Chapter 44: Drifting High, A Chase and Run—

  She sat on a carved woode, just a step below her son’s Iron Throne’s loomi. Flickers of torchlight caught the metal bdes fused into the throne behind her, casting uneasy shadows that fshed across her face like ghosts. She smelled the sweat and sensed fear lingered in the Great Hall as so many city guards k before her son.

  Joffrey’s barking voice carried from across the chamber, but she paid it no mind. The otion in the hall was merely an afterthought in her mind.

  Rhaegar Targaryen. The tled her more than any riot. Her mind screamed that name for her, and she’d have trembled if she was alone.

  She remembered her younger self, head filled with dreams—dreams with a silver-haired pri their ter. She once believed she’d marry him and e very close to that. He almost became her fiance, if only King Aerys II wasn’t a senile old fucker who’d grown increasingly paranoid of Tywin, believing that his Hand was being too powerful. He refused the marriage proposal as a way to humiliate Tywin and keep him in check.

  Then again, was he truly senile when all his as were mostly right?

  She sighed and pushed that thought aside. She didn’t care about an old dead geezer. She cared about his handsome dead son… She’s always wished to be with Rhaegar, a cold reality offered only Robert Baratheon’s drunken fists and stinking breath. Jaime’s closeness had dulled that ache but never erased it. She’d ell her brother that she used him as a rept far; he was a sed choibsp;

  Despite all that, why were there rumors ar returning suddenly? As a “ghost,” no less. Just a doppelganger? Or… Magic? A small part of her fli the idea, but she khe world was full of dark wonders. She herself had lived by a prophecy’s shadow for too long to dismiss it.

  She frowned. What was the point of w about things she couldn’t firm? From the er of her eye, she caught Joffrey waving off the City Guards, hurling curses at them to find “that bastard Targaryen” but failing to give proper instrus.

  He ranted on, voice shrill with wounded pride. Cersei exhaled slowly, f her nerves bato calm.

  If the rumors were true and Rhaegar—or something like him—walked the city, she had to see it with her own eyes. Her chest fluttered at the thought, half fear, half longing. It was idiocracy, she knew, but… she was infatuated to this day.

  “What in the seven hells do you mean you didn’t find anything, you heathens! You waste of food!” Finally, Jrew louder, making the entire hall fall silent. He was only making a muddle of the guards’ orders. Her lips parted in a faint, disdainful smile.

  How had her son skipped the Lannister intelligence?

  He was just like Jamie.

  He couldn’t expect to quell the city’s chaos like this. It wouldn’t work. Thankfully, he had him by her side. Restraint snapped in her chest, and her voice cut .

  “Enough.” The single word rippled through the hall. Joffrey fell silent, shocked at the interruption. He scowled and opened his mouth to shout, but Cersei shot him a sharp look. “I’ll do the talking.”

  She couldn’t uand where the bravery came from, even though he’d threatened her before, but she moved anyway. She rose an inch from her seat, gazing over the uneasy guards. “He’s clearly not a normal person. He fly. But nobody saw him leave the walls of the city. So he’s still here. Keep searg for him. I’m certain it should be difficult… but not impossible. You will scour every er of King’s Landing,” she decred. “Find this dragon-winged pretender calling himself Rhaegar.”

  She watched their expressions and ched her jaw. “I don’t care if the rumor sounds absurd or if you fear it. Drag him here, dead or alive.” Preferably alive, but she couldn’t say that here.

  “Alive!” Joffrey suddenly smmed his fist ohrone’s armrest. “I want to kill him myself!”

  Cersei looked at her son and then smiled. Oh, her lovely baby was helping her so much, even without intending to. Must be the spiritual e of a mother and son.

  Despite the smile on her lips, she hadn’t realized her hands had ched into fists until she forced them open. If this ghost is the true him, she told herself, I’ll discover what he wants—and if it’s a lookalike… Her heart squeezed at the possibility. I’d get myself a Rhaegar Pet Targaryen.

  “All of you,” she so the guards, “go. Now!” \

  They scrambled away into the gloom, leaving only her and Joffrey. She hardly g her son’s affronted face. One way or another, I will meet you, Ghost of Targaryen.

  ****

  My knife carved through an apple’s crisp flesh with a soft ch, and the slices fell into my palm. The night was quiet except for the rustle of the wind against the shutters. I sat at a small table in the dimly lit living room, the only illumination source a siern swayily from the low ceiling.

  A light knock fell on the door, making me look up. “It’s me,” a feminine voice said.

  “e in,” I permitted, and the door creaked open. Ros stepped inside, her posture easing as she closed the door. Thick auburn curls framed her face, and a thin yer of wariness shone in her eyes as she walked toward me.

  “...Yrace,” she greeted, dipping her head. The others in the room looked at her from the er of their eyes. We were all here except for Sansa, who must be resting.

  I slid a piece of apple past my lips and munched, her a small smile. “You’re finally here, Ros. I’ve been waiting. You must have e with news?”

  She ined her head, stepping closer to my table. As she closed up, I noticed how her face showed less emotion than when we first met. “Yes, and some of it isn’t pleasant. The City Watch is already bing the streets for this so-called ‘Ghost of Targaryen.’ I know it’s yht? Unless we have got a real ghost to worry about?”

  “We don’t.”

