No Matter The Cost ||
(Warning: This is a roleplay set in a Game of Thrones AU and thus depicts characters who behave in a manner befitting that world. Expect politics, intrigue, backstabbing, manipulation, murder, and various other disturbing scenes. Please feel free to blacklist ‘gotverse’ if you do not want to see this on your dash.)
(GOT!Verse)
Twenty-two.Â
It was precisely the number of letters that Jonathan had sent his brother in the past year, having sent one like clockwork every two weeks since he’d left Casterly Rock. He’d sent them after Alexander had given up his claim as the Lightwood heir in order to take up the mantle of Kingsguard– as high an honor as any knight could ever hope to achieve– thus leaving the way quite unobstructed for Jonathan himself.
House Wayland had been a minor house when his parents had yet lived, sworn to House Lightwood and yet possessed of far more wealth than the house they served. When Michael and Eliza had been killed, Jace had been left orphaned, far too young to rule his house and taken in by the Lightwoods due to the friendship that Robert had once held with his father.Â
Jonathan had had no illusions upon his incorporation into the Lightwood household; at best, he thought he’d be treated as a ward, pampered and taken care of until he was of age, and then sent back to rule over the lands that the Waylands held. It was thus with some degree of surprise that he discovered Robert’s plans to officially recognize him as a Lightwood, and Jace had lost no time in agreeing. The Waylands had been respected in their time, but the Lightwoods had generations of nobility behind their name. To be counted amongst them opened doors for Jonathan that he’d never even come close to before, and giving up his father’s name was a small sacrifice indeed.
As the years passed, Robert and Maryse had proved able parents; Maryse in particular was sharp of mind, and as neither of Alexander nor Isabelle seemed inclined to politics, Jace took it upon himself to learn as much as he could from her. Eventually he’d grown confident in his prowess, eager to test his mettle at court, but well aware that he had little to maneuver with as a second son.
For years, Jace had thrown himself into trying to remove his brother from his position as the Lightwood heir. The man was boorish and had little care for political machinations; all he ever cared about was fighting and hunting and blood. No, his position was utterly wasted on him, and Jace had taken it upon himself to find a chink in his brother’s armor, to take up his rightful place as the first son and get Alec safely out of the way.
It had taken years of scheming before he’d finally found something, bribing a servant girl to inform him of his brother’s nightly habits and surprising him in the middle of an illicit affair. Of course, Alexander’s homosexuality was hardly a huge discovery in and of itself– but it was the way he’d done it, the way he’d carried it out… Fucking around with some boy in a brothel was one thing, but actually having an affair? And with the son of a minor noble to boot?
Idiot, Jonathan had thought derisively. He’d made sure that his brother had seen him half-hidden in the darkness before he’d taken his leave as quietly as he’d come. He didn’t even need to utter the threat aloud; Alexander’s days were numbered, and if Robert didn’t make him take the Black in penance, Jace was certain it would be something worse.
Finally, House Lightwood was in his grasp. As the first son to a greater house, he would have been able to make actual moves in King’s Landing, bearing a name that had actual weight instead of the Wayland that he’d been born with. But even as his thoughts turned to the capitol, Jace couldn’t help but think of his brother being sent away to the blistering North, forced to fight Wildlings and swearing brotherhood to a bunch of cutthroats and criminals.
It had been, surprisingly, wholly unacceptable.
And so Jonathan had kept his mouth shut, reaching some uneasy alliance with his brother that had him politicking from afar, trying to find some way of gaining power as he bided his time in Casterly Rock.
It wasn’t until a year ago that Alexander had announced his intention to become a member of the Kingsguard, an honor that, while completely elevating, also meant that he would give up his right to own land, to take a wife, to father children… In short, he was giving Jace everything he’d ever wanted, long after Jace had given up on it.
It had been confusing, to say the least, and their parting had been rushed and no less so. Alexander had always been stoic, and though Jonathan had a gift for reading people, his brother was still beyond his ken half the time. The reason for his leaving was a mystery, and Jace did not like mysteries.
And so the letters.
Twenty-two of them sent by raven, and not a single one replied to. Jace would have thought his brother illiterate had he not been aware of his replies to their mother, and it was from her that he learned that Alexander would be returning for a brief furlough.Â
Well, Jace thought, his mouth twisting in a bitter little smile as he strode into The Rose as if he owned the place. I’ll just have to make certain that I welcome him home properly.