Chapter 2
282 AC, Maegor's Holdfast, King's Landing
Ser Barristan watched what should be a family dinner between the royal family with trepidation.
King Aerys presided the table at a distance from anyone he deemed a danger to himself and, these days, was everyone but her or his Kingsguard. Seeing as this evening the duty fell onto Barristan and Ser Jaime, they both stood behind the King, and while the oldest knight was not the biggest fan of these meals, Ser Jaime wanted to be there even less so. He masked it well, but not as well as some on the table. Ser Barristan read his true feelings on his green eyes and stiff posture.
Queen Rhaella, sitting at a two chairs distance, tried to convince Prince Viserys to eat his meal, but the boy was more interested in whatever tale she was entertaining the table with. Princess Elia was holding her babe, Prince Aegon, a gentle smile on her face as she too paid attention to the girl. Ser Barristan would prefer if Prince Rhaegar's wife had picked more trustworthy companions to put trust in, but the girl was one of the few of Princess Elia's inner circle to remain in King's Landing.
Despite all, the Lannister girl had a voice for storytelling, and even he was captured by her words. Words she played like an instrument to distract those in the room from the improper behavior of the king, who stood far too close to her. This evening pick for entrainment was one of the tales of old where the brave and just king at the interceding of his merciful Queen forgave his subjects for the troubles they had caused.
A cautionary tale in this time, Ser Barristan almost reacted at the choice, for he was a Stormlander who grew up with stories of his land, and the fable the girl was telling the table was very similar to King Durran the Just and Queen Elenor the Merciful. But her subtly with words wasn't something new at the table. The last dinner he had been present, it had been Ser Aemon the Dragonknight the topic of her storytelling. The king loved to hear the Lannister girl boast about his house great deeds, as if the girl wasn't, in her own way, rebelling against the king by contrasting their situation to that of the tyranny of Aegon the Unworthy. It had been clear in the way Queen Rhaella and Princess Elia's appearance and character were used to describe the poor Queen Naerys, and Ser Aemon the Dragonknight could have been, for her wording, any of the lords currently warring against the Crown.
She was Tywin's get. Although not the worst of the lion cubs. His new brother was too proud and his twin even prouder, but the girl King Aerys was obsessed with resembled more a little cat than a lioness. Still, Ser Barristan trusted no more than he trusted any other member of her family.
"That was a great tale, Lady Myrcella," the king said in a sickeningly sweet tone.
King Aerys never called her Lannister.
"Thank you, my King," she said in a soft tone, looking down to her lap. Aerys liked her submissiveness as well, for he lusted her more when she acted that way. Barristan knew she did it so to hide her emotions. She had learned that from Queen Rhaella. "I hope I've done it justice."
"You have. I asked for a tale to show the table what true loyalty looks like, but I must say I did not expect such a lovely queen, even if she pales in comparison to you," Aerys said with a smile that once had been charming but not only caused a feeling of cold up his spine. "You look beautiful tonight, my lady."
From his standing position, Barristan could see the trembling hands she tried hard to hide. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Ser Jaime tense even more. Must His Grace do this in front of her brother? His wife and young son?
Unlike most times, Lady Myrcella looked up and smiled at the king. It was bright and illuminated her face. She should smile more often, for she looked prettier that way. His standing position showed him the truth of her act. Her eyes were not fixed on the king but the Queen in her line of sight.
But it fooled King Aerys, who seemed to peen under her smile. "You look like your Lady Mother when you smile."
That seemed to freeze her for a time. "I did not know that, Your Grace," her tone was soft, like a child debating over if she wanted to learn more and risk a scolding or just let it be,
"Well, you should know. You are a lot like her. There is nothing of that faithless lord in you."
"Thank you, Your Grace." She said in a serene tone that hid most of the shakiness.
"Such beauty and storytelling deserve a gift. What can I offer you, my sweet lady?"
"Nothing, My King. I have all I need right here." was her usual reply. Occasionally when she appeared in a new dress in Targaryen colors, she would change her response to "You have already gifted me such a beautiful dress, I feel already worthy of such attention.".
King Aerys also gave her other gifts, and the girl always made sure to show her appreciation with courteous words.
This time, her reply surprised him.
"You offered me so much, Your Grace." She said once again with a smile but lowered eyes. "I fear asking too much of your Grace, for I am just a servant of yours, but-" She bit her lip, and Barristan could see the innocence she projected with her fragile features.
