The sun shone brightly.
The Crown Prince's chambers were high-ceilinged and spacious, with a sweeping view. Hannah leaned against the window and looked out over most of the Red Keep.
His Highness's favor had given her a chance to observe how the court worked.
It had been four months.
The Red Keep had no king, no queen, and no princes or princesses.
The four ministers on the Small Council Meeting each went their own way. The courtiers did not know whom to consult, petitions in the Throne Room had long since ceased, and the servants merely repeated their daily tasks, maintaining the status quo.
By day, people came and went through the Red Keep. It was lively and peaceful, seemingly no different from before.
But Hannah had sensed the currents stirring beneath the surface.
Beneath the empty Iron Throne, she saw courtiers feasting. The delicacies on their table were power and money.
She saw Petyr Baelish, the Master of Coin, swallow up brothels, taverns, and other businesses in King's Landing at an ever faster pace and on an ever greater scale. Countless courtiers and their lackeys took a share of the profits.
No one knew what Littlefinger had done to the Royal Treasury or the taxes.
She saw Varys, the Master of Whisperers, spend more and more time hidden in that dark little room, even missing the weekly Small Council Meeting.
His Highness had told her that the room connected to every secret passage in the Red Keep.
She saw Grand Maester Pycelle summon one young maid after another. His apprentice Samwell Tarly, who had come to the palace on His Highness's orders, had all but become a full-time servant.
She saw Renly Baratheon, the Master of Laws, grow ever more lenient in his rulings while spending his days amusing