Clandestine. 》 Tyrion Lannister 《

Apology

Tyrion stopped in the doorway. Why he wasn't expecting this was beyond him. The corner of his lips formed a tiny smirk when he saw her strumming her fingers on the table top. She was awful at hiding her nerves. He wondered if she knew how readable she was. But then again, maybe he was the only one who noticed these things about her. He took a few steps toward the table before she noticed him. They looked at each other suspiciously.

"You're here, too?" she asked.

"I thought you'd be more happy to see me, Lena," he teased with a pout.

She tilted her head. "You know I'm always thrilled to see you." She rose from her seat as he approached the table. "Especially when you make that face."

He couldn't help but smile as he sat, but it quickly faded. "Did your cousin summon you here?"

Galena nodded. "He did. I thought he finally decided to send me away."

"That's better than what I've been thinking," he admitted. "I thought maybe he asked me here so he could kill me during dinner. Some light entertainment, perhaps?" He pursed his lips and shook his head. "Though I don't think it would be very funny."

Galena scowled at him. "It's not funny," she scolded as she sat back down.

Tyrion fought off the smirk that he felt creeping onto his face. He couldn't help it. Knowing that the gorgeous creature in front of him cared so much always surprised him, and it always made him smile. "I'm sorry," he said as he kissed her hand. "I wasn't serious."

The strumming of her fingers returned. "I know," she said quietly, more to herself than to him. She sighed heavily and looked at the doorway. He was late, which was very unlike Jon. "He's up to something," she fussed. She poured herself a glass of wine and took a slow sip. "When he invited me I assumed it would just be the two of us. So why are you here?"

Tyrion shrugged, shaking his head. "I don't know, but if we're both here, it can't be good."

She gave him a worried look. "You don't actually think he'll make me leave, do you?"

Tyrion took her hand in his. "He would be an idiot if he does. He knows how unsafe it is."

He knew she wanted to respond to his comment. She wanted to say that she could handle herself out there. That she did it for months before she received the scroll from Varys making her aware of Jon's whereabouts. She wanted to remind him about all of the men she killed on her journey. But she didn't say those things. She knew he was right.

"Then why are we here?" Her voice echoed through the dining hall. She looked around the empty room with apprehension. "Is this a trap?"

Tyrion was amused and gave her a crooked grin. He wasn't used to seeing her this way. He was used to calming her down when she went on a tirade, but he was not used to comforting her when she was frightened. "Your cousin wouldn't do anything bad to you," he said as he kissed her hand again. "Me, on the other hand, he would feed me to the dragons in an instant." He took a sip of his wine.

She gawked at him. He was forcing horrible images into her head again, making her even more anxious than before. "How long have you been thinking about these gruesome deaths of yours?"

"Oh, you know," he said as he swirled the wine around in his glass. "Only since the day you arrived." He glanced at her and quickly gathered that she did not appreciate his joke. "All of last night and all of today," he answered seriously.

Galena rolled her eyes. "He wanted this. He wanted you to make stupid jokes and he wanted you to be frazzled . He purposely set up this meeting with you way ahead of time, because he knew you would think about all of the atrocious things he can do to you. He wanted to make you sweat." She quickly released a sigh. "I was only asked to meet him about a quarter of an hour ago."