Chapter 32
KEVAN LANNISTER
Robert's death had been a surprise. The capital was in turmoil even before his death, yet the presence of the Demon of the Trident kept their enemies in line, as their. With the passage of the years, he had become fat and was not the man who had once smashed Rhaegar Targaryen at the Trident, but the mere memory of that day and the alliance that had put him on the throne kept him on the throne.
He was not a good King, and one could argue that he was more Aegon the Unworthy than Aegon the Conqueror. Still, even in death his charisma and memory still protected his rule, and the Lannister legacy it was tied to.
Roberts' death had plunged the realm into war, as both his brother declared themselves as Kings, and while Stannis had only a few men to call on, Renly had managed to gather a significant host through his alliance with the Reach.
And now only Robert's promise of a betrothal between his eldest son, and Starks eldest daughter held the realm together, for there was little love for them in the realm. The boy and his mother had tried to break the betrothal, and had they succeeded Kevan believed that all of them would have their heads on pikes by now.
It was not the only mistake she had made, and it was why his brother had sent him here with only one mission—to curb the Queen and her eldest's powers and maintain an alliance with the Starks for with the Starks came the Tullys and with the Tullys came the Arryns.
Without them this war would be lost. Kevan had rushed to the capital with the first host, breaking through the hastily assembled blockades along the road. Cersei had done great damage to their cause by alienating the Starks, but with an army at his back he had managed to subdue her and reach an accord with the Stark lord.
Concessions were made. Promises were kept but the Starks still remained skeptical, but in the end they were in just as great a bind as them for they were some two hundred men, trapped in the capital with some twenty thousand gold cloaks.
Stark could deny them, but doing so would put his own family's life at risk. It was a shaky alliance at best, but Robert's memory and promise kept it alive.
"How could you be so stupid!" Kevan raged, as he paced in the Queen's solar.
Cersei and her son's stupidity had already cost them much, and now it just might have cost them the war itself.
"I had no part..." she tried to defend herself, but Kevan's head snapped towards her.
"Do not take me for a fool," he countered, and the Queen dowager lowered her head for she knew very well the severity of what she had done.
"You sent her to him! YOU!" he repeated, and shook his head in disbelief.
"What were you even thinking! Sending the Stark girl into that monster's chambers!" and if Cersei was a fool then her son was a monster.
He had been the one to cause the greatest amount of harm to his own cause. He had let that Spider fool him into attacking his own brother, forcing him into enemy hands. And now he had just turned their most critical allies against them in a single night.
"He is not a monste..."
"He is!" Kevan countered, and took in a deep breath and the sheer vileness of her actions made him want to slap her, but she was the Queen Dowager.
"Be careful how you speak of your King," the Kingslayer warned, and Kevan's eyes narrowed.
"I will speak to her however I wish when her stupidity may have just cost us everything," and he had spent weeks trying to cajole the North into this alliance, clearing away the doubts of the Stark lord.
Stannis Baratheon had made grave accusations against Cersei, still he was thankful that Tyrion had offered him a good rebuttal of them and while he knew the truth of them in his heart, Kevan would never dare voice it out for the consequences it may begin.
Eddard Stark was no fool, but Renly and Stannis were no saints. Stannis had little support for his cause, and had turned a heretic. While Renly's victory would mean handing over the throne to the Tyrells, the very people who had stood against Robert during the war and with the Crown's treasury all but empty, the Lannisters made for better allies than either of the Baratheon brothers.
A marriage would have solidified their alliance, but he remained hesitant and for good reason for if Cersei was a fool then her eldest was a monster. He had fallen so low as to resort to kinslaying just because he had been humiliated by his brother.
He had killed all of his father's bastards in one night, and had turned the entire city against them because of his atrocities and now he had destroyed the innocence of the Stark girl.
"She was not even a woman yet!" he countered, as Cersei's lips thinned.
"She was," she argued weakly, and that was some solace.
"Stark has ordered her septa to hide it. The girl bled for the first time a few days ago," and Kevan shook his head.
"That does not justify what your son has done! He spoiled her! Humiliated her!" and she had no answer for that.
"She was only trying to help," Jaime added, and he scoffed.
"And look where that has gotten us," and after taking control of the negotiations he had tasked her with one thing only. Controlling her son, and she had failed in that
"The best thing you could have done for yourself and your House to do nothing! You and your son had done enough damage and now you may have cost us the war," and this was bleak for with no fear of retaliation from behind, Renly's armies would march straight to Kingslanding.
