Ned is dealing witht he politics in King's Landing. As we can expect, he hates it.


EDDARD III

"You bring me news that Viserys Targaryen is dead, and now you're telling me that the savage who married his whore of a sister is planning to invade us?!"

For the second time since Ned arrived in King's Landing six months ago, Robert decided to assist a small council meeting, and just like the last time he mostly yelled and roared against the Targaryens.

The last time had been three months ago, when word came from Ser Jorah Mormont that Daenerys Targaryen was pregnant, bearing the child of a Dothraki horselord on the other continent. Robert had ordered the girl, her child and her brother to be killed, offering a lordship to whoever would kill them. Ned had spoken against this, but Robert was deaf to his words. The whole small council, at the exception of a Lannister, ironically, approved Robert's decision, and Ned had resigned from his position as Hand of the King. He was planning to leave King's Landing immediately and go back to the North, but Littlefinger brought him to see the last person who Jon Arryn saw before he died. On their way back to the Red Keep, they were attacked by a group of bandits. Jory and two of his men died, and Ned was severely injured before the City Watch intervened. Robert forced him back into the office of Hand, threatening to pin the badge on Jaime Lannister if Ned removed it again. Ned hadn't been in a position to refuse, his mind clouded by the milk of the poppy, serious injuries at the right arm and the left leg. He needed time to recover. Now he was fully healed, only to hear that the attempt against Daenerys Targaryen's life had failed. He was glad it failed, but the king wasn't.

"It seems our horse friend didn't take very well the attempt we made against his wife and his son," Littlefinger commented.

"Now he's seeking revenge against us. He wants to conquer the Seven Kingdoms and place his son on the Iron Throne. If he ever manages to cross the Narrow Sea… This is a catastrophe," Ser Kevan said.

"I… I doubt the Dothrakis could ever be a real threat to the Seven Kingdoms. They never sailed on ships, and I don't see how they could learn to do it now," the Grand Maester observed. Pycelle was among those who advised for the assassination of the Targaryen girl two months ago, saying many more innocents would die if the Dothrakis invaded. Now he said he didn't think the Dothrakis could ever cross the Narrow Sea.

"A real threat!" Robert roared, pacing through the room. "They are a real threat. There are thousands of ships in the Free Cities. Khal Drogo only has to plunder some villages and cities, then to use the gold and the slaves he'll find there to buy the ships he'll need with the sailors."

"We must prepare for the eventuality of an invasion," Ned intervened, looking at his friend. "Send word to White Harbor, Gulltown, Planky Town, Saltspan, Duskendale, Storm's End. Tell them to prepare for an invasion, to fortify their defenses."

"And you believe they will obey? Why would they? Some will be very happy to see Khal Drogo arrive with the grandson of the Mad King. They still see me as an usurper. They will open the gates of their castles for this whore and her son. If this Khal Drogo has any mind, he will sail for Dorne. The Martells will side with him with joy. Doran Martell blames me for his sister, nephew and niece's deaths."

Ned couldn't blame the Prince of Dorne for that. What Ser Gregor Clegane did was a horrible crime. Tywin Lannister may have been the one to command that atrocity, but Robert shut his eyes to it. He did nothing to bring the murderers to justice.

"I believe Lord Stark is right, your Grace," Ser Kevan began. "Where we stand now, the best thing to do is to fortify the eastern coast and reinforce the fleet. If need be, we can ask Balon Greyjoy and Paxter Redwyne to send us some ships to reinforce our presence in the Narrow Sea. The Iron Islands will have to obey. We hold Balon Greyjoy's last son, and Paxter Redwyne is loyal to the Throne."

"Loyal to your nephew and his wife, you mean," the king retorted. He stopped pacing, slowly walked to the table, then slammed it with both fists. A cup of wine toppled and its content fell all over Pycelle. "I WANT THEM DEAD! The girl, and her son! And that Khal Drogo too!"

"Your Grace, I'm afraid it is very unlikely that another man will try to murder Daenerys Targaryen after the failure of the first one," Lord Varys said carefully. "Khal Drogo will make sure to punish the culprit very painfully. No fool will try anything against his khaleesi, even for the Iron Throne itself."

