Chapter 20

Rhaenys sat, both hands pressed against her stomach. They were in the Great Hall. The Westerlings were standing before them. Jeyne was among them. Robb had been angry when Jaime had marched into their rooms and commanded that the Young Wolf's wife and her family be brought to the King on the charge of treason.

"Jon, what is the meaning of this? Jeyne has done nothing!" he shouted. One look from Jon, however, silenced him.

Her brother turned his attention to all the lords gathered. "Ser Raynald Westerling attempted to murder my wife and unborn child. For this reason, I accuse House Westerling of treason."

There was an uproar as everyone began shouting at once. Many of the lords (Northerners especially) began calling for their heads. Prince Oberyn was one of these lords, as to be expected. The Westerlings cried that they had taken no part in Ser Raynald's assassination attempt. It was Robb that raised his voice above all the others, and everyone quieted to listen.

"Brother, surely you must be mistaken. Jeyne is my wife. I know for certain she, nor any of her family would ever try to kill Rhaenys." He looked at Jon angrily, never once taking his hand off of Jeyne's shoulder. Jon only gave him a cold stare before nodding to Jaime.

Without a word, Jaime had the doors opened. The lords turned to look and one of Jeyne's younger sisters cried out at the sight.

Dalin came in, dragging the body of Ser Raynald behind him. He walked naturally, as if the body weighed nothing. Which it probably did to him. He continued until he reached Jon. There, he let go and stood next to Rhaenys, his hands laid protectively on her shoulders. Jon had been grateful when the shade had saved his sister, but he had also been very angry.

"Why couldn't you have stopped him before he almost killed Rhaenys?" Jon had growled when he had sent some men to gather the lords and bring the Westerlings to face justice.

Well, this is certainly familiar, Rhaenys thought to herself. When Ned Stark killed the three Kingsguard in the Tower of Joy. She had been enraged and asked why Dalin couldn't have stopped them all from killing each other.

He had answered her in the same monotone voice that he used to answer her brother. "Because, Your Grace, we work and fight in the shadows. Had Ser Raynard sent word to Tywin Lannister or received orders demanding he kill Rhaenys, we would have known and stopped him. But he told no one. We are shades. That does not make us mind readers."

There was an eerie silence as they all took in the sight before them. It was Lord Gawen, Jeyne's father, that broke it.

"You murdered my son!" he shouted. The guards had to hold him back to stop him from charging at Jon.

"Your son committed an act of treason. He almost killed your Queen and my heir. Death was his punishment." Her brother had a furious look. Standing up, he walked over to where Lord Gawen kneeled. The King was not in a mood to be argued with.

"My brother would never do something like that!" Jeyne was the one who screamed this. She ran at Jon before anyone could stop her. Tears streamed down her face as she began to hit his chest with her fists. Robb grabbed her shoulders and hugged her, murmuring words of comfort as he glared at his cousin.

"I don't care what you think he would do. What he actually did is something else entirely. He has paid for his crime. The question remains of where the loyalties of House Westerling lies." Nothing could move the King in the North. Not a man's fury, not a woman's tears.

They said nothing, just continued to give him angry looks. He sighed. "Leave us," he demanded. The lords complied. He turned to the guards that watched over the Westerlings. "Take them to the dungeons. Lady Stark too." The only one who remained with them was Robb. His hands were fists at his sides, his knuckles white.

"You have no right to charge my wife and her family with these lies and imprison them." His voice trembled with anger.

Jon whipped around. "No right? You made me your King. Twice your Queen has almost been killed because of the Westerlings. Because of what you did. The first time, you decided that a Frey wasn't worthy of the great Young Wolf, so instead, you married a Lannister loyalist. The Freys might have killed all of us. Now, your wife's brother has tried to kill Rhaenys in our own chambers. I will not suffer from your mistake any longer." He turned away and looked out a window.

There were a few moments of silence as Robb processed Jon's words before he spoke again. "Tomorrow you and Jeyne will go down to the Sept. There, the Septon will release you of your marriage vows. It will be as if you were never married. Then we will send word to Highgarden. Margaery Tyrell will arrive in a few days. You two will be married to ensure the loyalty of House Tyrell. As for House Westerling, they will be stripped of their lands and titles and we will give the Crag to another House."

"No, no, Jon, please . . ." Robb pleaded, his voice a whisper.

"Yes. You brought this down on yourself." Her brother left without another word. It was a little while before Rhaenys followed. She knew exactly where he'd be.

Jon was in the godswood. He was kneeling beside the weirwood, eyes closed, trying to let go of his anger and guilt. Rhaenys put her hand on his shoulder.

"You did what you had to do." she said, sitting down next to him.

"Yes. That doesn't make it any less hard."

"You are the King. It is your duty to protect your people. But you must also protect yourself."

He looked over at her. Again she was reminded that only a few months ago, he had still been a boy. He had been forced to become a man before he was ready. She recalled the words that Maester Aemon of the Night's Watch had offered him.

"Kill the boy. Kill the boy and let the man be born," he had said. And that was exactly what Jon was doing. He was killing anything that remained of the boy he once was.