She lowered her head, her voice barely audible. "It-it was Lord Tyrion-he-he told me to quietly spread those-rumors about Queen Mother Cersei's and Ser Jaime's parentage while I served the noble ladies and young ladies. He said-he said that only by fabricating a story that the Queen Mother and Ser Jaime were not Lord Tywin's children and utterly ruining their reputations would Lord Tywin treat him as his only son, and perhaps give Casterly Rock to him instead of Ser Jaime-he also said-he hated the commoners who mocked him for being a dwarf-he said-when the wildfire burned-all that mockery would turn to screams-"
"Shae!"
Tyrion finally roared, unable to hold back any longer. He stared fixedly at Shae and said in anguish, "I treated you-"
"Silence!" Tywin's icy voice cut him off.
The nobles around them erupted!
Waves of furious voices surged toward Tyrion like a tsunami!
"Kinslayer! Kingslayer!"
"Wildfire demon!"
"Kill this dwarf monster!"
"Hang him!"
Tyrion looked at the faces twisted with rage around him, at his father's expressionless face on the judges' bench, at the crazed delight in Cersei's eyes, at Shae's evasive cowardice that nonetheless confirmed his "crimes." A wave of icy despair engulfed him.
The last shred of strength sustaining him drained away.
He suddenly began to laugh, his laughter hoarse and broken, filled with boundless sorrow and self-mockery.
"I am guilty?"
He raised his head, his mismatched eyes sweeping across the judges' bench and the furious crowd. "Yes, I am guilty! My crime is being born a dwarf! My crime is making you high-and-mighty 'normal people' sick at the mere sight of me! My crime is that whatever I do, even merely breathing, is an original sin in your eyes!"
He pointed sharply at Cersei, his voice suddenly rising. "Cersei, you say I wanted