Hi everyone,

This is Friday's update but … like posted today because I don't like sitting on chapters that are ready.

I feel like the last few chapters I have been building a bonfire and this chapter I just threw a Molotov cocktail on it all XD

Writing Cersei and Kenna in this chapter was lit as fuck! (It was awesome :D)

Hope you enjoy!


Chapter 47: Wrath and Pride

Same day an hour later

Lannister camp, near the Walls of King's Landing, King's Landing, Seat of power of House Baratheon (of Dragonstone) in the Crownlands, Capital of the Seven Kingdoms


The disgust and absolute vitriol that was radiating from Prince Oberyn was nothing new to Tywin. Many men had looked at him in such a way and many men had fallen before him just as the proud Prince had done.

The Prince was sat on the floor of a tent with his hands bound behind a wooden pole that he was currently leaning his back on with his legs outstretched on the ground in front of him. Tywin stood over the Prince so that Oberyn had to crane his neck upwards to keep eye contact with the Westerland Lord.

"Has my brother decided to forgo my life and march the Dornish armies to crush you against the walls of King's Landing yet?"

"Your brother would never take advantage of my current positioning with your life still in my hands. He doesn't have the ability to sacrifice what he loves for the good of his people," Tywin gave Oberyn a calculating stare, "Neither do you or you would have left your revenge well alone."

Oberyn gave Tywin a dark look, "Monsters need to be punished and if I am not the one to punish you someone else will."

Tywin not interested in delving into the topic of Elia's and her children's murders again got to the point of his visit, "Tell me Prince Oberyn why were you going to frame Lady Kenna for my murder? Why not Tyrion? Why not leave clues towards a Stannis loyalist or attempt to throw suspicion on the Tyrells?"

Oberyn looked up at Tywin with interest, "Why are you asking that?"

"Just answer the question," Tywin demanded.

Oberyn leaned further back into the wooden post, "I had first thought to make your murder look like the work of a faceless assassin but Lord Varys suggest that I lay the blame a little closer to home."

"Why?"

"When I asked myself, he simply said that Lady Kenna could grow to become an obstacle and informed me of her … relationship with you and that was all I needed to know to ease my conscience."

"Because if you sleep with a monster you are one?"

"No because she refused to help me kill you and she was sleeping with you."

Tywin knew that Kenna had refused Prince Oberyn's offer because she had known that Stannis was on his way to capture King's Landing.

Having gotten the piece of information he had been seeking Tywin turned on his heels and marched out the tent flap leaving Prince Oberyn once again all alone.

As he strode back towards his own tent, his mind started to ponder Vary's actions. Varys was clearly in the employ of the Targaryen girl so that begged the question, why would he see Lady Kenna as an obstacle for Daenerys Targaryen to overcome? She doesn't have a claim to the Throne nor has she declared against the Targaryen's like her father did.

In fact, she was currently weakening the Crown as a whole having caused the current standoff between the two fractions supporting King Stannis Baratheon and King Tommen Baratheon.

Then the answer hit him just before he was about to enter his own tent.

Varys saw Lady Kenna as a potential threat to Daenerys Targaryen's rule once she had taken the Throne. She alone controlled the Eyrie, commanded the respect of the North and Riverlands, through marriage and her future children she could influence the Westerlands too. If Lady Kenna decided to resist a new Targaryen Queen in the future, she would have the ability and resources in which to do so.

Tywin appreciated Vary's foresight. He really did play the long game and he played it well. Tywin agreed with the Spiders assessment, Lady Kenna was a formidable and dangerous opponent to have.


The flap of the tent had barely closed behind him when he heard Kevan's taut tones.

"Brother, we need to response to Lady Kenna's offer."

"I know," Tywin replied as he rounded the table to sit opposite his brother. He eyed Cersei who was sitting at the head of the table finishing a meal so that the three Lannisters where seated in a triangle with the other half of the table empty.

Tywin flicked his eyes to his daughter who was placing her knife and fork together on the metal plate, "If I bend the knee and declare for Stannis do you think Lady Kenna will keep her word and spare our family? Will Stannis keep to the agreed terms?"

