Cersei I

None of them could see it, no one except her.

Oh, she had known that the master of ships was ambitious and petty. Ever since her husband had given him that useless rock to rule she had known he would likely be their enemy one day.

But everyone else, her oaf of a husband included thought he was some stalwart knight instead. Even her Jaime didn't believe the Baratheon capable of deceit, much less the sort to have royal ambitions. Indeed, he put up a front about "Duty" and such that even she couldn't quite deduce his plans.

It had only hit her what his true goal was when the rumors began to trickle in from Dragonstone that the son of Stannis was a genius.

No, the Baratheon was far too clever to try to seize the throne himself. Like her father Tywin, he planned to maneuver his children onto it. To kill her Joffrey no doubt, and replace him with his own dynasty.

It was clever, she would give him that. Making the boy appear more intelligent than he was, dressing his family up in finery, hiring Bravosi shipwrights in the boy's name to make him seem far more powerful than he was.

But he had made a crucial error in not teaching his son the ways of the court. The boy she saw was no genius, but a weak child away from his father. That was why the man had needed to drag him away from the feast, to instruct him and no doubt scold him for not matching his facade after she had ripped him apart before the court. Ah, but it was too late. Now she knew the weakness in his plans, the twine that could be made to snap. Throughout the meal he was silent and quiet as a lamb, only answering when spoken to, and even then only shortly. His father must have scolded him harshly.

When the feast-proper devolved into more of a social gathering, nobles split off into their own little cliques, and she saw her opportunity to strike.

Her father must have sensed her plans, as he pulled the Lord of Dragonstone away, pursuing the purchase of a Valyrian weapon. She half wondered if he actually meant it or not, true it would be good for Jaime to have one, to fit his status, but she worried about how much more money it might give the Dragonstone Baratheons.

Still, that left the boy's mother his only guardian, and she was socializing with a few other ladies on the other side of the hall. They had foolishly left the boy alone. Still, she could not approach him directly. That would be far too suspicious, and besides, the boy was being swarmed by marriage candidates anyway, now that his father wasn't there to shield him. Young Ladies of the court no doubt hoping to secure a piece of the boy's money. Amateurs the lot of them, unused to the tools between their legs, but she could stick around the group and listen for something juicy anyhow. She only needed a bit of leverage and she was sure she could drag the boy's father down along with the boy.

Arthur for his part seemed to be being overwhelmed by the attention, despite his efforts to fend it off. The little whores were far too interested in him, and she suspected the boy had been raised tight to his mother's breast so as not to ruin his parent's plans.

She had seen her own Joffrey suffer the same sort of attention, and she always moved to keep them away from him, but it seemed no-one was around to protect the smallest Baratheon present. The boy eventually made a break for it, claiming to be going to the privy, but really sneaking out onto one of the balconies down a side hallway.

A perfect opportunity. She could push the little shit off and be done with it, it would be a tragedy true, and she would "mourn" with the rest but it would remove a threat to her golden prince, and that was what mattered.

She crept along the edge of the great curtain towards the side of the balcony. The fabric fluttering in the wind off of the bay as the sunset on the other side of the tower, casting the entire balcony into the deep, inky darkness.

There could be no better time for it, but she internally cursed and took a step back as she heard the boy talking to a woman on the balcony.

She peeked from the shadows and eyed the two, her mind working quickly to come up with a different plan.

Well, perhaps the boy would live today after all, but then, rumors could be as deadly as any knife.

'Yes…' she smiled as she walked back towards the feast proper. Her mind already whirring with ideas. 'as long as they make a good story.'

A wicked light flashed in the Queen of the Seven Kingdoms' eyes.

'a good story indeed.'