Disclaimer: I don't own ASoIaF/GoT.

I'm thinking that I might take down the three interludes and put them in a separate side story. I wrote and posted them because they were in my head, but they're kinda irrelevant to the plot and don't fit well. What do you guys think?

Thanks to all of my wonderful reviewers! Read, enjoy and review! Personally, I hate Cersei. But I actually felt kind of bad for her a few times while I was writing this.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Cersei I

The Red Keep: July 22nd 298 AC

Cersei could not believe that all of this was genuinely happening. How dare they? She was Cersei Lannister, the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms! The daughter and rightful heir of Tywin Lannister, Lord of Casterly Rock, the only one his children truly worthy of taking over his legacy, the only one who had actually paid attention to his lessons on politics and the importance of maintaining their family's power and legacy! Who did these pathetic fools think they were, accusing her of all people of treason? Her thrice-cursed husband spent half his time whoring and the other half drinking himself to death, yet when she had done something similar, they dared to lock her up for it! It was utterly enraging, and she spent the first several hours of her confinement throwing a fit, tossing items around her bedchamber and swearing she would have revenge for her humiliation.

The joke would be on them in the end, she knew it would be so. Her father was the pillar keeping this realm aloft, and he would not stand for her to be humiliated so. He would intervene, and show her whoremonger of a husband just how sharp the claws of a lion were. The lion did not concern itself with the opinions of sheep. Her name would be cleared (along with Jaime's, obviously) and then the Martells and Robert would pay for embarrassing her this way. As would the guards who had dared to lay their filthy hands on her. She would have them cut off, and the men then sent to the Wall to rot in the cold, surrounded by tree worshipping barbarians.

She was worried for her sons though. Robert was a brute, who only knew how to communicate with his cock or his fists, and she'd suffered the bruises to prove it was so. She did not mourn the deaths of the infants Aegon and Daenerys Targaryen, had celebrated news of their deaths in fact. Yet the thought of them haunted her as she worried over what her husband might to do to her children in the midst of his rage. Nobody would give her any news. She had been told the charges against her and locked in her bedchamber, alone. They had not even sent in a servant to clean up the mess she'd made during her fit of temper. She had no idea where her boys or Jaime were, nor could she understand why her family's men had failed to intervene on her behalf during the arrest of herself and Jaime.

She prayed that her father learned what had happened quickly. He would come and sort this out. He would make Robert pay for insulting her House in such a manner. She clung to that mantra to keep from letting her fear sneak up from where she had shoved it to the back of her mind.

She was pacing her bedchamber the day after her arrest when Lord Martell arrived with a young Dornishman in the colours of House Martell trotting obediently at his lord's heels. The Hand's dark eyes were shadowed and troubled as he studied her.

She glowered at him. Robert thought his Hand was loyal to him first, but the king was a blind fool. It was obvious to anybody with working eyes that Martell's loyalist wife had him wrapped around her finger. And Cersei saw the Stark lady's hand behind many of the Lord Hand's actions. Martell had no head for politics, but Alysanne Stark had been raised at the centre of Aerys' court, and knew how to play the Game. Cersei hated the woman fiercely, but she was able to acknowledge her skill, if grudgingly and only within the confines of her mind. She had also managed to achieve what Cersei had not by making her husband love her, and that fact rankled. If it came to a choice between Robert or his wife and children that she had borne him, Martell would not hesitate to choose his family. Cersei was certain of it.

"What do you want?" she sneered at him.

He sighed heavily. "I am here, Your Grace, to question you and inform you of the charges against you," he told her softly. "Are you ready?"

Cersei lifted her chin defiantly and waved him on as she sashayed over to a chair and sat down as regally as if she were holding court. She refused to let any emotions save cool disinterest touch her face as she watched the Hand of the King unroll a scroll and read her charges out. "You are charged with adultery, incest, line theft, multiple counts of murder and conspiracy to murder the previous Hand of the King and the former Lord Paramount of the Vale and Warden of the East, Lord Jon of House Arryn. Furthermore, you are charged with suspicion of plotting to murder His Grace the King. Of these charges, three are counted as treason. How do you plead, Your Grace?"

"Not guilty, of course," Cersei replied. "These charges are ludicrous. I am the queen, and as such am above the law. I cannot be charged with anything."

"That is incorrect, my queen," he corrected her. "Ser Brynden, the Master of Laws, checked that exact caveat in accordance to your status. It is only the reigning monarch who is considered above the law. The consort, in this case yourself, is perfectly capable of being charged with crimes."

Cersei felt a hint of worry at that, but forced herself not to show it. "Very well, but I still persist in proclaiming my innocence," she stated.

