Archive of Our Own ^beta

The room was deliciously dark, heavy curtains keeping the heat of the day from entering and protecting Brienne’s eyes. After all her work that morning, dealing with the general affairs of Tarth, training the men of the new guard, entertaining her daughter, she was glad she could take a quiet moment while Jaime was putting Rohanne to sleep for her nap.

The four-year old girl had been fussy all day because of the heat, and even a cold meal and a game of monsters and maidens hadn’t lightened her mood the slightest. Brienne hoped she wouldn’t throw a tantrum at the idea of going to bed, though the promise of an expedition to the beach might help a little.

Laying on her bed like a starfish, Brienne longed for a little breeze to cool her sweaty skin. She kept bringing a damp handkerchief to her forehead, her neck, but the water warmed too soon to really enjoy it. This heatwave had been lasting for a sennight already, and Brienne was tired of it. The nights were barely refreshing, and the heat made people annoyed, complaining about the slightest physical task, or annoying, for those who could withstand it more easily than others – and Jaime was among them.

Eyes closed, she heard the door open, then close softly, the rustle of clothes discarded on the floor – Gods, she should have lain on the stones, that would be cooler than the bed – then she felt the mattress dip under Jaime’s weight. He approached her slowly, but before he could snuggle against her, she raised a hand.

“Hold this one, but nothing more. It’s too hot, and I won’t bear your warmth against my body.”

Jaime took her hand and kissed her knuckles. “As my Evenstar commands,” he sighed, before settling next to Brienne.

“How was Rohanne?”

Jaime chuckled. “She insisted I read her the story of Galladon of Morne once again when I told her she needed to sleep so she had enough energy to enjoy the beach after her nap, and fell asleep halfway through the story.”

Brienne replied with a knowing smile. “Of course she loves ser Galladon’s tale. After all, he kills a dragon.”

“I believe that for her, killing a dragon is less impressive than putting yourself between the beast and the man you love and scream back at it. I still shiver when I think about you at that moment.”

“There’s only you to find that attractive.” Brienne rolled her eyes.

“It was also very much frightening at the time. But yes, as attractive as you throwing a boulder on a boat, then gracefully diving into the river. That time I was too impressed to act on the impulse of knocking you with the oar. Instead, I helped you up the boat, and it was the best decision of my life.” He kissed her hand again, and for a few seconds, she almost forgot the heat, taken by the affection she read in his eyes.

It took Jaime a long time to convince her that he was indeed attracted to her, and even turned on by some of her displays of strength. Thankfully, before the Long Night had ended, he’d managed to make her see his point, and their hands were soon tied in front of the Gods while they said their vows. And that vow he would keep all his life, Jaime had sworn her between feverish kisses during their wedding night, proving her he had no issue with her body being “too much”.

“I’ll try not to frighten you with heroic deeds, then.”

Jaime raised an eyebrow; they both knew it would mostly happen again, and both of them would act like that. Brienne hoped it would simply be as later as possible.

Her hand in Jaime’s, she let her exhaustion take her. She emerged from sleep around an hour later to Rohanne’s voice repeating “Mama, Mama, Mama”, again and again.

Her back felt damp on the bed, and her throat screamed for water. Still, she opened her arms to welcome her daughter, as they usually did at the end of Rohanne’s naps. With the child safely nested against her, she glanced at Jaime.

He was sitting on the bed, looking at her tenderly, his head propped on his stump. “Water?” he offered.

After her eager nod, he rose up and went to the table in the middle of their room to fill a goblet. Brienne drank it and asked for another one, that she gave to Rohanne. Once they both had their fill, they stayed embraced for another thirty minutes, before the little girl was truly awake and insisting on going to the beach.

“Papa promised we go!” She tugged on Brienne’s tunic with an adorable face, akin to Jaime’s when he wanted her to ditch her duties a little earlier than usual to go ride with him – no matter what meaning “ride” had for him at that moment.

