Chapter Text
“I don’t like this.” Benjen hands her the foul-smelling draught nonetheless, his face white with fear. “This has gone far enough. What do you hope to accomplish?” Being mayhap her greatest supporter, with her through thick and thin, it comes as a shock that he would protest. He of all people. “The King cannot have been fooled.”
But his interest had been piqued. Lyanna doesn’t necessarily expect her brother to understand at this point. She herself teeters on the verge, never quite certain if the man is seeing what she wants him to see or if she is the one being used. Yet even if it is that the King makes what he wishes of her, Lyanna cannot give up. Not now, after all the hard work.
“Sister, what is this about?” His hand touched hers softly, fingers pressing gently into the smooth flesh. He watches her drink, mood darkening considerably. Benjen, not the most patient of persons, shifts slightly, concern bleeding into something else entirely,
The she-wolf toys with the idea of telling him everything, to the very last detail. But as soon as the notion forms it is gone as well, for as much as she loves her brother, Lyanna knows him to be the sort who would not relent and accept her scheme. He would mayhap even tell Rhaegar. And that she cannot have. Instead she hands him the now empty cut and rests her own hand atop of his, patting it gently. “One day I shall tell you.”
The promise rings false. Benjen pulls away with a savage gesture and sits up, eyes blazing. His hand moved to her shoulder, gripping her tightly. “Gods be good, but I do not think I know you any longer.” Pain plays upon his features, fingers digging further into her shoulder.
‘Tis not that she had changed all that much, Lyanna thinks, shrugging his hold away with a delicate roll of the shoulders. Benjen has known a playmate and a friend. Never has he had Lyanna for his enemy. That he should find odd to see her in such a posture is not something which surprises. For his sake however, she shrugs. “Time leaves a mark.” Lyanna sincerely hopes he will be better for it. “We are not children any longer.”
The words fall between them like heavy weights, Sister and brother stare at one another, one with unabashed calm, the other with frenzied confusion. Might be they are not meant to understand one another. What Lyanna can do and does is to see her plan through and hope for the best. So she eases herself back against the mountain of pillows and makes herself comfortable. The underlying satisfaction proves more than enough for the moment.
She hears the door open and close but does not look its way. Benjen will come back at some point. He always does. In the meantime, Lyanna rehearses her lines. Success is close at hand. The she-wolf lifts the coverings gingerly. Satisfied with what she sees, she allows the covers to fall back into place.