A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

floor even now, listening to every word we say and making plans to open Tommen’s throat.”
    â€œSuppose he was,” said Jaime. “Whatever plans he makes, he will still be small and stunted. Tommen will be surrounded by the finest knights in Westeros. The Kingsguard will protect him.”
    Cersei glanced at where the sleeve of her brother’s white silk tunic had been pinned up over his stump. “I remember how well they guarded Joffrey, these splendid knights of yours. I want you to remain with Tommen all night, is that understood?”
    â€œI will have a guardsman outside his door.”
    She seized his arm. “Not a guardsman. You. And
inside
his bedchamber.”
    â€œIn case Tyrion crawls out of the hearth? He won’t.”
    â€œSo you say. Will you tell me that you found all the hidden tunnels in these walls?” They both knew better. “I will
not
have Tommen alone with Margaery, not for so much as half a heartbeat.”
    â€œThey will not be alone. Her cousins will be with them.”
    â€œAs will you. I command it, in the king’s name.” Cersei had not wanted Tommen and his wife to share a bed at all, but the Tyrells had insisted. “Husband and wife should sleep together,” the Queen of Thorns had said, “even if they do no more than sleep. His Grace’s bed is big enough for two, surely.” Lady Alerie had echoed her good-mother. “Let the children warm each other in the night. It will bring them closer. Margaery oft shares her blankets with her cousins. They sing and play games and whisper secrets to each other when the candles are snuffed out.”
    â€œHow delightful,” Cersei had said. “Let them continue, by all means. In the Maidenvault.”
    â€œI am sure Her Grace knows best,” Lady Olenna had said to Lady Alerie. “She is the boy’s own mother, after all, of
that
we are all sure. And surely we can agree about the wedding night? A man should not sleep apart from his wife on the night of their wedding. It is ill luck for their marriage if they do.”
    Someday I will teach you the meaning of “ill luck,”
the queen had vowed. “Margaery may share Tommen’s bedchamber for that one night,” she had been forced to say. “No longer.”
    â€œYour Grace is so gracious,” the Queen of Thorns had replied, and everyone had exchanged smiles.
    Cersei’s fingers were digging into Jaime’s arm hard enough to leave bruises. “I need
eyes
inside that room,” she said.
    â€œTo see
what
?” he said. “There can be no danger of a consummation. Tommen is much too young.”
    â€œAnd Ossifer Plumm was much too dead, but that did not stop him fathering a child, did it?”
    Her brother looked lost. “Who was Ossifer Plumm? Was he Lord Philip’s father, or . . . who?”
    He is near as ignorant as Robert. All his wits were in his sword hand.
“Forget Plumm, just remember what I told you. Swear to me that you will stay by Tommen’s side until the sun comes up.”
    â€œAs you command,” he said, as if her fears were groundless. “Do you still mean to go ahead and burn the Tower of the Hand?”
    â€œAfter the feast.” It was the only part of the day’s festivities that Cersei thought she might enjoy. “Our lord father was murdered in that tower. I cannot bear to look at it. If the gods are good, the fire may smoke a few rats from the rubble.”
    Jaime rolled his eyes. “Tyrion, you mean.”
    â€œHim, and Lord Varys, and this gaoler.”
    â€œIf any of them were hiding in the tower, we would have found them. I’ve had a small army going at it with picks and hammers. We’ve knocked through walls and ripped up floors and uncovered half a hundred secret passages.”
    â€œAnd for all you know there may be half a hundred more.” Some of the secret crawlways had turned out to be so small that Jaime had needed pages and stableboys to explore them. A passage to the black cells had been found, and a stone well that seemed to have no bottom. They had found a chamber full of skulls and yellowed bones, and four sacks of tarnished silver coins from the reign of the first King Viserys. They had found a thousand rats as well . . . but neither Tyrion nor Varys had been amongst them, and Jaime had finally insisted on putting an end to the search. One boy had gotten stuck in a narrow passage