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

19 - And Bars Of Iron

I paced restlessly around the chamber. Cersei should have been back by now. She had only gone to pay a short visit to Margaery and speak to the High Sparrow about her conditions. Had something happened to her? Had she perhaps been attacked by the smallfolk, riled as they were by the arming of the Faith Militant? If it had given them the impression that they stood a fighting chance against those they blamed for their misfortunes, then Cersei...

I shook my head. Cersei was still protected by a whole group of guards, and after what happened at the riot a few years ago, they were more vigilant than ever of what the people around them were up to. Cersei would be absolutely fine. She had probably just gotten held up somewhere - the High Sparrow might have wanted to discuss the future of the Faith Militant with her in more detail, or someone requested her time on the way back. She'd be back soon enough.

And yet, I couldn't shake the nagging feeling in the depths of my stomach that something was wrong. When I had had enough of worrying, I decided that the only way to ease my nerves was to find Cersei. I left my room and sought out the first servant I spotted.

"Do you know if Her Grace has returned to the castle yet?", I asked.

The servant frowned. "The queen is in the custody of the Faith, my lady", she replied slowly.

I rolled my eyes. "Not that queen. Queen Cersei, the mother of the king?"

"Oh. No, I don't believe she's back yet."

"Thank you", I said, barely forcing a smile before brushing past her, searching for someone else who could tell me what I needed to know.

Finally, after making my way through several empty halls, I spotted a septa in the garden. Surely she would know whether Cersei had left the sept yet.

"Excuse me", I said, and the woman turned, raising her eyebrows slightly at me. I supposed it wasn't often a Red Priestess talked to one of their order. "I'm looking for the queen. Do you know where she is?"

"She's been imprisoned", the septa said with an apologetic half-smile.

"No, no, I don't mean Queen Margaery", I said, exasperated. "I-"

"Neither do I", the septa returned, and I froze.

"Wh- what?"

"Cersei Lannister has been taken into custody by the High Sparrow on suspicion of adultery, fornication, incest and regicide. She will reside in the cells beneath the Great Sept of Baelor until her trial."

The cold shock subsided, and rage boiled up inside me. "How dare you touch her? She hasn't done anything wrong! Without her, you wouldn't even have all this power, and this is how you repay her?"

"We all must pay accordingly for our actions", the septa said calmly. "That applies to queens and benevolent enablers as much as to powerless commoners." Her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

I fumed, wanting most of all to slap that shit-eating grin off the woman's face, but I restrained myself. "You're right", I said with dangerous quiet. "We all must pay. And you will pay very, very dearly for this. You'll regret the day you ever laid hands on her, just you wait." I turned on my heel and stalked out of the garden, back into the castle and to Cersei's chambers.

I needed a plan. Some way to get Cersei out of there, to free her from- Lord, what was she even enduring in there? Was she in pain? Cold, hungry, thirsty; scared and desperate? Would I- would I ever get to see her again?

No, I couldn't allow myself to think like that. I would see her again. I would get her out. Because if I didn't... Fear overwhelmed me at the thought, at imagining a life without Cersei. She had become my life over the course of the past years, in more ways than one. And, picturing this horrid Cersei-less world, I realized with a start there was something I would awfully regret to have missed out on with her... We had so much of our lives yet to live, so much to experience together, to feel, to see. Why was it that only in the face of loss we came to truly appreciate what we had? Did we have to recognize how fleeting time was to make proper use of it?