Nearly a decade before the Game of Thrones, Rose Tyrell engaged an affair that sent ripples through the richest families of Westeros. With relationships and reputations ravaged, Robb Stark's capture of Jaime Lannister reunites two lost lovers on a j...
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King's landing's tall walls and gates were right in front of Rose, Jaime, and Brienne. The large gates were opened and the three entered. To Rose, although it was familiar and something she'd seen before, King's Landing was foreign, different from when she had last been there. The commoners ignored them, not recognizing any of them, especially Jaime. Some bumped into him, yelling at him to move. It baffled him to say the least. Rose was led a different way, separating herself from Jaime and Brienne. When she entered the Red Keep, Margaery, Loras, Olenna, and Mace were all waiting for her. All of Rose's emotions seemed to have arrived all at once and tears began falling from her eyes. Margaery was first to run and hung her, Rose hugging back tightly, never wanting to let go. She looked up through her teary eyes at her Father, Brother, and Grandmother who all were smiling with joy, coming to hug her. "I missed you all so much." Rose quietly stated. "And us you my dear." Olenna replied. "Come. We must get you fed and cleaned up." Olenna took Rose by the hand, Margaery following, leading her away from the rest of the family and down the halls of the Red Keep. The halls were just as she remembered. Beige brick with golden accents and green plants wrapping around the columns. The sigil of a Stag and Lion were still prevalent on every wall. A handmaiden standing outside of what Rose assumed to be Margaery's bedchambers opened the door to the room, allowing Olenna, Margaery, and Rose to enter. "Get a plate of fruits and a bit of boar for my granddaughter." Olenna demanded the to handmaiden. "It's quite alrigh-" Rose began but her grandmother was quick to shut her up. "You will eat and bathe and rest. No excuses."
The handmaiden bowed her head and exited the room. Margaery's bedchambers were quite nice from what Rose could tell, which made her quite relieved that the Queen Mother was treating Margaery kindly. When they entered the room, adjacent to the door was a table and vanity, filled with hair supplies and makeup. Dresses were hanging on a pole next to the vanity, pure and as soft as silk. To Rose's left there was a giant canopy bed, facing the balcony of the room, much like Rose remembered her own chambers having. And beyond the bed on the other side was a tub, filled with warm water. "We had a bath drawn for you, I'm sure you-" Margaery began. "Thank you Margaery." Rose relied curtly. Margaery nodded and Rose made her way toward the tub. She ran her hand over the water, testing if it was still warm, which indeed, it was. Rose wasn't uncomfortable with Margaery or Olenna still being in the room when she undressed, as highgarden had communal baths for the high lords and ladies. When Rose was stripped of her gown, Olenna and Margaery could see how skinny Rose had gotten over the past year. Sure, traveling off the King's road and living off of scarce food for almost a year wasn't enough to keep one person, certainly not three people, entirely healthy. Rose was soaking in the tub, quietly making conversation with Olenna and Margaery when the handmaiden came back with food. Olenna excused herself once the food was brought and asked the handmaiden to join her, leaving Margaery and Rose alone. "I've missed you. It's been lonely here with no one to talk to other than Loras." Margaery told her. "Grandmother and Father are here too. Certainly grandmother could keep a conversation with you. And what about Sansa? Hasn't she been pleasant company?" Rose asked. "Family is family I suppose. But Sansa has kept to herself as of late." "May I ask why? I've always heard of Sansa Stark wanting to be a queen, surely she cannot be a queen if she keeps to herself." "Her family was just murdered at a wedding. A couple days ago." "Her family? Catelyn? Robb?" Margaery nodded her head. Rose couldn't believe they were murdered. Rose had known Catelyn for a long time, they had always been respectful and kind to one another, sympathetic for each others situations. Catelyn shouldn't have died the way she did, Robb either. "Who killed them?" "It depends who you ask really. I've heard Walder Frey, but I've also heard Roose Bolton was the one to stab Robb in the heart and Walter Frey's son slit Catelyn's throat." "They shouldn't have died like that. They were kind and good people." "I'm sure they were." The two sisters were silent for awhile. Rose was still trying to process the death of her friend and Margaery sat