command [joffrey baratheon]

[11] punishment or mercy?

"Stand up, you're not useful for me when you're kneeling there on the floor.", I said to the handmaiden, who was still sitting in front of me. She got up and looked at me, she was visibly scared and she had good reasons for that.

"Bring me", I started the command, "every available handmaiden you can find, obviously they have a problem with the servants here in King's Landing."

She nodded frightened and left the room hurried.

I somehow managed to undress without the help of other's and threw the scraps of cloth onto my bed. The rose fabric still looked beautiful, and even though it didn't look like a dress anymore and reminded me of a rose, the way it was laying there.

I was only wearing my underdress, when somebody knocked on the door.

"M'lady Tyrell, I brought the other maids you were wishing for.", I heard the voice of my handmaiden through the door.

"Come in."

The one I knew entered, followed by three other girls.

"Thank you.", I gave her a nod.

"You,", I looked at the first of the three,"bring my dress to the finest dressmaker, I want it to be fixed."

"You will help her, the dress is big and I can't risk it is taking more damage if one carries it alone...", I instructed the second.

"And you will be my new handmaiden.", I said to the third and she curtsied smiling politely.

The first two left the room, carrying my dress and the last one started to tidy up my room.

"Well, everyone has a task here, but you...", I dramatically turned around to the one that had nearly killed me, before she had cut the dress to save me. She stared at me like a frightned child.

They way she looked at me made slightly regret my cruelty, I didn't want to be seen as a monster.

"The king could have you executed, you know that, aren't you?", I asked her.

"I am so sorry, I didn't mean to harm you, Lady Tyrell, I did it a hundred times before and nothing happened. Please, please forgive me!", she begged and fell onto her knees once more.

"Just stop crying, no harm will come to you, yet. I'll give you an ultimatum. Leave the city as fast as you can without someone noticing or you wait for my husband to come back and he decides what's going to happen to you.", I said and expected her to answer.

"Thank you for your mercy, m'lady. I'm leaving and you'll never hear of me again, I swear it!", she got up very clumsy, curtsied and left the room running.

In every case Joffrey was going to know that I had nearly been killed, but I didn't want to be the reason another maid was killed. And even though I had been furious about her deathly mishap, I knew everyone did mistakes. I should have known better, I felt like I was the most imperfect person ever.

Without knowing, Joffrey's way of dealing with things he didn't like, had influenced me more and more. I didn't know how to explain the positive feeling of being mighty, if not like that.

"Do you need something, lady Tyrell?", my new handmaiden asked me.

"Sleep, I need sleep. This has been a long day.", I answered and walked over to my bed where I sat down. She nodded and left me alone.

Outside the night had arrived, the moonlight shone into the chamber and I started wondering where Joffrey was at that exact same moment.

Was he thinking about me? What if something happened to him?

His father King Robert, who was king before, died on a hunting trip. I've learned about his death in Highgarden, when my teachers started to teach me more about the current rulers. Though he did terrible things to Sansa, her family and Kenly, I didn't want him to die. I liked how he influenced me to turn things around so I had an advantage.

He had the absolute power over everything and everyone and I was to be his queen, I was going to be as mighty as him.

All my life I had been taught that being loved makes you more powerful than being feared, but I started to question our methods when I thought about how far Joffre's family had come with the other way. I still had to decide what kind of a queen I was going to be, but I already knew what kind of a queen Joffrey wanted to see.