Tyrion

Addam Marbrand entered the cell with four of the gold cloaks.

Tyrion and his wife had dressed in their finest. "Ser Addam," he said. "I had thought my father might send the Kingsguard to escort us to trial. We are still members of the royal family, are we not?"

"Yes, my lord, but I fear that most of the Kingsguard stand witness against you and Lady Sansa. Lord Tywin felt it would not be proper for them to serve as your guards."

"What about Jaime?"

"Your father won't allow Ser Jaime to escort you because he is your brother. He deems that improper as well."

"Gods forbid we do anything improper. Please, lead on." If Tyrion got out of this alive he was going to arrange an accident for his dear lord father before anything happened to him. And Cersei too, he wondered what Cersei would look like in a bowl of brown.

Two of the gold Cloaks moved for Sansa and proceeded to put her in fetters.

"Sorry my lady, Lord Tywin's orders." Ser Addam spoke with regret.

"What, no chains for me?" Tyrion arched his brow.

"Lady Sansa tried to avoid arrest, my lord." Ser Addam's tone was calm but firm and unyielding.

He was to be tried in the throne room, where Joffrey had died. As Ser Addam marched him through the towering bronze doors and down the long carpet, he felt the eyes upon him. Hundreds had crowded in to see him judged. At least he hoped that was why they had come. For all I know, they're all witnesses against me. He spied Queen Margaery up in the gallery, pale and beautiful in her mourning. Twice wed and twice widowed, and only sixteen. Her mother stood tall to one side of her, her grandmother small on the other, with her ladies in waiting and her father's household knights packing the rest of the gallery.

Someone in the audience shouted "Kingslayer" at him. Tyrion's blood boiled at that insult. He would never dare say that to Jaime. On the other hand, kingslaying is looking more and more like a Lannister family tradition, Tyrion thought to himself.

The dais still stood beneath the empty iron Throne, though all but one table had been removed. Behind it sat stout Lord Mace Tyrell in a gold mantle over green, and slender Prince Oberyn Martell in flowing robes of striped orange, yellow, and scarlet. Lord Tywin Lannister sat between them. Perhaps there's hope for me yet. The Domishman and the Highgardener despised each other. If I can find a way to use that...

He saw Jaime standing between the judges and himself.

Sansa was ushered into the stand for the accused where her guards shackled her to the stand. Tyrion's guards gestured for him to enter the stand as well. It was made for one person, but I won't need much room.

The High Septon began with a prayer, asking the Father Above to guide them to justice. When he was done the father below leaned forward to say, "Tyrion, did you kill King Joffrey?"

"No."

"Lady Sansa, did you kill King Joffrey?"

"No." If Sansa was afraid of his father, she was hiding it well.

"There are witnesses against you," Lord Tywin said. "We shall hear them first. Then you may present your own witnesses. Neither of you are to speak without our leave."

There was naught that Tyrion could do but nod.

Ser Addam had told it true; the first man ushered in was Ser Balon Swann of the Kingsguard. "Lord Hand," he began, after the High Septon had sworn him to speak only truth, "I had the honor to fight beside your son on the bridge of ships. He is a brave man for all his size, and I will not believe he did this thing."

A murmur went through the hall, and Tyrion wondered what mad game Cersei was playing. One quick look at Ser Balon was all he needed to see that Ser Balon was reluctant to testify. Why offer a witness that believes me innocent? He soon learned. Ser Balon spoke reluctantly of how he had pulled Tyrion away from Joffrey on the day of the riot. "He did strike His Grace, that's so. It was a fit of wroth, no more. A summer storm. The mob near killed us all."

"In the days of the Targaryens, a man who struck one of the blood royal would lose the hand he struck him with," observed the Red Viper of Dorne. "Did the dwarf regrow his little hand, or did you White Swords forget your duty?"

"He was of royal blood himself," Ser Balon answered. "And the King's Hand beside."

"No," Lord Tywin said slightly annoyed. "He was acting Hand, in my stead."

Ser Meryn Trant was pleased to expand on Ser Balon's account, when he took his place as witness. "He knocked the king to the ground and began kicking him. He shouted that it was unjust that His Grace had escaped unharmed from the mobs."

