The journey back to Riverrun to return the Tullys to their parents was an uneventful one. Eddard knew he would have to go back to the Vale as soon as he finished what he hoped to accomplish at Riverrun, but a part of him didn't want to go to the Vale.

For one thing, he didn't want to be parted from Amala, especially as he could not be as affectionate as he wanted while they travelled. He could barely sleep at night with the visions of her body in his mind, and he was worried what he might do out of longing, what improprieties he might succumb to.

On the other hand, with the way everyone had been put on edge Eddard truly believed he would rather be in Winterfell with his brother and sister than both being apart from them in their discomfort and having to listen to Robert's outrage.

Never had the Vale felt so incredibly unsatisfactory.

When they arrived in Riverrun, however, things had cooled down enough that Eddard could focus on doing his duty, as he had always done. Nothing made doing such so imperative as the thought that he might have not only ruined Amala's honor, but gotten her with child.

His hands shook as he asked Hoster Tully to speak with him privately before they had a dinner in honor of the guests present. Hoster was surprisingly kind and encouraging, and Eddard still found that his palms were sweating and he worried that his brow was just as wet.

Did everyone know his plight, or was it only in his mind that the whole of the castle was watching him?

"In my solar, son," Hoster said gently, leading the way. Brandon gave Eddard a smug look and Eddard knew that there was no turning back even if he'd wanted to.

Eddard watched Lord Hoster sit down, motioning for him to do the same, and although Eddard would have much preferred to stand he took a seat across from the man who held Eddard's future in his hands.

"I have a guess," Hoster said calmly, "as to why you wanted to talk, but why don't you just tell me so we're clear from the start, Ned."

Eddard cleared his throat and said, "With your permission and approval, Lord Hoster, I would very much like to marry your daughter, Lady Amala."

The words sounded far away, like someone else had said them for him.

Hoster beamed, nodding.

"Yes, I thought so," he said eagerly. "Well, I can't tell you how pleased I am. Obviously, the wedding will be after Cat has wed Bran. But I never dared hope for such a fine young man for my Amy. She deserves the best, and I do believe that she will have it."

Eddard shifted.

"I am only a second son, Lord Hoster," he replied. "I cannot give her Winterfell, but I will do my best to give her all else she deserves."

"That is all I ask, Ned," Hoster replied. "I have no doubt you will give her more than you think."

They rejoined the others for the feast and Eddard found himself placed next to Amala, who watched him nervously as he sat beside her.

"Marry me," he whispered in her ear with a grin. "Your father has given me his approval."

"Nothing would please me more," she said honestly, looking up at him with her beautiful, full blue eyes.

"When Cat and Bran are wed," Eddard said, taking her hand in his, "I will take you to the heart tree in the godswood of Winterfell and we will be married."

There was a great amount of cheering from those who overheard him, and Eddard struggled between the urge to kiss her and the public nature of the discussion, so he settled for kissing her hand and attempting to ignore the cheers as he blushed, and she blushed, and she whispered, "I hope you'll dance with me later."

As if he would have wanted to say no.

The feast was a very happy one, in spite of the insult that had occurred during the tourney.

Eddard wasn't allowed to avoid the dancing long, Amala pulling him out into the dancing and enchanting him once again with her grace.

For the first time in a long time Eddard forgot all about duty and honor and composing himself in public. For brief moments he even forgot that they were in public, that anyone existed but for him and Amala. So enthralled he was in the way she shone that night, in her happiness and its being because of him, that nothing else at all seemed to matter.

He danced with Catelyn and Lysa, he tried to dance with Lyanna but could not find her. He laughed and drank with Brandon, and he talked with Lord Hoster and Ser Brynden, his future family.

It was strange, the joy all of these people had at the oncoming union of their families, even though it would be the second tie between them. Perhaps they were so pleased that Amala would be wed that it mattered not who to, but he got the distinct impression that Hoster Tully was actually pleased at the further connection of the two families.

"It is a shame," Hoster joked, "that Lyanna is already promised to Robert Baratheon, or perhaps your father and I could have brokered agreements for all of our children!"

The idea of Lyanna marrying the much younger brother of the Tully girls was a bit ridiculous, although then someone made a joke about Lyanna having been a better fit for Ser Brynden instead, which disturbed Eddard nearly as much and he looked around for his sister to break free from these old men and their jokes.

But she was nowhere to be seen.

He had an inkling that she might have run off to the stables for some quiet and more serene company, so he snuck off after her, taking his leave as politely as possible.

