A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

nobody could get into her room, not Septa Mordane or Fat Tom or Sansa or Jory or the Hound,
nobody!
She slammed it now.
    When the bar was down, Arya finally felt safe enough to cry.
    She went to the window seat and sat there, sniffling, hating them all, and herself most of all. It was all her fault, everything bad that had happened. Sansa said so, and Jeyne too.
    Fat Tom was knocking on her door. “Arya girl, what’s wrong?” he called out. “You in there?”
    â€œNo!”
she shouted. The knocking stopped. A moment later she heard him going away. Fat Tom was always easy to fool.
    Arya went to the chest at the foot of her bed. She knelt, opened the lid, and began pulling her clothes out with both hands, grabbing handfuls of silk and satin and velvet and wool and tossing them on the floor. It was there at the bottom of the chest, where she’d hidden it. Arya lifted it out almost tenderly and drew the slender blade from its sheath.
    Needle.
    She thought of Mycah again and her eyes filled with tears. Her fault, her fault, her fault. If she had never asked him to play at swords with her …
    There was a pounding at her door, louder than before.
“Arya Stark, you open this door at once, do you hear me?”
    Arya spun around, with Needle in her hand. “You better not come in here!” she warned. She slashed at the air savagely.
    â€œThe Hand will hear of this!”
Septa Mordane raged.
    â€œI don’t care,” Arya screamed. “Go away.”
    â€œYou will rue this insolent behavior, young lady, I promise you that.”
Arya listened at the door until she heard the sound of the septa’s receding footsteps.
    She went back to the window, Needle in hand, and looked down into the courtyard below. If only she could climb like Bran, she thought; she would go out the window and down the tower, run away from this horrible place, away from Sansa and Septa Mordane and PrinceJoffrey, from all of them. Steal some food from the kitchens, take Needle and her good boots and a warm cloak. She could find Nymeria in the wild woods below the Trident, and together they’d return to Winterfell, or run to Jon on the Wall. She found herself wishing that Jon was here with her now. Then maybe she wouldn’t feel so alone.
    A soft knock at the door behind her turned Arya away from the window and her dreams of escape. “Arya,” her father’s voice called out. “Open the door. We need to talk.”
    Arya crossed the room and lifted the crossbar. Father was alone. He seemed more sad than angry. That made Arya feel even worse. “May I come in?” Arya nodded, then dropped her eyes, ashamed. Father closed the door. “Whose sword is that?”
    â€œMine.” Arya had almost forgotten Needle, in her hand.
    â€œGive it to me.”
    Reluctantly Arya surrendered her sword, wondering if she would ever hold it again. Her father turned it in the light, examining both sides of the blade. He tested the point with his thumb. “A bravo’s blade,” he said. “Yet it seems to me that I know this maker’s mark. This is Mikken’s work.”
    Arya could not lie to him. She lowered her eyes.
    Lord Eddard Stark sighed. “My nine-year-old daughter is being armed from my own forge, and I know nothing of it. The Hand of the King is expected to rule the Seven Kingdoms, yet it seems I cannot even rule my own household. How is it that you come to own a sword, Arya? Where did you get this?”
    Arya chewed her lip and said nothing. She would not betray Jon, not even to their father.
    After a while, Father said, “I don’t suppose it matters, truly.” He looked down gravely at the sword in his hands. “This is no toy for children, least of all for a girl. What would Septa Mordane say if she knew you were playing with swords?”
    â€œI wasn’t
playing,”
Arya insisted. “I hate Septa Mordane.”
    â€œThat’s enough.” Her father’s voice was curt and hard. “The septa is doing no more than is her duty, though godsknow you have made it a struggle for the poor woman. Your mother and I have charged her with the impossible task of making you a lady.”
    â€œI don’t
want
to be a lady!” Arya flared.
    â€œI ought to snap this toy across my knee here and now, and put an end to this nonsense.”
    â€œNeedle wouldn’t break,” Arya said defiantly, but her voice betrayed