You Know Nothing || Cersei Lannister (GxG)

LXIII.

Sorry it's been a while, hope the chapter makes up for it :)

   The minutes seemed to pass like hours, and it was worse when Catelyn Joanna was asleep.

I had never felt so alone, so anxious. Granted, Cersei's absence made the heart grow fonder, but it certainly didn't put my heart to rest.

I missed my love. And, at times, I missed my family. I wondered about Arya, Sansa, Jon... if they had seen each other, if Sansa told them what a traitor I am...

Oh, what was I doing, fraternizing with the enemy? Fucking the enemy? I couldn't ever go back. I couldn't ever see my family again. I couldn't dare show my face.

"Mum, come quick!" Tommen burst into my chambers one morning, sweat on his brow and panting. Catelyn woke up and started to cry.

"What is it?" I picked up the child, bouncing her in my arms. She calmed almost instantly and my heart fluttered. I almost forgot my boy was still standing there.

"It's Mother, she-"

A wet nurse scurried in, probably having heard the baby cry. "Oh." She said as she saw me holding her. "Would you like me to feed her, my lady?"
"Paityn, we must go." He said lowly and I nodded, handing the child to the nurse. Catelyn started to cry. The maiden took out her breast.

"What is it, Tommen?" I asked as he took my arm, pulling me ever-so-swiftly down the stone corridors.

"It's Mother." He repeated. "She's- well, she's-"

"Gods forbid, Tommen, what is so terrible?" I jerked him to a stop. "You're worrying me. I've had enough worrying for two lifetimes."

"I- I can't." He continued to stutter. "You'll- you'll just have to see." And with that the young man set off towards the Red Keep gates.

"A sinner comes before you." I heard his voice echo throughout the back square, and my heart filled with dread. I stopped, grasping Tommen's stiff sleeve.

"No, Tommen, say it isn't so-"

"Cersei of House Lannister. Mother to His Grace King Tommen. Widow of His Grace King Robert." The High Sparrow continued, and I pushed past people to see her. My heart dropped again.

She was dirty, as she had been before, loose brown gown and that beautiful golden hair... gone. All that was left was short, matted patches and streaks of blood on her temple.

The High Sparrow, with his own rags and tufts of hair, stood on the stone steps. "She has committed the acts of falsehood and fornication. She has confessed her sins and begged for forgiveness."

My Cersei would not beg, I thought. Not even for a kiss. She did not beg, she demanded.

"What is he going to do to her?" I asked Tommen nervously. "Why is everyone gathered here? What's going on? Tommen-"

"Shh, mum, please." He looked at me with teary eyes, and I took a shaky breath.

If it was possible, Cersei and I locked eyes. She looked like she had seen the God of Death himself. She looked like she had been through the Seven Hells and back. I wanted to cry for her, I wanted to hold her, but there was virtually nothing I could do. She had told me not to interfere, lest I lose Catelyn.

"To demonstrate her repentance, she will cast aside all pride, all artifice, and present herself as the gods made her to you, the good people of the 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."