TW: Hint at Spousal Abuse

Wade frowned as he looked up. "Okay, that warning is nice but… uh… where is the Daenerys?"

"She's in the palace," Logan replied, taking a long pull from his mug of dark beer. He'd only agreed to go out with Wade because the bastard was paying… and he'd made sure Wade ACTUALLY paid ahead of time and didn't stiff him with the bill.

"And why are you calling her 'The Daenerys'?" Ser Jorah asked, Domino nodding in agreement. "Is that a new title."

"Please tell me its not a new title," Domino complained.

"First off you two shouldn't even be here. The rest of my supporting cast was glorified cameos and you two weren't even included in my Top 9." Wade jabbed a finger at Ser Jorah. "You haven't even been burned yet to end up with your metal arm and messed up eye."

"…what?" Ser Jorah said, confused.

"Shhh," Wade said, pressing a finger to Ser Jorah's lips. "We had a great thing but you and I are over. Logan is my new best friend."

"No I'm not," Logan said, waving for another beer.

"That is exactly what best friends would say!" Wade declared. "And I don't mean The Mother of Super Long Titles. I mean the DAENERYS. As in the name showing what this chapter is about."

"What the fuck are you talking about?" Logan complained before shaking his head. "Wait, no, I don't give a fuck."

"I am talking about the Daenerys Chapter!" Wade declared. "It only makes sense! Deadpool and Wolverine just came out so Chaos should get that wonderful synergy going and do a Daenerys chapter so he can, in turn, focus on us." Wade paused. "Of course if he were really smart he should set up a Batreon. Make some good cash out of this. But you know, with a P but we can't call it that because if we do its censored!"

Logan looked at Ser Jorah who shrugged.

"Seriously, where is it? Come on, I know you only spell check these fucking things once you lazy-" Wade paused, looking down at his feet… and blinking. "Cersei? You are doing a chapter about fucking Cersei? Chaos you dumb motherfucker! Synergy! Seriously! At least move the Dany chapter up! Fuck!" Wade threw his hands in the air. "This is why Chaos Effect will never be as popular as Child of the Storm or This Bites!"

Wade paused.

"Seriously, Chaos should do a Batreon, right? He already does the live reads and discord invites for free… maybe then he'll actually think when it comes to putting out these chapters so there is some synergy?" Wade suddenly looked up as Viktor entered the bar. "Hey, Chaos should do a Batreon, right Tony?"

"…" Viktor, rather than responding, slammed Wade's head into the counter.

"Jonathan Majors?" Wade slurred before passing out, his last words being, "Batreon?"

Cersei

"Good morning, your grace," Robecca Flowers said, breezing into the room. The young woman was tall, with thick arms and a shock of black hair. If not for her age and the fact that Cersei had kept track of such things VERY carefully she would have assumed Robecca was one of Robert's bastards. But no… the girl had been born in the Reach and Robert had been in the Vale at that time; while Cersei had MUCH to say about Jon Arryn she admitted that he had done well to restrain Robert after he had brought into the world his first bastard.

No… Robecca was just another way for the Tyrells to taunt her. She wasn't his bastard but a reminder of them. Even the name was a reminder of her hated dead husband. It was all a way to ensure that Cersei awoke every morning in a piss poor mood.

"Are you ready to get up, your grace?" Robecca asked as she threw open the curtains and let the sunlight into the room, making Cersei squeeze her eyes shut. Even with fall upon them the sun was far too bright, in her opinion.

'No. In fact the only thing that could get me up at this ungodly hour, you giant blundering cow, would be if they informed me that your head was about to be put on the block!'

That… was what Cersei wanted to say.

"Yes, I do believe it is time for me to get up. Help me, would you? I feel as if the years are truly weighing down on me this morning."

"Of course, your grace!" Robecca chirped, moving to help Cersei up from the bed.

The stupid girl had no idea that, in her head, Cersei was screaming and raging. Not only was she putting herself into the power of this woman but she was admitting that she was OLD!?

'Damn you Margaery!' Cersei mentally screeched.