Eddard was right, of course, and his sister was feeding cubes of sugar to the horses, not paying any attention to the state of her dress, which was muddied on the bottom.

"Getting some air?" he asked softly, and she turned slowly to look at him with hollow eyes. "It was getting a bit stiff in there for me."

"Congratulations," she said with a sweet smile that suited her face perfectly. "I know you and Amy will be very happy together. She's a lovely girl. She loves you very much."

"I know," Eddard said, smiling in spite of himself as he touched the snout of the horse eating from his sister's hand. "I am incredibly blessed. The gods are smiling down on me, it would seem."

"So it would," Lyanna said sadly.

Eddard frowned at her.

"Lya, is there something you want to tell me? You've not been yourself since we got back from the tourney. Does this have to do with the prince?"

"Not really," she said softly. "It's more to do with Robert, honestly."

Eddard winced. He'd long thought there would come a day when they would have to talk about Robert, but he hoped it would wait until after they were wed so he couldn't be held responsible for anything that had happened between them.

But he stood there having to choose between the loyalties to his sister and his best friend, his near-brother.

Of course he knew he had to be honest with Lyanna, but he didn't like that he would have to put Robert down by doing it.

"Tell me what's wrong," he said softly. "I promise to listen, and I promise to answer any of your questions, although something tells me you don't really need my answers."

"I don't want to marry him, Ned," she sighed. "But I'm sure you don't need me to tell you why. And it really doesn't matter what I do or don't want, because the agreement has been made and there's really no good reason to call things off."

"Your disapproval should be good enough," Eddard whispered, but she shook her head, and he knew what she meant. At this point, it couldn't be enough, and she'd been too young to speak her own approval or disapproval at the time the engagement had been arranged.

"He loves you," Eddard offered weakly as she pulled more sugar cubes out of her bag. "I mean, as much as a man like him can-"

"Has he been with women in the Vale?" she asked softly, not accusing or interrogating. She was just calmly asking Eddard to confirm that his best friend, that her fiancé, was unfaithful to the promise of her. How could he be expected to be faithful if he couldn't even control himself before the wedding?

He sighed, trying to think of the best way to break it to her.

"Even I haven't been completely pure in that respect, Lya," he finally whispered, wishing there had been some other way to plead for Robert's forgiveness than to air his own mistakes. He was just about to say what he and Amala had done at the tourney when she smiled at him and held up her hand.

"I already know," she said, mildly amused. "I'm flattered you would have told me, but I figured it out for myself and Amy couldn't really deny it. Don't worry, I won't tell." Her face darkened again. "But you cannot pretend that it is the same. If it were, Robert would have been with me, not with other women. But he has been in the Vale and I have been at Winterfell."

The truth of her words was stinging. Eddard knew that they were different sorts of sins, but still he wanted to protect her from the truth of Robert.

"He is not a man, Ned, not really," she whispered. "And he does not truly love me because he does not know me. He wouldn't love me. He couldn't."

She wasn't crying, but he hugged her to his chest as if she was, knowing that she was right about Robert. They might be the best of friends, but there was no making excuses when Lyanna understood him.

"Amy is lucky," she whispered. "You love her."

"I do love her," Eddard breathed back. "But you never know. Robert could fall in love with you. Happiness can still happen."

"Not properly," Lyanna said with a weak, sad smile. "Happiness can no longer happen for me if I follow the rules."

Eddard didn't like the sound of that, but he didn't want to ask her about it, either. He wanted to pretend she hadn't said it, that she wouldn't break the rules just to be happy.

But he knew Lyanna, so it was difficult not to suspect what she could mean.

"Amy is probably missing you," she said slyly. "You should go back to her."

Eddard blushed and nodded, agreeing to go back to the party only if Lyanna came with him. She fed the remainder of the sugar to a horse at the front of the stables and she allowed him to lead her back, his eyes scanning the large hall for Amala in vain.

"She must have gone to bed," Catelyn said when he asked her. "She said she was feeling a bit tired."

Disenchanted with the feast without her, Eddard returned to his quarters deep in thought.

The problems with Lyanna were certainly worrying, not sure what he was going to do, but he knew that what she said could not be ignored if he was doing his duty.

He sighed, running his hands through his hair, thinking that if he'd really done his duty he would have let Amala leave his room at the tourney, that he wouldn't have let things get out of hand.

But there was no changing that now, and they would be wed.

He smiled a little at that, thinking of what he would like to do on their wedding night.