"Very well, it shall be as you say. Claiming your innocence is your right," he responded, as he rolled the parchment back up again and tucked it away before gesturing to the scribe beside him. "This is Ser Garris Wells," he said to her, as if she should care about the name of a lowly guardsman who was obviously of no import in his own house if she had not heard of him before. "He will be transcribing your interrogation."

She nodded curtly, staying quiet and curling her fingers into her palms as she tried to keep a lid on her temper. Interrogation! Her! The Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and the daughter of the greatest Lord alive being treated as if she were no more than a common criminal! It was despicable, and she was determined that everybody involved in her humiliation would pay for it.

The questioning was short, him trying to get her to admit to her actions and her refusing to do so. Eventually, he sighed and rose. "This questioning is at an end," he stated. "Is there anything you wish to know before I depart?"

"My sons, my brother, are they well?" Cersei could not stop herself from blurting out the question, fearing for Jaime and her boys. Joff, her golden boy and her sweet, chubby little Tommen. How afraid and confused they must be! How appalled to hear such slander against their loving mother! And what of her brother? Her twin and other half. What had happened to him?

She loathed the pity in his gaze as he replied.

"Your sons have, like you, been placed under house arrest. They are unharmed. As for your brother, Ser Jaime is currently being held in the Black Cells, where Chief Undergaoler Rennifer Longwaters has been assigned to interrogate him."

Cersei felt her heart stop in fear for a moment before she continued, relieved that she had successfully hidden the shake in her voice at the news of Jaime's fate.

Torture, they were torturing her brother. How dare they? Who did these arrogant upstarts think they were, to lay their filthy hands on a Lion of Casterly Rock? Her father would make them pay for everything that they had done. She clung to that like a prayer. Tywin would not let this slight pass him by.

"And what of my trial?" she inquired. "When will it be held?"

"Two turns of the moon hence," Martell answered.

"Why so long?"

"Witnesses are being sent for from all corners of the kingdoms," the Lord of Dorne explained. "It will require time for the ravens to reach them and for them to travel to the capital. And, as I am sure that you are wondering, yes, your father has been sent for also. The ravens were sent forth yesterday afternoon. Pycelle has also been arrested on suspicion of aiding in the murder of Lord Jon Arryn. Another letter was sent to the Citadel have a new GrandMaester sent."

He studied her for a long moment. "I remember Robert as he was the day he took the throne, every inch a king," he said quietly. "A thousand other women would have loved him with all their hearts, with or without the crown marriage to him would bring. What did he do to make you hate him so? To make you turn to your own brother for such things?"

Cersei felt her jaw clench, recalling her wedding night. The stink of wine and Robert's weight atop her as he rutted within her, uncaring of her pleasure, only his own. It was so different from being with Jaime. With her brother, it was all about her pleasure, and she felt whole. They were two parts of the same person, her the thinker and Jaime the doer. Everything was right in her world when she and her twin were joined together.

"The night of our wedding feast, the first time we shared a bed, he called me by your sister's name," she answered, hearing the cold fury in her voice. "He was on top of me, in me, stinking of wine, and he whispered Elia."

He gave her a pitying look at that, and she felt her anger surge.

"How dare you?" she spat, jumping to her feet. "How dare you stand there, acting as if you are so noble and honourable, you who has three bastards from three different women? Why do you refuse to name the mother of your youngest bastard, I wonder? Ashamed of her conception? Was she the child of some peasant woman you raped as her town burned from your forces sacking it during the rebellion? Whatever has been said about the loyalists since they lost, not one of them ever ransacked a town or harmed innocents during the rebellion. Unlike the rebels."

He rose, expression going hard at her words. "I have never forced any woman," he stated stonily. "Ever. I am no rapist."

She laughed scornfully at that. "Oh, is that so?"

He nodded once, sharply. She smirked.

"And what of your wife then?" she asked him mockingly. "It's said that she tried to scratch your eyes out after seeing her siblings' bodies, that she spat that she'd prefer to jump off a cliff than be your wife. Is it true that she only gave in to save her surviving brother and his wife being executed for treason along with her, and their child taken to be a ward of the Crown? Did she really wear mourning clothes to your wedding, and say to your face that she prayed the gods would make her a widow within the year? Yet in spite of that, your son was born almost nine moons to the day that you wed the lady. And yet you claim that all of your bed partners were willing and not coerced?"

She saw from his eyes that her words had hit their mark.

He clenched his jaw and clenched his fists, apparently trying to suppress the urge to strike her. "If you wish to send a letter, be aware that they will be read beforehand," he said curtly. Before she could retort he left without another word, Ser Garris or Garin or whatever the man's name was at his heels.

