More discoveries, a dirty man, a change of plan and a nasty revelation. Some more twisted show dialogue, but it's sort of needed.

Arya/No One/Borys/Nellys/Dillyn

Borys and Nellys had kept to their duties religiously. The gossip in the kitchens was kept to a minimum. Nothing more than which staff were pregnant and who was courting who. Nellys wasn't learning much other than that the staff were terrified to gossip. Some of them were being paid to spy on others, although Nellys couldn't work out who the spies were. They were made aware of announcements of visitors and if they needed to feed them anything special. In fact, Nellys wasn't much good to her so far. Only to make her more tired by doing so many shifts. Four hours of sleep every night wasn't enough. The day Nellys decided she'd had enough was the day she found out about Qyburn and his spy method.

Nellys was called to his study to see him in person, which considering her status was a surprise, unless of course, she was one of his spies, which meant she had been doing a terrible job. At least she knew where the room was as she spent every few days stood outside it for twelve hours. In all that time, Borys had never witnessed anyone from the kitchens entering through the main door which he guarded. That meant there was another entrance for the little birds who passed on their knowledge. She coughed and knocked on the door.

"Come in." came Qyburn's voice from the other side of the door. Nellys walked inside and made her way down some steps to the Hand, or Maester of sorts. She couldn't make her mind up. "Sit." he commanded in his soft voice, so she did as she was told. Qyburn turned to her. "You're cough has worsened it seems."

"A little, mi'lord." Nellys nodded.

"Let me have a listen to your chest." he got his horn out to listen to her lungs. Nellys took in a deep breath, held it, then let it out. She did it another three times before he stood up and frowned. "Have you been taking the tincture I gave you?" he asked.

"I ran out of clearwine to mix it with mi'lord." Nellys managed to think of a reason to not take it. Whatever the man was up to, it sounded like he was experimenting on the old woman.

"It will have gone bad by now." he turned around and took a small box from his drawer. "We must make sure we don't have you coughing in the food. If you cough, you can't listen, people will know you are around." he pulled out a pouch and gave her three silver stags. "Go buy yourself a good bottle of clearwine. Remember one pinch per nip." he told her. "I want you back next week to see if it is clearing up again. I thought we'd gotten rid of it last time. But it seems you might need to keep taking my tincture after all." he sighed.

"Thank you mi'lord." Nellys smiled.

"Oh and Nellys, before you go. When you pick up the clearwine, ask Jaeson at the Wagon, if he's had any of the Tarly soldiers in. her grace is suspicious of Lord Tarly's defection from Lady Olenna. It seems rather...abrupt."

"Of course mi'lord. I'll do anything for you and her grace. Don't want none of them Targaryen's getting a sniff in."

Qyburn laughed at her turn of phrase. "No we don't Nellys. Now run along. Don't forget to take your tincture every morning." he told her.

Nellys coughed. "I won't mi'lord." she bowed her head and slowly climbed the stairs, feeling a little breathless along the way.

Nellys had no intention of taking the medicine Qyburn had prescribed her. However she was interested in finding out what the Tarly soldiers were saying at the inn. Therefore she made her way straight there after she'd finished with Qyburn. Of course, she had no idea who Jaeson was, she just hoped he knew her.

Once inside the inn called the Wagon, she made her way to the bar, where a young woman, with dirty blond hair and crooked teeth greeted her. "Hello Nellys, you here for a bottle of clearwine?" she asked.

"I have. Maesters orders." she nodded.

"Ah, I'll go fetch Jaeson, he knows where to find it." the woman disappeared behind a door for a few moments, returning with a tall, thin man who looked very similar to the woman, albeit slightly younger. Nellys suspected they must be brother and sister.

"Hello auntie Nellys." the man grinned, handing her a bottle of clearwine, and Nellys handed him the three silver stags. "Is there anything else?" he asked.

Nellys looked around at the soldiers. "What are they doing here?" she asked. "Shouldn't they be with the Queen of Thorns?"

"Lord Tarly claims he knows where the old cow is storing the grain. I should bloody well hope so, things are getting short, the prices are going up. Soon people will have to choose between bread and ale." he sighed.

"Where?" Nellys asked.

"Fuck knows." Jaeson shrugged. "Somewhere in the Reach I'd say. He said he needed some of her graces wagons to help carry it all. He's worried the Dragon Queen will burn it all. Says old Olenna has hundreds of thousands more bushels stored somewhere but doesn't know where it is. She sent a hundred thousand north with his boy Dickon before she was kidnapped by the Lannister soldiers."

