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Eddard

Pain is a gift froods, Lord Eddard," Grand Maester Pycelle told hi itself Be thankful"

"I will be thankful when "

Pycelle set a stoppered flask on the table by the bed "The rows too onerous"

"I sleep too reat healer"

"I had hoped that was you"

Pycelle sood to see you in such a fierce humor, my lord" He leaned close and lowered his voice "There was a raven this ht you had best know"

"Dark wings, dark words," Ned said grireatly wroth about the ane," the maester confided "I feared he would be You will recall, I said as much in council"

"Let hi throbbed, he remembered Jaime Lannister’s smile, and Jory dead in his arms "Let him write all the letters to the queen he likes Lord Beric rides beneath the king’s own banner If Lord Tywin atte’s justice, he will have Robert to answer to The only thing His Grace enjoyswar on lords who defy him"

Pycelle pulled back, his ain on the s and took his leave Ned had little doubt that he was bound straight for the royal apartht you had best know, indeedas if Cersei had not instructed hi her father’s threats He hoped his response rattled those perfect teeth of hers Ned was not near as confident of Robert as he pretended, but there was no reason Cersei need know that

When Pycelle was gone, Ned called for a cup of honeyed wine That clouded the mind as well, yet not as badly He needed to be able to think A thousand tiht have done, had he lived long enough to act on what he’d learned Or perhaps he had acted, and died for it

It was queer how sorown rown, he would have to tell her how she had made it all come clear for hi, she had declared, angry and unknowing, and the simple truth of it had twisted inside him, cold as death This was the sword that killed Jon Arryn, Ned thought then, and it will kill Robert as well, a slower death but full as certain Shattered legs may heal in time, but some betrayals fester and poison the soul

Littlefinger ca an hour after the Grand Maester had left, clad in a plubird embroidered on the breast in black thread, and a striped cloak of black and white "I cannot visit long, my lord," he announced "Lady Tanda expects me to lunch with her No doubt she will roast hter, I’?"

"Infla er lifted an eyebrow "In future, try not to let any horses fall on it I would urge you to heal quickly The realrows restive Varys has heard ominous whispers fro to Casterly Rock, and not for the thin pleasure of Lord Tywin’s conversation"

"Is there word of the king?" Ned de does Robert intend to hunt?"

"Given his preferences, I believe he’d stay in the forest until you and the queen both die of old age," Lord Petyr replied with a faint sine he’ll return as soon as he’s killed so They found the white hart, it seemsor rather, what remained of it Some wolves found it first, and left His Grace scarcely more than a hoof and a horn Robert was in a fury, until he heard talk of so would do but he , with the Royces, Ser Balon Swann, and some twenty others of the party The rest are still with the king"

"The Hound?" Ned asked, frowning Of all the Lannister party, Sandor Clegane was the one who concerned him the most, now that Ser Jaime had fled the city to join his father

"Oh, returned with Joffrey, and went straight to the queen" Littlefinger ss to have been a roach in the rushes when he learned that Lord Beric was off to behead his brother"

"Even a blind man could see the Hound loathed his brother"

"Ah, but Gregor was his to loathe, not yours to kill Once Dondarrion lops the suane lands and incomes will pass to Sandor, but I wouldn’t holdfor his thanks, not that one And now you ive me Lady Tanda awaits with her fatted calves"

On the way to the door, Lord Petyr spied Grand Maester Malleon’s massive tome on the table and paused to idly flip open the cover "The Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoh Lords and Noble Ladies and Their Children," he read "Now there is tedious reading if ever I saw it A sleeping potion, my lord?"

For a briefhier’s japes that irked hi s this volume when he was taken sick," Ned said in a careful tone, to see how he ht respond

And he responded as he always did: with a quip "In that case," he said, "death must have come as a blessed relief" Lord Petyr Baelish bowed and took his leave

Eddard Stark allowed himself a curse Aside from his own retainers, there was scarcely a er had concealed Catelyn and helped Ned in his inquiries, yet his haste to save his own skin when Jaime and his swords had come out of the rain still rankled Varys orse For all his protestations of loyalty, the eunuch knew too much and did too little Grand Maester Pycelle see day, and Ser Barristan was an old id He would tell Ned to do his duty

Ti would return froo to hied for Sansa and Arya to sail on the Wind Witch out of Braavos, three days hence They would be back at Winterfell before the harvest Ned could no longer use his concern for their safety to excuse his delay

Yet last night he had dreaar’s children Lord Tywin had laid the bodies beneath the Iron Throne, wrapped in the criuard That was clever of hiainst the red cloth The little princess had been barefoot, still dressed in her bed gown, and the boythe boy

Ned could not let that happen again The real, another dance of blood and vengeance He must find some way to save the children

Robert could be merciful Ser Barristan was scarcely the only man he had pardoned Grand Maester Pycelle, Varys the Spider, Lord Balon Greyjoy; each had been counted an enemy to Robert once, and each had been welcomed into friendship and allowed to retain honors and office for a pledge of fealty So long as a man was brave and honest, Robert would treat him with all the honor and respect due a valiant ene else: poison in the dark, a knife thrust to the soul This he could never forgive, no ar He will kill them all, Ned realized

And yet, he knew he could not keep silent He had a duty to Robert, to the realm, to the shade of Jon Arrynand to Bran, who surely must have stumbled on some part of the truth Why else would they have tried to slay him?

Late that afternoon he suer-colored whiskers his children called Fat Toone, Fat Toht filled Ned with vague disquiet Tomard was a solid man; affable, loyal, tireless, capable in a limited way, but he was near fifty, and even in his youth he had never been energetic Perhaps Ned should not have been so quick to send off half his guard, and all his best swords a them

"I shall require your help," Ned said when To faintly apprehensive, as he always did when called before his lord "Take odswood"

"Is that wise, Lord Eddard? With your leg and all?"

"Perhaps not But necessary"

Tomard summoned Varly With one ared to descend the steep tower steps and hobble across the bailey "I want the guard doubled," he told Fat Tom "No one enters or leaves the Tower of the Hand without my leave"

Tom blinked "M’lord, with Alyn and the others ae are hard-pressed already--"

"It will only be a short while Lengthen the watches"