𝔹𝕦𝕥 𝕔𝕦𝕓𝕤 𝕙𝕒𝕧𝕖 𝕥𝕖𝕖𝕥𝕙 𝕥𝕠𝕠 ; (ℂ𝕖𝕣𝕤𝕖𝕚 𝕩 𝕆ℂ🐺🦁)

𝟚𝟙 - 𝕀𝕥 𝕒𝕝𝕝 𝕗𝕒𝕝𝕝𝕤 𝕕𝕠𝕨𝕟

"A sinner comes before you." He does indeed, I thought, for there stands the man who hurt the most precious thing in my life. Cersei was wearing the same linen shift I had last seen her in, although she herself seemed to have been cleaned up. Her eyes failed to hide her fear, looking out anxiously on the crowd that leered at her like vultures ready to devour someone already dead. Her jaw was set, biting back curses and tears alike that threatened to spill out at the whole of this situation, at the perversion of it, the injustice she had been dealt. And her hair, oh, her hair! Gone were the golden locks that had always smelled of lavender and been soft as silk, crudely chopped off to leave only a ragged crown of dirty strands. She was still the most beautiful woman I had ever seen. "Cersei of House Lannister, mother to His Grace King Tommen, widow of His Grace King Robert. She has committed the acts of falsehood and fornication." And how truthful are you, your High Holiness? How many lies have you told to make your followers love you, how many false promises of honor and righteousness? "She has confessed her sins and begged for forgiveness." I gritted my teeth. Cersei did not beg. This man was showing the world a spurious image of her, and the worst part was that he was able to, just like that. "To demonstrate her repentance, she will cast aside all pride, all artifice, and present herself as the gods made her-" A shiver ran down my spine. He couldn't mean...? Of course he could. He was the High Sparrow. "-to you, the good people of this city. She comes before you with a solemn heart, shorn of secrets, naked before the eyes of gods and men, to make her Walk of Atonement." I saw Cersei swallow. She was no longer looking at the crowd, but at the Red Keep, towering high above the city, a beacon of hope. Two septas approached her from behind and tugged the linen shift down roughly. Cersei, to her immeasurable credit, did not flinch, but I did. Rage boiled up in me like flowing lava, searing my veins and my bones. This was not for the commoners' eyes, nor the septas', nor the High Sparrow's, for no one's but mine. They had laid her bare for all the city to see as I had bared her so many times in the seclusion of our chambers, safe and alone. They had taken any and all privacy from her in an instant. They had stripped that most intimate of revelations of its sacrality. And I would make them pay for it. One septa gave Cersei a push and she stumbled forward one defiant step. Another shove had her slowly starting down the grand stairs of the sept, and the septa began speaking a one-word mantra. "Shame." The High Sparrow smiled slightly as Cersei passed him, vicious bastard that he was. Shame. Shame. Shame. A bell joined the shout, and Cersei reached the edge of the crowd. Two Sparrows cleared her path, but the people were still close enough to touch her. Pushing through the sea of bodies, I followed the procession with some struggle, wondering if it would be better to let Cersei see me or not. If she showed any reaction and the members of the Faith discovered me... our cover would be blown. Best to stay hidden, then.

Shame. Shame. Shame. After a few moments, several individuals joined in, throwing insults and obscenities at Cersei. My beautiful Cersei. I could already see her eyes growing damp, not quite forming tears yet, but only thanks to her iron determination and composure. Soon it was not only words being thrown, but waste of all sort - food or bodily. People exposed their own naked bodies to her, and some started grabbing and shoving her. I wanted nothing more than to intervene, to stand between her and the horde, to strike at the hands reaching for her (and perhaps also the corresponding faces) and shield her from the foul projectiles. But of course, that was impossible. So all I did was push past shoulder after shoulder, take a few elbows to the ribs in the chaos and let my unbearable frustration and anger out by retaliating, hard. Elbowing people left and right made for a much faster way to progress, too, and I could keep up with my queen and her tormentors without trouble now. She had given up on dodging the sludge flying her way, and something else had to have hit her too, because a small spot of blood had formed in her hairline. Her face displayed more and more the despair and humiliation she was feeling, yet she still did not cry. Shame. Shame. Shame. Someone beside me lunged forward to spit in her face, and with a growl, I pushed him to the ground. Mess with the lion and you draw the wolf's wrath. A few heads turned, but none that would condemn me. The Sparrows were doing their share too, beating down on the ones that went too far out of line. I had no sympathy for them. This was my Cersei they were attacking. The tears started falling now. I heard her quiet whimper even above the roaring crowd, and the sound cracked my heart clean in two. A Sparrow was shoved back by a commoner and stumbled into Cersei. She lost her balance and fell to her knees, staying on the ground for a moment with heaving breaths and closed eyes, before lifting her tear- and blood-stained face to the Red Keep on the horizon once again. A mingle of agitated onlookers and Sparrows barred the way, but Cersei's eyes were transfixed by the sandy fortress above. That's the spirit, I thought, don't let them get the best of you. You are a lioness, you will not cringe for them. Albeit with hunched shoulders and bloody footprints in her wake, she walked on, letting the tears fall freely but not giving the leeches the satisfaction of looking their way or lowering her head. We were getting close to the entrance of the Keep now, I could see the Goldcloaks up ahead. Evading the Sparrow assigned to guard me outside had been easy enough, I had simply snuck out a servants' entrance by the kitchens. It took more than that to follow me. But now I had to get back in, and I had no time to go through the faraway kitchens again. I had to be there for Cersei as soon as she came in.