"Both see themselves as honourable and want to be seen as honourable. They tend not to lie to get want they want like others do," Cersei said in a cold voice with a tense edge to her.

"Yes," Tywin agreed his eyes lingering on the healing cut on his daughter's face, he knew who was responsible, "but did you see the surprise in Lord Davos's face when Kenna asked for me to bend the knee? He didn't know what Kenna was going to offer and that likely means that neither did Stannis."

"You think that Stannis won't honour the terms even if you do bend the knee?" Kevan asked in a worried pitch.

"He would be an idiot not to accept my surrender, if I offer it," Tywin said still unsure on his course of action, "He needs peace to return to Westeros if his rule is going to last."

"Then it is decided then isn't it," Cersei said as her hand slapped against the tables wooden surface making the knife fall off her plate and onto the table, "You will bend the knee, Jamie and my son will be shipped off to the Wall to freeze to death, Myrcella will forget all about her real family and become a Dornish whore while I spend the remaining years of my live trapped in Casterly Rock under your suffocating gaze."

Both Kevan and Tywin were visibly shocked by Cersei's outburst but Tywin recovered faster and had decided on his path forward, "Kevan send a raven to King Stannis and inform him I am ready to bend the knee if he will refrain from killing my sons and grandson."

Kevan who had no desire to get between his brother and niece quickly stood from his chair and exited the tent to carry out his brother's order.

"You could be sent to the Silent Sisters if you prefer," Tywin harshly pointed out, "or maybe I should attack the walls of King's Landing and ensure Jamie, Tyrion's and Tommen's deaths. Would you prefer that?"

"Yes, impose your will on me and make me see that I am wrong and that you are right," Cersei remarked as her rage over past actions built, "If one of your children doesn't live up to your expectations you just throw them away and ignore them or worse."

"I made you Queen of the Seven Kingdoms; I did not throw you away," Tywin near shouted back as his hands curled to fists in anger.

"That pig you married me too was no more a King than you have been a father," Cersei spat back as all decorum left her and only her burning fury and resentment remained.

"Cersei," Tywin roared as he moved from his chair to tower over his daughter, "that is enough."

Cersei erupted out of her chair to stare eye to eye with her father and such was the intensity in her gaze that Tywin didn't even notice the knife sliding into his stomach or feel the sharp pain until he had taken a further breath.

Tywin looked down between them to see the handle of a small knife poking out his midriff.

Cersei answered her father's unspoken question in a low and heavy tone, "You killed my son. Don't try to deny it."

Tywin's hands immediately went to the handle of the blade but Cersei would not relinquish her hold on it and any struggle would embed the knife further into the Old Lion.

So, there the knife remained, in Cersei's firm grip with her father's two hands covering her own that held the knife in place but not prying for control of the blade.

Their heavy breaths filled the silence in the tent.

Tywin attempted to speak but Cersei cut him off, "If the next words out of your mouth isn't the truth about Joffrey's death, I will twist this knife so far in that the entire camp will hear your cries."

Tywin refocused away from the pain pooling in his gut to Cersei's face. There had been no hesitation when she had spoken her words and with a sickening realisation, he knew that he had underestimated his daughter. His life was in her hands now.

Keeping his hands where they were, ready to react if Cersei did push the knife further in, Tywin gritted his teeth, "I killed Joffrey because he was responsible for the assassination attempt on my life before his wedding to Margaery."

"You are lying. He would never kill one of his own kin," Cersei said with tears falling from her eyes as the emotion of what she was doing and why she was doing it finally caught up with her anger. "You killed him because he was Jamie's bastard. Because he was a slight to your fucking legacy. Because you can't stand the thought of your children fucking each other."

"If I thought to that extreme Tommen would be dead too and probably Myrcella," Cersei's hand tensed around the knife, "But they are both alive and I am trying to save the life of your only remaining son while you are trying to take mine."

Cersei sucked in a few faltering breaths as she tried to clear her head. Tywin took advantage of her pause to continue to explain his actions and hope that the truth would make her see reason.

