Here comes the Mad Queen again.
CERSEI IV
"It must be done tonight."
"It is quite unexpected, your Grace. I thought we were supposed to take our time, make sure we had enough men on our side," Littlefinger replied.
"We cannot wait anymore. We must act now. In the morning it might be too late."
The queen was in Lord Baelish's rooms. It was a chance that he was in the Red Keep tonight. She heard he spent most of his nights in his brothel, watching his whores, certainly doing more than watching.
"If we do this now, failure is more than possible," he said.
"You had months to bring the City Watch back in my hands. Don't tell me it wasn't enough."
"It's not as easy as it used to be in the time of Janos Slynt. Ser Jacelyn Bywater removed most of the officers of the City Watch and replaced them, sometimes with men Lord Tyrion brought with him from the Westerlands. The new officers are not as corrupted as the former, and not so easily bribed. They are loyal to their lord."
"They should be loyal to their king." And their queen.
"Alas, things are seldom as they should be. The only justice in this world is the one we make."
In that, she couldn't agree more. Cersei had been a victim of injustice all her life, all that because she wasn't born with the right parts between her legs.
"Well, maybe it's time we make justice happen. You want Harrenhal, Lord Baelish?"
"As it was promised to me by Lady Lannister."
She grinded her teeth. She hated to hear that bitch being called the way her mother was called before. "As it was falsely promised by her. However, unlike our little rose, a Lannister always pays his debts."
"I expect nothing less."
"Then, tomorrow in the morning, and Harrenhal is yours."
"You are quite persuasive, your Grace. However, of the twelve officers who take their orders directly from Ser Jacelyn, I was only able to bribe three. I'm approaching three more as we speak, but it will take me some time to get them on our side."
"You have the night."
"That may not be enough."
"Then make sure it will be."
The Master of Coin smiled. She hated that smile. He had tried to threaten her about her children's father once, and he regretted it. She had an irresistible desire to repeat the experience she led back then, but she had to relent since she needed this man. She hated needing him.
"Even if I manage it, we will only have half the City Watch by our side. Two thousand men. Lord Tyrion will have twice that number, and many more outside the walls," he explained.
"Do we need two thousand men to kill him?"
"No. Only one man could be enough."
"Once my brother is dead, his men will rally to their king." And to me.
"I wouldn't be so optimistic about it, your Grace. Many will look at his death and find it suspicious."
"We will make everyone believe Stannis was behind this. It wouldn't be the first time one of his opponents got killed before a battle," she said, referring to Renly.
"Maybe, but some will wonder if you had anything to do with his death."
"I will deal with them. For now, all that matter is that my wretched brother must be dead by tomorrow. And his wife too."
She wouldn't let him hurt her children. She knew what he was going to do. He was going to take them away from her, and that she couldn't allow. She would never allow it. She was their mother, the queen, and no one would get in her way. She would protect them and kill the valonqar.
"Killing Lady Margaery might weaken our alliance with the Reach."
"I don't care. She must die. He must die. They must die, both of them." She could have kept the Tyrell girl a hostage, but she had become too dangerous. She would seek revenge for her dead brother.
Ser Mandon Moore was supposed to kill her, not Ser Loras. She wouldn't have minded if he had killed both Margaery and Ser Loras before he died, but instead he killed the brother and let the sister live. Were there no people you could rely on in this world. Even Jaime wasn't strong enough to protect their children. He preferred to follow the orders of his younger brother, when he should be giving orders.
"I will have them dead in the morning," Littlefinger said.
"Good. Harrenhal and the Riverlands will be yours by the morning."
"However, I cannot guarantee what will happen after Lord Tyrion and his wife are dead."
"Don't worry about that. I'll handle it."
