•𝖘𝖙𝖆𝖗𝖉𝖚𝖘𝖙 • Jaime Lannister OC

✹three✹

Once the two of them had danced together for well over the respectable amount of dances between two friends, they headed over to the head table where their fathers and other family were sitting. Rhena's hand was grasped tightly in Jaime's and he gave her a small smile as they approached Tywin and Aerys.

"Your Majesty." Jaime said with a low bow. The king smiled and lifted his hand.

"Rise Jaime." he said with the small tint of satisfaction that Rhena had caught when people bowed or showed respect to him. Her brows furrowed as she curtsied.

"Father." She muttered with a bright smile. He returned it and held out his hand. She took it and he pulled her closer.

"Rhena, my precious daughter." Aerys said with the closest thing to affection in his eyes that Rhena had ever seen. Close up, Rhena could see how tired her father looked. His beard was long and unkempt and his nails were far past their trimming time, barely digging into the soft flesh of her wrist. And his breath, the breath being released by the Targaryen smelled of death and mold and all things dispicable. His teeth were an assortment of colors with a few missing and his crown sat utop his head lopsided, the swirling metal slipping further down his royal head.

Trying to be discrete, Rhena tilted her head away from her father in question to escape the terrible odor which seemed to hang around him like a cloak. "Lord Tywin told me the strangest thing," he paused and looked passed his daughter to the young Lannister. "He just proposed a marriage contract to me between our two houses." Rhena froze and looked to Tywin who was sitting next to the King with a satisfied glint in his eye.

Deciding that it was her turn to talk, as she could fish out more information without being too obvious. "Oh?" She asked. "What led him to this proposition?" Aerys let go of his daughter and she straightened, backing away from the filthy smelling man.

"My Princess, we two have known each other since we were boys." Tywin started. "I have long had the desire to join our children and further the bond between our houses. You and my son are the closest of companions and what better heir to have a princess married to than a future warden of her father's kingdom." The old lion raised an eyebrow and shot a glance at the Targaryen king and that's when Rhena understood. Had it not been for Tywin Lannister's skillful planning, her and Jaime's friendship wouldn't have gone any further than two aquainences of court. He was the one who had most likely delayed any marriage proposals to get to her father and why she wasn't already married to a Frey, a Stark, or a Baratheon.

Though he had been pulling the strings from the beginning, she was oddly thankful that he had stopped her father from agreeing to any marriage proposals that might have come his way. By now, without the Lannister lord, she would have been a mother at least two times over with a household to run and a husband to care for and tend to. Her life would be bland in Riverrun and Storms End and no doubt bloody cold and miserable in the north. A life with Jaime would never be bland or cold or miserable. Her life would be filled with wonder, warmth and contentment.

The girl gave a small tilt of the head, showing her thankfulness. And the lion lifted his lip in an almost smile in return. "What are the King's thoughts?" Rhena asked her father.

"So long as you won't cause a scene, I'll be glad to have you married to a proper lord." He said. "Not those squealing girls from Highgarden nor the rough men of the North. I'll have you wed to a good lord of the West." Though Rhena could barely contain a smile, she had caught his double meaning, 'I'll be glad to have you gone.' That fact alone she could partially agree with. She could finally escape the streets that smelled of shit and stay at Casterly Rock for good, where the city smelled of salt and perfumed cloth and sounds of happy people flowed through the windows of the Lannister Castle. "That's that then. You'll be married within the month." Aerys said before downing another cup of ale.

"Princess," Tywin called out. Rhena turned to the lord and offered a smile.

"Lord Tywin?"

"Would you join my family and I for dinner tomorrow night in my chambers. I would like to celebrate with the whole of our future family." Rhena's eyes brightened at the prospect of seeing Tyrion again. The small boy who seemed to be a constant hindrance to everyone else, had become a constant in the princesses life. Though he was constantly teased by his sister and disregarded by his father, Jaime was always there. And where there was Jaime, there was Rhena. In Tyrion's eyes, Rhena was not the Princess of the Seven Kingdoms, she was Rhena, the only mother he had ever known, one of the only people who saw him for his mind, not his size, though he was only eight.

"I would be honored, my lord." She said with a tilt of her head. "If you'll excuse me." Rhena backed away from the table and back to Jaime. The farther away from the table she got, the more real the newest development of her life became. A smile spread across the princesses face and she turned to her mother who was watching her only daughter, clearly happy that she would not be going into an unwanted marriage, or one of incest to Viserys her brother of seven, or Rhaegar her brother of twenty three. The Queen's eyes traveled to Jaime who had been watching the exchange silently. He bent at the waist to his queen with a smile and took his soon to be wife's hand.

"Another dance?" He asked, his voice laced with happiness and humor.

"Lead the way Lannister." She answered. The two walked back onto the dance floor and spent the rest of the night spinning in each other's arms.