Chapter 4 ~ Kissed by Fire part 2 ~

I slipped into Qyburn’s workspace and was greeted by a man who was far younger then I had expected any Maester to be, he wore no chains but he had the air of a man that held the wisdom of the Citidal. 

 

“Maester Qyburn I presume” I said as I closed the door and Storm trotted up to Jaime and nudged his still form with her nose, the cold pressure musty woken him up from his daydream because he jumped and looked at her with a look of surprise. 

 

“I’m no Maester m’lady” the older man stopped preparing whatever it was that he was doing and bowed slightly, I could see his face was littered with scars “you must be the King in the Norths sister” I nodded and moved to Jaime’s sides and kissed his head gently. 

 

“Anaris Stark” I met Jaime’s eyes and shrugged, using my Houses name was a hard habit to break I would never get used to hearing ‘Anaris Lannister’ and it didn’t roll off the tongue quite as well. 

 

“You shouldn’t be in here” Jaime muttered as I stooped to his height and brushed his hair from his eyes, he needed a change of clothes and a bath when Qyburn was done with him. 

 

“I wouldn’t choose to be anywhere else” I replied as Qyburn tapped my shoulder and handed me a vile of Milk of the Poppy. 

 

“For his pain, we’ve discussed what I am to do” I eyed the vile and looked to Jaime who was shaking his head. 

 

“Jaime, take the medicine or I’ll make you take it” I murmured as I unstopped the vile and moved closer to him and he dodged me “Jaime, please” I eyed the vat of boiling wine and the instruments that were laid out for Qyburn to grab “there will be too much pain” I said pleading but he shook his head and I sighed in defeat, if he wanted to suffer then he could suffer. 

 

Qyburn strapped Jaime’s arm so it wouldn’t bleed too much as he cut at the corruption and I moved behind Jaime’s sitting figure to hold his shoulders, as soon as Qyburn began so did Jaime’s screaming and Storms howling, I watched silently as Qyburn worked, tears welled and ran down my cheeks as my husband struggled against the pain before loosing consciousness completely “you’re a strong woman, not many can stomach this” Qyburn looked for his work and I sniffled. 

 

“It’s the pain he’s in that I can’t stomach” I said truthfully, I knew he was in pain, while he hid it well it couldn’t hide all of it all the time, “will this work?” I asked and Qyburn hesitated. 

 

“There is never a guarantee but with luck yes” we met eyes for a moment and I nodded, words to live by if we were going to make it to Kings Landing.

 

~ Later ~

 

Brienne and I sat in a massive natural bath that was fed by an underground spring, the water ran hot under Harrenhal which is why Lord Harren built his massive castle on top it which supplied his house with hot water. 

 

I handed Brienne a bristled brush and sunk down into the depths of the bath with a contented sigh, this is what I’ve missed, warmth, I glanced at Brienne who was watching Storm with caution as the Direwolf neared the tub and flopped down with huff “she won’t hurt you, not unless I give the word, you attack me or you attack her” I muttered as I let my body soak the dirt off. 

 

“Did you know she’d be as large as she is when she was a pup?” I leant my head against the lip of the tub and glanced to Storm who was to my left, between Brienne and I. 

 

“I always knew direwolves were larger then bears, but no I couldn’t imagine how big she would actually be” I grabbed my own brush and began to scrub at my skin, I smiled slightly as I heard footsteps enter the room “seems my lord husband is in need of a bath” I said as three men entered my periphery. 

 

“Not so hard, You'll scrub the skin off” Jaime told Brienne as she slunk lower into the bath water so he wouldn’t see her body, she’d rubbed her skin raw with the brush trying to get the dirt off, “you’re the one that keeps making remarks about my stench” Jaime replied cheekily, it seemed he got his humour back slightly since I left him in the care of Qyburn, while he was still sullen there was a light back in his eyes. 

 

“What are you doing here?” Brienne asked as Jaime gestured to the men with him to help him out of his tattered shirt. 

 

“I need a bath” he stated, as the two boys removed his shirt, his now wrapped wrist came into view and I found myself paling slightly, I knew what it looked like underneath that bandage and I knew what it took out of him to have the infected skin and tissue removed. 

 

“Leave us” I said, the boy nodded and scampered away quickly, probably hoping that I didn’t see how he was staring wide eyed at my exposed chest. 

 

“There's another tub,” Brienne said aghast as Jaime removed his shoes and britches and began to lower himself into the water. 

 

“This one suits me fine. Don't worry. I'm not interested in you,” he looked at me and eyed my breasts “Lady Anaris on the other hand” I rolled my eyes and splashed him slightly as Brienne moved farther away from me as Jaime came closer “If I faint, pull me out, I don't intend to be the first Lannister to die in a bathtub,” he said and I chuckled holding in my remark about holding him down until the bubbles stopped. 

 

“Why should I care how you die?” Brienne asked as she continued to scrub her arms while I began to clean myself. 

