Sorry I kept you waiting for two weeks for this new chapter. I had a lot of chapters to write for "A Shadow and a Wolf" and I decided to focus on it.

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Cersei learns Tyrion is getting married. Let's see what she does of it.


CERSEI II

"Are you sure about that?" asked Cersei, unbelieving.

"Yes, your Grace," answered Pycelle, his voice shivering. "The… The raven sent to Lord Renly Baratheon by Ser Loras Tyrell was very clear about it. I came here immediately to tell you. Lord Mace Tyrell agreed to give his only daughter in marriage to your brother, Lord Tyrion Lannister."

Disgust was plain in the old man's voice. "I already told you to never call him by that title when we are alone. My brother has no right over Casterly Rock."

"Of course, your Grace. How… however, I didn't call him that way as a reference to the fact he is considered the Lord of Casterly Rock. He is the son of Lord Tywin, hence he has the right to be called…"

"I don't want you to call him by any title when you are only in my presence. Call it the way you want the rest of the time, to lick everyone's boots, but when we're alone, you will not give him any title."

"Yes, your Grace."

"Good. So, Ser Loras asked his lover to stop the marriage between his sister and my wretched brother?"

"Yes, your Grace. That's exactly what Ser Loras asked."

"What about Lord Renly? How did he react to this?"

"He… he didn't say anything after I gave him the message. But I think he went to see the king afterwards."

Then Robert would know very soon. Renly Baratheon was certainly going to argue with Cersei's husband about this. He would try to stop this marriage. That was only too good. "Thank you, Grand Maester. You are dismissed."

"If I may, your Grace, Lord Tywin always put a great trust in me and I was among his most loyal supporters and allies here. I know he didn't want this… this creature, to be his heir and to inherit his lands and titles. That's why I'm ready to do everything to… to keep an eye on him. What do you intend to do about this marriage? If… if Tyrion Lannister was to marry, I know that dwarves can have children from my studies at the Citadel. Perhaps we should…"

"This is none of your concern, Grand Maester. I welcome your advice, but I don't need it right now. I'll ask you when I'll need it. You're dismissed."

"Yes, your Grace." The old man bowed, if you could call that a bow. He was so bent all the time that he seemed to be bowing all the time.

Cersei thought about what just happened. The Imp with the Rose of Highgarden. Margaery Tyrell's father had to be an imbecile to consider a marriage between his daughter and Cersei's brother. The life of his daughter would be miserable with the Imp. Only whores could be interested in him because he paid them. These girls were only interested in the gold Tyrion could give them.

The gold he could give them. Tyrion was officially Lord of Casterly Rock, even if he had no right over it. The woman who would marry him would be covered with gold. She should have thought about it. Some highborn ladies would be ready to sacrifice everything only for all the gold of Casterly Rock. That Tyrell girl was about to get her hands on it. Cersei couldn't let that happen. She couldn't let Casterly Rock and its riches fall into the hands of a stinking rose.

She left her rooms and walked towards those of the king. Robert's rooms were far away from hers, almost at the other side of the Red Keep, so they could have as much distance they could between them. Renly may be able to convince Robert on his own, but if he failed, which was quite possible, then she had to force Robert to stop this marriage between Tyrion and the Tyrell girl by herself.

Ser Barristan Selmy was standing guard before the door of the king's chamber. He bowed before her and called her your Grace when he saw her approaching. He announced her presence to the king and allowed her to enter. Without any surprise, Robert was drinking when she came in. He barely seemed to acknowledge her presence until she stood right before him. What a king he made. Joffrey was ten times worthier than him.

"What do you want, woman?" he asked.

"I hoped we could talk. About a serious matter." She remained standing to make him feel she was superior.

"Ah. A serious matter. Not today, woman. I had my lot of serious matters today. My brother just came to see me about one, and it was more than enough."

"Your brother? Which one?" Did Renly Baratheon precede her?

