A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

carrying him, and I’m sick of all his talk about
yielding too. If he could stand up, I’d knock his teeth in. Lommy’s no use to
anyone. That crying girl’s no use either.”
    â€œYou leave Weasel alone, she’s just scared and hungry is

all.” Arya glanced back, but the girl was not following for once. Hot Pie must
have grabbed her, like Gendry had told him.
    â€œShe’s no use,” Gendry repeated stubbornly. “Her and Hot Pie and Lommy,
they’re slowing us down, and they’re going to get us killed. You’re the only
one of the bunch who’s good for anything. Even if you are a girl.”
    Arya froze in her steps.
“I’m not a girl!”
    â€œYes you are. Do you think I’m as stupid as they are?”
    â€œNo, you’re stupider. The Night’s Watch doesn’t take girls, everyone knows
that.”
    â€œThat’s true. I don’t know why Yoren brought you, but he must have had some
reason. You’re still a girl.”
    â€œI am not!”
    â€œThen pull out your cock and take a piss. Go on.”
    â€œI don’t need to take a piss. If I wanted to I could.”
    â€œLiar. You can’t take out your cock because you don’t have one. I never
noticed before when there were thirty of us, but you always go off in the woods
to make your water. You don’t see Hot Pie doing that, nor me neither. If you’re
not a girl, you must be some eunuch.”
    â€œ
You’re
the eunuch.”
    â€œYou know I’m not.” Gendry smiled. “You want me to take out my cock and
prove it? I don’t have anything to hide.”
    â€œYes you do,” Arya blurted, desperate to escape the subject of the cock she
didn’t have. “Those gold cloaks were after you at the inn, and you won’t tell
us why.”
    â€œI wish I knew. I think Yoren knew, but he never told me. Why did you
think they were after you, though?”
    Arya bit her lip. She remembered what Yoren had said, the day he had hacked off
her hair.
This lot, half o’ them would turn you over to the queen quick as
spit for a pardon and maybe a few silvers. The other half’d do the same, only
they’d rape you first.
Only Gendry was different, the queen wanted him
too. “I’ll tell you if you’ll tell me,” she said warily.
    â€œI would if I knew, Arry . . . is that really what you’re
called, or do you have some girl’s name?”
    Arya glared at the gnarled root by her feet. She realized that the pretense was
done. Gendry knew, and she had nothing in her pants to convince him otherwise.
She could draw Needle and kill him where he stood, or else trust him. She
wasn’t certain she’d be able to kill him, even if she tried; he had his own
sword, and he was a
lot
stronger. All that was left was the truth.
“Lommy and Hot Pie can’t know,” she said.
    â€œThey won’t,” he swore. “Not from me.”
    â€œArya.” She raised her eyes to his. “My name is Arya. Of House
Stark.”
    â€œOf House . . .” It took him a moment before he said, “The
King’s Hand was named Stark. The one they killed for a traitor.”
    â€œHe was never a traitor. He was my father.”
    Gendry’s eyes widened. “So
that
’s why you
thought . . .”
    She nodded. “Yoren was taking me home to Winterfell.”
    â€œI . . . you’re highborn then, a . . . you’ll
be a lady . . .”
    Arya looked down at her ragged clothes and bare feet, all cracked and
callused. She saw the dirt under her nails, the scabs on her elbows, the
scratches on her hands.
Septa Mordane wouldn’t even know me, I bet. Sansa
might, but she’d pretend not to.
“My mother’s a lady, and my sister, but
I never was.”
    â€œYes you were. You were a lord’s daughter and you lived in a castle, didn’t
you? And you . . . gods be good, I never . . .”
All of a sudden Gendry seemed uncertain, almost afraid. “All that about cocks,
I never should have said that. And I been pissing in front of you and
everything, I . . . I beg your pardon, m’lady.”
    â€œStop that!”
Arya hissed. Was he mocking her?
    â€œI know my courtesies, m’lady,” Gendry said, stubborn as ever. “Whenever
highborn girls came