Her father's men wouldn't miss Tyrion. That little creature was only lord because Jaime didn't want to be and because the stupid laws of the Seven Kingdoms wouldn't allow a woman to seize power as long as there would be a man standing in her way. The soldiers of the Westerlands were certainly not thrilled to serve a dwarf. Well, maybe they were less upset than she was, since she had to obey a man and a dwarf, and only the latter bothered men, while a woman was bothered by both. Still, obeying Tyrion was still bothering enough for them to be relieved when he would be gone. They would follow Joffrey and Jaime more eagerly. Cersei only had to maneuver them carefully. Joffrey was unpredictable since he got the crown on his head, but she still had some leverage on Jaime. As long as she had him on her side, she could succeed. Joffrey and Jaime were both parts of her, and with a part of her as king, and another part of her as Lord of Casterly Rock, she would be unstoppable.
"Well, I should get to work," the Master of Coin said, standing up and walking immediately to the door. He wasn't wearing nightclothes.
"Don't forget, Lord Baelish. Without me, you'll never get Harrenhal. And if I fall, you fall with me."
"I won't forget."
He was gone, and Cersei left his rooms soon after. The castle was very silent. Most of the men were in the fields or on the battlements or in the streets, preparing for the inevitable attack. It was only a matter of days before Stannis arrived. When she arrived into her own room, she found Jaime waiting for her, sitting on her bed. The sheets were still a complete mess.
"So, did you do it?" she asked him immediately.
"If you're asking if I killed Tyrion like you asked me to, then no, I didn't."
"Well, it seems you still have work to do then."
"Do you really expect me to kill my brother?"
"I expect you to do everything necessary to protect our children."
"And I did. You saw me push the boy."
"I didn't ask you to do it."
"And yet I did it. The boy was a threat. Tyrion is not."
"The way you pity him makes you blind."
"Your hatred of Tyrion blinds you too. It stops you from realizing that he's your best chance to survive, to you and to your children."
She walked past him. She wouldn't talk about it any longer. Talk wouldn't convince her brother.
"Why do you hate so much? What has Tyrion ever done to deserve your hatred?" he asked.
"He killed our mother. That's enough."
Jaime's arms dropped on the bed, then he stood up, shaking his head. "I'm not going to argue about this again."
"He will kill us all us all as soon as he sees it fit," she stated.
"Without Tyrion, Joffrey would be nothing. He would have no one to support him."
"He would have me."
"How many men can you bring to fight for him?"
"I would have Tyrion's men, had you accepted the path Father traced for you."
"Tyrion did more for House Lannister in three years than I could have done in twenty. We are more powerful with him than we ever were when Father lived."
"How?"
"We have the Reach, and now even Dorne. Your son is the king. It wasn't under Father's rule that it happened."
"It would have happened under his rule as well. Only he wouldn't have sold us out to the Tyrells."
"I doubt about it. We never had an alliance with any of the Seven Kingdoms when he was alive."
"Because he knew we could only rely on ourselves."
"Well, maybe that explains why he hid under Casterly Rock during Robert's war and only showed up at the end, to be sure he wouldn't pick the losing side."
"And you think this was such a bad idea? Our son wouldn't be king if he had done otherwise."
She had poured a glass of wine and drank from it, the taste in her mouth refreshing her. She felt better, much better. Tomorrow she would be the queen for more than in name. She would ger rid of her little brother and his spiteful wife, and she could rule over the Seven Kingdoms like she should always have.
Jaime stood right in front of her. "Father used to say that the family name lives on, that it was all that lived on. He said we were Lannisters, and that we must make sure the Lannisters live forever. He said every Lannister added some strength to the family name and that we should rely on us and only on us. Tyrion is a Lannister. We need him."
She wanted to punch him for what he just said, but instead she kissed him, and when she stepped away, she looked straight into his eyes. "We're the only Lannisters, the only ones who count."
And then she kissed him again. At first, she felt some resistance from him, but he gave in and kissed her as fiercely as she did. They did it once, twice, thrice, and at some point, they fell asleep.
She walked in the gardens of the Rock. Snow covered the ground and she was wearing boots and thick robes and furs. Her septa was followed her from afar. She was raised to be a perfect little lady. Sometimes she didn't understand why she couldn't fight with a sword in the yard like Jaime did. They were so alike, sometimes the servants couldn't distinguish one from the other. Only Mother could always tell who was standing right before her.