Thankfully the giant moose of a woman was able to get Cersei dressed quickly enough so that the queen only had to hear her prattle for about 40 minutes; from the moment that she was stripped clean, washing with wet cloth (no bath, as much as Cersei longed to have a leisurely soak… she was denied that too), dressed for the day, hair done, makeup applied, her perfumes dripped onto her body, and finally one of her false hands, this one made of ivory with golden nails, was strapped to her wrist. Through it all Cersei was forced to deal with the woman happily blathering on about whatever popped into her little mind. Worse, Cersei was compelled to encourage her to continue. When she wanted to do nothing more than snap at her to be quiet or dismissively comment on whatever Robecca was saying until the dunderhead got the point… what came out of her mouth was instead questions and comments that kept the entire horrid affair going.

"Thank you, Robecca," Cersei told her with a true smile that made her face ache even as the words burned on her tongue like acid.

"Have a wonderful day, your grace!"

'I hope you trip and fall out a window… preferably a very high one so you have plenty of time to watch the ground racing towards you. Then at the very least you would get a fraction of the taste of the suffering I have had to go through listening to you constantly prattle on about your pathetic, useless life!'

Cersei left the room but only got about 10 feet before she found her hated enemy grabbing her arm, a smile on her face as she turned her away from her original path.

"Well, hello mother," Margaery said with a smile as she tugged Cersei along. "How delightful to find you up and able to join us this morning! I know you were up quite late last night…"

Cersei had been up late and her eyes were heavy with sleep. All she wanted to do was return to her room and sleep. But Margaery continued to drag her along and when Cersei tried to stop the young woman reached down, grasping her right hand in her own and giving it a squeeze.

"Now now… my grandmother would be most disappointed if you chose not to join us. And I would say hate to have to waste time trying to figure out how to explain how you lost your other hand." Cersei's eyes widened as she suddenly felt a burning sensation along her wrist, looking down to see that Margaery's hand was crackling with wicked magic. "Don't worry… I won't use a spell to take your hand." She giggled at that. "Oh, what a waste that would be! My chaos magic is far too much to use on such a simple thing as that. No no no… I would NEVER do that." She lifted up Cersei's hand, the fingers turning a dark red thanks to the pressure Margaery was applying to her wrist, and patted it with her free hand. "No… I'll just force you to stick it in the nearest hearth. Remember the way you scream as your flesh is cooked and your muscles are reduced to ash and pleasure myself to it each night."

"Your brother can't bring you such pleasures?"

Margaery merely chuckled at that, letting out a soft sigh. "Are YOU of all people trying to shame me for sleeping with my own brother?" She shook her head. "Come now, mother, you know better than that. The blood of the Dragon flows through me… you wiggled your arse in the mud while giving your husband horns."

Cersei glowered at that and sniffed. "Jaime and I came into this world together. We shared the same womb."

"So did Loras and I," Margaery pointed out, "though I don't use that as some sort of claim that we are destined to be together." She continued to lead Cersei on, pausing every once and a while to chat with a servant who paused, much to Cersei's annoyance. Her head ached thanks to the little sleep she had gotten and still feeling the affects of the alcohol she had consumed the night before.

'At the very least this little whore lets me indulge in such things… the only way I manage to get through my days is by numbing the pain with wine.'

That wasn't entirely true. How she also got through her days was plotting how she would be able to escape the mental prison she found herself in. Then, once that was done and she was free again, she would torture the Tyrells slowly for their crimes against her; all of the agonies and traumas they had piled onto her would be remembered and catalogs and paid back a thousand times. The dreams she had had of all she would do to Margaery…

Her favorite was how she would lock Margaery in a black cell with only a single candle, deaf guardian assigned to force feed her meals so she would live. And in her cell would be placed her father, brother, and grandmother, their bodies slowly allowed to rot right in front of Margaery's eyes. Oh, how the vile little cunt would scream so beautifully as she was forced to watch the flesh slowly melt off her family's skulls. And once they were little more than skeletons Cersei would burn their putrid remains and mix the ashes with the stickiest of waxes, painting Margaery's body so that her family's remains would cling to her body forever.

Yes… that is what got Cersei through her days of embarrassment.

They turned a corner and headed down another hall, Margaery still clinging to her like a barnacle on a ship. "I must admit, I am impressed by your resolve… so very impressed. A weaker woman would have gone mad and allowed me to make them into my puppet. But you not only have kept your resolve you STILL fight my control." She leaned in and whispered, "I am enjoying the challenge."

