Fffc Bingo Card - Royal imbalance

[m_findlow]

Title: Royal imbalance
Fandom: Game of Thrones
Characters: Tyrion, Cersei
Author: m_findlow
Rating: M
Length: 500 words
Content notes: none
Author notes: Written for Bingo Card Prompt - Illegal at fffc
Summary: Even for royalty, things are not always equal and fair.

Cersei scowled at Tyrion as he entered the sitting room at the top of the royal tower, finding Cersei there alone with a flagon of wine as the warm sunshine streamed through the windows, bringing with it the salty scent off Blackwater Bay.

'What do you want?' she asked, more weary than vitriolic in her request.

'I came to see how you are,' Tyrion replied, slipping into the seat opposite her and helping himself to a cup of wine. He knew Cersei's pride was a fragile thing at the best of times, and not suited to insult or humiliation. 'I heard that our beloved King Joffrey received a dose of his own medicine this morning, however I do not believe he was suitably chastened by it.'

Cersei gripped his cup tighter. 'He got what he deserved for the things he said.'

'Quite so, I'm sure,' Tyrion agreed. 'However you must remember that it is against the law for any man or woman to strike the King. We've already seen once how quick Joffrey is to mete out justice of the beheading kind. I should not think he would reserve a kindness for his own blood, even his mother. In fact, I do believe he has taken it upon himself to inflict further punishment on the Stark girl for even the most minor infringement. Would that he should stay the hands of his personal guards from her face though. It is quite hard to hide bloody lips and blackened eyes at court.'

Cersei continued to stare out through the window. 'It is acceptable to forbid striking the King, but where is the law that says that striking the Queen is equally unlawful?'

Tyrion held his grimace as he sipped again, studying the placid face that belied so little emotion. 'How many times did Robert hit you?'

A tiny smile of mirth curled the edge of her lip. 'Far more than he would remember. A drunken Robert wants only two things, more wine and a woman to bed. If he is denied either of these then the outcome was much the same. Fortunately the Red Keep has plenty of both.'

'I am sorry for what he did to you,' Tyrion said, genuinely sympathetic to his sister's plight. 'Robert should have been kinder.'

'And what of Joffrey?' she asked. 'Why is he such a cruel boy? Robert did not teach him that. Robert never gave my children any mind.'  

Tyrion noted the way she said my children and not our children. He wasn't fool enough to discard the rumours of their lineage. 'They say that when a Targareyan is born, the gods flip a coin,' he replied. The line of dragons had been filled with mentally unstable heirs, as was wont generations of inbreeding. The gods frowned upon brothers and sisters having children, so it seemed. Joffrey was most surely of a kind. 'But,' he added, 'Tommen and Myrcella are dear sweet children. You have raised them as well as any mother could.'