The Golden Stag

ARC 1: Oueens

CERSEI  ......(The day before the tourney.)

She had taken the courage to invite him, prepared everything perfectly, and planned well, Robert was out on a hunt, having taken half the Kingsguard and Joffrey with him. Jamie to her relief was dragged by Joffrey.

She waited for him, giddy inside, the tiara he had bought her rested on a cushion by her mirror. She had worn it and taken off and worn it again just to admire how the diamonds glittered in the sun. Surely, she promised herself, he must want her.

When the knock came to her door, she was swift to open it and smiled as she looked at the man. He was different in ways she could not quite understand.

"Ser Fox, please come in." She stepped back.

He was holding a black wooden box of sorts, she noticed a soft smile on his lips, serene as if the world was mundane in his gaze. He nodded, "Your Grace." Then he stepped in.

Cersei wondered if he knew her intentions, she was not too subtle about it, she had invited him alone to her chambers, which should mean something.

"I do see some of the touches of Joffrey and Lady Myrcella in the decor." He said as he eyed a portrait of hers Myrcella had painted.

"Would you like some wine to drink? I am sure you had your fill of whiskey and beer, I took out our best wine, aged for decades before Robert even took the throne." She looked at him.

"Contrary to what most would think, I am not much of a drinker, occasionally yes, but not much, it is a vice I seldom resort to." He turned around and presented her with the box. "I wanted to give you this, a new product that I have been developing, yet to come out in the market but I wanted you to be the first to try." He nodded.

She took it placed it on the table and muttered a small thank you.
She gestured to the wine.

"As for the wine, I shall politely decline, your grace, I drink only to forget her, when her memories are too much to bear and I don't think I should mean to forget her memory now." He sat at the chair by the table where she had placed the box down and looked at her.

She frowned and sucked a breath, placing the bottle down with only a glass full. She took a sip and then looked at the box.

"You brought me another gift, ser, yet I hear distance in your words."

"I must." He said. "You are the queen and I am a servant, the must be a distance, there are some things you are meant to keep at a distance."

She bit her lip and opened the box. On a red velvet cushion sat a glass bottle, a thin copper cap on it, the liquid inside looked pale like water. She picked it up. "Is this a new liquor?" She asked confused.

"Oh no, that is what I call perfume." He explained. "Like a scent pouch but refined. That one is white lilies."

Cercei raised an eyebrow. She unscrewed the copper and looked at the tiny hole in the glass seal of the bottle. The scent of white lilies, though she had not had any particular interest in that flower was beautiful. She looked at him unaware of what to do and he smiled.

He stood up took the glass from her hand and held her wrist, pressing the mouth of the glass against her wrist he inverted the glass and then tilted it back straight leaving but a small trace of liquid on her wrist.
"You do the same for the other wrist." He nodded and stepped back.

Cersei did so and she was certainly amazed at this product.

She closed the container with the cap and looked at him.

"You understand my intentions, I think." She said as she chewed her cheek. It boiled deep within her, she hated it, Raeghar did it, Robert too, and now he, why did men seem so eager to deny her? "This gift seems to mean a rejection though I do not understand the meaning."