Sweet Sister

Chapter 20

~~~~~~~~unedited~~~~~~~~

Rhae sits in the dark cell, bound by her wrists in iron chains to the stone wall like an animal. For days, she's been rotting away. Maybe hours, she didn't know anymore. Not once had someone come in, which shocked her. Her thoughts were broken by the sound of armour and keys clicking together. She sighs, leaning her head back against the wall and shutting her eyes.

They stop by her cell, fidgeting with the keys before her cell unlocks and opens. Rhae doesn't look up when she hears the footsteps stop in front of her. "It's rude to not look at the Queen when she's in your presence."

Rhae looks up at Cersei with a blank look, "What do you want, Cersei?" Rhae's hair was matted in and twisted, with dirt smearing her face and dark circles under eyes, giving her a more intimated look. Especially with the hard glare she's giving Cersei.

Cersei sighs, grabbing the small wooden stool in the cell and moves it to where she was just standing and sits. She folds her hands in her lap, looking at Rhae with pressed lips, "I came to see you."

"How flattering." Rhae responds dryly, putting her head back down on her knees. "If you've come here to talk and tell me why I'm here, don't. I know why I'm here and I don't want to talk."

Her voice muffles slightly, but still comes out clear. Cersei sighs, sitting up straighter, "I'm not here for any of that."

Rhae snaps her head up with a confused face, looking her up and down, "Then why are you here, exactly?"

"To offer you a way out of this cell. The King—"

Rhae scoffs, "Just call him Joffrey. Or better yet, The Worst King in the history of Kings." She says dryly with narrowed eyes, ignoring the first sentence completely. She has no interest of getting out. She just wants to die already and be with her sister again.

Cersei's eyes darken and her jaw clenches, "I'd watch your tone, Rhae. I would hate for your pretty little head to come off your shoulders."

"You'd be doing me a favour." Rhae doesn't miss a beat, noticing Cersei twitch at her response.

"A favour..." Cersei whispers, looking down at her hands and shaking her head. She looks back up, meeting Rhae's dull icy eyes, "I suppose you don't want to be free of this cell then?" Rhae stares at her emotionless. Cersei sighs, standing up, "Very well."

She walks to the cell door and opens the door, "So much for the pedant." Rhae grumbles, tossing it at Cersei's feet.

Cersei looks down at it and picks it up, "This pedant is the reason you're behind bars and not lying in a ditch somewhere with your head on a spike displayed by Ned Stark's as my son's trophy." She slams the door shut, peering through the bars at Rhae one last time.

Rhae doesn't show Cersei she's surprised, but deep down, she's shocked. When Cersei's footsteps become non-existent, she looks at the cell door where Cersei was at moments ago. Rhae shakes her head and sighs, putting her head back down on her knees.

A few minutes roll by and she starts hearing shouts. It's the poor yelling at Joffrey and begging for food, then all hell breaks looks. Swords start clashing and men start falling. Rhae quickly stands up, grabbing the stool and setting it under the small hole where the sun's peaking through. She stands up it and gets on her toes, barely able to look out the hole at see blood splattering everywhere. People drop like flies and soon the commotion gets closer to the Keep. The rioting goes on well into the next day, keeping Rhae up most of the night.

Heavy footsteps and rattling keys wake her up, "Five minutes." The man says, but not just any man. It was the Hound.

Rhae looks up lazily, seeing Annabel. The Hound looks at Rhae before closing the cell door and walking away. "You shouldn't be here." Rhae's voice rasps out from the dryness of her throat, begging for water. But her pride wouldn't let her, and even if it did, she wouldn't. She won't give Joffrey the satisfaction.

Annabel moves into the only spot with sunlight, which was very small. "You shouldn't be here either." She responds softly, looking at Rhae.

Rhae could feel her wrists throbbing when she moves, rattling the chains as she stands up. "What are you doing here, Annabel?" Rhae asks dryly, wanting time speed up this conversation.

"I came to see you and tell you that..." Annabel pauses and looks behind her, making sure no unwanted ears hears what she's about to say.

"Tell me what?" Rhae moves closer, the chain dragging against the stone floor.

Annabel looks back at Rhae, stepping closer and leans down, "Your sister's alive." She whisper into her ear.

Rhae freezes with wide eyes. Her heart stops for a moment and her stomach drops. Alive?Rhae didn't know how. She heard her screams the night she was taken away from the Dothraki and her sister. She remembers the awful smell of blood and the way the smoke smelt from the fire burning everything from flesh to tents to grass, and everything in between. How ruthless those vile men were.

"She's alive?" Rhae barely gets above a whisper, looking at Annabel with tears in her eyes. Annabel slowly nods, seeing the different emotions running in Rhae's head. "Oh my..." Rhae looks up at her, "How do you know?"

"I overheard Cersei talking about it to Joffrey in the Council Room."

"Where is she? Did she say?" Rhae asks with eagerness in her voice, wanting more than anything to get out of this cell now and out of King's Landing. She didn't want to die anymore.

Annabel nods, "A city in the Red Waste known as Qarth."

"Times up." The Hound's voice booms throughout the dungeons.

The duo looks at him and Annabel nods, looking back at Rhae, "Niclas and Devron will come by later too."

Rhae nods and they walk out, leaving her alone in her thoughts. "Wait." Her voice rings, causing the footsteps to stop. They come back and Annabel appears with a confused face, "I want to talk to Cersei. Now."

She hesitantly nods with wide eyes and walks away with the Hound. A few minutes roll by and Cersei appears, unlocking the cell door and walks in. She closes it and stops in front of Rhae, "You wanted to see me?"

She nods, "Yes. Yesterday, you said you had an offer to get me out. What is it?"

Cersei hums, smiling and walking towards her, stopping in front of Rhae, "Stannis Baratheon will be here in a week."

Rhae scrunches her eyebrows in confusion, "What does Stannis Baratheon have to do with me?"

"He's got an army coming for King's Landing. A very large one, and I've seen you fight before. What little I saw, you're good."

Rhae sighs, leaning on one leg and motions to Cersei with her bound hands, rattling the chains, "What does my fighting abilities have to do with the Baratheon's army?" Rhae asks, getting straight to the point.

"I want you to fight for King's Landing."