A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

maid.”
    â€œWas the dwarf incapable?”
    â€œNo. He was only . . . he was . . .”
Kind?
She could not say that, not here, not to this aunt who hated him so. “He . . . he had whores, my lady. He told me so.”
    â€œWhores.” Lysa released her wrist. “Of course he did. What woman would bed such a creature, but for gold? I should have killed the Imp when he was in my power, but he tricked me. He is full of low cunning, that one. His sellsword slew my good Ser Vardis Egen. Catelyn should not have brought him here, I told her that. She made off with our uncle too. That was wrong of her. The Blackfish was my Knight of the Gate, and since he left us the mountain clans are growing very bold. Petyr will soon set all that to rights, though. I shall make him Lord Protector of the Vale.” Her aunt smiled for the first time, almost warmly. “He may not look as tall or strong as some, but he is worth more than all of them. Trust in him and do as he says.”
    â€œI shall, Aunt . . . my lady.”
    Lady Lysa seemed pleased by that. “I knew that boy Joffrey. He used to call my Robert cruel names, and once he slapped him with a wooden sword. A man will tell you poison is dishonorable, but a woman’s honor is different. The Mother shaped us to protect our children, and our only dishonor is in failure. You’ll know that, when you have a child.”
    â€œA child?” said Sansa, uncertainly.
    Lysa waved a hand negligently. “Not for many years. You are too young to be a mother. One day you shall want children, though. Just as you will want to marry.”
    â€œI . . . I
am
married, my lady.”
    â€œYes, but soon a widow. Be glad the Imp preferred his whores. It would not be fitting for my son to take that
dwarf
’s leavings, but as he never touched you . . . How would you like to marry your cousin, the Lord Robert?”
    The thought made Sansa weary. All she knew of Robert Arryn was that he was a little boy, and sickly.
It is not me she wants her son to marry, it is my claim. No one will ever marry me for love
. But lying came easy to her now. “I . . . can scarcely wait to meet him, my lady. But he is still a child, is he not?”
    â€œHe is eight. And not robust. But such a good boy, so bright and clever. He will be a great man, Alayne.
The seed is strong
, my lord husband said before he died. His last words. The gods sometimes let us glimpse the future as we lay dying. I see no reason why you should not be wed as soon as we know that your Lannister husband is dead. A secret wedding, to be sure. The Lord of the Eyrie could scarcely be thought to have married a bastard, that would not be fitting. The ravens should bring us the word from King’s Landing once the Imp’s head rolls. You and Robert can be wed the next day, won’t that be joyous? It will be good for him to have a little companion. He played with Vardis Egen’s boy when we first returned to the Eyrie, and my steward’s sons as well, but they were much too rough and I had no choice but to send them away. Do you read well, Alayne?”
    â€œSepta Mordane was good enough to say so.”
    â€œRobert has weak eyes, but he loves to be read to,” Lady Lysa confided. “He likes stories about animals the best. Do you know the little song about the chicken who dressed as a fox? I sing him that all the time, he never grows tired of it. And he likes to play hopfrog and spin-the-sword and come-into-my-castle, but you must always let him win. That’s only proper, don’t you think? He is the Lord of the Eyrie, after all, you must never forget that. You are well born, and the Starks of Winterfell were always proud, but Winterfell has fallen and you are really just a beggar now, so put that pride aside. Gratitude will better become you, in your present circumstances. Yes, and obedience. My son will have a grateful and obedient wife.”

JON
    D ay and night the axes rang.
    Jon could not remember the last time he had slept. When he closed his eyes he dreamed of fighting; when he woke he fought. Even in the King’s Tower he could hear the ceaseless
thunk
of bronze and flint and stolen steel biting into wood, and it was louder when he tried to rest in the warming shed atop the Wall. Mance had sledgehammers at work as well, and long saws with teeth of bone and flint. Once, as he was drifting off into an exhausted sleep, there came a great cracking from the