Eddard is awoken by Alyn before dawn. King Robert is there with Ser Meryn, Ser Boros, and a dozen guardsmen, and he orders Eddard to ride with him and discuss matters of state. Robert is exhilerated by the chance to get out and ride and is impatient at the slow pace of the royal party. Robert wishes he could just keep on riding, give up the throne, and become a sellsword and vagabond. Robert asks about the mother of Eddard's bastard.¹ Robert thinks her name was Becca, but realizes that was one of his women. Eddard tells him her name is Wylla, but will say no more. Robert says that Eddard is too hard on himself and that no woman wants Baelor the Blessed in her bed.

Robert shows Eddard a note that has just arrived from Varys, the master of whisperers who has held that post since Aerys II's reign. The letter contains information from Ser Jorah Mormont. Eddard is not fond of Ser Jorah, as he tried to sell two poachers to a Tyroshi slaver five years ago and dishonored the North. When Eddard came to his seat at Bear Island to dispense justice, he was not pleased to discover that Ser Jorah had fled. Ser Jorah is serving as an agent for Varys in the hope of receiving a royal pardon.

Ser Jorah's letter tells of the marriage of Daenerys and Drogo. Robert wants to send assassins after Daenerys. He has a hatred for all Targaryens, which led to a falling out between Eddard and Robert during Robert's Rebellion when Robert reacted with approval when presented with the bodies of Rhaegar's children by Lord Tywin. Eddard fought the last battles of the war alone in the south, and only Lyanna's death and shared grief at her passing brought Eddard and Robert back together. Eddard thinks of Rhaegar's daughter² dragged from under her bed crying and Rhaegar's baby son³ being torn from his mother's⁴ breast to have his head dashed against a wall and protests vigourously that harming a child is vile and unspeakable. Robert retorts that the way Brandon and Rickard died was unspeakable⁵ and that Rhaegar raping Lyanna was the worst sin of all. He means to see every Targaryen dead. He had wanted to send assassins after Daenerys and Viserys long ago, but Jon Arryn always stopped him.

Eddard presses Robert about naming a Warden of the East. He refuses to name Robert, particularly with the threat of a Dothraki invasion on the horizon, so Eddard advises he name Stannis, who proved himself at the siege of Storm's End. Robert admits to Eddard that he has already named Jaime Lannister Warden of the East, and Eddard is very uncomfortable, as this leaves half the realm's armies under the control of the Lannisters. Eddard expresses doubt that Jaime is trustworthy and reminds Robert that he did kill Aerys II. When this is not enough to convince Robert, Eddard decides to tell him the rest of the story, which he had always held back.

Robert had taken a wound from Rhaegar at the Trident, so he charged Eddard with the pursuit of the defeated Targaryen army while he recuperated. They fled to King's Landing, where Aerys still had a force of several thousand loyalists. Expecting to have to besiege the city, Eddard was surprised when he arrived to see that Lord Tywin Lannister had taken the city. The war was almost a year old by this point, and Tywin had ignored calls from both sides to add his strength to their cause. After the Battle of the Trident, he appeared at the gates of King's Landing with 12,000 men professing to be an ally, but sacked the city when Aerys opened the gates. When Eddard arrived in the throne room of the Red Keep, he found Jaime seated atop the Iron Throne in his golden armor and Aerys dead at the foot of it. When Eddard challenged him, he got up, said he was just keeping the seat warm for Robert, and stated that it was not a comfortable seat. Robert is not concerned by the incident and rides on, leaving Eddard to doubt that he will be much use as Hand of the King.