While it’s true that neither Littlefinger nor Varys is a known arsonist or kinslayer—Larys is indeed ”a dark animal,” as Needham says—the Game of Thrones duo does dirty work, too. Each of the two is a murderer in either A Song of Ice and Fire or Game of Thrones. (In both the books and the show, Baelish supplies the poison that kills Jon Arryn and Joffrey Baratheon; he also murders Lysa Arryn. In A Dance With Dragons, Varys murders Grand Maester Pycelle and Kevan Lannister.) On the surface this interaction seems to reinforce the Clubfoot’s hold over Alicent. He’s in the Queen’s bedroom trading secrets and service for the right to pleasure himself not just to her, but in front of her. In this moment Alicent is selling a piece of herself for something of value, turning the Red Keep into a royal brothel. HBO

But in true A Song of Ice and Fire fashion, power, even in a single relationship, comes with a price. Throughout the scene Alicent is exhausted and frustrated. She shouldn’t have to placate this amoral monster in such an undignified way. And she knows it’s undignified. Disgust—with herself, with him, and with this absurd situation—is evident on her face in the scene’s final moments. Alicent looks away in shame while Larys finishes his unseemly act. She’s willing to lower herself for a greater cause, but she doesn’t like it. HBOThe scent of Her Majesty’s pheromone trail is thought to inhibit the construction of queen cups in the hive, thereby suppressing queen-rearing and accordingly, swarming. Even when she arrives in a small mailing container after a long, dry trip, the beekeeper should not smear water over the mesh to provide her a drink, as is often prescribed. No! Do not rub the screen with your finger!

If you plan on making this book available for students to read on their own, be certain to review how to use it, as the pop-up tabs tend to be fragile. Pride for power? Dignity for loyalty? Bare feet for control over a dangerous weapon? Is that an exchange worthy of a Queen? Of Alicent Hightower? Of any woman? When it comes to the Iron Throne, and all the danger and death that comes with claiming it, there are never any easy answers. Once the inhibitory message is no longer reinforced by queenly footsteps in those areas, workers start building the special cups for producing new queens(Lensky & Slabezki 1981). The reigning queen’s age makes some difference to the strength of her queen-cup inhibiting message. A 6-month-old queen’s tarsal glands secrete much more pheromone to mark her trail than do those of a 2-year-old monarch. Label the plates with the numbers 1 through 12. Place them on the floor, four in a row. (First Row: 1, 2, 3, 4 Second Row: 5, 6, 7, 8 Third Row: 9, 10, 11, 12)When you see her in photos, Queen Elizabeth II looks quite small. That’s probably because of the family members she often stands next to. Prince William is very tall, at 6 feet 3 inches, and even Prince Charles is somewhere between 5 feet, 8 inches and 5 feet, 10 inches. The queen isn’t nearly as tall as her son and grandson. One of the biggest challenges facing House of the Dragon has always been one of the many messy aspects of its wildly successful predecessor: At times, especially in its earlier seasons, Game of Thrones was a show for perverts. (This is not a joke, but something frequent Thrones director Neil Marshall told Empire magazine in reference to an executive producer that encouraged him to include more nudity for “ the perv side of the audience.”) The series relished in what became known as “sexposition,” a term coined to discuss the many instances in Thrones and premium TV dramas like it that delivered heaps of exposition in titillating scenes — Littlefinger, like Tony Soprano, did not have to set up shop in a brothel (or the Bada Bing), but they did. Sex sells. Sarah Ellis's wonderfully whimsical tale will ring a bell with all children and adults whose feet get restless. And Dusan Petricic illustrations may well encourage a little more unroyal behavior. In particular, whenever the queen is caged for transport or for isolation, the handler must take care never to touch the screen where her feet may be clasping.

The next drawing shows detail of the fifth tarsal segment: the claws and the foot-pad, which protrudes as a lobe forming the absolute tip of the queen’s foot from which pheromones are released through pores.If something does happen to the queen such that she can no longer fulfill her role, workers will move a fertilized egg into a cup and bathe it in royal jelly. With special diet and care, a new replacement queen will develop in the special cell, which is gradually elongated by workers to accommodate a large larva.