Tyrion
No sooner had Tyrion taken his place beside Sansa, before the judges, another group of gold cloaks led in Shae.
A cold hand tightened round his heart. Varys betrayed her, he thought. Then he remembered. No. I betrayed her myself. I should have left her with Lollys. Of course they'd question Sansa's maids, I'd do the same.
"They plotted it together," she said. "The Imp and Lady Sansa plotted it after the Young Wolf died. Sansa wanted revenge for her brother and Tyrion meant to have the throne. He was going to kill his sister next, and then his own lord father, so he could be Hand for Prince Tommen. But after a year or so, before Tommen got too old, he would have killed him too, so as to take the crown for his own head. He stole poison from the grandmaester's stores to kill King Joffrey."
"How could you know all this?" demanded Prince Oberyn. "Why would the Imp divulge such plans to his wife's maid?"
"I overheard some, m'lord," said Shae, "and m'lady let things slip too. But most I had from his own lips. I wasn't only Lady Sansa's maid."
He turned to avoid his wife's gaze for the coming storm. This is going to be humiliating Tyrion thought to himself.
"I was his whore."
A collective gasp arose from the room.
"And how did you enter his service." His lord father's voice was full of displeasure.
She started sobbing then. "I never meant to be a whore, m'lords. I was to be married. A squire, he was, and a good brave boy, gentle born. But the Imp saw me at the Green Fork and put the boy I meant to marry in the front rank of the van, and after he was killed he sent his wildlings to bring me to his tent. Shagga, the big one, and Timett with the burned eye. He told me that I belonged to him and said to me, I want you to fuck me like it's my last night in this world."
Her damning words were followed by laughter.
Lord Tywin called for silence.
"And did you?" Prince Oberyn asked with amused curiosity.
"Did I what?"
"Fuck him like it was his last night in this world?"
He swore he could feel the color from Sansa's cheeks.
As the tears rolled slowly down that pretty face, no doubt every man in the hall wanted to take Shae in his arms and comfort her. "With my mouth and ... other parts, m'lord. All my parts. He used me every way there was, and ... he used to make me tell him how big he was. My giant, I had to call him, my giant of Lannister."
Osmund Kettleblack was the first to laugh. Boros and Meryn joined in, then Cersei, Ser Loras, and more lords and ladies than he could count. The sudden gale of mirth made the rafters ring and shook the Iron Throne. "It's true," Shae protested. "My giant of Lannister." The laughter swelled twice as loud. Their mouths were twisted in merriment, their bellies shook. Some laughed so hard that snot flew from their nostrils.
Everybody was laughing at him, everybody save his father who was disliked laughter in general, Jaime who looked apologetic, and Sansa whose gaze he could feel boring into his head.
Tyrion pushed forward. "MY LORDS!" he shouted. He had to shout, to have any hope of being heard.
His father raised a hand. Bit by bit, the hall grew silent.
"Father, I wish to confess." Tyrion felt the sadness in his own voice.
"I wish to confess" Tyrion spoke louder this time.
"You wish to confess?"
Tyrion stared up at his father's hard green eyes with their flecks of cold bright gold. "Guilty," he said, "so guilty. Is that what you wanted to hear? "
Lord Tywin said nothing. Mace Tyrell nodded. Prince Oberyn looked mildly disappointed. "You admit you poisoned the king?"
"Nothing of the sort," said Tyrion. "Of Joffrey's death I am innocent. I am guilty of a more monstrous crime." He pressed himself against the top of the accused stand, to get a better look at his father. "I'm guilty of not being your golden son."
"This is folly, Tyrion," declared Lord Tywin. "Speak to the matter at hand. You are not on trial for shaming the family."
"That is where you are wrong, my lord. I have never killed a king, murdered little children, or even fucked my own sister, but I am on trial all same." His voice was raw with spiteful emotion.
Nervous titters filled the room. If looks could kill, then Cersei would have had him dead on the spot. The look from Jaime was almost as chilling. Lord Tywin Lannister gave Tyrion a stare that could have cowed the Stranger himself. Prince Oberyn did not bother to hide his amusement.
"Have you nothing to say in your defense?"
"Nothing but this; I did not do it. Yet now I wish I had. Watching him die gave happiness unmatched by a hundred lying whores." He turned to face the hall, that sea of pale faces. "I wish I had enough poison for you all." He could hear his wife trying to distance herself from him as far as the chains allowed. "You make me sorry that I am not the monster you would have me be, yet there it is. We will not give our lives to Joffrey's murder and I know there will be no justice here. The gods shall decide our fate, we demand trial by battle.
"Have you taken leave of your wits?" his father said.
"No, I've found them. I demand trial by battle!"
His sweet sister could not have been more pleased. "They have that right, my lords," she reminded the judges. "Let the gods judge. Ser Gregor Clegane will stand for Joffrey. He returned to the city the night before last, to put his sword at my service."
"He does, my lord." Prince Oberyn of Dome rose to his feet. "The Imp and the maiden fair have quite convinced me."
The uproar was deafening. Tyrion took especial pleasure in the sudden doubt he glimpsed in Cersei's eyes. It took a hundred gold cloaks pounding the butts of their spears against the floor to quiet the throne room again. By then Lord Tywin Lannister had recovered himself. "Let the issue be decided on the morrow," he declared in iron tones. "I wash my hands of it." He gave his dwarf son a cold angry look, then strode from the hall, out the king's door behind the Iron Throne, his brother Kevan at his side.
Jaime
He was on his way to his quarters. At first, Jaime was angry at Tyrion for his outbursts, but now pity outweighed his anger by far. Tyrion had never been humiliated this much before to Jaime's knowledge.
He suddenly felt pangs of guilt for Tyrion. He wondered how Tyrion would respond if he knew the truth about Tysha. It would be better if Tyrion didn't know thought Jaime.
And what about Sansa? He remembered Sansa as her self-control faltered when they laughed at her. Thanks to Tyrion there was still a chance to save her.
When he reached his chambers, he found Varys.
"Varys, why are you here?" Jaime asked coldly.
"I would seem that your brother is very upset."
Jaime felt his phantom fingers twitch as Varys tittered.
"It would seem that the more innocent you are the more danger you face, would you not agree?"
Jaime lost his patience at that remark and reached for his dagger. His left hand was good for that at least.
"Varys," Jaime pressed the Dagger against the eunuch's throat. "Remember this, If Tyrion and his wife are allowed are allowed to die, then I will kill you and nobody will miss the Spider."
Cersei
That little worm Cersei thought bitterly. Just when she had him dead to rights, he gets the one champion who could actually defeat Ser Gregor.
She was dining with the judges tonight. Cersei had hoped earlier that she could bask in the knowledge that her twisted little gargoyle of a brother would face Ser Ilyn with his wife.
Instead, Cersei was dining with her Tyrion's champion as well as the unsatisfied lord oaf of Highgarden and her father.
Her Valonqar was still a threat to her and her children.
A nervous squire entered the room with a flagon of Arbor Gold. He seemed strangely familiar, but she could not name him as he was not wearing his colors.
He motioned to fill her cup, but father demanded wine. The squire hesitated for a moment before filling her father's cup.
Wrong choice she didn't say. When he was done, she motioned for her cup to be filled, once more.
"I'm sorry … your grace ... i'm out", the boy stuttered nervously.
"Then get some more." Cersei could hear her voice turning into a hiss.
The squire ran away rightly terrified of her wrath.
Her father gave a look of displeasure, but deep down she knew how smug he truly felt.
He took a sip from the goblet.
That smirk that the Red viper gave from across the table irritated her to no end.
I hope you die tomorrow snake.