"Lord Florent got what he deserved," Mace Tyrell declared importantly, sweeping his gaze across the entire Council. "Traitors always end up that way."
I wondered why my father-in-law had said that so pointedly. Soon enough, I learned that the Florents had not long ago been a proud, wealthy, ancient house, one that refused to acknowledge Tyrell seniority, considering them outright upstarts—unworthy of ruling the Reach.
After the Battle of Blackwater and Stannis's defeat, the Florents lost their last holdings, and their castle, Brightwater Keep, on the upper reaches of the Honeywine, passed to Ser Garlan Tyrell.
Once the Council finished discussing the gods and the bonfires lit in their honor, it moved on to people. As it turned out, Stannis's affairs were going frankly poorly. He had entrenched himself on Dragonstone, but his men were hardly eager to support him and did not believe in any ultimate victory.
Adding to their unrest was the presence of the red priestess Melisandre, who had persuaded him to abandon his old faith and whose opinion carried considerable weight. Many of his vassals disliked this, and it only heightened their anxiety.
"I think Lord Stannis will first want to set his finances in order," Kivan said confidently.
I already knew that he was merely conveying to the others their shared thoughts with Tywin. The two of them often secluded themselves to discuss this or that matter, and then Kivan would present the conclusion. Tywin himself preferred to remain in the shadows, creating the illusion that the Council was truly deliberating.
"He won't get the money. None of the great houses will help him!" Mace objected confidently.
"He can borrow from the Iron Bank," I remarked cautiously, recalling the canon. For the first time, I had not only asked questions but ventured my own opinion.
Now I looked at the others with genuine interest, curious to see how they would react.
"Do you think the Iron Bank will agree to help him?" Oberyn became interested and turned his sharp, diamond-like brown eyes towards me. There was no more warmth in his gaze than in a cobra's before its final strike.
"Yes—if he takes on the Kingdom's debts and commits to paying them off after he claims the Iron Throne."
"That would be a new risk for the Iron Bank. And they do not like risks. Stannis has little chance of fulfilling such plans," Jaime observed.
"So they're simply hedging their bets," Tyrion said, immediately grasping my thought and glancing around the Council. "It doesn't matter who ends up on the Iron Throne. The Iron Bank will always collect its due."
"That is an unpleasant prospect," Pycelle sighed.
"But a very real one," Kivan added, glancing toward Tywin.
"Can we prevent it?" I asked my grandfather.
"How do you envision that?"
"Send a trusted man to Braavos, someone who can persuade the Iron Bank not to lend to Lord Stannis."
When proposing this, I understood perfectly well that if it worked, it would break the sequence of events as I knew them. On the other hand, I had already broken it by staying alive. Now I had one essential task: to strengthen my own position. And for that, I had no interest in Stannis receiving any funding. It was in the Kingdom's interest for the North and the Wall to remain in a state of war and anarchy as long as possible. After all, we had our vassal and ally there—Lord Roose Bolton, appointed Warden of the North. Let him handle those troubles. Only then would it be our turn to address the Others—fortunately, we still had a few years before those events.
And I also urgently needed to begin earning authority by showing that, at times, I was capable of thinking rationally and suggesting sensible, non-delusional ideas.
"I think there is merit in that," Lord Tywin finally nodded. "We will consider this idea, Your Majesty."
There truly was merit in it, according to the Hand of the King. Following his plan, Lord Mathis Rowan departed for Braavos two days later. Tywin did not deem it necessary to inform me of the instructions he had given Rowan. But for some reason, I was inclined to believe that Lord Goldengrove carried more than one mission—besides the matter of Stannis, he must surely take a closer look at the situation in Braavos, raise the issue of the Kingdom's own debts, gather rumors about affairs throughout Essos, and perhaps hire a few mercenary companies…
By attending the councils, I gradually became familiar with the general state of affairs. That was how I learned that Daenerys Targaryen and her army were marching on Meereen. Along the roads hung dead bodies, nailed to posts with their arms outstretched to show her the way—this was how the Great Masters of Meereen displayed their contempt.
Unfortunately, we could do nothing about what was happening far to the east. News of events and affairs there took too long to reach us; Daenerys had found loyal followers, and events were unfolding just as they had in the canon. Moreover, according to Varys, his only spy in Daenerys's camp—Ser Jorah Mormont—was sending fewer and fewer letters describing the state of affairs. It seemed he was beginning to feel weighed down by his role as a traitor.
One simply had to accept this. Still, the inevitable moment when Daenerys's dragons would grow, when she would gather her army and cross into Westeros, was frankly frightening. Studying the maps, I even figured out how she could move her dragons from one continent to another—she would use the Stepstones, where reptiles could rest and regain their strength.