not know how this man had become acquainted with Lady Sansa and gained access to her jewels.
Matters stood thus for eight months or so, with Robert trying to discover if he, as king, had the right to put his wife and her brother to the question; Renly trying to get the opinions of various maesters learned in the law and Jaime and Cersei loudly proclaiming their innocence, when a silent brother from the Quiet Isle arrived at court, bearing a letter addressed to Ser Jaime from one Tysha Rivers. Ser Jaime was not at court-he had gone to attend a tourney with his sister, the queen, at Ashemark. And the king had gone hunting, taking Lord Renly with him.
However, Lord Arryn was there, as was Lord Stark, who had come south after aiding the Night’s Watch against the wildlings, whom he was now permitting to settle on the land called Brandon’s Gift. It seemed his two younger sons, Brandon and Rickard, would hold it as banner men under their brother Robb, while their half-brother, Jon Snow, donned the black. He had come to court to discuss possible alliances for his younger daughter, Arya, and to get news of his elder daughter, who, it seemed, had not written to her family since her disappearance from court. They immediately had the silent brother brought to them and gently but firmly took the letter from him, even though he spoke up and stated that he was to give the letter to none other than Ser Jaime. They opened and read the letter-Lord Stark’s face turned pale as he stared at it. Lord Arryn immediately sent all others, save Ser Vardis Egen and Jory Cassel, away. Lord Stark spoke when the others had left.
“I recognise Sansa’s hand,” he said quietly. “She has written to Jaime Lannister-it is evident they were intimate-telling him that she has given birth to his son. She says she is ailing-she has childbed fever, Jon-she has given the child to be nursed by a peasant woman who has lost her own babe. She asks him to care for the child if she should not recover. What has that man done to my daughter? How did matters come to such a pass?”
“I don’t know, Ned-your daughter, when she came to court, did not seem to be the sort to get involved in such an affair. Of course, some of the blame is Renly’s-he should have taken care to consummate the marriage instead of leaving it for later. I wonder why he did that. Why has she written to Ser Jaime about the child-why not the family? Why not her aunt, her parents, myself or Edmure? What does she think he can do?”
“Isn’t that obvious?” asked Eddard, “She did not want us to find her. The child is his-he broke his vow to protect a king, so seducing a young and inexperienced girl should have been child’s play for him. She wants him to take responsibility for the bastard he fathered upon her. I will go and see her-this is my grandson we speak of. Bastard or not, he will be provided for; we will care for him. I leave it to your discretion, Jon, to talk of this with Robert and Renly. “
So saying, he called on the men who had accompanied him and who now prepared to escort him, along with the silent brother, to the Quiet Isle. He took the brother aside and explained to him that the lady who had sent him with the letter was his daughter-the child she had borne was his grandson. The brother bowed his head when he heard the words and they left as quickly as they could.
When they arrived at the Quiet Isle, the silent brother took Lord Stark to the Elder Brother, to whom Eddard told his story. The Elder Brother immediately went himself to check on the woman called Tysha Rivers, and reported to Lord Eddard that he was unable to find a remedy for her fever-she would last no longer than a month or so. As Eddard wished to see her, the Elder Brother took him to her room, which she had kept as neatly as she was able. When he saw her, he dropped down to his knees beside her, his face wet with tears, and held her in his arms. She woke up out of her feverish sleep.
“Father!” she cried out, as she stared at him. “You’ve come-are all well at home? How are mother and the children?”
“All is well, Sansa,” he said, in a voice choked with tears. “We have anxiously awaited letters from you or news of you and had none. I came south to learn what had become of you, and now I find you here. Tell me, my dear, how did this come to pass?”
She told him everything: how she had discovered Renly and Loras; confided in Cersei and been advised by her to accept the addresses of a man the queen had selected to teach her the arts of love; her shock when she had recognised Ser Jaime, who had then proceeded to make love to her. She did not hide anything from her father-she told him how she had hesitated, had wanted to send him a raven to ask his advice, but had been dissuaded by the queen. She even repeated the arguments the queen had used to convince her to take her advice. Eddard listened carefully and then he asked Sansa to write down her account and sign it-he said he would take care of the child for her if she did so. She agreed to his request. He showed her account to the Elder Brother, who confirmed that Lady Sansa had said much the same when she had made her confession recently, when she knew she was dying. He then had her make a second copy of her account and had the Elder Brother sign it, after inserting his confirmation-keeping the first with him, he sent the second to Jon Arryn and asked him to present it to King Robert and Lord Renly.