"You know that Joffrey was unhinged and uncontrollable. He saw me as a threat to his freedom and like the true Lannister he is, he paid for his problem to disappear. He paid those assassins. I got confirmation from their very mouths."

Cersei remained silent but kept her father's gaze, "Joffrey tried to … murder you."

Tywin could see the understanding flash across Cersei's face but the anger remained, "Yes he did."

"You never love anything as much as you do your first born," Cersei said slowly remembering her eldest son.

Tywin held Cersei's eyes with warmth that he thought he could no longer muster and murmured, "I agree."

Cersei's chest heaved at her father's words but it was too little and too late, "I hate you."

"I … I see that now but kill me and Tommen dies. Jamie dies. And Stannis will come after your head. I will swallow my pride to ensure Jamie and your son live but in order to do that I need to still be breathing," Tywin softened his voice, "Let go of the knife Cersei."

Her father's words echoed around her as her mind ran through images of Tommen and Jamie. The joyful memories battled with her resentment of the man in front of her.

Her love won out against her hate as her trembling hand released its grip on the knife and she took a few stuttering steps backwards to practically collapse onto her seat.

As soon as Cersei's touch had lifted from the handle Tywin carefully removed the knife and applied pressure to the wound stifling the blood dripping from the pierced flesh.

"Guards," he yelled.

"What are you going to do to me," Cersei muttered wiping her tears away.

Tywin rested the bloodied knife on the table, "I will send you to Casterly Rock where Kevan and Genna will watch over you."

"I just tried to murder you like my son did," Cersei said in disbelieve, clearing thinking she was going to share the same fate.

"You forget one thing."

Cersei raised her eyes.

"You are my first born."

Cersei looked at her father in astonishment. Those five words were as close to a 'I love you' she had ever gotten from him since the passing of her mother. She had craved this moment for years and years but now his love meant nothing to her.

Two guards rushed into the tent at that moment and stopped at the sight of the bloody knife, trying to work out what had happened.

"Take Lady Cersei to her own tent. Make sure she doesn't leave and get me my maester. Be quick about it," Tywin commanded, showing no signs of the injury Cersei had inflicted on him.

As Tywin watched his daughter get escorted out of the tent, he felt a pang of agony stab at his heart and it had nothing to do with the fresh wound in his gut.

He truly had failed each of his children in one way or another.

"Forgive me Joanna," Tywin muttered to himself as he awaited the maester and slumped down into one of the chairs that surrounded the table.


An hour later …

Throne Room, Red Keep, King's Landing, Seat of power of House Baratheon (of Dragonstone) in the Crownlands, Capital of the Seven Kingdoms


Tyrion stood chained alongside Tommen and Jamie around one of the pillars of the Throne room. He watched closely as Lady Kenna enter the Throne room with a small group of Vale men including the ever-faithful Lord Royce. The Baratheon men posing as Kingsguard looked particularly on edge and were ridged in their stances as they guarded their King, a perfect mirror of Stannis himself. There were Golden Company men dotted all around the Throne room and Tyrion spied their tall blond Commander locked in discussion with Lord Davos near the Throne.

To relive the anxiety he was feeling at having been dragged to the Throne room and to break the staring contest he was now having with the Red Woman who sat on the steps to the Throne, he leaned slightly towards his brother's elbow and whispered upwards, "You couldn't have traded yourself for both Cersei and me?"

"Father wasn't that keen on me just trading myself with Cersei so I thought best not to push my luck," Jamie said in a humorous tone consciously ignoring the gnawing feeling he was getting in his stomach at the scene assembling before them.

Tyrion shared his brother's impending sense of doom, there was only two reason that Stannis would have all three Lannister prisoners gathered in the Throne room. To either execute them or set them free and as far as Tyrion was aware nothing had happened to facilitate their release.


Kenna stopped before the steps leading to the throne, in front of the line of the line of Kingsguard, and bowed respectfully, "You summoned me, your Grace."

