In an instant Will had fought his way through the crowd and was on the floor next to his wife. She quickly regain consciousness, sitting upright as Will wrapped an arm around her to keep her steady. By now Renly, Loras and Amber's handmaidens had joined her, along with a maester, who she was completely ignoring.

The look on her face when she finally lifted her head could have cut glass, the determination in her eyes.

'Amber, what happened?' Will asked softly, and not for the first time. She shivered slightly and he held her tighter. She didn't look back at him, though, instead she looked up, holding Renly's gaze.

'He tried to kill me.' She said in a whisper, then again, louder. 'He tried to kill me.' Renly didn't know what to say, he was speechless. But Amber took a deep breath, used Will's shoulder to lever herself off the floor and stood upright, shooing the maester away from her again. She held the knife up in front of her, the blood starting to congeal, but still dripping onto the stone floor.

'So I stabbed him.' She said, her tone flat and emotionless. 'He's dead.'

'Amber.' Will interrupted her, his voice as harsh as Renly had ever heard it before. 'Amber, come on, we'll talk about this somewhere else.'

She didn't answer him at all, just turned on her heels and strode out of the hall, seemingly not noticing that she was walking through blood, leaving a trail of it in her wake from her dress against the floor.

'Renly.' Will said quietly, nodding towards the door. Renly nodded once in agreement, then followed Will out of the hall, knowing without checking that Loras was behind him.

Back in the safety of Amber and Will's chambers, the maester was once more ushered away, this time by Will, and far more pleasantly than his wife had done. Gem and Elyssa took Amber to get changed out of her bloodied clothes, and to wash the blood out of her hair before it matted. Renly took a seat at her desk, Loras perched in the window sill, while Will simply paced. Renly didn't even attempt to make conversation, there was nothing to say until Amber returned.

She did after a while, half dressed, wearing a nightdress and a robe, her hair still damp and draped over one shoulder. But no one minded, the only people in the room were her husband, her handmaidens, and Renly and Loras. They had all either seen her in a state of undress before, or had no interest in it. She sat down in a chair by the fire and for a moment was silent.

'He had a knife.' She said after a while, her voice quiet, but it rang through the room all the same. 'He took me outside, told me he didn't want a part in this but he had no choice. Then he put a knife to my throat, told me it would be over quickly.' She paused and sighed. 'It was. For him.' She was absent-mindedly toying with her necklace.

'Who sent him?' Renly asked once he was sure she'd finished.

'I don't know.' Amber answered. 'But I will find out.'

'There'll be guards outside this door every hour of the day.' Will decided. 'I've already given the orders, so don't argue. And you'll go nowhere unescorted.'

'I am not a prisoner, Will.' Amber retorted instantly, a fire behind her eyes worthy of any Lannister. 'Do not treat me as such.'

'I'm doing this for your own safety, Amber. I don't want you to get hurt.'

'I can look after myself.' She insisted. 'As I demonstrated tonight. I killed a Lannister envoy, and –' She stopped, suddenly realising something. Her voice was barely more than a whisper as she repeated her statement. 'I killed a Lannister envoy.'

'Yes, you did…' Will said slowly, clearly not understanding what Amber was trying to say.

'I killed a Lannister envoy.' She repeated, wide-eyed. 'A Lannister envoy tried to kill me. Had he have succeeded, no one would have known. I think…' She hastily stopped speaking, shutting her eyes for a moment. 'I suddenly feel rather light-headed. It's the shock of tonight, I'm sure.' She opened her eyes and glanced around. 'Forgive me. We'll address this tomorrow.'

And with that, she left the room, followed by her handmaidens. Will looked shaken, leant against the arm of a chair and remaining completely silent. Eventually, he glanced up at Renly.

'Tomorrow, then.' He said quietly. Renly nodded. 'I'll send someone for you when she wants to talk.'

Renly didn't protest over Will's dismissal, though it was somewhat short. He couldn't blame him, his wife had been threatened and almost killed, then killed someone herself. He could hardly hold it against Will for being a little on edge.

The next morning dawned slowly. Renly had hardly slept, and had watched Loras' fitful sleep next to him. He didn't even feel tired, he couldn't stop his mind wandering through everything that had happened the night before, and worrying for its consequences.

It was gone midday by the time Amber's handmaiden came for him. It was Elyssa, not Gem, which saddened Renly slightly. He'd have liked to see a friendly face – not that Elyssa wasn't friendly, the opposite in fact, overly so, but Gem had been a friend for a long time. She was comforting. That afternoon, however, Elyssa was strangely quiet. The incident with Amber had clearly affected everyone in Amber's household.

Elyssa led him to Amber's rooms, through her solar and out onto the balcony. It was an expansive terrace, chairs and with a table and a canopy on one side and a small rock garden on the other. It was quite beautiful, but Renly hardly saw it. Instead, he saw the broken Lady by the edge of the terrace, leaning against the wall and surveying the Brightwater below, her golden hair streaked out behind her, untamed and slightly wild. She had dressed in one of the garments she acquired in Highgarden, a teal and gold dress, airy and light.

'I'll leave you now, my lord.' Elyssa said flatly, backing away and off the terrace, pulling the doors shut quietly behind her. They clicked as they shut.

'Join me.' Amber spoke finally, her voice a monotone. Renly did as she said, approaching her by the wall. Amber looked statuesque, as always, standing with her shoulders back, her hands braced on the wall, head held high.

'Tell me,' she said. 'how far would Cersei go? How far would she go to protect herself?'

'Herself?' Renly repeated. Amber nodded slowly. 'She'd do almost anything, I wouldn't doubt.'

'And for her House?'

'Anything.'

Amber nodded thoughtfully, pausing for a moment. 'She knows I've spoken with the Tyrells. She knows might now about the plot for Margaery and Robert. But she thinks I've betrayed my House.'

'You have.' Renly told her honestly. Amber nodded again, a hard expression on her face.

'My House betrayed me.' She said quietly, her amber eyes unmoving from the river sprawled out ahead of her. 'My House have started to take apart Westeros piece by piece, and it won't be long until they take another piece. Not to mention the issue of succession. They will burn every last land in Westeros with corruption. This is not the Targaryen age, we are better than this. We can have better than this.'

'Amber, I don't…'

'My House tried to kill me.' Amber continued after a moment. 'Cersei sent that envoy to end all of this before it begins. End this Tyrell conspiracy she can sense might have some weight if they have Lannister knowledge. She's afraid of what I could tell them. What I have told them. And she sent someone to silence me.'

'But Amber, would Cersei really –'

'You said it yourself.' She interrupted, turning to face him, locking her eyes with his. 'Cersei would do anything for her House.'

'Amber…' Renly sighed. She was right, of course she was. It all made too much sense. He wanted to think better of Cersei, that she'd draw the line at killing her own family, but deep down he knew better. 'Surely…'

She touched the necklace at her throat, the small golden lion now seemed like a parody, the rubies either side small smears of blood. 'My House betrayed me.' She repeated, grasping the lion in her fist and yanking the chain hard. The necklace came apart, the chain snapping in a multiple places, the rubies spilling off it and both golden chain and drops of blood tumbled down into the Honeywine. She opened her fist, where the small golden lion pranced mockingly. She held out her hand and let the lion fall to its death.

'I am not a Lannister.' She said, a terrifying air of finality in her voice. 'I have no House. Only my own loyalties.'