As they all stood there, in the Dragonpit, each 'ruler' waiting for the other one's trap, Jamie Lannister looked at Brienne of Tarth. He had not expected her. He assumed lady Sansa would come herself. But he found himself glad she did not and sent the lady knight in her place. It was good seeing Brienne again. Even though she confused him. When he was around her, the not so young now knight felt unworthy, not good enough. She was just so damn good, honorable, noble. He had never met anyone with such an intense sense of duty and with such strong moral compass as "The Wench", as he used to call her. Compared to her, no man he knew was worth even a single golden dragon. And yet, around Brienne, Jaime felt like he could do better, be something more. And that glimmer of hope, that gave him purpose. And he savored it. Because lately, around Cersei, doing her bidding, he felt more lost than ever before in his whole life.

Brienne looked at his direction and her sapphire eyes met his. She smiled a little and nodded at him. He smiled back. Instantly, he understood that Cersei noticed their interaction – she drew a sharp breath and stiffened. Jaime found himself not really caring.

And so after the Daenerys Targaryen arrived on top of her dragon and Euron Greyjoy taunted his nephew, the self proclaimed King in the north, Ned Stark's bastard, Jon Snow, started telling them tales of the white walkers and that there is much more important war coming and they need to unite to face the common enemy. Jaime could tell Cersei was unimpressed. Her eyes were fixated on the Targaryen girl. But then the Hound brought the cage with the creature in it and let it loose. In that moment, Jaime understood how meaningless all of the wars till now were. Lannister, Baratheon, Targaryen, Stark… It didn't matter who was on that damned throne. What mattered was to save the realm, the people from that danger. The northerners showed them that wights could not be killed except with dragonglass or fire and claimed that the white walkers can be killed only by dragonglass and Valyrian steel. Jaime found himself reaching for his sword. Widow's wail. One of the blades forged of Ned Stark's Ice. The other one being Oathkeeper. He found himself looking at Brienne again. He could tell it was the first time she saw the creature, too. He could see the determination in her eyes and the faint traces of fear he was sure no one else would be able to notice.

Euron Greyjoy proved himself a coward, eager to say he was leaving. Cersei and Daenerys bickered over who will rule after the long night. And Jaime just wanted to smack them both. What did it matter? He honestly couldn't care less. When Jon Snow proclaimed he would only serve the Dragon queen and bend the knee to her, Cersei left angry. Jaime thought about going after her and making her come to her senses. Just when he is about to follow her, Tyrion stopped him.

"Let me talk to her, brother."

The two of them looked at each other. Millions of things they said without words. Jaime nodded and let him. It was then when Brienne approached him.

"Ser Jaime…"

He sighed.

"To hell with the formalities, Brienne. We are way past that."

A faint smile graced her lips again. He liked seeing her smile.

"Jaime, you saw that thing. If we don't unite and fight as one… None of us will survive."

"I know. I always thought the Walkers existed only in the stories that wet nurses scared children with. But this… I saw Daenerys's dragon burn my men, I came at a horse's length from that beast's moth as it was about to burn me alive. But, fuck, nothing had terrified me as much as this creature. We need to fight beyond the wall."

He could see the horror on Brienne's face when she listening to his story about the dragon. He noticed her slightly flinch and tremble. But she composed herself at once.

"She loves you. She trusts you. She will listen to you. Please, you have to convince her to see reason."

He closed his eyes and sighed. Cersei listened to no one but herself. But he had to find a way.

"I will try."

In that moment, his siblings returned. Tyrion took his place on Daenerys's side. Cersei stood next to him and said that she would send troops North to fight the common enemy. Jaime sighed in relief. Maybe she wasn't lost after all.

Later, after the 'guests' had left, Jaime was looking at the map and trying to figure out a strategy. He was so occupied he didn't hear the footsteps approaching him.

"What are you doing?"

He turned around and saw Cersei walk toward him, the Mountain right behind her, as always. That abomination never left her side.

"Working on the plan of the attack. We should gather as many men as possible and send them North. I should ride there myself and…"

"We won't be sending anyone North." – she said calmly. Jaime couldn't understand what she meant.

"What do you mean? We should gather the troops as fast as possible and I should go and discuss our next step with Jon Snow and Daenerys Targaryen. The dead march south as we speak!"

Cersei took a seat and smiled.

"They have their dragonglass, her dragons. They should manage. And if they don't, my enemies will be gone without any effort."

Jamie stared at her in shock. Has she lost her mind?

"You promised to send troops. Cersei, you saw that…"

"I did. But that doesn't mean I meant a word of it. I won't help that bastard and the Mad King's daughter who is just waiting for a sign of weakness to take my throne. As we speak, Euron Greyjoy is going to hire the Golden Company. I will only get stronger, when my enemies grow weaker. I will let them fall fighting in the North, and whatever remains of them, I will crush afterwards."

He couldn't believe what he was hearing. She kept speaking, and all he could think about was "Who is this woman?"

"Cersei…"

"It's not up for discussion. I am the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and my decision is final. Don't you see? This way we will secure my rule, the rule of our child after that and…"

"Don't you dare use the child, Cersei! Have you gone completely mad? You saw that thing! There are hundreds of thousand like it. The Night King is getting closer to the Wall in that very moment. This is about survival, not about power!"

"Power is survival, Jaime. Our power. You, me, the child, house Lannister. If father was alive, he would've done the same."

"No! He may have loved power, but he was reasonable. But Aerys Tragaryen would've approved your way of ruling!"

And then she slapped him.

"How dare you compare me to the Mad King?"

"You blew up the Sept with wildfire. Hundreds and thousands of innocent people."

"I had to, the Tyrells…"

"Tommen died because of you and your lust for power!"

Cersei took a step back and looked at him horrified.

"You don't mean that."

He couldn't keep it together, he could not control himself.

"I do! You knew he loved Margery. And you killed her and so many innocent people because you felt she was taking everything from you. Myrcella died because you insulted and hurt the Dornish. And now you are ready to let the army of the dead march through Westeros, because you lust for power? All you care about is that wretched, damned throne. You are far worse than the Mad King! And I am done. I never want to see you, or hear your name again."

With that, he turned and left. He could hear her calling his name, but he never looked back. Finally, he was free.