In Satine's mind, she felt that she did nothing wrong. She felt that by not telling Jaime about their son was the smartest things she did at the time. It might be perhaps the smartest thing she ever did. The boy would have suffered greatly if she kept him though Satine always wondered what would happen if she were his mother. As she did this, a letter was left on her desk in her chambers like it always had on the third day of every moon.
Satine anxiously unsealed the letter, ripping it open. A genuine smile came onto her face as she read it over.
My lady,
He looks to the sunrise and sunset.
Your loyal servant
Satine would always watch over her son even against her better judgment. She couldn't turn her back on him...on his life. She had to know what was happening in his life. His life seemed exciting, but dangerous and that worried her. She saw much of herself and Jaime in him. She didn't know how long her spy would be loyal to her and then leave her to the monsters of the world.
Monsters would come at the night. They always do. They're here right now beside her, watching her in the darkness where she was blind.
The night is dark and full of terrors, Satine remembered someone dressed in red telling her that once.
"Careful, little girl," the dark haired woman spoke to her. Satine thought that this woman was the most beautiful woman she had ever seen. More beautiful than her own mother.
Satine hadn't looked to where she was going when she went into the woods and bumped into the woman with the caramel skin and curly black hair. She was only out in the night for some rocks to hit Cersei with. Her older sister was being a pest...always telling her what to do, what to say, and how to act. So Satine thought it best to change that. Her plan was to throw rocks at her when she wasn't looking and drive her to madness since no one would be there when Cersei turned around to wonder who kept on hitting her.
The dark haired woman bent down in her long beautiful dark red gown, Satine saw her own reflection in the ruby jewel in the middle of the woman's choker. It wasn't her reflection though that she saw, but someone older.
The dark haired woman smiled softly at her and started to pet Satine's braid on the side of her neck.
"You shouldn't be here," she told her. "Leave this place, little girl."
"You shouldn't be here either. This is my home," Satine insisted.
"Home will only bring you pain," she replied calmly. "I've seen it. Look into the flames and you'll see what I see."
Satine looked at her with a questioning look in her eyes. She didn't believe her. How could she when there were no flames around them? Besides they've only just let each other. "There aren't any flames here."
"Are you sure?" Satine nodded eagerly. "Then what is that behind you?"
Satine turned around and saw a pit of fire just a foot away. Her eyes wider than the moon as she jumped away from her. "Are you a witch?"
She smiled at her and chuckled. "Some might say so, but I only follow my beliefs and he rewards me for my service."
"Who?"
"The Lord of the Light of course," she answered. "Go on. Look into the flames. Tell me what you see, little girl."
Satine looked inside of the flames and said, "I see...I...my family, I see them. They're all dead. I'm the only one left."
The dark haired woman leaned closer and said to her, "The night is dark and full of terrors, little girl. Run when the opportunity comes or you'll end up swallowed by the darkness with no light to guide you."
The trial would bring them all out at both day and night. They will try to tear her apart and Satine thought that they just actually might succeed this time though she would continue to fight.
She held the letter close to her heart, somehow feeling closer to her son. She kissed the letter hard and with longing before she dropped it into the fire. Satine knew that it would incredibly foolish to keep them all, they were her weakness as much as they were everything to her.
A knock came at her door as she watched the letter start to turn black encased with the flames.
"Enter," she said
A Lannister guard walked in and bowed before saying to her, "Lord Tywin has requested your presence in the Tower of the Hand."
Satine nodded. "I think you mean commanded my presence."
Satine walked out of her chambers, her hand inches away from her dagger attached to her belt underneath her coat. She strode ahead of the guard, unconcerned about him. She opened the door to her father's study, almost not surprised that her sister was there. It was only her sister there at the moment. She felt another ambush was coming towards her.
"Where is father?" Satine asked, suspicious of her sister's intentions since they were on different sides of the trial.
Cersei eyed her from the bottom of her shoes to the top of her head and quipped, "You dress like a pirate, sister. Never like the highborn lady-"
Satine wore a white tunic stuffed into her black breeches with a dark red long coat pulled over her shoulders. Her boots were still caked with dirt, but she felt comfortable.
