A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

Joffrey.”
    Cersei frowned. “Joffrey had no love for Robb Stark, but the younger boy was nothing to him. He was only a child himself.”
    â€œA child hungry for a pat on the head from that sot you let him believe was his father.” He had an uncomfortable thought. “Tyrion almost died because of this bloody dagger. If he knew the whole thing was Joffrey’s work, that might be why . . .”
    â€œI don’t care
why
,” Cersei said. “He can take his reasons down to hell with him. If you had seen how Joff died . . . he
fought
, Jaime, he fought for every breath, but it was as if some malign spirit had its hands about his throat. He had such terror in his eyes . . . When he was little, he’d run to me when he was scared or hurt and I would protect him. But that night there was nothing I could do. Tyrion murdered him in front of me, and
there was nothing I could do
.” Cersei sank to her knees before his chair and took Jaime’s good hand between both of hers. “Joff is dead and Myrcella’s in Dorne. Tommen’s all I have left. You mustn’t let Father take him from me. Jaime, please.”
    â€œLord Tywin has not asked for my approval. I can talk to him, but he will not listen . . .”
    â€œHe will if you agree to leave the Kingsguard.”
    â€œI’m not leaving the Kingsguard.”
    His sister fought back tears. “Jaime, you’re my shining knight. You cannot abandon me when I need you most! He is stealing my son, sending me away . . . and unless you stop him, Father is going to force me to wed again!”
    Jaime should not have been surprised, but he was. The words were a blow to his gut harder than any that Ser Addam Marbrand had dealt him. “Who?”
    â€œDoes it matter? Some lord or other. Someone Father thinks he needs. I don’t care. I will not have another husband. You are the only man I want in my bed, ever again.”
    â€œThen
tell
him that!”
    She pulled her hands away. “You are talking madness again. Would you have us ripped apart, as Mother did that time she caught us playing? Tommen would lose the throne, Myrcella her marriage . . . I
want
to be your wife, we belong to each other, but it can never be, Jaime. We are brother and sister.”
    â€œThe Targaryens . . .”
    â€œWe are not Targaryens!”
    â€œQuiet,” he said, scornfully. “So loud, you’ll wake my Sworn Brothers. We can’t have that, now, can we? People might learn that you had come to see me.”
    â€œJaime,” she sobbed, “don’t you think
I
want it as much as you do? It makes no matter who they wed me to, I want you at my side, I want you in my bed, I want you inside me. Nothing has changed between us. Let me prove it to you.” She pushed up his tunic and began to fumble with the laces of his breeches.
    Jaime felt himself responding. “No,” he said, “not here.” They had never done it in White Sword Tower, much less in the Lord Commander’s chambers. “Cersei, this is not the place.”
    â€œYou took me in the sept. This is no different.” She drew out his cock and bent her head over it.
    Jaime pushed her away with the stump of his right hand. “
No
. Not here, I said.” He forced himself to stand.
    For an instant he could see confusion in her bright green eyes, and fear as well. Then rage replaced it. Cersei gathered herself together, got to her feet, straightened her skirts. “Was it your hand they hacked off in Harrenhal, or your manhood?” As she shook her head, her hair tumbled around her bare white shoulders. “I was a fool to come. You lacked the courage to avenge Joffrey, why would I think that you’d protect Tommen? Tell me, if the Imp had killed all three of your children, would
that
have made you wroth?”
    â€œTyrion is not going to harm Tommen or Myrcella. I am still not certain he killed Joffrey.”
    Her mouth twisted in anger. “How can you
say
that? After all his threats—”
    â€œThreats mean nothing. He swears he did not do it.”
    â€œOh, he
swears
, is that it? And dwarfs don’t lie, is that what you think?”
    â€œNot to me. No more than you would.”
    â€œYou great golden fool. He’s lied to you a thousand times, and so have I.” She bound up her hair again, and scooped up the hairnet from the bedpost where she’d hung it. “Think what you will. The