𝐂𝐇𝐀𝐏𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐅𝐓𝐘-𝐍𝐈𝐍𝐄 | Reprimands

{ Joffrey }

✧✦✧

𝕬 sigh left Joffrey's lips as Lyra handed him the letter from Eliza, leaning back into her touch as she wrapped her arms around his shoulders. 

"You didn't sleep last night. What's the matter?" She muttered, pressing a kiss to his head.

"Baelish. He told me that he'd bring Sansa back to King's Landing, but she's married Ramsay now." Lyra tightened her grip, leaning her head onto his shoulder. "I don't know what to do about it."

"I still think that we should just annul the marriage. That's in our power." Lyra stated.

"Yes, but they most likely married by the Old Gods, not the New so I can't annul the marriage, because we worship different gods, nor can your brother, because Ramsay will just say that he doesn't recognize Robb as king." Joffrey huffed, putting the letter down. "I doubt Baelish will be back to the capital now. He's going to become your brother's problem, I believe."

"We need to deal with him as well. He's been loose for far too long, scurrying around the country like the rat he is," Lyra hissed, scrunching her nose as Joffrey chuckled. "Have we not got a list of his crimes? Can we not charge him yet, or ask for his head?"

"Not yet. We can't tie him to anything that doesn't incriminate us in the process." Joffrey pushed his chair back, standing up and pulling Lyra in for a kiss. "We can't help with any of the problems in the North at the moment. I think we have bigger problems closer to home."

"Aye, we do." Lyra sighed, slumping into a chair as Joffrey put the letter away, before grabbing the notes that he had made on the High Sparrow. "If the High Sparrow gains anymore power he will be on the same level as us and that's something that cannot happen."

"I know. I know," He sighed, handing Lyra his notes that he had made the night before whilst she had been asleep. "I made a somewhat plan. I think it will work, but can you read it through? Your eyes are better than mine for picking up faults."

"That's because I slept for a normal amount of time," Lyra teased. Joffrey scoffed, causing Lyra to giggle from her chair. "Have you run the idea for this new legislation past the Small Council?"

"Not yet. I wanted to make sure it was perfect before I did." He leant against the wall, looking out to the balcony where Mikael slept in the shade, curled around Elia. The wolf was watching him, amber eyes warm and content, before she turned and began to clean her paws.

"They will find something wrong no matter how perfect it is. It is the nature of the Small Council to do that," Lyra pulled his attention back to the new law. "Can I make a suggestion that we limit the Faith Militant even more than this? Perhaps putting a limit on numbers or instead, saying that they must serve in the Baratheon army?"

"Yes, but would the Small Council agree to that?"

"So far, the Small Council consists of me, you, Olenna, Kevin Lannister, Qyburn and the Grand Maester," Lyra turned to look at him. "If four of us agree to it, then majority rules and we can pass the legislation. Plus, I am certain that everyone is in favour for limiting the High Sparrow and his fanatics."

"I suppose you're right," He ran a tired hand over his face, before watching his son toddle across the room to his legs. "Morning, Little Lion."

Mikael held his arms up, causing Joffrey to chuckle and pull the boy up and into his arms. Elia huffed, lying down over his feet to watch the pair.

"Your wolf does not seem to like letting Mikael get away from her," Joffrey noted, reaching down to scratch the large direwolf behind her ear. Elia's leg began to thump against the floor, a low growl sounding in her throat.

"She is my eyes and ears when I cannot see him." Lyra pulled a quill towards her and began to scratch through some of Joffrey's handwriting, replacing it with her own notes. "She knows to look after him. I tasked her to."

"I sometimes believe that you and Elia share the same soul," Joffrey muttered, as the pair both looked at him.

"Why do you think that? Because we're both from the North?"

"No, that's not it." Joffrey watched as Elia stood up, curling around his wife's waist. They both watched him with the same calculating eyes as Joffrey chuckled. "You both tend to act the same way."

"I'm going to ignore that comment in favour of telling you that your legislation needs work in terms of limiting the arresting powers that the High Sparrow has even further." Lyra placed the notes into his empty hands as Mikael giggled and clapped. "Our son agrees."

"The royal family is not to be disturbed." Joffrey and Lyra stopped at the sound of a muffled commotion outside of their door. Lyra took Mikael from Joffrey's arms, as the man reached for his sword that sat by the table.

"I'm Tylar Cassel, you will let me through!" 

"I thought Tylar had the day off?" Joffrey put the sword down, looking to his wife. Tylar, whilst he did sometimes protect Joffrey, was Lyra's personal guard. Thus, Lyra knew about his timetable far better than Joffrey did.

"He did. He's supposed to be with Arah to go and see her parents." Lyra pulled Mikael further into her arm, before walking to the door and throwing it open. "It's alright. He can come in"

"Your Grace," The guard bowed, as Tylar pushed past him and into the room.

"Your Grace. Your Grace." He bowed twice, his face red from exertion.

