Jaime looked at his father's serious face. There was no expression on it, as cold as a gold coin. The news his father had just told him caused him internal conflict.
"A tournament?" Jaime asked. It was nothing out of the ordinary, but what was unusual were the prizes. "200,000 gold dragons for the winner... obviously, we can afford it, but why?"
"The name day of my granddaughter, Myrcella. The future queen and the birth of my heir, Tommen," he said in a firm, tense voice.
Tommen was the son of Jaime and Lysa Tully, born a few moons ago. A boy with copper hair and gray-green eyes. He was small, born weak, but he managed to survive.
Lysa was not so lucky.
"So much gold... It's an unnecessary expense," Jaime commented. The tournaments at Casterly Rock always had quite impressive prizes, thousands of gold dragons, but hundreds of thousands? It was absurd.
"The future queen—"
"Are you looking for a new wife for me?" Jaime interrupted his father. "What are you trying to do?"
His father's eyes hardened, and his nostrils flared slightly.
"You will learn not to—"
"Interrupt you?" Jaime stole the words from his mouth. "My wife just died."
Jaime did not love Lysa. She was a beautiful woman, not as gorgeous as her sister, but still pleasant to look at. His problem with her was not physical; no, it was that she was mad. Always overprotecting her children, always looking for excuses to spend more time with them, she even tried to breastfeed them when they were four. Always paranoid. She loved Myrcella and Joanna. And the look in her eyes when she looked at Tommen told him she would have loved him madly, too.
He couldn't love her, but he was deeply grateful to her for giving him children. He wasn't going to disrespect her by marrying another woman a few moons after her death. He owed it to her and their daughters. That Tywin dared to create a tournament in the guise of a new wife was something that infuriated him.
"I never took you for a sentimental man," Tywin said, a slight sneer of contempt adorning his face.
"I did think that way about you," Jaime said. "I remember when Tyrion was born-"
"Sansa Stark is the best candidate for your wife," Tywin cut his son off.
"She's Lysa's niece," Jaime gritted his teeth.
"She's also the daughter of one Lord Paramount and the granddaughter of another. The daughter of one of the kingdoms not bound to the Iron Throne," Tywin said slowly, as if explaining to an idiot.
"Stark hates you," Jaime said. "He'd rather rot in a block of ice than marry Lady Sansa to me."
"Stark needs gold and food to keep his people alive. The summer has been long, the winter will be worse," his father said.
Jaime closed his eyes. He tried to push Lysa out of his mind. Anger was useless when decisions had to be made. It wasn't easy, but he had to think with a cool head. A marriage to Sansa? Stark had done nothing to him, so he would take no pleasure in screwing up his life a little. Sansa was said to be a beauty. Some said she was the most beautiful woman in Westeros, although with the Targaryens around, that was unlikely.
Personal reasons aside, the advantages of his house would be an army. A good army. Northerners, despite lacking great resources, survive in precarious conditions. Only the strong can survive in the cold. In addition to an army, there would probably be more heirs for his house. Catelyn had already had five children, and his daughter would be similar in that regard.
He didn't know much about Sansa, but since Catelyn raised her, she should be obedient and well-mannered. Most of the rumors about her were about her beauty and her relationship with the prince.
'Jaehaerys,' Jaime opened his eyes suddenly.
"The tournament, it's not even for me, is it?" he asked his father, who raised an eyebrow, questioning. "It's for Jaehaerys," Jaime watched Tywin suppress a smile. "You want to lure him to the Rock. He needs gold, and if Sansa Stark is here... no, he's unlikely to come even with Sansa. The romance he might have had with her is gone; he's married," Jaime said.
"He's a Targaryen," his father said as if that explained everything. "He will come," he declared, with the same confidence as if he were proclaiming that the sun would rise tomorrow.
"He's not just any Targaryen," Jaime said.
"All Targaryens are quite greedy when it comes to their dragon hatchlings," his father leaned back in his chair, watching his son's face go from question to answer to bitterness at learning the truth.
"A bastard," Jaime said, sighing. "You want to use his child against him... when he supposedly had a son?" He had never heard anything like it in the Seven Kingdoms.
