The Golden Twin - A Game of Thrones Fanfiction

Chapter 14

There I stood, alone in my chambers for the first time in a long time. I looked at mysel in the mirror, my body, which used to be one of my biggest prides, had now changed in so many ways. You could see bones that I didn't know existed before, I had purplish lines in my hips, legs and tummy. I got the last ones from when I was pregnant, but the first ones were new. I had bruises in my limbs and trunck, a deep cut in my left arm. My blond hair no longer shone, my pale skin was greyish. My cheeks were sunken in and hollow, who knew what four moons in the dungeons would do to me. 

I missed the feeling of the sun against my skin, the cold water of the shore in Casterly Rock sinkning my feet to the ground, the summer breeze making my hair fly. I closed my eyes and imagined the scenery, the smell of the sea. I could even picture myself sitting on the golden sun with my baby boy. My little lion. 

"Joanna, it is time." I heard Tommen call me. I looked away from the mirror and looked at him, he seemed unfazed by seeing me naked and so did I. I didn't care, I was going to be exposed for seven days in a big wooden cross. I didn't look at him in the eye, I was mad at him. He was allowing for this to happen, he is the one that let my mohter have a walk of atonement while Margaery was saved from it. And, I doubt I would be able to avoid my penalty. Not even uncle Jaime or Grandfather would save me from this one. 

I made my way across the Keep behind the High Sparrow, a stern look in my face.  The rest of his little birds following behind, I was surprised to see my mother's cousin Lancel among them. Maybe not so surprised, he was always a coward. And an idiot. Seems he had fullfilled all the requests to join the mad sect. 

I reacher the square where I saw a large wooden cross standing, all the citizens were around it and, when they saw me, they started jeering. They were throwing food and mud at me. Wow, these peoplee do get excited over nothing. I mean, am really that hateful? To them, probably.

I climbed the wooden stairs to the cross I would be hang in. I held my head high, that is something I had leant from my grandfather, he always says, "the lion doesn't concern itself with the opinions of the sheep". He always used to tell me that, it doesn't matter if you aren't brave or strong, you just have to pretend to be it and, without noticing, you'll, one day, become all of those things you had been pretending. I took a deep breath and stood straight.

The High Sparrow announced my sins to the people and the Gods, or so he said. I don't believe in the Gods, if they do exist then, why do bad things happen? Aren't they supposed to protect us? I get it if you've done something terrible and are punished but, what about the innocent? The kinds murdered and the people who are starving and dying every day when they haven't sinned? What about my baby? I suppose that was a punishment for me. I sinned. I did wrong.

And I don't care anymore.

A man grabbed a spike and positioned it in the centre of my hand. He them grabbed a hammer and hit the spike hard. I grunted in pain when the metallic object penetrated my flesh. He hit again and again and tears started running down my eyes. When the spike was deep enough, he moved to the other hand. It hurt even more. I couldn't control my tears and all I could hear were the peasants cheering at the High Sparrow. I closed my eyes for a moment and a memory flooded my head.

A three and ten Joanna was sitting on the dirty floor, not caring if it got dirty. She was braiding a little girl's hair while putting funny faces for a little boy, who was laughing whole-heartedly. A crown of sickly thin and dirty children sat around her, all of them smiling and wanting to get her attention. All of the girls already had their hair in beautiful styles and were all admiring her work. As she finished with the last girl, she shifted her body so she was sitting facing everyone, all the kids started asking her to tell them a story about war or knights rescuing princesses. She chuckled and said "who said a princess needs to be saved my a knight and not the other way around?" 

They all looked at her with weird faces.

"Come on, let me tell you of the story of Visenya Targaryen, she was one of the best warriors to ever exist. She didn't need anyone to rescue her but, you know what?" They all shook their heads no. "She wasn't afraid to ask for help. Let's see how it started. Let me think... Oh! I remember. A few hundred years ago..."

I was awoken of her thoughts by a sharp pain in my feet. I looked down and saw they had been tied with a rope and now where being spiked to the cross. I looked across the crowd and saw Tommen trying to not look at her directly. Don't be a coward and look, it's your fault I'm here. I thought. I also spotted my mother, the Queen Mother had her eyes full of tears and rage, anger. Just like my own. The excruciating pain finally ended and all I could do is close my eyes and hold my head high. I wasn't going to give them the satisfaction of seeing me suffer.

I am not a little stupid girl, at least not anymore.

I am Joanna of House Lannister, second of my name, princess of the Seven Kingdoms. Daughter of Jaime and Cersei Lannister and granddaughter of Lord Tywin. I am a warrior and, little did I know, the next chair I would seat on would be the Iron Throne.