Two Lions

Chapter One

Her wrists were burning.

They had been for as long as she had been chained to this wall, she had lost count of the days down in the dark of the Rock, the metal had rubbed the skin away and she could feel the wetness of her blood slipping down her arms.

And yet she would not be cowed, they wanted her to be afraid. These raiders who had stolen her home from her, had betrayed her as all seemed so willing to do, but she would not give them her fear. She would not, she would not wait meekly for her death.

And so once again Cersei Lannister struggled against her chains, though they did not give even an inch.

"Sweet sister," the voice was all poisoned sweetness, a smile hiding a dagger. "Would you be so kind as to stop struggling? You aren't going to break your chains and all you are succeeding in doing is giving me a headache."

"Well then brother dear, I shall count that a victory." Cersei replied with a false smile of her own as she pulled at her chains again, the metal dug deep into her raw flesh and a hiss of pain escaped from her but even so she did not stop.

"Fine, rip your wrists apart, what do I care?" Tyrion said and Cersei imagined that her vile dwarf of a little brother would cross his arms in front of his chest, if not for the fact his wrists were chained behind him. "Even if you did get out of them where would you go? Casterly Rock belongs to your husband now, you have nowhere else to go and no allies to call upon either. You've lost, sweet sister. And are damned as well."

The rage and the fear warred in her chest but, as always, the rage won out. "As are you, dear brother. Did your dragon queen give you up? Did she cast you out because of some vile plot or did she give to Euron as part of some peace accord between them? Only the damned are in this cell brother."

Cersei could see the fire burning in his eyes, wildfire in one and black fire in the other, and Cersei knew it was only the chains that kept her safe in that moment. "Just...be quiet, I am trying to think of a way out of this."

"And what do you think you can do? What can you offer my lord husband for your life? Gold? He has a mountain full of it now, your wise council? What need does he have of that?" Cersei shook her head. "There's nothing you can say, all your clever words are like to do is have your tongue ripped out. My lord husband is quite fond of doing that apparently."

There was silence after that, neither of them spoke and Cersei found that she no longer had the desire or the strength to try and break her chains anymore. They both sat in the dark, lost in thoughts.

"What about Jaime?" Tyrion asked and his question made Cersei look up at him. "He was not pleased when you married Robert, I doubt he was even more pleased when you married of your own choice. To be sure I want him dead as much as you, but he might be our only hope."

"Jaime abandoned me," Cersei said in a whisper. "I was imprisoned before, in the sept of Baelor where they took my crown and my hair. I wrote to him, Qyburn wrote my letter and sent it off to Riverrun, I told him I was in danger, that I might lose my head. I begged him to come for me, and he did not."

To her horror Cersei felt tears running down her cheeks, and she could not even wipe them away. "He's off some where with that monstrous beast Brienne of Tarth, he will not come for me, and even if he would come for you which I doubt he does not know you are here. He will not come."

Tyrion swallowed roughly, it made the scar where his nose should have been flush and look even uglier than normal. "Casterly Rock is his home," he said. "Our home, our house's castle and seat, Jaime has a duty to defend it. He will raise a host to liberate it."

"Mayhaps, but what are the chances we are still alive by the time he does so?" Cersei asked and Tyrion cursed and Cersei suddenly found a new strength inside of her to pull at her chains, gritting her teeth at the pain.

She was still pulling against them when Tyrion spoke once more. "All that time I was in Essos, all that time I was at Daenerys's side, I dream about all the way that I would kill you. All the ways that I would hurt you, it was the only thing that kept me going. And now here you are, and I cannot lay a finger upon you."

"Nor I you, the monster who murdered my son." Cersei still dreamed of Joff most nights, his body thrashing in her arms as he fought to hold on, to take a breath, to stay with her. He had been so strong. And it had not been enough.

And when she was not dreaming about him, she was dreaming of Myrcella and Tommen.

"I didn't do it Cersei," Tyrion hissed and Cersei had to laugh at the sheer nerve of it.

"You vile little fool," Cersei said in-between hysterical laughter and attempts to breath. "There is nowhere you can go, no lie you can tell, to save your own skin and even now you cannot admit the truth? You murdered my son, just admit it!"

"I didn't!" Tyrion roared at her, the force of it almost made her reel away from him. "It wasn't me woman, if nothing else you can be certain that if I did want your vile little bastard dead I would do it in a way that did not make me look like the most guilty one present."

"I do not-"

"Oh, I don't care what you believe." Tyrion spat at her. "I didn't do it, and you tried to have me killed for no good reason. But I should not be surprised, you've been trying to do that for years."

Cersei wanted to claw his eyes out, wanted to rip out his lying tongue, but there was something he said that confused her. "I only tried to kill you after you killed my son, after you killed my father, don't play the poor victim with me little man, you deserve the vengeance I would take on you."

"No, not about that though I will say again that I did not kill Joffery, I'm talking about earlier," Tyrion must have seen the confusion on her face because he carried on. "Ser Mandon Moore?!"

"What about him?" Cersei asked, she could just about remember the knight if she tried. He had been one of the Kingsguard, and imunne to any of her attempts to make him her creature. She also remembered that Jaime said he did not like him, he unsettled him and Cersei had never known her twin to be unsettled by anyone.

"You tried to have him kill me! During the battle of Blackwater!" Tyrion roared at her again and Cersei frowned.

"I did not."

Tyrion laughed at that, "Now who can't just admit the truth, we are both damned Cersei and there's no-one else to hear. I know it was you, just admit it!"

Cersei was silent for a moment, and then she began to laugh. She laughed harder and harder until her chest ached and her chains were shaking from the force of it, Tyrion was looking at her like he sucked a lemon and that made her laugh even more. "Stop it!" He cried, getting to his feet and trying to lunge at her again but once again the chains stopped him.

Cersei eventually did stop, coughing and shaking her head. "I'm sorry, it's just...you dare to think your smarter than me, you dare to think that I am such a fool you little moron. Do you remember what happened after the battle Tyrion? You were in my care, in the chamber above my ballroom and tended by a man I could easily have paid to poison you or I could have smothered you will a pillow myself, you were out of your senses for days. You were defenceless, and to all the world it would have looked like you died from your wounds."

"And none would have questioned it, none would have cared." Tyrion looked like he was about to speak then but Cersei cut him off. "Look me in the eye and tell me that our Lord Father would have cared if you died in your sickbed."

That made Tyrion deflate somewhat, he sat down and gazed at the floor. "Whoever told Ser Mandon to kill you, it wasn't me."

"Varys, he said-"

"Varys!" Cersei laughed again, throwing her head back. "I told you you put too much faith in that eunuch, he's played you for a fool little brother. I could kill him if I didn't want to put his head on a spike."

Tyrion was quiet for a long time, she didn't know if she had ever seen him so quiet before. "I didn't kill Joff, that is still true."

Cersei scoffed, shook her head, and start to pull against her chains once more.

End of Chapter One.