Chapter Summaries

Gold Mountain Harbor thrived as gold-rush rumors drew merchants and investors, while Titus secured backing from the rulers of Starfall and Blackmont. He traveled to a hidden fort near Blackmont’s border to address the Torrentine’s shipping barriers, leaving the purpose of the visit unrevealed.

• Rumors of gold brought prospectors and merchants to New Harbor, and Titus named the growing free port Gold Mountain Harbor.
• Titus recommended Alester Florent for Master of Coin, while Reach lords invested in the port and its trade expanded.
• The Countesses of Starfall and Blackmont supported Titus’s plans, but the Torrentine’s rapids and rocks blocked larger ships from reaching the harbor.
• Unequal profits stirred resentment among Blackmont’s inland knights, and Lora punished the leading malcontents harshly.
• Titus traveled south with the Survey Corps and reached a concealed fort, where Captain Wenda welcomed him.

Titus went to Hunter's Keep to oversee the pyromancers' improved wildfire and its use in reshaping the Torrentine for navigation. The team set out with chilled wildfire pots to carry out the river blasting.

• Titus reunited with Wenda at Hunter's Keep and learned that the alchemists and their assistants were ready for the engineering operation.
• Titus reviewed Wisdom Goghos's progress on improving wildfire and discussed how saltpetre ice-making helped transport the volatile substance more safely.
• Titus recalled that Maester Nelson had calculated the Torrentine's key blasting points, while wildfire had already been used to clear rapids, waterfalls, and canyon fissures.
• Titus shared advice with Wisdom Goghos about reusing saltpetre and warned the pyromancers to avoid frostbite while handling the ice and solution.
• Wisdom Goghos and the pyromancers drove a convoy of chilled wildfire pots from Hunter's Keep toward the Torrentine.

Titus oversaw a successful wildfire blast on the Torrentine, then learned that Gulian Swann had rejected his proposed naval cooperation and chose to work more closely with House Tarth instead. Back at Starpike, he received three visitors whose meeting concerned the future of the southwestern Reach.

• Titus and Goghos's crew detonated wildfire charges in the Torrentine, reshaping the riverbed near its confluence.
• Wenda asked whether Earl Gawen of Stonehelm had accepted Titus's proposal, and Titus explained that Gulian Swann had refused it.
• Titus rejected Wenda's suggestion of punishing Gulian and said he would expand cooperation with House Tarth instead.
• Titus reviewed his growing influence among the Dornish Marcher houses and judged Stonehelm's aloofness a concern that time could resolve.
• Titus hurried back to Starpike to meet Martin Mullendore, Brandon Cuy, and Orton Merryweather, who arrived with Marlon Flowers, Aemon Cuy, and Tania of Myr.

Titus welcomed Orton Merryweather back to Westeros after helping restore House Merryweather’s titles and lands, while Orton’s wife Tania tried to seduce him. As Titus discussed trade with Martin Mullendore and Brandon Cuy, he discovered they had backing that made them unwilling to join his Red Mountains Ring Alliance.

• Orton thanked Titus for helping House Merryweather return from exile and regain its title and most of its lands.
• Tania flirted with Titus and tried to entice him, but he ignored her advances.
• Martin Mullendore and Brandon Cuy discussed supplying goods to Gold Mountain Harbor but avoided committing to Titus’s military alliance.
• Titus considered the growing threat of displaced mountain clans moving toward Mullendore and Cuy lands.
• Titus probed the two lords and learned that other powers were supporting them.

Titus learned that House Redwyne was drawing Highgarden and Sunhouse closer while he pursued cooperation with Paxter Redwyne through the wine trade and their fleets. As Titus strolled through Starpike with Wenda, she shared news that Jon Arryn had proposed bringing Mya Stone to be raised in the Red Keep, and the chapter turned to the political reasons behind the proposal.

• Titus learned that Highgarden and Sunhouse were supplying raw materials to the Arbor, and he considered how House Redwyne might be weakening the Reach's iron triangle.
• Titus continued cultivating Martin Mullendore and Brandon Cuy while maintaining his existing partnership with Paxter Redwyne over Lafite distribution and fleet cooperation.
• Titus hosted Martin Mullendore, Brandon Cuy, and Orton Merryweather, then went for a walk in Starpike with Captain Wenda.
• Wenda complained about Tania of Myr's attempts to seduce Titus, and Titus took Wenda's hand and reassured her.
• Wenda told Titus that Jon Arryn had proposed bringing Mya Stone, Robert I's bastard daughter, to be raised in the Red Keep.
• The chapter explained that Robert I and Queen Elia had no children after two years, making his acknowledged eldest daughter politically significant.

