A Champion of Light and Lions (Cersei Lannister x OC)

11 - Harbinger Of Doom

Many nights later, we were in that same bed, as we had been so often since the first time, lying next to each other with the same lack of distance between us, the same contented feeling of safety. I slept in Cersei's bed more often than in my own these days. It felt empty and cold in comparison.

"How was your day?", I asked with my eyes already half-closed. I hadn't seen her since this morning, she had been so busy preparing for the big day tomorrow.

"Stressful", she hummed, "but that is to be expected. I'd rather exhaust myself by personally making sure everything is going to go right than leave it to someone else and risk them messing up."

"I'm sure it will pay off", I said. "You've planned every last detail twice over."

"Not every one", Cersei responded, "Joffrey wanted to arrange some of the entertainment himself. He says he has found the perfect group of actors." I felt her shrug beside me, shifting the mattress slightly. "I don't care much for how we entertain the guests. As long as they are impressed by the whole affair, I'll consider it a success. We have more important things to worry about."

I smiled. "For once, lay your worries aside, please. You're tense enough that one could believe it's your wedding."

Cersei laughed and rolled onto her side, pulling me flush against her. I blinked in surprise, but it wasn't an uncomfortable feeling. Not at all.

"And what would you say if it was, hm?", she asked teasingly. "Wouldn't you like to see me in a bridal cloak?"

"I'd ask who the fuck you'd been hiding from me", I replied with a grin.

"No one, my little flower." She smiled, and there was something like a challenge in her sparkling eyes. "Again: what would you say?"

"'Yes'", I smirked, understanding now.

"And if I then did this?" She pulled my head toward hers, our lips meeting in a sudden bloom of unfamiliar excitement, and I realized it was the first proper kiss we had shared, despite the many months that our relationship had been going on for already.

No one had ever kissed me like that before. When my former master or his sons had done it, it had been hungry, demanding, just another part of their lust for what shouldn't have been theirs but was. They had taken kisses from me, not given them to me. Their manner had been brutal, with no regard for me, just stealing what they wanted from the shreds of my dignity.

There was none of that in Cersei's kiss. Her lips were gentle, soft, allowing me in instead of commanding me. They were like the soft petals of a flower, but burning with the heat of the sun, invisible sparks that flashed through my veins.

"I would say you take my breath away", I said weakly when we parted.

Cersei grinned, satisfied, and let herself fall back flat onto the bed again, though still holding me. "Good girl."

I nuzzled her neck. "Are you ready for sleep?"

She kissed the top of my head and said, "Sure." After a brief moment of silence, she sighed. "It's just... I can't believe it will be my son kissing someone like this tomorrow", she muttered as her hand absent-mindedly stroked my back. "It should be a happy occasion for me, but... if only he was marrying someone else." She sighed again. "He's completely smitten. I can't even warn him about her scheming nature without him threatening me. If she has got him so deep in her grasp already, how will I ever manage to protect him once they're actually married?"

My heart sank deep into the pit of my stomach at those words, which had just reminded me of a deeply unpleasant fact. "I don't know", I replied, my head resting on her shoulder, moving with the steady rise and fall of her chest. I hoped my own breathing didn't give away the fact that I was hiding something from her.