"I did," came Stannis's curt reply as his eyes sized up the Arryn party behind Kenna and in particular Lord Royce.

"Lord Davos informed me of the outcome of the parlay," Stannis's grey eyes bore into Kenna, "I don't remember ordering you to exchange Cersei for the Kingslayer, nor do I remember giving you leave to agree to terms of surrender for the Lannisters."

"Your Grace if I could interject-" Kenna tried in an even voice taking a step forward.

"I am not finished," shouted Stannis as his hands gripped the arms of the Iron Throne tightly.

Kenna took a step backwards; she knew Stannis would not be happy with what she had done but the waves of anger pulsating from him now was surely an overreaction. She might have just secured peace for the Seven Kingdoms and a good foundation for his future reign.

"I don't want Tywin Lannister's surrender," Stannis's entire body was trembling in rage, "His whore of a daughter cuckolded Robert and that action has nearly driven my house to destruction. I will have the same for his house."

You were the one who killed Renly, Kenna mentally yelled at Stannis but her wits tucked away the urge to enflame the situation any further and she settled for seeking out clarity.

"I have given the terms to Tywin Lannister, if he accepts, I advise you to uphold the deal I have made for the betterment of the Realm," Kenna said observing how Davos couldn't look her in the eye.

"You are no longer in a position to give me advise."

I never cared for being on the Small Council anyway, Kenna growled in her mind.

Stannis stood from the Iron Throne highlighting the height difference between them even more, "You disobeyed me. And not for the first time. If you don't follow my orders then you are against me."

That is a bit extreme, Kenna thought as she tried to work out a way to calm the King down. But her diplomatic intentions were for nought.

Stannis's next words echoed around the spacious chamber with ease, "Take her."

What the fuck, Kenna exclaimed in her head as she saw the Baratheon Kingsguards in front of her advance to her position and Lord Davos give her a sad look.

On instinct she took a few steps back and bumped into a heavily armoured chest. Golden hands wrapped around her arms and forced her to the floor. She looked behind the mercenary man that was manhandling her to see that her men were all on the end of a Golden Company sword point. Lord Royce had his hands raised as he tried to stare down the man resting his sword on his shoulder.


Tyrion could hardly believe what he was seeing. Stannis had completely turned on Kenna. The Arryn men were all relieved of their weaponry by the Golden Company men and made to imitate their Lady's kneeling position on the floor.

"What is going on?" Tommen squeaked from Tyrion's right.

"It appears that King Stannis has had enough of Lady Kenna's machinations and insolence," Tyrion murmured back as he watched Stannis walk down the steps, past the still sitting Lady Melisandre to stand right in front of a still struggling Kenna.

"Stop," Stannis commanded.

Surprisingly Kenna obeyed, stopping her efforts to break free from the man holding her and simply looked up at the stone-faced King with a look a pure outrage.

"I did not wish for this outcome but I am the King of the Seven Kingdoms and all my subjects will obey my commands."

"If you think I will marry you after this you are mistaken," Kenna shot up at him.

"You would have made an unreliable and unruly Queen. I have decided to pursue another."

Kenna followed the shift in Stannis's gaze to see Sansa standing stiffly between two Baratheon men.

Sansa, when had she entered the room? From the bewildered look on her face she had known nothing of Stannis's intensions. Stannis hasn't got any better with proposals, Kenna joked to herself.

"Besides," Stannis continued, "Your disloyalty stains you. You will share the same fate as your husband now."

"You are going to execute me?" Kenna exclaimed.

"You are a traitor, you will die like a traitor," Stannis said coldly.

Lord Royce attempted to rise at that statement but he was battered back down to the floor.

Lord Davos appeared at Stannis's shoulder, "I am truly sorry my Lady. I warned you that our King was unforgiving and just."

Since there was no longer the need for decorum and diplomacy Kenna let her tongue go,

"You didn't say he was stupid and had the mental capacity of two fucking wooden planks. Were you born an idiot your Grace or did Robert batter you in the head too much when you were children?

Stannis's face twitched at the insults Kenna was throwing at him but his restraint kept his hands by his side. If he were a lesser man they might had flown towards Kenna's face.

