Cersei did not answer Lynn's question.
She merely emitted an inaudible, cold scoff.
That sound mixed mockery with a certain reckless and self-abandoning dejection.
"In this city, winning is everything."
She turned around as moonlight spilled in through the window, outlining her graceful curves.
Even her dark casual attire failed to conceal the nobility rooted in her bones.
"For the losers, there is only death."
Cersei walked slowly toward the writing desk, her fingertips brushing lightly across the surface before finally lingering on the dragonglass dagger Lynn had placed there.
The dagger was pitch black, reflecting a chilling gleam in the moonlight.
"You like collecting these dangerous things?"
Cersei's voice was very soft, like a lover's murmur, but those green eyes held only scrutiny.
Lynn did not speak, simply watching her.
Watching this Queen of the Seven Kingdoms perform her final, desperate struggle in this small study.
Cersei's gaze shifted away from the dagger and landed back on Lynn's face.
She suddenly smiled.
"You want an ally, Lynn."
"I think we shall make very good partners."
Before her words faded, Cersei reached out and unfastened the ties of her garments.
The movement was poised and elegant, devoid of the slightest bashfulness.
It was as if she felt no shame whatsoever in shedding her clothes.
The dark casual attire slid down her smooth skin, pooling at her feet.
The moonlight poured over her without reservation, and the body that had been chanted by countless poets and desired by countless men was exposed thus without concealment before Lynn.
She resembled an idol carved from ivory and gold.
Beautiful, proud, yet radiating a fatal temptation.
She was wielding her most formidable weapon.
Using a queen's body to gamble on a family's future.
"Now, are we honest enough?"
She lifted her chin like a