The Martell sun sigil was broken from the sealing wax. The letter, penned by Prince Doran himself, had arrived via a great raven, carrying warm greetings from the Prince of Dorne. It stated that Prince Oberyn Martell had left King's Landing and was returning to Dorne by way of the Bone Road. The letter also extended an invitation for Cole to visit Sunspear as a guest.
However, Cole couldn't leave for Dorne at the moment. In recent days, various lords and their retinues had been arriving at Storm's End. Selwyn Tarth, the Evenstar of Tarth, was among the first to arrive. The Tarth family's coat of arms was a quartered shield: a yellow sun on a rose field and a white moon on a sky-blue field.
Lord Selwyn Tarth was over fifty, his grey hair a testament to his age. When Cole went out to greet him, the old lord knelt on one knee, swearing fealty and pleading for his daughter's life. Cole accepted his oath and quickly ordered Brienne of Tarth to be brought from the dungeon. Seeing his daughter unharmed, Lord Selwyn breathed a sigh of relief.
Imprisonment had clearly not quelled Brienne's desire for revenge against Cole. Her eyes still burned with fierce defiance, as if she wished to tear him apart. Selwyn nervously glanced at Cole, who appeared unconcerned.
"I won't kneel for you," Brienne declared, her tone stubborn.
Cole merely shrugged and turned to Selwyn. "Lord Evenstar, I've brought your precious daughter. Let's talk more privately."
"Thank you, Your Highness," Selwyn replied.
Cole nodded and exited the hall, leaving the father and daughter to face each other.
"Father, why are you here?" Brienne asked, her eyes filled with complex emotions.
The Evenstar raised his eyebrows, a serious expression on his face. "You fool, do you even realize what you're doing?"
"Of course I do," she retorted. "You were the one who sent me to Storm's End."
"And that is truly the decision I regret most," he sighed.
"I was Lord Renly's Rainbow Guard; I had to uphold my duties."
Selwyn looked up at his daughter's face. Her broad frame hardly resembled a woman's. He had sought three marriages for her, knowing full well those men only coveted her inheritance. But with Brienne looking like this, how many men in the Seven Kingdoms would truly be willing to marry her? What's more, the chivalrous spirit she admired was quite contrary to the ideals of a lady in the Seven Kingdoms. The last man to propose was a knight older than Selwyn himself.
"He's dead now. Renly is a dead man, a ghost," her father pressed. "Do you want to throw your life away for a dead man?"
Brienne looked at him, confused. "I swore an oath."
Selwyn gazed at his stubborn daughter and sighed. "You're no knight, Brienne. While Renly asked you to be his bodyguard, no one was willing to knight you in the presence of the gods." She lowered her head, her dry, yellow hair falling limply. "Go home, back to Evenfall Hall," her father continued. "I'll find a marriage for you later."
"No," she firmly shook her head. "Father, I can protect myself now, and I know what I'm doing."
He looked at her resolute expression and shook his head. "I won't allow you to do anything foolish again." He smelled the stench on his daughter's clothes. "I'll have a maid take you to change and bathe. Then I'll take you to apologize to His Highness shortly."
Anticipating Brienne's protest, Selwyn continued, "I have sworn my loyalty to him. Renly's death isn't your fault. You did your duty, my child. People die, and they stay dead. If you don't want to stay with me, just go home."
Brienne nodded.
She followed the maid, but half an hour later, the maid rushed back to tell Lord Selwyn that Lady Brienne was missing.
In the study, a soldier brought her in. Cole sat at his desk, a book in hand. Brienne's hands were tied, and she was pushed towards the desk. The soldiers tried to force her to kneel, but she struggled and pushed them away. Brienne's face and clothes were covered in dirt and dust, and there was some blood on her.
Cole waved for them to stop. "It seems the dungeon food is quite good; you look very energetic."
Brienne merely snorted.
"Your father's only condition was that I forgive your crimes," Cole said, setting down his book. "Do you know the penalty for stealing from the castle's treasury?" She had snatched a warhorse from the stables and galloped out of Storm's End's gates, only to be tripped at the entrance. "Should I charge you with theft or robbery?" Cole asked her. "The penalty for theft is the amputation of your fingers. You should be lucky there were no casualties."
"You want to judge me?" Brienne stared at his handsome face. "Then I demand trial by combat." She made no excuses, her decision firm.
Cole chuckled. "Is this your plan?" No, she had genuinely planned to seize a warhorse and flee Storm's End. "Of course, you have that right," Cole said. "But I just promised your father leniency. Haven't you considered his feelings?"
Brienne was momentarily stunned. She had been feeling a surge of triumph that Cole agreed to trial by combat. People said he was a good man to his family, friends, and the common folk in his lands. But in Brienne's eyes, he was just an old man, his forehead lined with the scars of time. After his brother, Garedon, drowned, he seemed to age faster, and now his sparse hair was pale.
Thinking of her father's pleas outside the hall, Brienne fell silent.
"I know you believe I killed Renly," Cole said. "It's hard to please everyone. We can't ask everyone to uphold truth and hypocrisy in words. If that's the case, I can give you a chance to avenge him."
Brienne looked up.
"But there's a price," he continued. "I'll agree to your trial by combat, but if you lose, I won't kill you."
Anger flashed across Brienne's face. Cole's apparent contempt stung her. Did he truly think he could win?
Cole merely smiled. "The price is that you have to do something for me."
"I will not serve you."
Cole shook his head. "No, you won't be serving me; this is just a deal. If you can beat me in the trial by combat, then this deal is off, and I won't ask you to do anything that goes against your beliefs."
Hesitation flickered in Brienne's eyes. "What do you want me to do?" she asked.
"Find someone and bring her back to Storm's End safely."
"Who?"
"Shireen Baratheon."