Jaime and the other kingsguard waited outside in the corridor while King Tommen went into the cell to speak with his mother.

"Tommen?" Cersei had clearly not been expecting her son to be the first visitor. She rushed over to him in and hugged him. Tommen returned her hug for a few seconds then gently pushed her away. "There must have been some terrible mistake but I knew you'd come and set me free!"

"That's not why I'm here mother." Tommen told her sadly.

Cersei didn't know what to say to that. It took her a moment to find her tongue. "Of course you are darling. You wouldn't leave your own mother to rot in a dungeon. I know you far better than that."

"I came here to listen to what you have to say." Tommen said evenly. "What happens to you afterwards depends a great deal on what you tell me."

Jaime wasn't sure how Tommen managed to be so compassionate and so resolute all in the same breath. He was a good king. The best that Westeros had been privileged to have in a very long time.

"Whatever do you mean?" Cersei was trying not to sound desperate and perhaps a stranger might not have heard anything other than the easy confidence she intended to portray but Jaime knew she was worried. "I don't even know why I'm here. What is it that you think I've done?"

Tommen shook his head. "What I think you have done has no bearing on this at all. In the end, your guilt or innocence will be judged by the faith, I will have no part in it. I will hand the entire matter over to the High Septon, unless you would like to confess."

"You ungrateful boy!" Cersei spat at him. "After all I have done for you, you would abandon me to be judged by someone else rather than save me, your own mother!"

"What exactly have you done for me?" Tommen asked her. His tone was controlled. He didn't get emotional like his mother did. "All my life you put all of your energy into making Joffrey king. I was the younger son. I was never going to be king. I was never going to be as ambitious or shrewd as you wanted me to be. I think you took joy in reminding me that I wasn't what you wanted. You ignored me, and when you did finally take notice you tried to shape me into a person I did not want to be. And you lied to me about my parentage. What makes you think I would be eager to help you after all that?"

With those words, Tommen walked away leaving the cell and returning to Jaime in the corridor. Jaime wondered what Tommen was doing? They came down here to get a confession and he had done little more than accuse Cersei of being a bad mother.

"Just wait five minutes, ten at most." Tommen told Jaime quietly on seeing his confused expression. "I will go back in there and she will either confess to me then, or never at all. But first she must think we have left." He nodded to the guards and they walked away from them further down the hall, stomping a little louder than was strictly necessary.

They waited in silence, though Jaime wasn't exactly sure what they were waiting for. For every minute that passed, Jaime grew more worried. Elinor needed Cersei's confession. It was the only hope she had left to survive. Then they heard it, the sound that Tommen had been waiting for. Cersei was crying. The nearly silent weeping soon became wailing, and then she shrieked in frustration.

"It's time." Tommen told Jaime, leaving him to go back into the cell.

"Tommen! I thought you had left me!" Cersei clung to him more tightly than she had the first time. "You were right. I have failed you. I spent far too much time molding Joffrey and never appreciated you for your own unique talents. I am so sorry that I did not tell you the truth about your father. It was for your own safety. Being a mother, being your mother, is all that matters to me. I beg your forgiveness."

"Mother, I'm afraid that what you have done has hurt me more than I can say though I know that you did care for me in your own way. I will try to forgive you but I need you to help me save my friend. Lady Elinor. She means the world to Margaery and I can not bear to see her so sad." Tommen said sincerely.

"How can I help?" Cersei's voice was high pitched and worried.

"There was a book in your chambers about the art of poison. Someone has poisoned Lady Elinor and…" Tommen trailed off waiting for his mother to finish the sentence for him.

"Someone must have put it there to implicate me." Was her quick reply. "I have never seen any such book."

"Perhaps someone did put it there. If that is the case then I will make all haste to find them. Until we find this person, Lady Elinor's life is in great danger. She might even be gone already… Maester Pycelle has no idea what to do for her. If you know anything about poison or have ever read anything that could help her…?" Tommen prompted.

"Maester Pycelle is an imbecile. I did read once about this poisonous flower called Devil's Moon. Did he even think of that?" Cersei said.

"Thank you Mother. I will return to my wife and Lady Elinor now. I truly hope that her health improves and that we are able to discover who placed that incriminating book in your chambers."

Jaime was amazed at what he had heard. His son was a master of manipulation. Tommen had used his position of power to make Cersei feel helpless, then used her own guilt and fear of punishment to bully her into a confession. There had been no book of poisons in her room. Tommen had contrived this story to make it clear that if she helped them with her confession, all of the charges against her would be moved to this imaginary person. He had made her feel utterly helpless and worthless and then offered everything back to her again. And it had worked.

"How did you know how to do that?" Jaime asked Tommen when they met in the corridor.

"Mother taught me." Tommen said with a smile.