It was only because their estates happened to stand beside the Mander River, not too far from Highgarden, that anyone had spotted the four dragons flying toward Highgarden and they had all come hurrying over.
At a window in a three-story stone building within Highgarden's inner walls, Margaery Tyrell stood gazing into the sky, still somewhat lost in thought.
Her arms rested on the windowsill. The breeze outside, fragrant with roses, stirred a few chestnut curls over her forehead, carrying a trace of the sulfur scent she had once known so well.
Unlike the others in the city, however, she did not keep craning her neck to follow the dragons. She soon withdrew her gaze and turned toward the room.
A few steps behind her, the new Lord of Highgarden, Willas Tyrell, sat in an oak armchair. One hand rested on his cane as he leaned slightly forward, looking past the windowsill into the sky.
His expression was deeply complicated. When he looked at Margaery, there seemed to be both surprise and a pointed question in his eyes.
Lady Olenna sat in a chair on the other side of the window, clutching a letter so tightly that its edges had begun to crumple.
She watched the sky for a moment, then lowered her head and read the letter again, as though checking whether its wording or date had been written incorrectly.
After all, the letter from King's Landing said that Viserys would leave King's Landing for Highgarden the following day, asking them to prepare for his arrival in advance. Viserys was also bringing fifty guards, and accommodations would have to be arranged for them as well.
Lady Olenna and Willas had calculated that even if Viserys and his party boarded a ship at Tumbleton and traveled day and night without