They were sitting in Ned's solar, Ned and Robert behind the great desk and Jaime in front of it. Also in the room, by his request, were Ser Barristan Selmy and his brother Tyrion, who was looking somewhere between interest and apprehension. Bran was also in the room, but lingering by the door in shadow.
"Exactly what is it you have to say? Did you order the Mountain to murder my son?", Ned asked.
"No. It was not I who ordered him.", Jaime said.
"Then who?", growled Robert.
"My sister.", Jaime replied.
Ned's face darkened and Robert almost exploded.
"That bitch! I'll wring her neck for this!", he bellowed.
"Wait! Why did she give the order?", Ned asked, his voice flinty.
"Because….. Because the boy caught us.", Jaime said.
"Us? Wait, what are you saying?", Robert asked.
Here was the point of no return, Jaime knew. Taking a deep breath, he poured it all out; the incest between him and his twin sister, the tower where Bran had seen them, Cersei's orders to kill him, his refusal to harm the child and his shock and horror upon realising what his sister had done. For a long, long moment after he finished, there was silence. None of the men in the room made a sound. He braced himself from the eruption but it did not come from the source he expected. With a furious roar, Ser Barristan lunged forwards and tackled him from the chair, gauntleted fingers closing around his throat as he slammed him against the door.
"You! You little-... I will burn your white cloak for this and tear your page in the Book into pieces so small not even a Myrish spyglass could find them!", the old knight raged.
Jaime gasped and choked, trying to pry the iron death grip loose from his throat, but it was a command from Robert that made Selmy halt.
"At ease, Selmy! Control yourself! By the gods, did I really just say that?", Robert said.
Ned sat there, frozen in numb disbelief.
"Robert. Do you realise what this means?", he said quietly.
"Of course I do, Ned! My damn wife's been cheating on me for gods knows how long with her own damn brother!", Robert said.
"Yes, but do you also realise what else it means?"
Robert stared at him, not understanding at first, so Ned gestured meaningfully towards Bran. The cogs turned slowly beneath the king's black hair, then he realised.
"By the gods! The children! My children! What if they aren't mine?", he said.
"My Lord?", Tyrion said, speaking for the first time which was a surprise in itself.
"Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen! What if they aren't actually mine, but…."
The gravity of that struck them all heavily; if the children were not Robert's, that meant the line of succession was in jeopardy, as was the future of House Baratheon itself. Only Stannis had a child, and she was scarred by greyscale and a girl on top of that; Robert knew she was a clever lass, but there would be great opposition nonetheless. Renly was of marrying age, but considering his….. fling with Loras Tyrell of Highgarden, he might not be able to be counted on for children. Robert rounded on Jaime.
"You! Tell me! Did you father those kids?", he growled menacingly.
"More than likely.", he said quietly.
"What the bloody hell does that mean? Did you or didn't you?"
"Look at them, then! Look at them and tell me if you see anything of yourself in them!"
Robert opened his mouth….. and then closed it. True, they carried the Baratheon name but he could see nothing of himself in them. They all had the damned Lannister looks, golden hair and green eyes, and that Joffrey… he had often wondered just where he could have gone so wrong with the boy. But if he was indeed the son of Cersei and her brother….., well, the Targaryens had done that for centuries and look at how that turned out. He still shuddered at the memory of the Mad King at the Tourney of Harrenhal, with foot-long nails and hair and beard almost to his feet, his hysterical laughter and towering rages and sobbing fits within seconds of each other. The incestuous breeding might have allowed them to keep those damnable Valyrian looks, but it had led to a vein of instability that had eventually brought the family to it's knees.
"You realise this is treason? You have interfered with the line of succession, broken your Kingsguard vows and cuckolded your king?", he said.
"Yes.", Jaime said, looking at his feet.
"I knew you were an arrogant prick, but why did you tell us of this? You knew the consequences. Why confess?"
Jaime looked at Bran.