Robert and Elia welcomed Jon Arryn’s proposal to bring Mya Stone to the Red Keep, and Mya traveled from the Vale to meet her father. The chapter ended with Mya telling Robert she preferred leather and hoped to wear armor like the Vale knights.

• Robert told Elia about Jon Arryn’s proposal, and Elia agreed to welcome Mya so she could keep Rhaenys company.
• Denys Arryn’s wife Julia prepared Mya for the journey, and Mya left the Gates of the Moon for Gulltown.
• Mya traveled by ship to King’s Landing, where Jon Arryn’s blue-cloaked knights escorted her to the Red Keep.
• Robert reunited with Mya and tried to make her feel at ease by asking about her clothes.
• Mya told Robert she disliked dresses, preferred leather, and wanted to wear light armor when she was older.

Mya Stone met Rhaenys Martell and attended a feast where Robert celebrated her arrival, while nobles privately questioned why neither girl was a Baratheon. At Starpike, Titus reviewed a flood of marriage proposals and suspected Alester Florent had helped set them in motion.

• Mya Stone asked Robert for light armor, then met Rhaenys Martell and became friends with her.
• Robert I held a princesses' feast for Mya and Rhaenys, and Queen Elia Martell helped Mya navigate the gathering.
• Jon Arryn felt uneasy watching the girls together, while nobles privately questioned why neither was named Baratheon.
• Titus read marriage proposals from across the Seven Kingdoms, including one for Melissa Florent, and suspected Alester Florent had stirred up the offers.
• Wenda Storm asked Titus how he planned to choose among the marriage proposals, and he regarded them as traps.

Titus rejected marriage proposals from Cersei Lannister and Janna Tyrell, then refused Olenna Redwyne’s offer to send Willas Tyrell as his squire. His refusals made him a celebrated figure among young nobles, and House Corbray sent three challengers to reclaim its Valyrian steel sword.

• Titus judged Cersei Lannister unsuitable and politely declined the marriage proposals from Alester Florent, Tywin Lannister, and Olenna Redwyne.
• Olenna Redwyne proposed sending Willas Tyrell to serve as Titus’s squire, but Titus refused and had Captain Wenda spread word of his decision.
• Young noblemen flooded Starpike with requests to become Titus’s squires, so he left Lady White Eagle to send polite refusals.
• House Corbray sent three men to challenge Titus and reclaim its Valyrian steel sword, with one carrying a sword, another a flail and shield, and the third a battle-axe.

Titus killed three challengers from House Corbray after they came to Starpike seeking to reclaim Lady Forlorn, then warned the house to send no more weak fighters. He showed their escorts the giant Lizard-lion Rexton and continued developing a zoo at Starpike as a testing ground for Skinchangers.

• Titus told the three Corbray challengers to attack him together and explained to Galladon and Gerold that he would demonstrate how to kill.
• Titus swiftly killed the flail-wielding knight, the heavy-axe knight, and the sword-bearing Corbray knight.
• Titus told House Corbray’s escorts to warn their lord that further challengers would be thrown into the Lizard-lion pool.
• Gerold Dayne led the shaken escorts to see Rexton, the giant Lizard-lion sent by Howland Reed.
• Titus visited the zoo with Dodge, fed Rexton a chicken, and planned to use the area to test Skinchangers’ abilities.

Titus received Roose Bolton’s request to take Domeric Bolton as his squire and decided to accept, reflecting on the Boltons’ bloody history with the Starks. The chapter left Domeric’s future at Starpike pending his arrival in a few years.

• Rexton devoured a pheasant while Titus asked Dodge about Skinchanging into the crocodile, learning that Wenda had succeeded on her first attempt.
• Titus read Roose Bolton’s letter asking him to educate Domeric Bolton, Roose’s eleven-year-old heir.
• Titus decided to accept Domeric as his fourth squire, to be sent to Starpike when he was older.
• Titus considered whether Domeric and Sansa Stark might make a good match, though he thought Sansa might dislike the Boltons’ reputation.
• Titus recalled how the Red Kings and Winter Kings competed for power in the North until Harlon Stark besieged the Dreadfort and forced Rogar Bolton to surrender and renounce flaying.