"Renly! Talking about some information he received. Apparently your brother, the Imp, is marrying soon."

Cersei took a surprised expression. That was something she could use. "Tyrion? Marrying? You must be joking." She put a mocking smile on her face as she said that. She never laughed in presence of her husband.

"I'm not joking, and don't try to hide you knew about it."

"I'm afraid I don't see what you are talking about. My brother and I don't get along quite well. Tyrion is insufferable and a little monster, and we both hate each other. I would the last person to know it if he was to marry." Cersei sat in front of the king's desk. "But I admit that I pity the girl who's going to marry him. Who's this poor little dove?"

Robert seemed surprised by her words. Then he burst into laughs. "Even you don't know. Well, that explains why even Varys couldn't inform me. Your brother hid it well. He's going to marry Margaery Tyrell."

Cersei took a surprised expression once more. "The daughter of Mace Tyrell? Well, I pity the Rose of Highgarden."

Robert laughed loudly again. "You imagine that! The Imp and the Rose! Even our marriage seems a success when compared to it." Cersei allowed a laugh to escape her throat. Robert's expression turned sour not long later. "Ah, so here we sit, thirteen years and three children later, laughing at the only marriage that may end worse than ours. I must warn you, this is not a marriage I can allow."

"Why?"

"Don't do as if you didn't know. I may not be interested in making laws or counting coppers or giving justice. I was made to fight, and we stopped to fight after the Mad King died. All the same, I'm not an idiot. The Tyrells fought against me during the rebellion. They besieged my castle and would have taken it if it wasn't for Stannis's Onion Knight. Randyll Tarly defeated me at the Battle of Ashford, and he was one of their bannermen. More than half the debts of the Crown are owed to your brother and to his future father-in-law. They have more ships, more men, more gold, more crops than the rest of my kingdoms combined, and these kingdoms are divided. Your father wanted to own the world before he died. I don't know if your brother is any different, but even if he was different, I cannot allow your family to unite with the Tyrells, or else they could decide to seize the Seven Kingdoms for themselves."

"I agree. We cannot let my brother marry Margaery Tyrell."

Robert laughed again at her. Cersei kept a calm attitude, though she wanted to throw her cup of wine to him. "You're the one to say that? It's your own family I'm talking about."

"Tyrion and I hate each other. I don't really consider him like family. Margaery Tyrell neither. If they were to seize the Seven Kingdoms, and that you were no longer king, how long would I stay queen? What would happen to our children?" What would happen to my children?

"So, you are against your brother's marriage."

"I am. To be honest, I would be against almost any marriage my brother could make. I don't envy the girl who would find herself in his bed."

"Would you pity her more than you pity yourself?"

Cersei made a sarcastic smile. "Maybe."

Robert nodded in acknowledgement. "Maybe I would me too. I don't hate your brother, I have to admit it. Both your brothers, I don't have much against them, as long as your twin doesn't repeat with me what he did to the Mad King, and as long as your little brother doesn't try to control me like your father tried. But this marriage with the Tyrell girl is too dangerous. I cannot allow it."

"Then it seems we agree on something for once. Perhaps we should work together."

Robert scoffed. "Work together? That would be the first time it happens, except when we made the children. What would you do? No, better. What would your father do if he was still alive? You move your lips and your father's voice comes out."

"That's quite simple." Cersei had poured herself a cup of wine as they talked. She put it back on the table. "The best way to stop a marriage from happening is to kill it in the crib. The best way for that is another marriage. If Margaery Tyrell is already married, my brother can never marry her."

Robert chuckled a little after some time. "Good idea. Marry Margaery Tyrell to someone else. I suppose that must be possible. After all, I am the king. If I tell the Tyrells to marry their rose to some other high lord, they will have no other choice but to accept."

"Then I suppose the matter is settled," Cersei said. She rose from her seat. "Perhaps we should work together more often," she suggested.

"Aye. In our dreams," Robert replied while laughing.

