The Wolf and The Lion || Jaime Lannister

Twenty Two

Rayna

The Bolton soldiers drag me into the camp kicking and screaming and I'm thrown onto the ground.
"Fucking bastards", I scream still outraged by these charges.
"What do you have here", one man says as he approaches me. He extends his hand but I find my footing myself and face him.
"I am Rayna Stark Of Winterfell and my brother will have your heads for this", I growl.
"Lady Stark my apologies, my men are rather rough, I do hope they haven't harmed you", he says. His men, he must be the commander.
"The bitch killed three of our men", says one of the soldiers who grabbed me.
"Men who were going to rape me and I gave them quicker deaths than they deserve", I snap viciously.
"I assure you that you have my protection, my name is Locke", the man in charge says but I don't trust the look in his eye.
"I want my sword back", I demand.
"You heard Lady Stark, give her back her sword", he says to his men. One man holds it out and I snatch my sword back and sheathe it.
"Word from the capitol is that you have quite the bounty on your head", he informs me
"I did what I had to do", I say firmly "You serve Roose Bolton, Yes?"
"I do"
"Then take me to my brother, I believe he is in Riverrun"
"Can't do that, lets just say we have an important prisoner we need to take to Lord Bolton first"
An prisoner that is more important then their Kings sister. Oh gods Jaime. Could it be Jaime? He smirks at the look on my face.
"The Kingslayer" he confirms.
Relief floods through my icy veins and I can't hide my reaction. Jaime is here. Jaime is actually here.
"I request to see him", I say as unemotionally as possible "He is my brothers prisoner"
"Don't bother hiding it Lady Stark, word of you and him has spread throughout the Seven Kingdoms, it's been quite a scandal", he comments which is no surprise to me "Runaway bride, a pregnancy and now your houses are at war"
"Where is he?", I ask unable to hide my desperation.
"Caged where he should be" he says with a smirk that send my blood running cold.
"Where is he?" I repeat aggressively.
"Don't know, I'm not at liberty to reveal that information, if you want someone to speak to, speak to that beast"
A large blonde woman watching from where she's been bound to a tree. I turn away from Locke not wanting to speak to any of those men for a moment longer than I must and I sit next to the bound woman.
"Lady Rayna", the woman says "I am Brienne of Tarth, I swore an oath to your mother to bring you home"
"Then how did you end up here?" I ask not wanting to have any sort of conversation while I know Jaime is in this camp somewhere.
"Lady Stark released the Kingslayer and I've been escorting him to Kingslanding where there would have been a trade"
"Did my brother permit the release?" I ask doubtful that he did.
"No the Kingslayer is a fugitive"
"Where is he?" I ask desperately still in shock that he is here. After the last year in separation that he's here.
"In a cage, behind those tents"
"Thank you so much"
"Lady Rayna he isn't what he used to be", she warns but I'm not listening as I'm already running to him.
"Lady Stark I haven't given you permission", Locke begins but he has no control over me.
"I am not your prisoner", I remind him. My feet take me past the tents then stop short as the cage is mere metres away.
In the cage sits a grimy, almost unrecognisable figure and my heart skips a beat as I know something isn't right.
"Jaime", I breathe. His now dirty blonde hair covers his face as he lifts his head and for a moment I wonder if it's actually him he's that unrecognisable but when his eyes meet mine I know it's him.
"Rayna", he says weakly and immediately I know something is wrong. I run forward to him then my hand covers my mouth to stifle a scream of horror as I see a hand hung around his neck.
I stumble forward onto my knees and grip the bars. "By the Gods what have they done to you", I gasp as I realise that the hand around his neck is his own.
"You're alive", he breathes almost inaudibly and tears blur my vision as I see what they've done to him.
"Did my brother?" I ask my shock turning to rage "Did Robb do this"
"No"
He's suddenly a man of few words, so different from the Jaime I knew, my Jaime. So broken.
"Lady Stark, I didn't want you to have to see this", Locke says and by the gods he shall have no mercy from me.
"What did you do to him", I growl standing with my hand on my sword.
"He wouldn't stop talking, I gave him a permanent reminder to watch his mouth"
I slap him hard across the face without a second thought.
"He is a prisoner of the North, therefore he is under my protection", I declare.
