and Catelynfound herself wondering whether her son had ever kissed a girl inthe godswood. Surely he must have.

Sheasked herself what gods she kept these days, and could not nd ananswer.It would not do to disturb them at their prayers. The gods musthave their due ... even cruel gods who would take Ned from her,and her lord father as well. So Catelyn waited.

He is his father’s son as much asmine, I must remember. Oh, gods, Ned ...

“Little cat,” hemurmured in a voice thin and wispy and wracked by pain. “My littlecat.” A tremulous smile touched his face as his hand groped for hers.“I watched for you ...”

yet it did not lift her heart. She wondered if indeed her heartwould ever lift again. Oh, Ned ...

Forgive me, Father. Robb, Arya, Bran ... forgive me, I cannot help you.

“Do you think they chose me LordCommander of the Night’s Watch because I’m dumb as a stump,Snow? Aemon told me you’d go. I told him you’d be back. I knowmy men ... and my boys too. Honor set you on the kingsroad ... andhonor brought you back.”“My friends brought me back,” Jon said.“Did I say it was your honor?” Mormont inspected his plate.“They killed my father. Did you expect me to do nothing?”“If truth be told, we expected you to do just as you did.” Mormontfried a plum, spit out the pit. “I ordered a watch kept over you. Youwere seen leaving. If your brothers had not fetched you back, youwould have been taken along the way, and not by friends. Unlessyou have a horse with wings like a raven. Do you?

On the Wall, he’d heard men call thewhores “buried treasures.” He wondered whether any of hisbrothers in black were down there tonight, mining. That wasoathbreaking too, yet no one seemed to care.

Nor was he Aemon Targaryen.

Tyrion smiled crookedly. “Take heart, Father. At least RhaegarTargaryen is still dead.”

Stannis is bringing a shadowbinderfrom Asshai

“At his age, I committed afew follies of my own.”His father gave him a sharp look. “I suppose we ought to begrateful that he has not yet married a whore.”

ver the soul of obedience, Tyrion rose to depart with the rest,but his father gave him a look. “Not you, Tyrion. Remain. And youas well, Kevan. The rest of you, out.”

“When the sun rises in the west and sets in the east,” said MirriMaz Duur. “When the seas go dry and mountains blow in the windlike leaves. When your womb quickens again, and you bear a livingchild. Then he will return, and not before.”

A kind of madness took over her then, and she heard herself say,“Maybe my brother will give me your head.”

When the time came to dress, she chose the green silk gown that shehad worn to the tourney.

He was wearinga padded crimson doublet patterned with lions

Perhaps I will die too, she told herself, and the thought did notseem so terrible to her. If she ung herself from the window, shecould put an end to her suering, and in the years to come thesingers would write songs of her grief. Her body would lie on thestones below, broken and innocent, shaming all those who hadbetrayed her. Sansa went so far as to cross the bedchamber andthrow open the shutters ... but then her courage left her, and sheran back to her bed, sobbing.

Maester Luwin looked up at them numbly, a small grey man withblood on the sleeve of his grey wool robe and tears in his brightgrey eyes. “My lords,” he said to the sons, in a voice gone hoarseand shrunken, “we ... we shall need to nd a stonecarver who knewhis likeness well ...”

Soot stains blackened both legs of his uncle’s likeness

“You let my father be,” Rickon warned Luwin. “Youlet him be.”“Rickon,” Bran said softly. “Father’s not here.”“Yes he is. I saw him.” Tears glistened on Rickon’s face. “I sawhim last night.”“In your dream ...?”

Oh, there, he’s Cregan Stark. He fought with PrinceAemon once, and the Dragonknight said he’d never faced a nerswordsman.

The maester tugged at the chain around his neck, as he often didwhen he was uncomfortable. “Bran, sweet child, one day LordEddard will sit below in stone, beside his father and his father’sfather and all the Starks back to the old Kings in the North ... butthat will not be for many years, gods be good. Your father is aprisoner of the queen in King’s Landing. You will not nd him in thecrypts.”

We went downto the crypts. Father was there, and we talked. He was sad.”

