Cercei hated surprises. First her handmaid Emily took an absence while her lady mother recovered, then Robert's agreement with the high septon, the engagement of both Brax girls, and worst of all her lord father's declaration that Jaime must wed within the year.
She knew her twin well enough that he didn't have to tell her he would not run or defy their father again, even though he had done so quite bluntly and informed her their affair was at an end. What was she to do now? With that blasted wolf and his children here, Robert became more lucid every day and that put everything she had worked so hard to achieve in danger.
He might start to ask questions like Jon Arryn, whose meddling got close to exposing her children and forced her and Jaime to make a deal with Baelish. At the time it benefited Littlefinger as well, since Lysa wished her husband gone and the woman had been leaning on him for some time to make it look like Jon died of old age.
Now however, there were no advantages to bargaining. Lysa returned to the Vale to "grieve", Baelish had new agendas, and Varys the Spider was just as much of a risk and costly to go to and both could backfire into exposing her. She considered hiring an assassin from Essos through a patsy who would take the fall instead of her, albeit the risk of someone uncovering her real identity was too great.
It disgusted her to think that with Robert's increasing sobriety he might actually seek her out instead of his whores and she had vowed long ago to never let him inside her ever again after he crawled into their wedding bed as a drunk who'd dared to call her that dead wolf's name and instead of apologizing or acknowledging his actions, he constantly wooed other women in "secrecy" and convinced himself she knew nothing of it when she did.
She never cared, for his absences allowed Jaime to plant their children inside her and she always got Robert so intoxicated he was fooled he'd done the deed and never even seemed to notice his "heirs" never had his black hair like all his bastards did. Perhaps she could keep him inebriated should he ever attempt to interact with her and slowly administer poison to him during his visits and when he decided to go hunting as he loved to he would eventually take on a foe he was too weak to handle and charge in to his death with no idea.
By then Jaime would be pushing babies into some other woman, but with Robert gone she could become Queen Regent and have any man she wished while her sweet Joffrey became old enough to take the throne and have his "queen" bred to fulfill the requirements of an heir of his own. After that, he could lock up that naïve little twit and plow whom ever he wished.
He was her darling boy and would have everything he wanted and she would make it up to him for having to impregnate his intended, whom he had no interest in at all. Sansa on the other hand was as wet as a she-hound in heat for Joffrey, which was plain for all to see and Cercei used that to insure her son's seat on the throne. Because of this, Joffrey obediently showered his betrothed with gifts and affection at her suggestions and found solace in her consolations whenever he became irked.
She cursed Robert yet again for arranging the marriage without her approval. Joffrey deserved someone far better than a Northern brat, however the only way out currently was if Lord Stark decided to break the arrangement and his honor would never let the idea occur to him. From what she'd observed of the quiet man, he seemed to believe in the match as much as Robert did and presumably betrothed one of his sons to her other handmaid Talia.
With the level of secrecy surrounding which one, Cercei decided it was his youngest since there were rumors his oldest was already engaged. Bran was still a child barely approaching manhood and of course both parties would keep quiet about it to save Talia from the embarrassment of admitting her future husband might not be able to get his short sword up to seal their union and definitely wouldn't sire any children for at least another four years.
Talia's sister Emily had a better chance of getting with child, even if Ser Barristan was much older and Lysa's union to Jon had produced many miscarriages before she had born Robin. Idily, Cercei wondered what could have possessed the current heir to Hornvale to agree to such hopeless betrothals. Still, they did favor him from a political standpoint. With his eldest being tied to the most powerful family in the North and his younger girl to a renowned knight, he would certainly eclipse the rest of his family even without a male heir.
He might even name Ser Barristan as his successor, since the Selmy family no longer had any official holdings and that would insure that at least his youngest was well cared for. Regardless, it left her with the unpleasant tasks of finding new handmaids and a lover. The latter was going to be much harder, for Jaime had been the model of discretion and fulfilled her every need, as well as removing anyone who suspected their affair.
In hindsight, perhaps she should have disregarded traditional expectations and gone Targaryen with him despite the consequences. It was too late to change the past and she blamed their lord father for everything that had happened. If only there were a way to get rid of Tywin, though she knew he was nearly impossible to kill for many had tried over the years. His personal guards alone were akin to the white cloaks, trained against threats of all kinds and his squires dutifully ate and drank some of whatever was served to the older man and often died instead of him. Not to mention the fact that the swordsmanship of the Lord of Casterly Rock was legendary in it's own right left little hope for any who could get passed his other security measures.
Tyrion no doubt would have some clever suggestions, but she had never seen what Jaime did in that Imp of a brother of theirs. In fact, she hated Tyrion for taking away their lady mother even if the tragedy had allowed her and Jaime to resume their "inappropriate" activities. She shoved all those memories away and forced herself to look back down at the list of Lannister allies for potential candidates.