A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

“Shae, would you bring us some wine?” He might need a drink.
Whatever brought the eunuch here in the dead of night was not like to be
good.
    â€œI almost fear to tell you why I’ve come, my lord,” Varys said when Shae had
left them. “I bring dire tidings.”
    â€œYou ought to dress in black feathers, Varys, you’re as bad an omen as any
raven.” Awkwardly, Tyrion pushed to his feet, half afraid to ask the next
question. “Is it Jaime?”
If they have harmed him, nothing will save
them.
    â€œNo, my lord. A different matter. Ser Cortnay Penrose is dead. Storm’s End has
opened its gates to Stannis Baratheon.”
    Dismay drove all other thoughts from Tyrion’s mind. When Shae returned with the
wine, he took one sip and flung the cup away to explode against the side of the
house. She raised a hand to shield herself from the shards as the wine ran down
the stones in long fingers, black in the moonlight. “
Damn
him!”
Tyrion said.
    Varys smiled, showing a mouth full of rotted teeth. “Who, my lord? Ser Cortnay
or Lord Stannis?”
    â€œBoth of them.” Storm’s End was strong, it should have been able to hold out
for half a year or more . . . time enough for his

father to finish with Robb Stark. “How did this happen?”
    Varys glanced at Shae. “My lord, must we trouble your sweet lady’s sleep with
such grim and bloody talk?”
    â€œA lady might be afraid,” said Shae, “but I’m not.”
    â€œYou should be,” Tyrion told her. “With Storm’s End fallen, Stannis will
soon turn his attention toward King’s Landing.” He regretted flinging away
that wine now. “Lord Varys, give us a moment, and I’ll ride back to the castle
with you.”
    â€œI shall wait in the stables.” He bowed and stomped off.
    Tyrion drew Shae down beside him. “You are not safe here.”
    â€œI have my walls, and the guards you gave me.”
    â€œSellswords,” Tyrion said. “They like my gold well enough, but will they die
for it? As for these walls, a man could stand on another’s shoulders and be
over in a heartbeat. A manse much like this one was burned during the riots.
They killed the goldsmith who owned it for the crime of having a full larder,
just as they tore the High Septon to pieces, raped Lollys half a hundred times,
and smashed Ser Aron’s skull in. What do you think they would do if they got
their hands on the Hand’s lady?”
    â€œThe Hand’s whore, you mean?” She looked at him with those big bold eyes of
hers. “Though I would be your lady, m’lord. I’d dress in all the beautiful
things you gave me, in satin and samite and cloth-of-gold, and I’d wear your
jewels and hold your hand and sit by you at feasts. I could give you sons, I
know I could . . . and I vow I’d never shame you.”
    My love for you shames me enough.
“A sweet dream, Shae.

Now put it aside, I beg you. It can never be.”
    â€œBecause of the queen? I’m not afraid of her either.”
    â€œI am.”
    â€œThen
kill
her and be done with it. It’s not as if there was any
love between you.”
    Tyrion sighed. “She’s my sister. The man who kills his own blood is cursed
forever in the sight of gods and men. Moreover, whatever you and I may think of
Cersei, my father and brother hold her dear. I can scheme with any man in the
Seven Kingdoms, but the gods have not equipped me to face Jaime with swords in
hand.”
    â€œThe Young Wolf and Lord Stannis have swords and they don’t scare
you.”
    How little you know, sweetling.
“Against them I have all the power
of House Lannister. Against Jaime or my father, I have no more than a twisted
back and a pair of stunted legs.”
    â€œYou have me.” Shae kissed him, her arms sliding around his neck as she
pressed her body to his.
    The kiss aroused him, as her kisses always did, but this time Tyrion gently
disentangled himself. “Not now. Sweetling, I have . . . well,
call it the seed of a plan. I think I might be able to bring you into the
castle kitchens.”
    Shae’s face went still. “The kitchens?”
    â€œYes. If I act through Varys, no one will be the wiser.”
    She giggled. “M’lord, I’d poison you. Every man who’s tasted my cooking has
told me what a