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Jai’s shoulder, but the king shoved hiuffawed "The great knight I can still knock you in the dirt Reslayer" He slapped his chest with the jeweled goblet, splashing wine all over his satin tunic "Give me my hammer and not a man in the realm can stand before me!"

Jaime Lannister rose and brushed himself off "As you say, Your Grace" His voice was stiff

Lord Renly ca "You’ve spilled your wine, Robert Let oblet"

Sansa started as Joffrey laid his hand on her arrows late," the prince said He had a queer look on his face, as if he were not seeing her at all "Do you need an escort back to the castle?"

"No," Sansa began She looked for Septa Mordane, and was startled to find her with her head on the table, snoring soft and ladylike snores "I mean to sayyes, thank you, that would be lad for so!"

Sandor Clegane seeht, so quickly did he appear He had exchanged his ar’s head sewn on the front The light of the torches made his burned face shine a dull red "Yes, Your Grace?" he said

"Take my betrothed back to the castle, and see that no harm befalls her," the prince told him brusquely And without even a word of farewell, Joffrey strode off, leaving her there

Sansa could feel the Hound watching her "Did you think Joff was going to take you his in a pit "S to her feet "Come, you’re not the only one needs sleep I’ve drunk too hed again

Suddenly terrified, Sansa pushed at Septa Mordane’s shoulder, hoping to wake her, but she only snored the louder King Robert had stumbled off and half the benches were suddenly empty The feast was over, and the beautiful dream had ended with it

The Hound snatched up a torch to light their way Sansa followed close beside hiht made it seem to shift andwhere she placed her feet They walked a outside, the silence weighing heavier with every step Sansa could not bear the sight of hihtened her so, yet she had been raised in all the ways of courtesy A true lady would not notice his face, she told herself "You rode gallantly today, Ser Sandor," she ane snarled at her "Spare irland your ser’s I aht I spit on theht Did you see hi "He was

"Gallant?" the Hound finished

He washer, she realized "No one could withstand hied at last, proud of herself It was no lie

Sandor Clegane stopped suddenly in the middle of a dark and empty field She had no choice but to stop beside him "Some septa trained you well You’re like one of those birds fro bird, repeating all the pretty little words they taught you to recite"

"That’s unkind" Sansa could feel her heart fluttering in her chest "You’re frightening o now"

"No one could withstand hih No one could ever withstand Gregor That boy today, his second joust, oh, that was a pretty bit of business You saw that, did you? Fool boy, he had no business riding in this company No orget wasn’t fastened proper You think Gregor didn’t notice that? You think Ser Gregor’s lance rode up by chance, do you? Pretty little talking girl, you believe that, you’re eoes where Gregor wants it to go Look at e hand under her chin and forced her face up He squatted in front of her, and ood long stare You know you want to I’ve watched you turning away all the way down the kingsroad Piss on that Take your look"

His fingers held her jaw as hard as an iron trap His eyes watched hers Drunken eyes, sullen with anger She had to look

The right side of his face was gaunt, with sharp cheekbones and a grey eye beneath a heavy brow His nose was large and hooked, his hair thin, dark He wore it long and brushed it sideways, because no hair grew on the other side of that face

The left side of his face was a ruin His ear had been burned away; there was nothing left but a hole His eye was still good, but all around it was a twisted mass of scar, slick black flesh hard as leather, pocked with craters and fissured by deep cracks that gleamed red and hen he moved Down by his jaw, you could see a hint of bone where the flesh had been seared away

Sansa began to cry He let go of her then, and snuffed out the torch in the dirt "No pretty words for that, girl? No little coht you?" When there was no answer, he continued "Most of the tower, an eneonsbreath" His laugh was softer this tiirl," he said, a voice fro so close now that she could ser than you, six, e under ifts The old ot, but it was Gregor’s gift I wanted A wooden knight, all painted up, every joint pegged separate and fixed with strings, so you could or is five years older thanto him, he was already a squire, near six foot tall and ht, but there was no joy to it, I tell you I was scared all the while, and true enough, he found or never said a word, just picked me up under his ar coals and heldhe is Even then, it took three grownhim off me The septons preach about the seven hells What do they know? Only a man who’s been burned knohat hell is truly like

"My father told everyone ave ot his ointments too Four years later, they anointed hihtly vows and Rhaegar Targaryen tapped hior’ "

The rasping voice trailed off He squatted silently before her, a hulking black shape shrouded in the night, hidden fro She was sad for hione away

The silence went on and on, so long that she began to grow afraid once more, but she was afraid for him now, not for herself She found his ht," she whispered to him

The Hound threw back his head and roared Sansa sturowled at her, "no, little bird, he was no true knight"

The rest of the way into the city, Sandor Clegane said not a word He led her to where the carts aiting, told a driver to take them back to the Red Keep, and cli’s Gate and up torchlit city streets He opened the postern door and led her into the castle, his burned face twitching and his eyes brooding, and he was one step behind her as they climbed the tower stairs He took her safe all the way to the corridor outside her bedchamber

"Thank you, ht her by the arht," he said, his voice sounding even rougher than usual "If you ever tell Joffreyyour sister, your fatherany of them"

"I won’t," Sansa whispered "I proh "If you ever tell anyone," he finished, "I’ll kill you"