Aerys seemed seduced by it, to the point he touched her face without a thought, his longer fingernails caressing her slopping cheekbones. To her credit, she barely flinched from his caress, but only Queen Rhaella's discreet hand stopped Ser Jaime from doing something stupid.
"Whatever your heart desires, I shall offer you."
"It's just, My King," she said in a honeyed tone as she leaned into his touch.
How could his king not see she was using her womanly wiles to get her way? Could he not she was just another of Tywin's creatures, using him to better their position? That the girl was shaming herself and the king in front of the royal family?
"The Mother asked of women to be merciful and have pity for all creatures. Even men. Those men on the dungeons, not the Starks, but those who were arrested with them. I can't help but pity them, my King."
Barristan almost gasped. Queen Rhaella didn't seem surprised, only saddened, while Princess Elia looked like she wanted to stop King Aerys as much as Ser Jaime. The young knight stared at his sister with shock, fear, and exasperation all the same time. Even Ser Barristan wanted to shout at her to stop being an idiot.
King Aerys asked for "my Lady Myrcella" various times during the day to either the Spider or Ser Jaime. When she failed to appear, the common excuses were that she either left for the Great Sept of Baelor or she went to visit an orphanage in the city.
Barristan was starting to think it was more than just for appearances.
"You pity those traitors," he said in a tone that made her wince. It was a tone that could mean the girl soon be joining the traitors on the Black Cells. But his following words showed the king put Lady Myrcella in a different category to all others. "You have a gentle heart, my sweet lady. Not like these vipers around us." the king waves his hand, pointing towards Princess Elia above all. "What do you wish to do?"
"Could I bring them food, my Lord? I shall do in Your Graces' name, so they know their king is just and merciful to those who are loyal to him."
"But those men are not loyal."
"Perhaps they were corrupted. The Starks follow the Old Gods, my King. We all well know those are cruel and barbarian gods. Perhaps they corrupt the souls of these men."
"You must be right, my lady, for what reason would my idiot of a son run away with an unwashed Northern girl when he had you so close by." Aerys gave her a gentle tap on her cheekbone and then turned his ire to Princess Elia. "See, your Dornish snake, this is how should act, with gentleness and obedience not with your Dornish ways. Even that daughter you bore smells Dornish. Perhaps she's not Rhaegar's. Is that why he left you?"
Princess Elia said nothing and remained calm. They all knew that if she had asked for such mercy, King Aerys would brand her a traitor.
"Lady Myrcella piety shames us all, Your Grace," the princess said in a gentle tone that bespoke the truthiness of her words.
Seeing the naked truth, Lady Myrcella smiled at the princess.
"Well, I shall decree that my Lady Myrcella will visit the prisoners as she sees fit, as long as she has two knights and a Kingsguard protecting her. I won't have those men try anything to harm you, my lady."
At least it wasn't the escort of men that the King demanded followed his beloved Lady Myrcella everything she ventured outside the Red Keep. Barristan was starting to wonder if the girl left a prisoner if the Crown as well.
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.
"Have you completely lost your mind?" Ser Jaime was whispering-shouting at his sister.
As soon as King Aerys left, Ser Jaime dragged his sister out of the room. Stuck with a sudden feeling of worry, Ser Barristan followed the siblings as soon as Ser Jon Darry took over his guarding duties.
He found them in a corner not far away from the solar where they had their dinner. Ser Jaime had cornered the girl between a wall and his frame, but despite it, Barristan could see the girl was trembling all over and with soft tears running through her face. She made no sound despite it, and Barristan wondered it Ser Jaime's hands on her arms that were holding her upright.
"Aerys has killed men for lesser defiance! And risk your life for what? Some stupid men who mean nothing to you?" Ser Jaime shook his sister.
"I..." She was trying to speak, but in her panicked state, words failed her.
"I... They're innocent."
"Who cares for that! After what Aerys did to the Starks, you should be hidden away, not begging Aerys for mercy."
"But they're innocent," she said, louder this time. "It is our duty to use our privilege to help those in need, those wrongly accused of a crime..."
"Spare me your septa's preaches. Cersei is right. You're so stupid that Father should send you to the Silent Sisters and be done with you."
Lady Myrcella did not seem too shocked by the cruel words of her brother. Barristan's hand went to his sword pommel. Ser Barristan had witnessed the protective and loving way Ser Jaime treated his twin. And despite rarely seeing Ser Jaime with his eldest sibling, he believed his fellow Kingsguard treated Lady Myrcella the same way.
He could now see how wrong he was.
"I knew the King would listen to me."
