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Lynn stood in the doorway and didn't move.
He just looked at the two Gold Cloaks who were about to drag Cersei away. That was all. He just looked.
It was enough. Their grip on Cersei went slack on its own. They weren't stupid , they knew who the real master was.
Joffrey's smile was still frozen on his face.
He had just finished savoring the thrill of deciding his mother's fate, and now that man was here again.
"Lord Lynn." Joffrey worked to make his voice sound like a king's , steady, commanding, full of authority. "What is the meaning of this?"
Even he could hear the tremor in it.
"Nothing much."
Lynn's gaze left the two Gold Cloaks and settled on Joffrey.
"I'm taking her."
His voice was light. Casual. The way you'd mention picking up a cloak on your way out.
In Joffrey's ears, it was louder than thunder.
Taking her? Again?
On what grounds!
Rage lit up from somewhere deep in his chest.
I am the king. I am the king of the Seven Kingdoms. I just decided her fate , and now you walk in here and say you're taking her? Just like that? What do you take me for?
"No!"
The word was out before he could stop it.
The moment it left his mouth, he wished it hadn't.
He watched Lynn's gaze shift , a slow, quiet change, like a man who has just noticed something mildly interesting. That look. Like watching a child throw a tantrum. A child who posed no threat at all.
Joffrey's cheeks burned.
He thought about the secret.
The one that could strip him from king to bastard in a single breath. The one that this man in front of him could speak aloud with nothing more than a word.
"I..."
Whatever courage he had scraped together dissolved instantly. His fists clenched at his sides, opened, clenched again.
He wanted to push back. To protect what little dignity he had left.
He didn't dare.
Out beyond the city walls, Winter waited. Before that, any dignity was a joke.
"Your Grace."
Liana's voice came from beside him, soft and perfectly timed.
"Lord Lynn has just taken the position of Hand. He must have matters of some importance to discuss with the Queen Mother." Her tone was warm, unhurried. "The Queen Mother managed the kingdom for many years. She understands affairs that the rest of us simply don't. For Lord Lynn to seek her experience — that is only to serve you better."
The words were a step. A perfect step, set right at Joffrey's feet.
He felt his breathing ease.
Yes. That's it. Lynn isn't defying me , he's working for me. He needs Cersei's experience to help manage state affairs. He needs her.
Joffrey seized the reason like a lifeline. He cleared his throat. Squared his shoulders. Arranged his face into something resembling a king's gracious composure.
"I see." He gave a slow nod. "Lord Lynn truly labors for the good of the realm." A generous pause. "Since it's for official business — take her. Question her. Send her back when you're finished."
He even waved his hand as he said it. A magnanimous wave. The wave of a man who had just given an order.
Lynn looked at him , that blustering, hollowed-out performance , and felt something close to amusement.
He didn't say another word. He walked to Cersei and took her hand.
Cersei's body went rigid for a moment. Then she let him hold it.
Her hand was cold.
Lynn turned and walked. Cersei moved with him.
From start to finish, he did not look at Joffrey again. Not once. As if the boy standing behind them , the king of the Seven Kingdoms , was nothing more than furniture. Background. Scenery that didn't warrant a second glance.
Joffrey watched them go. He watched that man's hand around his mother's.
His teeth ground together hard enough to make a sound.
The humiliation he had just barely pushed down began to grow back, wild and fast, spreading through his chest like weeds through cracked stone.
Why? Why does he always do this? Why do I always look like a clown in front of him?
His chest heaved. He felt like he was going to split apart from the inside.
He had to know. He had to see what Lynn was actually taking her away to do. Official business? Some consultation?
Nobody believes that.
"Everyone out!" He rounded on Liana and the guards. "Now!"
"Yes, Your Grace."
Liana curtsied smoothly and shepherded the others from the hall.
The moment he was alone, Joffrey slipped through a hidden side door.
He moved like a ghost , silent, quick , trailing Lynn and Cersei from a distance.
He was going to see this for himself.
---
Hand's Tower.
Lynn led Cersei into the room and let go of her hand.
"You did well."
He poured himself a cup of wine and said it lightly, his back to her.
Cersei leaned against the door. Her heart was still hammering. The performance in front of Joffrey had burned through almost everything she had.
"What now?" she asked. Her voice came out a little lost.
Lynn smiled.
"We wait for a peeping king to arrive."
The room went quiet. A thick, pressing quiet.
Cersei's face flooded red.
Wait for Joffrey to peep. That's the plan. That's what this is.
Then Lynn's gaze moved , just barely, just for a moment , toward a patch of shadow beyond the window.
He turned. He walked toward her.
Cersei watched him come. Something tightened in her chest, inexplicably.
He reached her and said nothing. He simply reached out and swept her up into his arms.
"Ah—!"
She hit the wide bed before she'd fully registered what had happened.
Then his tall frame came down over her, and the shadow swallowed the rest.
---
In a tower not far away.
Joffrey pressed himself flat against the wall, eyes locked on the first-floor window of the Hand's Tower.
He saw.
He saw Lynn lift his mother. He saw them go down onto the bed together. He couldn't make out the details. The figures moved in blur and shadow behind the glass, but the shapes told him everything he needed to know.
"Bastard," he hissed.
His eyes had gone red.
He actually dared. He actually did it. He's treating my mother like a,
Joffrey's lungs felt like they were seizing. He wanted to storm across that courtyard right now and drive a sword through Lynn's heart.
He didn't move.
He stood there, hidden behind a wall like a pathetic voyeur, watching his mother taken by another man.
Then he saw something else.
He saw Cersei , his mother , move toward Lynn on her own.
She coiled around the man like a water snake. Her movements were fluid. Practiced. Almost eager , as if she were trying to please him.
The sound in Joffrey's skull was like a bell struck too hard. Everything went white.
She , what is she doing? She isn't being forced. She can't be. Then why is she,
A thought crashed into him from nowhere.
Unless.
Unless she's doing this for me.
She's using herself. Trading herself. To keep Lynn loyal. To bind him to my cause.
Once the thought took root, it wouldn't let go.
He remembered the hall. He remembered Cersei on her knees in front of him, her face burning with something fervent and raw.
"You are a born king. Westeros will only know true glory under your rule."
She had been moved by him. By what he was. She knew he was the future , and she was willing to pay any price for it. Even this. Even her body. Even her dignity.
"Mother..."
Joffrey breathed the word.
Something seized in his chest. A small, sharp ache.
He looked at the two shapes tangled together in the window. He felt sick. He felt something base and ugly crawl through him.
But underneath all of it, buried and strange , he felt a flicker of something that might have been gratitude.
A powerful Hand doesn't come cheap. Lynn had strength. Lynn had ambition. If left unchecked, a man like that would eventually turn. Everyone turned.
But now his mother had given herself as the chain. The lock. The thing that would hold Lynn in place.
Joffrey straightened slowly.
This is a transaction. A dirty one. The kind that power requires. She is enduring what she should never have had to endure , for me. For the crown. For the Iron Throne.
Was it worth it?
Absolutely.
The rage on his face cooled. The humiliation faded. What replaced it was something quieter, and somehow more unsettling , a sickly, settled calm.
He looked toward the Hand's Tower, his gaze hardening into something complicated and certain.
Mother.
Don't worry.
What you've paid will not be wasted.
I'll use Lynn, the most vicious dog in the kingdom, and set him loose on every enemy we have. For you. And for me.
➤ Next: Morbid — What Was Lost
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