A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

Starks have made you theirs.”
    â€œYou’re wrong,” Theon said. “Ned Stark was my gaoler, but my blood is still salt and iron.”
    Lord Balon turned away and warmed his boney hands over the brazier. “Yet the Stark pup sends you to me like a well-trained raven, clutching his little message.”
    â€œThere is nothing small about the letter I bear,” Theon said, “and the offer he makes is one
I
suggested to him.”
    â€œThis wolf king heeds your counsel, does he?” The notion seemed to amuse Lord Balon.
    â€œHe heeds me, yes. I’ve hunted with him, trained with him, shared meat and mead with him, warred at his side. I have earned his trust. He looks on me as an older brother, he—”
    â€œNo.”
His father jabbed a finger at his face. “Not here, not in Pyke, not in my hearing, you will not name him
brother
, this son of the man who put your true brothers to the sword. Or have you forgotten Rodrik and Maron, who were your own blood?”
    â€œI forget nothing.” Theon might have reminded his father that Ned Stark had killed neither of his sons, in truth. Rodrik had been slain by Lord Jason Mallister at Seagard, Maron crushed in the collapse of the old south tower … but Stark
would
have done for them just as quick had the tide of battle chanced to sweep them together. “I remember my brothers very well,” he said instead. Chiefly he remembered Rodrik’s drunken cuffs and Maron’s cruel japes and endless lies. “I remember when my father was a king, too.” He took out the letter Robb had given him, and thrust it forward. “Here. Read it … Your Grace.”
    Lord Balon broke the seal and unfolded the parchment. His black eyes flicked back and forth. “So the boy would give me a crown again,” he said, “and all I need do is destroy his enemies.” His thin lips twisted in a smile.
    â€œBy now Robb is likely besieging the Golden Tooth,” Theon said. “Once it falls, he’ll be through the hills in a day. Lord Tywin and his host are at Harrenhal, cut off from the west. The Kingslayer is a captive at Riverrun. Only Ser Stafford Lannister and the raw green levies he’s been gathering remain to oppose Robb in the west. Ser Stafford will have nochoice but to put himself between Robb’s army and Lannisport … which means the city will be undefended when we descend on it by sea. If the gods are with us, even Casterly Rock itself may fall before the Lannisters so much as realize that we are upon them.”
    Lord Balon grunted. “Casterly Rock has never fallen.”
    â€œUntil now.” Theon smiled.
And how sweet that will be
. His father did not return the smile. “So this is why Robb Stark sends you back to me, after so long? So you might win my consent to this plan of his?”
    â€œIt is my plan, not Robb’s,” Theon said proudly.
Mine, as the victory will be mine, and in time the crown
. “I will lead the attack myself, if it please you. As my reward I would ask that you grant me Casterly Rock for my own seat, once we have taken it from the Lannisters.” With the Rock, he could hold Lannisport and the green lands of the west, and the gold-rich hills that surrounded them. It would mean wealth and power such as House Greyjoy had never known.
    â€œYou reward yourself handsomely for a notion and a few lines of scribbling.” His father read the letter again. “The pup says nothing about a reward. Only that you speak for him, and I am to listen, and give him my sails and swords, and in return he will give me a crown.” His flinty eyes lifted to meet his son’s. “He will
give
me a crown,” he repeated, his voice growing sharp.
    â€œA poor choice of words, what is meant is—”
    â€œWhat is meant is what is said. The boy will
give
me a crown. And what is given can be taken away.” Lord Balon tossed the letter onto the brazier, atop the necklace. The parchment curled, blackened, and took flame.
    Theon was aghast. “Have you gone mad?”
    His father laid a stinging backhand across his cheek. “Mind your tongue. You are not in Winterfell now, and I am not Robb the Boy, that you should speak to me so. I am the Greyjoy, Lord Reaper of Pyke, King of Salt and Rock, Son of the Sea Wind, and no man gives me a crown. I pay the iron price. I will
take
my crown, as Urron Redhand did five