LION AMONG WOLVES
— 45. Only Ones Who Matter
Immediately after arriving at Annalys' chambers, Ghost rushed over to Jon, beginning to nudge his owner's motionless hand while whimpering. A saddened look grew on her face, realizing that even though Ghost was merely an animal, he knew exactly what was going on, "He'll have seen we didn't come. Thorne will have made it official by now. Castle Black is his." Ser Davos explained to the group, causing an angered look to grow on Annalys' face. She hated that man. She wanted him dead.
"I don't care who's sitting at the high table. Jon was my friend, and those fuckers butchered him. Annalys is my friend and they tried to rape her. They tried to murder her. Now we return the favor." Edd explained, causing Annalys to feel uneasy as she turned to face him.
"We don't have the numbers." Ser Davos reminded Edd, shaking his head response.
"We have a direwolf and a woman who just took down four men that were twice her size with a knife and skillet." Edd pointed, gesturing his hands toward Ghost and Annalys.
"It's not enough. I didn't know Lord Commander Snow for long, but I have to believe he wouldn't have wanted his friends to die for nothing," He paused, turning his head to glance toward Annalys, "Especially a girl who he fought so hard to protect."
"If you were planning to see tomorrow, you picked the wrong room," Edd reminded Ser Davos in a cold tone, "We all die today. I say we do our best to take Thorne with us when we go."
"We need to fight, there's no doubt about that, Edd, but that doesn't mean we need to die," Annalys finally spoke up, causing the entire group to turn to her, "Not if we have help."
"Who's gonna help us?" One of the men asked, a puzzled look on his face when he heard Annalys' words.
"You're not the only ones here in the North who owe your lives to Jon Snow." Annalys reminded the group and she immediately noticed that Edd seemed to be the first to realize what she was getting at.
Edd's face washed over with realization as he turned to the Night's Watchman at his side, "Bolt the door. Don't let anyone in," He instructed, beginning to walk toward the door, "I'll be back as soon as I can."
Annalys watched as Edd left the room, closing the door behind him. She couldn't help but feel a bit nervous. What if he didn't make it in time? What if the Wildlings weren't enough?
______
At King's Landing, in the Red Keep, Jaime stood on the balcony, looking out. He turned and looked back into Cersei's room, just before he entered it. She sat at a table, quietly sobbing over the news of Myrcella's death. In the span of not even two years, she had both Joffrey and Myrcella while her first born was nowhere to be found.
"Do you remember the first time you saw a dead body?" She asked Jaime, the tears finally beginning to stop streaming down her face.
Jaime remained silent for a long moment, nodding his head, "Mother."
"All I could think about when she died was what would happen to her now. Every day, every night, what does Mama look like now? Has she started to bloat? Has her skin turned black? Have her lips peeled back from her teeth?" Cersei explained, beginning to tear up as she thought back to Myrcella, "I think about locking Myrcella in a crypt," She told Jaime, who walked over and knelt in front of her, "I think about her beautiful little face starting to collapse."
"Shh, shh," Jaime tried to tell her in a hushed tone, attempting to calm her before she could break down, "Don't think about it."
"I have to. I have to," Cersei argued, shaking her head in response, "It's not right she has to suffer alone."
"She's not suffering. She's gone," Jaime attempted to assure Cersei, looking up at her, "No one can hurt her anymore."
At his words, Cersei began to cry at thought of her youngest daughter being dead, "She was good. Just like her elder sister, she was good. From her first breath, she was so sweet. I don't know where she came from," She continued to cry, tears streaming down her face, "She was nothing like me. No meanness, no jealous, just good. She looked up to Annalys as if she were her hero. She wanted to be just like her and now they're both gone."
"I know," Jaime whispered, squeezing Cersei's hand in comfort.
"I thought if I could make something so good, so pure and another that was so strong and selfless...maybe I'm not a monster," Cersei explained to Jaime, talking about both Annalys and Myrcella.
