After Tywin Lannister’s funeral procession out of King’s Landing, Jaime talks to Cersei. He is concerned that Cersei is filling the small council with weak and dubious characters to further her own interests and out of paranoia about the Tyrells. One of these is Taena Merryweather, who is spying on Margaery Tyrell for Cersei. Another is a man called Qyburn, who is acting as her grand maester. The maesters in Old Town revoked Qyburn’s license for performing experiments on live humans. Jaime worries that Cersei is becoming like “the Mad King,” Aerys Targaryen, the king before Robert Baratheon. Aerys burnt countless people alive and was eventually killed by Jaime to stop him from setting fire to King’s Landing.

Cersei meets with her small council and chooses Ser Harys Swift as her Hand. He is “soft, bald, and obsequious” (270), and his weakness helps cement Cersei’s monopoly on power. In addition, he is “more hostage than hand” (270); his daughter is her uncle Kevan’s wife, meaning Kevan would think twice about betraying her since Harys could be hurt in retaliation. After the council, Cersei meets alone with one of her knights, Ser Osney Kettleblack. She orders Ser Osney to seduce Queen Margaery and then be discovered.