"Or in our nightmares, maybe more." They both laughed loudly.

Cersei left. Ser Barristan bowed again when she passed before him and she heard her husband call for more wine, cursing the absence of his squire. Lancel chose this moment to appear, carrying a huge jug filled to the brim. He flushed while looking at her, but ran to the king's chamber when Robert shouted again for wine. Cersei didn't like to laugh with her husband. Their marriage was miserable. Robert still loved a dead body more than her, the most beautiful woman in the Seven Kingdoms.

The next morning, Cersei was surprisingly called for a meeting of the small council. When she arrived, all the other members of the small council were already there. Jon Arryn. Stannis Baratheon. Renly Baratheon. Pycelle. The Spider. Littlefinger. The thing that surprised her was that Robert himself was there. She couldn't remember the last time he attended a meeting of the small council. Except Robert, they all rose when she arrived, the Spider and Pycelle bowing deeply with reverence, Littlefinger and Renly with a mocking expression, Stannis only bowing the way it was required while still gritting his teeth, Jon Arryn with respect.

"That must be the first time I am summoned to a meeting of the small council," she said, but without scorn in her voice. She didn't like to be commanded to do things.

"That's not my idea. It is Jon's idea," replied Robert.

"Your Grace," said the Hand of the King, "we were hoping you could help on a matter of the utmost importance. We received information yesterday that your brother, Lord Tyrion Lannister, was about to marry Lady Margaery of House Tyrell."

"I had heard about it," she confessed. With Robert present, it was useless to lie.

"We thought that you could help us to find another bride for the Lord of Casterly Rock."

Cersei's eyes widened at the words of the Hand of the King. "What did you just say?"

"Lord Tyrion is unwed, your Grace," explained the Lord of the Eyrie. "We are of an opinion that we could find him a more suitable bride than the daughter of Lord Tyrell."

Cersei stared at her husband with fury. "Don't look at me like that," Robert told her. "That was Jon's notion. He is right. If we were to find another marriage to the Rose of Highgarden, your Imp brother would find another woman to marry instead of her. I would rather have him marry a woman we chose instead of marrying a woman he chose himself. I suppose you would like that better."

Cersei stared back at Jon Arryn, then again to Robert. That wasn't what was planned. Tyrion couldn't marry. If he was wed, then he could have children, just like Pycelle told her. If he had children, then Cersei's chances to get her hands on Casterly Rock one day were almost reduced to nothing. She didn't have enough time yet to turn people against Tyrion in the Westerlands to overthrow him. However, she couldn't tell that before the small council. However, she didn't hide her dissatisfaction.

"Very well," she simply said. She went to sit to the opposite side of Robert, facing him. "What woman do you think we should get my brother married to?"

"First, your Grace," started the Hand before Robert could answer, "we must know more about Lord Tyrion. I'm afraid we don't know your brother very much despite the time he spent in King's Landing."

"The only thing I know about him is that he drinks even more than me, and that won't help us very much," roared Robert.

"All the more reason to not let him marry at all. I don't think a woman will appreciate to be married to such a drunkard," said Cersei, still looking in Robert's eyes.

"Your Grace," intervened again the Hand, "we cannot prevent Lord Tyrion from marrying. The king doesn't have the power to order a lord to never marry. However, he can offer him a bride, and the offer of a king in this sort of matter is not far from an order. But first, we must know what kind of bride your brother would be ready to accept from the king."

Cersei scoffed. "My brother would accept any woman in his bed or as his wife. He is well known for that. He married a whore when he was sixteen." The reactions around the table varied very much. Lord Stannis almost spat in disdain, Pycelle looked outraged, Robert was stunned and Jon Arryn too, Renly looked about to laugh. As for Varys and Littlefinger, they didn't seem surprised by her words. "The girl is dead anyway. However, if my brother was offered the Rose of Highgarden, I doubt he will accept something less than her. If you are to offer him another bride, then you'll need someone at least as beautiful as Margaery Tyrell, and at least from the same station than her. He won't accept someone below."

