Outside the windows of the Tower of the Hand, the sky had begun to pale with dawn.
Cersei woke aching all over.
She opened her eyes to an unfamiliar ceiling and the man beside her, already fully dressed, standing at the window with his back to her.
Lynn.
Everything from the night before flooded her mind.
Those humiliating positions, that madness unlike anything she had ever experienced, left her feeling like a rag doll that had been utterly ruined.
And beyond the window, those eyes that had stared fixedly at her wantonness.
She had thought she would hate him.
Yet now, all she felt was numbness.
This man held everything of hers in his hands, including her life and her daughter Myrcella's future.
What good would hatred do?
"Awake?"
Lynn did not turn around. He merely lifted the wine cup from the table and took a sip.
"Get dressed and go back to the Red Keep."
Cersei stirred, pushed herself upright, and picked up the somewhat torn dress from the floor, putting it on in silence.
She knew this was Lynn's mercy.
He had spared her life. That was already the best outcome she could hope for.
Lynn turned to look at the woman who once again resembled a noble Queen Mother, though her green eyes no longer held their former luster.
"Remember who you belong to now."
Lynn's voice was calm.
Cersei's heart gave a painful twitch.
She lowered her head and answered in a barely audible voice.
"Yes, Master."
When Cersei stepped back into the Red Keep, every servant and guard who saw her gave her a complicated look.
There was pity, contempt, and gloating.
The once imperious Queen Mother had been taken away for a night by the new Hand of the King, and now she