That seemed to enrage him more. "Is that why you dressed like that!" He pointed to the lady's black gown lined in scarlet. Her clothes were cut in a fashion Queen Shaera and Queen Rhaella had introduced to court, the deep vee whose decollete showed the kirtle underneath. But despite being smaller breasted than her sister, Lady Myrcella's neckline was pushed down and tight that her womanly curves were scandalously exposed.
While King Aerys tended to dress Lady Myrcella in more exposed gowns - especially for meals in his solar - Barristan had never seen her dressed in such exposing way.
"You look like a dragon's whore. And you're going to be a dragon's whore too, it seems."
The sound of the slap seemed to travel through the hallway with a forbidding weight.
The girl's tears ran much more freely now, and Ser Jaime seemed shocked with his own words.
"' Cella," he whispered sadly.
"You can be so cruel, Jaime ... So cruel. You used to be kind and knightly. Knights protect the innocent, you used to say me. Wasn't that why you wished to become one? I might not be brave or strong like you, but I try to protect the innocent as best as I can. Can you say the same?"
The girl pushed her shocked brother – younger by two years, Barristan remembered - and walked away. As she did, the shadow came closer, moving towards the girl, and his large hand seemed to guide her gently out of her brother's view. "Come on, little lion. It's time for you to rest," he rasped.
As they left, he saw Ser Jaime lean over the stone wall, and knowing the knight wouldn't appreciate him seeing at such a state, Barristan left him be.
That night, the girl's words haunted him. Knights protect the innocent. I try to protect the innocent as best as I can. Can you say the same?"
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282 AC, the Black Cells, King's Landing
"Careful with the stairs, my lady." Barristan helped guide the girl.
It was Barristan's turn to take Lady Myrcella to the Black Cells. She went there every two days for the last week, and Ser Jonothan Darry or Prince Lewyn were the ones who usually accompanied her, but they had other duties, and His Grace had forbidden Ser Jaime from leaving his side.
He went to get her, surprised to find her at the Red Keep's sept in the early morning, clad in none of her fineries but a simple billowing woolen gown in dark green with a white scarf wrapped around her head. She looks more like a Septa than a lady.
Since that dinner, Barristan began to recall what he knew of the girl. Myrcella Lannister came to court as a young lady, barely a maid, with her sister. She became the youngest but higher ranking of Queen Rhaella's companions and later became part of Princess Elia's inner circle. In truth, she was the last of the princess' confidants living in King's Landing. Lady Myrcella was a very close friend with Lady Ashara, but Barristan barely took notice of the blonde when the beautiful Dornishwoman was present.
Now looking at her, he recalled that before King Aerys began paying more attention to her, she used to dress in a manner more like the one she did now.
Nevertheless, Barristan still had forgotten a girl who lived in the same castle as he did for almost a decade. It made him uncomfortable.
When Barristan entered the sept of the Red Keep and walked towards her, she did not bid him a good morning until her prayer was done. Lady Myrcella didn't even seem to notice his presence until she got up and went to pick up the basket that was left on the bench.
He had offered to carry it for her, but she declined with a polite smile. She was very polite, he noticed. Once outside the sept, she began to talk to him. Nothing interesting, mostly courtly talk about his kin or the typical questions people had for him, but it kept their walk pleasant.
"Thank you, Ser Barristan." She replied as he helped her down the staircase. Despite the darkness of the place, she didn't falter one step.
As they walked towards the cells, a heavy silence grew between them. There was no sound but them for some time until footsteps approached them. A jailor came to meet them close to the cells.
"Dale, how are you?" The lady asked with a nice smile. Lady Myrcella opened her basket and gave the burly man a loaf of fresh bread and a jar of jelly wrapped in linen.
"Same old." He grasped. He was an ugly man with a rugged beard and a commoner's speech. Despite it, Lady Myrcella seemed comfortable with him.
The boy who acted as her sworn shield was scarier in appearance, so she should be used to it by now. The boy in question didn't take his eyes away from her for a moment.
King Aerys had forbidden any Lannister men around her but for the young Sandor Clegane. The tall, brutish young man was deemed ugly enough by the King to be trusted to care for the girl.
But this Sandor Clegane stared at her like he would kill the entire world for his lady.
"How are the mistress and the children?" The blonde asked as she gave him a small bag, not a punch with money like one would expect, but food by the sound and weight of it. Perhaps some type of dessert.
"They're getting too sweet of a tooth," he said, taking the bag across his back and then giving her the cell keys. "I blame milady for it."
She smiled at him and touched his dirty jerkin on the arm. "Is Jeyne liking the orphanage?"
