Queen of the North
Chapter Twelve.
Lyanna was standing in line between Robb and Sansa as they waited for King Robert and the royal party to arrive, to say she was still upset over what her father had told earlier would be more than an understatement. She was absolutely furious and she wanted to stab something, more specifically her older brother.
It hadn't taken Robb long for him to hear about what had happened and he had been relentless in lording it over her that she was no longer in the running to be the heir and her desire to stab him in the face grew and grew with every single one of his taunts.
Her time would come and she would make Robb regret everything he had been saying over the past few days but for now she would have to bide her time and wait for the right moment.
Despite the anger she was feeling she couldn't help but smile as she saw her little sister Arya run past with a helmet on her head, she couldn't help but giggle as she saw her father stop her from running past and took the helmet off of her, an annoyed look on her face as she got in line by pushing past Bran.
Arya made her smile even when there wasn't anything to smile about, she saw the same smirk on Robb's face and while Lyanna might've hated him they both agreed that they loved their siblings.
She sometimes wondered why she hated Robb as much as she did, truly he hadn't actually done anything to her. He sometimes teased her as brothers often did when they were younger but that wasn't unusual or the reason, if it were then she would hate Jon and Bran as well.
She had always resented the fact that her place as the heir was gone because of him being born, she had understood that even when she was a little girl but she hadn't always hated him. In fact, when she had been quite little she had almost loved her brand new baby brother, spending all of her time with him and helping her mother to take care of him.
It was only recently that what little love she had felt for her brother had faded away and was replaced with a burning hate that was probably capable of melting the wall if given enough time, the saddest thing was that she wished that she didn't hate him.
Hating her brother didn't make her happy, more often than not it simply exhausted her. But she couldn't help it, everything that had happened up to now simply made her hate grew stronger and stronger and now it was far too late, there was no way that could see them ever being able to live side by side.
When this was over and when she was the lady of Winterfell, and she would be the Lady of Winterfell no matter what her father or any lords of the north said, then the best that Robb could hope for was to be banished to the wall for the rest of his hopefully short life.
That was the only way this ended with Robb alive, either way she would make sure that she would never see him ever again.
Her father's choice was merely something else she would have to overcome and she had been doing that her entire life, this would be no different. She simply had to be patient.
She was drawn out of her dark thoughts by the sound of horses coming into the courtyard, a wheelhouse trundled in behind them and King Robert rode in behind that, his large black clothes looked like they were full to bursting. The entire host of Winterfell fell to their knees as the King dismounted his horse.
Lyanna had actually meet King Robert once, long ago when her father had returned from crushing Balon Greyjoy's rebellion. Back then he had scared her, not because of anything that he had done but simply because the man had seemed like a giant to her.
Now, while the man was still taller and bigger than her it wasn't due to muscle, he had grown fat from his time in King's Landing and she could smell a faint stench of ale even from where she stood.
The man was somehow both a sad sight to see and still impressive to see as he strode over to her father and practically pulled him up to his feet and pulled him into a crushing hug, laughing and patting his back. "How many years Ned? Ten? Too dam long!"
"It has been your grace, Winterfell is yours." Her father said with a respectful smile and tone, while it was clear that he was glad to see his old friend he clearly remembered that his old friend was now in the highest position, far above even him.
Robert nodded before clapping his friend on the back before moving down the line that Lyanna and her family had formed. "Cat!" He shouted as he pulled the woman in a hug that practically enveloped her, causing her to disappear in a jumble of leather and fur until he let go of her.
"You must be Robb." The king said as he stood in front of her brother, looking him up and down and Lyanna couldn't help but grin widely when she noticed that the king didn't seem all that impressed by the boy that had his name.
He stepped away from her brother and walked down the line to look at her, as soon as his eyes landed on her however they widen in disbelief and he almost took a step back. "Lya?" He whispered in numb disbelief as he stared at her like he was seeing a ghost.
Lyanna had been anticipating this, everyone had always told her how much she looked like her late aunt and Robert had been in lover with her late aunt and namesake. She had been planning for this ever since her father had told her that was no longer the heir. She would have to play this very carefully but if she succeeded then she would be in a much stronger position, after all if a royal decree told her father to name her the heir then he wouldn't really have much choice.
"Yes your grace, I am Lyanna." She said softly and sweetly but also trying to sound confused as well to not arouse her father or her mother's suspicions to what she was planning.
"Your Grace." Ned said softly but with a definite edge of steel in it, perhaps trying to warn his friend. "You remember my eldest daughter?"
"...Yes, yes of course I do." Robert said with a nod before he turned to face his childhood friend. "I need to see her Ned, take me to the crypts. Now!" He commanded loudly.
"My love." The queen called from behind him, her green eyes alight with annoyance and a barely smothered rage. "We've been riding for a month, surely that can wait until-
"Not now woman! Ned!" The king stormed over to the entrance of the crypts and Ned followed behind him with a sigh. The host of Winterfell and the royal family began to move inside.
Lyanna decided to wait at the back and when she was certain that no one would see leaving the group she broke off and made her way to the kennels, it had been a while since she had checked on her pups. Things had been so hectic lately that she really hadn't had the time to see to them, thankfully she had been able to convince the kennel master to take care of them for her.
She only managed to take a few steps towards the kennel however before she bumped into someone that she hadn't seen, she looked up and had to take a breath when she saw that she had bumped into none other than the kingslayer himself, Jamie Lannister. The man had an arrogant smirk on his face, as if he assumed that she already attracted to him.
To be fair she couldn't truly criticise him for that, he was an extremely handsome man and she was a beautiful woman and with that beauty came the assumption that most men and even some women were attracted to her. "Please excuse me Ser Jamie, I did not see you. In truth I thought that you had went inside with the rest of the royal party."
Jamie's smirk widened. "I would have my lady but my sweet sister has sent me on a errand, my younger brother seems to have strayed and I've been sent to retrieve him before the feast."
"Might I suggest the brothel in Winter town? Stories of your brother's appetite are well known and we told the master of the brothel to expect his arrival." Lyanna suggested.
"It seems that great minds think alike in this my lady, I hope to see you later." And as soon as he said that Jamie walked away from her, mounted his horse and rode out of Winterfell's main gates.
Lyanna shook her head and resumed her walk over to the kennel, she didn't want to think about Jamie Lannister right now, it would just complicate things and there was no way that she could use him in any of her plans that she could see, at least not for the moment.
But she had plans for the king and if worst came to worse, if she couldn't be the lady of Winterfell then she would be more than happy to settle for Queen of the Seven Kingdoms, she wouldn't have much power but with her resemblance to her aunt she would be able to get him to do anything that she wanted.
But that would only be her plan in case her first plan failed and it wouldn't, it couldn't she only had to be subtle in her way of executing it and everything would be fine.
And in the end, she would have everything she wanted.
End of Chapter Twelve
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