The Prince of Thorns

What next?⚔

KING'S LANDING - RED KEEP COURTYARD

Cersei walks atop a mural of Westeros painted on the floor. The painter is completing it. Jaime enters and walks towards his sister, then looks at the mural and nods at the painter. The painter puts down his brush and exits.

JAIME: "What is this?"

CERSEI: "Its what we've been waiting for our whole lives. It's what Father trained us for, whether he knew it or not."

JAIME: "He knew it. Made me memorize every damn city, town, lake, forest, and mountain."

CERSEI: "It's ours now, we just have to take it."

She turns to face him.

CERSEI: "You've been quiet since you came home. Are you angry with me?"

JAIME: "No, not angry."

CERSEI: "Are you afraid of me?"

JAIME: "Should I be?"

CERSEI: "Daenerys Targaryen has chosen Tyrion to be her Hand. Right now, they're sailing across the Narrow Sea, hoping to take back her father's throne. Our little brother, the one you love so much, the one you set free, the one who murdered our father and our first-born son, now he stands beside our enemies and gives them counsel. He's out there somewhere at the head of an armada. Where will they land?"

JAIME: "Dragonstone."

He approaches the depiction of Dragonstone in the mural and stands over it.

JAIME: "They have deep-water ports for the ships. Stannis left the castle unoccupied, and that's where she was born."

CERSEI: "Enemies to the east."

She walks towards Dorne on the mural.

CERSEI: "Enemies to the south--Ellaria Sand and her brood of bitches."

Then towards Highgarden on the mural.

CERSEI: "Enemies to the west--Olenna, the old cunt. Another traitor along with her grandson who serves a false Queen."

JAIME: "Her followers I'm sure call you the same."

She lock eyes with her brother before walking towards the North on the mural.

CERSEI:  "Our Enemies in the north no doubt will. Ned Stark's bastard has been named King in the North and that murdering whore Sansa stands beside him. Enemies everywhere. We're surrounded by traitors. You're in command of the Lannister army now. How do we proceed?"

JAIME: "Winter is here. We can't win a war if we can't feed our men and our horses. The Tyrells have the grain, the Tyrells have the livestock."

CERSEI: "Will the Tyrell bannermen stand alongside a Dothraki horde and Unsullied slave soldiers?"

JAIME: "If they think Alester will. If he can make it back to Highgarden they'll follow him into anything. Right now, we look like the losing side."

CERSEI: "I'm the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms."

JAIME: "Three kingdoms, at best. I'm not sure you understand how much danger we're in."

CERSEI: "I understand we're in a war for survival. I understand whoever loses dies. I understand whoever wins could launch a dynasty that lasts a thousand years."

JAIME: "A dynasty for whom? Our boys are dead. We've only our daughter left."

CERSEI: "A dynasty for us, then."

JAIME: "We never talked about Tommen."

Cersei turns and walks to a nearby table and pours herself a glass of wine.

CERSEI: "There's nothing to say."

JAIME: "Our baby boy killed himself."

CERSEI: "He betrayed me. He betrayed us both. Should we spend our days mourning the dead--mother, father, and all our sons?"

JAIME: "Cersei--"

CERSEI: "I loved them. I did. But they're ashes now and we're still flesh and blood. We're the last Lannister's, the last ones who count. "

JAIME: "What about Mrycella? Are you going to keep her locked away in her room forever?"

CERSEI: "Its for her own good. She's safe there."

JAIME: "No ones safe here. Even Lannisters can't survive without allies. Where are our allies now? You saw what happened to Walder Frey and his family."

CERSEI: "I heard. How could we ever trust a man like that?"

JAIME: "We couldn't. He was a useless, old coward, but the Freys supported us. Now they're all dead. Whoever killed them is no friend of ours. We need allies. Stronger, better allies. We can't win this war alone."

CERSEI: "You think I listened to Father for 40 years and learned nothing?"