Free
Tommen Baratheon didn't know how to react when his brother died. He could only remember the chaos that surrounded Joffrey. The boy of eight remembered crying. However, the boy hadn't been crying for his brother that had been lost. Tommen had been crying from the confusion, the shouts, and the screams that had been in his mind. He had not been crying for Joffrey. After all, would Joffrey cry for him? Ever since the boy could remember, Joffrey had terrorized him and Myrcella. The taunts and verbal abuse rendered the boy to tears at times. Tommen had lived in fear of his older brother. He knew, even at eight years old, that Myrcella had feared Joffrey too. The sneers and taunts followed them wherever they went. "It's like Mother gave me two sisters instead of one!" Joffrey had told the two children that more than once. Myrcella had taken the brunt of Joffrey's abuse, simply because she was a female. Tommen hadn't watched when his sister and only friend had been sailed off to Dorne. People said that the princess had been very brave while smiling down at them, and Tommen knew in his heart that Myrcella had been happy that day because she was free from Joffrey's cruel hands. Tommen wondered what was more frightening. Would going to a new place be as scary as not having your brother around?
Tommen had only been two years old when Joffrey had killed the kittens. Although he didn't remember that day, his Uncles Jamie and Tyrion said that Tommen had wept for days after the kittens and their mother had been hastily buried. The babe that he had been had looked forward to them. Tommen knew he had a soft heart. He continued to weep as his mother had shouted at the Kingsguard to take Uncle Tyrion away. "Arrest my brother. He did this, the dwarf. Him and his little wife. They killed my son. Your king. Take them. Take them." Her voice echoed in Tommen's small ears. Tommen knew that Joffrey had been her favorite. That would never change, even with his death. The child could not share his mother's grief, and scream in despair or anger. He felt a different emotion. All his eight years, he had been abused and mocked by Joffrey, who no longer existed. Tommen smiled wide, noticing nothing around him. His torture was over. Tommen was free.
I'm free.