"And I will enjoy-"

Cersei's mouth snapped shut.

"Having breakfast with my grandmother? I am very happy… she will enjoy having a meal with you. It has been so long since she has had a chance to talk with you… before the wedding, I believe. The first one, that is." Margaery smiled at that and suddenly something twisted in Cersei's stomach.

'Baelish would never have killed Joffrey in such an open manner…' she thought to herself, thinking of the Maester of Coin who was currently still out there, plotting his revenge upon her for his death. 'YOU!' she mentally screamed, twisting out of Margaery's grip, ignoring the pain in her hand as she did so. She tried to roar but her jaw remained clamped shut, preventing her from doing anything but glare at the whore before her with blazing eyes. 'You killed my son!'

"Well well well,' Margaery said allowed. "Something just occurred to you but I'm not quite sure what." She flicked her hand and Cersei's world exploded in pain, the cracking red energy now coursing up and down her body, making her limbs tremble and her knees give out. She collapsed on the ground, jaw nearly snapping as she fought to scream even as her mouth was forced to remain closed. For nearly a minute she writhed on the ground, trying to reach out and grasp onto Margaery's ankle and drag her down to the ground so she could claw her eyes out. But she couldn't… she was completely at her mercy and Cersei hated it!

Finally… finally… the pain stopped.

"What was it you wanted to say, hmmm?" Margaery asked, squatting down to look at Cersei. "I can't read your mind, you know."

Cersei merely glared at her. "A… proper lady… doesn't bend down like that. It… it makes you… look like you are… relieving yourself."

Margaery chuckled at that. "I suppose you are right… though what does it say about a queen who writhes on the ground like a brain addled piglet?" She reached over and tapped Cersei's forehead. "What was it that angered you so?"

But Cersei kept her mouth shut. 'She can't read my thoughts… she can command me to say what she wishes and prevent me from saving other things… but she doesn't know my thoughts.' Finally the little bitch had made a mistake and given Cersei the first foothold in clawing her way out of the trap she'd found herself in. Margaery merely smiled tauntingly but Cersei kept her mouth shut and that caused the smile to drop.

"There are other ways…" She trailed off, holding up her hand which crackled with crimson energy and Cersei squeezed her eyes shut, giving one final mental command to NOT speak. She would not give the whore-

"Margaery."

At once Cersei snapped her eyes opened and watched as the young girl rapidly rose to her feet, brushing off her dress and flashing a smile. But the new arrival didn't give Cersei much hope for salvation for it was the bitch's hated grandmother that had arrived.

"We were just coming to breakfast-" Margaery began.

"Yes and were delayed, leaving me to wait all by myself. And what are you doing out here when you were asked to retrieve the Queen for me?" The Queen of Thorns looked at Cersei, her puckered up face twisting into a look of annoyance.

"She decided to talk back to me-"

"With your power?" Olenna snapped. "I think not. What really happened child? And don't you dare think of lying to me."

It was a startling thing that happened and if not for her pain Cersei would have cackled at how Margaery curled in on herself. No longer did she look like the brash and bold queen she tried desperately to portray herself as… but as a child found running about the halls when told they were supposed to be studying, embarrassed and ashamed.

"She… realized something. But she won't tell me what it is." Margaery pouted. "I can't read her mind and-"

"Stupid, dim-witted girl!" Olenna shot at her, cutting off Margaery once more. The young woman reeled back as if she had been smacked in the face.

"Grandmother…" she said, startled.

"She didn't know that and you offered up that information for free?" Margaery at once wilted further into herself. "It is bad enough you are indulging in this vulgar display. What if a guard had happened upon you?"

"I could have handled him easily enough."

"Of course you could have," the Queen of Thorns said with a rolling of her eyes. "But do we WANT you to be dealing with it?" Margaery tilted her head, clearly confused. "We are on the cusp of our final victory. Soon the Brotherhood will be on the move. Winter will allow us to easily complete the Grand Plan and you want to complicate matters with such a needless move? People talk, Margaery… they will notice a guard missing and we will need to explain it."

"It is one guard," Margaery argued.

"For now. But your stupidity will only cause the number to grow… you take far too much delight in torturing her. Are you the Mad King come again?"

At that Margaery narrowed her eyes. "Never," she hissed.