"When do they leave?" Nellys asked.

"Some have already gone." Jaeson told her. "They left last week to load the grain up. This lot are taking weapons with them in case the Dragon Queen comes. Say it can be shot down and killed. They're getting pissed tonight and are marching with the scorpion tomorrow. But you should know that already." he winked.

"They tell us nothing." Nellys shook her head. "Owt past babies and death, we nothing in the kitchens. Right I better be off. It's getting late and I need to take my medicine." she winked.

"Go on with yer auntie Nellys. See you next week." he nodded and Nellys left the Wagon with much to contemplate.

The next afternoon, Borys was on duty in the throne room, watching an unfolding scene of ugliness take place. It wasn't his place to say anything, instead he just watched in disgust at the man who was front and centre of the horrible charade. He could tell even Cersei was feigning her like for the man.

As usual, Cersei was sitting on the throne surrounded by Qyburn, the Mountain and her Queensguard behind her. This time, there were other Lannister soldiers lining the aisle leading to the throne. The soldiers were keeping the crowd which had gathered in the the throne room, who were clapping a dirty looking man, who Borys discovered, was called Euron Greyjoy, brought his prisoners to the Queen. According to the whispers he'd heard prior to him entering the room, the man had dragged the prisoners through the streets, who turned out to be women. Two of the women were of darker skin, dark hair and exotically dressed, and chained up together; Borys assumed they were the ones from Dorne. Ellaria and Tyene Sand, he'd heard them called. The other woman, who was tied to a rope, had dirty blond hair, her face cut from being beaten, Borys had heard this was Yara Greyjoy, daughter of the late Balon Greyjoy and sister of Theon.

Euron climbed down from his horse; he grabbed the chains that bound Ellaria and Tyene and started walking them to the throne. "My queen. Please accept this gift on behalf of all of your loyal subjects in the Iron Islands." Euron threw the chains at the feet of Cersei. "I give you what no other man could give. Justice. Justice for your murdered daughter." Cersei looked down on Ellaria and smiled a soft smile. Ellaria looked up at her like a wild animal and spat onto the floor near the throne. Cersei turned to speak to Euron.

"You've proven yourself the greatest captain on the fourteen seas and a true friend to the crown." she called out. Euron leaned in and said something which was inaudible. "And you deserve a proper reward for your heroism." she replied for all to hear.

"There's only one reward I want." Euron told her, and there it was, he wanted her and the Iron Throne.

"You shall have what your heart desires... when the war is won." she promised, before standing and addressing the people gathered in the throne room. "With Euron Greyjoy commanding our naval forces, Jaime Lannister leading our armies in the north against the traitor's bastard who pretends to be Rhaegar Targaryen's trueborn son and his band of northern wildlings, to Lord Randyll Tarly in the south against the daughter of the Mad King and her foreign hoard from Essos, the sons and daughters of Westeros shall defend our country." the audience cheered. "Take them to the dungeons." she nodded her head at the prisoners.

"If I may ask one little favour." Euron said as the room calmed. Cersei raised an eyebrow, listening. "This one..." he pulled Yara over to him. "Is my niece and tried to usurp me. I want leave to do whatever I like with her."

Cersei looked the filthy woman up and down. "Go on." she smiled. "I understand the need to deal with traitors. Do what you must, for you cannot be seen to be weak. Up until joining our enemies, she was of little consequence to me." Cersei turned and walked away towards one of the back rooms which led to Maegor's Holdfast.

The Dornish prisoners were the first to be dragged away from the room, then Euron and Yara, along with his pirate entourage. After that, the crowds dispersed. Once the throne room seemed empty, Borys wanted to sigh with relief, but he wasn't alone, there were other guards in the throne room, so he had to keep his emotions to himself, especially as he was confused by what the Queen had said about the King in the North. Especially about him being a traitor's bastard. Of course, being a northern traitor could refer to many people. Cersei had no qualms of declaring a person a traitor. However, there weren't many well known northern traitors with known bastards, in fact there were two. One was Roose Bolton, who was dead, as was his bastard. Therefore Cersei wasn't referring to him, especially as he was a Lannister ally. The only other northern Lord with a known bastard was the late Ned Stark. Of course, Aegon Targaryen couldn't be Jon Snow, after all, this King had married Sansa Stark, Jon and Sansa had grown up as brother and sister, so Borys ruled that suspect out. None the wiser, Borys decided to wait for his day off. No One fancied a horn of ale in the Wagon, where the gossip might prove to be more informative.

