She agrees to send her armies north because Jaime asks her to.
She agrees to let him go because he promises her that he will go back to her.
She agrees because she wants her child to live, she wants her little lion cub to know what the sun looks like.
She agrees because Tyrion's words managed to make their way to her heart, even though she will never admit it.
.
Jaime's lips taste like fire when she kisses him goodbye.
"Don't die," she whispers. "Please, don't."
"I won't," he whispers back.
When they leave this world, they will be together – this is how it has always been supposed to happen.
.
Snow starts falling when he walks away from her.
It hurts, it hurts so bad.
Frost covers his sword and his heart alike.
.
"They all thought that she lied," Tyrion tells him when they reach Winterfell.
"They were wrong."
Cersei cannot lie to him. They are one – if he intends to be true to his word, so does she. The Targaryen girl almost seems disappointed. She probably wanted an excuse to execute him.
He doesn't care. Cersei is the only one who matters.
.
He almost dies a thousand times.
He survives, of course – he promised Cersei that he would.
Fire and frost – he's seen too much of them for a lifetime.
.
Fire and ice are not meant to be together. Jon Snow eventually walks away from his Targaryen queen.
Sansa – it's all for Sansa. Ice and frost. How fitting.
Jaime wants to laugh. He's walked this road before. Lions, wolves – in the end, they're all the same.
.
In the end, it was all for nothing.
This is what Cersei understands when she sees the dragon breathing fire and fury. The Dragon Queen is burning King's Landing to the ground.
She doesn't cry when she hears the bells. She doesn't cry when she sees the flames.
Her tears fall when she thinks of Jaime.
.
A heartbroken queen. There is nothing worse.
.
She doesn't hide. She doesn't try to flee – she has nowhere to go.
She knows Jaime isn't dead – if he were, she would know. He cannot die while she lives. He wouldn't go without her.
.
It turns out she was right.
They're both thrown into the same cell. They don't know who is the one who runs toward the other first, they don't know who starts crying first.
"Jaime, Jaime..." Cersei whispers.
He holds her tight, he holds her like he's never held her before, he holds her as if their world were about to fall apart.
"I did what I was asked," she says, desperate. "I agreed to send my armies north. I was willing to surrender. I-"
"I know," Jaime says, wiping away her tears.
He kisses her. Her lips are the reason why he went north, that and the baby she's carrying in her womb.
.
He can't even be mad at Jon Snow.
The forbidden lips of a sister – definitely something to die for.
.
"I want our baby to live," she cries. "I want our baby to live. I don't want to die, Jaime. Please, don't let me die."
"It's all right," he says, but he's crying too. "I love you. I love you so much. We'll be together, we'll always be together."
.
"I should have married you when I had the chance," Cersei sobs. "I was such a fool."
"A beautiful golden fool," Jaime replies, smiling through his tears.
.
Life and death – together, always together.
.
It seems like no lion will escape the dragon's wrath.
Tyrion's tears are falling quietly when he joins them in their cell.
"I tried," he whispers. "I tried. I'm so sorry..."
"I know," Jaime says.
No words are needed. Cersei looks up at Tyrion. Hatred is so futile, now.
She lets him wrap his arms around her.
"I'm sorry," he repeats.
.
Jaime wonders if he will have to watch Cersei die.
There would be no need to kill him then – he would be dead already.
.
Wolves hate lions, it is said.
What is never said is that wolves hate dragons even more.
.
Sansa Stark and Jon Snow take them to a dinghy on the beach.
"Go," Sansa tells them.
"Why?" Cersei asks, frowning.
Jon sighs and looks at the hand Jaime has put on her belly.
"Just go. Start a new life. Raise your baby in a place where there's no fire and no frost."
Jaime catches his eye. He understands, of course he does. He simply nods.
"Thank you."
.
No man should die because he loved his sister too much.
.
Pentos is a nice city. A good place to start a new life.
Jaime has to sell the golden hand, of course. They're still lions, but lions with no power. The house they buy doesn't compare with the Red Keep or Casterly Rock but it will have to do.
No one knows who they are, here. He kisses Cersei and holds her hand and crawls into her bed whenever he wants to.
He feels like he's finally able to breathe.
.
Cersei's lips are to live for.
