The Shadow Queen of Tywin Lannister

LXXI. Pride Meeting, part 2

Once Visenya had left, the three siblings chose to remain at the table. However, the silence between them was quickly interrupted by Trystan.

"Why?" he asked, his voice trying to sound stable but his anger had not died out yet.

Cersei felt his sharp gaze on her and she returned with a defiant one of her own. "Why what?" she asked, as if she didn't know what he was talking about.

"Why do you have to act like an ungrateful whiny little bitch?" he finally asked, surprising his siblings with his choice of words. She was about to argue but he did not let her. "Let me finish Cersei or may the Seven help me you because will not like how I will act next if you do not let me" he warned, his jaw tense and his eyes narrowing as a warning.

To Tyrion's surprise, his cocky sister did not argue. "Fine" she agreed never wholeheartedly.

"You had no right to bring that topic up and accuse Mother so openly," he said and she scoffed.

"I have every right to do so when it's my life that is affected by it" she argued back, getting bolder again. "And why do you rush to defend her? We all know it is the truth" She glanced at Tyrion, expecting him to back her up.

"Don't involve me in this topic, Cersei" he said, still brooding over the fact that he had to marry Sansa and ruin her. "I have enough troubles already"

She rolled her eyes. "Poor you. At least you will remain here and you will not have to ruin your body and carry babies" she hissed, playing the victim here. "I will be sent to Highgarden, be surrounded by stupid roses while my family, my children are all here"

"Oh please" Trystan commented, earning a glare from her. "If you managed to handle that fat pig Robert all those years, you can handle a green boy like Loras. It's not like he is attracted to women"

"So I am to bear the humiliation of once again being the side woman?" she asked rhetorically. "I am Queen Reagent, I was Queen for 16 years and now I am to be simply lowered to that humiliating position?"

The younger of the lions was getting tired of this drama. "You are just bitter because there is no Jaime here to impregnate you instead" he said, dropping the bomb so bluntly that made Tyrion's jaw drop.

He always knew that Trystan held back, always trying his best to avoid conflict with their siblings but he never expected him to be so aggressive with his words. It made him wonder what dark side the Half Lion had, for he was always the one that kept it in check and hadn't shown it yet; at least not to him.

"You should consider yourself lucky you got married to Loras and not an old man on his deathbed" he continued, preventing her from talking. "We already fucked it up enough and Father knows it. This is the most linear he could be with us"

However, his sister was not done yet. "I should consider myself lucky?" she repeated, her eyes flashing dangerously as she slammed her palm on the table. "You have no right to talk for me and tell me how I should see myself. You are Father's Golden Boy, always the favourite one" she spat. "You are his heir, the one thing he so proudly reminds us all the time and you dare to tell me how I should be after everything I had to do for the family? Because last time I checked, you did nothing to contribute"

Trystan did not reply immediately and for a moment, Cersei felt pleased; thinking she had won this argument. Before she could stand up, though, the Half Lion spoke up again.

"You think I want this?" he exclaimed, earning the attention of his siblings. "You really think I want what I am given?" he asked rhetorically, chuckling darkly. His smile disappeared faster than expected, his gaze turning colder than the harsh winters in the North. "I never asked for them" he continued, slowly standing up. "I never asked to be the different one, to be Father's favourite. I never asked to be his heir, to be Jaime's replacement and being reminded daily of that." His voice started to crack. "I have spent all of my life trying to be what Father wanted me to be. I never had the chance to grow and just be me. I never chose to be at odds with you, earn those looks of jealousy you often give me or be the target of your frustration when father was being unfair to you..." he took a deep breath.