The man gave a crooked smile, one worn when speaking of their spouse. "Likes those little girls more than she likes the boys I put in her belly, that's sure."
"The girls like her as well. She had been a great addition. A fine cooker as well. You married well," she said with her bright smile, and the man seemed contagious by her sunny kindness. Barristan had never seen her smile so many times in such a short time. Perhaps, before, when in the company of the Princess Elia's lady she was as cheerful.
"How are your boys? Do they miss their mother much?"
The man began his long reply that Barristan zoned out. He was begging to wonder for how long the conversation would go on, when the man finally left, but not before giving the girl a bow worth of a royal. They walked in silence once more until they stopped at the cells.
"Sers, it is I, Lady Myrcella."
"My Lady, you return to us?" a voice came from the cell she entered.
Ser Barristan followed inside and wished he didn't.
It smelled terrible, but he had seen worse prison conditions. In the cell, a young knight was getting up and bowing. Lady Myrcella said her greetings with the same disposition as she offered them to the jailer but surprised Barristan by seating in the rock-made bed.
She never looked less a Lannister.
"As long as His Grace allows me, Ser Elbert."
Elbert Arryn, the heir of the Vale, seemed to have aged a decade in the two weeks he spent in the cells. His flaxen hair had once been lush and curly, now was darkened by dirt, and the beard he had grown made him look even more gaunt. His clothes consisted of a dirty shirt and a pair of breeches, and nothing more. He looked nothing like the Darling of the Vale, the shining and very promising young knight who ladies fanned over.
"I managed to find some pumpkin pie in the markets. I bought it for you."
The man's blue eyes stare at her with adoration. "You are were send by the Maiden or the Mother, were you not?"
"We are all creatures of the Gods, Ser Elbert," she said with a tender but jolly tone.
"I asked my lady to call me Elbert."
"That would be improper." She said and then proceeded to have Sandor Clegane give the man a closed receipt full of water to wash his torso and cut his beard, and as he stood scandalously shirtless in front of the young girl, she mended the bedding. "I brought you a washed blanket as well and a new book. I hope you enjoy the accounts of Viserys the Second's court rulings during his first decade as Hand? The man did sit on the throne more than his brother, that is for sure."
The knight gave her an amused smile. "It might bore me enough to make me sleep for more than a couple of hours."
"I brought you some herbs to help you sleep. The woman in the apothecary promised it would knock you out for hours."
"My lady, you shouldn't be in such unseemly places." Said the half-naked man who was being visited by the said lady in the Black Cells.
"If you promise not to tell my Lord Father, we shall all be fine," she jested. "Now, you cannot believe what I found about Lady Harte."
For close to half an hour, the girl kept the knight company, speaking more in that time than he heard in the time he knew her. She spoke of court gossip, of the children in the orphanages, of the weather, and Ser Elbert began to intervene more and more in the conversation until the point that he sat next to her, still shirtless, and talked to her as if they were friends of old reunited after a long time.
"Well, Ser Elbert it's time for me to leave," she announced sadly.
"Time to visit the others miserable sods," he said, lowering his shoulder.
Lady Myrcella placed a hand on them. "Worry not. I'll be here in two days' time."
"Which is an eternity in this place," he said with a heavy tone.
"You must think positive, Elbert. Soon all will get better," she said with naïveté optimism.
"I wish I had your brightness, my lady."
The girl pulled him into a long hug, and the man slowly wrapped his arms around her and departed from her embrace even more slowly.
"I shall see you in two days, Elbert. You must tell me all about the book I gave you."
The lady's humor turned sad as she left the cell. However, as soon as she got to another cell, she brightened again. It took two more visits for Ser Barristan to realize Lady Myrcella did the same thing with each prisoner and not just the highborn like she had asked King Aerys but all poor souls she found in those cells.
"I couldn't even stop her at the rapist and murders. She seems to have a fascination with them. But those tend to be offed before she gets a chance to see them again." Clegane rasped. "Little Lioness is too much stubborn and foolish to stop at the second attempt of rape. The jailor leaves them in chains now, and if they don't get in line, I make them." The tall young man offered him as an explanation.
Perhaps his brothers won't mind if Barristan shadows the girl more often.
.
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282 AC, the Throne Room, King's Landing
It took almost another two moons to turn for King Aerys to decide on the trial. Everyone would know the veridic before it even began. Robert Baratheon had won four battles since their capture. Eddard Stark had consolidated the northern forces and was marching down. The last report placed him close to the Riverlands.