"Then don't act like him. I taught you better than that." With that she pointed at Cersei. "Get her up and follow me. No, I will not go ahead, I will in fact follow you to ensure that you do not give into your impulses. And then you will leave us be."

Margaery spoke even as she helped Cersei up, yanking her to her feet with no little amount of agitation. "I thought we were dining together."

"That was before you proved yourself to be lacking the maturity I thought you had. It is my fault… with matters moving as they are I have been forced to speed along your education and you clearly aren't finished. You will return to your room and spend the day writing out the failures of Jaehaerys the Wise when it came to his lost and loose daughter and how you would have handled her differently."

"I was supposed to go with the others to observe the Open Court that Lord Jon is holding in the city-"

"You will lie and claim that you can not. If anyone presses you state that it is your bleeding; you are near enough for it and no one will think twice if you are heavier than normal. No man will dare complain for fear you will describe it to them. The only benefit of those little gifts." Margaery ducked her head at that and led Cersei the rest of the way in silence; when they finally reached the small dining room Margaery bid goodbye to her grandmother but Olenna didn't say a word in response, leaving the young woman to walk away rather remorsefully.

Cersei forced herself not to shudder as she took a seat at the table. Ever since the meal with Mace Tyrell she had come to hate breakfast, the meal forever tainted by the violations she had suffered at the hands of the Rose of Highgarden. The only nice thing about the entire spread, if one could use the word 'nice' in regards with her situation, was that Olenna had gone with far less meats than her son had, choosing to break her fast with fruits and breads rather than charred animal flesh.

As if sensing her thoughts Olenna stated, "When one gets to my age they must be careful with their diet. Being regular is important, which the fruit sees too, but meats can make the entire thing a messy affair and I'd rather not be known for dying squatting over a chamber pot that stunk worse than my corpse." She smiled at that and began to select some food, Cersei refusing to do so. "Come now, no need to be stubborn. That stomach of yours must be empty at this point." She tsked at Cersei, shaking her head. "You can hate a person utterly and completely and still eat with them. In fact I've found it the greatest revenge, to eat them out of house and home." She chuckled at that, eyes twinkling in amusement. "And you hate me so very, very much, don't you?" she asked.

Cersei narrowed her eyes.

"Oh, you can admit it. I had Margaery allow you to speak your mind for the length of this breakfast. I want-"

"GUAR-" Cersei managed to get out before he voice was reduced to a dry whisper, the last of her bellow for the castle guard coming out as a weak wheezing sound.

"Fool!" Olenna snapped, her smile fading at once. "Did you truly believe us so stupid as to allow you to scream for help? I said you could SPEAK your mind, not scream it! We are not as moronic as you are!" She glared at Cersei who returned the thunderous gaze right back at her. "Sit down and talk with me. Put all notions of escape out of that clearly empty head of yours. It isn't going to happen. Just like this meal take this opportunity to actually speak freely. You never know when it will come again."

Cersei continued to stare at her but she found her glare lessening. That caused the old shriveled up woman before her to smile. 'At the very least she has all her teeth,' Cersei thought to herself.

"Come now… don't you want to let me have it? Tell me all the reasons why you loathe and despise me? Why you hate me and wish me dead? I don't just mean my family… I mean myself, personally." Olenna leaned forward. "This is your chance to finally let that mask slip and tell me all the dark thoughts that have been bouncing through your head. A rare opportunity, one that doesn't come along often. You have no need to worry that you will somehow make your situation worse… I dare say me killing you would be a kindness compared to what my granddaughter has done to you. What else could we possibly do to you?"

Cersei could think of a lot of things, honestly, and something must have passed over her face because Olenna sighed and shook her head.

"Yes, we could do much but it wouldn't benefit us. We need you right now in this castle… we can't get away with tossing you aside. Too much of the public remembers Robert's reign as a good one- don't give me that look." Cersei forced herself to stop rolling her eyes. "Robert had one rebellion against him that was put down quick. But he still will be remembered by the smallfolk as a good king purely because he left them alone. He was a shit king to the rest of us but they remember him fondly and that will be what saves you, Cersei. So again, I ask you: what is stopping you from finally letting it all out?"

And much to her own surprise… Cersei began to speak.