Ser Rodrik should teach me to use a poleaxe.If I had a poleaxe with a big long haft, Hodor could be my legs. Wecould be a knight together.”

han any razor. Ice, she thought, he has Ice! Her tears streamed downher face, blinding her.

“My mother bids me let Lord Eddard takethe black, and Lady Sansa has begged mercy for her father.” Helooked straight at Sansa then, and smiled, and for a moment Aryathought that the gods had heard her prayer, until Jorey turnedback to the crowd and said, “But they have the soft hearts ofwomen. So long as I am your king, treason shall never gounpunished. Ser Ilyn, bring me his head!”

A stone came sailing out of the crowd. Arya cried out as she sawher father hit.

Let the High Septon and Baelor the Beloved andthe Seven bear witness to the truth of what I say: Jorey Baratheonis the one true heir to the Iron Throne, and by the grace of all thegods, Lord of the Seven Kingdoms and Protector of the Realm.”

“The Hand! They’ll be taking his head o, Buu says.”

She knew all of her father’s men. The three in thegrey cloaks were strangers.

another that he’ddied eating a boar, stung himself so full that he’d ruptured at thetable

Sheglimpsed the shadow of a great wolf, and another like a manwreathed in ames.

“No,” Mirri Maz Duur promised. “Not your death, Khaleesi.”Dany trembled with relief. “Do it.”

Death?” Dany wrapped her arms around herself protectively,rocked back and forth on her heels. “My death?” She told herself shewould die for him, if she must. She was the blood of the dragon, shewould not be afraid. Her brother Rhaegar had died for the womanhe loved

His son had been a babe as well, yet they hadripped him from his mother’s breast and dashed his head against awall. That was the way of men.

He was a re in humanskin.

Westerling

Lannister raised his head. “Lady Stark,” he said from his knees.Blood ran down one cheek from a gash across his scalp, but the palelight of dawn had put the glint of gold back in his hair. “I wouldoer you my sword, but I seem to have mislaid it.”

He was not wearinga helm

One of his companions was even awoman: Dacey Mormont,

Torrhen

Let him grow taller, she asked the gods. Let him know sixteen, andtwenty, and fty. Let him grow as tall as his father, and hold his ownson in his arms. Please, please, please.

A green boy, Tyrion remembered, more like to be brave than wise.He would have laughed, if he hadn’t hurt so much.

“Eddard!” avoice rang out. “For Eddard and Winterfell!”

“Remember, hew to the river.” He wasstill leading when they broke a canter, until Chella gave abloodcurdling shriek and galloped past him, and Shagga howled andfollowed. The clansmen charged after them, leaving Tyrion in theirdust.

TheBurned Men did not shout,

“The Stark boy stole a march on us,” Bronn said. “He crept downthe kingsroad in the night, and now his host is less than a mile northof here, forming up in battle array.”

odrick Payne

I went in caravan to Asshai bythe Shadow, to learn from their mages.

“As you command.” The knight gave her a curious look. “You areyour brother’s sister, in truth.”“Viserys?” She did not understand.“No,” he answered. “Rhaegar.” He galloped o.

so the brothels arepaying double for healthy young girls, and triple for boys under ten.

Across the road, a girl no older than Dany was sobbing in a highthin voice as a rider shoved her over a pile of corpses, facedown,and thrust himself inside her. Other riders dismounted to take theirturns. That was the sort of deliverance the Dothraki brought theLamb Men.I am the blood of the dragon, Daenerys Targaryen reminded herselfas she turned her face away. She pressed her lips together andhardened her heart and rode on toward the gate.

“Aemon ... Targaryen?” Jon could scarcely believe it.

My grandfather named me for Prince Aemon theDragonknight, who was his uncle, or his father, depending on whichtale you believe. Aemon, he called me ...”

“Tell me, Jon, if the dayshould ever come when your lord father must needs choose betweenhonor on the one hand and those he loves on the other, what wouldhe do?”

yet ravens are black, and they eat the dead, so some godlymen abhor them. Baelor the Blessed tried to replace all the ravenswith doves, did you know?” The maester turned his white eyes onJon, smiling. “The Night’s Watch prefers ravens.”