"Please, come in." Lyra muttered, before closing the door. "Aren't you on your day off? Why are you here?"

"Jaime Lannister and Mace Tyrell are marching on the Sept as we speak." The door opened behind Lyra as Arah rushed into the room, which had fallen into silence.

"They've done what?" Joffrey cocked an eyebrow, his surprise clear. "On who's orders?"

"I'm not sure." Tylar caught his breath, sitting down at one of the chairs.

"We were on our way back to my parents house from the market and were stopped as an army marched towards the Sept." Arah placed a hand on Tylar's back, shaking her head. "They were wearing the Tyrell rose."

"Any Baratheon soldiers?"

"No. No royal guards either," Tylar shook his head. "Tyrell roses and Lannister lions."

Joffrey kissed his teeth, his glare turning dark. "What are our options?"

"We have none that will be good for us." Mikael gurgled as Tylar spoke, and Lyra put him down with Elia once more as she focussed on the conversation. She trusted her wolf to look after him. "If we march with the armies, we put the people against us as we're going against the Faith. If we march with the Faith, we run the risk of making the High Sparrow think that we're on his side. If we do nothing, we'll be facing backlash again."

"So, what do we do?" Lyra asked, crossing her arms as Joffrey sighed into his hands. The room went quiet, as Arah, Lyra and Tylar turned to look at Joffrey. As he was the king, the harder decisions fell onto him.

"We find who ordered this. We find out when this order was given and why it wasn't run past me." Joffrey spoke carefully, causing the others to nod, though they all had an idea who had put the idea into the heads of the Small Council. "We deploy a force for managing the people of King's Landing and also deliver terms to the High Sparrow and my uncle to tell them that I wish to speak to both of them. Let's sign the legislation that limits the High Sparrow's power. Lyra, you'll act as Hand to the King for the moment to sign the law through."

"Of course."

"Tylar, stand as the first witness and Arah, for the second as my advisors." Joffrey ordered as the other pair nodded their heads. "That should appease everyone. It's not an ideal solution, but it'll work for now. We'll smooth the legislation out later, we just need there to be one before anything else happens."

"That sounds like a plan." Joffrey sighed again, and Lyra pressed a kiss to his head as he leant into her side. She picked the legislation up, grabbing a quill so that she, Tylar and Arah could all sign it, before handing it to Joffrey to sign. 

"Your Grace," The door swung open, as the four of them turned to look at Drew, who had rushed in. "Your brother. He's made a speech on the Sept stairs, practically joining the royal family with the Faith."

Joffrey clenched his jaw, his hands clenching around the table as anger rolled off of him in waves. The quill cracked in his fist, as he pushed the legislation away from him. If Tommen had joined the Faith with the royal family, a legislation this limiting would be questioned and challenged so a new one would have to be drawn up.

"Forget everything I've just said. Bring me my brother and my uncle." Tylar stood up, bowing his head as he lead Drew out of the room.

"I'll watch over Mikael whilst this happens," Arah murmured to Lyra. Lyra squeezed her arm as she walked past, muttering her thanks. His wife waited for them to leave the room, before placing a hand on Joffrey's shoulder and squeezing gently.

"Joff..." He ran his tongue over his cheek, before turning to look at Lyra. 

"They went against my direct orders."

"I know."

"How are we going to deal with this?" He muttered as Lyra leant further into his side, pressing her colder hands to his forehead, hoping to soothe his headache. "I don't know what to do with any of this. I don't know how to deal with this situation."

"We take it one step at a time." Lyra leant her forehead against this. "We dealt with the War of the Five Kings, we can deal with this."

✧✦✧

Joffrey was slumped at his desk when Drew and Tylar returned once more, flipping his crown around in his hand as he waited. Every muscle in his body was tense, and he desperately needed to go to the training ground and take his anger out on a straw dummy before he yelled at someone but there was no time. Lyra sat with Elia, her face guarded as she thought.

"Your Grace," Tylar opened the door, stepping in to the room with Drew, Jaime and Tommen following close behind. "Jaime Lannister and Tommen Baratheon, as asked."

"Thank you, Tylar." The guard nodded, standing by Lyra's side as the silence in the room grew stifling.

"Your Grace, I thought we were doing what was best for the rea-" Jaime started, but Joffrey looked up, anger clear on his face.

"What's best for the realm?" He shook his head at the incredulity of the statement. "What's best for the realm would have been you staying put and letting me handle it, like I asked, instead of backing me into an impossible corner where I've got to come to an agreement with the Faith, lead by a fanatic who wants more power. That would have been the best course for the realm."

"There was no other option." Jaime tried to reason.

"There was another option!" Joffrey slammed his hand down onto the pages of the legislation. "We were working on curbing the power that he had. If you had just waited, then it would have been solved. This could have all been solved."

"How was I supposed to know that? You didn't tell us anything."

