The torches shimmered brightly against the hammered metal of the wall sconces, filling the Queen's Ballroom with silvery light. Yet there was still darkness in that hall. Daenerys could see it in the pale eyes of Ser Ilyn Payne, who stood by the back door still as stone, taking neither food nor wine. She could hear it in Lord Gyles's racking cough, and the whispered voice of Osney Kettleblack when he slipped in to bring Cersei the tidings. Daenerys was finishing her broth when he came the first time, entering through the back. She glimpsed him talking to his brother Osfryd. Then he climbed the dais and knelt beside the high seat, smelling of horse, four long thin scratches on his cheek crusted with scabs, his hair falling down past his collar and into his eyes. For all his whispering, Daenerys could not help but hear. "Your Grace, Stannis Baratheon appears to be attempting to intimidate us brave defenders. He has his fleet assembled and they are sailing up the bay, as close to the city as they dare without getting close to your brother's boom chain. They know they cannot hope to cross his barrier, so they resort to petty tricks to try and scare us to surrender."

"Indeed?" Cersei asked, sipping at her wine. "And what is my brother's response?"

Osfryd bowed his head. "Your Grace, he has ordered the fleet to water, they are set to sail out and engage the traitor's fleet on the Blackwater."

"And my son? Loren hasn't put him on a ship has he?"

"The king went to Baelor's to get the High Septon's blessing. Now he's walking the walls with the Hand, telling the men to be brave, lifting their spirits as it were."

Dany pushed aside her bowl of broth. With the battle outside and the Queen not ten feet away, and her only hope of escape cut off, she had no appetite, but she was not alone. Lord Gyles coughed ten times for every swallow he gave. Lady Stokeworth was shivering on her bench, and the bride of a Lannister knight was weeping silently. Sansa got through far more of her own broth than Dany did, but even she pushed it aside after a while. The broth was soon taken away and replaced with a light salad. The knight's bride's weeping had grown too loud for Cersei, and she ordered Maester Franken to put her to sleep with some Dreamwine. "Tears," she muttered, holding out her empty cup for more wine. "The woman's weapon," she said to Sansa. "The gods see fit to fit me in with these helpless hens."

"But you invited them," Sansa reminded her.

The queen fixed her with a glare. Dany kept her head low don't say anything, don't say anything, don't say anything. As long as the Queen didn't see her, she would be safe from her ire.

The queen studied the wives, daughters, and mothers who filled the benches. "Of themselves the hens are nothing, but their cocks are important for one reason or another, and some may survive this battle. So it binds me to give their women my protection. If my brother should somehow manage to prevail, they will return to their husbands and fathers full of tales about how brave I was, how my courage inspired them and lifted their spirits, how I never doubted our victory even for a moment."

"And if we should lose?" Dany couldn't help but ask.

Cersei smiled. "You'd like that, wouldn't you? If we lose, and by some miracle my guards remain loyal then the Holdfast should be safe for a while. But more likely the men will murder each other, either to escape or to be the one who delivers me naked and in chains to Stannis Baratheon. But if the Keep should fall before Stannis can come to the gates... well..." She gestured to the others in the room. "These women had best prepare themselves for a bit of a rape, and of course one mustn't forget looting, maiming and murder." She fixed Dany with a glare. "And you shan't be spared either. Men desire the exotic, and you are the most exotic here. And Sansa here is also a pretty young thing. I think if we lose, you two will be in for a lively night. But don't think the old, fat and ugly will be spared. If we should lose, they will all be kept busy for a while, and half these women may be carrying a low born bastard by the time the men have spent themselves dry."

She pushed her salad away, untouched. That wouldn't happen, not to her. She would run high, like Ser Aron had told her high and fast, with Sansa to weather the storm to come, let the men find these other women, like hiding from a storm. She inched closer to the warmth of Sansa. They would be safe together.

The Queen seemed to have gotten bored of tormenting them, and neither she nor Sansa asked any more questions of her, they simply huddled together, linking their fingers. Blue Bard entertained them as the fool he was, able to elicit some laughter from the younger women. For the rest a singer came forth. He sang of Naerys and the Dragonknight, he sung of Jonquil and Florian, and some began to weep at the sadness of the songs. Sansa"s eyes grew moist but Dany felt little for these songs and tales, they were sad, but they would not bring her to tears. She was the last Dragon and she would remain strong.