It would have been big news, the daughter of the upright Lord Stark impregnated by the prince. As if history were repeating itself.
"Lord Stark is good at keeping secrets. I'm better at uncovering them," Tywin looked out the window at the clear sky—a beautiful sight for the observer. But Tywin did not smile or take pleasure in it; he looked up at the sky with caution.
Jaime could understand his fear, even though he denied it and claimed respect; Tywin was afraid not simply because Jaehaerys was a brilliant man. But because he was a clever man with dragons.
Tywin confirmed this by exchanging letters with Serena, although the girl was slow to respond and did not do so very often, which deeply embittered Lord Lannister. By the time Serena confirmed the presence of the dragons, all of Westeros already knew, and the king had been to Argentstone to claim them.
Many lords held their breath as they waited for answers. Jaime, among them, would march with an army to secure his daughter's throne. A new war could break out. But Rhaegar loved peace. And the North and the Vale could come to Jaehaerys' aid, either out of revenge or simply because they considered it just in the case of the Vale. Even Lord Stannis Baratheon could get involved.
The Baratheons had lost their power over the Stormlands; they were no longer its Lords Paramount, but they still commanded the respect of other lords and could divide the Stormlands into two.
The people could rally behind Jaehaerys. Not because they loved him, but Rhaegar was not as beloved as he might seem.
If one day the king decided to go to war against his brother without cause, many would frown, but they would still obey his orders. But with dragons? The dragons, in time, would give them a trump card.
"Jaehaerys is coming to Casterly Rock, so what?" Jaime asked.
"He will suffer the same fate as all who oppose us," Tywin said.
"It's not certain you'll succeed in killing him." Jaime might feel sorry for Jaehaerys if he were to die.
He was a good man, and Jaime was sure he could be a valuable ally. But he was also a powerful piece. Whether he liked it or not, Jaime thought about the possibility that one day he might turn against his brother, Rhaegar, and take the throne.
Jaime would not attack the prince if necessary; it was not his style. However, if it had to be done, it was best to ensure it was done cleanly. The truth was that he did not trust his ability to turn the prince into an ally, given Tywin's pressure on the prince. If he had to choose between going against his own family or against the prince... 'My family has always been my priority.'
After serving the Mad King, he put all his efforts into becoming a good father and a good husband. He wanted to leave behind his knighthood; chivalry was no longer a viable concept. He just wanted to live and die for his family. He wanted peace.
"Gregor has had headaches since the tournament at King's Landing," said his father. "Besides, he's been behaving worse and worse, more uncontrollable." Gregor had not been able to give free rein to his desires as much as he would have liked, partly by order of the king and partly by order of Joanna.
"I've seen Gregor fight, and I've seen Jaehaerys fight... I can only kill one of them," Jaime was very confident in his abilities. He would say that only Ser Arthur and Ser Barristan were better than him. If he had continued training as much as before, probably only Ser Arthur would be better.
When Jaehaerys appeared, the list of people he would lose to grew to three.
"In a tumult, a hidden knife can achieve what an exposed sword cannot," Tywin said, standing up, his eyes still fixed on the window. "Besides, we are not the only ones with the same goal."
"Who else? The Queen of Thorns?" Olenna was a greedy woman who had sought to marry her niece to Aegon even when he was engaged on his first name day.
"Olenna? Olenna is testing the prince. She fears him as much as she desires his dragons. No, she won't make a move, not yet," Tywin dismissed her immediately. "She is someone who has sought dragons for years and finally found them, but in the hands of others," he turned to face his son. His footsteps echoed deeply in the room.
Jaime nodded, knowing perfectly well who Tywin was referring to.
"What if... what if, even with all the people involved, the prince is still alive?" Jaime asked.
"There's still his daughter," Tywin said before turning to leave.
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Some may not like this, Jaime accepting killing Jaehaerys. But I don't want to romanticize a character; he is more honorable and political than in the canon, yes. However, being more politically aware also helps him recognize when a person is too dangerous.
Or that's what I think about the character.