A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

pulled forward, but when a
thin sliver of moonlight touched his cheek, she knew him at once by the blotchy
skin and web of broken veins beneath. “Ser Dontos,” she breathed,
heartbroken. “Was it you?”
    â€œYes, my lady.” When he moved closer, she could smell the sour stench of wine
on his breath. “Me.” He reached out a hand.
    Sansa shrank back.
“Don’t!”
She slid her hand under her cloak, to
her hidden knife. “What . . . what do you want with
me?”
    â€œOnly to help you,” Dontos said, “as you helped me.”
    â€œYou’re drunk, aren’t you?”
    â€œOnly one cup of wine, to help my courage. If they catch me now, they’ll strip
the skin off my back.”
    And what will they do to me?
Sansa found herself thinking of Lady
again. She could smell out falsehood, she
could,
but she was dead,
Father had killed her, on account of Arya. She drew the knife and held it
before her with both hands.
    â€œAre you going to stab me?” Dontos asked.
    â€œI will,” she said. “Tell me who sent you.”
    â€œNo one, sweet lady. I swear it on my honor as a knight.”
    â€œA knight?” Joffrey had decreed that he was to be a knight no longer, only a
fool, lower even than Moon Boy. “I prayed to the gods for a knight to come
save me,” she said. “I prayed and prayed. Why would they send me a drunken
old fool?”
    â€œI deserve that, though . . . I know it’s queer,
but . . . all those years I was a knight, I was truly a fool,
and now that I am a fool I think . . . I think I may find it in
me to be a knight again, sweet lady. And all because of
you . . . your grace, your courage. You saved me, not only from
Joffrey, but from myself.” His voice dropped. “The singers say there was
another fool once who was the greatest knight of
all . . .”
    â€œFlorian,”
Sansa whispered. A shiver went through her.
    â€œSweet lady, I would be your Florian,” Dontos said humbly, falling to his
knees before her.
    Slowly, Sansa lowered the knife. Her head seemed terribly light, as if she were
floating.
This is madness, to trust myself to this drunkard, but if I turn
away will the chance ever come again?
“How . . . how
would you do it? Get me away?”
    Ser Dontos raised his face to her. “Taking you from the castle, that will be
the hardest. Once you’re out, there are ships that would take you home. I’d
need to find the coin and make the arrangements, that’s all.”
    â€œCould we go now?” she asked, hardly daring to hope.
    â€œThis very night? No, my lady, I fear not. First I must find a sure way to get
you from the castle when the hour is ripe.

It will not be easy, nor quick. They watch me as well.” He licked his lips
nervously. “Will you put away your blade?”
    Sansa slipped the knife beneath her cloak. “Rise, ser.”
    â€œThank you, sweet lady.” Ser Dontos lurched clumsily to his feet, and brushed
earth and leaves from his knees. “Your lord father was as true a man as the
realm has ever known, but I stood by and let them slay him. I said nothing, did
nothing . . . and yet, when Joffrey would have slain me, you
spoke up. Lady, I have never been a hero, no Ryam Redwyne or Barristan the
Bold. I’ve won no tourneys, no renown in war . . . but I
was
a knight once, and you have helped me remember what that meant.
My life is a poor thing, but it is yours.” Ser Dontos placed a hand on the
gnarled bole of the heart tree. He was shaking, she saw. “I vow, with your
father’s gods as witness, that I shall send you home.”
    He swore.
A solemn oath, before the gods.
“Then . . . I will put myself in your hands, ser. But how will
I know, when it is time to go? Will you send me another note?”
    Ser Dontos glanced about anxiously. “The risk is too great. You must come
here, to the godswood. As often as you can. This is the safest place. The
only
safe place. Nowhere else. Not in your chambers nor mine nor on
the steps nor in the yard, even if it seems we are alone. The stones have ears
in the Red Keep, and only here may we talk freely.”
    â€œOnly here,” Sansa said. “I’ll remember.”
    â€œAnd if I should seem cruel or mocking or indifferent when men are watching,