"Why would I? You've given me no reason to trust you, at all." Joffrey snapped, before taking a deep breath and trying to calm himself down. "I need to know who authorised this but I need you to tell me so that I have evidence, a witness and then I can deal with her."

"I won't say it," Joffrey's glare grew cold as he watched his father, who for some reason still stood and protected his mother. He knew that she was the only one who could convince Jaime and the Tyrells to march on the Sept, but he needed proof.

"Jaime, please." Lyra spoke this time, her voice soft in comparison to Joffrey's. "This has gone on long enough. You don't need to protect her or stand up for her. She needs to face her punishment for these sorts of things but we need you to stand against her, to tell us everything. Jaime, it's the right thing to do."

"It was not her." It was so very clearly all Cersei's idea but Joffrey didn't have a shred of evidence to prove it.  He had hoped his father would see sense, but apparently that was too hard.

"You're going to the Riverlands to help Walder Frey hold a castle." Joffrey decided.

"What?" Jaime protested, his eyebrows furrowing. "You need me here."

"No. I need guards that I can trust here. I don't trust you," Joffrey handed the man a letter with his position inside. "Leave."

There was a tense silence, and Joffrey almost thought that his father would say something else, but the man left the room without another word. Joffrey watched him go, the faint trace of disappointment curling around his stomach but he was used to this. Whenever anything got hard, Jaime left. He'd been doing that all of Joffrey's childhood.

"I'm sorry, but he had Margaery and the High Sparrow said it was the only way," Tommen whispered, as Joffrey turned towards him. "Please don't be mad."

"I'm furious," Joffrey hissed in response.

"Joff," Lyra cut in. "He's just a child. He didn't know what the consequences of his actions were."

"He's not a child, Lyra. He's a teenager and married and coming up to his sixteenth name day." Joffrey shook his head, as Lyra got ready to argue again. "You told him to wait and he didn't listen. Instead, he gave in to the High Sparrow and has given him more power. I can't keep treating you like a child, Tommen."

"Joffrey-"

"No." Lyra raised an eyebrow at Joffrey as he cut her off. "He has to learn that there are consequences to his actions. Severe consequences, especially when he gives a fanatic more power. The very same fanatic who's threatened you on multiple occasions, may I add."

"I know that, but he's said he's sorry." Lyra countered. "He made a mistake and I'm sure Tommen knows that. There's no need to punish him further."

"A mistake would be accidentally knocking someone over or making the wrong decision when a commoner comes to speak to you about their problems." Joffrey turned to look at his brother. "I don't even know what to call this. It's far beyond a mistake."

"Joffrey, please, I'm sorry."

"Sorry does not help this time." Joffrey motioned to the door, shaking his head. "Get out. I need to clean up the mess you helped to create and you need to learn how to properly act your age."

Tommen looked like he was on the verge of tears, and Joffrey could feel Lyra's reprimanding glare aimed at his face, but he could not bring himself to care. He had far more important matters to deal with than his brother crying. Tylar excused himself and Drew as soon as Tommen did, closing the door after the Baratheon prince, as Lyra turned to face the man.

"That was harsh and uncalled for."

"It was necessary."

"He already felt guilty enough, you didn't have to rub it in." Lyra stood in front of the desk, shaking her head. "He knew what he'd done was wrong. Could you not have been nicer to him?"

"What was being nice going to help him with? Being let off after making a mistake and giving up is what got him to where he is today." Joffrey shook his head. "He's weak, with no backbone and no ability to discern when he's being manipulates. He needs to grow up. He has to mature otherwise this will happen again and again and I can not let that happen."

"He's a boy, Joffrey."

"He put you in danger." Joffrey sighed, before reaching out for Lyra. She obliged, allowing Joffrey to pull her into the hug. "He's given the High Sparrow more power. With more power, that man can do almost as much as we can and that means he could arrest you for threatening to kill him and for supporting the Old Gods..."

"I am not going to change my rel-"

"I don't want you to change religion." Joffrey pulled away from her, leaning down to rest their foreheads together. "I don't want you to change a single thing but understand, please, that Tommen has made you vulnerable and if something happens to you then I don't know what I would do."

Lyra sighed, reaching up to press a kiss to his forehead, closing her eyes. "He's a child, Joff. Have some time to cool off, but then please talk to him. Explain to him why this was wrong and how he was manipulated into making this decision. He won't learn unless someone teaches him."

"He gave the High Sparrow more power. He could take you." Joffrey muttered. "I can't lose you, Lyra. I can't because I don't know what I would do if I did."

Hiya,

So this entire episode in the show, I was just complaining about Tommen and also about wanting Joffrey back and now I get to write it like this. This was a little bit more politics (sort of) heavy. Joff is annoyed for a couple of very valid reasons (was he in the right to yell at Tommen though?) and there's hints with Lyra and Elia there as well.

Let me know what you think and I'll see you Saturday for an update,

Love Li xx