A Lion with a Black Mane

Prologue

Cersei had been watching them, watching them both.

The girl was perfect, soft golden fuzz atop her head and though her eyes were shut now Cersei had seen that they were the exact same shade of green as her own, a perfect little lioness. Her precious princess, Myrcella.

The boy was what shocked and dismayed her, he was still awake while his twin sister slept and his blue eyes were starring up at her, the fuzz atop his little head was as black as night and that could only mean one thing.

Cersei had sworn to herself that she would never allow any of Robert's seed to take root in her again after the first time and the woman Jaime found cleansed it from her, and she had succeeded in that. It wasn't much of a victory, but if she could not fight Robert as a man then she would have to beat him in the woman's war and until now she had beaten him every time.

Her royal husband was still away from the Red Keep, he had taken half the court with him out into the Kingswood and would likely not be back for at least another week but Cersei could just imagine how delighted he would be to have a son that looked like him, she had seen the look of disappointment in his eyes when she presented Joff to him and he was as golden as her.

Well, Joff wasn't really his son so she supposed that was fair enough. It pleased her to think that Robert secretly knew the truth and his pride would not let him tell anyone, could not let anyone know how deeply he had been shamed.

It wasn't true of course, if Robert knew then Cersei had no doubt that he would have beaten her to death by now but it still pleased her to think about the alternative all the same.

A soft noise drew Cersei out of her thoughts and she glanced down into the cradle, the boy was blowing little bubbles and despite herself Cersei could not help her lips from twitching upward into a small smile as reached down to cup a cheek.

And in the very next moment she was lost.

The baby grabbed on to her little finger as she was pulling away with a surprising amount of strength for such a little thing, he was so small and yet so strong and Cersei stared down into his wide blue eyes and made a decision.

He was hers, he was a Baratheon in his colouring but what did that matter? He was her son, she had brought him into the world with blood and pain and she had held him first, before Robert had, and he was her son. Hers.

And wasn't that a sweet thought? Let Robert cheer when he saw how much her son looked like him, let him laugh and drink and bask in the cheers and praise of his lords and knights at having sired a new son on the lioness of Lannister, Cersei would let him because in the end the victory would be hers.

She would make sure that her son saw his father for what he truly was, a drunken whoring brute. She would ensure that her son hated him, that he would not wish to be anything like him no matter how hard Robert tried to make him so.

Oh yes, that was a sweet thought indeed.

It occurred to her then that she had not yet given the boy a name, with Myrcella it had come easily to her as one look at her little daughter and she had known what her name was but with her daughter's twin she hadn't known. She had been distracted by how much like Robert he looked, dismayed in truth.

Cersei reached into the cradle, careful not to disturb her daughter, and cradled her youngest child close to her chest and looked into his eyes. Robert would want to name this one once he returned, she had no doubt about that at all but Cersei would not allow it.

"Tygett," the name of her favourite uncle came unbidden to her as she stared down at her son and the babe opened and closed his mouth as she said the name and Cersei took that as approval.

Cersei put the boy back into the cradle and watched them both until Grand Maester Pycelle arrive, speaking as slowly as he always did. "Your Grace, I have come to examine the children once again."

Cersei nodded and rose from the bed, standing close to the window and watching as the old man knelt over the cradle. "Have you sent word to my husband yet?" Cersei asked, her arms crossed over her chest.

Pycelle hummed like he didn't hear her but then seemed to realise that Cersei was speaking to him. "Ah, not as of yet your Grace. It is considered the done thing to ensure that the children will survive the first few hours before sending word to the King."

Robert would love that, another was to escape from his responsibilities. Cersei didn't doubt that if word reached him that either or both the babes died then Robert would use it as an excuse to remain him in the kingswood for even longer, drinking and hunting to drown his 'grief' for the children he had paid not even the slightest bit of interest in before.

"You will not send a raven," Cersei said and Pycelle turned his head to look at her slowly, he seemed to do everything painfully slowly. "I have decided to name my son Tygett and my daughter Myrcella."

"Your Grace," Pycelle began carefully, like he truly was not sure what to say that. "It is the done thing to send word, if I do not send a bird then the king will wonder why I did not and he will be greatly worth with me. And the King is the one who would wish to name his children, I fear that he will be greatly wroth with you if you choose to name them without his grace or consent."

"I don't care," Cersei answered. "I have decided what my children will be named and that is the end of it, if the King or the Lord Hand ask you will tell them that you did send a raven and it must have been taken down by a larger bird, there are so many of them in the kingswood, and even more as of late with all the hunting hawks and falcons my husband's court took with them."

Pycelle frowned but after a moment he nodded his head, finished the examinations, told her that he would write to the citadel to have her children's names entered into their records, and left her with her children. Once the door was shut Cersei smiled proudly down at the babes, her babes.

Hers.

End of prologue.

Okay, a few things.

One, this is not a rewrite of my old a black-haired beauty story from ages back and I don't really intend to ever do a rewrite of that so I'm sorry if that's what you thought this was.

Second of all when it comes to true born Baratheon children fics I noticed that people tend to make theirs either older than Joffery, Joffery's twin or the second son after Joffery.

I thought it would be fun to make Tygett Myrcella's twin and her younger twin at that, it could make for a fun dynamic.

Any who, I hope you enjoyed this prologue.

With warmest regards,

DiscordantSymphony