-Chapter 58-
Everyone widened their eyes because I was making this decision alone, without consulting anyone else, but I had made up my mind, and if necessary, I would make sure Tommen drafted a written order.
"Big brother, you…"
"Be quiet and follow me, Sansa too," I said as I walked away, leaving the Tyrells to themselves.
I caught a glimpse of Cersei throwing a mocking look at Margaery Tyrell.
I rolled my eyes, thinking: 'She has to accept the fact that her son will soon be married, even if it's to this opportunist.'
Once we were far enough away, I stopped abruptly and said, "Sansa, since my arrival, I have sympathized with your pain and that of your family. That's why I've given you so much leeway. You will not marry a Martell, a Tyrell, or even a damn Frey; you are betrothed to my brother, who will treat you like the perfect gentleman he is. Am I clear?"
She nodded like a woodpecker, and I gestured for her to leave, which she quickly did without hesitation.
"Alynne, I think I've been patient enough with you, so I'll only say this once: Cersei is the Lady of Griffin Roost and Storm's End, she's the queen regent, and if you don't respect her for all those reasons, respect her because I am married to her and she has given me two beautiful children."
"I apologize," she said, averting her eyes, without the slightest hint of remorse, which worsened my mood.
"No, that… that doesn't mean anything, it's bullshit and you don't mean it. Don't think I don't know that you were offered Willas Tyrell's hand in marriage. I know you want to become the Lady of Highgarden, but listen to my words because I'll only say this once: it will never happen. The Tyrells are too greedy and ambitious for me to give them your hand, especially the old rose and the young whore," I said in a cold tone.
"As if you weren't," she retorted with a huff.
I raised my eyebrows, surprised by her attack, and I said, looking at her meaningfully:
"I am, and you know I would kill anyone standing in my way, right?"
"You're threatening me?" she said in an incredulous, shocked, and offended tone.
"I have always followed three principles: love, respect, and fear," I said, narrowing my eyes.
"If someone doesn't love you, doesn't respect you, and isn't afraid of you," she said, her eyes filling with tears.
"Then that person is already dead," I said, without looking away from Alynne's tear-filled eyes.
"All this for that wh…" she was about to say the word "whore," but I raised my eyebrows, and she fell silent, fuming before screaming: "I hate you!!!"
I sighed and took her in my arms, saying:
"I have received many marriage proposals for you, which I systematically reject because I want you to marry the best possible match. Beyond wealth and power, can Willas Tyrell produce an heir? Will he live long? Because without an heir, you will be nothing more than an old widow incapable of remarrying. Olenna is powerful because she rules through her son, but if she didn't have a son, she would be nothing more than a widow sent back to be a burden on House Redwyne."
"I don't want to marry an old rich lord who will treat me like cattle," she said, her head still buried against my chest.
"And you think my marriage was any different?" I said, shrugging.
"At Storm's End, Cersei and I, although we slept together, hated each other more than we loved each other. I didn't even want to be married to her, but to her daughter, and only to have a legitimate claim on the Stormlands and the Iron Throne if, by misfortune, Joffrey and Tommen were to disappear. But the pregnancy changed everything; I accepted that I would never become king and that I would have to settle for the title of Lord Protector."
She looked me straight in the eyes, and I wiped away her tears, saying: "I said some very harsh things to you, and I didn't mean a word of it, but what you just did is a betrayal of your family, your house, and especially of me, who has always supported you in everything. I'm not asking much from you, just to accept her as a member of the family and not to align yourself with outsiders just to get back at her, because in the end, it's me you're exposing to the swords of our enemies by doing that, okay?"
She nodded and rested her head against my chest. I stroked her hair for a few seconds, and then she left.
"Not bad, your little speech. I almost believed it if you hadn't warned me about your little plan for the day," Cersei said once Alynne was farther away.
"It was sincere; everything I said was true, even though I provoked this argument. With Balon dead and Euron king of the Iron Islands, the Ironborn will change targets. They won't attack the North anymore, nor the Westerlands, whose security has been reinforced, but rather the Reach, ripe for the picking. By sending almost all of them back, I'm giving the Reach a chance to defend itself, because I know Euron will do everything in his power to break them," I said seriously.
"They will realize our value now and will beg us to help them, but we won't be able to do anything because we'll be busy attacking the Riverlands," Cersei said.
I smiled because everything was going according to plan, and I really loved the feeling of seeing everyone dance in the palm of my hand to the tune I decided to play.
'The feeling of being a god walking among mortals,' I thought.