In spite of his reaction to her accusations, she still could not decide if it had been her or him who had won that round.

ASoVASoVASoV

The Red Keep: 14th September, 299 AC

In the end, it only took a moon and a half for the witnesses to all gather in the capital for her trial. Cersei had spent her imprisonment alone, her only contact with the outside world a serving girl who served her meals and brought water for her to bathe, but refused to speak with her at all.

Cersei refused to acknowledge it, but she was starting to feel nervous about her trial, as time passed and she received not even a letter from her father to assure her that he was taking care of everything and these ingrates would not get away with their slights against House Lannister.

On the morning of her trial, the Queen was washed and given a plain black dress to wear. There was nobody to do her hair for her, and so she was forced to leave it hanging loose down her back. She stubbornly placed a circlet made of gold with a roaring lion with glinting ruby eyes on her temples. She was still the queen after all, and she would remain so until her death.

At long last, she had received word from her lord father, but it was little of help. A note ordering her to be silent during the trial no matter how provoked she was, and to wait for Tywin to intercede and handle things.

Ser Arys was the one who escorted her to the Great Hall where her trial would take place. As she walked to the Great Hall, she noticed that the keep was bereft of any signs of the redcloaks her father had sent to guard the castle (and her). When she arrived, Robert was sitting on the Iron Throne for once. Oddly enough, he appeared to have lost a bit of weight over the past two moons, as if he had been exercising more and eating less. Hard to imagine, but that was what his appearance suggested, with muscles starting to replace his excess weight. Sitting at the judges' table on the temporary dais that had been set up before the throne was Lord Martell, Ser Brynden Tully the new Master of Laws and Lord Mathis Rowan, though why he of all people was one of her judges Cersei did not understand.

Either way, it was worrying for her. She had no allies amongst the judges, nobody who would be willing to side with her against their king.

The hall was filled with people who sneered contemptuously at her as she passed them by or, in the case of the few Northrons and 'former' loyalists attending the trial, wore looks of triumph as she walked down the aisle to the defendant's box. Her family, her father, uncle, aunt, that thrice-dratted Imp and some of her cousins, all sat together wearing wore blank looks, though Aunt Genna had worry in her eyes as she looked at Cersei.

Cersei would not admit, even to herself, that she was disconcerted by the utter hatred the majority of the audience aimed at her, be they on the side of the loyalists or rebels during the war.

'Lion do not concern themselves with the opinions of sheep,' she told herself as she held herself with the utmost confidence. It was still uncomfortable. she knew she was disliked, people were naturally jealous of her status, looks and intelligence. But she had ever been given such blatant displays of loathing from so many people before this. There was no sympathy for her from anyone outside of her family it seemed. Even some of her family's vassals looked smug at her situation.

"Whore!" somebody cried as she passed them by, spitting at her. They were not the only one, and Cersei's face was flushed with fury as she finally arrived at the accused's box where she was unceremoniously shackled to the wood. It only made her anger worse, and she clenched her hands so tightly she drew blood from her palms. She wanted to snarl at them, to show them her lion's claws, but her father's note held her back from doing so.

The herald stepped forward. "We are here today to witness the trial of Cersei Baratheon of House Lannister!" he declared loudly, leaving out her title, much to her indignation. "She stands accused of treason, adulterous incest, the murder of the late Hand of the King and Warden of the East, Lord Jon Arryn and several others, and conspiracy to murder His Grace King Robert. She is further accused of passing off her incest-born bastards as the children of the king, thus committing line theft and leaving our most noble king without legitimate heirs of his body! The accused has been questioned privately by the Hand of the King, and she has pled innocent of the charges!"

Cersei, who had been scoffing discreetly at the description of her husband, stiffened at the yells from the audience. It was obvious that the majority were very much against her, and she felt herself shift uncomfortably. This trial was clearly biased against her, and her lord father had not done anything to intervene yet.

Why was he not intervening for her? For Jaime? Why did he not speak up against the insults being dealt out to their House? Why had he told her to be silent, and when would he finally intercede on her behalf?

"Due to the conflict of interest," Robert said in an angry tone, rising to his feet. His eyes burned with fury and loathing as he looked at her. "I am sequestering myself from this trial. Lord Oberyn of House Nymeros Martell, Hand of the King, will act as Chief Judge in my stead. Ser Brynden Tully, the Master of Laws and Lord Mathis Rowan, the Master of Coin, will also sit in judgement over the whore." Lord Martell shot him a sharp look and he grudgingly corrected himself, scowling bitterly. "The Queen, that is."

