Change of Plan

"It's an honor to meet you, my lady," Kai bowed.

That made the woman turn her head, giving Kai a hard look. Since she had come, Lysa Arryn hadn't even seen Kai. And now that she did, her breath got stuck in her throat. If there was anger before, it vanished in the awe written in her eyes. If there was loathing in her heart, it appeared only as a pinkish blush on her face.

Kai stared into her eyes. 'Oh?!' He thought. 'So that's how it is.' "Apologies, my lady," he said, lifting the hammer of his charm. "I would have presented myself to you sooner. I had heard of the Lady of Vale. But I must admit, your beauty has bested my imagination."

The pink flush on Lysa's face became rosy. Courtesy demanded her to return Kai's greeting. "Hmm." All that came out of her mouth was this hum. 'What was I saying? Why was I so angry? When did I come? 'The lady must have been thinking. Such was the spell Kai's Charisma had cast on her.

And the hammer of charm must have fallen, nailing a dart of lust in Lysa's heart, if it weren't for the curse of Kai's Luck. "What were you saying about Petyr?" Jon Arryn asked, not caring or noticing the lady's abnormality. "He had never presented me with such an offer."

At the sound of the name "Petyr", Kai noticed Lysa's entire body jerked. It was like she had been in a trance before. But then, this name became the loudest ring of a bell, jolting her awake, bringing her to reality. 'No!' Kai almost shouted, realizing what was happening. 'You fucking old man, you are ruining it.'

Too late! The spell had already broken.

"GET OUT!" Lysa Arryn commanded, fuming, pointing her quivering finger at Kai. "Leave us alone with our lord husband, bastard."

Kai's lips became a thin line. He looked at Jon Arryn, asking a wordless question. The Hand didn't seem too pleased about the sudden outburst any more than Kai, either. "Leave us," he said reluctantly. "Wake me up before sighting the first ray of sunlight."

'He's dead,' Kai thought, bowing to the old man. 'If he behaves like this, then he is already dead. But I have no intention of dying, old man. Not again! Never! I will complete the mission, even if you wouldn't like the method.'

"My lady," Kai said, giving a final bow. But Lysa Arryn didn't so much as spare a glance at Kai.

*

*

Past Midnight, the Tower of Hand

It was a moonless night. The air was silent near the ground, but upon the hill, it hummed lightly, passing through the ventilated halls and corridors of Red Keep.

Crrr!

The door made the lightest creak as it opened, and Lysa Arryn walked out. Jon Arryn's blurry figure could be seen behind her, snoring, dreaming, uncaring of any sound. She nodded at the two guards before sneaking off for the stairs.

Thud!

"What was that?" one guard said.

"It came from the other end of the corridor," the other replied.

"Rats?"

"Must be," the guard answered with uncertainty. "I am going to check it out."

The wind howled as the lone guard stood at the door, waiting for his companion to come back. But this night was bound to be noisy.

Arghh!

The guard snapped his neck, flinching at the sound. 'This was no rat,' the guard must have thought. 'It came from a man.' The guard looked around but found no source. Suddenly, from the corner of his eyes, the guard noticed a redness. There it was! A stream of red liquid!

"No! It's blood!" the guard let out a shocked whimper. A runny, long trail of blood was streaming out of the gap between the wooden door and the floor. "Isn't that the room of the new guy?" the guard muttered, already approaching, unsheathing his sword. "Arlen, was it?"

Thump!

The guard warily knocked at the door, but it opened at the lightest touch. The heavy oak doors parted, letting the guard peek into the room.

It was too dark for naked eyes. "Oi!" the guard called out. "Arlen, are you there?" The guard looked down and found the trail of blood coming from deep within the room. He twisted his neck to see the other guard, but he was nowhere to see.

"The fool should have returned from the corridor's end," he muttered. "Damn it!"

The guard steeled his resolve, finding no other choice. His grip on the longsword tightened, and he entered the dark room, pointing the sword at an arm's length. The darkness receded as he kept going in. When he reached the middle of the room, he finally saw it. A cup filled with blood was tilted on the floor. Blood was dripping out of it, painting the floor in a steady stream like a single red stroke of the brush.

"Where is he?" the guard mumbled. "Where's the boy?"

A hiss answered him. Goosebumps covered his arms, then. He felt a sharp heat on his neck as if someone had lit a match on it. This heat had a bite to it, a raging sensation mixed with silent pleasure. The thought of slashing behind him had just crossed his mind when a sudden pinch on his neck followed the heat. The pain couldn't have been more than a needle piercing the skin.

The guard felt something moist entering him. It was the last sane feeling he had.

Death had never claimed someone so quietly before.

Kai's eyes became round again, the long nail of his middle finger returning to its actual shape. He stomped, smashing the bloody cup to smithereens. Kai then used the guard's sword to slash his throat open. When he walked out, none could even tell that the blood coming out of the room wasn't from one person.

There was no sound to Kai's steps. He might as well have been a cat for the ears of any listener. He silently killed the torches, darkening the corridor outside the Hand's chamber.

And when the doors opened this time, they didn't give out the slightest creak.

*********

"Corn! Corn!" cried the three-eyed raven. "Corn!" There was a roll of parchment tied to its leg with a golden thread. Grand Maester Reader untied it and unrolled the roll, his face solemn. 'Dark wings, darker words,' he thought. Only four words were written on it, but they were enough to bring a smile on his old face. Those words were...

"Please Vote Power Stones."