-o0o-

"I do not trust him, Cersei. A lord traveling all the way from the North, from a house we haven't heard of? This is foolishness," Ser Jaime Lannister ranted. His face was red with frustration.

"I do not want to hear it. This is our best chance to intercept the Targaryen whore and I will take every opportunity available. He's doing more than you've done yet."

Cersei wanted no dealings with his nonsense. A lowly lord or not, the man is willing to travel a great distance for her benenfit and he happens to be very easy on the eyes. In a Loras Tyrell way, if Loras was alive and of darker complexion. She smirks.

"This will be our downfall. If you trust every man that comes onto you we will be erradicated," Jaime sighed. Cersei placed her wine on the table and gritted her teeth. His insolence made her blood boil with rage.

"Brother, I do not trust this stranger as far as I can throw him. However, Father taught me to read people with excellent precision. I will have him around my finger before he leaves the keep," the queen drawled, lips quirking into a dangerous smirk.

Jaime looked at her like he didn't know her anymore. This woman was not the woman he fell in love with so long ago. A madness that he'd known years before, in another man, shone in her green eyes. Something inside him broke then. She's gone mad.

"You plan to gain his undying trust with...sexual favors?"

Cersei's lips curled around her chalace. Of course, she planned to do just that. A man only has two desires in this world. Women and power. That is what makes them as malleable as they are. Sheeps, the lot of them.

"How else? He is fond of me already. All I must do is strengthen his attachment tenfold and he is mine. When he leaves, the Targaryen whore will be nothing to him."

A wave of disgust hit Jaime then. He sneered at his sister and made for the door. Cersei watched with disinterest, wondering what it was like to lie with a brown man. Their were so few in Westeros that she seldom seen them. Especially not as lords of an actual house. It intrigued her to no end, the tales she had heard.

"Have fun with your so called lord, your grace," he spit, before charging out of the door. He realized then that he would not see her reign last any longer. The kingslayer decided to speak to this Aries before she could. If he was a liar, so much the better.

-o0o-

Aries drank her wine gingerly, enjoying the savory taste. The only time she had good wine was when she was much younger. It had taken a fortnight to steal it from her father's stash. Even then, it wasn't worth the beating she received. For this, she'd take a hundred lashings all over again.

A knock comes to the door in the middle of her sip and she rolls her eyes. "Come in," she called casually, trying to hide her annoyance. She watched as the door opened, feeling her hackles rise as the kingslayer came through the door.

Jaime stared at the so called lord calculatingly.

The man sat with his legs crossed, casual and confident, a smile twitching at his plump lips. The man's braided hair lie over his shoulder, long and thick. He had never seen a man wear his hair so long like a woman. The sides of his head were shaved close. Jaime would have thought him a foreigner if not for his northern accent. His deep caramel skin looked more Essesian than Westerosi.

"Welcome, Ser Jaime. Come and sit with me. Have some wine," Aries said, gesturing toward the carache of Dornish wine on the small table.

Jaime did not respond. Instead, he sat in the chair beside her stiffly, regretting his decision to confront the man. The aura around him was sharp and dark. He noticed the long scar over the man's left brow and inwardly cringed. He felt completely unwelcome despite the man's warm smile. The kingslayer felt small in his presence for reasons unknown.

"I've come to voice my suspicions. What do you plan to get out of my sister? Wealth?"

Aries purses her lips to keep a sharp chuckle at bay. She didn't really need gold. When one knows how to get anything for free, gold is but a token. She looked the man in the eye boldly, unwavering. Jaime felt a strong urge to look away from her black eyes. He had never seen eyes so dark in his life. The whites of them were barely visible.

"I desire nothing, Ser Jaime. Nothing more than her grace's long reign. The Targaryen whore is a scourge to Westeros," Aries explained smoothly. A silver tongue, forged from years of playing a roll. Jaime almost believed her.

"You seem an intelligent man, my lord. You know that my sister has gone mad. She burned the entire sept to the ground with wildfire," Jaime said through gritted teeth. He couldn't take anymore brainwashed minions falling over his sister. He himself had been blind for far too long. He felt it was his fault that his sister became this way.

Aries' brow cocked at his outburst. Much easier than I thought. She almost felt this was unreal. It didn't take any effort at all to get him to crack. "Ser Jaime, you would go against your own flesh and blood? You would conspire against your queen?" She almost laughed at the irony.

The Kingslayer looked at his golden hand with trepidation. He felt utterly stupid to have uttered those treasonous statements. However, the look on Aries' face was not disapproving. It was almost encouraging. Suddenly, he felt a courage he hadn't before.

"Yes. She is no better than the mad king that I risked my life to kill. I love her, by the Gods, I do. But, I will not see Westeros burn for my misguided emotions," he whispered harshly, aware of the ears lurking everywhere. A weight lifted from his back that he didn't realize was there.

Aries sat her chalace down on the table abruptly and sat straighter in her chair. Staring into the man's eyes, she saw genuine concern and outrage. This was a man backed into a corner. She could use this towards her own agenda. Aries decided to take a risk. Something she rarely did.

"I've come to deceive and to mislead. I have come to lead your sister down a path to her destruction and have a just ruler sit the throne. Whether it is Daenerys Targaryen or myself. You can tell her and die. Or you can help me and live for a very long time. Free and comfortable."

Jaime almost gasped from the sudden change in her demeanor. The room felt colder than it did before. He also noticed a change in the man's voice. It was almost feminine. Jaime felt better despite the steel in the man's voice. Finally, someone with a spine.

He knew what his choice was immediately. To hell with love. It knows not the right choices. He wouldn't become a villain for it any longer. Only to receive nothing in return.

"How can I be of service?"