I ... he ... Jon, I didn’t want to ... he asked ... I mean ... I thinkhe knew, he sees things no one else sees ...”“He’s blind,”

Ser Endrew Tarth,

The details of his feats changed withevery dreaming, but quite often he imagined saving his father’s life.Afterward Lord Eddard would declare that Jon had proved himself atrue Stark, and place Ice in his hand.

He is giving me his son’s sword. Jon could scarcely believe it. Theblade was exquisitely balanced. The edges glimmered faintly as theykissed the light. “Your son—”

“Also, if your sister Arya is returned to us safely, it is agreed thatshe will marry Lord Walder’s youngest son, Elmar, when the two ofthem come of age.”Robb looked nonplussed. “Arya won’t like that one bit.”“And you are to wed one of his daughters, once the ghting isdone,” she nished. “His lordship has graciously consented to allowyou to choose whichever girl you prefer. He has a number he thinksmight be suitable.”To his credit, Robb did not inch. “I see.”“Do you consent?”“Can I refuse?”“Not if you wish to cross.”“I consent,” Robb said solemnly. He had never seemed moremanly to her than he did in that moment. Boys might play withswords, but it took a lord to make a marriage pact, knowing what itmeant.

Walder is Merrett’s son, named after me, and the otherone ... heh, I don’t recall ... he might have been another Walder,they’re always naming them Walder so I’ll favor them, but hisfather ... which one was his father now?”

Catelyn would gladly have spitted the querulous old man androasted him over a re,

do you think I requirelessons from the likes of you, Ryger? Your mother was milking goatsthe rst time I gave her my seed.”

His newest wife, a palefrail girl of sixteen years, walked beside his litter when they carriedhim in. She was the eighth Lady Frey.

. why is it always theinnocents who suer most, when you high lords play your game ofthrones?

“Rhaenys was a child too. Prince Rhaegar’s daughter. A preciouslittle thing, younger than your girls. She had a small black kitten shecalled Balerion, did you know? I always wondered what happenedto him.

The thought of Jon lled Ned with a sense of shame, and a sorrowtoo deep for words. If only he could see the boy again, sit and talkwith him ... p

“Robb is only a boy,” Ned said, aghast.“A boy with an army,” Varys said. “Yet only a boy, as you say.

Catelyn held her brother; she dare not kill him or theImp’s life would be forfeit as well

Ned remembered the moment whenall the smiles died, when Prince Rhaegar Targaryen urged his horsepast his own wife, the Dornish princess Elia Martell, to lay thequeen of beauty’s laurel in Lyanna’s lap. He could see it still: acrown of winter roses, blue as frost.

Heremembered Jaime Lannister, a golden youth in scaled white armor,kneeling on the grass in front of the king’s pavilion and making hisvows to protect and defend King Aerys.

Catelyn would raise the north when the word

The thought of Cat was as painful as a bed of nettles.He wondered where she was, what she was doing. He wonderedwhether he would ever see her again

Yet in the end he blamed himself. “Fool,” he cried to thedarkness, “thrice-damned blind fool.”

Jorey pushed himself to his feet. Please, Sansa thought, please,please, be the king I know you are, good and kind and noble, please. “Doyou have any more to say?” he asked her.

I must be as strong as my lady mother.

Perhaps Lord Stannis will chanceto sit on it when he takes your throne.”

Surely that must have hurt themost, Sansa thought. Her heart went out to the gallant old man as hestood shamed and red-faced, too angry to speak. Finally he drew hissword.

“The Kingslayer,” Ser Barristan said, his voice hard withcontempt. “The false knight who profaned his blade with the bloodof the king he had sworn to defend.”

“And all of them dead,” Littlenger pointed out.

RickonStark

Lord Tywin Lannister did not smile. Lord Tywin never smiled, butTyrion had learned to read his father’s pleasure all the same, and itwas there on his face. “So the woling is leaving his den to playamong the lions,” he said in a voice of quiet satisfaction. “Splendid.

“They followed me home, Father,” Tyrion explained. “May I keepthem? They don’t eat much.”

Once Jaime takesRiverrun, they will both be quick enough to bend the knee. Unlessthe Starks and the Arryns come forth to oppose us, this war is goodas won.”

“Hear Me Roar,”

baring her stained red teeth in a hideoussmile.

