A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

bacon, and some blood oranges newly come by ship from Dorne. Her son was attended by his kittens. As she watched the cats frolic about his feet, Cersei felt a little better.
No harm will ever come to Tommen whilst I still live.
She would kill half the lords in Westeros and all the common people, if that was what it took to keep him safe. “Go with Jocelyn,” she told the boy after they had eaten.
    Then she sent for Qyburn. “Is Lady Falyse still alive?”
    â€œAlive, yes. Perhaps not entirely . . . comfortable.”
    â€œI see.” Cersei considered a moment. “This man Bronn . . . I cannot say I like the notion of an enemy so close. His power all derives from Lollys. If we were to produce her elder sister . . .”
    â€œAlas,” said Qyburn. “I fear that Lady Falyse is no longer capable of ruling Stokeworth. Or, indeed, of feeding herself. I have learned a great deal from her, I am pleased to say, but the lessons have not been entirely without cost. I hope I have not exceeded Your Grace’s instructions.”
    â€œNo.” Whatever she had intended, it was too late. There was no sense dwelling on such things.
It is better if she dies
, she told herself.
She would not want to go on living without her husband. Oaf that he was, the fool seemed fond of him.
“There is another matter. Last night I had a dreadful dream.”
    â€œAll men are so afflicted, from time to time.”
    â€œThis dream concerned a witch woman I visited as a child.”
    â€œA woods witch? Most are harmless creatures. They know a little herb-craft and some midwifery, but elsewise . . .”
    â€œShe was more than that. Half of Lannisport used to go to her for charms and potions. She was mother to a petty lord, a wealthy merchant upjumped by my grandsire. This lord’s father had found her whilst trading in the east. Some say she cast a spell on him, though more like the only charm she needed was the one between her thighs. She was not always hideous, or so they said. I don’t recall the woman’s name. Something long and eastern and outlandish. The smallfolk used to call her Maggy.”
    â€œMaegi?”
    â€œIs that how you say it? The woman would suck a drop of blood from your finger, and tell you what your morrows held.”
    â€œBloodmagic is the darkest kind of sorcery. Some say it is the most powerful as well.”
    Cersei did not want to hear that. “This
maegi
made certain prophecies. I laughed at them at first, but . . . she foretold the death of one of my bedmaids. At the time she made the prophecy, the girl was one-and-ten, healthy as a little horse and safe within the Rock. Yet she soon fell down a well and drowned.” Melara had begged her never to speak of the things they heard that night in the
maegi
’s tent.
If we never talk about it we’ll soon forget, and then it will be just a bad dream we had,
Melara had said.
Bad dreams never come true.
The both of them had been so young, that had sounded almost wise.
    â€œDo you still grieve for this friend of your childhood?” Qyburn asked. “Is that what troubles you, Your Grace?”
    â€œMelara? No. I can hardly recall what she looked like. It is just . . . the
maegi
knew how many children I would have, and she knew of Robert’s bastards. Years before he’d sired even the first of them, she knew. She promised me I should be queen, but said another queen would come . . .”
Younger and more beautiful, she said.
“. . . another queen, who would take from me all I loved.”
    â€œAnd you wish to forestall this prophecy?”
    More than anything,
she thought. “
Can
it be forestalled?”
    â€œOh, yes. Never doubt that.”
    â€œHow?”
    â€œI think Your Grace knows how.”
    She did.
I knew it all along,
she thought.
Even in the tent. “If she tries I will have my brother kill her.”
    Knowing what needed to be done was one thing, though; knowing how to do it was another. Jaime could no longer be relied on. A sudden sickness would be best, but the gods were seldom so obliging.
How then? A knife, a pillow, a cup of heart’s bane?
All of those posed problems. When an old man died in his sleep no one thought twice of it, but a girl of six-and-ten found dead in bed was certain to raise awkward questions. Besides, Margaery never slept alone. Even with Ser Loras dying, there were swords about her night and day.
    Swords have two edges,