Barristan just hoped these men had quicker deaths than the Starks were given and that neither of those men asked for a Trial by Battle. Not after how the last one ended.
He focused on one of the dragon skulls as the men were dragged through the Throne Room. And to their deaths. Lord Symond Staunton, the Master of Laws, proclaimed their crimes for all to hear. Everyone was silent as he ended and bowed before the King of Westeros, who demanded to know if any wished to speak for the accusers.
A figure approached the empty line in the middle of the room. When Ser Barristan saw who was, he wasn't truly surprised, unlike the courtiers who seemed to be unable to stop murmuring at each other.
"My Lady Myrcella?" the King asked, confused.
The girl slowly walked towards the Iron Throne and the Kingsguard. Both he and Jon Darry looked towards Ser Jaime for a brief time, and while his face was blank, his green eyes shouted his anger loudly. The men in chains turned to her in shock and fear.
"The Lady Myrcella, of House Lannister," the herald cried as if not all in the room knew who she was.
"Do you have something you wish to tell me?" The King asked, unable to move from the figure clad in Targaryen red and black.
Lady Myrcella looked nothing like the figure most of the court was used to see. Her hair was unbound, curling to her lower back, a pale gold that shone when the light hit it. Her gown was black and Targaryen red, sewn tight around her body, the square-cut black bodice pushed in a way that showed her curves in a shocking way that had people gasp. The usual long sleeves were replaced by slim-fitted black textile embroidered to appear like scales, and her scarlet skirts had embroidered in darker red dragon motifs. Around her neck was a gold choker with rubies in the shape of teardrops that the King had gifted her and that Ser Barristan knew belonged to the Crown Jewels.
All in all, she looked how King Aerys liked her, especially as she perfectly knelt at the bottom of the Iron Throne, head bow down. The courtiers couldn't stop themselves from whispering about the meek daughter of Tywin Lannister kneeling before the Throne in Targaryen colors, and even at this distance, he knew what they were calling her. Even in his mind, he refused to associate that word with her. Barristan was beginning to despise them.
"If it pleases Your Grace, I ask mercy for the men whose crimes we judge today."
Grand Maester Pycelle, who seemed to be having a heart attack, stumbled over his words, "My Lady, while your gentle heart does your justice, these men have committed grave and terrible crimes."
She ignored the Grand Maester and looked up to Aerys. His desire for the woman naked for all to see. "Your Grace, on your behalf, I visited these men during their imprisonment, and not once have they spoke a word against Your Grace undoubting fair and just rule. While I know they must be punished, I ask is that you grant them mercy. I do not boast of knowing what goes into men's hearts, but I know these men would never dare to act against the king they so deeply love. They - Lord Stark and his heir - must have lied to them, abusing their long-lasting friendship and trust. They were betrayed, my just king, and for that, I beg for mercy."
The place was as silent as a crypt. All eyes fixed on the girl and the king. Barristan began to count the courtiers to pass the time. He hit a thousand when the king spoke.
"You do move me, my Myrcella," the king spoke softly, his lustful gaze unmoving from her body, "You are your mother come again in your piety and kindness." King Aerys must not remember the late Lady Joanna was he does. The woman had congratulated her future husband on the Tarbeck-Reyne massacre and acted around the court as if she was the queen and not a mere lady. "And while I do not have in me to hurt you," Barristan couldn't help but flashback to how tightly he tended to hold the girl's wrist and arms, the bruises decorating them, how he would touch her tenderly as if she were his lover, not seeing the tremblings he caused the girl every time he did so. "I cannot let this crime go unpunished."
The lady looked down in defeat.
"However, for such a loving and faithful subject, I shall grant you your desire of mercy. These traitors shall be executed by the sword. A swift end. All but one." The whispers returned. "I shall allow you, my Myrcella, to pick one of these unworthy traitors to be granted a second chance to repent and show his loyalty."
Author's Note:
yochan123: Cersei has had a very forceful personality and young Myrcella just liked to be left to her books… Older Myrcella had to deal with way worse than Cersei and learned better.
SomeNastyKaren: I thought it was clear Myrcella is the eldest child by two years. I imagine a woman like Joanna would want to shape their children from the moment they learned to walk.
BellaMeShipper: Thank you!
AAALLlIII333: Thank you!
Guest: I'm glad you enjoyed it. I'll try to update every two weeks.
Darthwolf: And take Jaime's moment? Myrcella will be a bit busy during the Sack of KL that's all I can say.
Anarra: Thank you for your words. English is not my first language so errors will happen as much as I try. Hope it wasn't too bad.