Chapter 18: Baelish Tightens the Net

The corridor outside the Queen's solar had two alcoves and a window that faced east, which meant that by the time the afternoon sun had crossed the yard, it offered nothing but shadows and a draught that came in under the sill no matter the season. Elspeth had walked it perhaps two hundred times since her arrival. She knew the loose stone three paces from the northern alcove, the place where the hanging had been rehung at a slight angle and never corrected, the particular quality of sound it made when the door at the far end was opened — a hollow percussion that gave roughly four seconds' warning.

She was thinking about none of this when Baelish appeared.

That was the first deliberate thing about it.