The realization of where I was came only a moment after Joffrey fell from the dais, hands on his swollen neck as he choked on foam and green bile.

Cersei Lannister, that beautiful yet nasty character from the Game of Thrones TV show, was dashing past the stunned bride to reach her son, her brother and lover doing the same from across the wedding grounds, shouldering past the gaping nobility.

Ser Balon Swann already had a hand on my shoulder, pulling me from my chair toward the other side of the dais. The Kingsguard bowled by the blubbering Mace Tyrell on our way through and rushed me toward Maegor's Holdfast.

I didn't have to look into a mirror or grope my own face to know who I was. I was a boy now, no older than fourteen, with the memories and feelings of a life in this fictional world instead of a successful businessman in the prime of his life.

Of course, I thought bitterly, not so successful that I avoided getting killed by one of my most ruthless competitors. In fairness, I'd kidnapped the man's brother and sent him a finger every day until the man backed out from a government contract. In the end, when they had my eyelids peeled and my throat cut to the bone, I regretted none of it. I'd known misery and hunger and loss, fought and clawed my way to the top in an industry where a quarter given was a death sentence. And never had I given it, not even in the end. Death came easier than a step back to me.

I lived and died by the sword, I thought. No more, no less.

We had reached my rooms by now. Two other armsmen had followed us after we crossed the gates, though they stopped at the doors when Ser Balon and I stepped in. The knight was talking to me, I noticed, and forced myself to listen.

"Your brother is dead," Ser Balon told me. The kingsguard had a worried look in his stocky face, but he still fell to one knee in front of me without hesitating. His white cloak draped over his forward leg, looking dark as night as it caught in the shadow of the room. "Long live King Tommen."

After a moment, I allowed myself a small smile. I'd only walked forward in my life. Only forward. This would be no different.