"The best way forward now is to prepare for an invasion," Kevan Lannister resumed. "And with some luck, maybe Khal Drogo will find himself dead before he assembles all the necessary resources. The Dothrakis are known for fighting among themselves. They already got us rid of Viserys. This Drogo may be defeated by another khal before he reaches the Narrow Sea."

"Do nothing? That's your wise advice? Do nothing till the enemies ride on our lands and besiege our castles? That is your plan, Lannister?" Robert asked in a booming voice as always.

"This is his plan, and mine," Ned declared.

"I won't wait for them to invade my kingdoms to do something. Double the bounty on the whore's head."

"This would be useless, your Grace," the Lannister knight replied. "To kill Daenerys Targaryen will only infuriate her husband furthermore and press him even more. The best strategy right now is to prepare for the invasion and wait for the enemy to push him back into the sea the moment he appears on our shores. Of course, it wouldn't be necessary without the foolish decisions you took."

"I beg your pardon." Robert spoke with outrage, his voice lower than before.

"The decision to send assassins after the Targaryens was as stupid as it was cruel. This is the sort of decision the Mad King would have taken," Kevan Lannister declared.

"Be careful, Lannister."

"I am a member of this small council, your Grace, and as such it is my duty to advise you, and to tell you the truth, even if you don't like it. By sending an assassin after the girl, you angered a powerful warlord who vowed vengeance against you and who will stop at nothing to ravage the Seven Kingdoms. I advised you, just like Lord Stark, against this decision, but just like when Jon Arryn was Hand of the King, you didn't listen, and now we are in danger of the first foreign invasion since the War of the Ninepenny Kings, and this is your doing."

"This is borderline treason, what you're saying, Ser Kevan."

"This is no treason. Only criticism. My nephew knows how to take it. I was hoping you would know it too."

Ned tried to realign the conversation. "We must focus on the preparation of our defenses."

"Defenses? Do you think wars are won with defenses? No, they're won with steel and armies in the field. I'm not going to wait for the Dothrakis to come." He turned to Varys. "Tell to all the Free Cities that I'll offer them everything they want if they kill Khal Drogo and his hordes for me, and even more if they bring me the girl's head."

"You would really murder a child after what happened the last time?" Ned asked, unbelieving.

"Murder? You call it murder? The Targaryens burned your father alive, and strangled your brother as he watched him die. They kidnapped your sister, raped her and killed her, and you say that killing one of them is murder? I call it justice!"

"There is no justice in the killing of children. Daenerys Targaryen did nothing against our families. She has no blood on her hands."

"And when she's old enough? Don't you think she'll want revenge for her family?"

"I'll consider her a threat the day she tries to take her father's throne, not before."

"So, that's all you have to offer as advice, really? Nothing? Do nothing? Let the rebellions ignite until our lands are on fire? Someone talk sense to that honorable fool!"

The small council was silent. "Are you really going to try to kill the girl again?" Ned asked after a moment.

"Are you deaf as much as you're a fool, Ned? I told you this would come. Well, the time has come. She dies, one way or another."

He had hoped there was still something left from the man he used to know, but it seemed he was dead. He might have been dead before the war even ended. With a resolved sigh, Ned stood up, removed the badge of Hand from his doublet and dropped it on the table. "You can pin it on Jaime Lannister as far as I'm concerned. If you want a butcher, then he's the man you need. Not me."

He walked around the table and made to leave, but Robert stopped him with a hand on his chest before he could go far enough. "Ned."

His tone, just like his face, looked like a mix of plea and anger. Maybe there was some of the old Robert left, but not enough. "You're no longer the man I knew."

With that, Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North, walked out of the small council chamber. He closed the door on the politics of the Realm and on a friendship more than twenty-years-old. His steps echoed on the marble of the floor as he walked back to the Tower of the Hand. He would leave tomorrow on the morning, and he wouldn't come back here. He was a Northerner, and his place was in the North, with his wife and their children, among his people. There was nothing for him here in King's Landing. He hated this place. He had come here to serve the king, and to find out what happened to Jon Arryn. The king ordered him to carry out murders while he drank and whored, and he found nothing to identify Jon Arryn's assassin. He had failed.