Tyrion began to grasp his sister's plan. She began with a man known to be honest, and milked him for all he would give. Every witness to follow will tell a worse tale, until I seem as bad as Maegor the Cruel and Aerys the Mad together, with a pinch of Aegon the Unworthy for spice.

Ser Meryn went on to relate how Tyrion had stopped Joffrey's chastisement of his future wife. "The dwarf asked His Grace if he knew what had happened to Aerys Targaryen. When Ser Boros spoke up in defense of the king, the Imp threatened to have him killed."

Sansa was clearly indignant but said nothing. Ser Meryn on the other hand, seemed to be smirking as he told the tale, but that was only because he was unaware of the look of both shame and anger on Jamie's face.

Tyrion could no longer hold his tongue. "Tell the judges what Joffrey was doing, why don't you. He had a loaded crossbow pointed at Sansa while you tore her clothes and beat her."

"Tyrion," Lord Tywin said. "You are to speak only when we call upon you. Take this for a warning."

Tyrion subsided, seething.

The Kettleblacks came next, all three of them in turn. Osney and Osfryd told the tale of his supper with Cersei before the Battle of the Blackwater, and of the threats he'd made.

Ser Osmund Kettleblack, a vision of chivalry in immaculate scale armor and white wool cloak, swore that King Joffrey had long known that his uncle Tyrion meant to murder him. "It was the day they gave me the white cloak, my lords," he told the judges. "That brave boy said to me, 'Good Ser Osmund, guard me well, for my uncle loves me not. He means to be king in my place." Tyrion could not help but wonder what Jaime thought of this whit less sellsword turned white knight.

That was more than Tyrion could stomach. "Liar!"

Lord Tywin frowned. "Must we put you in fetters like your wife?"

Tyrion gnashed his teeth. A second mistake, you fool of a dwarf. Keep your calm or you're doomed. "No. I beg your pardons, my lords. His lies angered me."

"His truths, you mean," said Cersei. "Father, I beg you to put him in fetters, for your own protection. You see how he is."

"I see he's a dwarf," said Prince Oberyn. "The day I fear a dwarf's wrath is the day I drown myself in a cask of red."

"We need no fetters." Lord Tywin glanced at the windows, and rose. "The hour grows late. We shall resume on the morrow."

His trial was only beginning.

Jaime

"You would sentence your own son to death." Jaime asked his father once more.

Lord Tywin spoke without emotion "I have condemned no one, and this trial has yet to end."

"You dare call this a trial, this is a farce!" Jaime was offended by the mummer's show his sister was running.

"Tyrion killed his killed his king." His father answered flatly.

"And I killed the king I was sworn to defend."

Tywin Lannister was listening to him while writing a letter, his father's favorite way of showing cold indifference to whoever he faced in the Tower of the Hand.

"If your brother is found guilty, then he will be punished accordingly."

Jaime took two steps closer two his father. "You value your legacy above all else. What happens to it when Tyrion dies with his wife who is to bear your grandchildren? I am a Knight of the Kingsguard forbidden from continuing your legacy."

His lord father turned to look at him with his luminous green eyes. "I am well aware of your vows."

"Who carries the Lannister name, Kevan, I don't think any of his sons are going to continue the line."

"What happens to the Lannister name if I spare the lives of my grandson's killers?"

Jaime would have to make a few sacrifices here, "the Lannister name will continue through me. I will allow the high septon to release me of my vows and become your son and heir if you let Tyrion live."

"Done" his father answered too quickly for Jaime's liking. This won't be good.

"If Tyrion pleads guilty, I will allow him to join the Night's Watch. He will depart for Eastwatch-by-the-sea. You will remove your white cloak and leave for the rock. In time you will marry a suitable wife and father Lannister children."

Jaime exhaled with no real sense of relief.

"And what about Lady Sansa?" Jaime asked concerned.

"Lady Sansa will face Ser Ilyn alone." The coldness in his father's tone bothered Jaime.

"You said I would take a suitable wife, I will marry her myself father if it that's what it takes to save her from Ser Ilyn."

"You are bigger fool than your brother if you think my grandson's killer will carry the heirs to Casterly Rock. Cersei told me about your oath to Lady Catelyn. Forget about it, even Tullys put Family before honor."

Jaime turned his back on his father, this time, in the literal sense. He slammed the door behind him. Gods, he hated his father.