Chapter 2
It took less than a minute for Robb to snatch the journal away from Jon. It was a measure of how shocked Jon still was that he didn't try to stop him. As Rob sped read the journal entries in question, his eyes widened and his anger grew. He wanted to deny it, but was unable to deny the evidence in front of his own eyes. Unable to deny the words his father had written, over a decade ago now. Undeniable proof that his father was not the man they had thought he was. Did his mother know? Was Jon's Targaryen heritage part of the reason she treated him so badly? Or was it simply because of Jon's perceived bastard status?
Robb slowly raised his head to look at Jon. "What I don't understand is why Father would do this. Why would a man who so prides himself on his honour treat his own flesh and blood so badly? So completely dishonourably?"
"I don't think there's ever been anything honourable about the way Lord Stark has treated me," Jon said bitterly. "Besides, didn't you read the journal properly? Lord Stark preferred to back the man who butchered my father, to put an usurper on the throne. All because he hated Targaryens. He never was going to put me on the throne. It seems as though Lord Stark loves King Robert more than his own nephew."
"It's odd to think that you have relatives that you'll never meet," Robb mused. "Parents, grandparents, half siblings."
"If even half the stories about Aerys are true, then I'm almost glad that I never met him."
Robb shuddered at the thought before perking up again, glancing at the chest. "The journal is only one piece of evidence though. There could be anything on the other documents in there."
"Yeah, right," Joan moaned. "As if accounts and expenses are ever interesting."
"You never know," came the reply. "Besides, those don't look like accounts to me."
To Robb's pleasure, he was right and Jon was wrong. The papers and documents had nothing whatsoever to do with accounts or expenses. The documents, however, related to Jon's father, Rhaegar, leading both boys to believe that he was the original owner of the chest. Both Jon and Rob were surprised by how thoroughly the prince's life was recorded. Rhaegar's marriage to Elia Martell, the births of their children, Rhaenys and Aegon.
More shockingly the next document was a copy of Rhaegar and Elia's annulment. What on earth had prompted the prince and princess to end their marriage? It was almost impossible to gain an annulment. Even harder to do so after the marriage had produce children.
After the annulment papers came the record of Rhaegar's remarriage to Lyanna Stark. It would seem that the fierce northern lady may not have been kidnapped after all.
At the bottom of the pile of documents that gave the journal entries credibility. Birth announcements for Jon – one with the name Aemon for a boy, Visenya for a girl. Along with the birth announcements were a pair of letters. One addressed to Doran and Oberyn Martell. The other to Jon, or rather, Aemon.
Jon stared numbly at the letter. He barely even noticed Robb leave, muttering something about finding Maester Luwin. He knew that it was Robb's way of giving him privacy and he was grateful. He didn't know which of his parents the letter was from, and he wasn't sure he wanted to know. The thought of reading someone's last message to him from beyond the grave scared him. The only kind words he received from an adult related to him were from Uncle Benjen. Jon knew he had never known what it was to have a true parental figure that cared for him. He was frightened by the mere thought of what the letter could say.
Slowly, Jon broke the seal on the letter. Taking a deep breath to steady himself, Jon pulled the letter out and opened it. It was from his mother.
My dearest son Aemon,
If you are reading this then I am no longer with you, my son. That I have joined your father in the next life. I love you. From the moment I knew that I was carrying you, both your father and I have loved you so much.
Your Aunt Elia loves you too, Aemon. Elia and your Father separated amicably before I ever met him. And when I did meet Rhaegar, I fell in love with him the way I could never love Robert.
I know Robert just as well as I know my brothers. Robert may claim to love me, but I know better. No matter what happens, Robert Baratheon will never love anyone as much as he loves himself. I fear for Westeros if he gets his hands on the throne.
And as for my brothers… I intend to ask Eddard to look after you if I do not survive your birth. But he will not do it. Even if Eddard takes you in, Aemon, he will never care for you as though you were his own child. Eddard will not want to risk putting you on the throne over the monster he calls friend.
Out of my two surviving brothers, the only one I am sure can be trusted is Benjen. I may not be able to understand why he has not responded to my ravens these last few months, but you can trust your uncle Benjen.
