A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

could you leave him like this? My father was Hand to three kings, as great a man as ever strode the Seven Kingdoms. The bells must ring for him, as they rang for Robert. He must be bathed and dressed as befits his stature, in ermine and cloth-of-gold and crimson silk. Where is Pycelle?
Where is Pycelle?
” She turned to the guardsmen. “Puckens, bring Grand Maester Pycelle. He must see to Lord Tywin.”
    â€œHe’s seen him, Your Grace,” said Puckens. “He came and saw and went, to summon the silent sisters.”
    They sent for me last.
The realization made her almost too angry for words.
And Pycelle runs off to send a message rather than soil his soft, wrinkled hands. The man is useless.
“Find Maester Ballabar,” she commanded. “Find Maester Frenken. Any of them.” Puckens and Shortear ran to obey. “Where is my brother?”
    â€œDown the tunnel. There’s a shaft, with iron rungs set in the stone. Ser Jaime went to see how deep it goes.”
    He has only one hand,
she wanted to shout at them.
One of you should have gone. He has no business climbing ladders. The men who murdered Father might be down there, waiting for him.
Her twin had always been too rash, and it would seem that even losing a hand had not taught him caution. She was about to command the guards to go down after him and bring him back when Puckens and Shortear returned with a grey-haired man between them. “Your Grace,” said Shortear, “this here claims he was a maester.”
    The man bowed low. “How may I serve Your Grace?”
    His face was vaguely familiar, though Cersei could not place him.
Old, but not so old as Pycelle. This one has some strength in him still.
He was tall, though slightly stooped, with crinkles around his bold blue eyes.
His throat is naked.
“You wear no maester’s chain.”
    â€œIt was taken from me. My name is Qyburn, if it please Your Grace. I treated your brother’s hand.”
    â€œHis stump, you mean.” She remembered him now. He had come with Jaime from Harrenhal.
    â€œI could not save Ser Jaime’s hand, it is true. My arts saved his arm, however, mayhaps his very life. The Citadel took my chain, but they could not take my knowledge.”
    â€œYou may suffice,” she decided. “If you fail me you will lose more than a chain, I promise you. Remove the quarrel from my father’s belly and make him ready for the silent sisters.”
    â€œAs my queen commands.” Qyburn went to the bedside, paused, looked back. “And how shall I deal with the girl, Your Grace?”
    â€œGirl?” Cersei had overlooked the second body. She strode to the bed, flung aside the heap of bloody coverlets, and there she was, naked, cold, and pink . . . save for her face, which had turned as black as Joff’s had at his wedding feast. A chain of linked golden hands was half-buried in the flesh of her throat, twisted so tight that it had broken the skin. Cersei hissed like an angry cat. “What is
she
doing here?”
    â€œWe found her there, Your Grace,” said Shortear. “It’s the Imp’s whore.” As if that explained why she was here.
    My lord father had no use for whores,
she thought.
After our mother died he never touched a woman.
She gave the guardsman a chilly look. “This is not . . . when Lord Tywin’s father died he returned to Casterly Rock to find a . . . a woman of this sort . . . bedecked in his lady mother’s jewels, wearing one of her gowns. He stripped them off her, and all else as well. For a fortnight she was paraded naked through the streets of Lannisport, to confess to every man she met that she was a thief and a harlot. That was how Lord Tywin Lannister dealt with whores. He never . . . this woman was here for some other purpose, not for . . .”
    â€œPerhaps his lordship was questioning the girl about her mistress,” Qyburn suggested. “Sansa Stark vanished the night the king was murdered, I have heard.”
    â€œThat’s so.” Cersei seized on the suggestion eagerly. “He was questioning her, to be sure. There can be no doubt.” She could see Tyrion leering, his mouth twisted into a monkey’s grin beneath the ruin of his nose.
And what better way to question her than naked, with her legs well spread?
the dwarf whispered.
That’s how I like to question her too.
    The queen turned away.
I will not look at her.
Suddenly it