Titus considered which of Westeros’s families were as dangerous as the Boltons, reviewing the histories of House Wyl, House Uller, and the Greyjoys. He concluded that House Wyl would be his first target if he attacked eastern Dorne, then turned his attention to the Greyjoy family.

• Titus recounted House Wyl’s history of cruelty, from the Widow’s Lover’s atrocities to Earl Wyl’s imprisonment of Aemon Targaryen.
• Titus decided House Wyl would be the first family he dealt with in an eastern Dorne campaign and that he would exterminate them.
• Titus considered House Uller’s brutal history, including the fall of Meraxes and the unresolved fate of Rhaenys Targaryen.
• Titus recalled Dorne’s war with the Targaryens and the peace treaty that secured Dorne’s independence.
• Titus turned to the Greyjoys and noted their long history of brutal and unstable rulers before considering Quellon Greyjoy’s family.

Viserys Targaryen III faced a financial crisis in Braavos and chose to sell half his fleet rather than borrow money. He planned to use the proceeds to form a mercenary company, leaving Lucerys Velaryon opposed to the loss of his ships.

• Titus reflected on Targaryen madness and the uncertain effects of dragon blood while observing a strange reptilian creature in a pool.
• Willem Darry proposed selling five of Viserys’s ten warships to address the cost of supporting their household and more than a thousand soldiers.
• Lucerys Velaryon rejected the proposal and urged Viserys to seek a loan from the Sealord or the Iron Bank.
• Viserys sided with Willem, ordered five warships sold, and announced plans to form a mercenary company from their sailors.

Viserys strengthened his restoration plans by creating a sellsword company and allowing Lucerys to raise money through naval escorts, while privately considering Braavos’s dangers and Daenerys’s future. In the Vale, Denys Arryn returned to his wife Julia, and the chapter ended by introducing their son Lao.

• Viserys named Ser Willem Darry commander of the six-hundred-man sellsword company Dragon's Wrath and hoped it might eventually attract the Golden Company.
• Lucerys accepted Viserys's plan and proposed that his fleet earn money escorting Braavosi merchants, setting the naval and land forces to compete for royal funds.
• Viserys considered the Sealord's proposed marriage alliance for Daenerys, then set aside his concerns and went to see his sister.
• Viserys picked up Daenerys and vowed that they would reclaim what belonged to the Targaryens, unaware that House Peake was watching him in Braavos.
• At the Gates of the Moon, Denys Arryn returned to Julia and asked where their son Lao was; the narration explained that Denys had named the boy on Titus Peake's advice.

Denys Arryn faced resistance from Vale lords while Julia worried about rumors that Robert might legitimize Mya Stone, who remained happily unaware at the Red Keep. Meanwhile, Jaime prepared to return to Casterly Rock, and Titus received an invitation to Stannis Baratheon’s wedding.

• Denys told Julia that Yohn Royce had confronted him over punishing a knight from House Royce, and Julia comforted him.
• Denys said rumors claimed Robert might legitimize Mya, but Jon Arryn had intervened to deny them and reassure the nobles.
• Mya and Rhaenys played with Balerion in the Red Keep’s Godswood while Jaime watched and recalled that Tywin had ordered him home.
• Robert approved Jaime’s leave to return to Casterly Rock.
• Titus received an invitation to Stannis Baratheon’s wedding to Selyse Florent at Storm’s End.

Titus traveled to Storm's End for Stannis Baratheon's wedding, where he reunited with Stormlands nobles and observed the complicated differences among the three Baratheon brothers. He ended up joining Robert and Stannis, only for Robert to tease him about finding a wife.

• Titus chose to attend Stannis's wedding at Storm's End and set out with Wenda, Belwas, two squires, and his guard, joined by three Marcher earls.
• At Storm's End, Galladon Tarth reunited with his family and embarrassed Gerold Dayne by suggesting he marry Brienne.
• Titus greeted Renly, Robert, and Stannis and reflected on their contrasting personalities and their relationships.
• Titus recalled how he had recruited the injured smith Donal Noye to oversee work at Starpike's armaments factory.
• Titus joined Robert and Stannis, teased Robert about his family, and then endured Robert's teasing about finding him a wife.