Brienne got up of bed and hoisted her daughter in her arms. “You are your father’s daughter, no doubt! Remember, I also promised you we would go to the beach.”

“But you didn’t kneel and promised to help me build the biggest sandcastle ever!”

“I didn’t? Well, I think that’s because I told you I would teach you how to swim in the waves, don’t you remember?”

Rohanne smiled sheepishly. “Maybe…”

Jaime’s laughter rang on Brienne’s right. “Indeed, she’s mine! Not that I really doubted about it, since she’s got my eyes and nose.”

The three of them headed out of Evenfall Hall, Rohanne insisting to walk to the beach, “like a big girl!”, though she still wanted to hold her parents’ hands so they would make her jump really high. Aela, the maid who usually took care of Rohanne, came with them, carrying a basket with drinks and food, followed by two guards, carrying various tools, as well as a large parasol and a big sheet that would be placed under it.

Ten minutes after they had settled on the sand, Brienne followed her enthusiastic daughter to the shore, where they played with the waves coming and leaving for a while, before the little girl was ready to venture into deeper water. Holding her mother’s hand, and shrieking each time she went further, and her body consequently got wet higher and higher.

Rohanne was already tall for her age, but she barely reached Brienne’s waist, so by the time the water had reached her shoulders, only the bottom of Brienne’s shift was wet. Brienne dove in the sea to show Rohanne she was with her, and held her hands as she waded through the water.

Rohanne was beginning to be more at ease in the water, often releasing her mother’s hands while swimming, but she always called for her and clung to her when she saw waves she deemed to high approach her. Jaime, who had entered the sea just after them, swam lazily to them, helping Rohanne as another safe anchor in her efforts to swim. It went this way for some time, until Rohanne declared she was tired and wanted to play in the sand.

“Papa, I want to build a castle bigger than Evenfall Hall!” she said, holding his hand as they returned to the shade of the parasol.

“We can do that. Do you want a castle even bigger than the Red Keep?”

“Yes!” she exclaimed, taking the little spade Brienne got made for her, a light one with blunt edges, before running back to the shore.

“Hep! Aren’t you forgetting something?” Brienne intercepted her, and despite her protests, held her until she reached the basket once again. “I’m not letting you back in the sun without drinking and eating and you need to wear your hat, little lady.”

Rohanne stopped protesting once she had drunk a glass of water and eaten a sweet cake. She ate a second one while sitting on Aela’s lap, and agreed to wear her favourite straw hat.

Brienne sat on the other side of the basket, and Jaime immediately found his place next to her, his hand on her hip and his head against her shoulder. Despite their damp shifts, she felt his warmth radiate through her skin, and the small movements of his fingers on her body suddenly made her shiver.

“Are you cold?” He enquired softly.

“No.” She swallowed her bite of cake and gazed at him. “Quite the contrary.”

A slow smile bloomed on his lips as he caught the meaning of her words. “I guess you would like to stay a bit longer here after Rohanne leaves?” he whispered, his breath on her ear making her skin tingle deliciously.

She hid her blush in her goblet but still nodded with a smile. Even after six years of marriage and seven since they had finally confessed their feelings in the middle of the Long Night, he still managed to make her react as he had in the first months of their courting. She often became a blushing mess because of the way he conveyed his desire for her, and it hadn’t changed since the first time.

Her last cake gone, Rohanne jumped on her feet. “Let’s go build a castle!” Then, she was off, running to the shore while her parents got on their feet a bit slower.

“Gods, are we already so much behind, and we’ve only have one child?” Jaime remarked as he stretched with his arms up, his shirt riding dangerously high on his thighs.

If he keeps doing this, we will soon have more children, Brienne thought, her eyes focused on the skin she usually saw in different contexts. Now that Rohanne was four, she felt ready for another baby. She also was tired of moon tea, and didn’t want her body to get too used to it.

