Chapter 14: Curious Maladies
"I do not like the fact that Eddard Stark continues to poke his nose into business that is not his. He should never have been allowed to venture toward Tobho Mott's forge in the first place. How did he even find out about it?" Cersei demanded, fighting hard to keep her voice calm. She suspected but did not know for certain whether Pycelle reported every conversation they had back to her father. If he did, she did not want him painting her as hysterical.
"Your Majesty, it is possible someone who once worked for Arryn tipped him off about it. After all he was seen speaking with many former members of Lord Arryn's household at the tourney held in his honour." Pycelle replied.
Cersei waved a dismissive hand. "None of those simpering idiots knew anything about anything. No, there must have been another way in which he found out."
Jaime said nothing but Cersei saw one of his spies enter the room and whisper something in his ear before disappearing again. Cersei looked at her brother who eventually spoke. "It appears Arryn left a stash of letters hidden within the Tower of the Hand, Stark found them and has been following them ever since."
Cersei's eyes widened. "You mean to tell me that the sweep of the Tower produced nothing and yet still there are letters there?" She looked at Pycelle who had been tasked with sorting the Hand's tower out in their absence.
"I…Your Majesty, I did not find anything when I was doing my patrol of the tower. Clearly, Jon Arryn knew places within the tower that were only known to the hand. Either that or the Spider knew about them and decided to keep the letters hidden until Stark could find them. You know how much he does not like the House Lannister." Pycelle said.
Cersei considered this, the problem was that either explanation was true. Either Pycelle was getting incompetent during his old age, or there were ulterior motives at play here. She took a moment and then asked. "Arryn's letters would have contained what? What did that old man know?" That had been the thing that she had never been able to place. What did that old goat actually know?
"Sire, I know he knew about Tobho Mott and the boy that resides there. I know he knew or rather suspected that his own son was not his, but other than that I do not think he knew much else." Pycelle said as confidently as he could.
Jaime however did not seem to care about that. Instead he exclaimed. "Wait, Jon Arryn's brat of a son might not have even been his?! Whose son would he have been?"
Cersei looked at her brother wondering why this was what he decided to focus on, but knowing he would not shut up until he had gotten some sort of answer she said. "Petyr Baelish."
Jaime guffawed. "So, the man was actually right when he said he had porked the Hand's wife." A pause, then Jaime said. "Well if Stark continues to poke around we can simply put all we know onto Baelish. I do not think Stark would object to seeing Baelish's head on a spike."
"And where would that leave us?" Cersei asked. "Baelish is a rat, but he is a rat we can control."
"And yet he continues to cause nothing but trouble. I say we do everything we can to have him removed, then we get father to send Uncle Kevan as a replacement and go from there." Jaime said.
"Pycelle, what do you think?" Cersei asked.
"I think Ser Jaime is right, Your Majesty. It would be better to get rid of Baelish as quickly as possible to ensure that he cannot say anything that might at all endanger you or the Crown Prince." Pycelle said. "Baelish is a rat, and we can produce evidence to suggest as much far more quickly than we can to produce evidence that Jon Arryn was wrong."
Cersei thought on that for a moment and then said. "Very well, have it done."
Pycelle made a note of that, and then said. "There is another thing that I thought you might wish to know, Your Majesty." Cersei gestured for the old man to continue. "Daenerys Targaryen is with child."
Cersei sighed, her plans had just gotten a lot more complicated. "That means my husband is going to want to have her murdered."
"Indeed, though I have sent word to our friend across the sea to prepare him for that." Pycelle said. "He knows what will need to be done."
"Good, and what of the Spider, does he suspect anything?" Cersei asked. For she knew as long as her husband was alive what she wanted to arrange for her son was treason.
"Not that I am aware of Your Majesty, though I would not be surprised if he has not already informed our mutual source of the troubles coming their way." Pycelle said.
"I do not understand why the girl is considered more of a threat than her brother." Jaime said, a haunted look in his eyes. "The boy would raise an army, the girl is nothing more than a brood mare who no longer even bears the family name."
"It is exactly that fact that makes her so dangerous. If she has a child then she becomes tainted and our own plans are nothing more than that. And if the child survives then it becomes a rallying point for any Targaryen loyalists still here." Cersei said. "They might not fight for the mother, but for the son they most certainly would."
Jaime snorted. "I am not so sure they would fight for a horse fucker's get."
"Let us pray we never have to find that out." Cersei said pointedly.
Jaime nodded. "Indeed." Though she suspected he did not appreciate her words.