Chapter 189: Insatiable Greed
"Ned is no longer letting you enter Robert's chambers?" Renly paced the room with restless agitation, then suddenly turned on his heel and fixed his gaze on her, lowering his voice. "You have been keeping watch at Robert's bedside day and night; what exactly is happening to my brother's body?"
"I don't know... I don't know..." Margaery shook her head blankly, looking as though she were on the verge of tears. "His Grace is clearly resting and recovering, yet for some reason, he grows weaker by the day. In the last two days, he has even started muttering that he is 'beyond saving' and 'going to die'... no matter who tries to comfort him, it's useless."
For half a month, she had provided meticulous care at his bedside, yet she was forced to watch Robert wither away bit by bit. Having experienced the sensation of stepping from heaven into hell one stride at a time, she was now mentally and physically exhausted. Those eyes—sometimes as soft as water, sometimes as shrewd and bright as a fox's—held not a single spark of light. A voice like a curse seemed to circle her ears: You will never, ever, ever marry the man you wish to marry.
She shook her head violently to cast the hallucination aside, yet she still could not fathom it. "It was just a knife wound to the back. He is such a powerful man; since he didn't die then... and with so many healers and Maesters surrounding him now, how can he not be saved?"
Looking at the distraught Margaery, Renly realized he would get no further answers from her. He abandoned the thought and began pacing in circles again. In truth, he didn't actually need an answer from her; he was simply so gripped by nervous tension that he instinctively sought someone to deliberate with.
Having lost his parents at a young age, Renly had essentially been raised by his two brothers, Robert and Stannis. He knew these two men—who were both brothers and father figures to him—from their tempers to their deepest character traits. Although he hadn't heard a single word of what Robert and the Hand had just discussed in that room, he could guess the gist of it with near-certainty.
If he did nothing now, he would spend the rest of his life under the thumb of a brother who was rigid to the point of pedantry and humorless to the point of cruelty. From that moment on, House Baratheon would split into two branches—King's Landing and Storm's End—and his descendants, for a thousand generations, would be forever barred from the Iron Throne.
He was not resigned to that fate.
"Robert just finished giving his last instructions and has sealed his will." Outside the window, the night was as black as ink. Renly looked through the glass toward the Tower of the Hand, where the lights still burned, then looked back at the despondent Margaery Tyrell. Realizing it was impossible to rely on an outsider to give him the courage to make a decision, he steeled himself.
"Do you know what our Lord Hand is doing right now? I would bet my life he is writing a letter to Stannis, telling him to lead the fleet back to King's Landing immediately to inherit the throne. And my second brother already has a wife! You... do you still want to be Queen?"
"Do I still want to be Queen?" Margaery looked up as if waking from a dream, her face etched with exhaustion and confusion. "With Stannis's temperament, how could he possibly set aside his wife to remarry?"
"He wouldn't, of course. Even if his wife died of some cause, he would never consider you! Back then, when Stannis was besieged at Storm's End by the Tyrell army until his supplies were gone and they were nearly reduced to eating people, Robert insisted on not purging the Reach after the war ended... Stannis has held a grudge over that to this very day. If he sits on the Iron Throne, regardless of who you marry, for a generation or two... for a hundred years, the House of the Rose can forget about ever rising again!"
"You mean... not letting him sit on the Iron Throne?" Margaery caught the subtext in Renly's words. She snapped back to awareness, her posture straightening as her wandering gaze focused instantly on Renly's face. "But the City Watch is in Eddard's hands!"
"The City Watch is only two thousand men. What does it matter if Eddard holds them?" Renly's voice trembled with resolve, yet his tone carried a hint of disdain. "The armies of the North, the Riverlands, the Vale, and the Crownlands are all fighting in the West. My own army, however, passed by King's Landing just two days ago heading west; they are less than a hundred miles away, making them the closest army to the capital of the Seven Kingdoms right now. If I can bring them to King's Landing, and if the Reach can quickly scrape together some men to help... what does it matter if there are two thousand men, or even four or five thousand!"
"This..." Margaery's mouth hung open, a chill running down her spine. A violent usurpation? Though she had tried every means to bring her family back to the center of power, she had never imagined doing so through the violent and dangerous method of raising an army. This was not within the realm of the skills her grandmother had taught her!
"I shall write to my vassals." Renly panted as he glanced at the door and the window, then stepped closer to the girl, lowering his voice again. "You, write to your family. Have Loras bring men to King's Landing immediately!"
"Even if you can take King's Landing, how will you handle the counterattack from the Crownlands and the Northern alliance?"
"Do you think I've spent all these years in King's Landing just eating, drinking, and playing? The lords of the Crownlands are all my friends! They will accept Eddard Stark's orders to return and defend the city, but they will 'encounter' all sorts of trouble on the road. Their marches will be 'delayed' repeatedly until after I have taken the city... By then, as long as I am sitting on the Iron Throne, they will swear fealty to me without hesitation. As for the armies of the three Northern houses that Eddard Stark controls... I cannot explain the specific reasons to you, but I guarantee they will not be able to return in time!"
Margaery could believe that the Crownlands lords might lean toward supporting Renly, but how could he guarantee that the armies obeying Eddard Stark wouldn't be able to return in time? The girl stared at Renly's face—once young and handsome, now slightly contorted as he made the most important decision of his life. Her expression shifted through a thousand changes before she guessed the truth: "You... have you made some kind of deal with House Lannister!?"
"Nothing of the sort. I haven't promised the Lannisters a thing; it's just the wishful thinking of that old man Tywin!" Renly grabbed Margaery's arm, squeezing so hard she nearly cried out in pain. "Stop hesitating! Your brother already promised to support me! You will become Queen, and House Tyrell will get everything it desires. I swear it by the Old Gods and the New!"
The word Queen shattered Margaery's last shred of indecision. Since stepping out of the Reach, she had hit walls at every turn. Just when she thought she was finally getting ahead, Robert had inexplicably failed... After so many setbacks, even the resilient nerves tempered by the Queen of Thorns were near collapse. At this moment of peak vulnerability, the Lord of Storm's End had jumped out just as she was about to drown in despair and offered her a lifeline!
Margaery shuddered as she thought for a few seconds, then seized the straw Renly offered. She had had enough. She didn't want to wait for the favor of the gods anymore. Since the gods above wouldn't give her the chance to be Queen, she would create the opportunity herself this time!
Her resolve did not interfere with her logic, and she immediately spotted a problem: "But the ravens of King's Landing are controlled by the Maesters invited by Lord Eddard. How will you send your messages?"
"We go to the nearest castle, Rosby, and use their ravens." Seeing Margaery finally relent, an excited light sparked in Renly's eyes. "There is no time to lose. We leave as soon as the city gates open tomorrow morning. I promise you, House Rosby will not only let me use their ravens but will also provide men to escort me west to meet my army... Perhaps they will even use their influence inside King's Landing to make the city fall more smoothly when I arrive with my forces!"
"And what of me?"
"Leave King's Landing and return to the Reach. The army fighting in the West is too far to be recalled, but I think with the population and resources of the Reach, it shouldn't be hard to scrape together another thirty or fifty thousand men nearby to help." Renly released Margaery's arm. "Go back to your room now. Get some rest. We leave at first light—the faster the better. If we can take this city before Stannis returns to King's Landing, or even capture Duke Eddard alive, we might be able to force him to change the will and swear fealty to me, making me the legitimate successor directly!"
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