She followed her husband and daughter on the waterfront, and while they were gathering sand to make a big hill they would sculpt into Rohanne’s dreamed castle, she went in search of shells, floated wood, and pebbles that would decorate the final result. By the time she returned to them, they had formed a tall tower – almost reaching Rohanne’s waist – detailed with the stones of the walls and the form of the windows and were working on the battlements, with six towers waiting to be built and the promise of an elegant gate. Setting her findings on the side, Brienne offered to help.

“Do you need a moat, so the waves don’t hit the castle too hard?”

“Yes!” Rohanne cried enthusiastically. “Did you see the tower we made with Papa?”

“I did, it’s really pretty! Did you draw the stones on the sand?”

“Oh no, that was Papa. I made the windows!” she announced proudly.

While she dug the double moat around the castle, Brienne gave Rohanne some pointers about the tower. Jaime and she mutually teased each other about their techniques, comparing the quality of sand in Tarth and the Westerlands and the way they built their own sand castles when they were younger.

“The tallest castle I’ve built was about Tyrion’s height,” Jaime bragged. “Tyrion’s height now, not then. He was only six,” he added, just as Brienne was about to ask.

“That makes it an even more impressive castle,” Brienne replied, nodding in appreciation.

An hour later, the Lannister of Tarth family was finishing the grand castle of Evenfall Rock. Brienne helped Rohanne for the final touch, carrying her over the walls so she could place the biggest shell her mother had found on the top of the central tower.

Once it was done, they all took a step back to admire their work. “You can be proud of yourself, Rohanne,” Jaime said, crouching next to her and hugging her. “It’s a very nice castle.”

“Do you think it will still be here tomorrow?” Rohanne asked, suddenly cut by a yawn.

After a glance around them, assessing the current height of the tide, Brienne replied. “The tide is rising, but we are at the maximum of its height here.” She raised her eyes to the sky and the sun that was beginning its curb down to the Narrow Sea. “If the weather doesn’t turn to rain, the castle might hold until tomorrow. And we can go see it after your lesson with the maester,” she added, smiling at her daughter’s excited reaction.

“I want to draw it!”

“Now?” Jaime asked. Behind the affection in his eyes, there was something more, a kind of hope written in his smile.

“Yes! Can we return to Evenfall Hall?”

Jaime glanced toward Brienne before he replied. “Actually, your mother and I will stay a bit longer to swim, so you can return to the castle with the guards and Aela. We will be back for your bedtime.”

By the time Rohanne, Aela, and the guards left, there was only the sheet and the basket on the sand, in case the Evenstar and her consort want to eat more before getting back to the castle.

A hand slid in Brienne’s, and Jaime leaned against her, a spark of want in his eyes as he wiggled his eyebrows.

“So, what are you planning for our alone time?”

“I thought we could begin with another dip in the ocean, and see where we go from there.”

“As long as it doesn’t cools me down too much, then.” Jaime began to pull on Brienne’s shift. “We should also get rid of those, now that we’re alone.”

Thankfully, their smallclothes had dried a little, so it was easier to remove them. Jaime discarded his on the sand, uncaring about grains getting on the fabric, and only shrugged when Brienne mentioned it. Instead, he took her hand again and pulled her into a run to the water.

The waves were refreshing after this time on the beach, and for a time Brienne and Jaime played in them, jumping together or pushing the other in an incoming one. After Jaime emerged from a big wave, he walked/swam to her and suddenly kissed her. Brienne melted in his embrace as she kissed him back. His hand slid to her ass, and she closed the distance between their bodies, feeling him already half-hard against her. For a moment, they were only kissing and caressing each other, their backs, arms, chest, and sometimes a hand lost in one or the other’s hair.

As they kept going, heat pooled in Brienne’s belly, until a bigger wave washed them almost to the shore, coughing and laughing and still holding each other.

Sitting astride Brienne, Jaime kissed her again. His arousal hadn’t disappeared, she noticed with pleasure, keeping him close to her. However, the waves kept coming, and they needed another place to continue.

“Let’s move somewhere else,” she suggested.

Jaime helped her get on her feet, and while kissing and caressing each other, they looked for a place that would suit them.

