Tyrion Lannister POV
"Drink Jamie, you look like you need it," quipped Tyrion, pouring a generous libation for his elder brother, who frankly looked like utter shite, the pair of them were in his quarters in the Red Keep, Jamie was not on duty currently.
After the 'incident with Cersei Jamie had tried to comfort her, but Cersei had reacted. hysterically to him approaching her, cursing him in a most foul manner, and screeching that he had never come, never come despite screaming for him, or nonsense along those lines.
The fact that he knew his brother, knew that he had stood guard outside Cersei's door that night, meant that he could not credit the hysterical rants of his sister that Jamie had 'abandoned her.
He had heard the rumors of the Cersei's rape, each tale more fantastical than the last, until he had gotten fed up, clearly his sister was not herself, for gone was the utter cunt she had used to be and in its place was a terrified woman, scared of shadows, of sudden movement and noises
His sister's former regal poise and arrogance appeared to have completely deserted her, and in its place was only a nerve-jangling terror and hysterical, irrational fear.
She was at her worse at night and could ofttimes barely be persuaded to sleep at all, many was the time that milk of the poppy had to be administered forcefully to her to quell her hysterics as night fell.
He had even witnessed a rather strange and frankly terrifying incident himself, Cersei had been pacing the gardens of the Red Keep late one afternoon, surrounded by Lannister guards as she insisted upon. He had come upon her, and despite her cuntish nature he had saluted her and stayed a while to converse with her, well with Myreella and Tonmen actually, who were with their mother.
Cersei had mostly ignored him while he chatted with his charming niece, a sweet girl who shared all of her mother's beauty but thankfully none of her vices, and with Tommen, who seemed to have only a care for cats.
He had been distracted by a sudden hissed intake of breath from Cersei, he had looked up and her face had gone chalk white, a look of absolute terror plastered on her face, twisting her beauty into a terrible parody of its former loveliness.
He followed her gaze, his sister was seemingly terrified by some mists and fogs that were forming as evening began to set in.
"No, no please...." He heard his sister whimper, her voice cracking as she staggered to her feet, her face wild with sheer terror "No!" she pleaded, "No, not again, no, no! NO! I can't,
NO!" as her eyes suddenly rolled up in her head and she fainted straight away.
She had been whisked to her Chambers and Pycelle called, she had been woken by smelling salts and professed to have no memory of what had occurred, even mentioning her reaction to the fog produced nothing from Cersei
Not that this rape could have happened to a nicer person, but he wanted to get to the bottom of this, initially just for the sheer joy in knowing the details of how Cersei had been humbled, for he would at the very least like to shake the hand of the man who had done this. But as he had dug deeper more and more weird things had stared to be whispered by the servants he questioned, and the Grand Maester was seemingly equally verbose and tight lipped about what had happened, willing to discuss certain matters, but not others.
King Robert had apparently been on a monumental bender since Cersei's rape, going on for over a week now, though he had staggered into the yards two mornings ago and made at utter show of himself trying to wield his Warhammer. Yesterday morning the King had once again appeared, three sheets to the wind, and had tried a smaller Warhammer, which he could at least lift and throw about. Which he proceeded to do for about ten minutes, before he had staggered off huffing, winded and bright red of face
So Jamie was the only one left he could really talk to, and as Jamie had.... discovered Cersei with King Robert, he was determined to extract something of value from his brother, even if it would possibly hurt Jamie in the process.
"Tyrion, I, I don't want to talk about this...."
"I know, but father is on his way, you can either speak to me or to father about this, it is your choice"
"That, that is not fair Tyrion," replied Jaime, his voice weak and broken, much like how his brother looked he mused, something their father was sure to reprimand Jamie over no doubt.
"Maybe not, but you know it is the truth, father will be most insistent that he finds the truth of what happened to Cersei, and you know he has already commanded King Robert to hang thirty of the Red Keep guards, just as a first measure.
"Commanded, father commands King Robert?" Jamie let out a tiny laugh, which sounded more like a cough to him.
"Yes, Pycelle told me about the raven father sent, which King Robert has no doubt not yet read, Lord Stark has read father's missive and has chosen to ignore it."
"Father will not be pleased," came Jamie's reply.
"No, he will not, of that we can be absolutely certain. Father may burn all of Kings landing to the ground and kill all of its inhabitants just to kill the culprits of the attack on our sister. Or, you could tell me what happened Jamie, let me see if I can find something that others have overlooked?"
"You, you Tyrion?" asked Jamie, who sounded as if his wits were being dulled by all those nocturnal guard shifts that he was having to pull guarding Cersei.
"Yes me, I may be small, but I am smart!" he quipped back, taking a long swig of his wine, and gesturing with his cup that Jamie do the same.
Jamie did, taking a small sip, followed by a longer pull, finally he drank the entire cup of wine. Tyrion, never one to miss an opportunity, leaned forwards and immediately refilled Jamie's cup and then his own. He took another rather long draught of his wine, noticing that Jamie simply picked up his cup and poured the wine down his throat, not stopping until the cup was empty once again.
"She, she was naked Tyrion, covered in bruises, and, and hand marks, as if she had been mauled by great hands. I, I could see the imprints of hands all over her body, as if she had been gripped all over, bruised by the strength of who was grasping her. Cersei was sprawled atop het bed, her arms and legs akimbo, her face slack jawed, she was...she was covered, she was covered in seed, liquid and fresh, old, dried and flaking, it, it was, it was everywhere Tyrion, her bed was sodden in it, soaked... And her, and her...and between her legs...Oh Gods Tyrion! Both of, of her.... holes.. open and gaping, as if great bullocks or stallions had fucked her Tyrion, not men! And more seed pouring out of her, slopping over her red raw, bloody openings..."
At this Jamie hung his head in his hands and began sobbing, not that he could blame him, the description of the condition he and Robert had found Cersei in was terrifying enough, and he had not seen this with his own eyes. He was them glad he had not seen this sight and was only learning about it second hand.
"When, when we woke her, she screamed and screamed and screamed Tyrion, her voice hoarse and broken, about, about things that don't, that don't make any sense!" here Jamie shook his head and Tyrion poured him more wine, which he gulped down.
"What did she say Jamie, what did Cersei say?" he asked, his won voice falling into horror and dread
"She, started screaming about how she could not move, how it stopped her moving, how she could not get it off her, how strong it was...but mostly about its eyes...."
"Its eyes?" he asked, a sudden shiver running down his spine.
"Yes" Jamie whispered, "how they burned like two crimson coals in the man's face, and how they pinned her in place, how they controlled her, bid her do whatever the fiend commanded of her."
"I, I assume that Robert does not know this?"
"No, she was hysterical and making no sense when we found her, she, she has confided a little in me since....but mostly she just screams anytime she lays eye's on me, saying I failed her, that I failed to protect her, despite her calling for me over and over...."
"Robert, Robert has not been to see her" he asked, knowing the answer already, but still asking the question.
Jamie shook his head "No, no of course not,
"You, you said "man's face", did not Cersei mean men's faces, plural?""
"No Tyrion, on this she is insistent, she says it was a single man who, who did this to her."
He did not reply, could not, for if what Jamie said was true, and if what Cersei believed was also true, then they were dealing with something altogether more sinister and terrifying, something genuinely unknown.