The queen had returned to court by the time Lord Eddard’s messenger arrived from the Quiet Isle and presented his message to Lord Arryn, although Ser Jaime remained at Ashemark with Ser Addam Marbrand. Not only did Lord Arryn show the King and Lord Renly the message-he also had the queen called before them and Lord Stannis and asked her to answer to the charges made by Sansa in her statement. The queen denied them vigorously, saying that her good-sister slandered her and her brother for no good reason. She claimed that Sansa had been enraged when she found Renly and Loras together and was determined to be avenged upon them. She said that she had counselled patience and prayer, to which Sansa had responded with obscenities. She had tried to remonstrate with Sansa, reminding her that the king had done her house great honour by allying it with his own, but to no avail. She claimed she had begged Sansa to write to her father, but that Sansa had refused to do so, blaming everyone, from her parents to Lord Arryn and the king, for arranging her marriage to Renly.
“She was so enraged at Renly-her vanity was so wounded-that she was determined to drag everyone down into the mud with her. That is why I insisted she should stay with me-I did not want her to create a scandal in the country with her behaviour. She tried to throw herself at my brother; can you imagine that? She must have found some man, perhaps one of the Lannister guardsmen, to satisfy her, because when she left court, she was pregnant. And she forced Jaime to arrange to have her jewels sold or pawned-she threatened to ruin my poor brother’s reputation otherwise. I wanted her to stay at court and face the music, but he refused-he said she was a young girl, who was badly hurt and must be protected. There are times,” said Cersei bitterly, “when Jaime is too chivalrous for his own good.”
“I think,” said Lord Arryn firmly, “that we should also question Ser Jaime-we must insist he return to court. Ser Barristan was here while the rest of us were travelling-I think he should also be questioned regarding this matter.”
When Ser Barristan was questioned about Lady Sansa’s manner to him, he said that it had been as it always was-very pleasant and gentle. He spoke of her with a certain grandfatherly affection; he said she loved to hear his tales of tourneys, jousts and wars long ago-he spoke of how much he had enjoyed her company as they chatted during the evenings some months ago. When he was shown the statement she had made to her father, and was shown the statement that the queen had made, he pursed his lips and said, “I don’t see Lady Sansa ever responding with an obscenity-she is not that sort of person. She is a sweet and gentle girl-I think she was very badly hurt by Lord Renly’s behaviour. And she was not the sort of woman to accost a guardsman in that manner-she is a shy girl; in fact, she is not the sort to boast about her looks or her accomplishments. She would not lie to her father or to the Elder Brother-she takes an oath to be truthful seriously. As for Ser Jaime-he insisted on guarding the queen’s chambers while the king and most members of the court were away. He has never been known to chase young women-but a man can lose his head when the woman in question is young, beautiful and in distress, which I think she was. And young Lancel Lannister arrived at court during that time-“
When Ser Jaime arrived at court, he confirmed his sister’s statement, saying that he had never paid any attention to Lady Sansa, whereas Lancel or someone who looked much like him, might have. However, Lancel, when questioned, denied ever being in the lady’s chamber-he claimed to have been asleep when all this was afoot. That was when Lord Stannis’ onion knight, Ser Davos Seaworth, who had heard of the scandal at court, suggested that the lady should provide as detailed a description as possible of the man with whom she had shared a bed for a month or more and who had fathered a bastard upon her. When Sansa did so, describing the wounds and scars he bore upon his body, Davos questioned the knights of the Kingsuard and the Lannister guardsmen who had been at court at that time, which led them to point a finger of suspicion at Ser Jaime. One of the guardsmen even recalled seeing Lancel wearing Ser Jaime’s armour and guarding the queen’s apartments more than once during those months.
Even as this scandal was bubbling over, Lord Stannis had begun to voice his suspicions regarding the paternity of his brother’s children to Lord Arryn. They had heard how Lady Sansa’s little boy, with his auburn curls, blue-green eyes, fine features and sturdy build, was a wonderful mixture of Lannister and Stark. “Whereas,” said Lord Stannis to Lord Jon, “Robert’s children seem like pure Lannister to me. I hear you brought up his bastard daughter Mya in the Vale-who does she resemble-her mother or her father?”
