Chapter 13

It was well past nightfall where I returned to the Red Keep with my company, pleased to learn that I had calculated correctly and my authority hadn’t diminished in such a short space of time. Well, at least not too much, as proven by the eager fashion in which the guards greeted and hailed me. I was in no mood to deal with another challenge to my power in King’s Landing. Luckily, Cersei’s fate wasn’t clear to anyone yet, as they didn’t have a body to discover. That bought me some time, if nothing else.

Of course, I still had to deal with Qyburn and his birds, but Pycelle was no longer a threat to me. A new Grand Maester would be necessary, and Qyburn needn’t apply for the post, not unless his allegiance had significantly changed. This was one of many such considerations that I weighed as I soaked in the bath with Lara and Alyse for company.

“Ser Roger, might I join you and your ... companions?” a maid from the Red Keep announced herself suddenly.

“You would be?” I asked the maid, who blushed as she undressed without waiting for my permission.

“Bernadette,” the brunette told me, raising my hackles a bit.

I knew exactly who was now that she reminded me. Yeah, she could be trouble, with her loyalty to Cersei and House Lannister. Then again, if I could bring her onto my team, into my camp, that would be extremely useful. She would make an excellent spy and part of my own network of informers. I would need such. While I didn’t worry as much as others about temporary loss of control at court, the more knowledge I had, the better my chances of regaining it.

“Well, Bernadette, stay and be our guest,” I smiled at her as my two whores pulled her into the bath, “ladies, don’t withhold your affection from our newest companion.”

Lara and Alyse grinned as they began kissing Bernadette and I started to wash her flesh myself. Bernadette visibly tensed and I instantly understood why. As a palace maid, she was clearly not accustomed to a highborn man, or even a highborn bastard, acting in the role of a manservant, but that was another way to throw her off.

“Do you know what happened to the Queen Regent, Bernadette? Have you seen her body?” I probed the depths of her knowledge or ignorance.

“No, m’lord,” Bernadette reverted to her peasant origins now.

“Well, my dear lass, she’s dead. And, no, I did not take her life. But she attempted to take mine. So I let another ... creature have her. Specifically, her blood. He drained her of every last drop of it, fed on her as unnatural ... undead things do. Yes, she’s dead and gone. She will not return to King’s Landing. You have no master or mistress to serve anymore. Do you know what that means, girl?” I confronted Bernadette as I slid inside Cersei’s most reliable maidservant.

“That I ... am free to serve you, m’lord?” Bernadette gasped as I drove deeper inside her snatch.

“A wise and excellent response, my sweet, summer child. Speaking of such creatures, have you ever met one before, a bloodsucking creature known to me as ‘Nosferatu?’ They are called the ‘undead.’ Or rather, we are,” I informed her as I sank my fangs into her neck.

Bernadette’s heart began pumping very loudly, just as I humped her good and hard in the bath. She was mine now. I would give her my blood to drink as well and I would have greater sway over her than Cersei ever could. It was an advantage that would make Qyburn, Varys, and Lord Petyr Baelish green with envy. Sure enough, the moment that I opened my veins and gave the maid my blood to drink, her response to me became even more powerful.

“Are you mine now, Bernadette, just as these sweet whores are?” I demanded and she nodded as I spilled my seed inside her.

“Yes, m’lord! I am yours! I am here to serve you ... whatever you ask!” Bernadette panted as she watched me take Lara and Alyse in turn without going soft.

Being a vampire definitely enabled me to impress mere mortals in ways such as that. Having just fed, despite giving her my own blood, I was quite potent and capable of satisfying any woman I wished. The sight of me ramming both of the Flea Bottom whores made it even clearer than ever that I was no ordinary man with a natural libido.

“Do you see, Bernadette? I am no mere mortal, am I? I am something more than that. This is why I knew the Queen Regent’s secrets, all of them, and was able to overthrow the High Sparrow as well. This is why Qyburn is terrified of me now, as well he should be. I am something that not even he could devise, far more powerful than that freak of nature that he is creating from the carcass of The Mountain,” I announced as she watched me in shock.

“Don’t be so sure of that. The Master of Whispers is still a dangerous fellow, even for a chap like you,” Ser Bronn declared as he entered my presence.

“Ah, yes, Ser Bronn the sellsword. Of the Blackwater, no less. Still waiting in vain for that castle that no less than two, maybe even three, Lannisters have promised you by now? How are things going with Lollys, my good friend? Well, my friend, you have put the lie to the old saw that ‘Lannisters always pay their debts.’