This small sept had been built in the inner yard of Castle Darry—timber frame plastered over, seven walls, no windows, only a carved wooden door and a tiled roof.
And yet the cramped space was now packed with the most powerful people in Westeros.
King Robert. Queen Cersei. Renly Baratheon, Lord of Storm's End and Lord Paramount of the Stormlands. Jaime "Kingslayer" Lannister… and a whole crowd of lords who had come to watch the spectacle.
The corpse on the floor was already cold. The blood had dried to a dark red. The shredded purple gown made the whole scene feel brutally obscene.
Domeric covered Sansa's and Arya's eyes. A sight like this would give little girls nightmares.
The sept had already exploded into chaos—screaming, cursing, sobbing… someone even vomited from the sheer horror of it.
"Seven save us!"
"Gods, that's Lady Darry—I drank with her last night!"
"What happened here?"
"Who could be so evil?"
"To do something this savage…!"
…
After settling Sansa and Arya as best he could, Domeric bent down and picked up a small tuft of black hair that had been cut cleanly by a sword. Fine, dark strands.
Secret-Seeking System triggered!
Blocky text flashed across Domeric's vision:
Sandor Clegane
Identity: a landed knight in Lannister service; bodyguard to Joffrey Baratheon
Title: The Hound, Dog
Strength: 106
Agility: 74
Spirit: 65
Combat Index: 245
Note: The target is not in fear. You cannot窥探 his secrets.
A combat index of 245… Domeric's eyes narrowed.
So Sandor Clegane was only a hair below Jaime Lannister—still firmly among the top tier of fighters in Westeros.
Before the trial by combat at Winterfell, Domeric had secretly checked Jaime's stats: combat index 256—still below Domeric's 272. That was why Domeric had been confident.
And in the story Domeric knew, Sandor wasn't some irredeemable monster.
He'd been born into a knightly house; both his father and his brother "the Mountain" were knights. As a boy, he'd stolen his brother's toy and had half his face burned for it. His father covered it up with a lie—claimed it was an accident.
That injustice, that cruelty, shattered Sandor's faith in knighthood. He despised the entire "chivalric" act, which was why he'd always refused to be knighted.
But Sandor was exactly the kind of man who rejected the title while carrying the spirit for real.
In King's Landing, he'd helped Sansa more than once when she was trapped in hell. After leaving the city, he'd crossed paths with Arya and stumbled into a grim road of redemption.
In Domeric's eyes, Sandor was like Léon from The Professional—someone who clawed his way back toward humanity.
So what the hell was this?
The Hound… rape-murdered Lady Darry?
…
No.
Domeric swept the crowd—and didn't see Joffrey.
A scene like this was tailor-made for Joffrey's cruel curiosity. There was no way the boy wouldn't come to watch… unless he couldn't.
…
"Who did this?!"
"WHO DID THIS?!"
King Robert roared, fury surging up from his gut.
A guest murdering the lady of the castle—under the host's roof—was something the gods themselves would not tolerate.
It was a blatant violation of guest right.
Guest right was an ancient tradition in Westeros, a sacred law honored across the Seven Kingdoms.
When a guest came beneath a host's roof and accepted bread and salt, guest right took hold.
From that moment until departure, neither side could harm the other.
To break it was to profane the old gods and the Seven alike.
And now—while Robert was a guest at Darry—Lady Darry had been butchered.
If word of this spread, what would it do to the crown's authority? How would he command loyalty?
"Your Grace," Renly stepped forward quickly, "Ser Barristan found Lady Darry's body in this sept during his night patrol… and he also found Sandor Clegane here at the scene. He appeared without explanation."
"So the killer is the Hound?" Robert's tone wavered—uncertain. Sandor could be brutal, but this kind of depravity didn't fit the man Robert thought he knew.
"Ser Barristan is already leading men to seize him. Once we catch him, the truth will be clear."
"Then why are you still standing here like a bloody idiot?!"
Robert snapped at his brother, voice booming. "Go catch him!"
Renly opened his mouth, then shut it again, swallowing the urge to curse.
Outside was forest. Once a man vanished into it, he was smoke. How, exactly, was Renly supposed to "go catch him"?
But Renly didn't dare say any of that—especially not with Robert in a rage.
Then Queen Cersei spoke.
"Your Grace, Sandor may serve House Lannister, but if he committed such an evil, the gods will not suffer it. I beg you—execute him."
"Gods, woman," Robert bellowed, "look at you acting sensible for once. What's the trick—what's the scheme?"
"It's no scheme," Cersei forced a smile through her anger. "As queen, defending the Faith and the realm's authority is my duty."
"Fine," Robert thundered. "Men—by my name, issue the order! Spare no cost. Hunt down Sandor Clegane!"
He swung a massive hand and roared:
"I'll take his head myself!"
"No."
A voice cut through the noise like a blade.
Eddard Stark—newly named Hand of the King—strode in with guards behind him.
"The Hound must be seized," Ned said coldly, "but the one who ordered this must not be allowed to escape."
Robert frowned. "Ned, what in seven hells are you talking about? 'The one who ordered this'?"
"The Hound was only the tool," Ned said, face grave. "The true murderer is someone else."
He paused, as if the weight of it sat in his throat.
The sept erupted.
Queen Cersei went pale.
And Jaime Lannister's expression turned sharp and ugly, like stormlight over steel.
-
-
-
-
GAME OF THRONES: SECRETS BENEATH THE DREADFORT
🏰🩸 GAME OF THRONES: SECRETS BENEATH THE DREADFORT 🩸🏰
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
📢 DARK SECRETS RISE IN THE NORTH! 📢
Game of Thrones: Secrets Beneath the Dreadfort has 30 chapters ahead available on Patreon! 🐺🩸
Beneath the Dreadfort, old horrors stir.
Power, bloodlines, betrayal, northern cruelty, and buried secrets wait beneath one of the most feared castles in Westeros.
❄️ The North remembers.🏰 The Dreadfort hides.🩸 And some secrets should have stayed buried.
Uncover what lies beneath before anyone else does.
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🛑 ALSO AVAILABLE ON PATREON:
🌃 Cyberpunk: Dogtown Legend🔥 Cyberpunk: The Relentless👩👦 Cyberpunk: Lucy Adopted Me and I Got a System🧠 My Cyberpunk 2077 Simulator🤖 My Girlfriend's a Cyberpsycho—Who Knew?🛡️ Star Wars: The Rise of Mandalore🌌 Star Wars: Relics of the Past⚡ The Rebirth of Harry Potter🌹 R18: Reincarnated in Her World
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
🔗 Patreon: www.patreon.com/c/MrMagnus👤 Patreon Name: SrMagnus🐦 X / Twitter: https://x.com/SrMagnusBook
⚠️ The novel with the most Power Stones gets more chapters first!
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━