"Does Lord Baelish seek our help?" asked Harys Swyft.
"Not as yet. In truth, he seems quite unconcerned. His last letter mentions the rebels only briefly before beseeching me to ship him some old tapestries of Robert's."
Ser Harys fingered his chin beard. "And these lords of the declaration, do they appeal to the king to take a hand?"
"They do not."
"Then . . . mayhaps we need do nothing."
"A war in the Vale would be most tragic," said Pycelle.
"War?" Orton Merryweather laughed. "Lord Baelish is a most amusing man, but one does not fight a war with witticisms. I doubt there will be bloodshed. And does it matter who is regent for little Lord Robert, so long as the Vale remits its taxes?"
No, Cersei decided. If truth be told, Littlefinger had been more use at court. He had a gift for finding gold, and never coughed. "Lord Orton has convinced me. Maester Pycelle, instruct these Lords Declarant that no harm must come to Petyr. Elsewise, the crown is content with whatever dispositions they might make for the governance of the Vale during Robert Arryn's minority."
"Very good, Your Grace."
"Might we discuss the fleet?" asked Aurane Waters. "Fewer than a dozen of our ships survived the inferno on the Blackwater. We must needs restore our strength at sea."
Merryweather nodded. "Strength at sea is most essential."
"Could we make use of the ironmen?" asked Orton Merryweather. "The enemy of our enemy? What would the Seastone Chair want of us as the price of an alliance?"
"They want the north," Grand Maester Pycelle said, "which our queen's noble father promised to House Bolton."
"How inconvenient," said Merryweather. "Still, the north is large. The lands could be pided. It need not be a permanent arrangement. Bolton might consent, so long as we assure him that our strength will be his once Stannis is destroyed."
"Balon Greyjoy is dead, I had heard," said Ser Harys Swyft. "Do we know who rules the isles now? Did Lord Balon have a son?"
"Leo?" coughed Lord Gyles. "Theo?"
"Theon Greyjoy was raised at Winterfell, a ward of Eddard Stark," Qyburn said. "He is not like to be a friend of ours."
"I had heard he was slain," said Merryweather.
"Was there only one son?" Ser Harys Swyft tugged upon his chin beard. "Brothers. There were brothers. Were there not?"
Varys would have known, Cersei thought with irritation. "I do not propose to climb in bed with that sorry pack of squids. Their turn will come, once we have dealt with Stannis. What we require is our own fleet."
"I propose we build new dromonds," said Aurane Waters. "Ten, to start with."
"Where is the coin to come from?" asked Pycelle.
Lord Gyles took that as an invitation to begin coughing again. He brought up more pink spittle and dabbed it away with a square of red silk. "There is no . . ." he managed, before the coughing ate his words. ". . . no . . . we do not . . ."
Ser Harys proved swift enough at least to grasp the meaning between the coughs. "The crown incomes have never been greater," he objected. "Ser Kevan told me so himself."
Lord Gyles coughed. ". . . expenses . . . gold cloaks . . ."
Cersei had heard his objections before. "Our lord treasurer is trying to say that we have too many gold cloaks and too little gold." Rosby's coughing had begun to vex her. Perhaps Garth the Gross would not have been so ill. "Though large, the crown incomes are not large enough to keep abreast of Robert's debts. Accordingly, I have decided to defer our repayment of the sums owed the Holy Faith and the Iron Bank of Braavos until war's end." The new High Septon would doubtless wring his holy hands, and the Braavosi would squeak and squawk at her, but what of it? "The monies saved will be used for the building of our new fleet."
"Your Grace is prudent," said Lord Merryweather. "This is a wise measure. And needed, until the war is done. I concur."
"And I," said Ser Harys.
"Your Grace," Pycelle said in a quavering voice, "this will cause more trouble than you know, I fear. The Iron Bank . . ."
". . . remains on Braavos, far across the sea. They shall have their gold, maester. A Lannister pays his debts."
"The Braavosi have a saying too." Pycelle's jeweled chain clinked softly. "The Iron Bank will have its due, they say."
"The Iron Bank will have its due when I say they will. Until such time, the Iron Bank will wait respectfully. Lord Waters, commence the building of your dromonds."
"Very good, Your Grace."
Ser Harys shuffled through some papers. "The next matter . . . we have had a letter from Lord Frey putting forth some claims . . ."
"How many lands and honors does that man want?" snapped the queen. "His mother must have had three teats."
"My lords may not know," said Qyburn, "but in the winesinks and pot shops of this city, there are those who suggest that the crown might have been somehow complicit in Lord Walder's crime."
The other councillors stared at him uncertainly. "Do you refer to the Red Wedding?" asked Aurane Waters. "Crime?" said Ser Harys. Pycelle cleared his throat noisily. Lord Gyles coughed.
"These sparrows are especially outspoken," warned Qyburn. "The Red Wedding was an affront to all the laws of gods and men, they say, and those who had a hand in it are damned."
Cersei was not slow to take his meaning. "Lord Walder must soon face the Father's judgment. He is very old. Let the sparrows spit upon his memory. It has nought to do with us."
"No," said Ser Harys. "No," said Lord Merryweather. "No one could think so," said Pycelle. Lord Gyles coughed.