No One was sat on her own on a table next to three of the Lannister guards who Borys served with. Whatever she heard would in all likelihood prove useful in some capacity. She sat silently with a pitcher of ale and listened carefully, managing to filter out the chatter in the rest of the room.

"Wonder what happened to Borys?" Lionel queried.

"He's been a right miserable git lately." Rodd agreed. No One was already interested, how different was Borys acting?

"Him and that woman he was fucking split up, remember?" Stevan reminded them. "I think he was going to pop the question. Turned out she was fucking one of the gold cloaks."

"Ahh, going up in the world. First us mere Lannister soldiers, then goldcloaks. Next it'll be a Queensguard." Rodd laughed.

"Only Queensguard allowed to fuck is Ser Jaime. Although I hear... and don't quote me on it, because her grace is keepin' it to herself." No One lowered her eyes, but she could tell Rodd was checking to see if anyone was listening. "Ser Jaime isn't guarding the south from the north, it's the other way round. He swore fealty to the King an Queen up north."

"Shut the fuck up!" Stevan laughed. "Why would he leave her skirts for ice Queen and the fake dragon?"

"Did you ever meet the Stark girl?" Rodd asked.

"Course he didn't, he wouldn't be wonderin' why anyone would want to sniff up her skirts." Lionel laughed. "Even the bastard couldn't keep his hands to himself."

"Maybe he is a Targaryen after all." Stevan agreed. "Fuckin' his sister. Is she really all that? I mean did they even do it?"

"Three witnesses to the bedding. Had her screamin' his name so the whole north could hear. He even gave her a good old Lord's kiss, or is it a King's kiss?" Rodd added, making a slurping sound with his tongue. "It's true. Lord Tyrion was one of those at the beddin'. Him, Lady Dustin and Lady Margaery."

"Maybe Ser Jaime is after a sniff." the conversation became a background blur.

No One suddenly felt ill. This Aegon Targaryen who they'd all been talking about was Jon Snow, who was now married to Sansa Stark, who were cousins. Nothing unusual about cousins marrying, but these two weren't really cousins, they were brother and sister. Her brother and sister. Hearing graphic details of someone's sex life never bothered No One, but this did, because Arya Stark knew these two people, loved these two people. However, these two people hadn't been particularly loving as children. In fact Sansa was a complete bitch towards Jon. So how had they ended up married? And how had they been able to bed one another? Her stomach turned, the combination of ale and the thought of Jon and Sansa in bed together.. she ran outside and emptied the contents of her stomach. She spat out the rest of the bile, her head clearing slightly, but she just wanted to run, to go somewhere to hide and think.

Arya made her way back into the Red Keep and to the small cupboard where she had once housed the bodies of Nellys and Borys. She sat on the floor, her knees raised with her elbows resting on them. Her hands clasped together as if they were a makeshift pillow to house her forehead while she stared at the floor. She needed to rationale the news she'd just received, because otherwise, the was ready to abandon her kill list and head north.

The images swirling around in her head made her feel sick again. The first time she'd heard of the Lord's kiss was listening in on a conversation between Theon and Robb talking after a night at a brothel once. Jon had caught her, listened to what they were saying and gone beetroot red, before picking her up and carrying her back to her room and clearly stating that she was far too young to be hearing about such things. That had been the night before they found the direwolves. Arya just couldn't understand why Jon would even contemplate marrying Sansa. Of course, Sansa always wanted to marry a King. If Jon really was Aegon Targaryen, then he was the rightful King of the Seven Kingdoms. Even Sansa would fuck her brother for that. She'd betrayed their father, surely she was happy to commit incest with Jon. But he was the problem, why would he agree to a marriage with Sansa? Of course, it could be political, which made sense. The north might not accept Sansa as a Queen because she was a woman and Jon couldn't be King because he was a Targaryen. Together, the north would accept them. Of course a bedding would be needed, especially as they had once been brother and sister, but she suspected the story about the Lords kiss might have been a slight exaggeration.

Once Arya had calmed herself, she became No One once more and focused on what else Rodd had said about Jaime Lannister. He'd defected, Queen Cersei knew, yet she was letting the people believe Jaime was guarding the northern boundaries. This also made her wonder what would happen to Borys. His Commander was Ser Jaime, not Queen Cersei. They followed his orders not hers. Jaime had left a thousand soldiers to guard Kings Landing from Daenerys while he fought in the Riverlands. Had Jaime left the soldiers in the capital to feed the ruse that he was still fighting for Cersei? No One was frustrated, she needed to get closer to either the Queen or Qyburn. Which meant she needed another face, someone closer to Cersei.