"I hate you because you are my future," she replied in a harsh whisper. "I look at you and know that all I do now to prevent what is coming… will come. I will not remain beautiful. I will not remain appealing. I will wither and wrinkle and be reduced to a hideous thing that is looked upon with pity. 'Remember Cersei Lannister, the fairest maiden in all of Westeros? Look what has happened to her.'" She reached out and took a wine glass, filling it to near the top. She found that the more she spoke the easier the words dripped from her tongue… no, not dripped. The gushed out like a broken vase, spilling upon the table. "I look upon you and know that you are as I will become and it sickens me. I simply do not know how you allowed yourself to become the shriveled pathetic thing you are. The aching joints, the loose skin, the stringy hair… I do all I can in order to prevent myself from reaching that state and every day have to look at your weathered face and know that if I relax by even an inch you are what I have to look forward to in my mirror.

"I hate you because you aren't royalty. Not truly. You are servants. For as much as I hate the Starks at least they can trace their line to kings. But you were servants who only got your station because of the foolish kindness of the Targaryens. You should be scrubbing my chamberpot, not sitting her dictating terms to me.

"I hate the very thought that your whore of a granddaughter, who opened her legs to Renly Baratheon of all people, might carry my grandchild in her festering womb. That we might be forever linked. What does your grandchild know of children? What does she know of the pains they bring you? She will raise stupid vain little boys and girls and the Seven Kingdoms will be made the worst for it."

"Go on," Olenna said, a little smile on her lips which only aggravated Cersei all the more.

"I hate that you turned down a chance to bed a Dragon. I LONGED for it and was denied… you were given the chance and tossed it aside for your oafish husband! They were above us… all knew it! The great dragon riders, born of a lineage beyond even the Lannisters. And you tossed it away! I had my Silver Prince robbed from me and you threw yours aside.

"I hate how no matter what I do people see my family as gold mongers who are never to be trusted while you and your kind are given respect because you make your wealth through tilling the fields. You are glorified field hands and now you sit there at the head of the table and mock me? I am the Queen! I am the Queen of the-"

Her voice gave out once more.

"I told you, don't raise your voice," Olenna said, shaking her head in disapproval. "And there… didn't that feel good to finally say it? To no longer have to hide your true thoughts? I am willing to bet you thought many dark things about Robert and lied in bed as he snored away wishing you could shake him awake and let him know. Not the barbs you tossed at him… the true depths of your disgust and revulsion for him. Am I wrong?"

"…no," Cersei managed to get out.

"So this… must have been freeing for you," Olenna stated and Cersei HATED that the old bat was correct. It had been an utter relief to finally speak that hidden thoughts that she had kept buried deep within herself. No worrying what her father might say. No concerns about portraying herself as 'a queen should'. Not wondering how she might keep an enemy close so she might use them properly. She hated Olenna Tyrell and let the old woman know it. It would have been far too dramatic to claim it was something that was, for example, better than sex… but it was still so freeing and delightful.

Naturally… the Queen of Thorns had to ruin it.

"Of course all you have said reveals far more about you than it does me," Olenna stated. "I am not your future. Yes, you will get old but I can already tell that you will squander your old age just as you have your youth. I work even now to build up my family… not only have we, in barely three hundred years, become one of the most powerful families in Westeros in terms of wealth and influence but we have also become the master manipulators of nearly every major criminal act in the Seven Kingdoms. Oh, I'm not vain enough to claim that I nor Mace control the little pickpocketing and burglaries that happen in the far off villages that don't even have remembered names… but I will tell you that any murder that goes unsolved is thanks to our hand. And-" here the Queen of Thorns chuckled, "-some of the solved ones too, even if it is the wrong man sent to the headsman. But you, my dear? Your family, within 50 some odd years, has risen up from the muck your grandfather placed you in and become something grand… only to sink back low due to your laziness.

"You are the Queen… but you do nothing with it. Alysanne, even in her final years, held herself with great nobility and wielded great power. And so people ignored the wrinkles and saw instead the beauty that came with age. Like a fine wine. You could be the same but you will not work towards it… and thus you will age more like apple vinegar than apple wine, I would say. That is the failure of Tywin Lannister… he gave you far too much."

"My father gave me too much?" Cersei asked, laughing at the thought. "Your mind has begun to go if you believe that to be true."

