Chapter 14

  VARYS—The Spider

  Varys knew that his days in Kingsnding were numbered. He had outpyed his hand in trying to entice Baelish to their side, but the truth was that his days had become numbered the second Baelish had chosen to attack Prince Steffon.

  It was a foolish decision, and one that had escaped even the eyes and ears of his own ‘little birds.’ But as soon as he had heard about the attack, the culprit had been obvious to him.

  Prince Steffon Baratheon had no enemies except for one. Baelish. For years, the Prince had been advocating for an investigation into the Crown’s coffers and how all the loans were being utilised, and though Lord Tywin could hardly defy the edict of his good son and King, even he became suspicious as he learned of the sheer extent of the Crown’s debts.

  Jon Arryn’s trust kept Lord Tywin’s hand at bay, but as soon as the Lord of Vale died, Lord Tywin knew that it was time to move in. The investigation into the Crown’s debts was not a one-off move. No, it was a calcuted ploy from the Old Lion who was looking to extend the Lannister grip on the throne.

  He perhaps already suspected Baelish of stealing, which was why he had ordered the Prince to look into the matter, leaving Baelish with no choice. Either he had to eliminate the Prince or return all that he had stolen from the Crown, and his pride would never let him do the tter.

  So, he plotted, but in the end, the Lions already suspected his treachery, and so the Prince’s retinue was doubled without any reason, and the attack was foiled.

  Still, Baelish had tried to pin the attack on the Targaryens, but with the plot foiled, his days were numbered. He could have let him die, or he could have tried to remove him from the board altogether, but one could hardly predict the actions of a wounded animal.

  Baelish was a cunning man who had somehow learned of his own twisted loyalties, and removing him from the board was easier said than done, and so he chose to offer him a lifeline.

  The nds of Westeros were now lost to him, and Varys would not let him incite chaos just yet. So, the mockingbird had to be removed from the board, and he had done just that.

  And now he walked through those very tunnels from which some million gold dragons had been moved some half a day ago. He had been forced to utilise his own little birds for the task, and right now, the st portion of that money was set to depart from the shores of Bck Water Bay.

  But the ship would not be leaving alone, for the addition of Baelish had complicated their pns, and so his old friend had come to meet him to discuss the new addition to the board.

  “Was it really wise to add him to our ranks?” and the years had made him fatter, and despite the journey, Illyrio still smelt of cheese and milk as they met in the tunnels built by Maegor the Cruel.

  “I had no choice,” Varys informed him.

  “My hand was forced. Either I could have let him wreak havoc across the Seven Kingdoms, or I could remove him from the board leanly to save our pn,” and his own goal was not much different than Petyr Baelish.

  It was one reason Varys had never made a move against the man until now. They both desired the same thing.

  Chaos.

  But Baelish had let his greed blind him, and so he had run out of time and had to be removed from the board quietly lest he topple the web he had spent the st two decades spinning.

  “Plus, I doubt a merchant like you wouldn’t like the extra million gold dragons to wage a war?” and Illyrio’s eyes lit up at the mention of Gold, as he rubbed his thick hands together.

  “Oh, I never questioned you about the money. I am simply concerned about the snake coiled over it,” and Petyr Belish was no snake. He was a mockingbird who simply thought too highly of himself.

  “We just need to be careful. He knows of our sympathies for the Targaryens, but he must never know the rest of the truth,” and Illyrio nodded.

  “Of course,” Illyrio agreed, for though they were indeed loyal to the blood of the dragon, their true loyalties y with a bck dragon.

  “Let him meet with the Prince. Let him waste his energies with the Beggar Prince and his sister, and then, when the battles are done, the soldiers tired and the fields littered with blood, we will offer the Seven Kingdoms the savior they had long sought,” and until then, they had to hold back.

  They had to support Baelish, ally with him, yet at the same time make sure that he never succeeds. It was a game, one that they had to py rather cautiously, yet the throne was such a tempting power.

  “Indeed, and what a glorious day it shall be,” Illyrio added, and to have his own blood sit on the throne. It would be the sweetest of revenge for all that he and his sister had suffered.

  “Still, I worry for your safety, old friend,” Illyrio added, and Varys worried as well.

  “You said so yourself that this plot with the Master of Coin has left you exposed,” and it had indeed, and while he could predict the actions of nearly every lord and dy within those Halls, there was one person whose thoughts and actions remained oblivious to him.

  “Perhaps, you should come with me as well and let these barbarians devour each other whole,” and Varys shook his head.

