The Provenance || Jon Snow | Game of Thrones

9.08

Qyburn returns to Cersei's side once the fires have taken hold of the city, unleashing unmatched levels of ash into the air as the screams of innocents resound from below—likely at the hands of the Dothraki and Unsullied. She'd seen the Northern retreat from further in the city, apparently against the orders of the Dragon Queen and following sporadic shiftings of fire and ice in what Cersei knows to be Gabrielle Baelish. And if that was not evidence enough, a winter storm instantly rolls in, blocking the streets in ash and snow. But from beyond the clouds, the haunting songs of the Mock Queen resound from the voices of children—like a terrible ballad as they fall and die under the swords of the horsemen and eunuchs.

"Your Grace, it isn't safe here any longer," Qyburn interrupts her perpetual thoughts with his repeated accusation.

But—falsely, she knows—Cersei repeats back to him what she was always told, "The Red Keep is the safest place in the city," even as a tear streams down her face and she sees the danger for herself.

"The Unsullied have breached the gates of the Red Keep. Maegor's Holdfast would be a better place to wait out the storm," the man voices. But, she pauses just a moment longer as another tear joins the first, and she takes in the last image of her kingdom—destroyed. But then—accepting this is it—she nods and turns on her heel as the sounds become dim at the hallway's entrance and she falls from the graces of her fake gods.

|||||||||||||||

Oberyn rushes through another corridor and in pursuit of the lingering blood stains, persisting in the mad dash to both escape the walls of this Keep—preferably alive—and enact his revenge on Cersei Lannister before Jaime can spirit them off. And truly, he is shocked by the man's ability to navigate this trek with such an injury, Drogon suddenly laying another blow on the Keep nearby, throwing Oberyn sideways into the wall and sending the ceiling nearly toppling over him. His right hip takes the blunt of the blow and he imagines he might have fractured it as he tries to step forward and flee the falling walls behind him, only to fall flat in response to the pang of pain pressed deep in his bones.

Cursing but lumbering forward as the skies rain from above, Oberyn limps through his dead sprint from the troublesome corridor and towards the throne room where he supposes the Queen will be—knowing her pride. Cersei Lannister will not fall in Maegor's Holdfast but on the throne itself, a final testament to her legacy. Oberyn scoffs at the legacy she presumes to possess, dashing around another corner and minding his hip as he is—yet again—thrown back...not because of the shifting of the building around him but because of the sight he sees.

Cradled in the arms of Jaime Lannister himself, Cersei lays lifeless, her eyes open to the blizzard above as the two cower under the open skies and upon the painted map of Westeros. And lodged in her chest is a dagger—a dragonglass dagger. Oberyn doubts the symbolism was intentional given the man's sobs into the echoing chaos of the storm above and people below. But he also thinks it's fitting—this unintended act—for it was the dragons that killed Cersei, not anyone else.

Oberyn is tempted to make his presence known by snidely remarking that at least Jaime did not stab her in the back...but as he stares at the heartbreak before him, he knows it unnecesarry. To lose a loved one to betrayal is perhaps the most painful of choices. So, Oberyn steps back from the scene to give the man a moment before making his presence known—at least owing Jaime that much.

But not a moment later, the room begins to shake madly as Drogon throws flames upon the castle nearby—the heat and fury being felt just a few corridors on. As the ceiling from behind Oberyn gives away, the man is thrown forward into action given the inherent danger of this location—if not for the (limited) stability then their visibility to the Dragon Queen. And while Oberyn did not intend to let the man live nonetheless save his life, perhaps the goodness of his soul takes him in that moment—grabbing Jaime Lannister from the ground and pulling him away from the Queen's body as the walls tumble around them. The man's blood seeps into his tunic and the Kingslayer resists the man's intentions at the collapsing of his lung and loss of his sister, but Oberyn will not let the man flee as he lumbers onward towards the only exit he can remember, deeper into the castle but hopefully into the arms of the Northern army—not the Dragon Queen.