"Believe and know," Olenna stated. "He became the great man he did because he had to work to build himself up. And as such he understood that it was like to be low and thus respected the power he wielded. His folly was not instilling the same in you or your twin. Jaime Lannister being sent to squire for a well known Westerland's knight… he should have sent him to Dorne or the North. Some place where his name meant nothing and he would have to truly prove himself. As for you… well, you have said it yourself: you were beautiful and thus never had to work for a single thing in all your life. You were handed it and that is why you are the vain and greedy little creature I find myself dining with. That, Cersei, is why I hate you."

Cersei's nose twitched, mouth pressed into a bitter line. The blasted woman didn't understand… no one did. They believed because they were 'lesser' that all others in the world should be like them. They didn't understand that there were people that were superior; that their intelligence or their beauty or their skills put them from birth one step ahead of all others. They couldn't be blamed for that! It was like blaming a tree for blocking the sun!

"You mock us for not being royalty. Perhaps… that is a claim that has been thrown at the Tyrells for 300 years, after all. That they were nothing but stewards who were rewarded by the Dragons. But…" and at that Olenna smirked, "When compared to all but the Starks and the Martels I would say that we beat the likes of the Baratheons, Arryns, and Lannisters quite well. We did not bellow at a dragon queen when she made a royal offer and end up with our only daughter in chains. We didn't give up our royal standing for a child's flight. And we were not foolish enough to march with the Gardners onto a field of dry grass with three dragons waiting for us."

She paused.

"Have you never wondered just WHO put that thought in King Gardner's head? Who whispered in his ear that 'Aegon will not use his dragons… he will want to bleed his army and that will be your chance'?" The Queen of Thorns smiled at that.

"You… you can't be suggesting…" Cersei said before narrowing her eyes. "You aren't. That is just another one of your lies."

"Oh yes!" the Queen of Thorns said with a grin. "Or is it? Something for you to mull over… sometimes a question that you must answer for yourself, without any true way of ever knowing the truth, is the only way that you can develop your mind. I play such games with Margaery even now." Olenna shook her head. "That girl. I have done as much as I could for her and for a time I believed I had molded her properly but ever since your boy killed Sansa Stark and started up his little war she has proven to be a disappointment."

Cersei smiled at that. "Oh? The Rose of Highgarden hasn't been so sweet to sniff as all claim?"

"Oh, she is sweet to sniff but her thorns have been the problem," Olenna stated, not at all bothered by Cersei's insults against her granddaughter. "I sometimes wonder if it is Alerie's fault. While she did her duty, faking the pregnancy of Margaery and Loras, she never truly connected with them as the rest of us did. 'They are babes,' Mace informed her once. 'What does it matter if they came from between your legs or not?'" Olenna let out a sigh. "He is a man, so he doesn't understand the difficulty. We women-" she gestured at Cersei and herself, "-we bring these babes into the world. They come literally attached to us and even as the cord is snipped we still feel a connection to them."

"We do," Cersei found herself saying.

"It didn't matter that Margaery and Loras would be the next Queen and King of Westeros and that our family needed the connection with the Blackfyres… Alerie simply could not bring herself to connect with the children for their first few years of life. Oh, she grew to care for them, you can see that now, but… well, how you treat a child when they are at their most helpless is something they can't help but forever remember. You know that. You coddled Joffrey and allowed every misstep to be treated as a glorious thing. And thus the kind of man and king we got: a vain and petty little monster who believed he shouldn't merely be allowed to do as he wished but be praised for it."

Cersei narrowed her eyes at that. "Joffrey-"

"Was a monster. Because of you," Olenna stated.

"Joffrey was beautiful and charming-"

"And arrogant, stupid, and blundering. He would have been another Aegon the Unworthy. By his 30th name day he would have been grossly overweight… the boy was already putting back on fat and it wasn't the cute baby fat that Tommen has which even now he is burning away. He was lazy and cared only for his whims. Aerys and Aegon, that's what he would have been."

"Jof-" Cersei's voice seized up, her body unable to shout out how he was her perfect child.

