-x-x-x- Chapter 12 -x-x-x-

The funeral had been properly solemn and the feasting afterwords respectful, and now Robert was off with a hunting party and glad for it as Cersei had informed him that it was her time of the month. I figured that Ser Barristan would make sure nothing untoward happened to him, especially with the thousand men I had ordered into the woods in advance of him to make sure things remained safe.

Now I was in my Solar with my small council; Tyrion, Cersei, Kevan, Gerion, and Genna.

"I've gathered the five of you here because you are the five people I trust most in the world and because while I have plans to bring our House to even greater heights, I will need your willing help to make them a reality. We can all dispense with the formalities of 'my lords' and the like, we are family after all, and I expect each of you to speak up if you have a question, notice a flaw, don't understand something, or even just think I am being a fucking idiot. Understood?" I said to start things off, looking at each one in turn until I had received a nod.

"Good, before we move onto other things, I want you, Gerion, to gather five thousand men and ride for Clegane Hall as soon as the King's party departs. I will require Gregor to come to the Rock to formerly swear fealty so he will be away. You will kill everyone of his men, make sure his papers are destroyed, and that his Maester suffers a tragic accident. I'll call Lorch to the Rock at the same time, make sure the rumor reaches both men that I have a quiet job for them; much like what my father used them for. In truth I plan on taking both their heads and sending them to the Martell's with a missive that I consider the matter settled and a force of bard's instructed to play the Rain's of Castamere in every tavern in Sun Spear at sunset that day.

"Questions? Comments?" I coldly explained.

"I don't think Robert will be happy." said Kevan, his tone deceptively mild.

"I don't much care, he lost my respect when he spit on their corpses. They are my bannermen and both are guilty of capital offenses a dozen times over, at least." I answered firmly, ignoring the politics of it all, - I had liked Rhaenys and Aegon and thought Elia a pleasant women, none of them had deserved their fates.

"What about Sandor?" questioned Genna.

"He will become the Head of House Clegane and inherit the keep. Taking his brothers head will earn me his undying loyalty, especially if I offer to let him swing the blade.", I said before pausing for a moment as I thought about what I could do with the 13 year old that I knew had the potential to be a great fighter, "I think I'll foster him here at the Rock until he is of age, given his brother's skill the boy likely has a great deal of potential."

Glancing around the table in turn I said "Any objections?"

Genna spoke up first "It will cool things down with Dorne at least.", earning nod's of agreement from Tyrion and Gerion.

Cersei gave an indifferent shrug, clearly not caring what I did with the Clegane's either way.

Kevan thought about it for a moment before sighing "I think that you are making a mistake. Gregor is a monster but he is loyal and having a loyal monster is a very useful tool upon occasion. That being said, you are now Lord Lannister and it's your decision."

I gave him a nod before switching topics, "Kevan, who do you want as Commander of the Gold Cloaks?"

He thought about it for a moment before saying "Well if you'll let me have him, I would take Ser Blanc."

Cersei blinked "The Sarsfield bastard who saved fathers life in the War of the Nine Penny King's?"

Tyrion gave a nod and began to speak before Kevan could say anything "Yes, and besides having him squired, knighted, and created as a Knightly House, father named him to command the city guard in Lannisport almost five years ago."

Cersei gave our brother a slight glare, 'I really do need to work on getting her to at least not hate him, indifference would be fine. ha, that would be a miracle.', but chose to say nothing.

Before the silence could get awkward, Kevan broke it by saying "Aye, and he's reduced crime in the city by nearly a fifth. He's got no loyalties or connections to anyone but our house, has proven himself a solid and competent vassal, and has the skill for the job. So can I have him?"

I gave a nod, "Of course, although I want you to put together a list of possible replacements though. You know the pool of potential candidates much better than I."

"As you wish, Jaime. Now how many other men can I have to go along with Ser Blanc?" Kevan said.

I smiled broadly "None,", pausing just long enough for him to process the word and build up a little fury, " but a full two thousand of the twenty year men are going to retire to King's Landing with nice pensions and if they should happen to get a little bored of being simple civilians and apply to the City Watch then that is a matter entirely outside my control.", my tone changing from whimsical to deadly serious I continued "Fill the other thousand free slots with five hundred men from the Storm Land's and five hundred from the North, talk with Stannis to see who he recommends for the Stormlander's and select them all unless they are clearly unsuitable."

Tyrion said "Why the Northmen?"

Before I said anything, Gerion answered him "Because Ned Stark is a brother in all but blood to Robert and won't even think of moving against him. Given their size and the skill of the North's bannermen, having them tied closer to the throne Cersei's son will someday sit is nothing but a good thing. If Ned has a daughter then she will almost certainly become our next Queen, best to start establishing ties now and integrating them."

I gave a nod, "Pretty much what I was thinking. But returning to King's Landing, I do want to carry out the plan we discussed with father, Kevan", looking at the others I said "I want to level Flea Bottom and completely replace the capital's sewer system. My current thought is that this will be a gift from House Lannister to the throne in honor of the heirs birth."