Cersei didn't really know what Tyrion wanted for a wife in fact, but she had to make these men understand they wouldn't be able to find him another wife to replace Margaery Tyrell and that their only option was to find another husband to the girl.

Jon Arryn sighed and cleared his throat before he spoke. "Well, in this case, if we are to offer another bride to Lord Tyrion, she will have to come from one of the great families of Westeros. One of the families ruling the Seven Kingdoms, the daughter or the sister of a lord paramount. Sadly, we don't have much choice on this side."

"I think Prince Doran Martell had a daughter," said Renly. "I met her a few years ago. She was quite beautiful, with a brown skin, long black hair, full lips. She was quite attractive for a woman. She must be around Lord Tyrion's age now."

"Lord Renly," began the Hand, a hand on his forehead. "Princess Arianne Martell died last year of an illness. Anyway, although she would make a perfect bride for Lord Tyrion if she was alive, Prince Doran would never consent to such a marriage. He never forgave what happened to his sister, his nephew and his niece when we took King's Landing. We couldn't ask something like this from him."

"Perhaps someone in the royal family then," suggested Littlefinger, a little smile on his face, looking at Cersei.

"If you think I'm going to give Myrcella to that monster, brothelkeeper, then you are a fool! I should have your head!" Cersei's angry voice echoed in the room on the walls.

"I don't think it was what Lord Baelish suggested, your Grace," the Spider intervened. "We both know Lord Tyrion cannot marry his niece, and anyway Princess Myrcella is too young and she hasn't bled yet. We are no longer under the Targaryen rule. I think the Master of Coin was talking about another girl of the royal family. Princess Myrcella is not the only unwed Baratheon woman."

Heads turned to Stannis. "Shireen is not even ten, and I will not marry her to some dwarf," the Master of Ships said, his voice threatening. The look in his face showed there was no discussion to have.

"Too bad," commented Lord Baelish. "I supposed a woman with greyscale and a dwarf would fit well together."

The icy stare of Stannis Baratheon fell on Littlefinger, whose smile didn't leave his face. Cersei intervened after a short time. "I believe no woman in House Baratheon can marry my brother. My apologies, Lord Stannis, but my brother will never accept to marry your daughter even if she was old enough. He's like that. He will never want to marry a girl with greyscale."

"My family has no girls to offer either," resumed Jon Arryn. "I only have a son. As for Lord Hoster Tully, his two daughters are already married. I'm afraid we have no choice."

"What about Ned?" shouted Robert. "He has children if I remember well. How many?"

"Ned Stark has five children, your Grace, six if we include the bastard, Jon Snow," answered Varys.

"I don't care about the bastard. Does he have girls?"

"He has, your Grace. Two girls. The Lady Sansa and the Lady Arya. Sansa Stark is the eldest."

"Then let's propose her to the Imp," decided Robert. Cersei feared the worst for some time, but other people spoke before her.

"Your Grace, you cannot ask such a thing from Lord Stark," said Jon Arryn. Cersei knew the Hand considered the Lord of Winterfell like his own son.

"Why not? His daughter will become Lady of Casterly Rock. Why would he complain?"

"Your Grace," interrupted Varys, "I'm afraid Lord Arryn is right. You cannot ask Eddard Stark to give his daughter to Lord Tyrion."

"Why not?"

"Because the Lady Sansa is only ten-years-old. She hasn't bled yet. Lord Tyrion will not accept to set aside Lady Tyrell for a little girl he will only be able to marry in a few years."

Cersei sighed internally in relief. There were no marriageable women in all the great houses of Westeros, and Jon Arryn pointed it out very quickly. "Then it seems we have no bride to offer to Lord Tyrion." Jon Arryn seemed relieved as well, probably because a daughter of Eddard Stark wasn't condemned to become the Imp's wife.