"I dress practically, sister," Satine snapped calmly. "How do you expect to get anything done in a skirt you can trip on and a corset that doesn't let you breathe?"
"I've done a lot in this skirt."
Satine scoffed lightly. "You've physically done nothing though, have you? Not fight in wars nor in battle. All you are skilled in is in manipulation and seduction."
"Do you not have those same skills?" Cersei questioned. "Were those not the same skills you've used to get yourself away from the Dothraki savage? From danger itself? You survive, sister, I respect that. Same as I do. We are that much alike even though you care not to admit it. We do what we will to survive and we're both ruthless when it comes our survival."
"I am not like you," she said. "I have never been. You've always tried to make me like you. You never accepted me as the way I am. I mean to survive, but not at the expense of others. I don't enjoy death. How could I? When it as torn apart my family."
Cersei scoffed and the noise hurt Satine. She felt as if her own sister was lost too just as their father was when they had lost their mother. They need someone to blame and it is easy to blame Tyrion, to push them all away.
Satine shook head at Cersei. "We will never be sisters again, will we?"
Cersei frowned. "It's not my fault that you picked our brother's side over mine, The monster who killed my son and is trying to kill me."
"Unlike you, I fight for what is right," Satine replied passionately. "Our brother's name is Tyrion. Not the monster. He did not murder your son. He's not trying to kill you which i am surprised that he hasn't tried to after all these years. Gods only know that you deserve it after the things you've done to him. You were never the damsel, sister so don't expect me to consider you one now. I'm not Jaime nor Tyrion who fall for you tricks just as they fall for those tears. I know them well enough."
Cersei stood up as she retorted, "You're not perfect and neither am I. My tears are real, I've lost my firstborn son. He was taken from me by someone who wanted to hurt our family-wanted to hurt me. I plan on having his head. Make him suffer first."
"It could be a woman since poison is our weapon according to men in the world," Satine suggested, knowing that it may not be true, but she was willing to do anything to lead her sister away from the thoughts that Tyrion was did the unfamoable deed. "But to say it is Tyrion-"
"Is perfectly reasonable," Cersei finished. "If he is innocent then the gods will say so in the trial."
"The gods have been saying he is not to blame for years since he survived both you and father. You and I both know that father will make sure he is not," Satine reminded her. "And you will do the same as well. I'm not stupid, Cersei. Do you honestly think that I've learned nothing while I was away? I won't let the two of you get away with it."
The doors opened as Tywin walked into the study. He strode past the both of them, ending their conversation.
"Sit," he commanded them. Satine made sure that they saw her sit last. As they all sat down around the long table, Tywin stared at his youngest daughter. "I only want what's best for our family. Our legacy. That is why I do what I do. Loras Tyrell is an advantageous match. Although House Tyrell is our ally for now, we need to grasp control of them first."
Satine sighed. "I could never love him. Also his desires will never be in my unless I grow something between my legs"
"I know which is why I am giving you a choice."
Satine sat up straighter in her chair, intrigued by what her father might be proposing to her. "A choice."
He nodded. "A choice. I won't have that boy you favor killed, you can marry whomever you wish to, and live comfortably for the rest of your lives...if you give a testimony against Tyrion."
Satine narrowed her eyes at him and thought, I don't trust him. He would never be as so careless as to let his only heir possibly marry a commoner.
Satine's jaw hardened as she tried her very best to control her anger at her father and sister. She didn't know why she was so shocked that they would ask her this. That they would try to persuade her by dangling the thought of her happiness right in front of her. If all seemed like a cruel joke if you asked her.
Cersei gave her a sweet smile that Satine hated. "Come now, sister, what is with this silence? Isn't this what you've always wanted? Complete freedom."
Satine scoffed. "That is the problem you've both always had. You assume. You do not know what I want and that angers the both of you because I am possibly the only person with power that you cannot control. This power was not given to me by you, father, but I earned it. Do not forget, father that I am your daughter so I would proceed with caution towards your choice of words."
