You Know Nothing || Cersei Lannister (GxG)

LXV.

A/N: Lame chapter, but at least there's a chapter, amirite? :)

   If I was the bearer of the most losses in the Seven Kingdoms, my love was a close second.

When a handmaiden entered and told Cersei that they had spotted Jaime's boat off the coast, she stopped whatever it was she was doing and shifted a sleeping Catelyn from her bed to the handmaiden's arms. She then dressed in her finest linens. It had been since Cayte's birth I had seen her so happy.

We stood on the beach, her skirts hiked and her toes in the sand as she awaited Myrcella's return. I sat on a grey rock and waited also, sneaking sips from a wineskin. The air was much nicer further out from the Keep, and the sun was shining, but not hot.

"What do you thinks she looks like?" Cersei asked, almost nervously, peering over her shoulder. I twisted the cap back on the wineskin. "It's been so long."

"Probably like you, my love." I replied. I, too, wanted to see the beautiful young woman the Princess had grown up to be.

"Oh, why do I worry?" She played with her fingers. "Then again, I never can seem to shake the feeling that something bad is about to happen."

"Something bad has about to happen for a long time." I murmured quietly. First it was father's beheading, then it was Arya's disappearance, then it was the Red Wedding, then it was the Purple Wedding, then it was Sansa's disappearance, the rape, Tyrion's trial, then it was Tywin's murder, Cersei's imprisonment, the Walk of Shame, and now...

Jaime looked distraught as he neared, standing on the stern of his boat, eyes shifting between Cersei and I. There was a sort of platform fashioned in the middle, with a sheet draped over it.

Cersei realized what had happened before I did, and sunk to the ground, dirtying her dress, weeping silent tears.

Jaime and a few men lifted the platform up and off of the boat. Jaime went to tell Cersei what happened, I presume, and I reluctantly pulled back the sheet.

Just as I had thought, Myrcella grew to be a beautiful young woman. Her eyes were closed, so I couldn't see the glow of her emeralds, but her hair shone golden in the afternoon sun. Her features had sharpened over the years, and her frame was graceful rather than pudgy.

There was still specks of dried blood in her nostrils. I put the sheet back over her and rose to meet the twins.

"It was that damned sand snake." Jaime was seething.

"Oberyn's wife?" I offered.

"Not wife." Cersei replied numbly. She was too sad to be angry. "They weren't married." Then, "She blames us for his death, though. If she couldn't get back at my father, she would get back at me."

"I'm so sorry, my love." I sat beside her in the dirt, slipping my arm around her shoulder. "So, so sorry."

"I'm so tired of you apologizing for things you have no control over." She tucked her head into the crook of my arm. My shirt was soon damp with her tears, and Jaime had given up on glaring at me.

A small part of me felt for him. I always forget that when Cersei loses a child, so does he. Then again, he hurt my love. The bigger part of me could never feel for him again.

"I'm so sorry." I whispered to her again once he was out of earshot. "I cannot begin to understand how hard this is for you, losing yet another child."

"Don't say that." She told me softly, voice muffled by the material of my blouse. She sniffed. "We have both suffered great losses and will continue to suffer great losses. You forget, my love, people are always trying to kill us."

"Yes, but you must allow yourself time to grieve, Cersei. Or else-"

"Or else what?" She threw her hands in the air. "Or else I will not be able to cope with the next death that comes? I always cope. I always endure. Because if not, the person you lose next will be me."

"Cersei." I spoke, trying to make light of the situation. It was black as tar. "You're so morbid. Things will get better, won't they?"

"Not as long as there are more bonds to be cut." She replied, looking out into the still sea. The breeze blew softly, not even daring to lift her short, yet groomed locks.

"How do we win the game of thrones?" I asked suddenly. "You always say, 'you win or you die'. I don't want to die. I don't want to leave you."

"None of us do." She replied, shrugging. Her eyes suddenly welled up with tears. "My Joff didn't want to die. My Myrcella..."

"My love, I'm so sorry." I whispered into her hair. "It's going to be alright though, I swear it."

"Promise me something." She said, clutching at my blouse.

"Whatever you need to hear."

"Promise me that you'll protect the children I have left. Promise me you'll protect me."

"As best as I can, my love, I promise."