CERSEI — Chapter 66

Unable to sleep on her last night in the sept, Cersei recalls past riots and resolves to endure the coming shame to regain Tommen and secure a champion for trial by combat. At dawn, septas and silent sisters shave her head and body, robe her, then deny her sandals as bells toll for her atonement.

Escorted by Warrior’s Sons led by Ser Theodan the True, with Lancel among them, Cersei exits Baelor’s Sept into a vast, hostile crowd. She disrobes, holding her head high, and begins the walk, determined to appear unbroken. The mob hurls filth and insults as septas chant “shame,” while Cersei focuses on the Red Keep and suppresses fear and anger.

Descending Visenya’s Hill, she slips, bleeds, and endures closer press and fouler abuse. Memories and hallucinations of Tywin, Ned, Sansa, Tyrion, and Joffrey erode her composure. She falls again, shaken, and allows Ser Theodan to pull her onward, then limps on alone toward Aegon’s High Hill, leaving bloody footprints.

On the final climb, surrounded by the poorest and cruelest onlookers, Cersei’s pride collapses under the weight of jeers, her own body’s frailty, and the remembered prophecy of a younger queen casting her down. Weeping, she covers herself and scrambles on all fours toward the gate as the crowd parts in cruel amusement.

At the Red Keep, Ser Kevan commands her to be covered and bars Tommen from witnessing her shame. A towering, silent knight in pristine white armor lifts her and carries her within. Qyburn appears and introduces him as Ser Robert Strong, the newest Kingsguard, who has vowed silence until the realm’s enemies are destroyed—securing Cersei’s long-sought champion for her impending trial by combat.