Genna chuckled at that "You might be the Lord of Casterly Rock Jaime but even you aren't the Mother and can't command a birth on schedule."

"Watch me." I said to her before turning to Cersei "Your moon's blood should be done in three days if you are as regular as usual, from then on I want Robert - and only Robert - depositing his seed in your cunt every night until you are with child.", locking my eyes on hers and not backing down even as I saw the fire burning in them.

It was a long tense minute of silence, maintained by my raising a hand to stop the others from speaking, without me looking away from her eyes but eventually she broke eye contact and bowed her head as she sighed and said "Understood brother. Remember our bargain though."

I gave her my own nod of agreement "Aye, a Lannister Always Pays His Debts and whatever else, I am a Lannister."

Looking at the rest and continuing as if I hadn't just flatly ordered my sister to sleep with a man like a whore I said "What I want to do is tear down the Dragon Pit and rebuild it as a permanent arena and tourney ground with apartments built into its walls and seating for at least a hundred thousand. We will gift apartments to each of the Lord's Paramount and rent the rest for truly prodigious sums, I want social status in the capital to require that you have an apartment in our Lion's Den and built into the place will be lounges, bars, and even a high class brothel.

"Tyrion, I've already mentioned this to Kevan but I want you to become the whoremaster of King's Landing and control every brothel in the capital. Keep back the best girls, at least after the Red Keep slots are filled, for the Den."

Once he had nodded I continued "We will get back to that later, but to continue with King's Landing. I want Flea Bottom rebuilt for the middle end merchant and artisan market, my plan is to get Robert to give us title to all the land there along with the Dragon's Pit in exchange for our rebuilding the city. In that vein, I want our miners to rip up all the roads to lay a proper sewer and water transport system and then go block by block and systematically tear down whatever buildings are there, fill in any underground passages, and rebuild the buildings properly. We will, of course, provide high quality temporary housing for whomever is facing renovation at that time."

Gerion said "This will be expensive, and take years even with us pushing as fast as possible. What's the point?"

"The place is a shithole not fit for the dogs, much less a Lion's throne. I also think we can make it profitable over time, but even without that it will give us an opportunity to fill in all of the secret passages that pollute the foundations of that city and replace them with a network of our own creation." I answered, earning nods of agreement from everyone even if I doubted any but Cersei actually thought the project a good idea.

"What about the inevitable riots? You know that the smallfolk of Flea Bottom won't stand for all this." Genna asked.

"I plan sending Cersei back to the capital with two thousand Red Cloaks, and encouraging Robert to bring another three thousand Stormlander's into the city. The Gold Cloaks will police the city while the soldiers will man the walls of the city and Red Keep, that should give us eight thousand men on hand to quell any riots that begin to form. In addition, I'll be offering three square meals a day to every man or women who is willing to be a ditch digger for five years, and a Golden Dragon at the end of their service. I also want Kevan to create a form of parole for minor crimes, like being caught rioting, where any lord can take responsibility for the individual in exchange for paying the crown a silver piece." I said, causing Tyrion to say "What do you need that many ditch diggers for? Making a river?".

He meant the second bit sarcastically but I smiled, gave a dopey little nod, and said "Pretty much. I want to dig a ditch from the coast of the Ironman's Bay at Seagard to the Green Fork of the Trident. It's only fifty or so miles, and over relatively flat terrain at least according to what maps we have, and making that connection will cut the time - and expense - it takes us to ship goods to and from the East Coast and Essos by at least half. I figure a hundred thousand men and women digging it could have the job done in a year or two."

"Oookkk." said Gerion, the others stunned silent at the audacious idea, "What's next? Completing the Children of the Forests work with the Hammer of the Waters and connecting the Fever to the Bite?"

Kevan piped up then "Yes, except that one he wants big enough to take even the largest trading ships."

Genna held up a hand "Ok, Ok, putting aside Jaime's ambitious ideas. How would you get the Tully's and Stark's to agree? Because you would have to have their consent for those two projects."

"For Hoster, I figure the knowledge that it will royally offend your husbands family will be enough. At least when combined with the fact that we will be footing the entire bill and all it will cost him is immunity to any taxes or tolls that he or his bannermen might see fit to levy on the route for Lannister flagged barges. Well that and some land on the Cape of Eagles to build a fort to keep an eye on the Iron Born. That's actually decent, if currently unused, farm land according the the map and we could always use more of that. Ideally I want him to cede the land to us but if necessary I will accept it being a new fief sworn directly to Riverrun with a Westlander of my choice as its lord. We have to have a relative of worth who could fill the slot." I explained.

Genna, by far the best informed of all of us on the Riverlands, thought it through for a while before shrugging "He could probably be convinced, especially with Cersei as Queen. Hoster Tully is a man who loves connections to power and nothing ties him to either us or the Iron Throne, so a closer relationship would probably be something he wants. Yeah, it could be workable. And the North?"