The good thing about No One was her many talents. As a child there were things she'd been poor at, but now excelled, although probably not to the extent of the northern Queen. Needlework was one of them. Her idea of needlework was entirely different, but she had mastered embroidery since her education in Braavos, especially while she was with the theatre, where she had learned about hair, make-up and clothes. Making and mending clothes for the troop had improved her skills no end. She was so good, she would have no problems becoming a handmaiden. The problem was Cersei already had three handmaidens she knew and trusted, and taking one of their faces was risky. Maybe someone close to the Queen would be better, someone who she frequently saw, but rarely spoke with. The ideal person was the Mountain, but he wasn't a normal person. The rumours were that he was an experiment of Qyburn's. If that was true, he'd probably survive any assassination attempt. No One couldn't become Qyburn as she wouldn't be able to perform his other duties. She had considered Euron Greyjoy, but it sounded like he was wanting to fuck Cersei, and if anything made her feel sick more than her siblings fucking one another, was her fucking Cersei while wearing Euron Greyjoy's face. However, Arya did have an idea, someone who she had met on many an occasion who got close to Cersei, but never spoke with her. A boy called Dillyn who was Cersei's food taster. A perilous job, but one perfectly suited to the talents of No One as she had something which would prevent any poison working on her. It was the perfect position to learn of Cersei's more up-to-date personality, what was going on in the Kingdom, and more importantly, being able to survive any assassination attempt, while Cersei would not.

Within two days, both Nellys and Borys had disappeared. Nellys had died from her lung problem, or so the rumours said, and Borys had thrown himself into the Blackwater after his split from the girlfriend who was now fucking a goldcloak. At least that was closer to the truth, Borys was at the bottom of Blackwater Bay. With him was the body of Dillyn, the food taster. No One didn't feel bad about it as he wouldn't have lived much longer. The lifespan of a food taster for Cersei was usually no more than a moon's turn, as someone had tried to poison her by then. This time they needed to succeed, but only when No One was ready to let Cersei die.

Cersei and Qyburn were sharing an evening meal when Dillyn made his first appearance. At fifteen, he was lanky and skinny. Freckled skin and strawberry blond hair. He waited at the far end of the room while the first course was being served. Cersei and Qyburn said nothing while the servants were there, however once it was just the three of them, they began to speak freely while Dillyn tried a small spoonful of ham soup. He stepped back, they waited a moment and he returned to the other end of the room while they ate their soup.

"How many men are there in the caravan your grace?" Qyburn asked.

"Ten thousand." Cersei replied.

"Do you trust him? His son is in the north with the Stark girl and her brother." Qyburn took a mouthful of soup. "Delicious."

"Mmm." Cersei nodded. "What choice do I have? If he is truly on my side, he will bring the grain. If not then he will either die by my hands of hers. He will suffice until the Golden Company arrive."

"Have you secured their services?" Qyburn asked. "Was the gold from the faith militant enough to repay the Faith of the Seven and some of the moneys to the Iron Bank?"

"The Faith have kindly decided to turn a blind eye to any debts owed to them. The money I recovered from the sparrows has contributed to a large repayment of debts towards the Iron Bank. This grain should hopefully help. Lord Tarly says it is only a hundred thousand bushels, but there is also gold at Highgarden, we shall take everything we can. The caravan should be there in about a sennight. Lord Tarly left with the soldiers last week and should arrive at Highgarden within a week of his first set of soldiers. Lord Greyjoy's men will return the grain by sea, while a caravan of men will escort the wagons of dead grass. Should the dragon bitch try to destroy the caravan of grain, she will only be burning grass." Cersei grinned. "Hopefully she will fall for it and we can unleash our weapons on her dragons."

"It is an excellent plan your grace." Qyburn grinned. "And what do you plan on doing with her nephew?" he asked.

"One dragon at a time." Cersei gulped on her wine. "Along with his wife, that matter is a personal one. I want to wait until they have more to lose. If the rumours are anything to go by, it won't be long before she's with child. Let her belly swell a little, then I will send someone with a talent in these matters."

"Very good your grace." Qyburn bowed his head and Dillyn shivered.

"Let us get rid of the dragon bitch first." Cersei raised her goblet of wine. "To ridding ourselves of the dragons?"

"To ridding ourselves of the pretenders to your throne, your grace." Qyburn smiled.