A Shadow and a Wolf

Kevan II

Kevan sat heavily in his chair, the plates before him quite untouched. He didn't have much appetite. Podrick's words were looping in his head. There are only two people in King's Landing who can give an order to a kingsguard. Kevan knew very well what it meant. If Podrick Payne said the truth and if Ser Mandon Moore didn't act of his own initiative, then Joffrey or Cersei gave him the order to kill Tyrion. Kevan didn't think Podrick lied. If he lied, he wouldn't tell that he killed a kingsguard, something that put him in trouble right now. He remembered the kind and loyal boy he met in the Riverlands. The knight he was squiring for had stolen a ham from Tywin's store. That was a stupid thing to do, but Tywin hanged the knight for this. He couldn't tolerate such things. Podrick had the misfortune to have shared the ham with him. Kevan knew the boy had done nothing wrong and that the knight was the only responsible for all this. Luckily, he was a Payne and when Kevan found out about it and told Tywin, his brother decided to spare him. Kevan had known Ser Cedric Payne, who Podrick had squired for. It was obvious the boy was innocent, so Kevan counselled Tywin to send him to King's Landing to squire for Tyrion. It was meant as a punishment, but in fact Kevan thought it might give a chance to a boy who never had one in his life up to now. Squiring for the acting Hand of the King wasn't a bad thing after all.

Of course, if Podrick didn't lie, then Ser Mandon Moore did try to kill Tyrion during the Battle of Blackwater. Kevan hoped Podrick was wrong and that Ser Mandon tried to kill him for some personal reason, but he knew it was unlikely. If Joffrey ordered Tyrion to be killed, then he had to be watched more closely than ever. And if Cersei was behind this... Perhaps Jaime was right and she had gone mad. Kevan had high doubts now about the accusations against Tyrion.

He wondered if everything could be a plot, lies orchestrated by Sansa Stark. No, that was impossible. Her witnesses were destroying testimonies that took place yesterday. She couldn't have built something like that with nothing in a single night. Some of the things Tyrion's witnesses told this afternoon were true, for sure. He knew Joffrey had the Lady Sansa beaten at the beginning of his reign, and between Tyrion's outburst yesterday and the testimonies of his niece-in-law, the sellsword and Ser Balon Swann, Kevan thought the version of the defense was much closer to the truth than the one Ser Meryn and Ser Boros gave. Anyway, the two kingsguards gave no proof. Tywin didn't seem to have been poisoned. Kevan already found Pycelle's testimony yesterday unconvincing, but now he didn't believe it at all. As for the whore, Kevan should have known since the beginning she was lying. Even Margaery Tyrell testified against her. They had no real proof against Tyrion. Kevan hadn't taken his decision about the verdict, but if he had to make it now, he would clear Tyrion of all the charges against him.

He remembered how the whore described her bad treatments in Tyrion's hands. Kevan had been quite surprised and horrified when he heard her words. It seemed so much unlike Tyrion, unless he changed a lot since the last time Kevan saw him, but he saw no reason to believe it. He couldn't imagine Tyrion mistreating a woman, even a whore. It was Tywin's style to do it. He remembered how Tywin dealt with their father's mistress after he died, forcing her to walk naked in the streets of Lannisport for two weeks, confessing to everyone she was a whore. However, the worst hadn't been that. This woman had been deprived of all her power and influence, she had been shamed, but not mistreated. Another girl didn't have the same chance.

That had been one of the rare times Kevan had really wanted to argue with his brother. When Tywin discovered Tyrion had married a commoner, he entered a great rage. He didn't shout or curse or yell, but Kevan's brother always had a way to show very calmly how dissatisfied and angry he was, and this time had been one of the worst. Kevan had understood Tywin forced Jaime to tell a lie to Tyrion. There was a great chance the girl was mostly interested in becoming a Lannister. She was lowborn. The memory of their father's mistress was still bright in their minds after all these years, and Kevan could understand Tywin didn't want to take a chance with this. Tywin was ruthless, but no more than he needed to be. Without him, House Lannister could have fallen. However, even if the girl was only interested in Lannister gold, he didn't approve how she was raped by dozens of men, and even less how Tywin forced Tyrion to take her one last time. Was it really so necessary? Kevan had tried to reason back then that they needed Tyrion to never try to look for the girl again, and the girl to never try to look for Tyrion again, but he didn't manage to convince himself Tywin did the right thing. Especially after he talked to the girl.