Chapter Summaries

After the rebels’ victory, Titus visited the badly wounded Denys Arryn and reassured him that he and Robert would recover while the dukes handled the war. Titus then joined the council, where the leaders debated the fate of their captured enemies, especially Barristan Selmy.

• Titus reflected that Robert’s ambition had reignited and that a new king would rise after the dragon fell.
• Titus visited Denys Arryn, who had survived seven spear wounds, and told him that Robert was also recovering from his injuries.
• Titus assured Denys that the rebels would soon take Harrenhal and urged him to focus on healing.
• Titus attended the military council, where the leaders discussed their captured nobles and the ransom value of William Mooton and Lewyn Martell.
• Jon Arryn explained that the council was divided over Barristan Selmy: Roose Bolton and others wanted him executed, while Robert wanted him spared and treated.

After the allied army captured Harrenhal, Titus Peake secured the promise of command for a future southern campaign while Eddard Stark was nominated to lead the march on King's Landing. In the capital, Aerys II ordered wildfire planted throughout the city, and after Qarlton Chelsted resigned in protest, the king ordered him burned as Jaime stood in his way.

• Duke Jon nominated Eddard Stark as supreme commander, and Titus Peake agreed to support him in exchange for command of a later southern campaign.
• Lady Whent surrendered Harrenhal and revealed that the Reach army had fled south; the Dornish forces had lost Prince Lewyn as a captive and several lords in battle.
• After learning Rhaegar had died, Aerys II ordered the Alchemists' Guild to bury wildfire beneath key sites throughout King's Landing.
• Qarlton Chelsted confronted Aerys II over the wildfire plan, resigned as Hand, and was sentenced to be burned alive.
• As Qarlton tried to reach the king, Jaime blocked him, and Qarlton urged Jaime to rebel against Aerys II.

Jaime Lannister learned that wildfire threatened King’s Landing and considered whether he should act, while Tywin Lannister finally resolved to march on the capital. Several days later, Lord Titus departed Harrenhal, intending to move faster than Tywin’s forces.

• King Aerys burned Qarlton Chelsted, then appointed the pyromancer Rossart as Hand, deepening Jaime’s fear that King’s Landing faced destruction.
• Jaime remembered Aerys’s abuse of Queen Rhaella and considered intervening despite his Kingsguard vows.
• Tywin recalled the humiliations and losses caused by Aerys, then ordered the troops at Casterly Rock to march on King’s Landing the next day.
• Kevan Lannister remarked that the lion was waking, and Tywin answered that a lion moved when it smelled meat.
• Several days later, Lord Titus left Harrenhal by the Gods Eye, telling Wenda that he intended to outrun Tywin’s advance.

Titus led nearly eight hundred elite cavalrymen aboard a fleet bound for King's Landing, planning to reach the capital by water ahead of the overland army and the Westerlands forces. As the ships set sail, he appointed Aegon Leywell as his cavalry deputy and told him to follow his lead.

• Titus assembled nearly eight hundred cavalrymen and prepared to sail south separately from the allied army marching under Eddard Stark and Duncan Wick.
• Davos Seaworth reported that the fleet and supplies were ready, and Titus boarded the former royal warship Dragonbane alongside the Seahorse and four armed merchantmen.
• Davos asked whether the contacted pirate leaders should join the expedition, but Titus declined because speed and secrecy mattered more than outside help.
• Titus summoned Aegon Leywell and addressed his doubts about bringing cavalry by ship, telling him to follow his lead when the time came.
• Aegon accepted his role as Titus's cavalry deputy as the fleet set sail for King's Landing.

Titus questioned Aegon about the Leveille family’s Sothoryos origin story and reflected on Longwings and the history of dragons. After Aegon left, Titus teased Wenda about her family’s lack of legends, and their banter turned into a playful challenge.

• Titus asked Aegon about the Leveille family’s winged-drake sigil and its ancestor’s voyage to Sothoryos.
• Aegon recounted how his ancestor supposedly killed a Longwing in Sothoryos and returned to Westeros with gold.
• Titus doubted parts of the tale and recalled Septon Mushroom’s writings about Longwings, dragons, and the nature of dragonkind.
• Titus saw Aegon out and told Wenda that the Leveille ancestor’s story might have been embellished.
• Wenda complained that Titus was belittling Starpike, and Titus playfully challenged her before she evaded him and invited him to fight barehanded.