He has taken the inn at the crossroads for his quarters.”Tyrion laughed. The inn at the crossroads! Perhaps the gods werejust after all.

The Late Lord Frey, Catelyn thought. “He is,” she admitted, “butmy father has never trusted him. Nor should you.”“I won’t,” Robb promised. “What do you think?”

She reached across his table and touched his hair. “You are myrstborn, Robb. I have only to look at you to remember the day youcame into the world, red-faced and squalling.”He rose, clearly uncomfortable with her touch,

“Mother?” he said, hisvoice thick with emotion.Catelyn wanted to run to him, to kiss his sweet brow, to wrap himin her arms and hold him so tightly that he would never come toharm ...

“Hodor?” he said sadly.“Hodor,” Bran agreed, wondering what it meant.

“He can’t be a baby forever. He’s a Stark, and near four.”

“The children could,” Bran said. “The children of the forest.”

but he’s stilljust another old black crow who ew down from the ShadowTower.

He understood about mating; he hadseen dogs in the yard, and watched a stallion mount a mare.

“Maester Luwin says there are no more giants. He says they’re alldead, like the children of the forest. All that’s left of them are oldbones in the earth that men turn up with plows from time to time.”

“They’re sad. Your lord brother will get no help from them, notwhere he’s going. The old gods have no power in the south. Theweirwoods there were all cut down, thousands of years ago. Howcan they watch your brother when they have no eyes?”

Their grandfather, old Lord Rickard, had gone as well, with hisson Brandon who was Father’s brother, and two hundred of his bestmen. None had ever returned. And Father had gone south, withArya and Sansa, and Jory and Hullen and Fat Tom and the rest, andlater Mother and Ser Rodrik had gone, and they hadn’t come back

She had gone south, andonly her bones had returned.

She lost her wolf,”

His ngers closed into ast, crushing Sansa’s letter between them. “And she says nothing ofArya, nothing, not so much as a word. Damn her! What’s wrong withthe girl?”

One wine-sodden taleteller even claimedthat Rhaegar Targaryen had returned from the dead and wasmarshaling a vast host of ancient heroes on Dragonstone to reclaimhis father’s throne

I wish ... Iwish Father was here ...”

Yet that very night, his brother came to Bran’s bedchamber paleand shaken, after the res had burned low in the Great Hall. “Ithought he was going to kill me,” Robb confessed. “Did you see theway he threw down Hal, like he was no bigger than Rickon? Gods, Iwas so scared. And the Greatjon’s not the worst of them, only theloudest. Lord Roose never says a word, he only looks at me, and all Ican think of is that room they have in the Dreadfort, where theBoltons hang the skins of their enemies.

his sword spinning on the oorthree feet away and his hand dripping blood where Grey Wind hadbitten o two ngers. “My lord father taught me that it was death tobare steel against your liege lord,” Robb said, “but doubtless youonly meant to cut my meat.” Bran’s bowels went to water as theGreatjon struggled to rise, sucking at the red stumps ofngers ... but then, astonishingly, the huge man laughed. “Yourmeat,” he roared, “is bloody tough.”

Lord Cerwyn had actually brought hisdaughter with him, a plump, homely maid of thirty years who sat ather father’s left hand and never lifted her eyes from her plate.

, “I don’t want togo. I have to.”

His baby brother had been wild as a winter storm since he learnedRobb was riding o to war, weeping and angry by turns. He’drefused to eat, cried and screamed for most of a night, even punchedOld Nan when she tried to sing him to sleep, and the next day he’dvanished. Robb had set half the castle searching for him, and whenat last they’d found him down in the crypts, Rickon had slashed atthem with a rusted iron sword he’d snatched from a dead king’shand, and Shaggydog had come slavering out of the darkness like agreen-eyed demon. The wolf was near as wild as Rickon; he’d bittenGage on the arm and torn a chunk of esh from Mikken’s thigh. Ithad taken Robb himself and Grey Wind to bring him to bay. Farlenhad the black wolf chained up in the kennels now, and Rickon criedall the more for being without him.

lease make it so Robb won’t go away,” he prayed softly. Hemoved his hand through the cold water, sending ripples across thepool. “Please make him stay. Or if he has to go, bring him homesafe, with Mother and Father and the girls. And make it ... make itso Rickon understands.”

