A Lion in the Midst

10| A Mother's Love

"Love is a weakness. Love no one but your children."

Third Person POV

Charlotte was taken to the King and Queen's bedchambers. Robert assisted Jaime as he laid Charlotte on the bed, covering her with blankets to quench her shivering body. Charlotte stared into the darkness, awaking moments before from the blackout. Robert whispered quietly, "She reminds me so much of Cersei, it's uncanny. Cersei held that same stare in her eyes after...." He need not continue, for the meaning of his words spread throughout the darkness of the room. After Charlotte was taken.

Cersei comes into the room moments later, rushing towards Charlotte's unmoving body. "Sweetling....." She takes Charlotte's hands, bringing them to her cheeks. "She's freezing." There was only one thing left to do, and as a mother she didn't hesitate.

Cersei removes her cloak, throwing it across the room. She slides into the bed beside her daughter, pulling her close in a tight embrace. "Breathe, my love. I'm here now. No one can hurt you. I will never let anyone ever hurt you...."

Charlotte turns over, and gazes into her mother's eyes. "I... I...." Tears began to cascade from her eyes, sobs escaping her throat. Cersei places one hand behind Charlotte's head. "I love you." She whispers these words faintly, declaring her love only for Charlotte's ears to hear.

Charlotte lays her head back on the pillow, allowing for Cersei to examine her bruised shoulder. She pulls the dress's sleeve up, revealing different shades of purple and blue. Charlotte winces as her mother softly rubs the skin around her shoulder. "It's sprained, my dear."

The Maester runs in moments after, pulling Charlotte's shoulder into a cloth sling. "She needs time to heal, but it should be fine." After the Maester finishes, he hands a bottle of liquid serum to Cersei. "This is for the pain. Do not let her take it all at once, it could be fatal."

He leaves, along with Robert and Jaime. All were reassured that Charlotte would be fine. Robert and Jaime would now be heading down to Joffrey, dealing out his punishment that would last for a number of days, and be very boring.

Charlotte's POV

"Do you want to hear the story of your birth?"

I was preoccupied by counting the stones that were on the ceiling, doing anything to distract my mind from the pain in the shoulder, and.... the pain in my heart. I turn to Cersei, blinking my eyes to focus on her face. "Um... sure." Did I really want to know?

She hands me the droplet of pain serum. "Take this first, love." I squeeze the unpleasant medicine into my mouth, cringing as I forced it down my throat. "That taste dreadful...." I look up at her with a frown on my face, begging her with my eyes to not make me take another droplet of serum.

A sigh escapes her mouth. "I promise, if there was anything better I could do for you, I would. I hate to see you in pain... and this is the only thing that will help." She looks away, eyeing something in the distance.

"I'm sorry about tonight. I had no intentions to hurt him....."

She turns back to me. "I know."

My eyes widen with shock. "You know?"

"My precious daughter, you have a heart of fire and gold. Your intentions may have been the complete opposite, but you would never deliberately take the life of another. Joffrey has been raised as the oldest, most fortunate for the longest time. He was all I had left of you..... When we reunited again, I could only spend every waking moment I had with you. He did not take that very well..... I'm afraid it's my fault that Joffrey slaughtered your horse."