Garden Street, nestled against the base of Aegon's Hill, was a place of gilded shadows. In King's Landing, luxury was a ladder; only the wealthiest merchants, the favored paramours of High Lords, or the well-funded bastards of the Great Houses could afford even a small manse here. To live on this street was to exist in the top half-percent of the world's living.
In a three-story townhouse on the district's edge, Alis Waters personally set out a service of gold-trimmed white porcelain. She brewed a pot of black tea, heavily laced with precious sugar.
As the steam rose in fragrant curls, the woman sitting across from her lifted a cup with a grace born of the Free Cities. She was a vision of dark, exotic beauty—long-limbed, with skin the color of polished olives, large black eyes, and thick, dark lips. She sipped the tea once, then set the cup down, her gaze fixed entirely on the bone-white porcelain.
"This is the 'new silk' you brought from the Gods Eye?" The woman's voice was like velvet.
Alis hid her triumph behind a modest smile. "Custom-ordered by the masters there, Lady Taena. A service of seven pieces—a pot and six cups—to honor the Glory of the Seven."
"Do you know the secret of its making?" Taena of Myr asked, her eyes narrowing.
"The artisans are as silent as the Grave," Alis lied smoothly. "I wasn't even permitted past the gatehouse of their forge."
Taena sighed, a flicker of regret crossing her face. "A pity. Such beauty deserves to be understood. Tell me, what is the price for such a 'holy' set?"
"Fifteen Gold Dragons. Not a copper less."
Taena's brow arched. "Local mud doesn't sell for fifteen gold, Alis. The Tyrell girls are soft-headed and rich, but even they aren't that foolish."
"Then tell them it came through the port of Saltpans," Alis countered, her eyes dancing. "Tell them it is the newest fashion from the Great Khans of the East. Porcelain is the glass of kings, Taena."
"Saltpans," Taena mused. "I heard the Mummers put it to the torch."
"They did. But the Master I serve has brought order to the ruin. By the time I left, the rats were already swinging from the trees. The rarity only adds to the value, wouldn't you say?"
Taena smirked. "Twelve dragons. And if you sell to any other house, the price must be higher than mine."
"Your wish is my command, Lady Merryweather," Alis conceded.
Taena leaned in, embracing Alis with a sudden, perfumed intimacy. "Do not be so formal. Call me Taena. I wish I could linger, but the Queen Mother grows restless if I am gone for a heartbeat. She is... fragile, since Lord Tywin's passing."
"I am sure the Queen would find great comfort in a set of her own," Alis suggested.
Taena's eyes glinted with a sharp, mercenary wit. "Indeed. I shall need a set of the finest quality to present to her."
"I have already prepared a service in crimson and gold," Alis said. "Embossed with the Lion of Lannister."
As the Myrish lady departed with her gilded boxes, Alis turned to the shadow in the corner. Martha stood there, her hand resting on the hilt of a hidden dagger.
"The bridge to the Red Keep is built," Alis whispered.
"She doesn't look like a Westerosi," Martha noted, her voice flat.
"She is Taena of Myr, wife to Earl Orton Merryweather," Alis explained. "A woman who knows that a skirt is a better weapon than a sword. Some say she was a whore in the Free Cities before the Earl brought her home. To the 'noble' ladies, she is a pariah. To us, she is the perfect key."
Martha frowned. "She looks a bit like the Lightbringer. The same dark hair, the same skin. He said he came from over the sea as well."
Alis paused, the thought chilling her. "The Red Priests come from that way too. But it matters not where the sun rises, only that it shines on our trade."
At the gates of the Red Keep, Taena's carriage was stopped by a squad of Gold Cloaks. The captain, Ser Kaden, stepped forward to greet her.
"Lady Merryweather. Returning to the Queen?"
"Is her Majesty within, Ser Kaden?" Taena asked with a winning smile.
"She is. The court is quiet today."
Taena pulled the curtain shut, her mind already weaving the story she would tell Cersei. She would speak of "Eastern Miracles" and "Divinity in Stone."
As the carriage rolled into the courtyard, Kaden watched it go. He had spent his shift in a state of high alert; ever since the trial of the Sun-Sugar, he knew Ralf Koch was looking for an excuse to see him dead.
When the shift ended, Kaden didn't go to the barracks. He slipped out of the castle in a commoner's tunic, hidden among the grain wagons, and made his way to the sprawl of tents outside the Great Sept of Baelor.
Inside a small, cramped tent, he found the High Sparrow kneeling before a golden Seven-Pointed Sun.
"The Queen is purging the Tyrells from the Small Council," Kaden reported. "The court is a pit of snakes. No one is looking at the streets."
The High Sparrow rose, his eyes burning with a terrifying, calm light. "Then the hour is upon us. If the Lords will not lead, the flock shall."
"Do you need my steel?" Kaden asked.
"Not yet, Ser. I have Brother Theodoric and the others the Lightbringer sent. We have captured the candidate, Friar Olido. He was found in a brothel on the Street of Silk, entwined with two harlots."
Kaden gasped. "A candidate for High Septon? In a brothel?"
"The corruption is deeper than the sea," the High Sparrow hissed. "But the Light shall boil it away. I have ordered the brothers to strip him naked and march him through the streets of the city. Let the people see the 'purity' of their masters."
On the Street of Silk, the air was thick with the scent of cheap perfume and the roar of a growing mob.
The "Sparrows"—men in rags led by sun-scarred brothers—had dragged a fat, pale man from his bed. He stood shivering in the gutter, his white, oily flesh exposed to the jeers of the crowd.
The brothel owner, a woman named Chataya, watched from the balcony, her guards standing with drawn steel against the zealots.
Brother Theodoric stepped forward, his eyes fixed on the balcony. "Chataya, we have no quarrel with your house today. But this 'holy' man is a sinner under the Law of the Light. We are taking him. Be wise, and do not interfere with the Father's justice."
70+ chapters are available now and daily updates! @patreon.com/zefyrus