Chapter Summaries

Rickard Stark offered Ghost three choices, including working for House Stark and becoming Prince Rhaegar’s betrothed, then gave her two days to decide. After rejoining Lyanna and Ned, Ghost resolved to go to King’s Landing and confront Rhaegar in hopes of changing Lyanna’s fate.

• Rickard Stark threatened Ghost with Ice and offered her the choices of leaving the North, staying as a wolf, or working for House Stark while remaining free to stay with Lyanna.
• Ghost recognized that King Aerys feared Rhaegar’s growing influence, and Rickard praised her insight before giving her two days to consider his offer.
• Rickard sent three sealed messages, including one addressed to a contact in King’s Landing, and warned Ghost not to reveal their conversation.
• Ghost reunited with the worried Lyanna and Ned, reassured them, and went with Lyanna to her room.
• After thinking of Lyanna’s future, Ghost decided to go to King’s Landing and learn what Rhaegar Targaryen was really like.

Ghost hid her decision to serve Duke Rickard from Lyanna, then traveled with House Stark toward Riverrun, where Catelyn, Lysa, Edmure, and Petyr Baelish appeared. The chapter ended with Petyr noticing preparations for an important visitor and wondering who was coming.

• Ghost told Lyanna she planned to search for her origins after accompanying House Stark to Riverrun, and Lyanna supported her.
• After the full moon passed, Ghost regained the ability to change forms, and House Stark set out for Riverrun with her in wolf form.
• Catelyn Tully left Lysa, Edmure, and Petyr behind while she rode off to hunt.
• Lysa arranged for Edmure to be sent back to Riverrun, then walked beside the lake with Petyr.
• Petyr reflected on the town's preparations and the removal of refugees, realizing an important person was expected in Riverrun.

Lysa told Petyr that Catelyn was to marry Brandon Stark, then promised to find a way to marry Petyr herself. On the journey to Riverrun, Ghost endured lessons from Weilisi and made progress in High Valyrian as the northerners neared their destination.

• Lysa told Petyr that Catelyn’s match was Brandon Stark of Winterfell, leaving Petyr visibly shaken.
• Lysa promised Petyr she would persuade her father to let them marry, and Petyr pretended to believe her.
• Lyanna studied noble etiquette and Westerosi houses during the journey, while Ghost was confined to the carriage for lessons.
• Weilisi taught Ghost about Westeros and Essos, assigned her copying work, and began teaching her High Valyrian.
• As the party neared Riverrun, Ghost could manage some everyday conversations in High Valyrian.

Ghost struggled to memorize Westeros’s noble territories while Maester Weilisi explained how her appearance could help establish a claim to Valyrian ancestry. The party reached Riverrun, where Ghost transformed into a white wolf to accompany Lyanna into the city.

• Ghost complained about studying Westeros’s kingdoms and castles, but Weilisi ordered her to memorize ten more pages before she could eat.
• Ghost asked how she would approach Crown Prince Rhaegar, and Weilisi explained that the theory of “the seed is strong” could make her apparent Valyrian ancestry convincing with a change to her eye color.
• Ned brought food and flowers to Ghost’s carriage, but the septa confiscated the food and stopped Ghost from visiting Lyanna on her own.
• The septa escorted Ghost to Lyanna’s carriage, where Ghost transformed into a white wolf, and the party arrived at Riverrun after months of travel.

Lyanna, Ned, and Ghost arrived at Riverrun, where Hoster Tully welcomed the Starks and announced Catelyn’s betrothal to Brandon. The celebrations began with a feast, and Hoster ended the chapter by proclaiming a grand tourney for the coming week.

• Lyanna and Ned arrived at Riverrun with Brandon, where Catelyn welcomed them and Ghost drew attention from the gathered nobles.
• Lyanna learned that Robert Baratheon had arrived two days earlier but was still asleep after drinking, while Ned secretly tried to feed Ghost dried meat.
• At the feast, Ned met Brynden Tully, the Blackfish, who played with Ghost and tried to pet her.
• Hoster Tully announced Catelyn’s betrothal to Brandon Stark, and the guests cheered.
• Hoster declared that Riverrun would hold a grand tourney over the coming week.

At the Tully banquet, Petyr Baelish drew a sword to make Brandon Stark release Catelyn and challenged him to a duel. Rickard Stark accepted the challenge, leaving Ghost convinced Petyr might die when they fought in two days.