Unlike Jaime, Cersei had no idea where Annalys was. She presumed her to be dead, but Jaime knew that wasn't the case. Annalys told him she was headed to Dorne, but he knew she would have never actually headed to Dorne. She was too smart to head anywhere that people would know of her whereabouts. She wanted to stay hidden and for an entire year, she had done just that.
"Listen," Jaime insisted, trying to get Cersei to look him in the eye, which didn't end up working, "Listen to me. Myrcella was my youngest daughter and I failed her."
"No, I knew this would happen. The witch told me years ago," Cersei suddenly informed Jaime, who gave her a deeply confused look, "She promised me four children. She promised me three would die. 'And gold their shrouds.' All but one. Everything she said came true. You couldn't have stopped it. It's prophecy. It's fate."
"You don't believe that," Jaime argued, clearly believing in fate as Cersei did.
"Of course I do," Cersei argued back, finally turning her head to look Jaime in the eye, "You told me yourself when Father died. You said we had to stay together. You, me, and Annalys. Just like the promise we made the moment the night she was born. You've always said people would try to tear our family apart, take what's ours. That was a prophecy, too. I didn't listen to you, and everything you said came true." Cersei explained to Jaime, recalling the night Annalys was born.
Cersei had nearly died giving birth to Annalys. Robert was off God knows where, but Jaime was at Cersei's side. They made a promise that night, that if she were to survive, the two of them would stick together no matter what and never let anything happen to their little girl. Their firstborn. Nothing else mattered. Only the three of them.
A comet had flown across the sky, one that had never been before as tears ran down Cersei's cheeks, on the verge of dying during childbirth. But in the end, she and Annalys survived.
Jaime moved closer to Cersei, placing a hand on her cheek, "Fuck prophecy. Fuck fate. Fuck everyone who isn't us and our daughter," He told her, referring back to their promise two decades before when Annalys was born, "The three of us are the only ones who truly matter, the only ones in this world. And everything they've taken from us, we're going to take back and more." He explained to Cersei as he hugged her, "We're going to take everything there is."
"And what of our daughter, Jaime? What of our firstborn?" Cersei asked Jaime, leading to him pulling away from the hug, "You speak of her, but she is nowhere in sight." She told him worriedly, "She was supposed to be in Dorne. You and I both heard the rumors. She fled the castle the same night as Tyrion and headed South to Dorne. Where is she? What if--"
Jaime grabbed the sides of Cersei's face, forcing her to look him directly in the eye, "Look at me. Look at me!" He demanded in a stern tone, "Annalys is not dead. She can't be. Our daughter is a survivor. She most likely lied about heading south and went North instead."
"Where would she go North?" Cersei asked, knowing that even if she had people loyal to her up North, that didn't stop the fact that Roose Bolton controlled the North and he wanted her dead.
The duo was silent for a long moment before Jaime's eyes widened in realization, "I think I have a guess on why," He paused, leading to Cersei giving him a confused look, "The last time the entire family was together in the same room and wasn't at each other's throats was back at Winterfell five years ago. What was it that she had said when Tyrion brought up the Wall?"
"That she wanted to visit the wall one day, not caring that she was a woman," She recalled, only to begin piecing everything together, "Ned Stark's bastard resides there. She must have found sanctuary with him. We must get her back."
"I don't think that it's a good idea at the moment." Jaime tried to warn Cersei, reminding her of what was going on in Kings Landing.
"Our daughter is up North alone, living at the wall, where women are forbidden to be!" Cersei shouted at Jaime, worried for her eldest daughter's wellbeing, "We've all heard the horrific story of the last woman who went to Castle Black. Danny Flynt. She was raped and murdered."
"Annalys can take care of herself," Jaime assured Cersei, knowing it was the absolute truth, "She is safer there than she is here at the moment."
Cersei remained silent, tears beginning to stream down her cheeks once more, "She hates me." She stated, but Jaime didn't respond, "She doesn't want to come back," She paused, choking back a sob, "I did this. Our daughter hates me because of what I've done and I don't think there's a single thing in the world that can stop her from feeling the way she does about me."
