After Tyrion's departure, Jaime was beside himself. Bronn had made himself scarce, quickly scampering off to whatever whore had caught his fancy that night. Doubts began to swirl in Jaime's mind. He spent the rest of the night in a deep depression, drinking until he finally passed out drunk for the first time in his life.
He awoke to the feeling of coldness and water sliding down his head.
"What the hell?" He exclaimed. Standing over him was Bronn, with an empty pitcher.
"Knew that would get you up. We need to get back. Though you're in no condition to be riding. While you were passed out, I took the liberty of taking some of your coin to hire us a wagon. "
Jaime looked into his pocket, sure enough, some of his coin was missing. Probably more than what was needed for a wagon, but his head was starting to throb so he didn't feel like pressing it. It was Jaime's first time spending the night at a brothel, not that anything had happened, and he wondered if for once Cersei would finally notice his absence. Shaking those thoughts from his mind, Jaime slowly got up and followed Bronn to where their wagon and horses awaited.
After Bronn unwisely broached the subject of whether or not he would still be getting his promised castle and bride, Jaime had snapped at him to shut up and the rest of the ride home had been spent in silence. He tried to think about what he would say to Cersei, but his head was pounding. He guessed he must have a hangover, the first of his life. From seeing Cersei and Tyrion have so many he knew he'd need a nap before he could properly gather his thoughts.
Finally, they made it to the red keep.
"So will you be meeting Tyrion again in a weeks time?" asked Bronn, before they parted ways.
"He's a traitor. I have nothing more to say to him."
"What he said was true though. You know that right?"
Jaime ignored that remark and began to head immediately to his chambers. Once there, he fell asleep the moment his head hit the pillow.
Several hours passed and a groggy Jaime awoke to the sound of knocking. Exasperated he yelled for the person to come in. 'This had better be important' he thought, annoyed.
In walked a young servant girl no more than twelve. 'likely one of the many orphans Cersei took in after the sept explosion' thought Jaime. He refrained from yelling angerly at her.
"Excuse me Sir Jaime, but the queen sent me to fetch you."
Happiness welled up in him before he remembered the things he had heard last night.
"If the queen wants me, you tell her she can come to me herself."
The girl stayed, fidgeting awkwardly. "The Queen will not be happy if I return to her without you." She said at last, looking scared and on the verge of tears.
Jaime nearly rolled his eyes before remembering that Cersei had never been kind to the servants. While she'd never before had a servant whipped for returning without someone who refused to go, he didn't know what she was capable of anymore. So reluctantly he agreed. 'She probably finally noticed my absence and wants to give me grief.' He thought to himself. He wasn't sure he felt up to confronting her about Lancel and the white walkers yet, but times alone with her were so scarce these days that he reasoned he'd have no choice.
. "Fine, I'll go."
"Thank you, follow me, Sir"
"I know where my sister's chambers are if you would like to go off and do other things."
"The queen is not in her chambers. Follow me, I will take you to her."
Jaime followed the girl. She led him to the castle dungeons. 'Finally, I will get to see what she's been keeping down here.' thought Jaime curiously. Although he hadn't been banned from going down to the castle dungeons, he had always avoided doing so. Whether the people down here deserved it or not, he didn't quite like to see or hear what went on. He was however quite curious as to why Cersei had been spending so much time down here lately, however a part of him didn't really want to know.
They passed by several rooms and Jaime heard many screams of what sounded like torture. Finally, they stopped at one room where the screaming was much louder than the others.
The girl knocked. Qyburn opened the door.
Jaime followed the girl in and couldn't help but gasp in horror at what he saw.
Cersei was sipping her wine as she observed several chained up women, many of whom looked to have undergone horrific torture. Most were missing at least an eye, some had much more horrific injuries. From the smirk on her face, Jaime could tell that Cersei was quite satisfied with what she was observing.
Upon hearing Jaime's gasp Cersei turned to look at them.
The girl broke the silence first, eager to get out of there.
"My Queen" she said curtsying.
"Thank you, Rina. You are dismissed for the rest of the evening."
"Thank you, your grace." the girl replied before scampering out.
"Jaime, we should go to my chambers, I have some news to share. " Cersei said, looking at him.
"Why did I come all the way down here, to the castle dungeons? Cersei, you surely could have summoned me to your chambers and had me wait there!"
"Ah yes, I could've, but then you wouldn't have gotten to see our enemies suffering," Cersei replied nodding towards the various women chained up on tables.
"Our enemies?" Jaime asked. confused.
"Ah yes, after all the modifications that Sir Gregor has made to them, you probably couldn't recognize them. Ellaria Sand and her daughter Tyene, as well as several more of the sand snakes responsible for Myrcella's death." Cersei replied, nodding over at the women chained on tables.
