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Kingmaker.”

CERSEI
    T
hree wretched fools with a leather sack,
the queen thought as they sank to their knees before her. The look of them did not encourage her.
I suppose there is always a chance.
    â€œYour Grace,” said Qyburn quietly, “the small council . . .”
    â€œ. . . will await my pleasure. It may be that we can bring them word of a traitor’s death.” Off across the city, the bells of Baelor’s Sept sang their song of mourning.
No bells will ring for you, Tyrion,
Cersei thought.
I shall dip your head in tar and give your twisted body to the dogs.
“Off your knees,” she told the would-be lords. “Show me what you’ve brought me.”
    They rose; three ugly men, and ragged. One had a boil on his neck, and none had washed in half a year. The prospect of raising such to lordship amused her.
I could seat them next to Margaery at feasts.
When the chief fool undid the drawstring on the sack and plunged his hand inside, the smell of decay filled her audience chamber like some rank rose. The head he pulled out was grey-green and crawling with maggots.
It smells like Father.
Dorcas gasped, and Jocelyn covered her mouth and retched.
    The queen considered her prize, unflinching. “You’ve killed the wrong dwarf,” she said at last, grudging every word.
    â€œWe never did,” one of the fools dared to say. “This is got to be him, ser. A dwarf, see. He’s rotted some, is all.”
    â€œHe has also grown a new nose,” Cersei observed. “A rather bulbous one, I’d say. Tyrion’s nose was hacked off in a battle.”
    The three fools exchanged a look. “No one told us,” said the one with head in hand. “This one come walking along as bold as you please, some ugly dwarf, so we thought . . .”
    â€œHe
said
he were a sparrow,” the one with the boil added, “and
you
said he was lying.” That was directed at the third man.
    The queen was angry to think that she had kept her small council waiting for this mummer’s farce. “You have wasted my time and slain an innocent man. I should have your own heads off.” But if she did, the next man might hesitate and let the Imp slip the net. She would pile dead dwarfs ten feet high before she let that happen. “Remove yourselves from my sight.”
    â€œAye, Your Grace,” said the boil. “We beg your pardons.”
    â€œDo you want the head?” asked the man who held it.
    â€œGive it to Ser Meryn. No,
in
the sack, you lackwit. Yes. Ser Osmund, see them out.”
    Trant removed the head and Kettleblack the headsmen, leaving only Lady Jocelyn’s breakfast as evidence of their visit. “Clean that up at once,” the queen commanded her. This was the third head that had been delivered to her.
At least this one was a dwarf.
The last had simply been an ugly child.
    â€œSomeone will find the dwarf, never fear,” Ser Osmund assured her. “And when they do, we’ll kill him good.”
    Will you?
Last night Cersei had dreamed of the old woman, with her pebbly jowls and croaking voice. Maggy the Frog, they had called her in Lannisport.
If Father had known what she said to me, he would have had her tongue out.
Cersei had never told anyone, though, not even Jaime.
Melara said that if we never spoke about her prophecies, we would forget them. She said that a forgotten prophecy couldn’t come true.
    â€œI have informers sniffing after the Imp everywhere, Your Grace,” said Qyburn. He had garbed himself in something very like maester’s robes, but white instead of grey, immaculate as the cloaks of the Kingsguard. Whorls of gold decorated his hem, sleeves, and stiff high collar, and a golden sash was tied about his waist. “Oldtown, Gulltown, Dorne, even the Free Cities. Wheresoever he might run, my whisperers will find him.”
    â€œYou assume he left King’s Landing. He could be hiding in Baelor’s Sept for all we know, swinging on the bell ropes to make that awful din.” Cersei made a sour face and let Dorcas help her to her feet. “Come, my lord. My council awaits.” She took Qyburn by the arm as they made their way down the stairs. “Have you attended to that little task I set you?”
    â€œI have, Your Grace. I am sorry that it took so long. Such a large head. It took the beetles many hours to clean the flesh. By way of pardon, I have lined a box of ebony and silver