Everyone was stunned!
They stared at the crowned boy king, a cruel smile on his face, their eyes filled with bewilderment.
Had he gone mad?
Had a boar gored him too?
Or had it struck him right in the head?
Earl Lynn, the King Beyond the Wall and Myrcella's husband, had just been the first noble to step forward in the throne room and support Joffrey's succession before all the leading dignitaries.
That amounted to endorsing Joffrey's legitimacy with the combined authority of Ned as Warden of the North and Lynn as King Beyond the Wall.
They had practically staked the reputation and strength of the entire North to secure this seemingly peaceful transfer of power.
And what had Joffrey done?
His first act after taking the throne had not been to reassure his most powerful ally, much less reward his loyalty.
Instead, without the slightest warning, he had dismissed Lynn's future father-in-law, Ned Stark, in the most humiliating way possible before everyone!
Was this burning his bridges after crossing them?
No, he had not even finished crossing before he started tearing the bridge apart!
This was no longer stupidity. This was madness!
Cersei Lannister felt her blood freeze, and her vision darkened.
She wanted to scream, to rush forward and clamp a hand over her idiot son's mouth.
But inside this solemn sept, beneath the gaze of the Seven, she could do nothing.
She could only watch helplessly.
Watch as Joffrey squandered a hand that should have guaranteed victory.
It was over.
Everything was over!
What would Lynn think?
He would see this as an insult and a betrayal by House Lannister!
With that young man's temperament and methods, he would make all of House Lannister pay the most terrible price!
Everyone's gaze involuntarily shifted to the other man