Theon froze where he stood, and Ned's hand on his shoulder went still.
The warm smile on Catelyn's face froze for a moment as well.
Every eye in the hall turned to Lynn once more.
Lynn ignored those gazes. He simply picked up his wine cup, took a sip, and let out a heavy sigh.
His face showed just the right measure of exhaustion and irritation.
"The fighting on the West Coast... proved more difficult than I expected."
Theon's heart gave a violent jolt.
Here it came.
"Euron Greyjoy, that madman, was a hundred times harder to deal with than Victarion."
Lynn rubbed his brow, as though recalling something too awful to revisit.
"Who knows what damned things he learned in the Shadow Lands of Asshai? He could summon Shadow Assassins, and he even had a horn that could affect dragons..."
Lynn stopped halfway through, seemingly unwilling to say more.
But those words were enough.
Shadow Assassins?
A horn that could affect dragons?
Most people in the hall had no idea what he was talking about.
But Theon Greyjoy's face turned deathly pale in an instant, then flushed an unhealthy red.
He knew! Of course he knew what that horn was! It was Euron Crow's Eye's ultimate trump card!
"Then... how did the battle go?"
Catelyn asked anxiously, keenly aware of the heaviness in Lynn's words.
"We won."
Lynn answered casually, then added another word.
"Barely."
He looked at Ned, weakness showing in his eyes.
"Winter was affected by the sound of that horn and suffered serious injuries. I've already sent him off to recover on his own. I, too... exhausted a great deal of my strength."
As Lynn spoke, he kept Theon's reactions firmly in his peripheral vision.
At the same time, through an invisible link, his consciousness silently