There was little love for Lannisters in the city, and many still remembered the sacking of the city, and what it had brought.
"The Starks will dare not abandon us. We hold the Stark lord, and his daughters as captives," and Kevan scoffed.
"We had them as allies first, and now they are our captives! Do you think the Northerners would ever support us if it ever got out that we had taken their lord and his children as captives," he argued, and now Tywin's daughter showed her stupidity.
"And who would even tell them this?" she scoffed.
"Put a sword on their necks, and force the North into allying with us," and as soon as word had reached him, Kevan had acted fast. The Starks were two hundred in number, while he had an army of some twenty thousand at his beck and call.
The command went out in a second, and soon enough the streets were filled with Northerner blood, and the Starks were pushed into captivity. He had put Eddard Stark in a cell, as his daughter fought for her life after suffering from Joffrey's cruelties.
"Are you a fool?" and as much as they may try to hide it, he was certain that the whispers of it would make out of the city soon, if they had not already.
Joffrey's actions would not remain a secret for much longer, and soon enough the entire realm would know what he had done to the Stark girl, and would turn on them at once.
"No one knows how deep the Spiders web runs, and there are rumors that he has made common cause with Renly Baratheon," and now Cersei realised her mistake.
"We should have killed that bald bastard years ago," Jaime added, and they should have indeed. The man was a traitor, and Kevan doubted that his true loyalties even lay with Renly Baratheon.
"You have pushed us to brink of defeat," and his voice grew weaker, as he realised the sheer trouble they were in.
"I just thought that the Starks would be more amenable to a quick marriage if his daughter was spoiled," Cersei defended herself, and maybe the plot would have worked.
"Then you should have told your son that," for the boy had acted no less than a savage.
He sat down and rubbed his forehead.
"Tyrion warned me about the boy, and his unhinged tendencies," he whispered, and immediately Cersei rose.
"Don't you dare mention that traitor," she warned, and Tyrion was not without faults but he was no traitor.
"He is no traitor. He is your brother, and given what I have seen from your son, he was right to plot for Joffrey's removal from the succession," for while immature, Cersei's plan was not without its merits.
Joffrey was young, and so was Sansa Stark. They were betrothed and if Cersei was to be believed then Sansa was a woman grown, and ready for marriage. A little tryst between them would have indeed softened Eddard Starks resolve.
But this. This was a disaster for Joffrey had made a mess of it all.
"You do not mean that," Jaime countered, and he shook his head.
"I do," and apart from the war, Tywin had tasked him with verifying Tyrion's claims where he had called the boy a vile monster who would destroy all that they had built, and Kevan saw no lie in that description.
"Your boy is a fool and a monster and he may have just lost us this war," but he could not give up, and so he rose from the chair and took a deep breath.
"The boy stays in his room. He has caused us enough harm as it is," he warned, for Renly's armies had reached Bittenbridge now, and so a battle was near.
The last letter from Eddard to his wife had asked them to bring their armies to Harrenhall, to trap Renly Baratheon's armies. But if the word of what had transpired here today were to reach the Northerners.
Then Renly could march straight towards Kingslanding with no fear, and given the sentiment in the City, Kingsaldning would fall easily.
"I can no longer rely on Eddard Stark to lead the army," and so he would have to lead them himself.
"Jaime, you will oversee the levies and the army with me now," and the Kingsgaurd nodded.
"Any word from Dragonstone?" Cersei asked in a subdued voice, and he shook his head and all his troubles had made him forget that Cersei had more than one child.
"In some ways it is good, for if the two Baratheon brothers were to join hands then this war would be over in a day," for Kingslanding could not sustain an attack from the land and the sea at once.
"He has my son," Cersei reminded him.
"I know, and you have no idea how regretful I am that he has the wrong son," for he was certain that Steffon would never have done as Joffrey had.
"Still, if there is anyone who can beat the odds it is Steffon," he added kindly, even though the chances of him coming back to them alive were simply negligible.
Stannis had offered no parlay, and had made no demands. He had declared the boy a demon born out of incest in his declaration, and his intentions regarding him were clear.
There was little for them to do.
"Also, I believe that we must now also plan for the possibility of the city falling into Renly's hands as well...."
0000
As always, you can read ahead and support me through my Patre 0n. Your support and patr 0nage are what make all this possible. So, drop a sub if you can. It would help me out quite a bit.
www.Patre 0n.com/Drkest
Have a fantastic day!