A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

beef as well as any man, and I’ve roasted many a duck over a campfire. I hope you like them greasy, with charred skin and bloody bones.”
    That made her smile. “I’d have to be mad to eat such fare. Ben Plumm, come give Ser Barristan your longsword.”
    But Whitebeard would not take it. “I flung my sword at Joffrey’s feet and have not touched one since. Only from the hand of my queen will I accept a sword again.”
    â€œAs you wish.” Dany took the sword from Brown Ben and offered it hilt first. The old man took it reverently. “Now kneel,” she told him, “and swear it to my service.”
    He went to one knee and lay the blade before her as he said the words. Dany scarcely heard them.
He was the easy one
, she thought.
The other will be harder
. When Ser Barristan was done, she turned to Jorah Mormont. “And now you, ser. Tell me true.”
    The big man’s neck was red; whether from anger or shame she did not know. “I have tried to tell you true, half a hundred times. I told you Arstan was more than he seemed. I warned you that Xaro and Pyat Pree were not to be trusted. I warned you—”
    â€œYou warned me against everyone except yourself.” His insolence angered her.
He should be humbler. He should beg for my forgiveness
. “Trust no one but Jorah Mormont, you said . . . and all the time you were the Spider’s creature!”
    â€œI am no man’s
creature
. I took the eunuch’s gold, yes. I learned some ciphers and wrote some letters, but that was all—”
    â€œ
All?
You spied on me and sold me to my enemies!”
    â€œFor a time.” He said it grudgingly. “I stopped.”
    â€œWhen? When did you stop?”
    â€œI made one report from Qarth, but—”
    â€œFrom
Qarth?
” Dany had been hoping it had ended much earlier. “What did you write from Quarth? That you were my man now, that you wanted no more of their schemes?” Ser Jorah could not meet her eyes. “When Khal Drogo died, you asked me to go with you to Yi Ti and the Jade Sea. Was that your wish or Robert’s?”
    â€œThat was to protect you,” he insisted. “To keep you away from them. I knew what snakes they were . . .”
    â€œ
Snakes?
And what are you, ser?” Something unspeakable occurred to her. “You told them I was carrying Drogo’s child . . .”
    â€œ
Khaleesi
. . .”
    â€œDo not think to deny it, ser,” Ser Barristan said sharply. “I was there when the eunuch told the council, and Robert decreed that Her Grace and her child must die. You were the source, ser. There was even talk that you might do the deed, for a pardon.”
    â€œA lie.” Ser Jorah’s face darkened. “I would never . . . Daenerys, it was me who
stopped
you from drinking the wine.”
    â€œYes. And how was it you knew the wine was poisoned?”
    â€œI . . . I but suspected . . . the caravan brought a letter from Varys, he warned me there would be attempts. He wanted you watched, yes, but not harmed.” He went to his knees. “If I had not told them someone else would have. You
know
that.”
    â€œI know you betrayed me.” She touched her belly, where her son Rhaego had perished. “I know a poisoner tried to kill my son, because of you. That’s what I
know
.”
    â€œNo . . . no.” He shook his head. “I never meant . . . forgive me. You have to forgive me.”
    â€œ
Have
to?” It was too late.
He should have begun by begging forgiveness
. She could not pardon him as she’d intended. She had dragged the wineseller behind her horse until there was nothing left of him. Didn’t the man who brought him deserve the same?
This is Jorah, my fierce bear, the right arm that never failed me. I would be dead without him, but
. . . “I can’t forgive you,” she said. “I can’t.”
    â€œYou forgave the old man . . .”
    â€œHe lied to me about his name. You sold my secrets to the men who killed my father and stole my brother’s throne.”
    â€œI protected you. I fought for you. Killed for you.”
    Kissed me
, she thought,
betrayed me
.
    â€œI went down into the sewers like a rat. For you.”
    It might have been kinder if you’d died there
. Dany said nothing. There was nothing to say.
    â€œDaenerys,” he said, “I have loved you.”
    And there it was.
Three treasons