Sentence:  Stripped of all bravado, Cersei breaks, and shows the very scared, vulnerable woman who has kept her emotions at bay. “I don't want to die,” she whimpers, “Not like this.” It's all the more moving for coming from a character who built her identity on steely <WSD>resolve</WSD> and contempt for such hoary conceits as fear. 
Meaning of the word marked with <WSD> tags:  Determination; will power.