A Vow Without Honor

The Crossing - Part II

Seven hells, it took intimidating them with the wrath of House Lannister just to get him into the dungeons. There were too many Freys with too many ideas about what should happen to their prisoners.

Too many Freys...

"I have an idea."

Once, he might have been offended by the shocked expression on Brienne's face. Now he didn't have the energy for it.

Edwyn Frey had not been entirely wrong when he said he was lord at the Twins. It turned out his father, Ryman, was, but the man had taken a dagger to the side during the wedding and had been bedridden since, leaving his brothers, nephews, and cousins to quarrel over his inheritance while he writhed in pain.

He was rather ugly to look at – no surprise there – and overweight, though his face had sunken and turned sallow during the weeks he'd been in bed. The man was sweaty, pale, and stunk of many things, namely death. The fact he'd lived so long was more a testament to his maester's cruelty than his body's stubbornness.

"Ser Jaime," the man wheezed. He'd been propped up on so many pillows that his chin was beginning to sag into his chest. Jaime would be surprised if the man could even see him. "I apologize for not properly greeting you upon your arrival. Did my son?"

"Yes," Jaime replied, eying the maester until he left the room. He thought he could feel his presence just on the other side of the door, however, hovering, listening. "Though he made no mention of you. Suppose he thinks of you as dead already."

"Ah."

The man didn't sound remotely surprised by the notion.

Brienne gave him a look.

Jaime sighed, grabbing a chair and seating himself beside the bed. He'd never been one to stand on courtesy to begin with.

"Do you know why I'm here?" he asked, having to slump down in order to meet Ryman's eyes properly. They were beady like all the others, slightly crossed. The irises moved slightly at his appearance, but couldn't stay in place.

"For Lady Stark," was the murmured reply. "Father wanted to marry her, and look where it got him. Take her. She's cursed."

He felt his ghost fingers clench and did his best to ignore the sensation.

"I want the rest of your prisoners as well. The Northmen, the River lords, all of them."

Now the eyes met his gaze steadily.

"Your father promised us the prisoners we captured."

"And what do you plan on doing with them?" Jaime asked, shrugging his shoulders. "Let them all rot and die? You can't hold dead men for ransom."

"Can't do it with free men either."

"They're not going to be free. Those that can travel will be taken to Casterly Rock, where they might actually have some use. The rest will follow once you've had their injuries seen to."

"And why should I agree to this?"

Brienne stepped forward. "Because you would be a fool not to."

Jaime gave her a withering look. She made him look like a political mastermind.

He turned back to Ryman. "Tywin Lannister no longer cares about what happens to your household. He promised that the king would forgive your treason and not punish you for massacring men and women under your own roof."

"We defeated our enemy-"

"-at a wedding," Jaime finished, looking pointedly at him. "Those weren't soldiers in combat. They were drunk old men at a feast, and the whole realm knows it. You broke guest right. No one is going to trust you any longer, no one is going to help you, and no one is going to care when House Frey collapses under the weight of its own stupidity, least of all the king."