Not Just a Kingslayer

Chapter 6

The King of the Seven Kingdoms was in the courtyard, playing with his kittens.

"Hello, my little King," Margaery said, picking him up and swinging him in a circle as he laughed. "How are you and the kittens this fine morning?"

"Great," he said excitedly,"Ser Pounce was chasing his tail!" He turned his gaze to Daena.

"Good morning, Your Grace, do you remember me?"

"Of course I do Lady Daena! Are you my aunt now?"

"I suppose I am. Now that's a funny thought," she chuckled,"aunt of the King of the Seven Kingdoms. That makes me feel old." Margaery let out a cheery laugh.

"You're not old," Tommen said,"nobody old could be half as pretty as my Queen." He smiled at Margaery, who blushed prettily.

"I'll take that as a compliment to both of us," Daena said,"now let's play with the kittens, shall we?"

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Jaime hated standing in the throne room all day, especially when Cersei was mad at him, which seemed to be increasingly often these days. Finally, the meeting drew to a close after nearly three hours. At that point, Jaime was practically asleep on his feet. He hadn't gotten too much sleep the night before, after all. Suddenly, he felt a hand on his back and a whisper in his ear. "Falling asleep on the job, brother? How can you protect us like that? You must not be quite as capable as you said before if you missed enough sleep to be this tired."

He stepped away from Cersei. "Do we really have to get into this again? Need I remind you of what I said before?" She blushed again. Twice in one morning, wow. "I thought not. Now if you'll excuse me, sweet sister..."

She grabbed ahold of his arm before he could walk away. "I will not excuse you, dear brother, we have much to talk about."

"I thought we talked enough this morning," he said heatedly.

"Not nearly enough. Now let's take a walk shall we?" She pulled him along with her as she began walking towards the courtyard. "Now we still must decide what we are to do about that girl. Something must be done." They stepped out into the fresh air.

"Nothing must be done! We already established our positions on this, sister! I will have no harm come to her!"

"Why do you even care about that little girl," Cersei spat,"when you have all the woman you could ever want right here?"

"You know what, sister, you always act as though I need you, but I think it is really you that needs me. If you didn't, we wouldn't be discussing this for the third time in three days right now."

Cersei slapped him. "How dare you speak to the Queen in such a way?"

He moved his face closer to hers and said almost in a whisper,"You were my sister first. And my lover. And then the mother of my fucking children for gods' sake! And you act as though I'm no more than a common thief off the streets of Lannisport!"

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After playing with the kittens for a while, Daena, Margaery, and Tommen heard people speaking behind them. They turned to see Jaime and Cersei in the midst of a heated argument, so close their lips almost touched. "Mother, Uncle!" Tommen shouted as Daena let out a sigh and Margaery placed a hand on her back for comfort. The twins looked more like a couple at that moment than they ever did when happy with each other. They both looked over at the same time when they heard Tommen's shout, and quickly stepped slightly away from each other when they took in Daena and Margaery standing behind him.

Daena stepped forward, making her face as innocent and cheerful as she could muster. "Hello, Your Grace, it's so nice to see you again!"

Cersei sighed inwardly. Sometimes I wish Jaime had actually killed everyone else like he once said he would so I wouldn't have to deal with people. "It's nice to see you too," she said with a bright smile. "I see you have become friends with ou-my son and his little wife." Jaime's hand had tightened on her arm just in time for her to catch herself. Crap, did she hear that? Maybe it would be better if she just knew. Perhaps easier to get rid of her...nevermind that lets hope they didn't notice.

Did she almost say our son? "Oh, yes, Margaery and Tommen are lovely, we were having such fun with his kittens. Did you get them for him?" she asked with a twinkle in her eye and just the hint of a smirk at the corner of her mouth. She knew perfectly well that Margaery had given Tommen the kittens, and she could tell Margaery was stifling laughter behind her.

"No," Cersei said with a slight frown, seeing Daena's face,"Lady Margaery gave them to him. Anyway, would you like to come have dinner in my apartment tonight? We spoke of it before, and tonight is as good a night as any, right?" She felt Jaime stiffen beside her and smiled a little more.

"I'd love to, Your Grace, if you'd like me to come. And Jaime?"

"Of course he can come too. My dear brother is always welcome; sometimes he tries to avoid me but I can almost always get him to do what I want," she said. She felt Jaime tense even more and let out a slight laugh. "So I'll see you two tonight?"

"We'll be there," Daena said, taking Jaime, who was nearly frozen by now, by the arm and leading him away while waving goodbye to everyone. "What's wrong?" she asked him.

"Nothing," he replied quickly, shaking his head to get Cersei out of it. Sometimes I wish Cersei didn't exist. Not very often, but sometimes.

And the two walked back to their quarters, each with their own thoughts that were more similar than they knew.