Cersei spoke up. "As I said yesterday to my husband the king, I don't wish to see an innocent girl end in my brother's hands. Her life will be miserable with him. It would be criminal to let Margaery Tyrell end up in my brother's bed."

"We don't care about the girl," said Stannis. "It's the alliance it would create that would be dangerous. We all know it. We cannot allow the Lannisters and the Tyrells to be bound by marriage like this. If we cannot find another wife for Tyrion Lannister, then we must find another husband for Margaery Tyrell. The matter is simple. We offer another lord to marry their rose to the Tyrells, and they will have to accept it."

"On this, we have several options," said Varys. "Many heirs are without wife or betrothed right now, and many are around the same age than Lady Margaery. Prince Trystane Martell, the heir to Sunspear. Lord Edmure Tully, heir to Riverrun. Robb Stark, heir to Winterfell. There is also Lord Robin Arryn, though he may be too young yet. And we mustn't forget Prince Joffrey. He's still not betrothed."

"Joffrey will not marry the Tyrell girl," Cersei declared, making it clear she wouldn't change her mind on this. She wouldn't let her son marry a girl who was destined to the monster who killed his grandmother.

"Alright, have it, woman," said Robert. He seemed bored by all this. "Joffrey will not marry her, if you really don't want. Anyway, he's still young, we have all the time to find him a bride."

"You forgot about me," said a voice. Everyone turned to Renly Baratheon, the Lord of Storm's End. He was the one who just spoke and smiled widely.

"You, Renly! Ah! That must be the first time you are interested in a woman."

"Well, I will have to marry one day or another. I know Lady Margaery." He knows her brother much better if what I heard is true. "It wouldn't bother me to have her as a wife, and I am sure the Tyrells wouldn't oppose if we were to offer their rose to become Lady of Storm's End. I have good relations with House Tyrell. They might be reluctant if they were proposed Edmure Tully or Robb Stark, but they will accept immediately if I am the groom for Margaery."

"Lord Renly is right, he will have to marry sooner or later," added Lord Arryn. "I think he is probably the best option we have. Furthermore, this will link the Tyrells to the Crown and prevent any rebellion from their side in the future."

"Very well, it's done," roared the king. "Jon, you'll write to the damn Tyrells and tell them their rose will marry my brother. I never thought I would see the day when Renly would get married, but it seems I will. Now get on with the small matters while I go back to digging myself into an early grave."

Robert left on this. The rest of the small council was about minor matters, like the king said, and without much importance, but Cersei stayed there until the end. Jon Arryn didn't seem to approve her presence, but he didn't dare to tell her to leave if he thought about it. There were discussions about some loans the Crown had towards the Iron Bank and about the two surviving children of the Mad King, still in exile across the Narrow Sea. Later, Cersei thought she heard they were in Pentos, unless it was in Norvos.

Later, Cersei was sitting in her personal chamber, sipping wine. She had stopped Tyrion from marrying. Maybe her brother would stop looking for another wife when he would discover the Tyrells rejected him for a man who preferred men in his bed rather than women. However, she wasn't ready to bet on it. Tyrion would try to find another wife after he learnt the Tyrell girl was given to someone else. Cersei knew there were many highborn ladies in the Westerlands. Surely there would be at least one ready to marry a dwarf to put her filthy hands on the gold of Casterly Rock. That wasn't something she could allow to happen. She had to put an end to Tyrion's illegitimate power over the Rock before it was too late. She couldn't ask Robert to stop any marriage Tyrion might attempt. She had to act before it was too late.

All the same, Cersei was satisfied to have prevented her wretched brother from bringing another woman in her mother's bed. She called for her brother to make a nightly celebration of her victory, though she didn't tell him she was celebrating. Jaime loved their brother so much that he could reveal everything to him, and that could put her future plans into danger. She was doing all of this for both of them, and for their children. Casterly Rock was theirs.


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