And there she was, her lady mother, Joanna Lannister, Lady of Casterly Rock. She had a big belly. Cersei didn't quite understand why her mother was big. Her septa told her it was because she was about to have another child, but Cersei didn't understand that either. Why would Mother would want another child? Were she and Jaime not enough?
She was sitting on a bench, playing with a red rose in one hand and a blue rose in the other. People said Cersei looked very much like her mother, and she heard her mother say to Aunt Genna that she would grow to be far more beautiful than she would ever be.
"Mother."
She smiled at her when she heard Cersei call her. She always smiled at her. It was a different smile from the one her father had for her. She liked her mother's smile better.
"Hi, my sweet girl." She raised her hands, showing the flowers to Cersei. "You see this red rose?"
"She's beautiful."
"We are in the middle of winter." She brandished the blue rose. "This is a winter rose. It is said they are the most beautiful of flowers at the end of winter, and the longer the winter the more beautiful they will get when it ends. This red rose can survive winter, though she doesn't always survive. When she does, she is a miracle of life, a proof that winter cannot erase beauty, that life is more powerful than anything. Together, these two flowers prove that life can survive and flourish through winter, that life is more powerful than death, and that something good can get through every ordeal."
She laid the two roses on her swelling belly. She made a small sound with her throat, and for a moment her eyes were closed, as if she was doing some kind of effort.
"Are you well, Mother?" Cersei asked.
"Yes, I am." She smiled. "Don't worry. I had it harder with you and your brother. I think this time there will only be one."
"Do you think it will be a boy or a girl?"
"I don't know, but I hope it will be a boy."
"Why? You don't like girls."
"No, quite the opposite. I probably love them more than boys, but I think this is a boy our family needs."
"Why?"
She looked straight before her at the flowers that winter didn't manage to kill yet. "When you and Jaime were born, your lord father and I were so proud. You were our two golden babies." Cersei felt her smile growing as she listened to the tale of her birth. "We told each other that our son would be a great knight, and our daughter a beautiful queen, and that they would be so tall, so handsome, so brave that no one would dare to oppose them. However… I may be wrong. It is my mother's intuition, and it is sometimes wrong, but I feel your little brother, or your little sister, will be called to greater things than you and Jaime one day. That's why I think it must be a boy. We need a great man for great achievements."
Cersei looked at the two flowers still resting on her mother's belly. For no reason at all, she wanted to throw them into the fire, but she didn't dare since her mother was here.
And then a fire started not far from her. And in that fire, she saw a shadow, a blackened shape. An arm was raised, and a dagger with a silver handle and a green pearl at its end. The outcry that came out of the stabbed shadow was heartbreaking. She recognized this voice. The face of Jaime came out of the fire as he stumbled on the floor, falling face first, the blade dug in his back. She knelt and rolled him over only to discover that it was Joffrey. She called her mother to help, only to find ashes flying all around when she looked behind, her mother and the septa gone. When she cast her eyes on her son's body, it was the face of Myrcella she met.
No, not her. Not my sweet and good Myrcella. She was the best thing to come out of her, the best thing she ever made. She took her face between her arms and cradled her. She closed her eyes as tears began to roll. When she opened them again, it was Tommen she was holding.
You will have three. Gold will be their crowns. Gold their shrouds. And when your tears have drowned you, the valonqar shall wrap his hands about your pale white throat and choke the life from you.
The dream ended before the rest of the prophecy came to be true. Someone was pounding on the door.
"Your Grace! Your Grace!"
"Wait!"
She was still with Jaime. She couldn't allow anyone to see her with him. She quickly dressed, put on a nightgown, before she answered to a livid handmaiden.
"Your Grace, something terrible happened!"
She didn't hide her smile. The nightmare was gone. Reality was back. Finally, her time had come. The sunlight managed to make its way through the curtains. The night was over, morning had come, and with it the dawn of her reign. Tyrion and Margaery were dead.
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Next chapter: Sansa, and the conclusion of the turning point of this story.