in silence. Margaery stood from her place on the large bed to a stool next to the tub. Rose looked to Margaery. She seemed to have grown up since Rose last saw her by Renly's side. Margaery always acted older than she was and tried harder than she needed to but for Margaery all of that hard work and acting paid off in the end. In a week she would marry the King. "She, Grandmother, told me about you. Why you didn't want me here." "And what did she say?" "Well, she was talking about you coming here, Sansa mentioned how you could figure out that we might be here, and then she mentioned the Kingslayer. She said it was no coincidence that the two of you were together and missing. She said that you loved him..." Rose stayed quiet for a moment, adverting her gaze to the balcony in front of her. She couldn't protect Margaery from the truth anymore. "I did love him." "Was he the reason you never married?" "Yes." "Why didn't Lord Tywin request the King to release Jaime from his vows so you could marry him?" "No one knew except Tyrion. And Tyrion didn't even find out right away." Rose got up and out of the tub, putting on a robe and walking over and standing against the bed post closest to Margaery. "There is no need to keep secrets from you anymore. I was only doing it to protect you from the mistakes I made and the people that wanted to hurt me. I fell in love with someone I shouldn't have and that hurt my reputation and caused a rift between the Lannister's and us. But thanks to you marrying the King, that rift can be fixed and as soon as the celebration has ended, I'm going back to Highgarden." "You can't leave me here! I just got you back and now your going to get up and leave!" "Margaery, I can't stay here while Cersei sits next to that throne. I think I know her well enough that she won't do anything before the wedding but after, I can't be so sure. It's best if I go home." Rose got up and went to the table by the vanity. A large array of food was presented in front of her and she grabbed a handful of grapes. Margaery stood quickly from her stool and followed Rose. "What about Jaime? Don't you love him enough to stay?" Margaery scolded Rose quite loudly. "Keep your voice down." "Why!? When you love people you stay by their side and help them and care for them. If you leave, you don't mean it then." Rose had just about had it with Margaery. Margaery is naive and innocent, although no Tyrell was innocent. "You don't understand." "Then help me understand." Rose sighed. It was hard for her to express these feelings to Margaery when she tried so hard to suppress them all these years. "You're my family, I would never leave you or not love you. The world is different now. People are different now. I love Jaime I do. I always have and I always will. But he has Cersei now. He's back in her hands and when Jaime is with Cersei he's not the man he could be. Cersei wants me dead. She wanted to strip me naked and shame me down the streets of King's Landing and then hang me, flayed outside the city gates. I left the one person I've ever loved to protect myself and I don't think he could ever forgive me for what I did. I was incredibly lucky during my time here. I wasn't killed, I never took an elder husband, and I never had any children. It was hard enough learning that the man I loved had fathered children with his sister. Now he's back here with her and her grasp on Jaime is tighter than mine. I can't do anything. If you tell anyone anything I just told you, we're all dead." "I won't." "I know Jaime is not perfect but none of us are. I'm not, your not, Loras is not. But we try and when I was with Jaime, he was perfect to me. He treated me well and I always wanted to believe that he loved me too. I would write letters to Tyrion once I left, asking about Jaime and what happened and he never told me. When I saw Jaime sitting in a cage in Robb Stark's camp I've never seen someone so mixed with emotions and it's all because I left the city in the middle of the night with no explanation." "Why didn't you tell him?" "I'm sure he knew. There was little information not shared between Jaime and Cersei and I'm sure he knew that she had a plan for me. For my own sanity it was easier to leave when no one could convince me to stay." There was a sudden knock on the door. Margaery and Rose broke eye contact as Margaery opened the door. Rose couldn't get herself to turn around and face whoever was standing in the doorway. "Lady Margaery if you would be so kind to give me a moment with Lady Rose?" Rose knew that voice. That voice could cut tension with a knife. Margaery must have agreed as Rose heard the door shut behind her. Rose turned around to see Cersei looking back at her. "What can I do for you, your grace?"
