A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

had an evil look about them all the same.”
    â€œThey were lice-ridden, I am certain,” added Falyse.
    â€œThey call themselves
sparrows,
” said Cersei. “A plague upon the land. Our new High Septon will need to deal with them, once he is crowned. If not, I shall deal with them myself.”
    â€œHas His High Holiness been chosen yet?” asked Falyse.
    â€œNo,” the queen had to confess. “Septon Ollidor was on the verge of being chosen, until some of these sparrows followed him to a brothel and dragged him naked out into the street. Luceon seems the likely choice now, though our friends on the other hill say that he is still a few votes short of the required number.”
    â€œMay the Crone guide the deliberations with her golden lamp of wisdom,” said Lady Falyse, most piously.
    Ser Balman shifted in his seat. “Your Grace, an awkward matter, but . . . lest bad feeling fester between us, you should know that neither my good wife nor her mother had any hand in the naming of this bastard child. Lollys is a simple creature, and her husband is given to black humors. I told him to choose a more fitting name for the boy. He laughed.”
    The queen sipped her wine and studied him. Ser Balman had been a noted jouster once, and one of the handsomest knights in the Seven Kingdoms. He could still boast a handsome mustache; elsewise, he had not aged well. His wavy blond hair had retreated, whilst his belly advanced inexorably against his doublet.
As a catspaw he leaves much to be desired,
she reflected.
Still, he should serve.
“Tyrion was a king’s name before the dragons came. The Imp has despoiled it, but perhaps this child can restore the name to honor.”
If the bastard lives so long.
“I know you are not to blame. Lady Tanda is the sister that I never had, and you . . .” Her voice broke. “Forgive me. I live in fear.”
    Falyse opened and closed her mouth, which made her look like some especially stupid fish. “In . . . in fear, Your Grace?”
    â€œI have not slept a whole night through since Joffrey died.” Cersei filled the goblets with hippocras. “My friends . . . you
are
my friends, I hope? And King Tommen’s?”
    â€œThat sweet lad,” Ser Balman declared. “Your Grace, the very words of House Stokeworth are
Proud to Be Faithful.
”
    â€œWould that there were more like you, good ser. I tell you truly, I have grave doubts about Ser Bronn of the Blackwater.”
    Husband and wife exchanged a look. “The man is insolent, Your Grace,” Falyse said. “Uncouth and foul-mouthed.”
    â€œHe is no true knight,” Ser Balman said.
    â€œNo.” Cersei smiled, all for him. “And you are a man who would know true knighthood. I remember watching you joust in . . . which tourney was it where you fought so brilliantly, ser?”
    He smiled modestly. “That affair at Duskendale six years ago? No, you were not there, else you would surely have been crowned the queen of love and beauty. Was it the tourney at Lannisport after Greyjoy’s Rebellion? I unhorsed many a good knight in that one . . .”
    â€œThat was the one.” Her face grew somber. “The Imp vanished the night my father died, leaving two honest gaolers behind in pools of blood. Some claim he fled across the narrow sea, but I wonder. The dwarf is cunning. Perhaps he still lurks near, planning more murders. Perhaps some friend is hiding him.”
    â€œBronn?” Ser Balman stroked his bushy mustache.
    â€œHe was ever the Imp’s creature. Only the Stranger knows how many men he’s sent to hell at Tyrion’s behest.”
    â€œYour Grace, I think I should have noticed a dwarf skulking about our lands,” said Ser Balman.
    â€œMy brother is small. He was made for skulking.” Cersei let her hand shake. “A child’s name is a small thing . . . but insolence unpunished breeds rebellion. And this man Bronn has been gathering sellswords to him, Qyburn has told me.”
    â€œHe has taken four knights into his household,” said Falyse.
    Ser Balman snorted. “My good wife flatters them, to call them knights. They’re upjumped sellswords, with not a thimble of chivalry to be found amongst the four of them.”
    â€œAs I feared. Bronn is gathering swords for the dwarf. May the Seven save my little son. The Imp will kill him as he killed his brother.” She sobbed.