A/N: I have wanted to write this one for a while. I almost didn't include it yet. There will be a lag of quite a few chapters before you find out what comes of Cersei's actions but I'm hoping you will all think it is worth it when the reveal comes :-)

Chapter 42: Cersei

Cersei Lannister wore a mourning dress. Her hair was loose, falling to her shoulders. It had grown back after her walk of shame from the Great Sept of Baelor and was now as thick and golden as it had been before, even though it was still not as long as it had been.

It was a temporary setback. She was now the proud lioness of Casterley Rock again. She was queen again and she was feared again. Her champion, Ser Robert Strong had ensured that. Unfortunately Margaery Tyrell had been cleared too but Margaery was no longer important. She was never important.

Cersei did not like to don mourning but she was mourning. My Tommen. He had been a good boy but he was not strong, not like Joffrey. She had been determined to keep him safe from his enemies. She had done everything she could and they had still gotten to him. Cersei did not believe for one second that he had simply fallen from his horse and been trampled. It had to have been foul play. Somebody murdered him, just as Tyrion murdered Joffrey.

She had suspected the Dornish were behind it. With both of Cersei's sons dead, Myrcella was queen. They wanted the throne. She did not discount Tyrion either. They may be working together. Cersei had never trusted the Dornish and she had not forgotten the Red Viper acting as Tyrion's champion. He had almost managed to free the dwarf, almost. Then Joffrey wasstill denied justice when the eunuch had helped Tyrion escape.

There had been too much death. First Joffrey, then her father and then her uncle Kevan. Cersei had mourned her uncle little to be truthful. He had known about her and Jaime and he had been conspiring to have her sent away to Casterley Rock. He had tried to remove her claws. With him gone Cersei was free again. She resumed her rightful place. She was Regent again but now Tommen was gone too.

Her enemies, Myrcella's enemies were multiplying. The roses still choked her. Tommen was barely gone when they began to suggest Myrcella should have a better match than Trystane Martell. Cersei knew what they wanted. They wanted to wed her to a rose, that crippled son of Mace Tyrell. She would not stand for it.

She had managed to put them off. There were plenty of distractions. The Targaryen, the Ironborn, Stannis and now the Stark girl were all circling. Cersei could feel the imaginary hands trying to tighten around her neck. There was nobody she could trust, not even Jaime. He still had not returned. Cersei had known she needed to act, she needed to secure Myrcella's throne.

She had the urge to smash the cup in her hand remembering the raven from Aegon Targaryen. It had seemed the solution. Cersei had heard how like his father he was. She could still remember Rhaegar, his silver hair and purple eyes. Aegon might have won a few battles but she knew he had no gold. He was not wed and it was said he wanted peace. It was also said that he was beautiful and gentle and kind. If he had wed Myrcella Cersei knew her daughter would be safe. Her daughter could be wed to the son of the man who should have been Cersei's husband.

There was nothing gentle and kind in his response to the proposal. His words spat on her. He threw Robert in her face, as though that was her fault. I hated him for killing Rhaegar. He then moved on to say Myrcella was a usurper and that he knew she was not Robert's daughter. He threw the death of his mother and sister at her. He threw the Red Wedding at her, things she had no hand in. Worst of all he prated at her over the death of Eddard Stark.

The reference to Stark grated on her. The honourable Eddard Stark had been as much a part of the rebellion as Robert was. It made Cersei remember the letter sent from Storm's End by Arya Stark. The girl had clearly influenced the prince. Aegon called the execution of Lord Stark murder. Cersei had heard rumours of his weakness for the girl but she had thought them to be rumours only. Now she doubted.

Arya Stark was proving to be an obstacle. The girl was meant to be dead. Instead she had claimed Winterfell and the North had risen for her. Even after her youngest brother had somehow been found alive they still pledged service to the girl. The Bolton's have a lot to answer for. Cersei could not believe it when she had heard that Roose Bolton had given way to Stannis, that Winterfell had been lost. The arrival of the youngest Stark girl and her declarations against the Iron Throne had seemed trivial at first, then the mess in the North had compounded when she took Winterfell and began swearing bloody vengeance.

Cersei tried to remember the girl. Much had been made of Sansa's beauty. She was a stupid girl. Cersei could not recall much of the younger girl. She remembered the incident where the girl's direwolf had savaged Joffrey. The child had always appeared a dirty, scrawny stick of a thing. Cersei had not paid her much attention. Arya Stark had not been at court as Sansa had. Cersei had not deemed her important until she had been needed as a hostage to try and bring her older brother to heel.

Tales were now spreading of Arya Stark, the wild wolf girl. Men flocked to her side. There was talk of her beauty, of her fierceness. They said she was as good with a sword as most men, that she would not submit to marry and that she was shadowed by a huge direwolf which would kill at her command. Men followed her, wanted her, they all but worshipped her.

They fight me because I have teats yet they will follow this girl

The rumours of the Stark girl and the Targaryen prince were what made Cersei feel the most unease. She was uncomfortably reminded of Rhaegar and Lyanna Stark. It was even said that Arya Stark resembled her aunt. Cersei cursed again that she did not marry Rhaegar. This Aegon would have been her son and he would not even look at a Stark.

He refused Myrcella, if he marries the Stark girl... The prophecy came back to her.

"Queen you shall be . . . until there comes another, younger and more beautiful, to cast you down and take all that you hold dear."

She had thought Maggy had meant Margaery, that was wrong. What if it was the Stark girl? Cersei could not believe that the girl was more beautiful but the stories made her uncertain. If only Joffrey had not killed Eddard Stark. So many things had come to pass from that one moment of madness.

Cersei was not going to let the girl take everything from her. She only had one child left and she would do what she had to in order to protect her. She knew what she had to do. She summoned the small council.