A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

and Gorne, and in ancient days Joramun, who blew the Horn of Winter and woke
giants from the earth. Each man

of them broke his strength on the Wall, or was broken by the power of
Winterfell on the far side . . . but the Night’s Watch is only
a shadow of what we were, and who remains to oppose the wildlings besides us?
The Lord of Winterfell is dead, and his heir has marched his strength south to
fight the Lannisters. The wildlings may never again have such a chance as this.
I knew Mance Rayder, Jon. He is an oathbreaker, yes . . . but
he has eyes to see, and no man has ever dared to name him
faintheart.”
    â€œWhat will we do?” asked Jon.
    â€œFind him,” said Mormont. “Fight him. Stop him.”
    Three hundred,
thought Jon,
against the fury of the wild.
His fingers opened and closed.

THEON
    S he was undeniably a beauty.
But your first is always beautiful,
Theon Greyjoy thought.
    â€œNow there’s a pretty grin,” a woman’s voice said behind him. “The lordling
likes the look of her, does he?”
    Theon turned to give her an appraising glance. He liked what he saw. Ironborn,
he knew at a glance; lean and long-legged, with black hair cut short,
wind-chafed skin, strong sure hands, a dirk at her belt. Her nose was too big
and too sharp for her thin face, but her smile made up for it. He judged her a
few years older than he was, but no more than five-and-twenty. She moved as if
she were used to a deck beneath her feet.
    â€œYes, she’s a sweet sight,” he told her, “though not half so sweet as
you.”
    â€œOho.” She grinned. “I’d best be careful. This lordling has a honeyed
tongue.”
    â€œTaste it and see.”
    â€œIs it that way, then?” she said, eyeing him boldly. There were women on the
Iron Islands—not many, but a few—who crewed the longships along
with their men, and it was said that salt and sea changed them, gave them a
man’s appetites. “Have you been that long at sea, lordling? Or were there no
women where you came from?”
    â€œWomen enough, but none like you.”
    â€œAnd how would you know what I’m like?”
    â€œMy eyes can see your face. My ears can hear your laughter. And my cock’s gone
hard as a mast for you.”
    The woman stepped close and pressed a hand to the front of his breeches.
“Well, you’re no liar,” she said, giving him a squeeze through the cloth.
“How bad does it hurt?”
    â€œFiercely.”
    â€œPoor lordling.” She released him and stepped back. “As it happens, I’m a
woman wed, and new with child.”
    â€œThe gods are good,” Theon said. “No chance I’d give you a bastard that
way.”
    â€œEven so, my man wouldn’t thank you.”
    â€œNo, but you might.”
    â€œAnd why would that be? I’ve had lords before. They’re made the same as other
men.”
    â€œHave you ever had a prince?” he asked her. “When you’re wrinkled and grey
and your teats hang past your belly, you can tell your children’s children that
once you loved a king.”
    â€œOh, is it love we’re talking now? And here I thought it was just cocks and
cunts.”
    â€œIs it love you fancy?” He’d decided that he liked this wench, whoever she
was; her sharp wit was a welcome respite from the damp gloom of Pyke. “Shall I
name my longship after you, and play you the high harp, and keep you in a tower
room in my castle with only jewels to wear, like a princess in a song?”
    â€œYou
ought
to name your ship after me,” she said, ignoring
all the rest. “It was me who built her.”
    â€œSigrin built her. My lord father’s shipwright.”
    â€œI’m Esgred. Ambrode’s daughter, and wife to Sigrin.”
    He had not known that Ambrode had a daughter, or Sigrin a
wife . . . but he’d met the younger shipwright only once, and
the older one he scarce remembered. “You’re wasted on Sigrin.”
    â€œOho. Sigrin told me this sweet ship is wasted on you.”
    Theon bristled. “Do you know who I am?”
    â€œPrince Theon of House Greyjoy. Who else? Tell me true, my lord, how well do
you love her, this new maid of yours? Sigrin will want to know.”
    The longship was so new that she still smelled of pitch and resin. His uncle
Aeron would bless her on the