Jaime lay in the cold snow, letting the biting wind sweep over his bloodstained body.
His wounds were still bleeding, but he felt no pain.
His cheek burned where Brienne had struck him, yet the blow had cleared his mind as never before, when moments ago it had been so tangled it felt ready to burst.
Break my oath again?
No.
He was tired of playing a pawn on someone else's board, powerless to choose his own moves.
Jaime slowly sat up and looked at his blood-covered hands. Light began to return to his green eyes, little by little.
He returned to his room without tending his wounds or even changing out of his tattered clothes.
He went to the desk and spread out a fresh sheet of parchment.
He neither hesitated nor paused to think. He simply dipped his pen deep into the ink and wrote a short line on the clean sheet.
Then he folded the letter and sealed it with wax, without even stamping it with the lion seal of House Lannister.
Once he was done, he opened the door and handed the letter to the attendant waiting outside.
"Send this to Casterly Rock by the fastest raven."
"Now."
The attendant was so frightened by his battered, blood-soaked appearance that he dared not ask any questions. Taking the letter, he stumbled away toward the Maester's Tower.
Jaime closed the door, leaned against its cold boards, and slowly slid to the floor.
Watching the flames dance in the fireplace, he smiled from the heart.
The Westerlands, Casterly Rock.
Duke Tywin Lannister sat behind his enormous oak desk, reviewing reports from the front.
That little brat Robb Stark had been running wild along the border between the Riverlands and the Westerlands, emboldened by Lynn's backing.
He was an