When he opened the door, though, his pulse raced even faster as he saw a figure sit up a little in his bed and he rushed inside, closing the door behind him in case someone else came through the hall.

There, in his bed, was Amala, the sheets tucked up to cover her breasts as she sat up to look at him, but he could see her clothes in a pile on the floor beside the bed.

She was in his bed, naked, smiling at him.

"Hello, Ned."

His hands were shaking, he could feel them shaking, and he crept toward the bed, uneasy.

"Amy," he muttered. "Amy, you really shouldn't... We really ought to..."

His voice trailed off into nothing as she climbed out of the bed, walking toward him in naught but skin, and began unlacing his breeches for him. He gulped, trying to find the strength to stop her but he could do little but think of the last time her hands had been so close to him and he was growing very, very hard.

"Someone might come in," he said weakly.

"No one will know," she whispered, kissing his cheek. "My father will not come."

"My brother," Eddard muttered, trying not to look at her, willing himself to close his eyes, but at the thought of being exposed only to the feel of her pressed against him he wasn't sure it would be a better alternative and he realized he'd allowed her to lead him to the bed, pulling the breeches off him and looking up at him coyly. He swallowed again and shook his head. "What if someone hears?"

"No one will hear," she whispered, blushing slightly. "We can be quiet."

"Can we?" he moaned as he realized his hand was on her waist, trailing up her side to her breast.

"I've been thinking about you all night," she whispered, and he realized she was blushing. "I know it was rash, and if you really want me to go, I'll go, but-"

"I don't," Eddard said, surprised by the firmness in his own tone as he moved his face close to her bare breast, his hand feeling the weight of it, his lips pressing to the warm flesh softly. "I don't want you to go."

She was still tense for a moment, but her hands then curled into his hair, encouraging him as he took her nipple into his mouth and began to suckle it, feeling her fingers tighten in his hair only moments later.

Her skin tasted strange and wonderful to him, and he couldn't see how he had ever thought that skin was simply skin and the fuss men made about it was foolish.

There was nothing foolish about how warm he felt inside, touching her skin. There was something that happened when their skin touched that he didn't know a word for, but it was explosive.

"Ned," she sighed. "I don't know why, but it feels very, very good."

He smiled to himself, bringing his other hand around to trace her spine down to its base, hovering there for a moment, wondering what she would do if he let it go a bit lower.

Before he could decide what he was going to do she crawled over him onto the bed, blinking up at him and smiling.

"Undress," she said softly, "and then you'll get to touch me."

"Amy," he muttered, mildly amused, turning to put a hand on her long, slender leg, but she shifted just out of reach and gave him an expectant look.

With a half-amused, half-frustrated sight, he pulled off his clothes as quickly as he could manage.

"Good," she sighed as he then crawled onto the bed and hovered over her, looking down at her and wondering where he wanted to begin.

"It's strange to think," he murmured, "that one day we will be together every night."

She smiled as he moved forward to kiss her neck, feeling the smooth skin under his lips and smiling against it. A lifetime together, a lifetime to hold her and wake up to her beautiful face...

"I love you," she sighed, running her fingers through his hair slowly.

"And I love you," he whispered against her skin, delighting in the way her muscles tensed as his breath tickled her skin. It was incredible, the way her body reacted to every little thing he did. He wanted to memorize this night forever. When they married, there would be a bedding and everyone he knew would get to see her body, but for this brief moment she was his, and the knowledge of every freckle and curve of her body were for him alone to know and cherish. His mouth watered as he moved down her stomach, smelling the scent of her arousal faintly.

"One thing," Eddard whispered, running his fingers up the soft skin of her legs, feeling her squirm slightly. He was probably tickling her.

"Yes?" she sighed as he placed a kiss between her thighs.

"I want you to say my name again," he murmured, kissing his way up to where her leg joined with her hip. "Please."

"Ned," she whimpered, squirming as his breath tickled her.

"Again."

"Ned," she moaned as he touched his lips to hers, which were already soaking wet.

He was surprised at how good she tasted, and he wondered if this was something other men did.

"Mmm," he hummed, reveling in the taste, the feel, the smell of her. The way her fingers were tangling in her hair was promising, and he told himself that from the sounds she was making he didn't care if what he was doing went against all the gods, old and new. Clearly, he was doing something right because she was panting, moaning, and squirming all over as he lapped at her eagerly like a dog.

Like a wolf.

In that moment, Eddard felt like he was on top of the world, and if he had known that he could ever fall, he would never have left that bed.