"You made that boy your sole focus and ruined your relationship with all three of your children," Olenna informed her. "Joffrey came to view you not as the only person he could trust but as yet another person that would give him praise. And in fact because your scolding was so rare any attempts by you to do so were met with rage." Olenna shook her head. "What was your hope, Cersei? You certainly didn't support any bride for your 'Perfect Prince'… did you plan to sleep with him too?" She started at that, eyes wide. "Oh… oh that was it, wasn't it?" Olenna said and Cersei could feel her face heating up and blood rushed to her head. "You have a few years left… you wanted Joffrey to mount you and put a child in your belly. Perhaps you could produce a daughter with him and he would, in turn, get her heavy with child? Out Targaryen the Targaryens? Parent and Child forever producing a line of kings?" Olenna laughed at that. "My my my… I knew you were short sighted…"

Cersei couldn't speak. She wasn't sure what she would have screamed if she was able to but she couldn't speak.

"Now…" Olenna said, "we come to your other children. Myrcella should have been something wonderful for you. A beautiful girl that you could truly bond with. Ah… but you only had eyes for Joffrey. And you fear your own gender most of all, don't you? I'm not sure why…" Olenna leaned forward. "What was it that made you hate women so?"

The Queen now kept her mouth shut for a different reason. She would not whisper that most guarded secret. 'Gold will be their crowns and gold with be their shrouds' 'Another queen… more beautiful…'

"Well, it doesn't matter, I suppose," Olenna said with a shrug. "Whatever it was you pushed your daughter away from you again and again, so that when she was offered up to the Dornish her tears were only because she was leaving the only home she knew… not because she misses you." The Queen of Thorns reached over and selected an orange, wrinkled root-like fingers digging into its peel and tearing it away. "Tell me… has she even written to you?"

Cersei went still. 'When… when is the last time I heard from Myrcella?' They got reports on how she was doing, of course. The Martells were quick to let them know how happy she was and Varys' spies said the same thing quite often. How Myrcella was flourishing in the desert, how she was embracing many aspects of the Dornish life. How her and her intended seemed utterly happy with each other.

But… Cersei had never received a private letter.

Not… one.

"I thought not," Olenna stated. "You had no time for her and now she has no time for you. That is how the song goes, doesn't it? The bards love to be cheeky and play that for dunderheaded lords who ignore their spares only to find the heir dead and the spare now unwilling to listen to a word their noble father has to say. 'The cats in the cradle and the silver spoon. Little boy blue and the man in the moon'?

"Which brings us to King Tommen and here I must truly shake my head in wonder, Cersei. How is it that you bungled up your child so much they looked to Tywin Lannister for love and support?" She shook her head. "You have damaged him greatly and now you are nothing to him. Oh, he doesn't realize it yet… he still cares for you because he'd been told he must but as he reaches adulthood such loyalty will disappear. He has Jon Stark, that Summer Islander Sam once he returns, and of course my granddaughter.

"Perhaps… perhaps you will be able to do better with the next generation. After all I stepped in to become a mother to Margaery when Alerie proved to be unable to do so. All know that she comes to me and not Mace's foolish wife. And that's probably for the best as I will guide her as best as I can, even if at the moment she is a touch drunk on her power. Case in point… the fact that she will have to be very careful when it comes to Tommen, if he reached manhood before Margaery's father arrives."

"He… arrives?" Cersei managed to get out.

"Oh yes, I would say that he will be coming very soon. He is currently meeting with Daenerys Targaryen right now, to work out a deal that will prevent her from causing problems. It all depends on the rumors concerning her womb. If she is barren then he will simply need to neutralize her. Claim her dragons or kill them and leave her chained in Essos. But if the whispers are false then I suppose there is a chance she could be of use. Loras and Margaery's son marrying Danaery's daughter? Perhaps give her over to Willas. That could work rather well for all of us. Tie the entire bloodline back together quite firmly. But if he lingers we will need to decide how we will handle Tommen. A man has needs… and I must admit the idea of a dragon-lion has its merits in terms of the next Lord of the Rock… but there is the risk that such a child will have delusions of the throne. Always dangerous, you know. Always dangerous.

"But that is none of your concern. We will be handling such things since you have shown no interest in them. No… I think you will finally be given exactly what you've wanted, Cersei: a chance to be queen. You will move about the Red Keep. You will smile and nod to those that bow. And you will do literally nothing else. Won't that be delightful?"

Olenna paused.

"Won't it?"