[King's Landing - Red Keep, Throne Room]

Cersei sat on the Iron Throne. Jaime, Qyburn, The Mountain, and her Queensguard stood nearby. Lords filled the room, including Randyll Tarly.

"If the Mad King's daughter takes the Iron Throne, she will destroy the Realm as we know it. Some of you are bannermen of House Tyrell. But House Tyrell is in open rebellion against the Crown. With their help the Mad King's daughter has ferried an army of savages to our shores. Mindless Unsullied soldiers who will destroy your castles and your holdfasts. Dothraki heathens who will burn your villages to the ground, rape and enslave your women, and butcher your children without a second thought. This is how Olenna Tyrell rewards centuries of service and loyalty." Cersei stated.

The lords began murmuring amongst themselves.

"You all remember the Mad King. You remember the horrors he inflicted upon his people. His daughter is no different. In Essos her brutality is already legendary. She crucified hundreds of noblemen in Slaver's Bay. And when she grew bored of that, she fed them to her dragons."

The lords murmured louder.

"We know next to nothing about Rhaegar's daughter. It is my solemn duty to protect the people, and I will but I need your help, My Lords. We must stand together, all of us, if we hope to stop them."

Randyll Tarly slowly approached the throne. "She has three full-grown dragons, Your Grace. As does her niece. That is twice as many as Aegon when he conquered the Seven Kingdoms. How do you propose to stop them?"

Cersei glanced over to Qyburn.

"We are currently at work on a solution, My Lord." Qyburn answered.

The meeting ended. The lords filed out into the hall beyond the throne room. Jaime approached Randyll Tarly and fell into step beside him.

"Lord Tarly," Jaime greeted.

"Ser Jaime," Randyll replied. "I believe you know my son."

"Ser Jaime," Randyll's son said.

"Rickon, isn't it?" Jaime asked.

"Dickon," the young man corrected.

"That's it," Jaime said. He moved past Dickon and continued walking with Randyll. "Thank you for coming. The other lords of the Reach look to you for guidance now more than ever. They might not have come if you hadn't."

"If my queen summons me, I answer the call," Randyll said. "And I've heard what she does to those who defy her."

Jaime and Randyll walked to an unoccupied hallway to continue their conversation.

"Do you ride for Hornhill today?" Jaime asked.

"I have an army to mobilize. It won't be long until the fighting starts."

"And what side will you be fighting for? You were the only man to defeat Robert Baratheon in battle. Not even Rhaegar Targaryen could-"

"It's a long ride back to the reach, Ser Jaime. How may I serve?"

"I want you to be my ranking general in the wars to come. I want you to swear allegiance to Cersei and I want you to help her destroy her enemies. All of her enemies."

"Including Olenna Tyrell? I'm a Tarly. That name means something. We're not oath breakers. We're not schemers. We don't stab our rivals in the back or cut their throats at weddings. I swore an oath to House Tyrell."

"You swore an oath to the Crown as well, Lord Tarly."

"I've known Olenna since I was a child."

"She was a great woman, once. Now she's broken. She wants revenge so badly she brought the Dothraki to our shores. The Dothraki in Westeros for the first time in history. I know you don't like my sister, but you have to make a choice. Do you fight with us or with the foreign savages and eunuchs?"

Randyll nodded his head in agreement.

"When the war is won the queen will need a new warden of the south. I can think of no better man than Randyll Tarly."

[Under The Red Keep - Dungeons]

Under the Red Keep, in the dimly lit dungeons, Qyburn and Cersei walked past rows of dragon skulls. The flickering torchlight cast long shadows on the ancient relics.

"Have you ever been down here, Your Grace?" Qyburn asked.

Cersei replied, "No, I haven't. Not since Robert had them removed from the Throne Room."

Qyburn mused, "It's curious that King Robert didn't destroy them."

Cersei explained, "They were his trophies. He couldn't keep them in the open—they would've made him look weak. Sometimes he'd come down here to stare at them. I think he even brought his whores here on occasion."

At the end of the dungeon, they stopped in front of the largest skull. "Balerion the Dread," Qyburn said. "The beast Aegon rode across the sea. Its flames forged the Iron Throne and tamed the Seven Kingdoms. Powerful, but not invincible."

Qyburn turned away from the skull. "One of Daenerys' dragons was wounded by spears in the fighting pits of Meereen. If they can be wounded, they can be killed."

He walked over to a machine covered by a cloth. Pulling it off, he revealed an enormous crossbow aimed at Balerion's skull. "The best artillerists and blacksmiths in King's Landing have been working day and night, Your Grace. If you'd pull that lever."

Cersei stepped forward and released the lever. A giant bolt shot out, piercing Balerion's eye socket and lodging deep into the skull. She stood behind the machine, a smirk on her face.

This was it. Her chance to even the odds.

The best part? The Targaryen pretenders wouldn't see it coming.