Jon plunged his hand into the ames, grabbed a stful of the

The heat of it on his face was sweeter thanany kiss Jon had ever known

and saw Lord Mormont, naked and groggy from sleep,standing in the doorway with an oil lamp in hand.

its eyes shone with anicy blue radiance ...

, “You’re my brother now, so he’s my father too,”the fat boy said. “If you want to go out to the weirwoods and prayto the old gods, I’ll go with you.”

When he spooned an extra portion onto Jon’s plate and gavehim the crusty heel of the bread, he knew what it meant. He knows.He looked around the hall, saw heads turn quickly, eyes politelyaverted. They all know.

The girls do not even have that much, hethought. Their wolves might have kept them safe, but Lady is dead andNymeria’s lost, they’re all alone

A pity the dwarf isn’t with them. He’s the lad’s uncle, andhe saw our need when he visited us.

Lord Eddard Stark would neverdishonor himself ... would he?

“Lord Eddard has been imprisoned. He is charged with treason. Itis said he plotted with Robert’s brothers to deny the throne to PrinceJorey.”

They were as close as brothers, once.” Jon wondered if Joreywould keep his father as the King’s Hand. It did not seem likely.That might mean Lord Eddard would return to Winterfell, and hissisters as well. He might even be allowed to visit them, with LordMormont’s permission. It would be good to see Arya’s grin againand to talk with his father. I will ask him about my mother, heresolved. I am a man now, it is past time he told me. Even if she was awhore, I don’t care, I want to know.

“The gods be with you, Snow,” he called out.Something’s wrong, Jon thought. Something’s very wrong.

“It has been close on half a year since Benjen left us, my lord,”

Theystared up at the sky, blue as sapphires.

Jon put a hand on Sam’s shoulder. “We have a dozen rangers withus, and the dogs, even Ghost. No one will hurt you, Sam. Go aheadand look. The rst look is the hardest.”Sam gave a tremulous nod, working up his courage with a visibleeort. Slowly he swiveled his head. His eyes widened, but Jon held

It was not until later that night, as she was drifting o to sleep,that Sansa realized she had forgotten to ask about her sister.

The king! Sansa blinked back her tears, Jorey was the king now,she thought. Her gallant prince would never hurt her father, nomatter what he might have done. If she went to him and pleaded formercy, she was certain he’d listen. He had to listen, he loved her,even the queen said so

“She reminds me of the mother, not the father,” Lord PetyrBaelish said quietly. “Look at her. The hair, the eyes. She is the veryimage of Cat at the same age.”

and poured out her heart, andCersei had listened and thanked her sweetly ... only then Ser Aryshad escorted her to the high room in Maegor’s Holdfast and postedguards, and a few hours later, the ghting had begun outside.“Please,” she nished, “you have to let me marry Jorey, I’ll be ever

“How well I know that, child,” Cersei said, her voice so kind andsweet. “Why else should you have come to me and told me of yourfather’s plan to send you away from us, if not for love?”

ut she could feel Littlenger staring.Something about the way the small man looked at her made Sansafeel as though she had no clothes on.

and as strong as her mother

The queen wore a high-collared black silk gown, with a hundreddark red rubies sewn into her bodice, covering her from neck tobosom. They were cut in the shape of teardrops, as if the queenwere weeping blood.

“The king is dead.” Sansa could not say how she knew it, yet shedid. The slow, endless clanging lled their room, as mournful as adirge. Had some enemy stormed the castle and murdered KingRobert? Was that the meaning of the ghting they had heard?

When the spirit stepped out of the open tomb, pale white andmoaning for blood, Sansa ran shrieking for the stairs, and Branwrapped himself around Robb’s leg, sobbing. Arya stood her groundand gave the spirit a punch. It was only Jon, covered with our.“You stupid,” she told him, “you scared the baby,” but Jon and Robbjust laughed and laughed, and pretty soon Bran and Arya werelaughing too.

The horses were screaming. Arya stood over the body, still andfrightened in the face of death. Blood had gushed from the boy’smouth as he collapsed, and more was seeping from the slit in hisbelly, pooling beneath his body. His palms were cut where he’dgrabbed at the blade. She backed away slowly, Needle red in herhand. She had to get away, someplace far from here, someplace safeaway from the stableboy’s accusing eyes.

