The Three-Eyed Raven's body went as stiff as a statue.
Deep within Lynn's consciousness, that ancient, boundless voice vanished completely.
In its place was a dead, silent void.
The room was terrifyingly quiet. Only the occasional crackle of flames in the fireplace offered a reminder that life still lingered here.
Winter's three little heads seemed to sense the stagnant atmosphere too.
They stopped playing and turned in unison toward the raven on the floor, wary growls rumbling in their throats.
"What, nothing to say?"
Lynn's voice broke the suffocating silence.
He did not look at the raven, merely brushing his fingers over the fine scales beneath the jaw of Winter's middle head.
His movements were unhurried, as though he were admiring a trophy he had just acquired.
"Or perhaps I should make myself a little clearer."
Lynn's gaze finally shifted away from Winter.
It settled on the raven, who dared not move.
"That altar beyond the Wall, that so-called Dragon Egg-none of it was some chance discovery."
"It was a trap you laid."
"Bait that had been waiting for who knows how many years."
The Three-Eyed Raven's body trembled almost imperceptibly.
"You knew the Dragon Egg was there, but you couldn't take it away, much less hatch it."
Lynn continued peeling back the layers of the Three-Eyed Raven's deepest secrets.
"You possess the vast memories of a Greenseer, yet this new body of yours has only half Targaryen blood."
"Because Brynden was a bastard."
"You weren't confident you could awaken it with Blood Magic."
"So you needed a pawn."
"A pawn who could accomplish all of this for you."
Lynn gave a mocking smile.
"Unfortunately, I became that variable in your eyes-the perfect pawn."
"And Master Aemon, an old man with the purest blood of the dragon, became the offering