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"What else do you want?"
Lynn smiled.
"Right now, besides your life, what else actually belongs to you?"
"Oh, no."
"Joffrey wanted to kill you. I stopped him."
"Which means your life was mine to give."
"You don't even own yourself. So what exactly do you think you can demand?"
Lynn crossed to Cersei and reached out, gently stroking her cheek, flawlessly maintained and yet exhausted beneath every careful surface.
"The question you should be asking isn't what you can get."
"It's what you can offer me."
Cersei's body went rigid.
"You—!"
She slapped his hand away and rose from the chair.
She wanted to rage. To scream. To curse this man with every vile word she knew.
But when her eyes met Lynn's, calm and black and utterly still, every word died in her throat.
No desire in those eyes. No mockery. Nothing but indifference, flat and absolute.
Like looking at a lifeless object. A piece of refuse that could be thrown away at any moment.
Cersei's heart went cold.
She understood.
In his eyes, she had no standing to negotiate. None at all.
"I..."
Her mouth opened. The courage she'd scraped together evaporated on the spot.
Slowly, she lowered her proud head.
Lynn watched her. He didn't press further , but he wasn't about to let the moment cool.
"Your father Tywin sees you as a bargaining chip for a Highgarden alliance."
"Your son Joffrey tried to kill you with his own hands over a secret."
"Cersei. It's time you thought about yourself."
His voice was quiet. Every word landed like a blade.
"Is House Lannister truly worth everything you've given it?"
Cersei said nothing.
She just wrapped her arms around herself, trembling slightly.
She thought of Lord Tywin's face, cold as stone, always cold as stone.
She thought of Joffrey's eyes, wild and unfamiliar, as his hands closed around her throat.
Was it worth it?
She didn't know.
She only knew she had been abandoned by everyone.
"Your value has nothing to do with your surname."
Lynn moved behind her and set his hands on her shoulders.
Her body went rigid.
She could feel the warmth in those hands. The strength that brooked no argument.
He leaned down, his breath warm against her ear.
"Let me see what use you are, beyond the Lannister name."
A trace of amusement in his voice.
His hands began to move.
Cersei's breathing quickened.
She wanted to resist. To push him away.
But her body wouldn't listen.
A strange shiver spread from where he touched her, racing through every part of her.
Fear. Shame. And something else , something she refused to name.
Anticipation.
It had been a long time. Since Lynn had left King's Landing, no one had touched her like this.
She bit her lip. Her nails dug into the soft flesh of her palms.
She knew that one word , no , might stop him.
But she also knew what that word would cost her.
She would lose her last chance. She would truly become a pitiful wretch with nothing left to her name.
No.
She refused to accept that.
Why should she fall this far? Why should everyone get to abandon her?
She wanted revenge.
Revenge on Tywin. On Joffrey. On every last person who had ever looked down on her.
And this man before her was her only hope.
Even if that hope came wrapped in humiliation.
The tension in Cersei's body bled away, slowly, piece by piece.
She closed her eyes and let his hands explore every secret her body had left to give.
She caught his scent, leather and cold wind and snow.
The smell of a conqueror.
The night stretched long.
The fire in the Tower of the Hand's hearth burned low and quiet.
Time passed.
Only two things filled the room: the woman's broken, uneven breathing, and the man's slow, steady heartbeat.
Cersei lay on the bed staring at the ceiling, her eyes empty.
Her body felt like it had come apart. Every muscle ached.
But her mind had never been clearer.
What had just happened felt like a humiliating dream.
It wasn't a dream.
It was a choice she had made.
She had made herself Lynn's plaything. Staked herself as a bargaining chip and pushed everything she had left onto this one gamble.
Lynn sat up. He didn't look at her. He walked straight to the window and watched King's Landing sleep in the dark below.
"Get dressed."
His voice cut through the silence.
Cersei stirred.
She pushed herself upright, muscles protesting, and gathered her gown from the floor piece by piece.
When she had smoothed her disheveled golden hair back into place and made herself a queen again, she walked up behind him.
"Master."
Her voice was still a little unsteady. But the resentment was gone from it , the bitterness, too.
She had figured it out.
She couldn't fight this. So she would bend completely. For Myrcella. For herself. And to pay back everyone who had thrown her away.
"What do you need me to do?"
Lynn turned.
He looked at the woman before him , this woman who seemed reborn , and a faint, satisfied smile crossed his face.
A clever woman always makes the right choice.
Even the title she'd used was exactly what he'd wanted to hear.
Good.
"First, you need to go back to the Red Keep."
Cersei's brow creased.
"Joffrey... he won't allow it. He wants me gone from his sight."
"He'll allow it."
Lynn came to her side and drew her down onto his lap.
She hesitated a moment, then sat.
"Don't worry. I have a way."
He looked at her golden hair, his tone easy and unhurried.
"You gave birth to him and you still understand him less than I do."
"With someone like Joffrey, the prouder you stand, the harder you push back, the more it feeds him."
"He holds grudges. Once you've crossed him, if he's not strong enough to retaliate, he'll go quiet and bide his time — until he is. And then he'll come back and destroy you."
Cersei's expression shifted. Worry settled across her face.
"Don't worry."
Lynn's hand moved over her, slow and almost gentle.
"You should study Lianna. Watch how she manages him."
"You need to make Joffrey believe you're no threat to him whatsoever."
"When you go back, it's because you have nowhere else to turn , clinging to whatever family you have left. Nothing more."
"Your chambers, your servants, your influence — all of it gone."
"They'll put you in the most forgotten corner of the Red Keep. You'll live like a true prisoner."
"Only then will he feel safe."
"Leave the rest to me. I'll make him feel sorry for you."
"And only then can you stay close enough to be useful to me."
"I understand."
Cersei closed her eyes and swallowed everything she still felt.
"I'll show him the most wretched, most pitiful mother he's ever seen."
"Good."
Lynn gave a satisfied nod.
➤ Next: What You Can't Have Is the Best
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