Another man you can trust implicitly is your father's great uncle Aemon Targaryen, a Maester at Castle Black. Your father Rhaegar has corresponded with him for years and says he is the wisest man he knows. Rhaegar always said that his great uncle was the only family member he trusted and insisted on naming you after him.
As I await your birth, my son, I find myself mourning for your father. With the deaths of your father, grandfather and your half-brother, you are now the rightful King of Westeros. A fact that I can hardly comprehend. You haven't even been born yet, nad you are already king.
A king needs good advisors and councillors. Listen to your uncles Benjen and Aemon and trust them. Surround yourself by men you can trust and listen to them. do not let yourself be taken advantage of. Try to forgive your uncle Eddard his treatment of you. Forgiveness and mercy are traits a king needs just as much as strength. Do not follow your grandfather's example or Robert's. Find your own path. Be a good man and a good King. Be the kind of king that Westeros needs, for the sake of its future.
But above all, never forget how much you are loved in this world.
With all my love, my son.
Your mother,
Lyanna
Jon stared at the letter, struggling not to cry. His mother loved him. His father loved him. Even his father's repudiated first wife cared for him. They were words he had longed to hear his whole life. And yet he had been forced to read them for the first time in his mother's last letter.
Jon slowly reread the letter, holding its words close to his heart. As he did so, some words stuck out at him. Uncle Benjen hadn't answered the ravens she'd sent him during the rebellion? How many ravens had she sent? Had something happened to the ravens? What had his mother been trying to tell her brother that was so important? Who else had she tried to send ravens to at that time? Had any of them even received the birds at all?
Forgive your Uncle Eddard his treatment of you. Jon rather thought that this request of his mother's would be a long time coming. In fact, Jon didn't think he would ever be able to forgive Lord Stark his treatment of him. And if by some miracle he was able to forgive, he would never be able to forget. Everything Lord Stark did to him, the way he treated him, it was by choice. No one forced that behaviour on him.
If Eddard knew the truth about his parentage, then did Uncle Benjen? Jon had to wonder. He was, at the very least, grateful that Benjen treated him the same as the rest of his nieces and nephews. Jon's brow furrowed as he considered what Ben Stark might or might not know. When they did meet, Jon often thought that his uncle looked at him oddly. So the man at least had question marks. Any more than that and Jon couldn't say.
The person that Jon was the most interested in was the distant uncle serving as Maester at the Wall. The uncle that he had supposedly been named for. Aemon. The name felt strange on his tongue. How could he meet him? It would be hard to find an excuse to visit Castle Black to visit the man. Besides, the man would have been quite old when his mother wrote that letter. There was a chance that the man had died in the years since. And even if he was still alive, there was a chance that he would not believe him if Jon told him the truth about his parentage.
Jon sighed. How was it that his life had been turned upside down in a matter of hours? He had a better claim to the throne than King Robert, but did he even want the throne in the first place? Who was he anyway? At the end of the day, who did he want to be? Jon Snow, Prince Aemon, King Aemon?
A knock to the door pulled Jon out of his thoughts. Jon hastily folded the letter and hastily shoved it under the bedsheets. As Arya burst into the room, Jon felt a rush of gratitude that he and Robb had already hidden the chest under the bed. There was no way Arya – brave, bold, wild Arya – would be able to keep a secret like that.
"What is it, Arya? What do you want?" Jon asked tiredly. After everything he'd learned in the last few hours, he didn't have the energy he needed to deal with Arya.
"It's dinner time. Father says he wants us all there, even you," Arya responded, looking hurt.
Jon sighed to himself. It had never been his intention to hurt Arya. Out of the girls, she was his favourite. Carefully putting the letter in his pocket Jon quickly wrapped his arms around her. "I'm sorry for snapping, little sister," he said softly. "It's been a long day and I'm tired."
"Does it have something to do with what you just put in your pocket?" Arya asked cheekily.
Jon instantly jerked away from his sister in shock. "I don't know what you are talking about," he said hastily ducking behind her to the door.
"You can't play dumb with me!" Arya cried, chasing after him.
Arya didn't let off him until they reached Winterfell's Great Hall. It only took one glare from her parents for Arya to stop jumping around and hanging off him. Jon listened, annoyed, as Arya was scolded. Arya hadn't done anything wrong by spending time with him. Lord and Lady stark were the ones in the wrong by treating him like a pariah in the only home he had ever known.