At Stannis Baratheon and Selyse Florent’s wedding, Robert’s intimacy with Delena Florent caused a scandal and renewed tensions between the brothers. Back at Starpike, Titus Peake received news that Lyswell Peake had died and wondered whether Varys and Illyrio had discovered his interest in the Golden Company.

• Titus and Robert joked together at the feast while Stannis stood aside, reflecting on his different relationship with Robert.
• Patchface performed a song as guests learned of his survival after the shipwreck that killed Steffon Baratheon and his wife.
• Robert flirted with Delena Florent, then drunkenly bedded her in Stannis and Selyse’s bridal bed, worsening his relationship with Stannis.
• Titus considered arranging for a Peake relative in Essos to marry Delena if she became pregnant, and sent a summons to Essos after returning to Starpike.
• Titus learned that Lyswell Peake had died and suspected that Varys and Illyrio might have been involved because of his inquiries into the Golden Company.

Titus suspected that someone within the Golden Company had caused Leswell’s death and sent Davos Seaworth to Essos to investigate and secure the faction loyal to him. Davos arrived at Allied Harbor and entered the Golden Company’s tavern to meet its commander, Myles Toyne.

• Titus considered whether Varys, Illyrio, or Myles Toyne was behind Leswell’s death and the threat to his plans for the Golden Company.
• Captain Wenda offered to travel to Essos, but Titus decided to send the Golden Mountain Knight in his place.
• Davos arrived at Allied Harbor with three warships, ten armed merchant ships, and more than six hundred soldiers and sailors.
• Davos entered the reserved Black Gold tavern, where Myles Toyne and armed Golden Company mercenaries awaited him.

Davos met with Myles Toyne and senior Golden Company officers to negotiate on behalf of Titus Peake. He invoked Titus’s victories to rebuff Myles’s attempt to belittle him and left the meeting facing a challenge from Dennis Strong.

• Davos entered the tavern with his guards and told the Golden Company that he had come to discuss business.
• Myles Toyne welcomed Davos as the “Gold Mountain Knight” and joked that he could join the Golden Company.
• Davos named Jon Connington and reminded him that Titus Peake had defeated him, prompting Jon and the other officers to react angrily and solemnly.
• Myles stopped his officers from escalating the exchange and invited Davos to sit down for negotiations.
• Myles introduced Jon Connington, Black Bakk, Torman and Pykewood Peake, Harry Strickland, and Dennis Strong to Davos.
• Dennis Strong said he wanted to see what Titus Peake could do.

Davos Seaworth confronted Myles Toyne over Ser Leswell Peake’s suspicious death, then read Lord Titus Peake’s letter recalling Pykewood Peake to Whitegrove and arranging his marriage. The letter’s warning to protect Torman Peake left the Golden Company commander under pressure.

• Davos questioned Myles Toyne about Ser Leswell’s death, but Myles insisted Leswell had died of dysentery.
• Davos read Lord Titus Peake’s letter, which offered Pykewood Peake the lordship of Whitegrove and a marriage to Delena Florent.
• The Golden Company’s officers reacted with surprise and envy at Pykewood’s chance to return to Westeros.
• Torman Peake realized that remaining with the Golden Company could mean he was being entrusted with an important role.
• Davos warned Myles to protect Torman, saying Starpike did not want another Peake to die.

Davos threatened the Golden Company’s officers to protect Torman Peake and completed his business in Allied Harbor. Titus explained the Golden Company’s history to Wenda, while Davos continued his diplomatic mission toward Lys and Tyrosh.

• Davos warned the Golden Company officers that he would hold them responsible if Torman Peake came to harm, and Torman gained their renewed respect.
• Titus told Wenda that the Golden Company’s traditions and Aegor Rivers’s leadership had kept the exiles united and focused on returning to Westeros.
• Titus defended Davos’s ability to handle the mission, trusting that the Starpike Fleet’s warships would deter the Golden Company from challenging him.
• Davos left Allied Harbor to negotiate a secret business and military partnership with Lys’s Trade Prince, Tregar Omorlen, through Salladhor Saan.
• Davos planned to continue to Tyrosh to visit Titus’s uncle, Johnny Adrys, before returning to Gold Mountain Harbor.