  “I have spent two decades spinning a very intricate web here in Kingsnding. I won’t let something as simple as fear destroy years upon years of work,” and both he and Illyrio had spent more than two decades of their lives on this pn.

  “My own life is but a small sacrifice for our dream,” and Illyrio shook his head.

  “I do not wish to see you die,” and it warmed his heart to know that he was not just a pawn in this game.

  “Neither do I, but I have pyed this game far longer than you realise. They doubt me now, so I must make myself indispensable to the court and let chaos take away the gazes turned towards myself,” and it was not a new ploy.

  Varys was quite familiar with all of the pyers at court. All of them except for one.

  Steffon Baratheon and the spare son had been trained by the Old Lion himself. He was a boy of few words, and unlike the rest of the castle, he saw. Varys had initially thought it to be a ruse, but their little meeting at the Master of Coin’s office had all but confirmed his suspicion.

  Unlike the rest of his family, Steffon Baratheon was not blind to the web he had spun. The narrowing of the eyes, the tensing of the shoulder, and the slight pause in his answers told him that the boy was trying to py the game he had been cast out of years ago.

  He was not the only one, for all the lords and the dies at court pyed the game. No. What differentiated him was that he saw him not as a pawn, but as a pyer. He treated even Baelish as one.

  Without uttering a single word, he had ousted Littlefinger from the Capitol and had handed over the keys to the King’s coffers to a man rather sympathetic to him. Initially he had pnned on pying him against Lord Tyrion, for he had heard whispers that Tywin Lannister saw in the boy a potential successor.

  The Old Lion’s loathing for his youngest child was no secret, and he had long sought a suitable successor to his legacy. He had tried and failed to convince the Kingsyer from putting down his robe, though not because of the oaths the fabled knight used as an excuse.

  Varys knew of the real reason why the Kingsyer was so reluctant to return to the Rock, and it was none other than the Queen and their unique retionship. And though he had no way of confirming it, he believed that this was the very reason the young Prince had been sent away from the Capitol in the way that he was.

  For he had discovered the truth as well, and to protect herself and her children, the Queen had chosen to sacrifice her second son to the Old Lion. He had hoped that there would be some animosity and anger between them for him to py with, but the young Prince still cared deeply for his family, all of them except one.

  “And I won’t,” he answered Illyrio.

  “I will do as I have always done, and py them all against one another until the realm is asunder and begging for a savior to bring them out of the carnage,” and then they would show them the savior, and their revenge would be complete.

  “So be it, but if you ever feel that your life is in danger, you should leave and come to Pentosh. I would much rather have you by my side when our blood ascends this throne,” and Varys had every intention of being alive by then, yet if the dream required him to sacrifice his life, he would waste no time in doing that either.

  “Joffrey Baratheon is a fool, and Lysa Arryn has poisoned the mind of the Starks against the Lannisters,” and with Robert betrothing the Stark girl to his eldest in hopes of uniting the realm, Joffrey’s monstrous nature would remain a secret no more.

  For many years, the King’s eldest son had held a grudge against his twin for being his better. In his eyes, Steffon was simply stealing from glory that was meant to be his, as the Crown Prince.

  During the four years of fostering, he had basked in attention at court, and now, with Prince Steffon back once more, Joffrey could not help but feel inadequate and insecure.

  “Soon enough, rebellion will fester in these Halls, for one reason or another,” and Stannis Baratheon had already retreated to Dragonstone with the secret of the Queen’s infidelity buried deep in his mind.

  The Baratheon lord was a brittle man, and only the words of that Red Mistress of hers kept him away from these shores, or the realm would have lit up with the fmes of war by now.

  “War will come, and when it does, I must be here to wind those fmes as much as possible,” and the Seven Kingdoms had a history of coming together against foreign enemies, and that is why they first had to divide their loyalties and exhaust their armies.

  They had to make the people desperate so that they could install a King of their choosing on the throne. A good King. A Noble King. A true king.

  “In the meantime, you must make use of the mockingbird and his gold to buy an army for the Beggar Prince,” and in Essos, there were many armies to buy, and with a million gold dragons at hand, they could buy a good enough force.

  “I will do just that,” and then Illyrio shook his hand and walked away, as Varys pulled up his hood and went his own way.

  “Perhaps it is time that I stir things up a bit....”

  .

  .

  .

  And so ter that night, Joffrey Baratheon found himself staring at the beat-up body of a young woman as he smiled cruelly and twisted a dagger in his hands.

  “So, you are the little bitch who has caught my brother’s eye?”

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