Titus sparred with Wenda, discovered that her eye patch concealed a sighted eye, and learned how she used her Skinchanger ability while keeping one eye on her own surroundings. In King's Landing, Aerys learned that Rhaella was pregnant and decided to send her and Viserys to Dragonstone as the rebels approached.

• Titus and Wenda sparred in the captain's cabin until he pinned her, and she yielded.
• Titus noticed Wenda's eye patch had slipped and discovered her left eye was intact; Wenda explained how she used it to conceal her Skinchanger ability and monitor her own body.
• Titus and Wenda fell asleep together fully clothed, and Wenda woke in his arms with his hand resting on her chest.
• Grand Maester Pycelle told Aerys that Rhaella was pregnant, and Aerys reacted with rare joy.
• Aerys told Rhaella that he would send the Royal Fleet to take her and Viserys to Dragonstone before the rebels attacked King's Landing.

Aerys sent Rhaella and Viserys east by ship while he remained in King's Landing, and Titus hurried his fleet toward the city as Tywin Lannister advanced from the west. The fleets met near the Blackwater Rush, where Titus ordered Dragonbane to approach two Royal Fleet warships blocking the river.

• Aerys refused to leave King's Landing and sent Queen Rhaella and Viserys east with Willem Darry aboard ten Royal Fleet warships.
• Raynald Weywater watched the fleet depart, while Aerys remained in the Red Keep and vowed to defend his throne.
• Titus ordered Davos to speed up the flotilla as Tywin Lannister marched east with twelve thousand men.
• Wenda reported that Tywin was nearing King's Landing with at least ten thousand troops, and the Royal Fleet was sighted ahead.
• Davos reported that two Royal Fleet warships blocked the river, and Titus ordered Dragonbane to bring alongside them.

Davos Seaworth confronted Captain Raynald Weywater aboard his warship and persuaded him to cooperate with the Black Earl as the royal capital faced an imminent change of hands. Raynald boarded the Dragonbane, while the chapter revealed that his family descended from Alyn Velaryon and carried dragon blood.

• The Dragonbane and Seahorse approached the Royal Fleet, and Captain Raynald Weywater recognized the ships he had secretly sold.
• Davos Seaworth boarded Raynald’s ship alone and revealed that the Black Earl had bought the vessels and that the Westerlands army was outside King’s Landing.
• Raynald realized the warship deal could bring him punishment and agreed to cooperate with Davos and the Black Earl.
• Raynald left instructions for his deputy and traveled by small boat to the Dragonbane, where Titus saw him arrive with Davos.
• The chapter traced Raynald’s ancestry to Alyn Velaryon and Yronna Targaryen through their bastard descendants.

Titus pressured Captain Renafor into joining the rebels’ plans for the Royal Fleet, turning his offer to seize ships into an order to serve as a covert agent on Dragonstone. Renafor signed a letter of submission and was told to await instructions from Captain Wenda.

• Renafor met Titus aboard the Dragonbane and claimed he was eager to aid the rebel army, then reported that six Royal Fleet warships remained in King’s Landing after ten had sailed to Dragonstone.
• After learning his sailors could crew only three or four additional ships, Titus rejected Renafor’s offer to seize the whole fleet and said he wanted three warships while Renafor took command of the remaining five.
• Titus ordered Renafor to deal with Captain Oliver, help the rebels take three ships, and lead the other five away from King’s Landing under the pretense of protecting Queen Rhaella and Prince Viserys on Dragonstone.
• When Renafor tried to plead that he lacked the ability to carry out the plan, Titus challenged his claim of influence in the Royal Fleet until he promised to do his best.
• Titus ordered Captain Wenda to write a letter of submission in Renafor’s name and told him to maintain his fleet position, act loyal to House Targaryen on Dragonstone, and follow Wenda’s instructions.
• Wenda prepared the letter, and Renafor signed it and pressed his thumbprint onto it.

Titus’s fleet infiltrated the Royal Fleet’s anchorage while his cavalry prepared to strike King’s Landing. At the Lion Gate, Aerys ordered Tywin’s army admitted despite Varys’s warnings, and Tywin entered the undefended capital.

• Titus promised Renafor Weywater advancement in exchange for helping his fleet and keeping watch on Dragonstone, and Renafor took control of his ship after Captain Oliver was declared gravely ill.
• Renafor guided Titus’s six ships into the Royal Fleet’s anchorage while Davos and Oswin prepared captured warships, and Renafor set out to take command of more vessels.
• Titus landed nearly eight hundred cavalrymen and prepared to move as fighting began at King’s Landing’s western gates.
• Tywin brought twelve thousand Westerlands soldiers to the Lion Gate, but Ser Alliser Thorne refused entry until he received the King’s command.
• Varys warned against admitting Tywin’s army, while Pycelle argued for it, and Aerys ordered Alliser to open the gate.
• Alliser obeyed, and Tywin led his army into King’s Landing.