Every northerneris worth ten of these southron swords, Desmond had told her. “Youliar!” she said, kicking his body in a sudden fury.

Moving between buildings and over walls, keeping stone to herback wherever possible so no one could surprise her,

She had to nd her father and tell him what hadhappened. Her father would protect her.

Syrio Forel allowed himself a smile. “I am thinking that when weare reaching this Winterfell of yours, it will be time to put thisneedle in your hand.”“Yes!” Arya said eagerly. “Wait till I show Jon—”Behind her the great wooden doors of the Small Hall ew openwith a resounding crash. Arya whirled.

Such animals as youhave never seen, striped horses, great spotted things with necks aslong as stilts, hairy mouse-pigs as big as cows, stinging manticores,tigers that carry their cubs in a pouch, terrible walking lizards withscythes for claws. Syrio Forel has seen these things.

As his men died around him, Littlenger slid Ned’s dagger fromits sheath and shoved it up under his chin. His smile was apologetic.“I did warn you not to trust me, you know.”

The queen wore a gown of sea-green silk, trimmed with Myrish lace as pale as foam. On her ngerwas a golden ring with an emerald the size of a pigeon’s egg, on herhead a matching tiara.

e would have given all his titles forthe freedom to weep ... but he was Robert’s Hand, and the hour hedreaded had come

White fur and red eyes, Jon realized, disquieted. Like thetrees ...

They’repassing me out of training. I’m to be made a brother with the rest ofyou. Can you believe it?”

mockery.

Seat Stannis on the IronThrone and I promise you, the realm will bleed.

“I will give Lyanna your love,

So Ned bent his head andwrote, but where the king had said “my son Jorey,” he scrawled“my heir” instead. The deceit made him feel soiled.

The sound Viserys Targaryen made when that hideous iron helmetcovered his face was like nothing human. His feet hammered afrantic beat against the dirt oor, slowed, stopped. Thick globs ofmolten gold dripped down onto his chest, setting the scarlet silk tosmoldering ... yet no drop of blood was spilled.He was no dragon, Dany thought, curiously calm. Fire cannot kill adragon.

Viserys smiled and lowered his sword. That was the saddest thing,the thing that tore at her afterward ... the way he smiled. “That wasall I wanted,” he said. “What was promised.”

where menwhose braids were even shorter than their manhoods sat

Three quick strokesand it was done.

andlifted her into the air, as he might lift a child.

“My brother Rhaegar was a erce warrior, my sun-and-stars,” shetold him. “He died before I was born. Ser Jorah says that he was thelast of the dragons.”

Dan Ares wife

“The stallion who mounts the world!”

female

DAENERYS

Her hand touched his face, his hair. “Iffriends can turn to enemies, enemies can become friends. Your wifeis a thousand leagues away, and my brother has ed. Be kind to me,Ned. I swear to you, you shall never regret it.”“Did you make the same oer to Jon Arryn?”She slapped him.“I shall wear that as a badge of honor,” Ned said dryly.“Honor,” she spat. “How dare you play the noble lord with me!

“My brother found awoman to cleanse me

Ned thought, If it came to that, the life of some child I did not know,against Robb and Sansa and Arya and Bran and Rickon, what would Ido? Even more so, what would Catelyn do, if it were Jon’s life, againstthe children of her body? He did not know. He prayed he neverwould.

“Your brother?” Ned said. “Or your lover?”

“If you truly believed that, you would never have come.” Nedtouched her cheek gently. “Has he done this before?”

until heheard talk of some monstrous boar deeper in the forest.

Stop that weeping, child,” Septa Mordane said sternly. “I amcertain your lord father knows what is best for you.”

Arya made a face. “Not if Jorey’s his father,” she said. “He’s aliar and a craven and anyhow he’s a stag, not a lion.

ueen Naerys lovedPrince Aemon the Dragonknight

Their father sighed. “I did not call you here to talk of dresses. I’msending you both back to Winterfell.”For the second time Sansa found herself too stunned for words.She felt her eyes grow moist again.“You can’t,” Arya said.“Please, Father,” Sansa managed at last. “Please don’t.”

