Though on the television series she is portrayed in a much more sympathetic manner, in the books Cersei gradually becomes a ruthless and detestable individual with only her own interests at heart, despite her apparent dedication to her children. This is in stark contrast to her brother Jaime, with whom she shares an incestuous relationship, who seeks to rebuild his honour and redeem himself for his past crimes, which include pushing Bran Stark from a tower and paralysing him, after having his hand cut off by mercenary leader Vargo Hoat. Cerseis malevolence becomes apparent early on in A Game of Thrones as she callously orders the murder of Sansa Starks direwolf. It gets kicked up a notch when she arranges the death of her husband, King Robert Baratheon, seducing her cousin Lancel and having him provide the king, whom he squires for, with a fortified wine that leads to his demise at the hands of a boar. In A Clash of Kings she arranges for the murder of several of her late husbands bastard children, regardless of the fact that several of them are only infants. She is also responsible for much of the mental anguish suffered by the captive Sansa Stark and the physical beating of a prostitute to provoke her other brother, Tyrion. In A Feast for Crows, her suspicions of House Tyrell, who have become allies to the Lannisters through marriage, lead to her having Margaery Tyrell falsely arrested by the faith on the grounds of adultery and treason. She also begins to develop a habit for sending individuals who displease her to the disgraced Maester Qyburn, whose medical experiments have not been extensively elaborated on, but are hinted to be barbaric. Her actions do not go completely unpunished as she ironically finds herself arrested by the faith for a number of crimes, but following a penance walk in A Dance with Dragons, Cersei is now free to wreak havoc on the Seven Kingdoms once again in the position of regent following the death of her uncle Kevan.