A Game of Thrones 4-Book Bundle

good whore I am.”
    â€œThe Red Keep has sufficient cooks. Butchers and bakers

too. You’d need to pose as a scullion.”
    â€œA pot girl,” she said, “in scratchy brown roughspun. Is that how m’lord
wants to see me?”
    â€œM’lord wants to see you alive,” Tyrion said. “You can scarcely scour pots
in silk and velvet.”
    â€œHas m’lord grown tired of me?” She reached a hand under his tunic and found
his cock. In two quick strokes she had it hard. “
He
still wants
me.” She laughed. “Would you like to fuck your kitchen wench, m’lord? You can
dust me with flour and suck gravy off my titties if
you . . .”
    â€œStop it.” The way she was acting reminded him of Dancy, who had tried so
hard to win her wager. He yanked her hand away to keep her from further
mischief. “This is not the time for bed sport, Shae. Your life may be at
stake.”
    Her grin was gone. “If I’ve displeased m’lord, I never meant it,
only . . . couldn’t you just give me more guards?”
    Tyrion breathed a deep sigh.
Remember how young she is,
he told
himself. He took her hand. “Your gems can be replaced, and new gowns can be
sewn twice as lovely as the old. To me, you’re the most precious thing within
these walls. The Red Keep is not safe either, but it’s a deal safer than here.
I want you there.”
    â€œIn the kitchens.” Her voice was flat. “Scouring pots.”
    â€œFor a short while.”
    â€œMy father made me his kitchen wench,” she said, her mouth twisting. “That
was why I ran off.”
    â€œYou told me you ran off because your father made you his

whore,” he reminded her.
    â€œThat too. I didn’t like scouring his pots no more than I liked his cock in
me.” She tossed her head. “Why can’t you keep me in your tower? Half the
lords at court keep bedwarmers.”
    â€œI was expressly forbidden to take you to court.”
    â€œBy your stupid father.” Shae pouted. “You’re old enough to keep all the
whores you want. Does he take you for a beardless boy? What could he do, spank
you?”
    He slapped her. Not hard, but hard enough. “Damn you,” he said.
“
Damn
you.
Never
mock me. Not
you.
”
    For a moment Shae did not speak. The only sound was the cricket, chirping,
chirping. “Beg pardon, m’lord,” she said at last, in a heavy wooden voice.
“I never meant to be impudent.”
    And I never meant to strike you. Gods be good, am I turning into
Cersei?
“That was ill done,” he said. “On both our parts. Shae, you do
not understand.” Words he had never meant to speak came tumbling out of him
like mummers from a hollow horse. “When I was thirteen, I wed a crofter’s
daughter. Or so I thought her. I was blind with love for her, and thought she
felt the same for me, but my father rubbed my face in the truth. My bride was a
whore Jaime had hired to give me my first taste of manhood.”
And I
believed all of it, fool that I was.
“To drive the lesson home, Lord
Tywin gave my wife to a barracks of his guardsmen to use as they pleased, and
commanded me to watch.”
And to take her one last time, after the rest
were done. One last time, with no trace of love or tenderness remaining. “So
you will remember her as

she truly is,” he said, and I should have defied him, but my cock betrayed me,
and I did as I was bid.
“After he was done with her, my father had the
marriage undone. It was as if we had never been wed, the septons said.” He
squeezed her hand. “Please, let’s have no more talk of the Tower of the Hand.
You will be in the kitchens only a little while. Once we’re done with Stannis,
you’ll have another manse, and silks as soft as your hands.”
    Shae’s eyes had grown large but he could not read what lay behind them. “My
hands won’t be soft if I clean ovens and scrape plates all day. Will you still
want them touching you when they’re all red and raw and cracked from hot water
and lye soap?”
    â€œMore than ever,” he said. “When I look at them, they’ll remind me how brave
you were.”
    He could not say if she believed him. She lowered her eyes. “I am yours to
command, m’lord.”
    It was as much acceptance as she could