 

“You swore a solemn vow, remember? You're supposed to get me and Ris to King's Landing in one piece. Not going so well, is it?” He raised his stump up for her to see and waved it around a little bit “No wonder Renly died with you guarding him” I splashed him again this time with more force as a warning, “That was unworthy. Forgive me. You protected me better than most-“ I sighed, knowing what was coming next and lifted my leg up to scrub at my toes. 

 

“Don't you mock me” Brienne said through her teeth and even Storm sighed, done with their arguments. 

 

“I'm apologising. I'm sick of fighting. Let's call a truce” Jaime suggested and by the time of his voice I knew he meant every word. 

 

“You need trust to have a truce,” I commented as I switched legs, I glanced at Jaime and shrugged when he looked at me shocked. 

 

“I trust you” Jaime told Brienne, making her sit appeased but she was fuming, I finished scrubbing my legs I moved to my arms as Jaime continued, “There it is, There's the look,” I glanced up from my arm to see Brienne look away slightly ashamed “I've seen it for seventeen years on face after face, You all despise me. Kingslayer. Oathbreaker. A man without honour” he shook his head “You've heard of wildfire?” He asked her as I moved closer to Jaime and began to wash him, if he wasn’t going to do it I might as well. 

 

“Of course”

 

“The Mad King was obsessed with it” Jaime told her as I gently scrubbed his skin, washing away the shit and dirt that caked his skin for over a year “He loved to watch people burn, the way their skin blackened and blistered and melted off their bones” I stopped scrubbing and squished my eyes shut, my uncle and grandfather were murdered by the Mad King, both agonising deaths that should never have happened “He burned lords he didn't like. He burned Hands who disobeyed him. He burned anyone who was against him. Before long, half the country was against him. Aerys saw traitors everywhere. So he had his pyromancer place caches of wildfire all over the city- beneath the Sept of Baelor and the slums of Flea Bottom” he touched my hand and I cleared my throat and began scrubbing once more “Under houses, stables, taverns. Even beneath the Red Keep itself. Finally, the day of reckoning came. Robert Baratheon marched on the capital after his victory at the Trident. But my father arrived first with the whole Lannister army at his back, promising to defend the city against the rebels. I knew my father better than that. He's never been one to pick the losing side. I told the Mad King as much. I urged him to surrender peacefully. But the king didn't listen to me. He didn't listen to Varys who tried to warn him. But he did listen to Grand Maester Pycelle,” 

 

“That grey, sunken cunt.” I growled, interrupting Jaime, Pycelle made my skin crawl whenever I ran into him at the Capital, his eyes roamed where they didn’t belong and lingered there, same with his hands. 

 

“‘You can trust the Lannisters,' he said. 'The Lannisters have always been true friends of the crown.' So we opened the gates and my father sacked the city” he scoffed and I switched sides and began to scrub his bad arm and when he flinched I moved to his face, we had a lot to speak about when he was out of this bath “Once again, I came to the king, begging him to surrender. He told me to bring him my father's head. Then he turned to his pyromancer. 'Burn them all,' he said. 'Burn them in their homes. Burn them in their beds.' Tell me, if your precious Renly commanded you to kill your own father and stand by while thousands of men, women, and children burned alive, would you have done it? Would you have kept your oath then?” He looked me in the eyes for a moment and kissed my lips gently before looking to Brienne who was staring at him with wide eyes, now she saw Jaime for the man I saw him as, the protector. 

 

“First, I killed the pyromancer. And then when the king turned to flee, I drove my sword into his back. 'Burn them all,' he kept saying. 'Burn them all.' I don't think he expected to die. He- he meant to burn with the rest of us and rise again, reborn as a dragon to turn his enemies to ash” he shook his head as I started to clean his scalp “I slit his throat to make sure that didn't happen. That's where Ned Stark found me” we met eyes again and i raised my eye brow, I knew this part of the story, father had told me and so had Jaime, their perspectives vastly different but both from the same event. 

 

“If this is true why didn't you tell anyone? Why didn't you tell Lord Stark?” Brienne asked and it was my turn to scoff as I rinsed Jaime’s hair, he was getting weaker from the steam. 

 

“My father hated the Lannister’s, he’d lost his father, sister and brother in a short amount of time, in horrible ways,” I shook my head as Jaime got agitated.

 

“Stark? You think the honourable Ned Stark wanted to hear my side?” He laughed humourlessly “He judged me guilty the moment he set eyes on me. By what right does the wolf judge the lion? By what right?” He went to stand but collapsed forward.

 

I caught him and help his head above water, “Jaime! Gods!” I looked to Brienne who also stood but was shocked “Brienne get help”

 

“Help! Help! The Kingslayer!” Brienne stumbled closer as men entered the chamber, i cradled Jaime’s body close to mine. 

 

“Jaime,” I said as he closed his eyes, falling into unconsciousness “his name is Jaime” I helped the men pull Jaime from the bath and dressed him and myself quickly, likely giving the guards and Brienne an eye full but my focus was on my husband.