He shot a quick, warning look at the Lord Hand, then stormed out with Ser Barristan at his heels, a stormy look on his ruddy face. The High Septon then stepped forward and said a prayer to the Father to grant wisdom and justice to those involved in the trial before the Lord Hand stood, looking tired.

The man was most definitely not suited to life in the capital. Of course, Robert had only ever thought of himself, never of those he claimed to care for. So long as he did not have to deal with the problems of running a realm, he cared not a jot for the effects the stress had on his so-called dearest friend.

"We will now begin presenting the Crown's witnesses," Martell announced. "Anybody who interrupts the trial will be escorted from the premises. First of all, Lord Stannis Baratheon, Lord Paramount of the Stormlands and the former Master of Ships, is called to testify."

The Lord of Storm's End had a sullen expression as he took the stand and swore on the Seven-Pointed Star to tell the truth as he knew it and only the truth.

"Lord Baratheon," Martell began once the oath had been made. "Please explain to the court what caused you to flee the capital for your family seat."

"It was Lord Jon Arryn's death that made me go," Lord Stannis responded emotionlessly. "I knew that the queen and her people must have realized what we were doing and poisoned him, and so I decided to leave before they came after myself and my family next."

Cersei clenched her fists beneath the ledge of her box, cursing him mentally. If only she had been able to have both he and Arryn killed at the same time, but that would have been too suspicious, and Arryn had been the greater threat. Robert was never likely to listen to his 'dull' younger brother, but he would listen to Arryn and Martell. They were the only people that he ever took seriously at all. She had not expected Baratheon to flee out of her reach so quickly, though perhaps she should have.

"Why would the queen do such things?" Martell pressed for elaboration. "What were you and the late Hand doing that would make the queen seek to kill you?"

Lord Stannis exhaled before answering him. "It began shortly after the birth of my youngest child," he stated. "My wife brought our children to court for Minisa to be presented to Their Graces, and during that visit it occurred to me how little the so-called princes and princesses resembled their apparent father, in both looks and character. Once I became suspicious, I then also noticed that the queen had many opportunities to be alone or she was only with her most loyal relatives and attendants, during which time she could hypothetically have conducted an affair. I went to the Lord Hand with my suspicions, and we then began to look into them. Unfortunately, before we had enough evidence to go before the king, Lord Arryn fell mysteriously ill and died. When I looked his symptoms up in a book the next day, they matched those of the poison, the Tears of Lys. That confirmed my fears, and I quickly took my family and fled home for safety."

He was questioned more on the details of his investigation and what they had discovered, speaking of several bastard children of the king who had the same features as those of the trueborn Baratheons. It made Cersei growl quietly in frustration.

The coal-coloured hair and stormy-blue eyes always won out over the features of the other family, whether they were the green eyes and blonde hair of the Lannisters, the red hair of the Tullys, or any other Great House. Her husband's grandmother, Princess Rhaelle, had borne one son: her long deceased goodfather Steffon Baratheon who had been blue eyed and black of hair. Gowen Baratheon and Tya Lannister's only child had been black-haired and blue-eyed also. Orys Baratheon's children with Argella Durrandon had all inherited the dark hair and blue eyes of their mother. The Baratheon features always won out, no matter what. If not for that one little detail, Cersei's secret would never have been discovered.

A maester, not Pycelle but rather Colemon, the maester who had often attended the late Lord Hand. He spoke of how Lord Arryn had been as healthy as a man of his age could be until his sudden death, and agreed with Lord Stannis' claims that the man's symptoms matched those of the Tears of Lys. Cersei cursed him too, then, and Pycelle as well.

Hadn't she ordered the GrandMaester to ensure that the poison could not be known as such? She had ordered him to make sure it was a natural-appearing death, one that would not draw any suspicions at all! Damn that doddering old fool! Colemon also showed evidence testifying to the strength of the Baratheon traits using a family tree and a book on the lineages of the Great Houses written by some former GrandMaester.

"You see, my lords," the Valeman stated, pointing at the page on House Baratheon. "Whether they wed into other Stormlander houses, or to other Great Houses, the traits of House Baratheon always prove themselves stronger than those of the other parent. Not one child has differed in hair or eye colour since the House was founded by Lord Orys Baratheon, almost three hundred years ago now."

After Coleman's testimony there came the parade of her husband's bastards.