They tried on the rocks on the side of the beach, but the stone that looked smooth from afar was actually quite bumpy, and the shells clinging to it made themselves known as soon as Brienne’s naked ass touched them. She immediately pushed Jaime away with a pained yelp.

Jaime laughed from the sand where he’d landed on his back. He was now covered in sand from his feet to his back, cock included, and even his arms hadn’t been spared.

“You’ll need to rinse this off you, because I won’t let one grain of sand enter me with you,” Brienne insisted after a quick glance at him.

“Then come with me in the sea again,” he beckoned her.

She happily followed him, and once he was clean, they resumed their kisses and touches. She was moaning into his mouth, his fingers inside her, when another wave reminded them of the reason they had left the water.

“What do you suggest we do?” Jaime asked as they walked out of the sea, hand in hand.

“Well, that’s the first time I try to make love in the sea, and I realise there are more drawbacks to it than I thought,” Brienne replied, shrugging. “We still have the sheet, though. We will try on it, and if we can’t, we’ll go home.”

“And by home, I imagine you’re talking about the baths of Evenfall Hall, am I right?” His tone was filled with hope, and Brienne smiled.

“We won’t let this day end on a defeat against water, I promise you.”

Then, he pulled her into a searing kiss, his tongue dancing with hers as his hand cradled her neck. Once again, she felt his arousal against her, and she smiled into the kiss. Stumbling toward the sheet, there was no way they kept their hands to themselves, so when Jaime finally laid her on the white fabric, she was absolutely drenched.

As her back touched the sheet, she shaped the sand under her to welcome her body. The warmth of it on her skin reminded her of the naps she’d taken on this very beach when she was a little girl, though this time she would be quite a lot more active.

She looked down to see Jaime on his knees, between her legs. He grinned at her as he took her right leg and began to kiss her skin.

“You’re salty,” he murmured, his lips and tongue sliding from her knee to the junction of her legs. He found her clit and gave it a few licks, before going for her other leg and returning to her centre. This time, he spread the wetness from her core to her clit, and the sensation made her shudder.

Under Jaime’s ministrations, it felt as if she was back in the water. She moved along with his touch, his tongue, his fingers, trembling as her peak approached in bigger and bigger waves. When her climax came, she let it take her and buffet her until it laid her back on the sand, where Jaime was gazing at her, both tender and smug.

“Ready for more?”

She nodded and gave him her hand to hold, slotting their fingers together as he climbed up, kissing her body as he went along, lavishing her navel, her breasts, her neck, with kisses and hickeys. She felt his smile on her skin each time he made her sigh or moan, and when he finally reached her mouth, she tasted herself, mixed with salt.

After a long and languorous kiss, where she rediscovered his hair, her hand combing the curls tangled by water, salt, and wind, she opened her legs wider, bringing one on his back. She smiled serenely at his raised eyebrow, and bit her lip when she felt him at her entrance.

As usual, he took her breath at the same time he took her, and entered as delicately as their first time.

Jaime began to move, and this time again, she was back in the sea, swung by the waves, going along with his thrusts, losing herself in his eyes and his endless praise. When it changed into senseless babble, she knew he was close and stopped him to flip their positions.

“Sweet Warrior Mother!”

She laughed at his exclamation and the heat in his eyes as he looked up at her. She took him inside her once again, revelling in the new sensations. This time, she held his stump, letting his hand roam freely on her body.

Each thrust brought more stimulation and more wetness to her core, and she found herself moaning without care of who might hear her.

Jaime brought his hand to her clit, and a few flicks on it were enough to send her flying again, body and mind lost in the ocean of her pleasure. She barely felt Jaime flip their positions again and increase his rhythm until he came as well, shouting and whimpering.

He was warm when she welcomed him in her embrace, exchanging long, lingering kisses. Her legs were still shivering a little, and every movement he made had his softening cock reminding her it was still inside her sensitive core.

“We did it!”

Brienne snorted at her husband’s exhausted voice. “We could have tried the sheet first, we would have avoided some trouble.”