When he neared his room, he noticed someone very skinny, dressed in trousers and light tunic, standing on one feet, trying to keep her equilibrium. Ned thought she was better than the last time. He smiled softly at the sight of his youngest daughter. There was so much of Lyanna in her.

"Still following Syrio's lessons, I see."

"Aye." She answered quickly, trying to maintain her position.

"You're getting better." She smiled back at him. Would Robert have been a different man if Lyanna had lived? "Come, I must talk with you."

She fell back on her two feet and followed him into his solar. Once inside and with the door closed, he turned to look at her. "We're leaving tomorrow. We're going back to Winterfell."

"Why? Is it your leg and your arm? I thought you were right. You're not dying, aren't you?"

"What? No. I'm well."

"Then why?"

"I resigned as Hand. We have nothing more to do here."

"But my lessons with Syrio? I'm finally getting good."

"I'm sorry, Arya. We're going back home. You'll get to see Robb, Bran and Rickon again, and your mother. She misses you."

"Can we take Syrio back with us?"

Ned thought about that. "I'll talk to him. If he wants to come, he's welcome, but I won't force him."

"What about Jon? Is he coming back too?" Jon. He almost forgot about the boy. That was unforgiveable. He received news some time ago that he had gone to Casterly Rock and was now serving in Lord Tyrion's household. Ned had been surprised and terrified by this. According to Robb, it was Jon who took the decision himself after the Imp made him the offer. Ned thought the boy would be safe at the Wall, and now he was in the Lion's Den. But there was nothing Ned could do about it.

"Sit. I need to tell you something." Arya did as she was told, and Ned sat right in front of her. "Jon is a man, now. He is free to take his own decisions and he must find his own path in the world. His place is no longer at Winterfell."

"Why isn't his place at Winterfell? He always lived there with us."

"Yes, he did. But he's not your mother's son. Jon had to leave one day or another. The time has come for him. Robb will be Lord of Winterfell one day and rule the North when I'm gone. You and your sister will marry lords when the times comes, and your brothers Bran and Rickon will rule holdfasts as Robb's bannermen."

"Why can't Jon become Robb's bannerman too? He's our brother, just like Bran and Rickon."

How could he explain that to her? He sighed. Maybe it was time. "Look, I'm not going to lie to you. This is not pleasant to hear or to say, but it's the truth. Jon is not a legitimate child like you. He's a bastard. There's nothing for him at Winterfell. He had to go."

An awkward silence followed. He saw a wave of anger flashing in his daughter's eyes, the same he sometimes saw in Lyanna's eyes. "It's mother? She wanted Jon to go?" He couldn't answer to that. "You said winter was coming, and that we had to look after each other. How can we look after Jon if he's far away?"

"Jon made his choice, Arya. He's free now. It's not to me to tell him where he must go and where he must not."

"Can I go to see him?" Anger subsidized for sadness. "He says Casterly Rock is a very good place. Can't we visit him before we go back in the North?"

A detour through Casterly Rock would make their journey back to Winterfell several months longer, especially if they wanted to spend a long time with Jon. Still Ned couldn't say no. Not right now. "I'll think about that. I'll give you my answer tomorrow. Now I would like you to start packing your things. Tell Sansa that we're leaving and get your septa to help you."

Resolved, Arya left. Ned shook his head when she was gone. Should he make Jon come back to Winterfell. Cat wouldn't like that, but wouldn't it be better? Jon wouldn't be safe in the Westerlands. He had done everything he could to keep Jon away from the south. What if the Lannisters discovered the truth? Ned highly doubted they would, but could he be entirely sure? He should at least inform the boy that they were leaving King's Landing. Jon looked happy at Casterly Rock from the ravens he sent, and he was far from Catelyn, but it didn't reassure him to know that he was among Lannisters.

One of his men opened the door. "Ser Kevan Lannister to see you, my lord." He stepped aside and let the knight enter. Ned had come to respect Tywin Lannister's brother deeply, especially after he resigned for the first time as Hand. He had been the only one on the small council to oppose the decision of killing Daenerys Targaryen and her unborn child. When Ned was stuck to his bed, he informed him about the situation of the Realm. He had found that Ser Kevan had more honor than most people in this city. He even told him his suspicions concerning the death of Jon Arryn, though he never mentioned his widow's letter. Ser Kevan investigated the case, though he didn't seem to believe Jon Arryn was murdered, and he found nothing so far. Ned found some similarities between them. Ser Kevan was a second son, just like him, and had spent his life advising his brother, then his nephew. Ned would have played the same role had Brandon lived.