"Do you not want your freedom?" Tywin curtly said. "The choice to marry whomever you wish?"
"Not at the expense of my brother's death. Your son in case you've forgotten."
"The Gods will decide his fate."
"The gods were cruel enough to give him a family like this one," she shouted suddenly at him, exhausted at the way her family is. "This trial is just a show you are putting to get rid of Tyrion because you blame him for mother's death!"
"Satine! Enough!"
Satine refused to hear him, she needed to make them see how wrong they've been after all these years. "I blame you! I don't blame Tyrion for killing her! It's you! You put your cock inside of her! You killed my mother! It was you, father!"
In rage, Satine stormed out of the room, the wooden door slamming violently against the stone walls as she left. Her boots clicked quickly against the ground as she made her way to the cells as hastily as she could.
The trial would be starting today, she reminded herself. I have to warn Tyrion of what father plans.
As she went down the spiral staircase, Oberyn stopped her as she went for the cell doors. "I can't let you go to Tyrion."
"He's my brother. I have to warn him, Oberyn," she pleaded with him.
"You know my position in this trial and I have been forced to not let you inside. They think you're feeding him the kind information they don't want him to have."
She stared at him for a moment. "You made a deal with my father, didn't you? Was it the Mountain? Is that it?! And to think that I actually fooled myself into believing that you weren't any different than my family and their puppets."
"I am no one's puppet!" Oberyn said fiercely, his eyes filling with blackness.
"Oh but you are and that's the sad thing about all of this. You want your stupid revenge over an innocent man's life."
"My sister was innocent as well, do you remember? You were friends. You loved her just as I did," Oberyn reminded her. Her heart pinched at the mention of the past. "Your father had her killed and the Mountain did the deed. Are you saying that you don't thirst for the same vengeance that I do?"
"Unlike you the sibling that I love is still alive and won't let anything happen to him," she snarled, angered that he would try to use Elia to convince her to give in.
"If I'm the third judge in Tyrion's trial then Lord Tywin had promised me that I will come to meet the Mountain in private. He killed her and her children. They were innocent too, were they not?"
Satine stared into his eyes, her voice calm as she echoed his words, "Don't make me choose between the both of you because you won't like my answer."
"I love you," he confessed to her, holding her small hand in his large one. Satine looked down at their joined hands in surprise. "I don't like hurting you."
"I don't want to hurt you either, but I shall."
Satine quickly shoved her other fist into his face before kneeling down and swiping her leg under his, tripping him. Oberyn laid down on the floor, bleeding from his nose and groaning in pain. Satine gave him a passionate kiss on the lips.
"Gods," he groaned in pain. "I tell you I love you and you hit me in the face. I will give you a minute."
Satine smiled widely and kissed him again , taking his keys before getting up and leaving to go to her brother's cell. She unlocked the cell and quickly hugged Tyrion.
She didn't care that he smelled badly, she would remember him that way perhaps if the worst comes to worst. "I'm sorry, brother. I found out that our father plans to bribe people into testifying against you."
"I expected that. How do you know?"
As they pulled away from each other, Satine replied, "He tried to bribe me. He would let me have complete and utter freedom I if I were to be against you, but I would rather spend an eternity of misery married to Loras Tyrell than have you be dead in this world because I get to be happy. I could never live with myself."
Tyrion held her face in his chubby small hands and said softly, "I am thankful to have you as my sister, Satine. I want you to be happy. Testify against me."
Satine's eyes widened and she pulled away violently. "What?! No! I will not! This is my choice. I am not going to let you die, Tyrion. I need you. You're practically the only family I care about."
"Ben will die if you do not do this so let me help this boy live," Tyron said. "He's a good boy. A smart one and it would be a shame if he were to die because of me. I could never let myself live with that."
Satine shook her head. "He won't die. I won't let him. Besides he is the swiftest boy I've ever seen. He'll get away and he knows where to go if such a time presents itself to him. I will marry Loras Tyrell and become Lady Tyrell of Highgarden."