“Where’s the fun in that? We got to attempt something in the ocean and on the rocks, and we determined it wasn’t for us.”

Jaime claimed her lips again, swallowing her whimper when he pulled out, then got up. He took the water skin and a towel from the basket and came back to clean her and let her drink. The water tasted delicious after this physical afternoon, and even after calming down, the passage of the towel between her legs made them shake a little. Jaime laughed at her reaction.

“Was I so good that you still react to my touch?”

She slapped his shoulder, falsely offended. “You’re so full of yourself.”

Once back on her feet, she retrieved their smallclothes and shook the sand from them before giving Jaime his own and donning hers.

Soon, they had folded the sheet, gotten dressed, eaten a little, and were walking back to the castle, hand in hand, under the orange light of the sunset.

They were in time to kiss Rohanne goodnight, promising they would bring her back to the beach the next day, and announcing her sandcastle was still standing strong when they left.

They made love again in the baths, ate a quick dinner, and fell into bed and in each other’s arms, where Jaime began to kiss her neck, insisting on the juncture between her throat and her shoulder.

“Aren’t you tired?” Brienne sighed, trying to suppress her moan. Damn him, she was already wet again.

“I’m too hungry for my wife, sleep can wait. If you want to, of course.”

Her hand slid to his cock, finding him half-hard. “We can go slowly.”

One moon later, Rohanne was excitedly looking for shells to put on her future sandcastle under Brienne’s loving gaze, showing her mother the most beautiful she found. Brienne heard the steps behind her before two arms slid around her waist, pulling her into a comfortable embrace.

Today was a warm day, but cooler than the past sennight, and she enjoyed the way the wind refreshed her skin.

She hummed against Jaime, enjoying his solid presence.

“When were you going to tell me?” he asked lightly.

She frowned, unable to think about something she could be hiding to him. “Tell you what?”

“Well, you refused butter on you bread these past three days, your naps are longer than usual – and it’s not directly because of the heat, and you complained about sensitive breasts the last two times we made love. Are you sure you’re not…”

“You think I might be pregnant?” She swayed on her feet, suddenly light headed at the thought.

“You didn’t know?”

She shook her head and turned face to him. “You’re more observant than I am about my own body. We should see the maester today.”

“We should,” he approved. “And you know I’ve dedicated my life to knowing all the little details of your body, so the changes can be easy to spot.”

Had those words come from anyone else, Brienne would have been crept out. From Jaime, though, they were comforting.

Later that day, the maester confirmed his suspicions.

“It seems you might have your heir, my lady!” the man, in his forties, declared as Brienne rearranged her clothes.

Her shackles rose immediately. “Rohanne is my heir, whether we have a son or a daughter next,“ she affirmed, feeling a cold fury settle in her stomach. “I thought I had made this clear when she was born, but a reminder seems to be necessary when we will announce the news publicly.”

She left in a hurry, not trusting herself in the immediate proximity of the maester. She would check his lessons with Rohanne the next day, to be sure he was giving her the right education. For now, she needed to think about something else.

That something else came in the person of Jaime, who’d followed her from the maester’s study. They had barely reached her own study when he caught her waist and kissed her hard against the door.

“You looked so good in there.” A kiss. “So protective.” Another kiss. “So fierce.” And another. Before she knew it, she was lying on her own desk, Jaime’s head between her legs, and feeling all her anger being replaced by desire.

There was truly one thing she would never regret in her life. Falling for Jaime, despite their opposite loyalties and everything he’d done in his life, had brought her more than she could have ever imagined as a star-eyed little girl. She’s seen and done more with him than she had ever planned to when she’d left Tarth to follow Renly. He’d given her more than whatever she’d thought of him during these months in the Riverlands. She was still discovering new things with him after six years of marriage, and didn’t want it to stop.

The next time, they could find a way to stand in the waves, she thought faintly as Jaime’s fingers hit the right spot inside her and pushed her over the edge.