A Feast for Dragons

your behest.”
    “No,” said Cersei. “It is not true. I love Margaery as I
would a daughter. And the other … I complained of the High Septon, I
admit it. He was Tyrion’s creature, weak and corrupt, a stain upon our Holy
Faith. Your High Holiness knows that as well as I. It may be that Osney thought
that his death would please me. If so, I bear some part of the
blame … but murder? No. Of that I am innocent. Take me to the sept
and I will stand before the Father’s judgment seat and swear the truth of
that.”
    “In time,” said the High Septon. “You also stand accused of
conspiring at the murder of your own lord husband, our late beloved King
Robert, First of His Name.”
    Lancel
, Cersei thought. “Robert was killed
by a boar. Do they say I am a skinchanger now? A warg? Am I accused of killing
Joffrey too, my own sweet son, my firstborn?”
    “No. Just your husband. Do you deny it?”
    “I deny it. I do. Before gods and men, I deny it.”
    He nodded. “Last of all, and worst of all, there are some
who say your children were not fathered by King Robert, that they are bastards
born of incest and adultery.”
    “Stannis says that,” Cersei said at once. “A lie, a lie, a
palpable lie. Stannis wants the Iron Throne for himself, but his brother’s
children stand in his way, so he must needs claim that they are not his
brother’s. That filthy letter … there is no shred of truth to it. I
deny it.”
    The High Septon placed both hands flat upon the table and
pushed himself to his feet. “Good. Lord Stannis has turned from the truth of
the Seven to worship a red demon, and his false faith has no place in these
Seven Kingdoms.”
    That was almost reassuring. Cersei nodded.
    “Even so,” His High Holiness went on, “these are terrible
charges, and the realm must know the truth of them. If Your Grace has told it
true, no doubt a trial will prove your innocence.”
    A trial, still
. “I have confessed—”
    “—to certain sins, aye. Others you deny. Your trial will
separate the truths from the falsehoods. I shall ask the Seven to forgive the
sins you have confessed and pray that you be found innocent of these other
accusations.”
    Cersei rose slowly from her knees. “I bow to the wisdom of Your
High Holiness,” she said, “but if I might beg for just one drop of the Mother’s
mercy, I … it has been so long since I last saw my son,
please …”
    The old man’s eyes were chips of flint. “It would not be
fitting to allow you near the king until you have been cleansed of all your
wickedness. You have taken the first step on your path back to righteousness,
however, and in light of that I shall permit you other visitors. One each day.”
    The queen began to weep again. This time the tears were
true. “You are too kind. Thank you.”
    “The Mother is merciful. It is her that you should thank.”
    Moelle and Scolera were waiting to lead her back up to her
tower cell. Unella followed close behind them. “We have all been praying for
Your Grace,” Septa Moelle said as they were climbing. “Yes,” Septa Scolera
echoed, “and you must feel so much lighter now, clean and innocent as a maid on
the morning of her wedding.”
    I fucked Jaime on the morning of my wedding
,
the queen recalled. “I do,” she said, “I feel reborn, as if a festering boil
has been lanced and now at last I can begin to heal. I could almost fly.” She
imagined how sweet it would be to slam an elbow into Septa Scolera’s face and
send her careening down the spiral steps. If the gods were good, the wrinkled
old cunt might crash into Septa Unella and take her down with her.
    “It is good to see you smiling again,” Scolera said.
    “His High Holiness said I might have visitors?”
    “He did,” said Septa Unella. “If Your Grace will tell us
whom you wish to see, we will send word to them.”
    Jaime, I need Jaime
. But if her twin was in
the city, why had he not come to her? It might be wiser to wait on Jaime until
she had a better notion of what was happening beyond the walls of the Great
Sept of Baelor. “My uncle,” she said. “Ser Kevan Lannister, my father’s
brother. Is he in the city?”
    “He is,” said Septa Unella. “The Lord Regent has taken up
residence in the Red Keep. We will send for him at once.”
    “Thank you,” said Cersei, thinking,
Lord Regent, is
it?
She could not pretend to be surprised.
    A humble and a contrite heart proved to have benefits over
and beyond cleansing