• Brandon Stark drunkenly pulled Catelyn toward the exit, causing her to fall and hurt her wrist and ankle.
• Petyr Baelish drew a sword and demanded that Brandon let Catelyn go, then challenged him to a duel.
• Hoster Tully ordered the guards to seize Petyr, but Rickard Stark stopped them and accepted the challenge as a sacred duel.
• Petyr apologized for his conduct and reaffirmed his challenge, while Brandon declared they would fight in two days.
• Petyr left with the guards, Lysa followed him, and Ghost worried that Brandon would kill him in the duel.

Ghost worried that Petyr Baelish would die in his duel with Brandon and wondered whether she should intervene to prevent the harm he might cause in the future. After consulting Weilisi, she left still uncertain, but resolved to judge Petyr by his actions now rather than his future reputation.

• Lyanna and Ned discussed Petyr Baelish's challenge to Brandon, while the Blackfish dismissed the danger and hoped to fight Brandon himself.
• Ghost considered saving Petyr, weighing Ned's future death against the uncertainty that changing history might cause.
• Ghost asked Weilisi whether he would stop a child destined to become a villain, and he challenged her assumptions with stories about people shaped by hardship.
• Weilisi advised Ghost to leave people's fates to the gods, but she privately rejected his view and reconsidered Petyr's present actions.
• Ghost left Weilisi's room, still unsure whether to intervene in the duel.

Ghost sought a way to save Petyr Baelish from Brandon’s duel, while Maester Weilisi researched Ghost’s wolf-spirit nature and shared secret records about his race. Weilisi began explaining the Wolf Spirit King’s origins, leaving Ghost to learn more about the power behind his lineage.

• Weilisi added notes about Ghost’s human form and suspected abilities to a research notebook, then asked to see Lord Rickard.
• Ghost discussed saving Petyr Baelish with Lyanna and Ned, and Ned proposed an idea that angered Lyanna because it involved Robert.
• Ghost told Lyanna he might be able to foresee future events, and she reacted with excitement before talking with him through the night.
• Weilisi visited Ghost, discussed the king’s search for a bride for Rhaegar and Elia Martell’s arrival, then offered secret records about Ghost’s race.
• Weilisi said Ghost’s race descended from the Wolf Spirit King, who had gained Greensight after devouring Greenseers during a conflict with the Children of the Forest.

Ghost left Riverrun with Maester Weilisi and traveled to Pentos to pose as a noblewoman of Old Valyrian descent, hoping to be found by King Aerys’s men and taken to King's Landing. After a long wait and intensive training, the king’s envoy finally arrived, though the ship’s unexplained delay left her suspicious.

• Weilisi told Ghost they would travel through Lord Harroway's Town to Pentos so the king’s men could find her, and Ghost left Riverrun without saying goodbye to Lyanna in person.
• After Ghost had been gone for more than half a day, Lyanna read her farewell letter, then persuaded Robert to intervene in Brandon Stark’s duel with Petyr Baelish.
• Robert fought Brandon in Petyr’s place, and the duel helped Brandon and Robert become friends; Petyr was sent home after secretly leaving Lyanna a bronze family badge.
• Ghost reached Pentos after nearly two months and studied her fabricated background, noble etiquette, Old Valyrian history, and High Valyrian while waiting for the king’s men.
• Lyanna sent Ghost news of the duel and Petyr’s badge, while Ghost’s anxious wait in Pentos continued through nearly a year and a half of delays and spy training.
• The king’s envoy finally arrived to collect Ghost, whose preparations had made her appear to be a noblewoman from Old Valyria.

Ghost arrived in King's Landing and was presented to King Aerys, who examined her as a possible bride for Rhaegar. With Rhaegar away suppressing the Kingswood Brotherhood, Aerys gave Ghost the name Rhaenys Targaryen.

• Ghost entered King's Landing and saw the city's poverty before reaching the Red Keep.
• Ghost approached King Aerys in the throne room while Varys praised her Targaryen bearing.
• Aerys asked Ghost to lift her veil and scrutinized her, then ordered that Rhaegar be brought to see his betrothed.
• Varys reminded Aerys that Rhaegar was away suppressing the Kingswood Brotherhood and mentioned that the Dornish were waiting to see the king.
• Aerys asked Ghost her name and, speaking in Old Valyrian, named her Rhaenys Targaryen.

King Aerys named Ghost his adopted daughter, Princess Rhaenys, and Varys escorted her through the Red Keep. She collided with her betrothed, Prince Rhaegar Targaryen, and was left swooning over his resemblance to a beloved actor from her previous life.

