A/N: Hey guys, the short interlude as promised! The next main chapter will be up at the weekend as usual. Hope you enjoy this little snippet!

Urazz: Yes indeed, I think on some level Myrcella knows that her mother is wrong, but it can be hard to disregard everything you've been told for so long. She just needs to trust her own feelings, and trust in Robb.

Reader: No indeed, hard to imagine a worse marriage than Robert/Cersei. The little snip from the Capitol is coming up, hope you enjoy it.

Boramir: Thank you, hope you enjoy the snippet. You can bet that Robb certainly eliminated whatever spies were at Winterfell, though I imagine he keeps a close eye out just in case. And yes, Theon is a friend who enjoys writing cheerfully rude letters haha, it will be explained a little more in Robb's next POV.

Guest: There has been something about Jon already, he's Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, just in case you missed it.

Right-ho folks, on with this tiny chapter, next one will be longer than usual to balance it out haha!

:)

Interlude: The Queen's Scheme

Cersei

She swilled the glass of wine in her hand, staring out over the blackness of the water. There were pricks of light here and there, dotted about in the waves. Ships. Merchants. Smugglers. People Cersei did not give a damn about. There were precious few people she did give a damn about, and her father seemed intent on stealing them away from her. Was it not bad enough that she had had to suffer the death of her oldest boy? Her perfect, golden lion. Joffrey had been a perfect king. Yes, he had had a temper. And yes, often he acted without thinking. But a king needed fire, and a passion in his belly. He had not deserved his fate. Never in a million years had he deserved to die under the feet of those ingrates that he had ruled over. That had been bad enough, but then her father had taken away her hopes for revenge.

You see, it was that Stark girl's fault, what had become of Joffrey. All her fault, for sitting there on that horse at his side with a moping face and sad eyes. What did she have to be sad about? She was set to become queen. Give Joffrey sons. The stupid girl. She was as ungrateful as the unwashed peasants who had dragged him to his death. How Cersei wished that they had dragged Sansa Stark instead. At least then her boy would have had the opportunity to take better queen. Someone who was worthy of him. She brought her wine to her lips with shaking hands and took a great gulp of it. Some dribbled down her chin and she wiped it impatiently away with the sleeve of her dress. Gods, how she had wanted Sansa Stark to pay the price for Joffrey. Her father hadn't allowed it. He had placed the girl under the protection of the Imp of all people while he had ridden off to treat with Robb Stark.

Robb Stark hadn't deserved to be treated with, he had deserved his head atop his spike, just like his worthless father. Instead, her own father had offered him her daughter. Never had she felt rage like it than when he had told her that. She had been given no opportunity to refuse. It was done. Just like that. "Myrcella will be his queen, Cersei. It is the only way that we can hope to maintain anything resembling a civil relationship with the North." Cersei did not want a civil relationship with the North. She wanted the North stamped out. She wanted the Starks destroyed and a family of puppets installed at Winterfell. All her wants fell on deaf ears, and her stupid daughter had never uttered one word of protest. That in itself helped ensure that her father insisted on the match going ahead.

Her younger children had never had the same fire in them as Joffrey. They were meek and quiet. Gentle and quick to cry. Weak. She supped down more of her wine, tapping her fingers against the glass. She loved them despite their inadequacies, of course she did. She was their mother. There was hope for Tommen, he could be moulded into a strong king, she was certain of it. For Myrcella, there was little hope for her unless Cersei could get her back from the North. It would not be easy, but she was determined to do it. She had to do it. She refused to lose her daughter to that bleak wasteland. It was bad enough that Robb Stark would steal her innocence and claim her as his queen. She closed her eyes in despair, remembering her own nights of suffering in Robert's bed. She had little hope that her daughter's fate would be any better.

At least Cersei had had Jaime. Myrcella had no one. And worse still, she was weak, where Cersei had always been strong. It had been easy to close her heart to Robert, easy to despise him and bide her time. Myrcella was not that calculating, that had always been her problem, and that was why Cersei knew she would have to extract her from the North herself. She would have to bide her time again, though hopefully not for as long. She was determined not to make her daughter suffer Robb Stark for as long as she had suffered Robert Baratheon. As soon as Myrcella had a son she would put her plan into action. Jaime would have to aid her, he was the only one she could trust not to tell father. They would have to find a way to explain his long absence, but Cersei was sure that they could devise something together. Jaime would be just as desperate as she was to get Myrcella back, she was certain of it.

He would do anything, and she had no doubt that he would relish in the chance to revenge himself upon the boy who had kept him captive for all that time. Yes, Jaime would aid her, and as soon as Myrcella birthed a son Robb Stark's days as King in the North would be numbered. With his death the North would be weak, their king an infant. A babe at the breast. Myrcella would be regent, as his mother. She would have all the power, and all she would have to do was reunite the North and the Riverlands with the southern kingdoms. Then she could come home. Cersei drained her wine and smiled wryly. They would have to live with the fact that she had a half-Stark son, but what other choice did she have? She had to get her daughter back, and Myrcella would no doubt be aching to come home. Cersei would get her home, she promised the night sky. "I will get her home," she murmured fiercely, "by whatever means I will get her home."

A/N: Hope you enjoyed that little bit. The wedding is coming up next, catch you all soon!

:)