The Tarth and Lannister children had spent as much time visiting back and forth as they had spent in their own homes. Their mothers had been the closest of friends. Indeed, she had when they were children visiting one another’s estates. All Jaime had to do was smile, and she would have followed him off a cliff.
She knew how she had been talked into this. When the Ton figured out that it was Lady Brienne, the spinster of Tarth, in the azure and rose Cavalier’s costume of doublet and breeches with a rapier at her hip, there would be a scandal of epic proportions just as she and Jaime had planned.īrienne shook her head. That Brienne led a rebellion against the Faith militant after the overthrow of the King and his government. Brienne was costumed as her several times great-grandmother.
The legendary female Lord Commander of the Kingsguard was said to have been one of them. There had been many Briennes in the Tarth line. She had daringly dressed as her ancestor and namesake. They would have supported tomorrow after her life fell apart as scheduled tonight.īrienne sat down on the bench and worried a fold of the rose-colored cape that completed her costume. They would have been able to advise her through the ups and downs of this season. Losing their company had left Brienne adrift in a world she was not well suited to. They had been a closely bonded unit, sharing the joys and woes of being young ladies on the Marriage Mart. Sansa was undecided if she wanted that or not.īrienne missed both her friends dreadfully in the Season. She reported that Clegane was talking of selling his commission and returning home to Westeros with their growing family. Her last letter had given the news of her third babe in five years of marriage. Sansa’s letters from the colonies on Southyros were filled with tales of exotic people and places, wonders Sansa had never dreamed of experiencing. When she fell head over heels for the rough-mannered Major Clegane, Sansa married after the briefest of betrothals to follow the drum, Brienne had worried for her delicate, romantic friend. She had always dreamed of marrying well, with a huge wedding followed by taking a position at the top of the beau monde. Sansa was also absent after choosing an unexpected match. Brienne adored her friend’s children and was not at all suspicious that they both resembled the coachman more than Lord Renly. Margaery would have been in town to support Brienne through the Season, but she had given birth to her second child in the summer. Marrying Renly also allowed her to remain close to her beloved brother, Loras, Renly’s closest friend. Margaery had decided that she preferred the life of a political wife to a title and running a great estate. Lord Renly was an up-and-comer in the House of Commons. Brienne had spent many happy afternoons in that gazebo with Margaery and Sansa Stark, dreaming of what life might offer to three girls with excellent family names and large dowries.Īstute and ambitious Margaery had married the younger brother of the Duke of the Stormlands. It was sheltered from sight and the heavy, heady perfume of the rose bushes that were Dowager Countess Olenna’s pride and joy. Girls left on the shelf after tonight would remain there until Parliament’s spring session brought the nobly born back to Kings Landing.įrom her long friendship with Lady Margaery, the Tyrell’s cherished only daughter, Brienne knew there was a small gazebo at the very back of the garden. The last chance for matches to be finalized before the Ton departed from Town for the winter. The Tyrell’s Rose Masquerade was the final event of the Fall Little Season in King’s Landing. But not just yet.īrienne walked quickly, almost ran, through the lush gardens that gave tonight’s event its name. She would face what this evening was to bring. Her head whirling with the heat of the ballroom and dread over what was to come, Brienne fled when Jaime’s arrival was announced to the ballroom. It was unnaturally warm for late October.
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