.
"Don't be too harsh on him," Jaime whispers to Cersei, glancing at Tyrion. "He already feels so guilty. He's our brother."
Tyrion avoids them, as if he couldn't bear to think about what the Dragon Queen could have done to them if Sansa and Jon hadn't freed them.
"He's our brother," Jaime repeats. "He needs us. Can you try to be nice, please?"
He kneels and kisses her swelling belly, making her laugh.
"We can be a real family. Can you do that for me?"
She sighs, defeated. Hatred is exhausting. Hatred is fire and frost.
The sun is all she wants.
"All right."
.
Cersei knows Tyrion has nightmares every night – she can hear him screaming.
One night, she pushes the door of his room open and sits on his bed.
"Tyrion," she says, shaking him gently to wake him.
When he opens his eyes, she can see the glint of fire and frost. He tries to keep his tears from falling.
"You can cry," she tells him, and as soon as she does he starts weeping, showing how broken he really is – how broken they all are.
"Come with me," she says.
.
She lets him crawl into the bed she shares with Jaime. He wakes up and smiles at her.
"Thank you, Cersei."
They cuddle up together for the rest of the night. Nothing else matters – only them.
.
It's a slow process, learning how to smile again, how to dream, how to live. It's hard to forget all the bad things they ever did to one another, the lies, the threats, the betrayals. It's hard to forget the army of the dead and the dragon – fire and frost.
They try to focus on the small things, on the sparkles of happiness they have finally been granted – a good joke, a hug, a kiss. They watch the sun rise every morning and the stars appear one by one in the sky at night, they listen to the sound of the waves and the wind blowing through the trees, carrying the smell of salt and freedom.
Hope is like peaceful dreams and quiet days, kind words and loving embraces.
.
Hope sounds like two babies crying.
.
"Twins, Cersei," Jaime says, eyes sparkling with wonderment. "Twins, just like us."
A boy and a girl. He thinks he's back in one of his golden dreams – this is too perfect to be real.
"I love you," he whispers in her ear. "Twins. I love you so much."
Still lying on her bed, exhausted, Cersei smiles back at him.
Two new lion cubs to love, to protect. Her family. It's better than power, it's better than this bloody throne, better than any crown.
.
"Fire and frost will never harm you," she promises in a low voice, watching Loreon and Lelia sleep.
.
For the first time, Jaime gets to hold his children, he doesn't have to stay away anymore, doesn't have to pretend.
Loreon and Lelia Lannister – lions, not so-called stags.
"Are you happy?" he asks Cersei, because he knows that power meant everything to her, once, and he's still afraid that one day, what they have now will no longer be enough.
She wraps her arms around him and buries her face in his neck.
"I am," she says. "I am."
.
One day, they find a scroll in front of the door.
"The Dragon Queen is dead," Tyrion says after he's read it. "Jon Snow and Sansa Stark are King and Queen of the Seven Kingdoms."
They all ponder what it means.
The dragon is dead, defeated by the wolves.
The lions are still alive.
"We can go home."
.
So they go home.
Sansa and Jon are present when their ship sails into harbor.
"You can have Casterly Rock," Sansa says as soon as she sees them. "But that's all. The Throne is ours."
She glances at the two children hiding behind Jaime's legs, a soft smile on her lips, and she puts one hand on her belly.
"That's all we want," Jaime replies. "You don't need to worry."
.
"So?" Jon whispers to him.
"No fire. No frost," Jaime answers.
The new King nods and then glances at Sansa – his sister, the woman he loves, the mother of his child.
"Good. Good."
.
"They look so happy," Cersei tells him.
They're watching Tyrion run after Loreon and Lelia in the gardens of Casterly Rock.
"They do," he nods, smiling.
He pulls her close, kissing her forehead.
"The day we left King's Landing, you said that you should have married me when you had the chance," he goes on.
"I did."
"Did you mean it?"
"Of course."
She pulls away from him, frowning.
"Is that a proposal?"
"What if it is?"
She smiles, tears welling up in her eyes – in their eyes. She doesn't need to say yes, they never needed words to understand each other.
Lions can weep with joy too.
.
No fire, no frost – only the sun.
This is what they wanted, and this is what they have.
All will be well.