"Lord Stark."

"Ser Kevan. Please, take a seat. How was the king after I left?"

"Quite silent," the knight answered at he sat down, Ned's desk separating them. "All the opposite of last time. He's left for hunting."

"Hunting?" Again?

"That's what the king always does when he's troubled, when he faces problems he would rather not face. I don't blame you for leaving. The truth is, I almost envy you." Lord Tywin's brother looked miserable right now.

"Do you have family at Casterly Rock?" Ned asked.

"I have. My wife, Dorna, had just given birth to our first daughter when I left. I may not be able to recognize her when I come back. My two other sons, Martyn and Willem, are there too, squiring for knights. And all the while I am forced to sit on the small council while my son Lancel squires for the king, which means mostly to pour his wine while he insults his mother."

Ned remembered a time during the tourney, while Robert thought about riding into it. Ser Kevan's son failed to put his armor properly on him because Robert was too fat, and Robert said something no boy would like to hear about his mother. If it had been Brandon and Robert had spoken about their lady mother this way, Robert would have lost his head, or Brandon would have.

"He's unfair with your son," Ned conceded. "Why did you come to King's Landing in the first place?"

"Because my nephew wanted me to sit on the small council, and Tyrion is my lord. I follow my lord's orders." Just like Ned did.

"I want to thank you, for standing with me in the matter of the Targaryen girl. You were the only one to do so. Everyone else approved of that murder. I never thought the only man with enough honor to disapprove this would be a Lannister. I misjudged you."

"I didn't oppose this decision because it was the murder of children. Sometimes killing innocent people is a necessary evil to prevent greater evils, but sending assassins after both Targaryens, while they are bound to a Dothraki horselord, was a mistake. We had few chances to succeed, and even if we did, we would have to face the wrath of a man with forty thousand men in his army. And that's what happened. Not only Daenerys Targaryen is still alive, with a child soon to be born, but now we infuriated a man who will have no mercy towards us if he ever crosses the Narrow Sea." Calculating, just like his brother. Still, he had opposed Robert's decision. "The king's decision was foolish. I know Tyrion wouldn't approve that. He's not stupid enough to send an assassin against someone powerful when we're at peace. It's the best way to start a war, and right now that's the last thing we need."

Ned frowned at this. "What can you tell me about Lord Tyrion, ser? I met him at Winterfell, but I didn't get the chance to know him very much."

"Well, Tyrion is a good man. Devoted to his family and House Lannister, filling his duties as best as he can, doing his best for his people. He loves his wife and his family, and he's a good lord, and clever. I never told you I was there when my brother died."

"No, you didn't."

"When that mast fell on him, for a time, I thought this was the end of my house. Tywin had brought us back on our feet after our lord father almost destroyed everything our ancestors worked for. I was afraid. Jaime was a kingsguard, he couldn't inherit. Tyrion was our only option. I hate to say that, but I was sure our family was doomed. At the time, Tyrion spent his time drinking, eating, whoring, in taverns and brothels, laughing with men and women of dubious reputation."

"That sounds almost like Robert."

"Yes. When I arrived in King's Landing, I wondered if I could do with the king what I did with my nephew."

"That is?"

"When Tyrion became Lord of Casterly Rock, he began to bring whores into his bed. I put a stop to it after my brother's funeral and I started to make arrangements to get him married. I have to admit he surprised me. He fulfilled his duties very well, ruled as good as Tywin would have, and maybe even better. And his marriage… I never expected that, but he loved his wife, and she fell in love with him too with time. I never thought it would turn that way. I believed I would have to spend the rest of my life trying to contain Tyrion's debauchery, and instead, sometimes, I have the impression that I'm back at the time my brother and his wife lived and I advised him. I thought maybe I could speak the same sort of sense into the king, but I'm afraid I failed."