"I can see why Robert liked you. Fierce, reckless, and arrogant. If you were born a man you might have been his twin," Stannis said staring into her deep blue eyes.

"No, I would never have let myself get that fat," Kenna chuckled back.

Stannis cocked his head; those weren't the words of someone about to be executed.


"Take her to the square in front of the Great Sept of Baelor and prepare her for execution," Stannis barked, "Take the Lannister's as well. It is time for justice to be served."

The Golden Company man behind her hauled her to her feet. She looked past Stannis to make eye contact with Commander Strickland. She nodded her head slightly.

Stannis caught the movement and looked back at Commander Strickland who was only a few steps away from his position, in between him and his Kingsguard. He had promised the man all the riches onboard the Golden Wind if he would stay in King's Landing and fight for him. Commander Strickland was his man.

The Golden Company man reached Stannis and Kenna. He gave Kenna a toothy smile. And in a blink of the eye he had his short dagger at Stannis's throat and spun the King so he was facing the Baratheon Kingsguard and Lord Davos.

"Lower you weapons or you will have to find another King to serve," bellowed the blond man.

The Baratheon men present in the Throne room complied with the order with some encouragement from Lord Davos who was looking at Kenna in absolute shock at the turn of events.

The Golden Company men who had been incapacitating the Arryn soldiers were now handing back their weapons and rounding up the Baratheon men, Lord Davos included.

Kenna gave Lord Royce a reassuring smile as the elder Lord returned to her side. She tapped the shoulder of Lord Strickland who again spun with Stannis still in his grasp to face her.

"Did you think you had the Golden Company in your pocket?" Kenna said not trying to hide her grin, "Did you think I wouldn't notice a famous smuggler disappearing for a few days while a ship carrying half of the gold of the Westerlands floated off the coast of King's Landing?"

"The Golden Wind is in Baratheon hands," Davos stated loudly to Lord Strickland. "We have the money and we hold the contract with you."

"You held a contract with the Golden Company," Commander Strickland replied, "The moment King Stannis sat down on the Iron Throne we fulfilled it and became the owners of the Golden Wind."

"If you are taking the Golden Wind as payment, why are you following Lady Kenna's orders?"

"Because Lord Davos," Kenna interjected, "I drew up a contract of my own with Commander Strickland. Fight for me, vanquish my enemies, help my allies, and I will rival the sum you got for sieging King's Landing. That is what I asked for and that is what we agreed."

"How are you going to pay them?" Davos asked pushing the issue of finance knowing that it was the only reason why the Golden Company was now under Kenna's command.

Kenna gave Davos a knowing smile and projected her voice around the Throne room, "The Westerlands have their mines, the Reach their crops but the Vale has lucrative trade contracts with Essos. The coffers at the Eyrie practically overflow with coin. I will have no issue paying the Golden Company for the contract they now hold with me."

"The Vale isn't under your control," Davos desperately pointed out.

"Not yet. But I am the Warden of the East, Lady of the Eyrie. It will be mine again."


"Your father would be ashamed of you," Stannis spat at Kenna from behind the blade resting at his throat.

"My father valued peace, prosperity, and stability. I endeavour to bring all three concepts back to the Seven Kingdoms. But I made a mistake in thinking you were the man to provide those conditions."

"I am the rightful King," Stannis bellowed.

"You couldn't even unite the Stormlands behind you so it was a fool's hope to think you could unite the entirety of Westeros in peace," Kenna said shaking her head more at herself than at Stannis.

"Your greatest victory, the taking of King's Landing from the bastard boy king, wasn't even your victory. It was mine," Kenna pointed to the Iron Throne, "You thought by sitting on that bloody chair you would control King's Landing. You were never in control of this fucking city. I was."

Kenna placed her face so close to Stannis's that the blade at his neck nearly touched her's, "The problem with you is that you think you are entitled to my loyalty because you are the rightful King. I would rather have a good king than the rightful one. When I bow down and my forehead touches the floor, it will be because someone better than myself stands before me. You aren't better than me, you aren't even my equal."

