Silver Stag

Attempted Alliances

[King's Landing - Portico]

Tyrion walked the halls of the castle, followed by the Mountain, when he happened upon his brother.

"You spoke with her?" Tyrion asked his brother.

"At her, until she kicked me out. She thinks I was an idiot to trust you. A lot of people seem to think that, actually."

"I'm about to step into a room with the most murderous woman in the world who's already tried to kill me twice, that I know of. Who's an idiot?"

"I suppose we should say goodbye, one idiot to another."

Tyrion advanced, and The Mountain led him inside.

[Red Keep - Council Chamber]

The Mountain accompanied Tyrion into the chamber to meet Cersei.

"I shouldn't be surprised, I suppose. She's your kind of woman a foreign whore who doesn't know her place." Cersei said.

"A foreign whore you can't abduct, beat, or intimidate. That must be difficult for you."

"So you bring her here with her pet Northerner, whom you've convinced to bow down before her."

"I didn't know about that."

"And now you've got them both working towards the same goal, the goal you've worked towards your entire lifr."

"Cersei, I didn't know."

"...the destruction of this family."

"I am the one preventing that from happening. Daenerys didn't want to debate and negotiate. She didn't want to bring you words. She wanted to bring you fire and blood until I advised her otherwise. I don't want to destroy our family. I never have."

"You killed our father."

"After he sentenced me to death for a crime I didn't commit, yes, I killed him. Hate me for it if you want. I hate myself for it in spite of what he was, in spite of what he did to me."

"Oh, poor little man. Your papa was mean to you. Do you have any idea what you did when you fired that crossbow? You left us open. You laid us bare for the vultures, and the vultures came and tore us apart. You may not have killed Joffrey, but you killed Tommen. You stole Myrcella and now you allow that foreign whore's brother to steal my first born. No one would've touched them if Father was here, no one would have dared-"

"I have never been more sorry about anything."

"I will not hear it, not from you." He moved to interrupt, but she cut him off. "I will not hear it!

"All right. You love your family, and I have destroyed it. I will always be a threat. So put an end to me."

Cersei paused.

"If it weren't for me, you'd have a mother. If it weren't for me, you'd have a father. If it weren't for me, you'd have two beautiful children. I've thought about killing you more times than I can count." He turned to The Mountain. "Do it!" He turned back to his sister. "Say the word."

The Mountain readied to draw his sword. Cersei sighed and sat back, eyes closed, causing him to stand down.

Tyrion poured himself some wine and drank. He poured another glass, and walked back to Cersei, placing his cup on her desk. He took another glass. "I am more sorry about the children than you could evrr know."

"I will not."

"I don't care. I loved them. You know I did. You know it in your heart if there's anything left of it." Tyrion poured himself wine and took another drink.

"It doesn't matter. Your love doesn't matter. Your feelings don't matter. I don't care why you did what you did. I only care what it cost us. It cost us our future."

"If there's no future, then why are we here? Why did you allow me to come?"

"Not to help my enemies collaborate in my destruction. You have access to my daughters. Return them to me."

"Yes, no, not what you hoped for, but you must have hoped for something."

"What did you hope for? To make Jon Snow submit to your queen."

"Mm, not like this."

"But eventually, you want everyone to bend the knee to her. Including your niece."

"Yes."

"Why?"

"Because I think she will make the world a better place."

"And your niece couldn't do that? You said she'd destroy King's Landing."

"She knows herself. She chose an advisor who would check her worst impulses instead of feeding them."

"That's the difference between you and I. I don't care about checking my worst impulses. I don't care about making the world a better place. Hang the world." Cersei cradled her belly and Tyrion noticed. She took a deep breath."That thing you dragged here, I know what it is, I know what it means. And when it came at me, I didn't think about the world. Not at all. As soon as it opened its mouth, the world disappeared for me, right down its black throat. All I could think about was keeping those gnashing teeth away from the ones who matter most, away from my family. Maybe Euron Greyjoy had the right idea. Get on a boat, take those who matter."

"You're pregnant."

Cersei did not answer.