« 100,000 ?! »
Petyr Baelish can't help smirking as he watches Cersei Lannister pacing up and down, a cup of wine in her hand, and her brother, Jaime, standing up and staring at him, dumbfounded.
"It is impossible", he groans.
Petyr looks at him, and, with indolence, sipping wine from his own cup, asks:
"How could it be impossible? Stannis has the Greyjoys, the Starks and all the men of the North, the Tyrells, the Martells. What did you think, Ser Jaime?"
Jaime ignores him and turns to Cersei, but Petyr says again:
"One more thing: Daenerys Targaryen will soon be in Westeros. She has a great army too: unsullied, Dothrakis, the Greyjoys, Ser Barristan..."
"We can think Joffrey for that", Jaime sighs and Cersei scowls at him.
"Have you lost your mind, Lord Baelish? You just told us the Greyjoys were with Stannis", she says, sitting down facing Petyr, and she downs her cup of wine. It is the tenth, Petyr thinks as she asks for more.
"Asha Greyjoy has joined him. She wants to rule the Iron Islands. But her uncles have joined Daenerys because they want the Iron Islands as well."
Jaime slightly pales and turns to Petyr:
"And how many men does the Targaryen have?"
Cersei gives him a suspicious look:
"How do you know all that, Littlefinger?"
"I am here to serve you, your Grace. According to my sources, Daenerys has 40,000 Dothrakis and 10,000 Unsullied. As for the Greyjoys, I do not know how many of them there are. And you must not forget the dragons. They are as big as adults now."
Jaime looks down, then stares at her sister, while this one keeps looking at Littlefinger.
"What do you want from us?" she says, motioning Jaime to shut it.
"I offer you the soldiers of the Vale. 50,000 men", Petyr says with a smile.
"50,000 men will not be enough to fight both Stannis and Daenerys!" Jaime exclaims.
"What do you want from us?" Cersei asks again, insisting and bending over him.
Petyr plays with his tongue, staring at her, and ends up saying:
"I want Sansa Stark."
Jaime looks up suddenly:
"What do you mean?"
"You make our marriage official and I will give you my soldiers to win this war and destroy Stannis and Daenerys."
"This is nonsense", Jaime starts.
"Alright", Cersei interrupts him.
Petyr holds back a triumphant smile and stands up:
"Let me join the Vale, prepare the soldiers and we will leave to King's Landing as soon as possible", he says, holding his hand at Cersei.
"Do not be late", she says, not shaking his hand, and turning her back at him. "Now, get out."
Baelish leaves with a bow and Jaime, when they are alone, turns to his sister:
"What are you doing? No one can trust this man."
"I do not trust him. I am playing with him, just as he is playing with us. Well, as he thinks he is playing with us. I will take these soldiers. And when we will destroy these two pieces of shit, I will never agree to give him the Stark girl. I will kill her in front of him, slowly. I will kill all of the ones who are fighting us, for treason. Our son will remain on the throne. I will kill all of them, Starks, Greyjoys, Baratheons, Targaryens, Martells, Tyrells. The Lannisters will be the only one who will remain. The only ones worthy of the throne."
Jaime shakes his head as he hears her talk:
"You are insane. We will never win. Even with Baelish's men, we will never win."
She gives him a black look and stands up:
"Where are your balls, Jaime? Did you lose them as you lost your hand? We are Lannisters! We are the richest, the more powerful house of the realm! They all fear us!"
Her brother stares at her, at her beautiful eyes, the same than his.
"No they don't", he calmly retorts. "We are not feared anymore. We are not powerful anymore. We have lost our allies, thanks to you and the little brat you call our son. We lost Barristan Selmy, we lost the Tyrells, we could have made peace with the Starks but you let him kill Ned Stark. You pretend you care about our family, but you are destroying it. You, and no one else."
Cersei snorts and slaps him:
"I told you to go to Riverrun and to take that castle back. You have lost it."
"We were not enough to fight against Renly", Jaime retorts, wiping away the blood from his lip.
"Then give a sword to every man and child old enough to have one."
He stares at her again:
"Do you want children to fight for us? Or old men, barely standing on their legs?"
"Exactly. And if they must all perish, then let them die. I would rather rule an empty realm than no realm at all."
Jaime looks at her, and cannot come down to realize it's his sister who is talking this way. Power and sorrow have driven her insane. It will be like the Mad King. She will become the Mad Queen. That is why she never agreed on a marriage for Joffrey. She does not want to let him rule. She wants to be the ruler, she wants to be the Queen. At any cost. He raises his only hand to stroke her hair, her smooth and perfect blonde locks but she moves away with a brutal head's movement. He sighs deeply and walks out of her room. Sometimes, he regrets being back here. He misses Brienne, somehow. He has never been truly himself than when he was with her. But now, Brienne has become his enemy: she is fighting with Renly, with Stannis. Throughout the whole realm, everyone talked about Stannis's attack on the Wildlings, the attack that saved the Night's Watch. People had never liked him; he was too cold, too rigid, and too stern. People loved Renly, sweet and smiling. Time was passing by, and they all are realizing that Stannis would make a great king. Jaime snorts out loud as he is watching the sleeping city, standing on one of the wall of the Red Dungeon. Even he thinks Stannis will be the best king for the realm. But he has to remain faithful to his king, and to Cersei. With their father dead, with Tyrion gone, he is the only one left for her.
But, by all the Gods, he would exchange his life with a peasant's one, right now.