A Good King - A Joffrey Baratheon Insert

I Choose Death

Lord Walder Frey scrutinised the letters that had been sent to him. He smiled wryly at the irony of it all: for years he had been unappreciated, laughed at behind his back, yet now both of the so called Kings come crawling at his feet, begging for his help. Now he held the fate of Westeros in the palm of his hand...

Her Grace, The Dowager Queen Cersei stared out at the city of King's Landing. At her side was her son Tommen, who was talking animatedly about the new glasshouses, which for some unknown reason, he had taken a liking to. Though in reality, she was not really listening, her mind was occupied by the two holes in her heart; her son and her lover, fighting at war, it tore her to pieces. She prayed every day for their safety, and every day she cried herself to sleep in worry. To make matters worse, a priestess for the God of Light had arrived in the capital, spending more and more time with Lord Stannis; she didn't know what to do, but she knew it spelt trouble. In worry, she pulled Tommen closer to her, his laughter warmed her soul. "Be safe" she prayed. "Be safe."

POV Change

A few hours ago, we had begun moving south east towards Silver Hall. I hope to make it there within a few weeks of hard riding. Annoyingly it would take longer than a simple A-Z trip, I had decided to spare the men and horses and so we would be travelling around the mountains, rather than over them.

I had not spoken to my grandfather since my outburst in his chambers back at the Crag and since we left I have not had the opportunity to, as he has stayed at the back of the long column of men. I had decided quite soon after the incident however, that I would not apologise to him; I am no longer a boy in need of a 'lesson', I am his king, and I won't take his disrespect any longer.

Either way, as we travelled along an insignificant road, I decided to strike up conversation with Ser Jaime, who was beside me, simply to try and quell the boredom. We talked about a variety of topics: ranging from the war we found ourselves in, to some of the plans I had for when we returned home. Eventually, we landed on Cersei.

"She was only worried about you, you know." He said, I had just finished a rant about how she was often overbearing; like when she refused to let me leave the palace entirely at first, and then at my continued insistence, I was permitted to leave, but with five of the Kingsguard and around twenty of the City Watch. Renly wasn't happy at the loss of the already overstretched City Watch.
"I know that." I replied. "I just wish that I could've had a bit more freedom."

"I understand." He said. "I remember when I was younger, all I ever wanted was to be able to go and play outside, or practise my swordsmanship, but father insisted I went and did my lessons with the maester."

"Speaking about your father." I began. "I stormed out on him a few days ago."

"Why?" He asked, a frown on his face.

"He was doing that thing he oft does when he carries on writing when you've walked in to talk to him." I explained. "And after a while, I'd just had enough so I said that I was here to fight his war, so he should show me some respect."

"That couldn't have gone down well." He winced.

"Well, we haven't spoken since."

"I was wondering why he wasn't up here." He muttered, twisting on his horse to look behind him, at the trail of men as far as the eye could see.

We fell into a comfortable silence for the next few minutes and I turned my attention to Ser Barristan.

Lord Tyrion was perplexed. After Joffrey had voiced his concerns about Lord Varys seemingly not knowing about the gathering of Renly's men, he had launched a discreet investigation, mainly just having Varys followed, seeing where he went and who he spoke to. His spies -people who worked in the Keep- reported back to him every other day, in his office, the perfect cover. But they all reported the same thing: nothing. He did nothing out of the ordinary. He went in his own office, around the same time every day, he went out into the city, around the same time every day, he went back to his chambers, around the same time, every day. He did nothing unusual. And quite frankly, that worried the Imp. Lord Varys knew everything about everyone. There was no way in hell that he missed 100,000 men being brought together at the Reach. He must be up to something, he has to be. So what is he doing and where is the proof? Tyrion decided he must get involved personally. So with that he headed to the Tower of the Hand, he wouldn't do it himself; it was time to get Stannis involved.