"Because whilst I am many things, what I am not is a murderer of children. Yes, I stabbed Aerys from behind and then cut his throat, but I did not kill his grandchildren. My father's men, Gregor, did that, on his orders I don't bloody know. I would never have hurt them, and had I known what would happen to them you'd have found me defending them instead of sitting on that damnable throne.", Jaime said.
Ned was still seated behind his desk, watching the man he had dubbed Kingslayer pour this out and wondering if he had been too quick to judge him. Yes, Jaime had been arrogant and conceited and full of himself, but now here he was confessing things that would probably destroy him and his family.
"I believe you.", he said.
"What?", they all said.
"I believe him. Oh, there will have to be punishment, of course. But he didn't have to tell us this of his own accord. If he was truly the man we all thought him, he would have kept it secret, denied it, probably even killed anyone who asked about it.", Ned remarked.
There wasn't much fault to be found in those words. Tyrion stood up.
"Lord Stark is right. Speaking from my point, my brother has done some incredibly stupid things. He is bullheaded, impetuous, stubborn, short-sighted and foolish-"
"How is this helping me, brother?", Jaime asked, smiling in spite of himself.
"- but he is also capable of decency. Growing up as a dwarf was difficult, especially since I was blamed by my father and my sister for the death of my mother, who was a decent woman as far as I know. Jaime could have hated me as well, blamed for being the cause of growing up without a mother, but he didn't. He stood up for me, protected me from our sister's petty cruelties, and he didn't have to."
He took a gulp of wine.
"It's also why he joined the Kingsguard. He told me this in private, for he knew Father wanted him as his heir and would never let him join the order. He wanted to be a knight, a true knight, one who defended the king and swore to protect the innocent. He always was more soft-hearted than he let on."
"Lies and slander!", Jaime said, half-jokingly.
"But that same soft-heartedness is what allowed Cersei to lure him into her bed. Twins are said to have a much closer bond than anyone. I don't begrudge him having fallen for her, but he must have realised what kind of woman she is, because this confession betrays and damns her as much as him. And if he were not a changed person, he would not have told us this."
There was silence for a very long time after these words. They were torn between many emotions, but the desire to gut Jaime very slowly with a blunt and rusty sword had faded from Ned, Robert and Ser Barristan. Finally, the old knight spoke.
"I hope you realise what must be done, my Lord.", Ser Barristan said.
"Hrm.", Robert said.
"The Queen must be arrested, for one. That is imperative, before she does any more damage."
"The Queen? She is queen no more, I can tell you that! I'll have the marriage annulled or broken or whatever, and if those pissants in the Sept of Baelor kick up a fuss I'll kick their arses from the Red Keep to the Stormlands."
"And the children? What of the children?", Ned asked.
Robert sighed heavily.
"They'll have to be told. Gently. I will do it. Never been a father to them much before now, and turns out I'm not even their father, but I'll do a father's duty and tell them myself.", he said.
"What if they don't believe you?", Ned asked.
"I'll tell them. I'll even sign a confession.", Jaime said.
"They might not take it well.", Ned cautioned.
"Tommen and Myrcella won't be too difficult. They're good and sweet children, your grace. Please don't do anything rash to them.", Tyrion said.
"I won't. They won't be royals anymore, though. This whole thing will be…. difficult for them to adjust to."
"It's life-shattering. They will have to spend the rest of their lives with that knowledge, and people will probably try and kill them for it."
This was true; many of the pious and zealous types would demand the children be killed as abominations. Whilst Joffrey would be an obvious point, Myrcella and Tommen had nothing in them that was deserving of hate.
"Very well. Ser Barristan, have the former Queen brought here.", Robert ordered.
The old knight bowed and left the room.
"Lord Tyrion, would you mind sending a raven to your father in Casterly Rock? We have much to discuss with him."
"Yes, your Grace."
Ned got out of his chair and offered it to Robert.
"If you're sitting with a desk between you and her, you might be less inclined to do something you'll regret.", he said.
