KINGDOM FALL
— 31. A Mother's Love

   After the trial by combat, Annalys rushed to her room with Podrick following soon after her, unlike the rest of their usual group of four that included Lady Jeyne and Bronn.

   He immediately helped Annalys out of her armor, leaving her in a loose shirt and trousers, but it made it extremely visible that she was pregnant. On her table laid numerous plates of food, leading to Annalys rushing over to it. She felt starving, which led to her stuffing her face with foods. She hadn't eaten the entire day, refusing to let herself get sick during the trial by combat.

Just then, Cersei walked into Annalys' room, looking furious after witnessing what Annalys had done during the trial by combat. Annalys turned to her mother, a fake smile on her face, "Mother--" She began to greet Cersei, only to be cut off by her mother roughly slapping her across the face.

   Annalys gasped in pain, her face whipping to the side as her body reacted to the hard slap. She slowly turned her head to look her mother in the eye once more, a hint of shame in her eyes.

  Podrick, who had been pouring Annalys a glass of water, immediately stopped what he was doing as Cersei slapped Annalys, but didn't say a word.

Annalys couldn't believe it. Her mother had slapped her. She couldn't say she didn't deserve it, but it was the fact that Cersei had actually slapped her.

  By the force of the slap, Annalys knew her mother had been dying to do it for quite at while. She was angry with Annalys, she knew that much.

Annalys was taken aback by it, however. Cersei had never raised a hand to her. She recalled Cersei slapping Joffrey in the face once or twice, when he got too nasty with her, but Annalys had never met the same fate. She really couldn't believe it.

"Are you mad?" Cersei asked through her gritted teeth, angrily glaring at her eldest daughter, "You could've gotten yourself killed!"

    Annalys slowly lifted her head, removing her hand from clutching her cheek as she recovered from the slap, "People ask me that question a lot lately," She sarcastically responded, clearly wanting to avoid the subject of her recklessness, it was a argument that Cersei would most definitely win in, "I'm starting to think so."

"This isn't a joke, Annalys!" Cersei shouted at her daughter, who immediately knew by her tone of voice that something was wrong, "Your grandfather allowed you back here and now he's hoping to send you to Casterly Rock earlier than planned. He wants you to rule in his stead until he dies and then continue to do so even after."

Hearing Cersei's revelation, Annalys' eyes widened in alarm. She knew for a fact she couldn't be there when Robb laid siege to Casterly Rock. She needed to be in King's Landing, to protect her family.

Genuine tears beginning to form in her eyes, Annalys took a step toward her mother, "Please don't let him send me there, Mother," She pleaded, looking almost fearful, "Please, I beg of you."

Cersei found herself frowning at Annalys' begging. She wasn't the type to beg. She rarely ever did so. She always threatened or demanded, she never stooped as low as to beg for something.

  Cersei slowly looked down, her eyes widening slightly as she finally noticed something she hadn't before. Annalys' growing belly. She couldn't believe she hadn't noticed it before.

Cersei slowly turned her head, glaring at Podrick, "Leave us," She ordered in a stern tone.

Instead of obeying the Queen Mother, Podrick turned to Annalys, waiting for her to give the order. Annalys sighed in defeat, nodding her head as a way to tell him it was okay for him to Annalys. Podrick politely bowed to the duo, just before he exited the room.

Once he was gone, Cersei turned to Annalys, an unreadable expression on her face, "When were you going to tell me?" She questioned Annalys, who decided to play dumb.

"Tell you what?" Annalys replied, placing a confused look on her face.

"That you're pregnant." Cersei stated, yet Annalys still remained calm

"Pregnant?" Annalys loudly scoffed, acting as though she didn't know what her mother was talking about, "I'm not pregnant. I think I would know."

"And you do," Cersei retorted, much to Annalys' dismay, "It's why you started to dress like me as of late. Long dresses with sleeves that touch the ground and can be used to cover your stomach. You stopped drinking wine so frequently and you eat that stupid pie constantly. How long have you known?"

Annalys tensed up. She remained silent for a moment before giving in. She walked over to the foot of her bed. Cersei soon followed, taking a seat next to her, "How long have you know, Annalys?" Cersei asked her daughter a second time, her voice desperate.

"Since before the Red Wedding," Annalys confessed quietly, her voice a mere whisper as she stared down at the ground.

"How far along are you?" Cersei found herself asking, not recalling how long ago the Red Wedding had been.

"Six or seven months." Annalys informed her mother, who sighed in defeat as the revelation.

Frustrated, Cersei leaned her elbows against her thighs, placing her face in her hands for a moment, "If you told me earlier, I could've had you married to Ser Loras by now. You could have made him think the child was his." She suddenly told Annalys, who gave Cersei a look of utter disbelief.

"Are you mad, Mother!" Annalys shouted at Cersei, scolding her, "I would never do that! I'm not like you."

"You are carrying a traitor's child, do you not understand the risk it puts on your life?" Cersei questioned Annalys with an attitude, clearly frustration.

