Oh, how wholly she wanted to answer him. But even the long-ago lie of being a friend of Arya Stark's sister could not properly account for the truth she could have shared, telling him how the older Stark girl had been handed over to Joffery, then a prince. Mother tells me a king should never strike his lady.

"O-of course. You're right. A daughter should feel fortunate to be favoured by any lord," she fell back upon an old habit -- trilling back the words she thought he would want to hear.