"She found out about what I did to Bran Stark. She may have hated me for a short time, but in the end, she forgave me. She'll do the same for you. I know it." Jaime explained to Cersei in a sincere tone, "She's an adult now. She wants to do as she pleases, no matter how many people tried to stop her. She'll come back sooner or later, I promise you."
_______
The following day, at Castle Black, many men who were loyal to Alliser Thorne pointed crossbows at the door to Annalys' room, where she stood with Ser Davos, Ghost, and many Night's Watch brothers who were loyal to Jon while Jon's corpse was still laid out on the desk behind Annalys.
Soon enough, there was a knock on the door, leading to many Night's Watch brothers drawing their swords while Ghost growled. Ghost stood at Annalys' side, which he had been doing since she freed him from where he was locked up. She held her bow up, pointing her readied arrow at the door, ready to release it if need be. She was would be able to shoot the first men who entered before they could even have time to react, there was no doubt about that. She was just worried about the men behind him. She wouldn't be able to reach another arrow in time before they shot her with their crossbows.
There was another knock at the door, causing Annalys to tense up, "Ser Davos, we have no cause to fight. We are both anointed knights." He spoke up, causing Annalys to scoff loudly.
"Hear that, lads?" Ser Davos spoke up, glancing around at the men in the room and Annalys, "Nothing to fear."
Annalys scoffed loudly, "Like we'll believe that," She told Alliser loudly, "You tried to have me killed! Who's to say you want to do it again to both myself and everyone else in this room?"
Annalys could hear Alliser let out a sigh in annoyance. It was almost as if he didn't know she was still alive. How was that possible? The bodies were still in the kitchen, it wasn't like she made any attempt to hide them. They were laid out in the open, "I will grant amnesty to all brothers who throw down their arms before nightfall. I will allow the princess to return to where she belongs. Kings Landing," Alliser explained, but Annalys could tell he was lying. She could always tell when people were lying, "With a fresh horse and her head. And you, Ser Davos, I will allow you to travel south, a free man with a fresh horse."
"And some mutton. I'd like some mutton." Ser Davos spoke up, causing even Annalys to turn to him with a confused look.
"What?" Ser Alliser asked, clearly just as puzzled as Annalys was.
"I'm not much of a hunter. I'll need some food if I'm gonna make it south without starving." Ser Davos explained to Alliser in a calm tone.
"We'll give you food. You can bring the Red Woman with you if you like. Or you can leave her here with us, whichever you choose," Alliser explained and Annalys immediately knew what he meant by that, "But surrender by nightfall or this ends with blood."
"Thank you, Ser Alliser. We'll discuss amongst ourselves and come back to you with an answer." Ser Davos responded and only a moment later, Annalys could hear the footsteps of the men walking away.
Once she no longer heard footsteps, Annalys began to speak up, causing each of the men in the room to turn to her, "Boys, believe me when I tell you, I've been running from men like that every single day since I was seventeen. From my experience, if we open that door--" She began to say, only to have one of the Night's Watchman finish for her.
"They'll slaughter us all." The man finished for her and Annalys nodded her head in agreement.
"They want to come in, they're gonna come in." Another man said, causing Annalys to turn to look directly at him.
"Yes, that may be true, but that doesn't mean we need to make it easy for them," She explained, a faint smirk on her face.
"Edd is our only chance." One of them said, causing the other to scoff loudly.
"It's a sad fucking statement if Dolorous Edd is our only chance." He commented, clearly doubtful of Edd.
"There's always the Red Woman." Ser Davos spoke up, causing the group to turn to look at him.
"What's one redhead gonna do against forty armed men?" One of them asked in confusion.
"You haven't seen her do what I've seen her do." Ser Davos responded, causing even Annalys to give him a puzzled look.
AUTHOR'S NOTE:
There's such a small hint in here that leads to even bigger thing happening (a prophecy, two actually)
Also, I'm writing for the series finale for this book rn and omg 😭😭