Mya Stone, his eldest child who was from the Vale. Cersei recalled that Robert had once spoken of bringing the girl to court, but he had not brought it up again after she had warned him that the capital was a dangerous place for a girl. The queen would have happily had the girl killed if she was within reach, and her husband had realized that. The bastard was a tall young girl with black hair and big blue, doe-shaped eyes. Then there was a girl Cersei had not previously heard of, by the name of Bella Rivers who was from the Stoney Sept, with her black locks twisted into corkscrew curls and blue eyes with thick eyelashes surrounding them. Robert's acknowledged son with some Florent woman who had been Cersei's lady-in-waiting up until she had become with child, Edric Waters. He was a handsome lad with black hair and blue eyes. The Lord Hand himself stood and spoke of two other bastards he had seen, a blacksmith's apprentice of about four-and-ten who was 'like looking back in time at the Demon of the Trident', and a baby girl not past her first nameday with a tuft of black hair and big blue eyes. Both had apparently left the capital recently and could not be found, but Martell vowed before the Seven that they looked exactly as he had described. Portraits of Cersei's own three children (her sons were not attending the trial, and she had received no word of Myrcella since her daughter's most recent letter had arrived, a few days before Cersei's arrest) were then produced for the court to examine. Each painting showed a child of blonde hair and emerald eyes, not a trace of the Baratheon bloodline to be seen in them.

But the prosecution had saved the best for last.

A young woman was brought to the stand. She was clearly a servant, and vaguely familiar to Cersei. She was sickly thin, and had a trembling lower lip, and she kept glancing uncertainly at someone in the audience for encouragement during the questioning.

"Please tell the court your name, miss," Lord Martell instructed her gently.

She swallowed, twisting her hands into her wool skirt as she replied. "M' name's Hanna, milord Hand. I ain't gotta fam'ly one."

"Thank you Hanna," he answered. "Can you please tell the court your story?"

She swallowed, then looked at Cersei. The queen was taken aback by the raw loathing in her eyes. It was as if she were a disgusting bug. The lioness was indignant that a serving girl would dare to look at her, the Queen, in such a manner. Who did she think she was? She was nothing but an insignificant servant, on earth purely to serve her betters, yet she dared to look at her queen as if Cersei was the one to be contemptuous of!

"I've worked a' tha castle 's a laundress fer years, milords an' ladies," the servant began. "An' abou' two years past, tha king, uhm. Well. 'e took notice o' me, and I 'ad a pair o' twin boys offa 'im."

Cersei felt her heart stop, finally realizing where the story was going.

The voice of serving girl, Hanna was it? trembled as she explained what had happened, how Cersei had ordered her men to hold her back and make her watch as the queen had ripped the black haired, blue-eyed babes from their mother's breast and drowned them in the washing tub.

"They was only babes!" the maid howled, collapsing to her knees in body-heaving sobs. "They wasn' e'en talkin' ye', an' she murdered 'em! They was only babes, no 'arm ta anybody! She killed 'em, while I begged fer 'er ta lea'e 'em alone! Me boys, me boys!"

She wept senselessly, her body heaving with the force of her cries. Cersei was surprised and angry when Lady Martell darted to the servant, picking her up and cooing soothingly to her as she guided the young maid out of the witness box and away. Of course that thrice-cursed bitch of a she-wolf was the one who had found out about Hanna. Her fingerprints were all over the trial.

But the damage had already been done. Lowborn bastards they might have been, but the knowledge that a pair of innocent babes had been murdered by the queen with her own hands had just turned whatever support Cersei might have had left against her. Looks of disgust were shot towards her, and several people spat in her direction again, calling out for her immediate execution and denouncing her with clear disgust.

Then, just as Martell was beginning to stand again, Cersei's father at last intervened, much to her relief. Her father would save her, she knew it. Save her, her crown, and her children and brother. He was Tywin Lannister after all. These people would all regret what they had done when her father was finished with him.

"My lords, if I might address the court," he called, leaving his seat and coming forward.

"You may," Martell reluctantly agreed.

"My son, whom is also accused of taking part in these slanderous and baseless accusations," Lord Tywin stated. "Has demanded a trial by combat, as is his right. As he is considered the queen's accomplice, if he is found innocent by the Seven, then by default, she too is innocent of the supposed crimes. As such, I request that both of their fates be determined by the trial."

Martell pursed his lips, eyes narrow. "The judges will confer on the matter," he replied curtly. The trio hissed to one another for several moments before he turned back to the court.

"It appears there is a precedent for your request, Lord Lannister," he announced. "As such, we will grant it. Tomorrow at noon, Ser Jaime Lannister will fight the Crown's champion to prove the innocence or else the guilt of himself and Queen Cersei in these heinous crimes."

"And who shall be the champion of the Crown, Lord Martell?" Cersei called to him.

Martell turned back to her, blank-faced. "Ser Barristan Selmy, Lord Commander of the Kingsguard, will stand for the Crown in your trial, Your Grace."