Soon Ser Osfryd returned to the Keep. He claimed to come from the battle, but there were no fresh marks on him and his red cloak fluttered dirt free. "Your Grace, your brother was successful in his assault. We lost only two of our warships but the traitor Stannis lost twenty at least. Gold Cloaks are riding the streets proclaiming the victory for the people, they all cheer in name of his victory on the seas. The men on the walls are steeled and ready to battle on should it ever reach them. The sept is singing a hundred prayers for the deliverance of the day. The bells should be ringing out soon. But even in victory it seems we are plagued. Thieves tried to burgle the granary, your brother saw to them and a townhouse in the south was torched and looters took to the Street of Silver. Lord Jacelyn's gold cloaks moved to restore order swiftly and these troublemakers are brought to heel."

Cersei nodded. "And Joff?"

"Safe and sound, he watched what we could see of the battle with the rest of the men."

"Good. Go now, and bring me news as soon as there is any."

Ser Osfryd left the chamber swiftly. Cersei turned to them. "You see, there is nothing to fear, troublemakers are being dealt with, there is nothing to fear." Her voice dripped with more sarcasm than Dany had ever heard. "Of course there would be looters, and there will be more as long as the battle progresses. Jaime told me once that he only feels truly alive in battle and in bed, and for the rabble, looting is there battle, it completes them, it makes them feel like men. Go to the sept and you will see that the pious ones are the women, too weak to pick up swords and face their battles with blades in hand." She shook her head. "When we were little, Jaime and I were so much alike that even our lord father could not tell us apart. Sometimes as a lark we would dress in each other's clothes and spend a whole day each as the other. Yet even so, when Jaime was given his first sword, there was none for me. "What do I get?" I remember asking. We were so much alike, I could never understand why they treated us so differently. Jaime learned to fight with sword and lance and mace, while I was taught to smile and sing and please. He was heir to Casterly Rock, while I was to be sold to some stranger like a horse, to be ridden whenever my new owner liked, beaten whenever he liked, and cast aside in time for a younger filly. Jaime's lot was to be glory and power, while mine was birth and moonblood."

"But you were queen of all the Seven Kingdoms," Sansa said.

"When it comes to swords, a queen is only a woman after all."

She turned a vicious gaze upon Dany. It was a gaze that was hazy, like she didn't fully see Dany. "You know all of this could have been prevented if it weren't for your father," she swore.

"My father is dead," she whispered back. Her father's name was taboo here. It was a reminder of dark times and a past age.

"And only made folly while he was alive," Cersei sneered, setting her cup down at an odd angle so it rolled away into some corner, the last dregs of wine trickling leaving a trail of blood to follow to find it. "If he had only consented to marry me to your brother... Rhaegar was worthy of the crown, and I would have given him perfect children. We would be at peace in his reign. But no, he chose to marry her off to a weak Dornish princess and left me shamed. I married Robert in his place, but that sot could never be like that. If only Rhaegar had made his own choice. He would have picked me for certain. He saw my beauty and would have seen the Queen in me, and you would be the brood mare."

"He wouldn't have," Dany replied. Cersei glared at her. "When my brother desired another woman he didn't turn to you. He looked to Lyanna Stark of the North. Even as a mistress you were passed over." Cersei smacked her, the sound ringing throughout the room. The women paused for a few seconds before looking away.

Cersei leant in. "Dragons may be made to be sluts and whores, but a lion is no man's mistress." She got to her feet. "Come with me. Both of you." She brought them over to the side of the ballroom, where a window looked out over the city. "I know of your treasons," she said simply. "I know that when you pray it is not for a Lannister victory."

"We pray for Joffrey," Sansa insisted.

"Because he treats you both so kindly?" Cersei asked. "I know you pray for Stannis, or your brother. Either way it makes no difference, Joff is king, so those prayers make you traitors. Look down."

They looked down to the moat of the holdfast, deep and filled with spikes, arcing up to the sky like the fangs of some great beast, ready to sallow the Red Keep whole. "You may wish to change your prayers. Both of you," she said, looking to Sansa. "Stannis may take this city, but he will not take me, nor you. Neither House Stark nor House Targaryen will have pleasure at the fall of House Lannister. If Stannis Baratheon takes this city and chooses to look for you, that is where he will find you."