"Good point, Ned. Oh, gods, this is going to be difficult.", Robert said.
When Cersei entered Ned's solar with Ser Barristan, her first sight was Robert sitting behind the great desk, Ned Stark beside him and, she saw with a twinge of nervousness, the boy who had seen her and Jaime. She raised her nose imperiously.
"I hope this means you've convinced these Northerners to release Ser Gregor from his unlawful imprisonment.", she said.
"No, I haven't. And this isn't about him. It's about you. Sit down.", Robert responded.
"If this isn't about releasing Ser Gregor then I-"
"I said SIT DOWN, WOMAN!"
His sudden yelling shook in the confined space of the room and she was cowed enough to drop into the chair opposite him without another word. Robert took a deep breath.
"This is about you, and what you've been doing for the past decade. Ned's son has told me a very interesting story."
Cersei shot a look of utter loathing and hatred at Bran, who was standing next to his father. The boy shrank a little but did not look away.
"Whatever the boy might have told you is nothing but filthy lies, Robert. Children are prone to making up stories or telling lies if they can get away with it. I trust Lord Eddard will have him soundly whipped for it, or I can have one of my own if he hasn't the spine.", she said.
"You will not touch my son. And if any man does, I'll hand him over to Roose Bolton.", Ned said, glaring at her.
Cersei looked back at Robert.
"The boy told me that when he was climbing the walls of Winterfell, he saw you and your brother, Jaime, having very intimate relations with each other.", he said.
"Lies!", she shrieked.
And with frightening suddenness, she lunged at Bran with her hands going for his throat.
"Lying little wolf pup! I'll strangle you and your damned wolf!"
But she never got there. Instead, she saw Ned's gloved hand swing up and backhand her across the face, sending her flying back to crash to the floor. She put a hand to her face.
"How dare you strike me, your Queen! I will tell my father of this and he'll come and hang you all from the walls of this wretched castle!", she screamed.
"You have just tried to kill my son, twice now. I would shut your mouth right now if I were you.", Ned Stark growled at her.
It was at this moment that Cersei realised whose feet she had just landed at. Jaime was looking down at her with an odd expression.
"Jaime! Good. You saw him strike me! Kill him, and his son, and his bitch wife and whore daughters! Kill them all!", she stormed.
"No, sister. Be quiet.", he said.
She pushed herself to her feet and made to leave, but the door was guarded by Ser Barristan, and his hand was on his sword. Cersei turned back to face Robert.
"Ser Jaime here also had something very interesting to tell us. Regarding Bran.", Robert said.
She went white with shock and stared at her twin in utter speechlessness.
"He tells me that not only have you been having an affair with him for the past decade, that the children you claim are mine are in fact his. I should have seen it before, but now I do and I am not happy.", Robert said.
Cersei was, for once, unable to summon a retort.
"You have placed the future of my house and my dynasty in jeopardy, tampered with the line of succession and generally been an utter cunt, two of which are treason against the throne. You have also conspired to murder the son of a Lord Paramount of Westeros, for which the charge is also treason.", Robert reeled off.
Cersei was quickly starting to visibly panic.
"In light of these crimes, I hereby dissolve our marriage. You will be stripped of your titles and privileges and leave my sight.", Robert said.
She flew at him, wild-eyed.
"You can't! You can't! I am the Queen, you cannot do this!", she shrieked.
"Yes, I can! And I have! Now, remove her from my sight!", Robert bellowed.
Ser Barristan stood aside to let two Stark men enter and seize the former Queen and drag her off, where her mingled screams and oaths and threats and pleas echoed long after she was gone. Robert nursed his head with one hand.
"Gods, that was hard. But pretty satisfying.", he said.
"It was, your Grace.", Tyrion said
"You did well in keeping your temper, though.", Ned remarked.
True, but then he recalled that whilst Cersei had been dealt with, there was still the matter of the children. He'd have to tell Joffrey that he was no longer a prince and would never be king.
"Now for the hard part.", he said.