A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

always the victims of the strong.”
    The king considered that, licking honey off his fingers. “When Ser Loras comes back I’m going to learn to fight with lance and sword and morningstar, the same way he does.”
    â€œYou will learn to fight,” the queen promised, “but not from Ser Loras. He will not be coming back, Tommen.”
    â€œMargaery says he will. We pray for him. We ask for the Mother’s mercy, and for the Warrior to give him strength. Elinor says that this is Ser Loras’s hardest battle.”
    She smoothed his hair back, the soft golden curls that reminded her so much of Joff. “Will you be spending the afternoon with your wife and her cousins?”
    â€œNot today. She has to fast and purify herself, she said.”
    Fast and purify . . . oh, for Maiden’s Day.
It had been years since Cersei had been required to observe that particular holy day.
Thrice wed, yet she still would have us believe she is a maid.
Demure in white, the little queen would lead her hens to Baelor’s Sept to light tall white candles at the Maiden’s feet and hang parchment garlands about her holy neck.
A few of her hens, at least.
On Maiden’s Day widows, mothers, and whores alike were barred from the septs, along with men, lest they profane the sacred songs of innocence. Only virgin maids could . . .
    â€œMother? Did I say something wrong?”
    Cersei kissed her son’s brow. “You said something very wise, sweetling. Now run along and play with your kittens.”
    Afterward she summoned Ser Osney Kettleblack to her solar. He came in sweaty from the yard and swaggering, and as he took a knee he undressed her with his eyes, the way he always did.
    â€œRise, ser, and sit here next to me. You did me a valiant service once, but now I have a harder task for you.”
    â€œAye, and I have something hard for you.”
    â€œThat must wait.” She traced his scars lightly with the tips of her fingers. “Do you recall the whore who gave these to you? I’ll give her to you when you come back from the Wall. Would you like that?”
    â€œIt’s you I want.”
    That was the right answer. “First you must confess your treason. A man’s sins can poison his soul if left to fester. I know it must be hard for you to live with what you’ve done. It is past time that you rid yourself of your shame.”
    â€œShame?” Osney sounded baffled. “I told Osmund, Margaery just teases. She never lets me do any more than . . .”
    â€œIt is chivalrous of you to protect her,” Cersei broke in, “but you are too good a knight to go on living with your crime. No, you must take yourself to the Great Sept of Baelor this very night and speak with the High Septon. When a man’s sins are so black, only His High Holiness himself can save him from hell’s torments. Tell him how you bedded Margaery and her cousins.”
    Osney blinked. “What, the cousins too?”
    â€œMegga and Elinor,” she decided, “never Alla.” That little detail would make the whole story more plausible. “Alla would sit weeping, and plead with the others to stop their sinning.”
    â€œJust Megga and Elinor? Or Margaery too?”
    â€œMargaery, most certainly. She was the one behind it all.”
    She told him all she had in mind. As Osney listened, apprehension slowly spread across his face. When she finished he said, “After you cut her head off, I want to take that kiss she never gave me.”
    â€œYou may take all the kisses you like.”
    â€œAnd then the Wall?”
    â€œFor just a little while. Tommen is a forgiving king.”
    Osney scratched at his scarred cheek. “Usually if I lie about some woman, it’s me saying how I never fucked them and them saying how I did. This . . . I never lied to no
High Septon
before. I think you go to some hell for that. One o’ the bad ones.”
    The queen was taken aback. The last thing she expected was piety from a Kettleblack. “Are you refusing to obey me?”
    â€œNo.” Osney touched her golden hair. “The thing is, the best lies have some truth in ’em . . . to give ’em flavor, as it were. And you want me to go tell how I fucked a queen . . .”
    She almost slapped his face. Almost. But she had gone too far, and too much was at stake.
All I do, I do for Tommen.
She turned her head and caught Ser Osney’s hand with her