MOONSHINE ○ JAIME LANNISTER

سبعة عشر

"Are you not going to tell me anything?" She looked exasperatedly at Jaime, happy and sad at once at their brief reunion. It was to her surprise that he had been out scouting the northern regions for some time, and it was to her annoyance that he had not informed her beforehand.

"I'm confessing to you now, love, that if I had any information-"

"I saw you to talking to the Maester." She argued, her eyes turning into vicious slits as Flora glared at him, not believing what he had just said,

"For other issues, Flora," he paused, looking up at her eyes,"look, I have just arrived back to this stinking mess of a capital to face this huge problem, and I would rather that we not face any troubles regarding our, our-"

"Yes, I do agree with you Jaime," she took long strides across the room to reach him, cupping his face into her hands as she forced him to look at her,"but you cannot just let me go without telling me how Robert is."

He sighed, resigning into her gaze as they linked their foreheads together, their breaths mingling with each other. It was the most intimate moment he had these days, and he felt absolutely glorious for it. She dragged a hand to the nape of his neck, tracing patterns, a movement that ever so slightly relaxed him.

"The King will survive," Jaime whispered, removing her hands and taking them into his," but that does not mean that we are all safe."

"No, it begs reason as to why it happened in the first place. Why would they kill Robert, as useless as he may be? He has done no permanent harm." She overlooked the tension of the way he looked at her sternly, almost as if Jaime was scolding her.

"There are many crazy, foolish people in this kingdom, Flora, with many more, crazy, foolish ideas." He replied nonchalantly, looking over at the rising sun. It was long before this did he enjoy slightly the sting of the North, relaxing as his worries traveled far away. "And it'd be the craziest thing of me if I would let them get to you."

He thought hard, very hard, about what, who, and why this had happened. The maesters had identified it as poison by merlock, which was by far a cheap way to kill someone. Yet the intent behind it, Jaime could not identify. He almost got away but not before a magnanimous scolding, with Cersei yelling of his duty as the King's guard, and how he could not have been more ignorant. He simply rolled his eyes, holding no sentiment. Whether there would be a new king or it would stay, Jaime always knew his position as the most important guard of the kingdom would remain.

"Maybe the people were sick of it-"

"What could they be possibly be sick about? He has done absolutely nothing!" She exclaimed, throwing her hands into the air as she tried to find sense in this whole day.

"Exactly, my dear. It's because his legacy had proven to nothing that the people are furious over."

She took a few moments to think about it, truly pondering over the worth of her King's life. Afterwards, she stood up, exhaling slightly.

"I understand. If I were in their shoes, I would have murdered him swiftly too."

Jaime could not reply to that. He felt like perusing her for even reciting such a confession out loud, but he was also on the brink of tiredness.

"Yes, but why now?" She then inquired, her mind buzzing, full of questions.

"Doesn't matter when it happens or who to, it just means that we areu nsafe by ourselves. Which is why I'm asking, no, leaving you with an extra set of guards-

"I will be fine," She repeated not only to Jaime but to herself as well, feeling numb as the time passed by, the sun rising slowly.

Jaime had walked quietly over to Flora as she was sleeping, a small smirk on his face. Despite feeling the overwhelming guilt of worrying her, as her handmaidens told him of how much she looked for him, Jaime couldn't help but plaster a smile on his face as he watched her sleeping figure. Here, against the waning moonlight, she was effervescent; Flora seemed years younger, freckles spotted across her face, long eyelashes almost reaching out to him, and her lush lips slightly parted, a mannerism he had long learned to love.

"No you won't. I need to be here. Or at least someone needs to be." Jaime placed himself back into reality, looking at her as Flora paced across the room and poured herself a glass of malt. She sighed, taking a long sip before speaking again.

"Jaime, if that means that I won't have any privacy-"

"If it means that it ensures your safety-"

"I will not allow you to constrict me any longer! In fact, any of you!" She paused, pinching her nose before continuing, simply letting off all the frustration and anger onto her Lannister. "You must understand that I am sick of all of this, all of this camaraderie that you mask as my livings! Jaime, I just want to return to my home, to not waste away in this place and be subjected to all the orders of many except my own." Flora now refused to look at him straight, staring the ceiling for the longest time.

"I am trying to understand," Jaime started after a long period of silent tension, "but we have to be careful here, my dear, there's a murderer running loose-"

"I simply do not care for such issues-"

"And why not? This is simply out of question, you have-"

"I do not have to do anything, I am of my own-"

"Why are you so reluctant to receive the most miniscule bit of security?" He pleaded, confused with how this conversation was going. "I don't-"

"You don't understand anything! You've been gone for so long-"

"But I do understand that you need the-"

"I don't need the protection! For all I care, I could be murdered too!" She spat out before regretting immediately her choice of words, Jaime stared at her, dumbfounded and desperate for an answer to their unfortunate situation.

"It seems your apathy be similar to the murderer themself." He quietly mustered, not meeting her eyes before leaving the room, the sting of accusation piercing Flora so hard her knees buckled, and she fell to the floor.

She did not know how long she had been crying for, but when she looked up, the sun was already far into the day, and Flora, for the first time, felt helpless.

How far have they separated? It was so quick, too fast for here to even understand. It was if he was a completely different person, even if Flora knew deep inside that that was not true. After a whole minute of pondering, she had decided not to immerse herself completely in the shamble of conversation that had just occurred. Flora would not give up everything just because she was feeling this way, no.

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did i mention that the christmas season puts me in an extremely good mood, and that double updates are in total trend???? lol jahaha and my boyfriend is just telling me to update. 

please report feedback!! i haven't heard any in ages and would like to know what y'all think nowadays!

much love

sophiaafha