"You can't-", he says gaping at me in shock.
"I can and I will", I growl "The Starks treat their prisoners with honour, my brother may be asking for his head but not for his hand, I hope you've thought about how your Lord will have to explain to Tywin Lannister how his son was maimed"
"You better remember to watch your words, I can't maim you but I can give you to my men", he threatens but I simply laugh in his face.
"Rayna", Jaime warms.
"I already killed three, don't think I won't kill more", I threaten unafraid of his threats "I am your Kings sister, not your prisoner"
"But you are, I want to see who wants you more, the Starks or the Lannister's"
"Rayna", Jaime repeats painfully "Don't argue"
I quieten as I realise that he isn't loyal to Robb and that his threats may not be so empty. They are taking us to Lord Bolton and until then I need to be careful.
"I won't argue, I'm done arguing, unlock the cell so I can sleep there", I order
"You are offering to be locked in a cage?"
"I feel safer with him than out there with your men" I spit.
"You heard Lady Stark", he says. I turn to look at Jaime who looks like a corpse. The door opens and I fall hard on my knees as I'm pushed in and the opening to the cage locks behind me and I don't care. I'd rather be a prisoner with him than free with those men.
"Oh gods", I cry as I crawl to his side and my trembling hand hovers over his stump.
"It feels as bad as it looks", he groans but that's not what he's concerned about "How did you end up here?"
"Cersei has put a price on my head and they know Robb would pay quite a bit for me but as you heard they want to see who will pay more"
"I heard you jumped from a cliff", he whispers looking at me as if I'm a ghost. He flinched as I reach out and caress his cheek and his eyes widen as if he only just realises this is  real.
"I did, it was either certain death at the hands of your sister or jumping off a cliff into the ocean, but I survived"
He nods seeming lost as to what to say yet there being too much to say. Too many questions but we are both at a loss of words. I press my eyes shut as I press my forehead against his and just hold him close, something I thought I would never do again. Feeling his breath intermingling with mine as awful as it may be and running my fingers through his grimy knotty hair, so different to what I'm accustomed to but he is still my Jaime.
"Gods Jaime what have they done to you", I cry in absolute disbelief. They maimed him. Worse than maimed, the cut off his sword hand.
"It doesn't matter", he breathes as our lips hover close together.
"It does matter", I say firmly grasping his face but despite everything he brings up his shaking hand and runs his thumb over a bruised cut on my cheek.
"Your hurt", he mumbles and I burst out in tears and wrap my arms around his neck unable to imagine how I held so much hate in my heart for him. How he can be on the verge of death and still be concerned over something so small will never cease to amaze me but now it just breaks my heart.
"You're the one whose hurt not me", I tell him knowing that he will never recover from this. He will have to live with it but he will never truly recover. I remove the hand that they tied around his neck and realise that he couldn't have untied it if he wanted to. He physically can't anymore.
"Thank you", he says taking my hand in his and pressing a desperate kiss to it. His eyes are wide as he looks up at me
"The last letter you sent, you were pregnant", he says quietly and I wonder, did Robb never tell him?
"I lost it when they cut my Fathers head off", I say quietly and he nods knowingly.
"Catelyn eventually told me", he says swallowing hard and lowering his gaze "It's been a long time"
I nod and don't know what to say. For so long I've told myself I don't love Jaime anymore. That I don't care. I knew it was all lies then and it still is.
"Last time I saw you-", he begins but that memory is to painful to speak of now.
"I know"
We are silent again for a long while. I find my gaze fixed on his stump and my stomach churns at what they've done to him. That was his sword hand, he was that hand.
Jaime eventually decides to break the silence "Have you decided what you feel for me, love or hate?", he asks trying to be cocky but his voice can't match his words.
"Ever since you were captured I've been terrified Jaime, praying for your safety", I answer honestly at a loss of how to respond to him because I don't even know the proper answer.
"Why would you?" he asks in genuine confusion "After everything I did"
I've had a year to process what happened, although I still can't accept it I know that right now all I see is the man I love sitting here broken before me.
"I still love you Jaime, as furious as I was I loved you", I say as I take his hand in mind and kiss it as we always did, it always said the words that we couldn't say.