Tywin Lannister seized the Lion Gate and sent his army to sack King's Landing while dispatching Gregor Clegane and other knights to the Red Keep. As the city burned, Aerys II ordered Rossart to carry out their plan to destroy it, embracing his delusion that he would be reborn as the King of Ashes.

• Roland Crakehall's Westerlands soldiers turned on the Lion Gate guards, took the gate, and captured Ser Alliser Thorne.
• Tywin ordered his army to loot and burn King's Landing, then sent Ser Amory Lorch, Ser Gregor Clegane, and other cavalry leaders toward the Red Keep for dirty work.
• The Westerlands army rampaged through the undefended city, robbing, killing, and setting fires as its people fled.
• Aerys II awoke to news of the invasion and found the Throne Room abandoned except for Rossart and the dragon skulls.
• Aerys ordered Rossart to enact their plan to burn King's Landing and declared that he would survive the flames as the King of Ashes.

Jaime Lannister discovered that Aerys II planned to burn King's Landing with Wildfire, then confronted the king and killed him when he refused to stop. Jaime saved the city, but stood alone in the Throne Room as his courage and sense of honor drained away.

• Jaime Lannister intercepted Rossart and learned that Wildfire was being prepared and stored around King's Landing.
• Jaime killed Rossart, then went to the Throne Room to urge Aerys II to halt the order to ignite the Wildfire.
• Aerys II demanded that Jaime bring him Tywin's head or watch the city burn, forcing Jaime to choose between his father, his oath, and the people of King's Landing.
• Jaime chose to protect the city and stabbed Aerys II through the back, killing the king.
• Jaime stood over Aerys II's corpse in the silent Throne Room, knowing he had saved hundreds of thousands of people but believing no one would ever know.

Titus led eight hundred cavalry into King's Landing after Gordon opened the River Gate, then ambushed the Westerlands column at Hook Lane. He left Amory Lorch dead with a fabricated story blaming the clash on the Westerlands before riding east after Tywin's force.

• Gordon bribed and threatened the River Gate squad leaders until they seized the gate, captured its commander, and opened the way for Titus's cavalry.
• Titus ordered Gordon to secure the River Gate and then charged through King's Landing, scattering Gold Cloaks who tried to block the cavalry.
• Titus's cavalry struck the Westerlands column at the Hook Lane crossroads, split it apart, and routed its rear half.
• Titus had Amory Lorch captured, mocked his threats, and ordered his men to stab him to death while inventing a story that blamed his death on a fight with the River Gate commander.
• Titus led his cavalry east in pursuit of the Westerlands force, leaving Amory's body behind.

Jack and Max organized Flea Bottom's Steel Brotherhood to support Titus's plans as King's Landing descended into chaos. Andy captured the Alchemists' Guild leaders and seized the components of an experimental wildfire-powered siege engine, which the Pyromancers would secretly complete outside Starpike.

• Max rallied the Steel Brotherhood, while Jack prepared twenty men for Captain Andy's operation.
• Andy took the Brotherhood's men to Tobho Mott's shop and then led a mixed force to raid the Alchemists' Guild.
• Andy arrested Goghos, Belis, and the guild's assistants and apprentices, then ordered them to gather wildfire-making materials.
• Andy found the Alchemists' Guild's preserved prototype of the Divine Dragon, a wildfire-powered siege engine commissioned by Aegon IV.
• Andy planned to have the captured Pyromancers secretly complete the Divine Dragon outside Starpike in the Dornish Marches.

The Black Earl’s cavalry seized the Red Keep and Titus entered the Throne Room, where Jaime Lannister had killed Aerys II and waited on the Iron Throne. Jaime explained that Aerys planned to burn King’s Landing, but the Black Knight challenged him to draw his sword, leaving their confrontation about to begin.

• The Black Earl’s cavalry slaughtered the Westerlands force at the Red Keep gates, then Titus ordered Aegon to secure the entrances and defenses.
• Titus sent Lady White Eagle and selected guards after fleeing Westerlands soldiers, then led a detachment toward the Throne Room.
• Jaime Lannister sat on the Iron Throne beside Aerys II’s corpse, brooding over his regicide and awaiting whoever would take the city.
• The Black Knight rode into the Throne Room with his cavalry and taunted Jaime, who rose from the throne and described Aerys’s plan to burn King’s Landing.
• The Black Knight listened to Jaime’s account, then called him Kingslayer and ordered him to draw his sword.

