Chapter 2

Cersei was incredibly grateful she'd insisted on another Maester helping her with the delivery and not the old leech Pycelle. The old man would never have been able to keep his mouth shut, and his constant rambling was incredibly annoying. It had been two days since the birth and in that time she had not left the room. Word of the baby had not left this room. Tommen and Myrcella would be worried no doubt and she wanted nothing more than to comfort them. But she couldn't until she had decided what to do with Him.

A dwarf. How could she have given birth to something like that? How had she and Jamie created something like that? There it lay in its crib, gurgling and wiggling its short arms around. Stiffly, Cersei pulled herself away from the crib. The Maester, wet nurse and her hand maid were the only ones to know what she had birthed, and they were the only ones allowed inside in her chamber. The question was what to do with it.

She hated dwarfs. Everything had changed when a dwarf was born in their family. Tywin Lannister had been ashamed to father one, and Cersei had felt his anger and disgust for her little brother. She hated him too. The monster who took her mother away. Since she was a small child she'd felt no sympathy for her little brother, or the challenges he faced. He had spent his life being the laughing stock of their family, bringing nothing but shame to them all. Now she had birthed her own monster. When Cersei had realised what the baby was she had thrust him back at the Maester, screaming her denial.

"That can't be mine. Take it back!" she had ordered, daring anyone to say it was her son.

Settling on the chair, Cersei poured herself a cup of wine and considered her position. She could smother it and let it die. When Jamie returned, she would simply say the child had died after birth. He would be sad undoubtedly, but he would never know his son had been a dwarf. The body would be burnt long before then.

At that moment, the baby let out a cry disrupting her thoughts. Cersei ignored it. What would she tell Tommen and Myrcella? They had been so excited to have a new sibling; the thought of upsetting them was hard to stomach. Then there was Joffrey. He hated dwarfs; he would want to kill the child himself, in front of his uncle no doubt.

The thought of her little brother spiked her anger. This was his fault. Surely her child was a punishment for the way she had treated Tyrion. Cersei didn't need this child. She had three perfect children. They were enough. She would have to start drinking moon tea, to stop herself getting pregnant again. She couldn't risk birthing another creature like this. Standing again, Cersei made her way to the cradle where the baby was still crying. Upon seeing her, the baby instantly stopped crying and had the audacity to smile at her. The same stupid grin her little brother used to give her when he was a child. Before he realised how much she hated him. The baby looked tiny in the crib, a plain blanket covering it. She had prepared the Lannister red and gold blanket she used for her other children, but upon seeing the monster Cersei couldn't bring herself to give it to him. It didn't matter anyway. The child's life wasn't going to be long.

Tyrion Lannister was at a loss. His sister must have surely given birth by now, but no news of her or the baby had been heard. He had been working at his desk in the tower of the hand when his nephew and niece had come looking for him.

"Uncle, is Mother alright?" Myrcella had asked tears glistening in the corner of her eyes

"I'm sure she is, my dear" he had answered pulling the young girl close to him

"No-one can see her, and no-one will tell us about the baby" said Tommen, shuffling close to his uncle as well.

It had been three days since Cersei had gone into labour, it was unlike her to leave Tommen and Myrcella alone for so long. Not that they were ever alone really, with guards and Septas hovering around them constantly. Joffrey, to Tyrion's continued annoyance had not bothered to ask about his mother at all and was completely disinterested in his younger siblings. He sometimes wondered if the boy was actually Robert's son rather than Jamie's. Joffrey had none of Jamie's kindness and all of Cersei's hate.

Since his sister had yet to leave her chambers, Tyrion had taken to joining his nephew and niece for breakfast to make sure they were ok. In truth, he loved spending time with them though Cersei rarely wanted him at her families table. The first day of her absence had been easily explained as tiredness and bonding with the new baby. Now it was worrying, particularly since no-one would tell them anything as Tommen had pointed out.

"Uncle, can you see Mother?" asked Tommen, looking hopefully at him

"Yes" cheered Myrcella looking up from where her face was buried into his shoulder "you can find out. You're the Kings hand"

Tyrion knew Cersei would not want him within 10 feet of her chambers, but the children were looking at him so pleadingly, he couldn't have said no.

"I'll see what I can find out" he said eventually, standing from his chair earning smiles from them both

"Thank you uncle!" said Tommen, rushing to give him a quick hug as Myrcella leaned down to hug him again

"Don't worry" he said "I'm sure your mother is fine. She's a lion after all"

Moving from his place behind the desk, Tyrion stiffly followed the children to the door, not before grabbing a flagon of Dornish wine for his sister. If there was one thing they both enjoyed, it was wine and Tyrion knew his sister had missed it during her pregnancy. Podrick was waiting outside his rooms and Tyrion asked him to escort the children back to their chambers rather than summoning a guard to do it. Tyrion left his nephew and niece with promises of joining them for dinner, as he moved away from the tower of the hand and turned towards the red keep.

As he headed towards his sisters rooms, Tyrion wondered what could have possibly happened to her. Part of him wondered if it was grief that Jamie wasn't there to meet his new child or share the experience with her. Surely nothing was truly wrong with her, or it would have been brought to his and the Kings attention.

Approaching her rooms, he found her usual guard stationed outside.

"I'm sorry my Lord, but the Queen wants no visitors" said the guard, moving to block him

"I'm not a visitor, I'm her brother" Tyrion answered

"No-one is to see the Queen, my Lord" repeated the guard, looking nervous

Tyrion could tell the guard was torn. His sister was Queen regent, but he was the Kings hand. A difficult decision.

"Alright" said Tyrion "Tell her I need to see her about the children. I will wait"

"Yes, my lord" said the guard as he hurried up the short corridor to his sisters chambers

Tyrion probably could have threatened his way past the guard, but with his sister being so secretive it seemed more sensible to come peacefully.

A few moments passed and the guard reappeared.

"Her Grace will see you my Lord" he said, bowing his head as he stepped aside

As Tyrion moved down the corridor he heard the soft, distant cries of a baby. Instantly a knot of tension left him. At least the baby was alive. The idea the child may have died had lurked in the back of his mind as a dark possibility.

No sooner had he knocked on the dark wooden door and it opened to reveal his sister. She stared down at him with her usual look of disgust, but something else too. Something he couldn't quite place.

"I brought wine" he said waving the flagon, with a grin

Her expression darkened.

"Get in" she hissed, pulling him inside and slamming the door shut