“She takes after Robert-black hair and blue eyes. Why?” asked Lord Jon, his curiosity piqued.
“I’ve seen Edric when I visited Storm’s End last,” said Lord Stannis thoughtfully. “He has big ears and a prominent jaw, like all Florents-even poor Shireen has that-but he has the Baratheon eyes and hair. What about Robert’s other bastards?”
That was how Lord Jon and Lord Stannis began to look for King Robert’s sixteen bastards-they soon found that most of them looked very much like Baratheons, thus increasing their suspicions regarding the paternity of the queen’s children. Their suspicions reached their zenith when they discovered Grand Maester Malleon’s book and read the sections on the Lannisters and Baratheons. They were ready to tell Robert of their suspicions when Cersei acted.
Cersei got Lancel, whom she had persuaded Robert to appoint as his squire, to poison his wine while he was on a hunt. However, Robert did not die of the poison-he was gored in the stomach by a boar, which he managed to kill. By this time, Lord Stannis, Lord Jon and Lord Renly had managed to get most of Robert’s bastard children out of the city. They, along with Lord Eddard, were summoned to his bedside, to bear witness to his last will and testament. It was then that Lord Jon voiced his suspicions regarding the paternity of Cersei’s children. Robert heard him out and then made a will, whereby he named his brother Stannis, Lord of Dragonstone, his heir. He also authorised them to bring the queen and her twin brother to justice, reminding them how they had mislead “poor Lady Sansa-she must be avenged”.
By this time, Lady Sansa had died of fever-her body was taken north for burial in the crypt at Winterfell, and her child, along with his nurse, accompanied it. Lord Eddard had already made his will, naming Lady Catelyn the guardian of his remaining children, and had stated that he did not intend to go north without avenging the insult to his daughter’s honour. He believed what Sansa had told him-she would not have lied to him about the father of her child, nor would she have lied when confessing to the Elder Brother. Whilst Lord Jon and Lord Renly secured the persons of the queen and her children, and Lord Stannis prepared for his coronation, Lord Eddard challenged Ser Jaime Lannister to a duel to the death, for seducing his daughter and then abandoning her.
Jaime had believed that Cersei would acknowledge their relationship, as she had promised, if he helped her bring about the ruin of Sansa Stark. However, when Robert died, after naming Stannis his heir, Cersei had no choice but to fight for the throne. She used the Lannister guardsmen and the gold cloaks to fight the Arryn and Baratheon soldiers who came for her and her children. She escaped the city, after stealing the crown jewels; taking the High Septon, who had been in her pay; and getting Lancel to capture a vessel and force its captain to take her, the High Septon and her children to Lannisport. She left Ser Jaime, Lancel and Tyrek, as well as the Lannister men-at-arms, to fight and die for her, as she sailed to Casterly Rock and freedom. When she got there, she had Joffrey crowned King of Westeros and proclaimed him to be Robert’s son and heir. She claimed that all the stories about her incestuous relations with her brother were lies, manufactured by Lord Arryn, to cover up the fact that he had wedded his niece, a woman since found guilty of adultery and perjury before men and gods, to her husband’s brother. “She must have been guilty,” her proclamation read, “or else the gods would not have taken her life, leaving her bastard child an orphan.”
When Jaime wrote to her, reminding her of the promises she had made him, the manner in which they had plotted Sansa’s disgrace and downfall, and their mutual affection, she denied everything, claiming that he was lying to save his life; to win favour from the Baratheons and Lord Arryn by claiming that his relationship with her had been more than that of a twin brother. The only means he had of countering her claims was to accept Lord Stark’s challenge and leave his confession for Stark to send on raven’s wings to every noble house and sept in Westeros.
After Jaime’s death in a duel that he had been expected to win, and after the lords and septons had received and read his last letter, Lord Tywin had no choice but to hand over his daughter and her children to King Stannis, who was good enough to send Tommen to be raised by the Night’s Watch and Myrcella to a mother house, to become a septa, whilst he had Cersei and Joffrey executed. The High Septon and Grand Maester Pycelle were removed from their posts-they had served the whims of a cruel and vicious woman, who had never deserved to be queen, according to the new king.