I sighed, "That's a longer term project. Although one I absolutely consider critical to our future. With that canal completed we will be able to bypass the Reach, Dorne, and the Step Stones to reach Essos while also having a much more secure route for reaching King's Landing. The sailing time to Braavos would be almost halved, and traffic through Old Town will probably be cut by a quarter or so. It's a huge long term strategic advantage for us if that canal is built.

"Getting Stark to agree will probably be pretty easy, the massively increased trade will be great for the North's economy and we will be footing the entire bill. Not to mention that I have some other plans to make him more inclined to view me, and by extension our House, more favorably. My price from him will be the establishment of a fief on the North of the Saltspear between the two rivers there. It will be sworn to Winterfell but its lord will be one of my sons, and his bride will be a daughter of Ned's - with the proviso that it need not be his eldest. Considering that we will also fund the rebuilding of Moat Cailin and encourage him to name his second son its lord, he should agree."

Tyrion threw his hands up in the air and said "Fine, I've decided to just accept that you think you are Bran the Builder reborn. Now what are these ideas for getting Ned Stark to like you, Kingslayer."

"Well, I'm thinking of going North to visit the Wall and giving the Lord Commander a lot of gold to use hiring mercenaries from us. I figure we can station five thousand of our Red Cloaks there and keep them there for three year terms, replacing them with another five thousand once their term is up. Since they won't be members of the Nights Watch - just mercenaries they are hiring out of their own resources - those pesky vows won't be an issue and that will give them the men needed to at least pretend to secure the wall against the Wildlings. It will also let us keep our men bloodied and gain experience." I said evenly, not mentioning that I really wanted my army used to winter conditions for when the Long Night came.

I hesitated for a long moment and then added "I'm also thinking about converting to the Old Gods."

The room was so silent you could her a mouse fart with ease before Genna exploded "WHAT?"

"To be blunt, I care nothing for the Seven and consider the Septons to be a collection of heretical sinners more corrupt than a Flea Bottom bouncer. Right now we have quite a lot of power and a King who would lead an army to tear down the Heavens if someone could but provide him a map. Once Tyrion has the Sparrows up and running I figure we can start a rumor campaign that makes sure everyone is fully aware of all their dirty little secrets and corrupt dealings, and that we could engineer some suitable incident for me to use as a pretext - perhaps a condemnation of Tyrion's being a whoremaster. Aegon the Conquer's decree still guarantees freedom of worship to everyone so long as their acts of worship to not break the laws of the lord of their land, and Robert isn't going to rise against us to defend the Faith when the law is clearly on my side.

"That all is a matter for another day though, the real purpose of this meeting is to figure out how to trick Robert into granting House Lannister the license for our Bank. I want a monopoly over coining money and for the Crown to agree to enforce our contracts on all parties to them, in exchange we agree to loan the Crown money at an interest rate not to exceed two percent per annum with a minimum ten year maturity date. Oh yes, and the Bank is tax free.

"Trying to get this past Jon Arryn is a futile game but Robert is here now and Arryn is back in King's Landing, and once we have the King's signature and seal on the documents then we can probably keep the deal from being changed. Thoughts?" I said, trying to move on from the religion bombshell.

Tyrion clearly agreed with my goal and so said "Why do you want us to control coinage?"

"Because the current coins aren't particularly standardized. I want everyone to know that a Lannister coin is exactly what we have said it is and that we don't clip or adulterate our coins. In addition, it will let us save having to ship the gold to King's Landing every year come tax time. We could just make the coins and add them to the Throne's account ledger." I explained, deciding not to mention the propaganda and PR reasons.

"I've no doubt that we can convince Robert to agree, but the other lords will howl." said Kevan.

I gave a nod "That they probably will, at least until we actually have the bank up and running and they begin to see the benefits. With Robert's support we should also have the support of the Storm Land's and the North. Arryn will bitch up a storm until Robert runs through the treasury and it's time to start borrowing, and then when he realizes we are giving the throne massive loans at family rates he will bite his tongue. The Tyrells are so out of royal favor at the moment that they are unlikely to raise much of a fuss, especially when we approach them to make a deal for the food we will need to feed the ditch diggers. I've no clue what Tully will do though."

Genna shrugged and said "Whatever seems most advantageous for House Tully at that time."

We all chuckled and I said "Right, let's start in on the details."

The sun was setting when we finally finished, and in time it was just Cersei and I alone in the Solar. The door had barely finished closing on Gerion's ass before she was across the room and crashing her lips onto mine in a full blown french kiss.

When we broke apart several long moments later she slapped me on the chest and spat out "I don't appreciate you speaking to me like I'm some whore."

"What do you think you were when father bartered your womb for his grandson sitting upon the Iron Throne?" I shot back, causing her to flinch.

I sighed and pushed a hand through my hair "I don't like it much better than you do Cersei, but you know why we need you to produce a damn heir and you known damn well that if I didn't get you to commit then you would do everything you could to avoid giving him a child just out of spite."

She sighed and gave a slight, if unhappy, nod. "We're alone now and it's been far too long since we were joined." she said, a sultry smile on her face.

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