Tyrion looked away from her in frustration. "Jaime is right. You never let anyone help you...never let them protect you. No, you always have to the hero-"
"I'm not a hero and you know it so why are you trying to anger me?" Satine inquired. "Is it to push me away or punish me, dear brother? Neither will do you any good. I'm stubborn."
"Will you ever let Jaime see his son?"
"No," she answered immediately. "Never. Not even while I lie dead in the ground will Jaime ever see him. It's better this way, Tyrion. It's safer for all."
"Perhaps," Tyrion agreed. "While I've been down here, alone and in the dark, I remembered that when you came here, you said something about a war in Essos. You said that you left your men to come back to us. Why aren't you there now? Who do you serve, sister? What game are you playing? You mentioned the Starks when you came as well."
"What happened to the Starks can never happen again," she warned her brother. "Who I serve is someone I'm proud to serve. I don't play games, Tyrion, never had the stomach for human pawns I'm afraid. I'm needed here until you are set free then I will be leaving. At least that was the plan before father happened."
The cell door opened, causing Satine's heart to ache yet again for her brother. Their time together now seemed all too quick for her liking. Jaime walked in with chains in his hands and Satine sneered, "You should be ashamed of yourself, brother. Putting him in chains when you know he's done nothing wrong."
"Father's orders," was the excuse Jaime gave her as she stormed past him and left the cell.
Satine found Oberyn waiting for her and said to him, "I hope you can live with yourself, Oberyn."
"I love you."
Satine scoffed. "You can't say those words anymore to me unless you want to give them any meaning at all."
Oberyn pushed her hair to the side and replied, "But they are true and I will keep saying them until you say them back."
"I can't," she confessed. "You already know where I stand with us. I won't share and you prefer to share. End of story."
"Ah," he drawled out. "We are simply at a crossroads which we will overcome. Together, might I add?"
"The trial will start soon and I must be at my seat to watch as my father and sister kill Tyrion," Satine said to him. "And you have to judge my brother's life based on lies. I don't know whose task today is worse?"
"Mine as I will be watching your face become full of pain and suffering," Oberyn told her. He kissed her lips hard and strode away from her to the Great Hall.
Everyone looked to her as she glided into the Great Hall through the large metal and wood doors. She made sure that her face was stoic and her eyes were filled with impassiveness the entire time. She couldn't let them see her break, she had to be strong like Tyrion...what in the seven hells is he doing?
Satine glared at Ben from across the hall who sat between two noble ladies gushing over him. She gaped at him and caught his eyes and mouthed, "Come over here."
Even though he was still little, Ben bowed gracefully which surprised Satine since the boy she knew had no manners at all. Ben walked over to her and said, "It's Tyrion. I'm not a coward. I won't hide from them."
Satine smiled softly down at him and ran her hands through his hair. "Fine. Stay quiet."
He nodded. "Is it true that Lord Lion's Butt made a deal with you?"
Satine laughed. "Lord Lion's Butt?"
"Yes, Lord Tywin who've I've now decided to call Lord Lion's Butt. Is it true or not?"
"He tried to make me a deal for our freedom in return for Tyrion's death," she responded. "We would've been happy, you know? They wouldn't kill you and we could be free."
Ben huffed. "It was all a lie, wasn't it?"
"What do you mean?"
"They were still going to kill me once Tyrion was dead, I know it," Ben insisted. "It's what I would've done if I were a bad person. Two birds one stone. It doesn't matter anyways if you made a deal with him or not since he probably knew that you would never have agreed to it."
Satine eyes widened as her entire body seemed to freeze, realizing that this was her father's plan all along. He knew that I couldn't testify against Tyrion therefore he would have won. He would get the Tyrell boy to marry me which was what he wanted for me this entire time. He knew that this would be the only way I would be much more agreeing than before...
Satine turned her head to the doors when they opened and placed her arm around Ben protectively as they sat in the stands when they started to announce the judges, her sister, and the rest of of the Tyrell family.
They watched as Tommen announced, "I, Tommen of the House Baratheon, First of my Name, King of the Andals and the First Men, and Lord of the Seven Kingdoms, do hereby recuse myself from this trial. Tywin of the House Lannister, Hand of the King, Protector of the Realm, will sit as judge in my stead. And with him Prince Oberyn of the House Martell and Lord Mace of the House Tyrell. And if found guilty may the gods punish the accused."