• King Aerys accepted Ghost as Rhaenys Targaryen and granted her the title of princess and adopted daughter.
• Varys told Ghost that her welcoming feast would be delayed and led her toward her quarters.
• Ghost suspected that Varys and Rickard Stark had formed a dangerous political alliance.
• Ghost walked into Rhaegar Targaryen's armor in the corridor, and he politely asked her to move aside.
• Ghost recognized Rhaegar's resemblance to the actor who played young Grindelwald and crouched down, overwhelmed with excitement.

Ghost settled into guest quarters in the Red Keep and became infatuated with Prince Rhaegar, while Rhaegar returned exhausted from the campaign and learned King Aerys had ordered the deaths of villagers who sheltered the Kingswood Brotherhood. The chapter ended with Ghost hiding underwater in Rhaegar’s bath, unable to hold her breath any longer as he relaxed nearby.

• Ghost realized the handsome prince she had seen was Rhaegar Targaryen and fantasized about getting close to him as a pet.
• King Aerys berated Rhaegar for sparing commoners who had helped the Kingswood Brotherhood, then ordered them burned.
• Rhaegar returned to his chambers exhausted, dismissed Arthur Dayne’s defense of the executions, and fell asleep before waking hungry.
• Rhaegar went to the royal baths with Arthur Dayne, then entered the pool while Arthur left to fetch his harp.
• Ghost secretly ate a chicken leg and hid underwater, but Rhaegar spotted the bitten food and heard her bubbling as she ran out of breath.

Ghost transformed into a puppy after being discovered in Rhaegar’s bath, then returned to her quarters and resumed human form. The next morning, she was dressed and escorted to join the Queen for prayers.

• Ghost emerged from the pool as a puppy, and Arthur Dayne carried her out of the bathing chamber after Rhaegar told her not to return to the bath.
• Arthur Dayne dried Ghost and tossed her into the royal gardens, and she returned to her quarters by bounding over rooftops and walls.
• Ghost experimented under the covers and discovered she could still change back into her normal-sized wolf form before returning to human form and going to bed.
• Maids woke Ghost before dawn to dress and wash her, and she asked to wash her own face and brush her own teeth.
• The maids braided Ghost’s hair, dressed her in a simple green outfit, and escorted her to join the Queen for morning prayers.

Ghost attended Queen Rhaella’s prayers, then joined Varys at King Aerys’s court, where Aerys named him Rhaenys Targaryen and granted him Duskendale as a fief. Aerys ordered the Hollards burned, but a noble urged mercy, and the king asked Rhaenys to decide their fate.

• Queen Rhaella led Ghost through morning prayers and told him to take good care of Rhaegar.
• Ghost ate a large breakfast, slept until afternoon, and learned that Varys had disposed of his maid and guards after his secret trip to see Rhaegar.
• Varys brought Ghost to the throne room, where nobles scrutinized him and Tywin watched him closely.
• King Aerys announced that Rhaenys and Rhaegar would continue the Targaryen bloodline and granted Duskendale to Rhaenys as her fief.
• Tywin warned that the people might resist Rhaenys, and Aerys ordered House Darklyn’s lands stripped and the remaining Hollards burned.
• A noble asked Aerys to send the Hollards to the Night’s Watch instead, and Aerys asked Rhaenys how the traitors should be dealt with.

Ghost persuaded Aerys to spare the Duskendale rebels from execution by sending them to the Wall, and Aerys later set her wedding to Rhaegar for his eighteenth birthday. As Rhaegar took Ghost for a walk in the gardens, she was overwhelmed by the knowledge that he was destined to die young.

• Ghost argued that sending the traitors to the Night's Watch would make them suffer, and Aerys agreed to spare them from death.
• Aerys ordered those who had helped House Darklyn during the Defiance of Duskendale to take the black, then dismissed the court and kept Rhaegar and Rhaenys behind.
• Aerys set Rhaegar and Rhaenys's wedding for one year later and asked Rhaegar to entertain Elia Martell and try to keep her in King's Landing.
• Rhaegar left the throne room angry at Aerys's intentions toward the Dornish, then invited Ghost to walk with him in the gardens.
• Rhaegar teased Ghost about admiring his looks, while Ghost silently wept as she remembered his foretold death at twenty-one.