It wasn't until dinner was over that Lord Stark made the announcements that Jon had been expecting. And when he did, Jon was blown away by the sheer audacity of the man's plans.
"You must be wondering why I asked you all here tonight," Lord Stark told them all.
Jon looked down at the table as his half siblings – cousins – murmured in agreement. He didn't know what Lord Stark was about to say, he just had to hope that it wasn't too bad on him.
"His Majesty, King Robert will be arriving at Winterfell in a fortnight," Lord Stark began. Jon's head shot up in shock. The man seriously wasn't going to hand him over to the usurper King, was he? "His Grace will be bringing with him a hostage from the iron Islands."
Jon sneaked a glance around the table to gauge his siblings' responses. Sansa not to his surprise was looking almost ecstatic at the thought of a royal visit. However, poor little Bran was looking mightily confused and Arya was just bored. After what they had found out that afternoon, Robb was looking just as wary as he felt.
Seemingly oblivious to the tension around the table, Lord Stark continued. "Theon Greyjoy, only surviving son to the Lord of the Iron Islands will be living here with us for an indeterminate length of time. To ensure his father's good behaviour, you see. But I've been working on another plan. A better one, perhaps."
By this point, Jon's nerves were stretched as tight as wire. It may have been a game of Lord Stark's, to draw the information out for as long as possible, but it was n not amusing. Not when his very life might be on the line.
"I have decided to invite your uncle Benjen down from the Wall after the King leaves," Lord Stark sounded Smug. Jon frowned, what did one have to do with the other? "Benjen will be accompanied by Castle Black's Maester. They will be here to select unworthy boys to join either the Night's Watch or the Order of Maesters. Both, may I remind you, are honourable prospects for bastards and traitors."
In a flash, Jon knew what the old codger's plan was and it was an ingenious one. Too bad there was little chance of it working. Those who joined the Night's Watch or the Maesters forfeited their rights to their father's titles, lands and any other inheritances. Lord Stark had clearly thought about this for a while and had decided that it was the best way forward. Too bad he hadn't discussed it with the two people who mattered. Too bad that it would ruin their lives. Or maybe he knew and just didn't care.
Or maybe, just maybe, that was the idea. He and Lady Stark didn't care. They plain old didn't care about him. They didn't care if he joined the Watch and died. Hell, they would probably be delighted if he died. Not caring that he was the rightful heir to the throne.
And the Greyjoys, Lords of the Iron Islands, would lose their male heir. As women were unable to inherit in the Islands, the Greyjoy name would die out of Lord Stark's plan actually worked by some utter miracle.
All of this because Lord Eddard Stark, a man who prided himself on his honour, had none. All because the man wanted to avoid his duties and responsibilities. As the thought crossed his mind, Jon was suddenly furious. Lord Stark and his lies had turned his life upside down, had altered his very destiny, and now he intended on doing it again? And not just to him, but another boy as well? Had he even stopped to consider the consequences? Or did he think he was untouchable due to his friendship with the usurper?
"And have you thought at all about what your precious little plan will do to the Greyjoys?
Jon hissed, his chair falling over as he jumped to his feet. "This Theon is their last surviving male heir. The Greyjoy name will die out if your plan succeeds. How can you live with yourself?"
"Quite easily you will find, boy," came the inevitable response. "The Greyjoys are traitors and rebels. This is no more than what they deserve. When you play at being a king, you reap the consequences."
"Both you and the King were once rebels and traitors yourselves. I'm sure you would not have wanted your children to be treated such if you had lost." Jon didn't know where the words were coming from, but he was unable to stop them coming out. The man had flat out lied to him for the twelve years of his life and now the bastard was setting out to ruin his life again. And this time he would not stand for it.
Lord Stark flushed at Jon's words, clearly not liking the reminder. If anything it just made him angrier. "Nevertheless, while you and the Greyjoy boy are in my care, it is up to me to make the decisions for you. It is up to me to look after your welfare and wellbeing. You should be grateful that I have given you food and board for so long. Especially given your insolence."
"Yes," Jon said sarcastically. "I should be grateful that you've treated me like scum my entire life. And don't pretend that you have ever cared about my welfare or wellbeing. You never have." And on that note, Jon stormed from the room leaving everyone staring after him in utter shock and disbelief.
