The carriage traveled day and night, entering Highgarden as dusk approached.
Margaery had no time to wash or change. Gathering her skirts, she hurried down the corridor toward the Council Chamber.
Before she reached the door, she heard her father Mace roaring inside:
"What gives Tywin Lannister the right?! Who does he think he is? A usurper's regent-what right does he have to strip me of my title as Warden of the South?!"
Margaery stopped short.
Strip him of his title as Warden of the South?
Her heart lurched.
The nobles who had avoided her along the way, the soldiers of various houses on Oldtown's streets, the carriages gathered beneath the Hightower... at that moment, all those fragments seemed to fall into place.
She pushed open the door.
Her grandmother Olenna, her father Mace, and her elder brother Willas were all there.
Mace Tyrell stood in the chamber, his face flushed crimson, a letter clenched in his hand as he waved it furiously.
Several other opened letters lay spread across the table.
Olenna sat to one side, her expression grim. She had been about to rebuke him, but changed tack when she saw Margaery enter. "Margaery is back."
Mace turned as well. The sight of his travel-worn daughter made him pause, and he suppressed his anger. "When did you arrive?"
"Just now." Margaery stepped into the chamber, her gaze passing over the letter in her father's hand. "Father, what you just said... about being stripped of the title of Warden of the South?"
Mace snorted and slapped the letter onto the table. "Read it yourself."
Margaery stepped forward, picked up the letter, and quickly scanned it.
The writing was neat and cold. In the name of King Tommen Baratheon I, on the grounds that "House Tyrell has supplied Aegon Targaryen