"I will not marry another. If Grandfather thinks for a second that I'll actually marry Loras, then he isn't as smart as he thinks himself to be," Annalys sneered at her mother, her tone low and threatening, "I will kill Ser Loras if I have to."

Cersei frowned at Annalys' words, "You'd kill a man just to avoid marrying him?" She asked Annalys in confusion.

"Wouldn't be the first time," Annalys muttered under her breath, referring to the fact that she, Jaime, and her mother had killed her former betroths many times before in the past.

"Has this man done something to you in order to deserve such punishment?" Cersei asked Annalys in concern, knowing there had always been a valid reason for Annalys to murder her betroths in the past.

"He's a means to an end," Annalys bluntly admitted, shrugging her shoulders without a care in the world, "All the men in King's Landing are."

Cersei tried her best to avoid smiling at Annalys' comment. She sounded just like her. Cersei should have seen it as a bad thing, but it made her realize for the first time in Annalys' entire life that she wasn't all Jaime, she also had some of her mother in her as well. Oddly enough, it brought her a bit of joy.

"My father won't let your child live, you know," Cersei informed Annalys, breaking the moment of silence between them, "You were Queen in the North. Your husband is dead, but his child is growing inside you. We may have gained control of the North with the help of the Boltons, but your child is the North's true heir. The North will begin to rebel again to get you and your child back and your grandfather won't have that. He'll make some story up about you being a traitor and he'll have you executed before you have time to give birth to the child."

"Children," Annalys whispered softly, slowly looking up into Cersei's eyes, "I believe they're twins."

Cersei tried her hardest not to look shocked as she continued on, quickly changing the subject back to what they spoke of before, "But I think you came to King's Landing, knowing the risks. You're a smart girl, smarter than I was at your age," She paused, letting out a small sigh, "So tell me, how did you plan to keep your child while staying in King's Landing?"

"I was going to find a way to escape," Annalys lied to her mother in a way, knowing she couldn't say the whole truth, "Before it was time to give birth, I was going to escape to Essos. I have money stashed everywhere in this city. I've been saving up since I was a child. Not to mention, I have the money I won from the bet at my name day tourney."

"And what were you going to do in Essos?" Cersei asked curiously, feeling as though she was missing something.

"Raise my children, what else?" Annalys responded and Cersei found herself smiling for some reason.

"From what you say, you're due in about two or three months." Cersei continued on, speaking in a calm tone.

"I know," Annalys confessed, her voice just above a whisper.

"When you were due to be born, I labored nearly two days to bring you into this world. I've never felt anything that painful in my life," Cersei began to explain to Annalys, whose eyes widened at the revelation, "That was the first time Robert decided to go on a hunting trip while I was giving birth. He'd do that every time I was due. When I was birthing you, I screamed so loudly I was sure he'd hear me in the Kingswood. But whenever he'd return, he would present me with some pelts or a stag's head and I would present him with a baby."

"Ah, yes, a golden-haired one that wasn't even his," Annalys bluntly commented, earning a glare from Cersei, who caused her to give her mother an apologetic look, "Sorry. What about Jaime? Was he there?"

Cersei shook her head, but a small smile formed on her lips as she recalled Annalys' birth, which she felt to be the greatest day of her life, "When they told Jaime he wasn't allowed in the birthing room, he smiled and asked which one of them proposed to keep him out." She informed her and Annalys found herself smiling at the thought alongside her mother.

"Did he know?" Annalys asked curiously, "Did he know that I was his?"

"Yes," Cersei replied with a smile on her face as she nodded her head in confirmation, "I knew as well. I nearly died giving birth to you, but the second they handed me to you, I found myself refusing to die. I knew I couldn't leave you alone in this world. I ordered everyone to leave the room and Jaime soon came in. He knelt at my bedside and we both doted over you. You were our firstborn and we made a vow that day that we'd protect you no matter what it took. It didn't matter if you betrayed us or wronged us in any way, you were our daughter and we knew we'd always forgive you. We made a vow that the three of us were the only ones who truly mattered. Nothing else. Hang the rest of the world."

It became silent as they both smiled at the thought of the vow Annalys had been told about by her mother numerous times over the years.

  Of course, Cersei never quite added Jaime into when she spoke of it with Annalys, not wanting her to figure out the truth. Little did she now, Annalys already had, "You might have had the gift I never got of winning the king's heart, but he is gone now and all you have left is your children. I hope you've learned from your mistakes to never love again. It will only break you in the end. Now, I'd like to share some womanly wisdom that will help you in the near future."

"And what may that be?" Annalys sarcastically asked, already knowing what her mother was going to say.

  Cersei had told her at least a dozen times over the years, but it was clear Annalys never listened. If she did, it would have helped her quite a lot.

Cersei moved closer to Annalys as they sat at the foot of the bed. She grabbed onto her daughter's hands, holding them in her own. Annalys slowly tilted her head, looking upwards and into her mother's eyes, "The more people you love, the weaker you are. You're very powerful, Annalys. More than you may think. But loving people is your greatest weakness. People will threaten those you love to get you to do what they want. They will figure out that it's your only weakness and that you'd do anything for the people you love. You can't let them do that," She explained to Annalys, who finally decided to actually listen to the advice, "Show them that you care for no one and you'll be unstoppable. Love no one but your children. On that front, a mother has no choice. If you do this, you could be the most powerful person in the world, I promise you that."

