A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

taper.
    â€œShae . . .” He reached, but she spun and slipped free.
    â€œYou have to catch me.” Her voice came from his left. “M’lord must have played monsters and maidens when he was little.”
    â€œAre you calling me a monster?”
    â€œNo more than I’m a maiden.” She was behind him, her steps soft against the floor. “You need to catch me all the same.”
    He did, finally, but only because she let herself be caught. By the time she slipped into his arms, he was flushed and out of breath from stumbling into dragon skulls. All that was forgotten in an instant when he felt her small breasts pressed against his face in the dark, her stiff little nipples brushing lightly over his lips and the scar where his nose had been. Tyrion pulled her down onto the floor. “My giant,” she breathed as he entered her. “My giant’s come to save me.”
    After, as they lay entwined amongst the dragon skulls, he rested his head against her, inhaling the smooth clean smell of her hair. “We should go back,” he said reluctantly. “It must be near dawn. Sansa will be waking.”
    â€œYou should give her dreamwine,” Shae said, “like Lady Tanda does with Lollys. A cup before she goes to sleep, and we could fuck in bed beside her without her waking.” She giggled. “Maybe we should, some night. Would m’lord like that?” Her hand found his shoulder, and began to knead the muscles there. “Your neck is hard as stone. What troubles you?”
    Tyrion could not see his fingers in front of his face, but he ticked his woes off on them all the same. “My wife. My sister. My nephew. My father. The Tyrells.” He had to move to his other hand. “Varys. Pycelle. Littlefinger. The Red Viper of Dorne.” He had come to his last finger. “The face that stares back out of the water when I wash.”
    Shae kissed his maimed scarred nose. “A brave face. A kind and good face. I wish I could see it now.”
    All the sweet innocence of the world was in her voice.
Innocence? Fool, she’s a whore, all she knows of men is the bit between their legs. Fool, fool
. “Better you than me.” Tyrion sat. “We have a long day before us, both of us. You shouldn’t have blown out that taper. How are we to find our clothing?”
    She laughed. “Maybe we’ll have to go naked.”
    And if we’re seen, my lord father will hang you
. Hiring Shae as one of Sansa’s maids had given him an excuse to be seen talking with her, but Tyrion did not delude himself that they were safe. Varys had warned him. “I gave Shae a false history, but it was meant for Lollys and Lady Tanda. Your sister is of a more suspicious mind. If she should ask me what I know . . .”
    â€œYou will tell her some clever lie.”
    â€œNo. I will tell her that the girl is a common camp follower that you acquired before the battle on the Green Fork and brought to King’s Landing against your lord father’s express command. I will not lie to the queen.”
    â€œYou have lied to her before. Shall I tell her that?”
    The eunuch sighed. “That cuts more deeply than a knife, my lord. I have served you loyally, but I must also serve your sister when I can. How long do you think she would let me live if I were of no further use to her whatsoever? I have no fierce sellsword to protect me, no valiant brother to avenge me, only some little birds who whisper in my ear. With those whisperings I must buy my life anew each day.”
    â€œPardon me if I do not weep for you.”
    â€œI shall, but you must pardon me if I do not weep for Shae. I confess, I do not understand what there is in her to make a clever man like you act such a fool.”
    â€œYou might, if you were not a eunuch.”
    â€œIs that the way of it? A man may have wits, or a bit of meat between his legs, but not both?” Varys tittered. “Perhaps I should be grateful I was cut, then.”
    The Spider was right
. Tyrion groped through the dragon-haunted darkness for his smallclothes, feeling wretched. The risk he was taking left him tight as a drumhead, and there was guilt as well.
The Others can take my guilt
, he thought as he slipped his tunic over his head.
Why should I be guilty? My wife wants no part of me, and most especially not the part that seems to want her
. Perhaps he ought to
tell
her about Shae. It was not as