Sansa sat up. “Lady,” she whispered. For a moment it was as if thedirewolf was there in the room, looking at her with those goldeneyes, sad and knowing. She had been dreaming, she realized. Ladywas with her, and they were running together, and ... and ... tryingto remember was like trying to catch the rain with her ngers. Thedream faded, and Lady was dead again.

If this was what the Night’sWatch was truly like, she felt sorry for her bastard half brother, Jon.

It would have been unkind to say so,

steward’s daughter, after all, and no matter how much she moonedafter him, Lord Beric would never look at someone so far beneathhim, even if she hadn’t been half his age

but he was awfully old, almost twenty-two;

hero, so slim and beautiful, with golden roses around his slenderwaist and his rich brown hair tumbling down into his eyes.

From on high, Loras Tyrell seemedalmost as young as Robb.

And that may be precisely what Lord Tywin wants, Ned thought tohimself, to bleed o strength from Riverrun, goad the boy into scatteringhis swords. His wife’s brother was young, and more gallant thanwise. He would try to hold every inch of his soil, to defend everyman, woman, and child who named him lord, and Tywin Lannisterwas shrewd enough to know that.

Those as say the giants are alldead never saw this one, I swear. Big as an ox he was, and a voicelike stone breaking.”“The Mountain!” Ser Marq said loudly. “Can any man doubt it?This was Gregor Clegane’s work.”

“What proof do you have that these were Lannisters?” heasked, trying to keep his fury under control. “Did they wear crimsoncloaks or y a lion banner?”

A king should never sit easy,Aegon the Conqueror had said, when he commanded his armorers toforge a great seat from the swords laid down by his enemies. DamnAegon for his arrogance, Ned thought sullenly, and damn Robert andhis hunting as well.

“I will give you the Vale of Arryn.”

not theprisoner, big, with a strap in his hand, and he was hitting his father,driving him back, toward the abyss ...

paid her fair enough. A silver for each man, how many whorescommand that high a price? He sat me down in the corner of thebarracks and bade me watch, and at the end she had so many silversthe coins were slipping through her ngers and rolling on the oor,she ...” The smoke was stinging his eyes. Tyrion cleared his throatand turned away from the re, to gaze out into darkness. “LordTywin had me go last,” he said in a quiet voice. “And he gave me agold coin to pay her, because I was a Lannister, and worth more.”

First he made my brothertell me the truth. The girl was a whore, you see. Jaime arranged thewhole aair, the road, the outlaws, all of it. He thought it was time Ihad a woman. He paid double for a maiden, knowing it would bemy rst time.

me ... and he was no friend, only a man I rode with. Make nomistake, dwarf. I fought for you, but I do not love you.”“It was your blade I needed,” Tyrion said, “not your love.” Hedumped his armful of wood on the ground.

The Night’s Watch needs every man. Why kill one, to noend? Make use of him instead.”

know Chett can’t read,

“I nd I needless sleep as I grow older, and I am grown very old. I often spendhalf the night with ghosts, remembering times fty years past as ifthey were yesterday.

but the rangers were the true ghting heart of theNight’s Watch. It was they who dared ride beyond the Wall,sweeping through the haunted forest and the icy mountain heightswest of the Shadow Tower, ghting wildlings and giants andmonstrous snow bears

. Tyrion Lannister must know that as well. Yet the dwarffavored Lady Arryn with a mocking bow.

The weathered likeness of AlyssaArryn tottered and fell with a great crash, and Ser Vardis Egen wentdown beneath her

“Fight!” the boy screamed, his arms trembling as they clutched athis chair.

nodoubt meant to be Alyssa

It’s said poison is awoman’s weapon, begging your pardons, my lady.

was whispered, notoriously uninterested in the intimate charms ofwomen.

lone? You know as wellas I that you will never survive the high road. Ser Rodrik and I arereturning to Winterfell. Come with us, Uncle. I will give you yourthousand men. Riverrun will not ght alone.”Brynden thought a moment, then nodded a brusque agreement.“As you say. It’s the long way home, but I’m more like to get there.

Catelyn wondered how large a waterfall her own tears would makewhen she died

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