As Jon Connington and his men breached the gates of King's Landing, they were met with a hail of crossbow bolts, arrows, and spears. The gates were quickly overwhelmed by the defenders. Cersei began to become nervous as she saw her own men begin to retreat inside the city.
"Hold your lines!" she yelled to Lord Mace Tyrell. "I will not lose this city again." She knew her father well, and the way he would react when faced with such a defeat. She remembered how he looked at her with disdain, with disappointment.
She could hear him now, telling her what she had done wrong, what she should have done differently, how she needed to get her head straight, and stop being a fool. She hated him for that and yet she loved him too, because he was her father if nothing else. Perhaps Lord Tywin could have held the city, but Tommen was simply a different type of lion.
"My lady . . ." said Ser Kevan Lannister, "this battle is lost, the gate is broken, we must fall back."
"No," she replied, "we'll hold the walls. We will win this day, and when we do, I want every man who set foot in that gate to die."
Ser Kevan shook his head. "My lady, the walls cannot hold. The enemy numbers too great, and there are those amongst us who will not fight. If we fail here today, the kingdom falls. Take my advice and take our men and withdraw. They may take King's Landing but they'll never be able to take Casterly Rock."
He was right; the Lannister army was far from full strength. The Highgarden contingent was still recovering from their escape. Many of her bannersmen were either wounded or sick, while others were unable to make the journey back at all.
"Then let them burn. Release the wildfire she signaled to Qyburn. Burn the city to the ground."
Qyburn nodded and raised his hands. There was a hissing sound, and then a massive ball of flames erupted from the center of the courtyard.
She could see Kevan shaking.
"You grace... what have you done? The people will never forget this. You have doomed us all."