Satine wanted to reach out to Tommen when he passed them and hug the child. He was still her nephew, she loved Tommen and Myrcella dearly. She remembered that Joffrey wasn't always difficult and cruel, he was a child once and he loved to laugh at the birds when they surrounded him for his food.
"Tyrion of the House Lannister, you stand accused by the Queen Regent of regicide. Did you kill King Joffrey?" Tywin asked impassively.
"No." Tyrion answered.
"Did your wife, the Lady Sansa?"
"Not that I know of."
"How would you say he died, then?"
"Choked on his pigeon pie." Satine smiled at that.
"So you would blame the bakers?"
"Or the pigeons. Just leave me out of it," Tyrion quipped.
"The crown may call its first witness," her father announced. She watched as Ser Meryn came, standing tall as he went up the stand, not looking to Tyrion who could not keep his own eyes off of him.
Ser Meryn cleared his throat as he began, "Once we'd got King Joffrey safely away from the mob, the Imp rounded on him. He slapped the king across the face and called him a vicious idiot and a fool. It wasn't the first time the Imp threatened Joffrey. Right here in this throne room, he marched up those steps and called our king a halfwit."
People throughout the hall gasped and started to whisper furiously as he continued, "Compared His Grace to the Mad King and suggested he'd meet the same fate. And when I spoke in the king's defense, he threatened to have me killed-"
Tyrion rolled his eyes as he interrupted him, "Oh, why don't you tell them what Joffrey was doing?"
"Silence." Tywin commanded, but Tyrion refused to listen. "Pointing a loaded crossbow at Sansa Stark while you tore at her clothes and beat her-"
"Silence!" Tywin repeated loudly. "You will not speak unless called upon...you're dismissed, Ser Meryn."
The trail began with many twisted truths, she wanted to stand up and fight for her brother, but he stayed where she was. Every time when Tywin would silence Tyrion for defending his actions, Satine's teeth would grind together as her hands curled angrily into fists. Tyrion would catch her eye and give her a look then look to Ben. Satine would then calm herself down with deep breaths before returning her attention to the trail. She wanted to kill the people surrounding her. They spoke horribly of Tyrion. They convicted him the moment he was born. Even though none of them actually know my brother. No...they believe in rumors.
"I pray that the Father finds him guilty and the Stranger takes him," one of the noble ladies sneered from behind her.
Her fists curled.
"Agreed." Her companion said. "His own nephew and the king. The greed of some people. We shall pray the Stranger condemn him if he is not judged rightly so here."
Satine turned around and put a sweet smile on her face as she addressed the two nobles sitting behind her, "I was always taught not to one talk during times when one is expected to be silent."
Satine pulled her dark red coat back and flashed her dagger at them, still smiling sweetly. Their eyes widened in fear at the new sight and the lady held onto the man's arm. "I do so find it quite irritating when the silence is disturbed by pests especially when said pests speak carelessly about my brother. You should know that the rumors they speak of my brother are far from true, but the ones about me...well, if I were you both then I wouldn't be as foolish as to test them."
Satine felt nothing as she saw the fear in their eyes. They should be frightened of me. I am a killer after all.
"Lady Satine Lannister," she heard her father shout at her. She turned around, just now realizing that Grand Maester Pycelle had left the stand and now Cersei was there with tear-stained cheeks, "If you talk again I'll have you thrown out of the room, have I made myself clear?"
Satine stood up, knowing that her father would not go back on his word about throwing her out, Her father never bluffed and neither did anyone else of her family. We keep our word.
She smirked at him and began, "Before you try to silence me, father, let me ask you this. Why is your daughter, sister of the accused testifying? Is that not allows since she is the sister? She is prejudice."
"This is treason, family or not, she should not be speaking ill of the late king," Mace Tyrell started to sputter out until Oberyn said, "I want to hear Lady Satine. Tell me, Lady Satine how is the Lady Cersei prejudice."