"I'm a cripple Ray", his voice cracks as he says my name making me flinch at the sheer pain.
"I know", I say as I stroke his face and give him a sad smile "And I love you still".
He takes my hand again and kisses it but after this past year I want him. I want to remember what his lips feel like. He looks at me almost in awe as I lean towards him, love overtaking me as my lips press gently against his. Forgetting all the reasons I tried to make myself not love him. Tears slip down my cheeks as we kiss, trying to ease our pain, two broken people becoming one.
"I never thought I'd see you again", I cry and he wipes my tears away.
"Every single day I thought of you, I knew that it would all be worth it if I could see you again", he says kissing my hand once again and then he feels the ring.
"You still wear it", he mumbles under his breath. 
"Of course"
Silver glints around his neck and I reach into his shirt to pull out a chain with my ring around it. He kept if.
"You did say it wasn't goodbye" he says. My lips find his again. Chapped, dry, dehydrated lips and a tongue that tastes of blood but to me they are as warm and soft as always.
"You aren't married are you?" he chuckles.
"Do you think they could marry off a woman who got pregnant", I laugh "But I'm glad because it's the only reason I'm not married"
He kisses me again as he runs his hand over my body, I then realise that he's checking to see if I'm injured.
"I was so scared Cersei had killed you or tried to", he says and the sheer fear in his voice unnerves me.
"That's a story for another time", I say not wanting to tell him in this moment that I stabbed Cersei.
"We should have eloped when we had the chance", he says regretfully as he runs his fingers through my loose hair.
"We could have but you attacked my father and left", he flinched and I curse silently as it comes out harsher than intended.
"They had Tyrion", he reminds me.
"You left me Jaime, you left me with Cersei", I grit between my teeth as I hold back all the words I've been wanting to scream at him for the past year.
"I didn't exactly plan on get captured", he scoffs as the tension returns to his voice but he's too weak to argue.
"I don't want to do this now Jaime, we can scream at each other later just not tonight please", I plead, neither of us want to fight right now however we know that eventually it's inevitable. That we will need to expose the ugly truth and that there will be screaming and crying when he does but not tonight.
He nods in agreement and it is silent until he says "They are either going to give us to the Lannister's or the Starks"
"If we go North you die, if we go south I die", I realise bitterly.
"Either way is better than here", he says as he looks out to the camp "The men, did they hurt you"
"They tried to but I learned to fight from the best", I remind him and he smiles bittersweetly.
"I can't fight anymore"
The pain in his voice makes me cringe. He's frustrated and furious but above all else devastated.
"You can learn to fight with the other", I suggest gently but we both know he will never be as good as he once was.
He shakes his head "I want to die"
"Jaime", I breathe as I caress his cheek.
"I was that hand Ray"
"No Jaime", I say but he won't listen.
"How am I meant to live if part of me has been taken away", he growls and I tuck his head into my shoulder as I try to soothe him.
"Do you know why I didn't take my life after my Father died, why I suffered everything they did to me in Kings Landing, it was so I could go back to my family, back to you", he looks up at me with overwhelming guilt in his eyes, guilt at not being able to safe me from Cersei but I'll be damned if I let him fall as far as I did "Jaime please live, if not for yourself then for me. I almost threw myself from the highest window of the Red Keep more than once and I did not get off that ledge and force myself to keep fighting just to watch you die"
Tears finally fall from his eyes "I wanted to save you Rayna, when I begged Robb to let me go it was always so I could get back to you and keep you safe" his voice shakes as he tries to contain a sob "I did everything I could to try to get back to you"
He would have done anything to get back to me. To try to save me. He would have killed anyone in his path to do so. I press a kiss to his lips and swallow the sob that escapes him.
"I love you", he says gripping my hand tightly as he stares into my eyes in awe "Gods I love you, I never said it enough"
"I never doubted your love Jaime", I assure him "And I pray that you never doubted mineL
Our foreheads come to rest together again and I hold him close to me until a cough interrupts us.
"Lady Stark you will not be caged if you agree to cooperate", Locke says as he approaches us.
"I'd prefer to stay in here" I hold my ground and Jaimes arm tightens around my waist.
"So the rumours are true, the wolf and the lion"
He leaves and I slump against Jaime, I'm not leaving him.
