A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle
Just now Jaime had more immediate concerns.
You say you are the Lord Commander of the Kingsguard
, his father had said.
Go do your duty
. These five were not the brothers he would have chosen, but they were the brothers he had; the time had come to take them in hand.
âWhoever did it,â he told them, âJoffrey is dead, and the Iron Throne belongs to Tommen now. I mean for him to sit on it until his hair turns white and his teeth fall out. And not from poison.â Jaime turned to Ser Boros Blount. The man had grown stout in recent years, though he was big-boned enough to carry it. âSer Boros, you look like a man who enjoys his food. Henceforth youâll taste everything Tommen eats or drinks.â
Ser Osmund Kettleblack laughed aloud and the Knight of Flowers smiled, but Ser Boros turned a deep beet red. âI am no food taster! I am a knight of the Kingsguard!â
âSad to say, you are.â Cersei should never have stripped the man of his white cloak. But their father had only compounded the shame by restoring it. âMy sister has told me how readily you yielded my nephew to Tyrionâs sellswords. You will find carrots and pease less threatening, I hope. When your Sworn Brothers are training in the yard with sword and shield, you may train with spoon and trencher. Tommen loves applecakes. Try not to let any sellswords make off with them.â
âYou speak to me thus?
You?
â
âYou should have died before you let Tommen be taken.â
âAs you died protecting Aerys, ser?â Ser Boros lurched to his feet, and clasped the hilt of his sword. âI
wonât
. . . I wonât suffer this. You should be the food taster, it seems to me. What else is a cripple good for?â
Jaime smiled. âI agree. I am as unfit to guard the king as you are. So draw that sword youâre fondling, and we shall see how your two hands fare against my one. At the end one of us will be dead, and the Kingsguard will be improved.â He rose. âOr, if you prefer, you may return to your duties.â
â
Bah!
â Ser Boros hawked up a glob of green phlegm, spat it at Jaimeâs feet, and walked out, his sword still in its sheath.
The man is craven, and a good thing
. Though fat, aging, and never more than ordinary, Ser Boros could still have hacked him into bloody pieces.
But Boros does not know that, and neither must the rest. They feared the man I was; the man I am theyâd pity
.
Jaime seated himself again and turned to Kettleblack. âSer Osmund. I do not know you. I find that curious. Iâve fought in tourneys, mêlées, and battles throughout the Seven Kingdoms. I know of every hedge knight, freerider, and upjumped squire of any skill who has ever presumed to break a lance in the lists. So how is it that I have never heard of you, Ser Osmund?â
âThat I couldnât say, my lord.â He had a great wide smile on his face, did Ser Osmund, as if he and Jaime were old comrades in arms playing some jolly little game. âIâm a soldier, though, not no tourney knight.â
âWhere had you served, before my sister found you?â
âHere and there, my lord.â
âI have been to Oldtown in the south and Winterfell in the north. I have been to Lannisport in the west, and Kingâs Landing in the east. But I have never been to Here. Nor There.â For want of a finger, Jaime pointed his stump at Ser Osmundâs beak of a nose. âI will ask once more.
Where have you served?
â
âIn the Stepstones. Some in the Disputed Lands. Thereâs always fighting there. I rode with the Gallant Men. We fought for Lys, and some for Tyrosh.â
You fought for anyone who would pay you
. âHow did you come by your knighthood?â
âOn a battlefield.â
âWho knighted you?â
âSer Robert . . . Stone. Heâs dead now, my lord.â
âTo be sure.â Ser Robert Stone might have been some bastard from the Vale, he supposed, selling his sword in the Disputed Lands. On the other hand, he might be no more than a name Ser Osmund cobbled together from a dead king and a castle wall.
What was Cersei thinking when she gave this one a white cloak?
At least Kettleblack would likely know how to use a sword and shield. Sellswords were seldom the most honorable of men, but they had to have a certain skill at arms to stay alive. âVery well, ser,â Jaime said. âYou may
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