Annalys stared at Cersei in confusion when she mentioned her children, "But you said that my children--" She began to tell her mother, who quickly cut her off.

"You'll give birth to your children. I'll make sure of it," Cersei admitted, a genuine look on her face as she affectionately stroked Annalys' cheek with the back of her hand, "But you mustn't tell anyone, my love."

"How?" Annalys found herself asking, a concerned look on her face, "How will this work?"

"I don't know," Cersei confessed after being silent for a long moment, "But I will make sure of it. We were born with the gift of being apart of the most powerful family in Westeros. We're Lannisters. Lions. We may do anything we put our mind to. Together, we can be unstoppable."

Looking up at her mother, Annalys gulped nervously. Tears began to fill her eyes, knowing what was yet to occur.

Soon enough, Annalys began to quietly cry and Cersei, who believed Annalys was crying about her children, immediately wrapped her arms around her.

Cersei tightly hugged Annalys, allowing the younger woman to cry in her mother's arm.

Annalys wanted to tell her mother what was yet to occur, but she knew she couldn't. And that pained her most of all.

___

    Days later, Annalys moped around the castle, all hope that was formerly inside of her now lost. She knew in most likely less than a month, Robb's forces would take Casterly Rock. She had no clue if she'd actually be able to protect her family when Robb and Stannis laid siege of King's Landing.

She had already convinced Olenna Tyrell to take her forces and flee the moment they heard about Casterly Rock being taken. Surprisingly, Olenna agreed, despite not knowing the whole story.

Annalys knew why, too. Olenna most likely thought if Casterly Rock was taken, House Lannister would soon be erased from existence. Annalys had a feeling Olenna thought it would mean her family would become the powerful family in Westeros. If only she knew the truth.

Even if all the Lannisters were murdered, if Annalys was still left breathing, House Lannister would always be the most powerful family in Westeros. 

Annalys was walking down the hallway when she heard Tywin and Cersei arguing. She stopped in front of the room they were arguing in, finding herself eavesdropping, "Do you think Annalys will be the first person dragged into a sept to be married against her will?" Tywin asked Cersei with an attitude, but it was clear her mother was not going to step down.

"When you marched into the throne room to tell me we'd won the Battle at Blackwater, do you remember?!" Cersei practically screamed at Tyrion and Annalys immediately could hear the way her mother's voice cracked, "I was sitting on the Iron Throne with Tommen. I was about to give him essence of nightshade, that's how far I was willing to go when I thought someone awful had come to take my son away. And here you are, trying to take my firstborn away."

Annalys' eyes widened at the revelation. Her mother was going to give Tommen nightshade?

"No," Tywin argued in a stern tone.

"Joffrey is dead. Myrcella's been sold like livestock. And now you want to ship my daughter, my firstborn, off to Casterly Rock?" Cersei asked her father in disbelief, "Annalys has already been through enough hell and now you want to marry her off to the Tyrell boy? I will burn our house to the ground before I let that happen!"

"And how will you do that?" Tywin questioned his daughter, clearly skeptical.

"I'll tell everyone the truth," Cersei responded and Annalys' eyes widened when she realized what her mother was talking about.

"And what truth would that be?" Tywin asked, not understanding what she meant.

"You don't know, do you?" Cersei asked before letting out a small humorless laugh, "You never believed it. How is that possible?" She repeated, only to begin to piece everything together on her own, "What am I saying, of course, it's possible. How can someone so consumed by the idea of his family have any conception of what his actual family was doing? We were right there in front of you and you didn't see us. One look in the past twenty years, one real look and you would've known."

"Known what?" Tywin asked and Annalys could almost picture the frown on his face at that moment.

"Everything they say is true. About Jaime and me," Cersei informed her father, who was quick to argue.

"No, no, no, no, no," Tywin argued, not wanting to believe what Cersei was saying.

"Your legacy is a lie." Cersei continued on, finding no shame in what her father was saying.

"I don't believe you." Tywin continued to argue with Cersei.

"Yes, you do," Cersei responded in a stern tone, "Why do you think Annalys is so close to Jaime?" She mentioned her daughter, causing Annalys to tense up, "You've always made comments about their strong bond, claiming it to be beyond inappropriate. The reason is because she knows. She knows Jaime is her father. She knew this entire time. How is it that she knew the secret by her sixth name day, yet you still haven't figured it out?" Cersei asked him before heading toward the door.

Before she could see Annalys, the blonde princess was quick to walk the other way, not wanting to be caught eavesdropping.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

We haven't had many scenes with Annalys and Cersei as we've had with Jaime and Annalys so I wrote a chapter with almost all the scenes about them and their relationship.

Tbh, that slap was totally deserved tho. Annalys NEEDED some sense snapped into her.

She's being so reckless and she's pregnant!