Ghost treasured Rhaegar’s flower and planned to prevent his future with Lyanna, while Cersei Lannister erupted over Rhaegar’s betrothal and sought poison from a witch. The witch warned Cersei that Rhaegar would never be hers, then burned her shack and vanished.

• Rhaegar gave Ghost a thistle and his handkerchief before leaving, and Ghost resolved to protect Lyanna and others by keeping Rhaegar and Lyanna apart.
• At Casterly Rock, Cersei learned that Rhaegar had been betrothed to Ghost and raged, while her relatives encouraged her to claim him for herself.
• Cersei wrote letters to Tywin and Jaime, then secretly went to the witch’s forest shack and demanded undetectable poison.
• The witch gave Cersei a bottle of black liquid and warned her that Rhaegar would never be hers.
• After Cersei left, the witch burned her shack and disappeared into the forest.

Bored and uncertain of her place at court, Ghost received a vast haul of silks and jewels after Barbara told Queen Rhaella’s maid that the princess’s wardrobe was too plain. Ghost learned that Prince Rhaegar was reputed to be immensely wealthy, and wondered what had happened to the Targaryens’ fortune after their dynasty fell.

• Ghost spent her days praying with Queen Rhaella, eating, and sleeping, while rarely seeing Rhaegar or finding anything to read.
• Barbara told Ghost that Queen Rhaella’s maid had asked whether the princess lacked anything, and Barbara had complained that Ghost’s clothes and jewelry were too plain.
• Rhaegar’s steward delivered piles of silks, jewelry, and gemstones, offered Ghost access to the prince’s treasury, and warned her not to disturb the queen.
• Barbara told Ghost that King Aerys had given Rhaegar a palace to store gold and gems, leaving Ghost astonished by the prince’s wealth.
• Ghost considered how prosperous the Targaryen royal family had been and wondered where its accumulated wealth went after Robert Baratheon overthrew the dynasty.

Ghost worried that King Aerys had hidden the Targaryen treasury and sought Prince Rhaegar to discuss what she knew. After meeting Elia and Oberyn Martell, she left with Oberyn while Rhaegar rejected a marriage alliance with Elia, who warned him about Tywin Lannister and the trouble Rhaenys could bring.

• Ghost questioned how the Targaryen dynasty’s wealth had disappeared and asked Barbara to find Prince Rhaegar.
• Ghost found Rhaegar speaking with Elia Martell, then met Oberyn Martell and excitedly recognized him as the Red Viper.
• Rhaegar asked Ghost to show Oberyn around the Red Keep, and Ghost left with Oberyn while Rhaegar and Elia stayed behind.
• Rhaegar told Elia he would accept an alliance with Dorne but would not marry her, despite her asking whether he would take two consorts.
• Elia warned Rhaegar that Tywin Lannister was coming to fetch his daughter and that Rhaenys would bring him trouble rather than support.

Ghost’s conversation with Oberyn Martell turned tense when she revealed knowledge of his past and hinted at his future, prompting Rhaegar to intervene. Rhaegar challenged Oberyn to a duel, while Elia told Ghost not to interfere.

• Ghost asked Oberyn about his travels, and he admitted that his voyage had ended in Volantis before he could reach Sothoryos.
• Ghost reflected that most people lived and died without exploring the wider world, and Oberyn agreed that people were much like ants.
• Ghost mentioned Oberyn’s travels, sellsword service, and forged chain, then nearly revealed his coming confrontation with the Mountain.
• Oberyn seized Ghost’s wrist and demanded to know who she was, but Rhaegar arrived and stopped his sword just above Oberyn’s head.
• Rhaegar challenged Oberyn to a duel, and Elia covered Ghost’s mouth and told her not to interfere.

Bai and Elia staged a scare to stop Prince Rhaegar and Oberyn Martell’s duel, but Rhaegar left angry and Bai forgot to tell him about Master Weilisi. Oberyn later told Elia that Rhaenys Targaryen seemed to know uncanny details about his life and future.

• Elia let Prince Rhaegar and Oberyn begin their duel while Bai anxiously watched.
• Elia and Bai pretended that Elia had fainted, prompting Oberyn to abandon the duel and rush to his sister.
• Prince Rhaegar arranged for the Grand Maester to examine Elia, then told Bai not to blame herself when she apologized.
• The Grand Maester found no serious illness, and Elia admitted to Oberyn that her fainting had been a joke.
• Oberyn told Elia that Rhaenys seemed to know intimate details about him and had warned that he would take part in a game in King's Landing.