  “They’ve locked down half the distriear Flea Bottom and the Gate of the Gods. There’s talk of f nightly patrols—heavier than before. There’s a lot of guards patrolling already.”

  I hummed. “I expected as much. Whatever, let them chase shadows,” I said, and my eyes flicked toward Kinvara, who stood he window, half-hidden by the moon’s glow. She sipped from a cup. It robably some strong tea or mild wine, I never quite knew; she always loved drinking weird stuff. A moment ter, Kinvara cast me a knowing look over the rim.

  “It’s nearly midnight,” I said to her. “Is it a good time to leave?”

  Kinvara shrugged her slender shoulders, a faint smile ghosting her lips. “Since when did you start asking for my opinion, my King? You’re the one who moves mountains with a thought. All I offer is a flicker of voice.”

  A soft ugh bubbled from my chest. “True enough. But I am not a prophet. If I’m to roam this city again, there’s a ce I might get exposed. So I need yic visions to stay three steps ahead of every fool with a sword. Will I get caught if I leave now?”

  She turned her gaze to the window, the ers of her eyes kling with subdued amusement. “Very wise of you, Yrace. I thought your ret growth would cloud your mind, as it happens with many rulers. So yes, you leave now. It’ll be uo dey any longer. But… let me be clear: my words aren’t absolute, only glimpses. You still have to be careful.”

  “Fair enough,” I said.

  Nymeria Sand and her sisters hovered he doorway, exging pointed gnces. One of them cleared her throat. “Is it really wise to head north? Robb Stark’s father ended your father’s reign. Seems more than a little risky.”

  The other sister, Obara Sand, nodded. “Also, will the people not find it suspicious, Yrace? You’ve been gone for a month, and when you return, the ‘Ghost ar’ suddenly appears in King’s Landing. Right when the ghost vanishes, you also seem o be found. That is bound to raise questions.”

  “Not really. Hoeople e and go every day? Plus…” I looked to the side at Ros.

  She blinked and nodded with the fai flicker of a smile. “I hahe rumor mill, my dies. My informatiowork guide suspi away from us. Petyr Baelish and Lord Varys may be formidable but not infallible. It only takes a few sparks of gossip in the right ers.”

  The Sand sisters didn’t look wholly vinced, eyebrows raised, but they didn’t press further.

  “But…” Ros hesitated as she looked at me. A flicker of the old Ros who fell in love showed on her face. “You’re leaving for the North? With… Sansa Stark, I’m assuming? But that sounds dangerous…” She said, and a sed ter, she quickly bowed. “Five me, I’m overstepping my b-boundaries.”

  “Oh, e on, Ros. Don’t be like that with me. Are we that distant?” I sighed, shaking my head. “And yes, you’ve hit the mark. Don’t worry, I’ll be back as I always have.”

  She just kept her head low, falling silent. Before I could talk tain, footsteps echoed from the stairs above.

  Sansa was ing down, ed in a bket. She paused upon seeing Rnition fshing in her eyes—likely recalling that Ros worked in Littlefinger’s brothel, once brought to Joffrey’s bedchamber alongside anirl.

  Sansa’s posture stiffened, uainty twisting her features.

  I moved to stand, setting the apple knife aside. “It’s alright,” I said, drawing Sansa’s wary gaze to me. “Ros is trustworthy. She’s on our side—on my side.”

  She exhaled shakily and nodded, seemingly not fully vinced but too exhausted tue. I popped o bite of apple into my mouth, then rose fully from the table. Approag her, I offered my hand as she navigated the bottom step. “Are you ready?” I asked softly.

  She hesitated. “How… how will we escape the city? I heard earlier… that every guard and wat is looking for us. Plus, if we fly out from here, they will realize this is where you live…”

  I smiled. “Leave that to me.”

  ****

  An hour ter, the city’s emptiest streets came alive with furious shouting. A half-dozen guards, brandishing torches and swords, tore after two fleeing figures. One was a tall, armor-cd man with silver-blond hair peeking from beh his helm, and the other was a girl ed in dark cloth. The guards cursed, their footfalls pounding against slick cobblestones as they rushed through back alleys and crooked nes.

  “Stop!” one roared, voice eg between narrow walls. But the pair only sprinted faster, twisting around an abandoned er strewn with toppled crates.

  The guards gave chase until they ered them near a dead-end alley blocked by a colpsed pile of debris. The men slowed, panting, their torches bobbing in the gloom. “We’ve got you now,” the lead guard sneered, lifting his bde. “No way out!”

  The armored man slowly faced them, his breath stirring the chill air. The guards thought the situation was dealt with. But then… his lips curved in a thin smile. A flicker rippled along his back—two membranous wings unfurled, catg the torchlight with an eerie sheen.

  “Seven Hells,” someone choked, stepping back. “I thought it was a stupid rumor since he was running!”

  The girl g to the man’s arm, her face hidden under her hood. In a smooth motion, the man ed both arms around her waist, making her gasp, and gave a powerful fp, s upward. The guards gasped, oumbling and nearly dropping his torch as he ed his o watch the impossible sight.

  They vanished into King’s Landing night sky, leaving the guards seething uselessly. Curses echoed up the alley, but only the fading silhouette ar’ Targaryen and Sansa Stark remained, drifting higher until they melted into the clouds.

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