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The opening of the doors signalled the return of Ned Stark and his family. They took the seats they'd left without much said, only nods exchanged with people who were inquiring if they were alright.
"Sansa did not want to waste too much time" Robb had explained to Jon when the boy asked. He was the only one to give a verbal response.
[KING'S LANDING; DINING ROOM]
"Starving yourself won't make things any better for her, my love."
"She's in a prison cell and there's nothing I can do. I am the king! The queen is in prison and there's nothing I can do!"
"The course of action is quite simple. Kill the Sparrow, kill the militant and throw that damned whore out a window" Robert grunted in displeasure.
"The Sparrow is now High Septon, and the 'whore' is his mother" Renly pointed out. "The realm would be in uproar if the King kills the High Septon. And he isn't the sort to lust for gold from the looks of things either."
"The best way should be to have a dialogue with the man and find a way out" Stannis added.
"Except Loras and Margaery were caught lying" Renly pointed out. "So there is no simple way of getting out."
"Perhaps the Queen could ask for clemency" Catelyn spoke, her voice a little strained. "She was defending her brother, her kin, someone she loves. She could always claim that she was protecting her brother out of love. The Seven Pointed Star does tell us to love our family."
"It also tells us to scorn sinners and punish liars" Renly drawled.
Robert looked at his brother surprised.
"I read books" Renly rolled his eyes.
"Either way" Stannis grunted, "no easy way out."
"Just assassinate the man" Robert grunted.
"No matter who you are, no matter how strong you are, sooner or later, you'll face circumstances beyond your control."
"Because your mother will make life hell for you all the way" Tyrion muttered darkly. Everything that Tommen was facing now was Cersei's fault, no other way to understand it.
"Events you couldn't possibly have anticipated or prevented even if you had. You cannot blame yourself for fate. Your father, your brother, your grandfather- I was Queen of the Seven Kingdoms and what could I do? Hold them as they left this world. Kissed their heads after they'd gone."
"You had the first one killed, make the next one so wicked that people wanted him dead. The only one you couldn't have prevented was your father's, who had it coming for the shit show that he was" Elia scoffed. She knew Cersei was lying just so she could sink her claws further into her son, but the woman still despised the two-faced nature of the Lannister woman.
"I'll call in the army. I'll take back the sept and kill every last one of them. I'll start a war if I have to."
"You know as well as I do who the first casualty in that war would be."
"I love her. I love her. I can't help her."
"He's a good boy. A good boy born to a wicked mother" Margaery whispered under her breath.
"A rarity since it's usually a good boy born to a wicked father" Olenna mused.
"I will speak to the high sparrow. There must be something-"
"Let me speak to him on your behalf. The king cannot dirty sully himself negotiating with an unwashed fanatic.'
"Yes, because you speaking to the fanatic is going to help Tommen" Myrcella muttered in outrage. This was all he doing! And she still insisted on playing the victim.
"Your happiness is all I want in this world"
Many scoffed.
But not Tyrion and Jaime. They knew Cersei well enough to know that it was a fact. In her own twisted way, Cersei would do what is best for her children, what she deemed was best for her children.
[DORNE]
[JAIME is being kept in a closely monitored room. AREO brings MYRCELLA into the room.]
"Prince Doran hopes this satisfies your concerns about the princess's well-being."
"You looked different when I left. You had more hair."
"And more hands. How's Trystane?"
"He'll be alright."
"I'm sorry for that. It wasn't supposed to happen that way."
"Why is it happening at all?"
"Your mother's worried about you. Threats have been made. Dorne is too dangerous for you. I've come to take you home."
"This is my home, this has been my home for years. I didn't want to come here but she told me to. I did what she said, I did my duty and now she's forcing me to go back?"
"It's for your own good. These are complicated matters."
"Perhaps explaining it to her might help you win her over" Joanna suggested. "She's been away from home for years, more or less in the dark about everything that happened and the threats that have been made."
"Perhaps" Jaime sighed. It was a habit of his, to keep things simple and expect people to take his word for it. Though in this case, he may just be trying to not freak Myrcella out more than she probably already was. Protecting his daughter...
[KING'S LANDING; BAELISH'S BROTHEL]
[LITTLEFINGER peers at the Great Sept of Baelor through the window. The brothel is destroyed, with many seven-pointed stars scribbled on the floor, walls, and artwork.]
"Good" Catelyn muttered, not out of piety or anything like that, but from the satisfaction of seeing the man's business suffer.
"I'm sorry about the locale."
"No, you're not."
"No he is not" Margaery muttered. He'd brought Lady Stark there too once upon a time, she remembered it.
"It felt like the safest place."
"Not for your clientele, clearly."
"It was an establishment like no other. The sheer range of appetites catered to, desires that didn't exist until we invented them."
"You've always been rather impressed with yourself, haven't you?"
"The past is the past. The future is all that's worth discussing. The future of House Tyrell."
"The future of House Tyrell where we'd be indebted to him, he means" Catelyn muttered. That was completely in character for that rat.
"Don't pretend to have any concern for my house, my grandchildren, or me. I should have known you'd return to the capital once things started going wrong."
"I promise you.."
"As if that has any value" Lyanna scoffed. Promises from that man got her brother killed.
"I promise you, Lord Baelish, that our fates are joined. Together we murdered a king. And if my house should fall, I would have nothing to hide. And if I should meet with some accident here at this broken little flesh market, they'll never even find what's left of you."
"Terrifying prospect... but are you prepared to pull through with it?" Tyrion raised a brow.
"Clearly, I have killed a King there, so the murder of a whoremongering rat would be no issue either."
"True enough."
Tyrion lowered his head and Olenna snorted.
"So do you deny a part in all of this?"
"Cersei summoned me to King's Landing. I dared not refuse her."
"And what did she want?"
"A piece of info that she knew that I had."
"Olyvar" Renly muttered.
"Neither silence nor lies were an option. But I have other information of which she is unaware. And as you say, our interests are aligned. I have a gift for you."
"What kind of gift?"
"The same kind I gave Cersei. A handsome young man."
"This should be good" Olenna grinned from ear to ear, a rather creepy look on the usually smirking or smiling woman.
Even her granddaughter was a little unnerved.