A Clash of Kings ÔÇö Catelyn VII

Alone with the Kingslayer and a flagon of wine, Catelyn takes Jaime's confessions one by one ÔÇö then calls for Brienne's sword.

The chapter retold

Alone with the Kingslayer and a flagon of wine at Riverrun, Catelyn does something her sonÔÇÖs war council would never sanction ÔÇö she draws Jaime LannisterÔÇÖs confessions out of him one careful admission at a time, testing whether the man who pushed Bran from a tower has anything like honesty left in him.

What she does with what she learns is the chapterÔÇÖs real weight: she calls for BrienneÔÇÖs sword and frees Jaime, trading her familyÔÇÖs most valuable prisoner for the promise of her daughtersÔÇÖ safe return. ItÔÇÖs a decision made entirely outside her sonÔÇÖs authority, driven by a motherÔÇÖs calculation rather than a generalÔÇÖs, and it will cost Catelyn dearly in trust and standing even as itÔÇÖs the only bargain she believes might actually bring Sansa and Arya home.

This movement: The Battle of the Blackwater

• The bay goes up in green fire; Stannis's fleet burns between a chain and a trap.
• Tyrion leads the sortie when Joffrey is pulled from the walls ÔÇö and a Kingsguard's sword opens his face to the bone.
• Sansa keeps the highborn women singing while Cersei drinks and plans their deaths.
• Tywin and the knights of Highgarden take Stannis in the flank; ghost-Renly's shadow rides in the vanguard of gossip.