"You could be free", he encourages "Trust me you won't want to be in here"
"No, I wouldn't feel safe, I feel safe with you", I insist.
Some men walk over holding two flasks.
"Piss for the Kingslayer and water for the lady", they taunt but I'm not having it.
"If he's to be given to the Starks then I demand he be treated humanly as a Stark prisoner and not be humiliated, give him water", I order
"That isn't your decision", one scoffs and it's clear they they aren't used to a woman telling them what to do.
"Water", I repeat "Or do you want my brother to hear you mistreated his sister"
"You'd be lying", the other man says but I can see the fear in his eyes. My brother is legendary in these parts.
"Would I, do you want him to hear that you two men dragged me off into the woods and that the only reason I wasn't raped was because I killed your other accomplice"
"But that never happened" one stutters.
"No but it would have if I didn't choose to lock myself away", my voice shakes with anger and by the looks on their faces I'm not wrong.
"Fine", he mutters bringing another flask of water.
"And alcohol" I demand, Jaime needs it for his arm, it's most likely already infected.
"Don't push it", Jaime says "I did and I lost a hand"
"Lord Bolton will not be pleased you maimed Tywin Lannister's son, and if you lay a finger on me my brother will have your head. If Ser Jaimes wound becomes infected he will lose his arm and possibly his life, do do you want to explain that to Tywin"
"Stark Bitch", he spits and gives me a flask and leaves.
"Ray be careful, these men will hurt you", Jaime warns again. "
"I'm not afraid of them", I assure him, I've dealt with far worse in the halls of the Red Keep.
"I had to stop them from raping Brienne" he tells me and I'm taking aback for a moment that he risked himself to save his captor.
"You're a good man Jaime", I tell him as I unscrew the kid of the flask.
"Any decent man would have done the same", he dismisses.
"Drink", I say as I hold the flask of water to his mouth and he desperately downs it. I can tell from his lips alone that he must be severely dehydrated. I don't know what blood loss from an amputation does for hydration but I doubt it's good.
"You should reconsider staying in here, as much as I hate to tell you this I'm covered in months worth of my own shit and piss", he says for god knows what reason.
"I don't care", I simply state as I begin to uncover his stump knowing it needs to be treated.
"You will see unpleasant things no lady should see", he rambles trying to get me to leave.
"Jaime I am staying with you", I insist.
He grabs my hand that's about to touch his stump "I don't want you to see me like this", he says quietly.
"I love you Jaime", I promise him "This won't change that"
He stops arguing as I unwrap it and have to cover my mouth to hide my horror.
"Jaime it's rotting", I gasp
"I know"
His flesh is already rotting, if he doesn't see a maester he will lose his arm. I just pray the infection doesn't get into his bloodstream.
"This will hurt", I warn as I open the flask of alcohol but I'm sure he's no stranger to pain.
"Do it", he says and as a screams ripped from his throat, a maimed lions roar.
When it's done with he's breathing heavily and I'm checking him to make sure he's still conscious, as I bind the stump he begins rambling.
"Your brother will kill me if we go North", he warns me "The only reason your mother freed me was so he couldn't"
"I'll be damned if I watch my brother kill the man I love", I say firmly as I finish binding the wound "If he wants to harm you he can kill me first"
"Glad to see one of us it still has some fire", he says and a sob catches in my throat as I remember Cersei's warning. That Kings Landing took that fire from me, that it burned out. She was wrong, Jaime's reignited that Fire and as long as he is by my side it will never burn out but
"You do Jaime", I insist, it's there somewhere I know it is.
"I'm a broken man, and a cripple", he mutters
"You are" I admit "but remember that you are Jaime Fucking Lannister"
He just laughs sadly.
"At least you'll be able to beat me in a duel now", he chuckles. "You'll need to be good to save me from your brother, I do hope you've been practicing"
There he is. That fire is still there, he just needs someone to keep him sane. Gods I wish I had him in Kings Landing and he needs me now.
"I won't let my brother hurt you Jaime, I promise" If Robb wants to harm Jaime then he will have to kill me.
He kisses me warmly and with that I rest my head on his chest, right where I can feel his heartbeat and let my eyes close. That night for the first time in over a year I fall asleep in the arms of the man that I love.