Prologue

It was love, Cersei was sure of it. He looked at her with such fondness, such fascination. Finally! She could forgive his whore and bastards, she could even forgive him for saying that wolf girl's name all those moons ago. As long as he loved her.

Cersei had been hoping that a child would bring them closer, at that time she had chided herself for such naive thoughts, but now as she watched Robert hold their little girl in his arms, all her wishes seemed to have come true...

'Lyanna,' her husband whispered. Why? Why does he have to ruin all moments with her name? 'We should call her Lyanna. She would once have been a Baratheon, if that beast had not kidnapped her. Yes, Lyanna Baratheon, a name fit for a beautiful Princess.'

'No,' no no no no no no... Cersei realised that it had not been she Robert had looked so fondly at. It was that wolf girl, dead yet continuing to haunt their lives. 'No?! I'm the king woman, don't you forget! I'll do as I please, the girl is Lyanna and that's it,' her husband bellowed and she winced, afraid he might hit her as he often did. Robert's voice softened as he continued, ' Tell you what, name her Lyanna and you can call the rest whatever the bloody Lannister name you want.' And with that the Lord of the Seven Kingdoms left her bedchambers, but not before handing her the babe.

She did not cry, nor did she scream. She did not throw a royal tantrum, as many expected her to. A part of her had died, and nothing would change Robert's decision anyway. We were never meant to be together, Robert and I, Stags and Lions do not mix. I should have known that, I was a stupid fool.

That day Cersei, who had once refused to part with her darling daughter, wanted to get rid of that child as soon as she could. She gave the girl to Grisha, one of the wet nurses and never held the babe again. At night, it was the first time she plotted to murder her husband.

Cersei refused to let Robert's seed grow inside her ever again. She kept a woods witch in hand for whenever she needed to cleanse herself. Robert would sometimes drunkenly claim his right as a husband, and it was left for her to pleasure him however she could. But no, she would never repeat the mistake of getting pregnant with his child, not after Lyanna.

Two years later, she was with child again, this time a true Lannister in all but name. Joffrey, she named her cub, one day he would be as handsome as his father. Myrcella and Tommen soon followed, quieter yet Lannisters all the same. They have yet to show their claws, but one day they will. It was easy to forget about her eldest born, not that it mattered. Lyanna had her father, whom she would follow all day. Robert was not the best father but he was far from the worst one, which became visible whenever he played come-into-the-castle with her, all the while ignoring the other children.

When Lyanna was seven and Joff five, her son got into some mischief, something about skinning Lyanna alive. Cersei knew that Joffrey was only jesting, but that did not stop that wretched girl from punching her poor boy hard on the face. That day, Cersei realised that with that doe around, her cubs would never be safe, not truly.

Her father the Old Lion offered to foster the girl at Casterly Rock. Robert refused but Cersei would not relent so easily this time. She threw expensive vases at him, and the wolf girl's name to guilt him into agreeing, and her plan succeeded. The day Lyanna left for the Rock, Cersei wept alone in her bedchambers, it was harder than she had thought it to be, letting go. 'Damn you woman, damn you,' was Robert's way of coping with his daughter's departure. Even Myrcella had cried, though she knew not what was going on.

When Cersei saw the carriage leaving the Red Keep, she asked herself about what she had done. Cersei would have given anything to call Lyanna back, but she was a Lannister, and Lannisters did not cry and shout in public.

I did a great wrong, Gods forgive me, What have I done? she kept thinking, she did after all, have a mother's heart.

Cersei Lannister had unwittingly, done her daughter a huge favour, no matter how much she thought otherwise.