𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐎𝐑𝐓𝐘-𝐒𝐈𝐗 | The New Faith

{ Joffrey }

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"𝕿he Iron Bank had called in one tenth of the Crown's debts," Joffrey sighed, leaning back in his chair and rubbing his forehead at Mace's words. Finances were not Joffrey's favourite part of being king, in fact they came close to the bottom of that particular list. But still, he had to sit through Small Council meetings and deal with the matter. "Given the expense of rebuilding the royal..."

"How much can the crown afford?" Joffrey asked, cutting the man off as he thought. He wished for this meeting to be over, wanting more than anything to be back by Lyra's side. Joffrey despised leaving her on her own, with only Elia to protect her, for he feared that his mother might try and kill her still.

"With winter coming, half what they ask. Less." 

"How do we pay them?" Joffrey asked, looking around at the assembled lords and his mother.

"Well, House Tyrell could front the gold, and the the Crown will pay us back in time, or I'll have words with my daughter." Joffrey shot the man a half-smile despite the anger he was feeling, knowing that Mace Tyrell was harmless. The rest of the council wasn't as amused.

"You've already given us too much," Cersei stood up and walked to look out of the window so that she wouldn't catch sight of Joffrey's enraged face as she told them of her plan. "No, we must arrange better terms with the Iron Bank."

"Absolutely," Mace agreed, looking between the two royals with curiosity.

"In person," There was a moment of pause as Mace took in her words, before looking up in surprise.

"Me?"

"We must send an envoy to the Iron Bank, someone of importance, to show these bankers our respect. As the King's Master of Coin, I can think of no one more qualified," Cersei continued, smiling at the older man, all the while avoiding her son's glare, as Joffrey's temper quickly flared.

"I will be honoured, Your Grace," Mace bowed his head in both Joffrey and Cersei's direction, picking his things up as he hurried to the door.

"Please, Lord Tyrell," Joffrey's voice was deadly calm, but he held his mother's glare with anger. "As you are doing this great favour for me, I wish for you to take one of my Kings Guard with you. Ser Meryn should be available."

If Cersei wanted to try and annoy him by sabotaging his plans, Joffrey would react in the same way. Ser Meryn was Cersei's personal guard, and she looked panicked at the thought of being without him.

"Thank you, Your Grace. I'll give your regards to the Titan of Braavos," Mace bowed, before walking out of the room with Ser Meryn. Joffrey quickly dismissed the rest of the Small Council, before turning on his mother.

"What was that?"

"What was what?"

"How dare you meddle in my business and my affairs?" Joffrey glared. 

"I was just trying to help, Joff,"

"Stop it," Joffrey spun around, towering over his mother and glaring down at her. "You can't call me that. Only my wife can call me that."

"Joffr..."

"Don't insert yourself into things that don't concern you again, or I will have you removed," Joffrey sent her another glare, before storming from the room, undoing the top two buttons of his jacket as he walked.

It took him a few minutes before he reached the royal chambers, brushing past his guards until he reached his bed room, where Lyra was reading in their bed. She looked up as he entered, reaching for him as she caught sight of his annoyed face.

"Joff?" He huffed, kneeling by her side as she watched him. "Everything alright?"

"Just my mother being her usual horrific self," Joffrey shot her a small smile, brushing her hair from her face as she kissed his hand. "How are you feeling?"

"Much better," Lyra grinned, before moving Joffrey's hand until it landed on her stomach so that he could feel the babe moving around inside of her. "The Little Lion is doing well."

She pushed herself up, swinging her legs over the bed as she smiled at Joffrey. He cocked an eyebrow, before pulling her to her feet and into his arms, rocking them slightly.

"Soon, Joff," Lyra ran her hand through his hair. "I'll be back by your side and we can handle things together again. Soon."

"I can't wait," Joffrey muttered, before pulling away to press a kiss to her lips, savouring the feeling. "I need you by my side again."

✧✦✧

Lyra had gone back to sleep soon after, her energy drained from being pregnant, and Joffrey was left to finish up his final bits of work, scouring through pages of notes that he and Lyra had made over the years. A quiet knock on the door distracted him, and Joffrey hummed, waiting for them to come in.

"Your Grace," Rolan bowed his head. "There's been some trouble. The Faith Militant has been resurrected by order of the High Sparrow and another benefactor."

"What?" Joffrey looked up from his work, eyebrow cocking in surprise. 

"Loras Tyrell has been arrested and Margaery Baratheon is here to see you."

"Send her in," Joffrey nodded, as Rolan walked out and allowed Margaery to storm into the room. She glared at him. 

"Why is my brother in a cell?" Joffrey stood up, running a tired hand through his hair as he raised his hands to placate her.

"I did not know until this moment and I swear to you that I did not order this," Margaery raised an eyebrow. "Do you think that I would really risk Lyra's wrath if she found out that I had angered you and imprisoned your brother?"

"No, of course not," Margaery sighed. "But there's an anonymous benefactor who was working with the High Sparrow and that doesn't look good for you."

"I already have an idea of who the anonymous benefactor is and I will deal with this," Joffrey reminded her. "Go back to Tommen, I shall deal with this."

"Are you sure?"

"I am sure. Go," Margery nodded, before reluctantly walking away as Joffrey sighed.

"Joff?" He looked up, seeing Lyra hovering in the doorway, looking tired. "What was Margaery here for?"

"Don't worry, My Love," He pressed a kiss to her head, before ushering her back to bed. "I'll deal with it and tell you about it tomorrow, alright?"

"Yes, but if it's urgen...?"

"I can't deal with it in the middle of the night so I'll sort it out tomorrow," Joffrey smiled, getting changed into his clothes for sleeping and sliding into bed next to her. Elia snored at the end of the bed, as Joffrey wrapped his arms around Lyra and pressed another kiss to her head. "I'll deal with it, I promise."

"I know you will, Joff," Lyra looked back at him, pressing a light kiss to his jaw. "But please do not cause yourself any harm."

Hiya, 

Thanks for almost 20k, that's legit so cool. I'm kind of waiting for Joffrey to finally snap at Cersei, which will be so much fun. There will be more of Lyra in the next chapter, she's been kind of absent from the past few.

Let me know what you think,

Love Li xx