Jaime smiled at the news, before wondering to himself when and how she had captured Ellaria and the rest of the sand snakes and why she hadn't bothered to inform him of it.
As if she could read his thoughts Cersei replied: "They were captured two days ago, a gift from Euron Greyjoy, but I have other, bigger and better news to share."
She smiled at him then, a sweet smile, the first Jaime had seen from her since before Tommen's death, maybe even longer.
Jaime almost smiled back, glad to see her happy again, before he remembered. Lancel. And the white walkers. And Euron. Jaime didn't like it one bit that Euron had shown up nearly two months ago wanting to marry Cersei. Although she had refused him telling him they would instead work together as allies against Daenerys and Yara and Theon Greyjoy. Cersei had also promised Euron that she would grant the iron islands independence from the crown, However, Jaime worried she would accept Euron's proposal if he expressed any inclining her offer wasn't enough. While Jaime knew Cersei would never want to share her power with any man, he also feared she may very well marry Euron and arrange for an accident. He and Cersei had certainly discussed and debated causing Robert to have an 'accident' many times in years past.
They began to walk silently to her chambers.
"Your Grace," said the two guards outside her chambers before curtsying and stepping aside.
Right away Cersei headed to pour herself some wine.
"Would you like some?" she asked.
More wine would surely help him get through this conversation, but remembering his still somewhat lingering headache from last night's escapade he declined.
"I never did understand why you never took a shine to wine or any sort of liqueur. Even that disgusting imp enjoyed his wine." she wondered out loud before taking a seat on the red sofa.
'If only she knew' thought Jaime as he sat down next to her, keeping some space between them. He had to confront her soon, and the last thing he wanted right now was to get lost in her.
Cersei took a few sips of wine and Jaime noted that she had began to look quite nervous.
Finally, she turned to look at him and began to speak.
"Jaime, I'm pregnant."
"You're, pregnant? Are you sure? How?" replied Jaime, flabbergasted. They hadn't lain together in over three months, nearly four. Not since before he left for river run. Before Tommen's suicide.
Cersei's bright smile quickly changed into a frown. This clearly wasn't the reaction she had been hoping for.
"Yes, I'm sure, Qyburn examined me earlier. As to how I think you know how dear brother."
"We haven't lain together in nearly four months, so whose child is this?"
"Yours! How dare you!" she exclaimed, rising up in anger.
"And you found out when?"
"Earlier today."
"So you expect me to believe you are nearly four months pregnant and had no clue until today?"
"Yes...I thought I was going through the change. You know what I mean, the change all women go through."
"Women don't go through the change until their fifties and you are only forty-Four, you really expect me to believe that?"
"Yes, it's the truth."
"And I'm supposed to believe that I am the father? Jaime replied getting up to face her.
She slapped him before replying "I have been with no other."
"Lancel." stated Jaime.
Cersei dropped her glass in shock, looking both worried and frightened.
"So it's true then, you fucked him."
"I...it was years ago, you were gone, and I needed him. Needed him to help me kill Robert. It was only a few times."
So it had been more than once. And it hadn't been a mistake but a planned event, to get him to help her get rid of Robert. Something Jaime had been offering his help with for years only to have heard her excuses and refusals for why they still needed Robert alive still.
Jaime felt his anger boil over and he could not resist the urge to hurt her back.
"Well, if you are pregnant, it's not mine, is it Euron Greyjoy's? He's certainly been doing a lot for you lately. Or perhaps it's the court jesters, what's his name again, ah yes, moon boy."
Cersei gasped at him, her face a mixture of hurt and shock.
"Get out. Now."
"Gladly, queen of whores." he replied, turning quickly to leave.
Cersei quickly grabbed another wine glass and threw it at him with great force, Unfortunately for her and fortunately for Jaime, she missed, hitting the wall and getting glass all over the place.
Jaime rushed out of the room and headed to his chambers all the while seething with rage at the thought of Cersei with Lancel and possibly Euron and even moon boy for all he knew.
It wasn't until he was all the way back to his chambers that he realized he had forgotten to confront her about what Tyrion said about her not being willing to help with the white walker threat. He sighed before laying back down. His head was now throbbing as much as it had earlier. Jaime fell into a fitful sleep filled with nightmares of Cersei and Lancel.
Notes:
Hopefully, I didn't get too OOC with Jaime and Cersei. I could picture Jaime being this pissed about Lancel and not trusting her anymore. And Cersei, of course, is upset after what he said and lashes out. I also didn't wanna make Jaime leave right away because that seems OOC. Any helpful feedback or comments are welcome so long as you're not completely negative.