A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

Grace.”
    â€œThose men will help me to my crown,” she said. “Xaro has vast wealth, and
Pyat Pree—”
    â€œâ€”pretends to power,” the knight said brusquely. On his dark green
surcoat, the bear of House Mormont stood on its hind legs, black and fierce.
Jorah looked no less ferocious as he scowled at the crowd that filled the
bazaar. “I would not linger here long, my queen. I mislike the very smell of
this place.”
    Dany smiled. “Perhaps it’s the camels you’re smelling. The Qartheen themselves
seem sweet enough to my nose.”
    â€œSweet smells are sometimes used to cover foul ones.”
    My great bear,
Dany thought.
I am his queen, but I will always
be his cub as well, and he will always guard me.
It made her feel safe,
but sad as well. She wished she could love him better than she did.
    Xaro Xhoan Daxos had offered Dany the hospitality of his home while she was in
the city. She had expected something grand. She had not expected a palace
larger than many a market town.
It makes Magister Illyrio’s manse in
Pentos look like a swineherd’s hovel,
she thought. Xaro swore that his
home could comfortably house all of her people and their horses besides;
indeed, it swallowed them. An entire wing was given over to her. She would have
her own gardens, a marble bathing pool, a scrying tower and warlock’s maze.
Slaves would tend her every need. In her private chambers, the floors were
green marble, the walls draped with colorful silk hangings that shimmered with
every breath of air.

“You are too generous,” she told Xaro Xhoan Daxos.
    â€œFor the Mother of Dragons, no gift is too great.” Xaro was a languid,
elegant man with a bald head and a great beak of a nose crusted with rubies,
opals, and flakes of jade. “On the morrow, you shall feast upon peacock and
lark’s tongue, and hear music worthy of the most beautiful of women. The
Thirteen will come to do you homage, and all the great of Qarth.”
    All the great of Qarth will come to see my dragons,
Dany thought, yet
she thanked Xaro for his kindness before she sent him on his way. Pyat Pree
took his leave as well, vowing to petition the Undying Ones for an audience.
“A honor rare as summer snows.” Before he left he kissed her bare feet with
his pale blue lips and pressed on her a gift, a jar of ointment that he swore
would let her see the spirits of the air. Last of the three seekers to depart
was Quaithe the shadowbinder. From her Dany received only a warning.
“Beware,” the woman in the red lacquer mask said.
    â€œOf whom?”
    â€œOf all. They shall come day and night to see the wonder that has been born
again into the world, and when they see they shall lust. For dragons are fire
made flesh, and fire is power.”
    When Quaithe too was gone, Ser Jorah said, “She speaks truly, my
queen . . . though I like her no more than the
others.”
    â€œI do not understand her.” Pyat and Xaro had showered Dany with promises from
the moment they first glimpsed her dragons, declaring themselves her loyal
servants in all things, but from Quaithe she had gotten only the rare cryptic
word. And it

disturbed her that she had never seen the woman’s face.
Remember Mirri Maz
Duur,
she told herself.
Remember treachery.
She turned to her
bloodriders. “We will keep our own watch so long as we are here. See that no
one enters this wing of the palace without my leave, and take care that the
dragons are always well guarded.”
    â€œIt shall be done,
Khaleesi,
” Aggo said.
    â€œWe have seen only the parts of Qarth that Pyat Pree wished us to see,” she
went on. “Rakharo, go forth and look on the rest, and tell me what you find.
Take good men with you—and women, to go places where men are
forbidden.”
    â€œAs you say, I do, blood of my blood,” said Rakharo.
    â€œSer Jorah, find the docks and see what manner of ships lay at anchor. It has
been half a year since I last heard tidings from the Seven Kingdoms. Perhaps
the gods will have blown some good captain here from Westeros with a ship to
carry us home.”
    The knight frowned. “That would be no kindness. The Usurper will kill you, sure
as sunrise.” Mormont hooked his thumbs through his swordbelt. “My place is
here at your side.”
    â€œJhogo can guard me as well. You have more languages