A fortnight past, Cersei was taken under a bridal cloak embroidered with
the Borgia bull and married to the man who would be king; today, they were
officially crowned, their coronation a beautiful ceremony followed by a cele-
bration that almost rivaled that of their wedding. No queen ever takes her hus-
band’s name, not even when he is a king by conquest and not by the laws of
succession, and to be frank, she doubts she would have wanted to anyway
( she has always, will always be a Lannister through and through ), yet she
considers it all the same. Cersei Borgia, she would have been if this were a
traditional marriage. Cersei and Cesare, two names so alike it has been said
they were meant to be together.
Could she love him? She has yet to decide. Her heart is already spoken
for ( and Jaime is close by, on Cesare’s Kingsguard, the twins as unendingly
addicted to one another as ever ), but in her husband she senses a kindred
spirit that perhaps, if not romantically, if not carnally, she could come to love
in a different way. They are both ambitious. Their ambitions differ in some
ways, but do indeed coexist. They could become friends. They could become
each other’s closest ally. They could become partners in life, navigating the
rule of the realm together.
And, in any case: he is her king, she is his queen. After the celebrations
have died down and they have retired together to their chambers, Cersei
pours two glasses of wine and raises her own with a smile. “Long may they
reign,” she says, echoing the words of those in the great hall earlier in the day,
watching the new monarchs take their crowns. Takes a sip, then settles back
comfortably against the armrest of the lounge on which she sits, hair undone
from its earlier updo and tumbling over her shoulders, body clad in a night-
dress of dark, lace-lined silk. “I must say, I do not believe I have ever seen
two faces prouder than those of my brother and your sister when we were na-
med protectors of the realm. Lucrezia must know you as well as Jaime does
me, must know that you will make as good a king as I a queen.”