"A little spittle on Lord Walder's tomb is not like to disturb the grave worms," Qyburn agreed, "but it would also be useful if someone were to be punished for the Red Wedding. A few Frey heads would do much to mollify the north."
"Lord Walder will never sacrifice his own," said Pycelle.
"No," mused Cersei, "but his heirs may be less squeamish. Lord Walder will soon do us the courtesy of dying, we can hope. What better way for the new Lord of the Crossing to rid himself of inconvenient half brothers, disagreeable cousins, and scheming sisters than by naming them the culprits?"
"Whilst we await Lord Walder's death, there is another matter," said Aurane Waters. "The Golden Company has broken its contract with Myr. Around the docks I've heard men say that Lord Stannis has hired them and is bringing them across the sea."
"What would he pay them with?" asked Merryweather. "Snow? They are called the Golden Company. How much gold does Stannis have?"
"Little enough," Cersei assured him. "Lord Qyburn has spoken to the crew of that Myrish galley in the bay. They claim the Golden Company is making for Volantis. If they mean to cross to Westeros, they are marching in the wrong direction."
"Perhaps they grew weary of fighting on the losing side," suggested Lord Merryweather.
"There is that as well," agreed the queen. "Only a blind man could fail to see our war is all but won. Lord Tyrell has Storm's End invested. Riverrun is besieged by the Freys and my cousin Daven, our new Warden of the West. Lord Redwyne's ships have passed through the Straits of Tarth and are moving swiftly up the coast. Only a few fishing boats remain on Dragonstone to oppose Redwyne's landing. The castle may hold for some time, but once we have the port we can cut the garrison off from the sea. Then only Stannis himself will remain to vex us."
"If Lord Janos can be believed, he is trying to make common cause with the wildlings," warned Grand Maester Pycelle.
"Savages in skins," declared Lord Merryweather. "Lord Stannis must be desperate indeed, to seek such allies."
"Desperate and foolish," the queen agreed. "The northmen hate the wildlings. Roose Bolton should have no trouble winning them to our cause. A few have already joined up with his bastard son to help him clear the wretched ironmen from Moat Cailin and clear the way for Lord Bolton to return. Umber, Ryswell . . . I forget the other names. Even White Harbor is on the point of joining us. Its lord has agreed to marry both his granddaughters to our friends of Frey and open his port to our ships."
"I thought we had no ships," Ser Harys said, confused.
"Wyman Manderly was a loyal bannerman to Eddard Stark," said Grand Maester Pycelle. "Can such a man be trusted?
No one can be trusted. "He's a fat old man, and frightened. However, he is proving stubborn on one point. He insists that he will not bend the knee until his heir has been returned to him."
"Do we have this heir?" asked Ser Harys.
"He will be at Harrenhal, if he is still alive. Gregor Clegane took him captive." The Mountain had not always been gentle with his prisoners, even those worth a goodly ransom. "If he is dead, I suppose we will need to send Lord Manderly the heads of those who killed him, with our most sincere apologies." If one head was enough to appease a prince of Dorne, a bag of them should be more than adequate for a fat northman wrapped in sealskins.
"Will not Lord Stannis seek to win the allegiance of White Harbor as well?" asked Grand Maester Pycelle.
"Oh, he has tried. Lord Manderly has sent his letters on to us and replied with evasions. Stannis demands White Harbor's swords and silver, for which he offers . . . well, nothing." One day she must light a candle to the Stranger for carrying Renly off and leaving Stannis. If it had been the other way around, her life would have been harder. "Just this morning there was another bird. Stannis has sent his onion smuggler to treat with White Harbor on his behalf. Manderly has clapped the wretch inside a cell. He asks us what he should do with him."
"Send him here, that we might question him," suggested Lord Merryweather. "The man might know much of value."
"Let him die," said Qyburn. "His death will be a lesson to the north, to show them what becomes of traitors."
"I quite agree," the queen said. "I have instructed Lord Manderly to have his head off forthwith. That should put an end to any chance of White Harbor supporting Stannis."
"Stannis will need another Hand," observed Aurane Waters with a chuckle. "The turnip knight, perhaps?"
"A turnip knight?" said Ser Harys Swyft, confused. "Who is this man? I have not heard of him."
Waters did not reply, except to roll his eyes.
"What if Lord Manderly should refuse?" asked Merryweather.
"He dare not. The onion knight's head is the coin he'll need to buy his son's life." Cersei smiled. "The fat old fool may have been loyal to the Starks in his own way, but with the wolves of Winterfell extinguished - "
"Your Grace has forgotten the Lady Sansa," said Pycelle.
The queen bristled. "I most certainly have not forgotten that little she-wolf." She refused to say the girl's name. "I ought to have shown her to the black cells as the daughter of a traitor, but instead I made her part of mine own household. She shared my hearth and hall, played with my own children. I fed her, dressed her, tried to make her a little less ignorant about the world, and how did she repay me for my kindness? She helped murder my son. When we find the Imp, we will find the Lady Sansa too. She is not dead . . . but before I am done with her, I promise you, she will be singing to the Stranger, begging for his kiss."