Loras decided to stay. Of course he did. He must have been asleep for a few hours when he was abruptly woken by a sinking feeling, as if he was falling. He caught himself just before he fell off the bed. He took a steady breath and blinked into the dark. Renly was sat bolt upright next to him, clearly having woken with a start.
'What is it?' Loras whispered to him. He got no answer in return. Loras rolled his eyes, slightly annoyed at having been woken in the middle of the night. He placed his hand on Renly's chest and gently pushed him back onto the bed.
'Sorry.' Renly muttered, finally looking back at him. The starry light from the open window flickered across Renly's green eyes. Loras still hadn't removed his hand from Renly's chest but Renly was too preoccupied to notice how nice it felt.
'What?' Loras repeated, trying to force something resembling compassion into his voice. 'What's wrong?'
'I, um… I think I remembered something.' Renly whispered to him, though he still sounded confused. 'What Amber said in King's Landing, the thing she told you it was best I didn't remember. Well… I do.'
'And?' Loras prompted him. He had a discomforting thought that Amber might have told him something about Loras' feelings towards him. Granted, she hadn't discussed that until after the event, but she already seemed to know by then. 'What was it?'
'Gods.' Renly mumbled. He sat up and Loras moved his hand off his friend's chest. Renly ran a hand through his hair and stared around the room for a few moments. 'It can't be true, though, Loras.'
'What can't?'
'Amber told me… she said that…' Renly shook his head and stopped speaking. Loras let out a disgruntled sigh and dropped his head back onto his pillow, folding his arms across his chest. He watched with both amusement and confusion as Renly got out of bed and shut the window, checking it to make sure it really was shut. He then went to the door and checked it was locked. Only then did he return to the bed. He lay back down and shuffled closer to Loras, which Loras found strange, but he wasn't about to tell him not to.
'Alright,' Renly started again in a whisper. 'this cannot leave this room, do you understand?'
'You think I'll tell someone?' Loras asked with disbelief.
'No.' Renly said honestly. 'Just thought I'd mention it.'
'Get on with it then, what did she say?'
'She told me that… that Cersei, that is to say, the queen –'
'I know who Cersei Lannister is, Renly.'
'Yes, thank you.' Renly hissed back at him. 'She said Cersei is actually… she's… her and Jaime, they're…'
'For the love of the gods, Renly, what?'
'They're fucking each other.'
Loras remained silent after that. He could feel that his jaw had quite literally dropped. 'What?' He breathed finally.
'They use Amber as some kind of scapegoat every time they want to… you know… so that everyone thinks the queen is with Amber.'
'But… but they're twins.' Loras said slowly, trying to actually comprehend what he was being told. 'I'm dreaming.' He decided. 'This is just a really strange dream.'
'You're not dreaming.' Renly told him heatedly.
'I might be.'
'You're not.'
'How would you know?'
And with that Renly issued a sharp slap to the back of Loras' head. Loras gasped at that and glared at his friend. Renly rolled his eyes at him. 'See? Now you know you're not dreaming.' He said dryly.
'Wait…' something else had just occurred to Loras. He tried to find the right way to say it, but instead decided he'd best check all the facts first. 'how long has this been going on?'
'I don't know… the way Amber was talking it sounds like it was something she'd done before she went back to King's Landing, so… back before she came to Storm's End. She didn't specifically say, but it sounded like that…'
Loras nodded and said nothing for a moment, trying to work out how to phrase his next sentence. He really didn't want to have to bring it up. 'What if… I mean to say, don't you think it's strange that the king's children look so much like Lannisters?'
Renly's eyes visibly widened as he stared back at his squire. Loras felt like he was actually shrinking under his gaze. Eventually, Renly spoke. 'You think they're not Robert's children? You think… you think they're Jaime's?'
'I don't think anything,' Loras told him quietly. 'I'm just saying it's not out of the question if it's been going on that long…'
Renly shifted away from him and sat upright. Loras could do nothing but watch him. Renly dropped his head into his hands and said nothing. Loras couldn't help but feel sorry for him, he never wanted to tell him what he'd been thinking, but he couldn't keep it back. Renly really loved his niece and nephew… possibly not Joffrey, but Loras could fully understand that. He'd seen how much he loved Myrcella… and then to find out she's not actually his niece…
Loras sat up next to him, placing his hand gently on his shoulder. The last time he'd tried to comfort him like that Renly had laughed. He did not laugh this time.
'Loras,' he said finally, in a small voice that Loras was sure he'd never heard before. 'what if they're not Robert's children? What's going to happen?'
Loras shrugged. He didn't know what would happen. Renly sat upright again and looked back at him with sad eyes. He looked close to crying. 'I suppose… well, the Faith would want to put the queen to trial… and maybe Jaime, too…'
'But what about the children? What about Myrcella and Tommen and… and Joffrey?'
'I don't know.'
'They can't inherit the throne, can they? If they're not his… if Robert dies then who becomes king?' Renly asked, though Loras felt like he was more voicing thoughts than asking a question. 'Oh.' Renly said when he realised where the line of succession would go. 'For the love of the gods, Stannis cannot inherit the Iron Throne.'
'The king is not dead, and he won't be for a long time. Things could be very different by then.' Loras told him, trying his best to speak rationally.
'You're right.' Renly agreed, taking a deep breath to calm himself down. 'And we don't even know for sure that they're not Robert's children.'
'Exactly.'
'But Cersei…' Renly's expression darkened on even saying her name. Loras felt a chill slide down his spine. 'I thought maybe we were making some common ground in King's Landing – but that was all for nothing. After what she's done? I can never forgive that.' He glared into the darkness for a moment before he turned back. 'But we can never tell anyone, can we? It was Amber who told me, if Cersei realises her secret is out, she'll look to Amber as the culprit.'
Loras nodded in agreement. Renly lowered himself back onto the bed and stared at the ceiling. 'We should go back to sleep.' He said flatly, voice completely void of emotion. 'I don't want to show up to meet your family looking like I haven't slept for weeks.'
