Cleopatra ───── J. Baratheon

LII

𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐘-𝐓𝐖𝐎 | Atonement

{ Lyra }

✧✦✧

"𝖄our Grace," Lyra looked up at the call of her title, turning around to face whoever needed her. Qyburn was walking towards her, his hands clasped behind his back, and Lyra pulled Mikael closer to her chest, thankful that Elia was by her side once more. "I was wondering whether or not I would be able to walk with you for a moment."

"Of course," Lyra smiled, knowing that it was her job as queen to listen to everyone and anyone as best she could. Unfortunately, Qyburn fell into that category.

"I was unsure of whether you were aware of the fact that the High Sparrow and the Queen Mother have come to an agreement about the penance she has to complete," Qyburn began, smiling at Mikael, who burrowed his head further into his mother's arms. 

"I was not aware,"

"Well, the High Sparrow has deemed that your mother-by-law should complete a walk of atonement this afternoon."

Despite her mother having been a member of the Faith of the Seven, Lyra had only truly studied it to the basic level for she worshipped the Old Gods. The talk of walks of atonement and penance were something that she knew little about and that worried her. If she didn't know about it, then the chances that it was something that could go wrong were significantly higher.

"What is a walk of atonement?" She didn't truly wish for Qyburn to see her as idiotic for not knowing something about the Faith, but she needed to know what this was.

"A walk of atonement is used for someone to complete their penance," Qyburn began to explain. "It involves walking through the city, cutting your hair off, and accepting that you have done something wrong."

Qyburn's eyes flashed, and Lyra wondered whether that would have been something that the High Sparrow would have made her do if he had arrested her. She knew that he wanted her to convert Faiths, repent that she had been a follower of the Old Gods and publicly apologize. She also knew that he would have been ready to arrest her at the same time as he arrested Margaery, Loras and Cersei if it wasn't for the fact that she had only just given birth.

Drew rounded the corner, hurrying towards Lyra and bowing his head in the process.

"Your Grace, His Grace is looking for you," 

"Thank you, Drew," Lyra nodded, before turning to Qyburn. "Thank you for this informational talk, Qyburn."

"I hope to see you at the gates of the Red Keep this afternoon, Your Grace, with your husband," Qyburn smiled at her, but there was no kindness under it. "After all, it will look good to see a show of strength from the royal family."

"Thank you for your advice," Lyra nodded again, before turning after Drew and hushing Mikael in her arms. Her son had started to whimper as the conversation came to a close, and Elia was getting worried. "Good boy. You're okay, Mikael, Mama's got you. Where's Joffrey?"

"In his solar. What did Qyburn want?"

"To be meddlesome and annoy me," Lyra sent the young teenager a weak smile. "Do not worry, Drew, I'm alright."

"The other squires talk," Drew mumbled, looking around as he stood closer. "They talk about Qyburn and the horrible experiments that he does at Cersei's request. Will he try and do that to you?"

"No. Qyburn is not stupid. He has a good preservation instinct," Lyra smiled again. "If something happened to me because of Qyburn, Joffrey would kill him and burn his place of work to the ground. There isn't anything to worry about with Joffrey around."

Drew looked relieved, and Lyra smiled, before ascending the stairs and entering Joffrey's solar. Her husband was sat behind the desk, reading through papers, before he turned and raised an eyebrow at her.

"I was wondering where you had wandered off to,"

"Qyburn found me," Lyra pressed a kiss to his lips, before settling down in the chair opposite him. "He told me that your mother is set to complete a walk of atonement this afternoon. Told me that we should be there or we wouldn't present a united front."

"Let her suffer. It's the least she deserves," Joffrey murmured, placing the pages into one of the drawers as he heard Lyra laugh. "I am not wrong."

"No you are not," Mikael clutched onto Lyra's fingers as she slowly rocked her son to sleep. "But, are we going to be at the gates or not? I thought it would be best to talk to you as she is your mother and not mine."

"Do you think we should be?"

"Do you think we should show solidarity against the Faith or not?" Lyra shrugged. "It's up to you more than anything else."

"I suppose we should show the High Sparrow that he can't intimidate us," Joffrey murmured. "But if my witch of a mother comes anywhere near either of us, I will stab her. I still don't like how she spoke to you, or how she got the High Sparrow into a position of power."

"I completely support that."

✧✦✧

Lyra and Joffrey stood with the other members of the Small Council, and the now healed Mountain, next to the gates of the Red Keep. Already, the sounds of people shouting abuse at Cersei were drifting over the walls and reaching their ears. Lyra linked her arm with her husband, squeezing his arm gently.

They waited for another few moments, before the gates were pulled open to reveal a crying Cersei. Lyra and Joffrey both looked past her, back up the street as Qyburn hurried forward to wrap a blanket around the older woman,

"Close the gates," Joffrey called, and Cersei looked up at the sound of her eldest son's voice. She started to smile, before seeing Lyra's cold glare and Joffrey's disinterested face, her smile failing. "Do we have to be here any longer?"

"No," Lyra murmured, both of them turning around towards the Red Keep. "Something like this can't happen again. Imagine if something like that happened to Margaery or Loras."

"I know. We need to deal with this quickly,"

"Have you spoken to Tommen?" Joffrey cocked an eyebrow. "We need to make sure everyone's on the same side with this otherwise I have this fear that it's going to go wrong."

"I'll have a talk with him," Joffrey murmured, waving for the main doors to be open. "Let us just hope that the High Sparrow has nothing else planned for the other royals."

Hiya,

So, Lyra and Joff are just done with Cersei and very non-sympathetic. Also there's only one chapter of this part of the book left, so I'm excited for that.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx