Between Love and Hate

The Meeting

I woke up to somebody knocking on the door. I opened my eyes and found Cersei doing the same thing. Whoever was knocking, they could surely come back later. I had just finished waking up, when Ava's cries echoed through the room. So she was also unhapp about being woken at this hour. Now I hated the intruder even more. How urgent could it be? And besides, I didn't want to have to hide under the bed or in the wardrobe again.
„Don't get it, just shush Ava up and come back", I said quietly.
Cersei just leaned over to give me a kiss and then she got up and put on her gown. Then she held our sweet, but sometimes slightly annoying (only the tiniest bit) baby and started gently swaying back and forth. When she made for the door, she was still holding Ava and she still hadn't told me where to hide I said: „What are you doing? No one can see us like this."
„I am Queen of the Seven Kingdoms. I'll do as I please", she replied opening the door. I didn't even have the chance to properly cover myself. At the door stood a young girl. She looked at me uneasily, knowing what we had done.
„Forgive me, Your Grace. The visitor from Braavos has arrived."
„Good. And we'll need fresh sheets for the bed."
„At once, Your Grace", the girl replied. Cersei closed the door.
I smiled. „Did you really need to make a point out of it?"
„Out of what?"
„You know exactly what I mean. The poor girl saw me half naked on your bed and you tell her we need fresh sheets?"
„It's true. We do", Cersei said, glancing down at them.
„You're unbelievable", I smiled, pulling her in for a kiss. Something was bothering her, I could tell. And it wasn't about the visitor from Braavos.
„What's wrong?"
„It's Jaime. He's gone to sack Highgarden. And he will kill Olenna Tyrell. But he will do it with poison. He talked me out of my own ideas for her. And I'm regretting it. I have the feeling she's worse than we think."
„She's a vicious woman, but she did all of it for her family. She's not that different from you, you know. What will Jaime do to her?"
„He'll poison her. But it will be painless. I wanted her whipped through the streets, paraded like I was and then have her beheaded or have her flayed alive and then hanged. But no."
„I don't think she deserves it. She's an old woman. Let her die with a bit of dignity."
„She was going to send you off to Highgarden, she planned to overthrow me", Cersei raged.
„And she failed. I'm sure that gave her lots of regret and pain already. You can't change it, don't brood over it."
Cersei just made an annoyed noise. She had to get ready to meet this visitor from Braavos. From what I had gathered, he was from the Iron Bank. Well, the crown was in quite a lot of debt.
„I'll see you later, my love", Cersei called and left me to get dressed.

Cersei entered my chambers in the evening. I had been waiting all day to ask her something:
"What happened to Ellaria and Tyene? After they were taken to the dungeons?"
"Why would you want to know that all of a sudden?"
"Well",I said, "it just occured to me that I had never heard some sort of gleeful declaration of success."
Cersei seemed slightly offended: "So you're asking if I've already killed them. One yes, the other not."
"What's that supposed to mean?"
Cersei made a face, as if she didn't want to tell me this part. I instantly knew that there was going to be no good news. "I had them chained up opposite eachother so that Ellaria watched her daughter die."
"You what?"
I was appalled. She was a mother too, how could she do this? Apparently my facial expression had shown my emotions quite clearly, because Cersei replied: "She killed my daughter. The only daughter I ever had."
I felt differently, you didn't always have to give somebody a taste of their own medicine. I sighed. This was one of the many points where Cersei and I differed. And yet I loved her so much.