Titus defeated Jaime Lannister in the Throne Room, took him prisoner, and hurried toward Maegor’s Holdfast to meet Wenda. There, Gregor Clegane and the surviving Westerlands soldiers were massacring people in the corridors.

• Titus challenged Jaime, overpowered him with Orphan-Maker, and broke Jaime’s golden sword.
• Titus disarmed Jaime, accepted his surrender, and told him to behave as a prisoner while refusing to affirm that he had saved King’s Landing.
• Titus ordered his men to tend to Aerys II’s remains and hurried toward Maegor’s Holdfast.
• Gregor Clegane led the remaining Westerlands cavalry through Maegor’s Holdfast, ordering them to kill every survivor.
• The Westerlands soldiers slaughtered the Red Keep’s maids, cooks, squires, and cupbearers as Gregor walked through the bloodied corridors with his migraine returning.

Gregor Clegane rampaged through Maegor's Holdfast, killed Prince Aegon and threatened Princess Elia before Wenda the White Eagle intervened. Wenda and Dodge's men restrained Gregor with chains, but he began breaking free.

• Gregor Clegane killed more than a dozen people as he searched Maegor's Holdfast for the royal nursery.
• Gregor killed the wet nurse and Prince Aegon, then turned on Princess Elia Martell.
• Wenda the White Eagle shot Gregor in the arm and rescued Elia from his attack.
• Gregor charged at Wenda and her guards using an armored corpse as a shield, knocking down their shield line.
• Dodge's men ensnared Gregor with iron chains, but he strained against them and began snapping several links.

Captain Wenda and the guards subdued Gregor Clegane after he killed Aegon and attacked Princess Elia, while Titus Peake met Elia in Maegor’s Holdfast and explained why she and Rhaenys could not safely return to Dorne. Titus began proposing a way to protect Elia and her daughter and preserve peace, but the chapter ended before he revealed it.

• Dodge and the guards overwhelmed Gregor Clegane, and Wenda knocked him unconscious with a kick before they chained him up.
• Wenda refused to kill Gregor, explaining that Titus had a use for him, then brought Elia to meet the Earl.
• Titus told Elia that he had spared Prince Lewyn and would release him for the right price, but Lewyn would stay to protect his niece.
• Titus explained that Dornish succession laws gave Rhaenys a claim that could threaten Robert Baratheon’s rule, making her return to Dorne unacceptable to the rebel leaders.
• Titus warned Elia that other rebels might eliminate the Targaryen children and began offering a way to protect her and Rhaenys.

After King's Landing fell, Titus Peake held the Red Keep while Tywin Lannister withdrew and Eddard Stark arrived with the rebel army. The leaders prepared for Robert I's coronation, gathering at the Great Sept of Baelor as tensions between Titus and Tywin remained unresolved.

• Tywin Lannister withdrew his men from King's Landing and surrendered the Lion Gate's defenses while awaiting Eddard Stark's approaching army.
• Eddard arrived to find the capital already captured, and Titus Peake admitted the allied leaders and Tywin into the Red Keep.
• Titus explained the Mad King's death, the Westerlands' looting, and his protection of the royal women, prompting Eddard to distrust Tywin's army.
• Eddard took charge of King's Landing's defenses, while Titus retained control of the Red Keep and secured promotions for Andy and Gordon.
• The leaders and the crowd assembled at the Great Sept of Baelor for Robert I's impending coronation, with Titus and Tywin kept apart at the front.

Robert Baratheon was crowned Robert I, marking the fall of House Targaryen and the beginning of Baratheon rule. At the new king’s first Small Council meeting, the assembled lords confirmed House Peake’s jurisdiction over three castles.

• Robert Baratheon knelt before the High Septon, who anointed him and crowned him Robert Baratheon I, King of the Andals, the Rhoynar, and the First Men.
• Nobles and commoners cheered Robert I as the bells rang across King’s Landing, while Princess Elia watched from the royal bedchamber with Rhaenys in her arms.
• Robert I presided over the first Small Council meeting of House Baratheon with the five leaders who had gathered at Riverrun.
• Robert I confirmed Lord Titus Peake’s claim that Whitegrove, Dunstonbury, and Horn Hill fell under Starpike’s jurisdiction, and no one objected.