"A reason is that I don't trust her. She shouldn't be testifying at all if I'm being completely honest."
"He is my son," Cersei snarled. "Why wouldn't I?"
"Exactly," Satine agreed. "You are in grief and would look to anyone for a chance to catch your son's murderer, even your own siblings. Why you even accused me at first because you hate me? You despise Tyrion too. Is that not a biased opinion that you are giving? A false testimony based on your true feelings and not facts. Also, father, why would you not let me testify for Tyrion?"
"Because of the love you bare for him, you would have lied for him mostly likely," Tywin replied firmly.
"Suppose then that someone who may hate him may also lie as well. Let's say Lady Cersei for instance. Tell me, sister, what was it that Tyrion Lannister said to you after you confronted him about his pleasures."
Cersei sighed. "I will hurt you for this. A day will come when you think you are safe and happy and your joy will turn to ashes in your mouth and you will know the debt is paid."
Even Satine was surprised that Tyrion said these words to their sister, she wondered what happened to make her brother finally snap and confront their sister. "What happened? Why did he say them to you?"
"I confronted him about his plans to put Joffrey on the front lines. As it turned out, when the attack came, Joff insisted on remaining at the battlements. He believed his presence would inspire the troops."
"That doesn't answer my question, Cersei," Satine snapped.
"I discovered he'd been keeping whores in the Tower of the Hand. I asked him to confine his salacious acts to the brothel where such behavior belongs. He wasn't pleased."
Satine raised an eyebrow. "Do you have a witness to this event?"
"A guard."
"Who?"
"I can't remember all of them," Cersei scoffed causing the crowd to snicker.
"Pity," Satine shrugged. "Lannister or royal guard?"
"What does it matter? It was a witness nonetheless."
"A guard is loyal and may just lie for you if you pay him enough. I should know since our father taught us that. Everyone will bend to your will if you know what they desire."
"He saw it happened."
"So you say. You've always hated Tyrion and everyone in Westeros knows of his carnal desires. So it would make sense that you would say this."
"You weren't there, you don't know what happened."
"And neither were you when Tyrion supposedly poisoned the king."
"He pointed at Tyrion."
"He pointed at the cup when the crowd asked what was wrong and was flutterly about the king. The cup happened to be in Tyrion Lannister's hand," Satine countered. "Who was looking inside of the cup for maybe an answer to what was happening to his king. If he truly had poisoned him then wouldn't he have watched the king die, watching his last moments. No, instead a concerned uncle was trying to find the thing that killed his nephew. I propose that we have Lady Cersei Lannister's testimony disregarded."
"On what grounds?" Tywin asked calmly.
"On the grounds of personal feelings and false accounts of character. If you do not then you must agree to my testimony in favor of the accused. If my sister gets to testify then I get to testify. If my father gets to be a judge on my brother's trial then so do I."
"Why would this council listen to you, my lady?" Mace Tyrell questioned curiously.
With her head held high, she replied with a tight smile, "As your future daughter-in-law, my lord, I would hope that this would be reason enough. I would never hurt my future sister, Queen Margaery nor my future husband, Ser Loras."
There were gasps and low murmurs shifting around the room as she stared then only at her father. She ignored the eyes of everyone except her father. She would not let this go, she couldn't.
Satine didn't care if she were unhappy for the rest of her entire life...as long as Tyrion and Ben were alive and well then nothing could hurt her.
TBC…
I am again so sorry for the long wait, life is getting in the way as well as school and work. Don't worry I'm still alive. I am trying to update all of them, but it keeps getting pushed back so I'm sorry. I gave you all a long ass chapter.
By the way, I know my grammar is horrible and I don't honestly look over my chapters after I've written them, but that's because I'm so excited to get them to you guys right away. Yeah so don't tell me to look over my chapters and have better grammar and shit because that's so annoying. I'm not going to do what you say. I write, I'm human, and I misspell, welcome to the real world where nothing is perfect and neither is my writing.
Besides those people, you all are really great people honestly. I love all you guys and your support even after I suck at updating, you all still stay with me.
I hoped you liked this chapter.
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