Kenna leaned back away from Stannis who had chosen to remain silent throughout Kenna's tirade, "Put King Stannis in the Black Cells, and Lord Davos please ensure that the Baratheon men don't put up a fight. It would be a shame to have to kill what little remains of the once proud Baratheon army."

Commander Strickland pushed Stannis towards the exit as his men did the same with the rest of the Baratheon men and Lady Melisandre who seemed to be in a dazed as if her mind was elsewhere.

Kenna turned to Lord Royce, "See to Lady Sansa."

Lord Royce dipped his head before heading towards the lone redhead.

Kenna looked up at the empty Iron Throne then turned her head to her left to see three sets of green eyes following her every move.


"Do you think she wants it?" Jamie asked his brother.

"If she does now is the time to take it," Tyrion quickly said back.

"Does this mean we aren't going to get executed?" Tommen asked hopefully still confused by the entire situation and what had happened.

"I wouldn't say that quite yet," Tyrion replied as Kenna started to walk up the steps leading to the Throne.

Sansa and Lord Royce broke their conversation to see Kenna sit upon the Throne.

Kenna noticed the concern in the corner of Lord Royce's eyes as she brushed her hands along the arms of the formidable chair, "Relax Yohn, the Weirwood chair is far more comfortable and the Throne room in the Eyrie has a much better view."

After a few more seconds of caressing the Throne and looking around the enormous chamber Kenna pushed herself off it and walked down towards the three captured Lannisters.

Kenna ignored her husband and good-brother in favour of addressing Tommen, "How old are you?"

"Fifteen," came the quiet answer.

"Robin and my nephew are around the same age," Kenna stated thoughtfully. "I want you to know that nothing that I have done against your family has been personal. Except cutting Cersei, Kenna amended in her head but the young boy in front of her didn't need to know that.

"I just want to return to my home, to the Eyrie," Kenna said sincerely.

Tommen didn't utter a word in reply, not knowing how he should respond.

Tyrion spoke the question that was on everyone's minds, "What are you going to do now?"

At that moment a short, jolly looking man rushed over to Kenna taking away her attention from Tyrion. The man had a rolled-up letter in his hand.

"Lord Grafton?" Kenna asked with her hand outstretched.

"Lord Tywin has responded," the Vale Lord replied breathing heavily as he handed over the letter.

Kenna looked from the letter to Tyrion, "What I do next depends on your father."

Who bloody knows then, Tyrion moaned as he watched the victorious woman walk away from him, reading his father's written words.


Author' Notes:

Did you enjoy Oberyn's cameo appearance? More is coming from him next chapter :)

That Tywin vs Cersei scene nearly killed me (I felt that blade go through my heart as I wrote the scene!) as I have always wanted to portray a really strong father daughter bond between the two but it just wasn't going to happen in this story for me :(

Who saw Stannis's betrayal of Kenna coming? And who saw Kenna's betrayal of Stannis coming too?

For those who are like 'How did Kenna turn Commander Strickland?' Look back at Chapter 43 - No one can go for a walk in the Gardens of King's Landing and not come out plotting a power grab move :P

This chapter was so much fun to write! Please let me know your thoughts!


Reviews:

Supremus85 – I haven't killed a character for a while …..

Bvh – Thanks mate!

Raw666 – Correct on Stannis. Well done :) He just isn't the man Westeros needs sadly for all you Stannisi fans out there – sorry!

NightlyRowenTree – Kenna is roughly 3 months pregnant now as my story hasn't been progressing so much in terms of the timeline but that will soon change. Kenna didn't pull a Tywin Lannister more of a Littlefinger ironically XD.

SarahELupin – Lots of people are concerned for Lord Davos :P


Next up: Kenna and Tywin come face to face, Prince Oberyn finds help from an unlikely source, and Arya finds that she prefers to be the hunter not the hunted.

If you are enjoying this story please *Toss a coin to your writer, Oh valley of readers* and review, follow and favorite :)

See you guys next chapter!