Ned listened to Ser Kevan's story attentively. Indeed, Tyrion Lannister was reputed to be a whoremonger and a drunkard, though there was no word of him fathering any bastard, to the opposite of Robert. Maybe he couldn't have children. He had been married for some time now, and Margaery Lannister still bore him no children. It was sad, for a man who changed his life so drastically. Maybe Ned should have tried to change Robert like the Lannister knight did for his nephew. Certainly, Jon Arryn tried, but Robert was much older than Tyrion Lannister, and he didn't have a wife he loved. All Robert always wanted was to crack skulls and fuck girls, as he said it. If Lyanna had lived, again, Ned wondered if Robert would have been any different. Or would his sister have ended like Cersei Lannister, bearing Robert his children while he went to bed any woman he chanced to meet? Robert had always whored, even before at the Eyrie, when he was Jon Arryn's ward and already betrothed to Lyanna.

"Maybe it's too late for the king," Ned said, resigned.

"Maybe." Ser Kevan seemed to regret it as well. He straightened up. "I wish you well in the North, my lord."

"You're going to stay?"

"As long as the king wants, or that my nephew orders me to stay." He extended a hand, and Ned shook it. "It's been a pleasure to work with you, Lord Stark."

"The honor was mine." Before the knight walked out, Ned had one last question. "You really found nothing about Jon Arryn?"

Ser Kevan sighed. "I'm afraid not. I must admit the death was quick and sudden, but these things happen. I tried to find clues, but nothing. We must accept that Jon Arryn died naturally, Lord Stark. He wasn't poisoned."

Ned pursed his lips. Ser Kevan didn't seem to be lying, and as far as Ned could tell, he was an honest man doing his duty. Could Lysa Arryn have been wrong? Could Varys have lied? He thought about asking Ser Kevan about the attempt against Bran's life and the possible involvement of Lord Tyrion, but the knight just told him that sending an assassin was the best way to start a war. Unless the Imp wanted to start a war… I like peace. I don't want a war, and the best way to avoid a war is to keep you as far away from King's Landing as it is possible. Why did he think that going into the capital could start a war? He knew Lord Tyrion suspected Jon Arryn may have been killed. He asked it bluntly to Ser Kevan, who revealed he received instructions from his nephew to lead an investigation about this, but they found no irrefutable proof that someone actually killed Jon Arryn, or the identity of the possible killer.

"Thank you, ser."

"My lord." The knight bowed his head and left the room. The man Ned appreciated the most in the capital was the brother of Tywin Lannister. How ironic it was.

The moment Ser Kevan opened the door, Sansa burst into the room. "You can't do this, Father! You can't send me back home! I can't leave!"

"Child, be careful." Septa Mordane entered the room. "Ser, excuse us," she addressed to Kevan Lannister.

"Don't worry, I'm leaving." Ser Kevan gave to Ned a look that seemed to wish him good luck. He probably was aware of what was ahead of him.

"Father, you can't do this!" Sansa repeated as her septa closed the door. "I don't want to leave the capital. I like it. I'm betrothed to Joffrey."

"Sansa," he said gently, "I resigned as Hand. We have nothing more to do here anymore. It's time for us to leave, to go back home."

"But it's my home. I'm supposed to marry Prince Joffrey. I love him and I'm meant to be his queen and have his babies. I can't go."

Ned tried to imagine what Arya would say if she was here. "Listen to me, sweet one. This match with Joffrey was a terrible mistake. The boy is no good man, or honorable, you must believe me." He saw more than enough of Robert's eldest son since the Kingsroad to know that he wouldn't make a good husband for Sansa. On that, the Imp hadn't lied to him back at Winterfell. Maybe he should have listened to him. After all, the most respectful member of the small council was named on his insistence.

"He is! I love him. He is like Prince Aemon the Dragonknight, or Ser Florian. I want to be his queen. I want to marry him."

"He's no prince Aemon or knight, Sansa. When you're old enough, I'll make you a match with someone who's worthy of you, someone who's brave and gentle and strong…"

"I don't want someone brave and gentle and strong. I want him! He'll be the greatest king that ever was, a golden lion, and I'll give him sons with beautiful blond hair."

"He's not a lion, my dear." The septa chose this moment to intervene. "The Lannisters are lions. He is a Baratheon, a stag, King Robert's eldest son."

"He is not. He's nothing like that old drunk king."

Ned blinked. A golden lion. Sons with beautiful blond hair. Nothing like Robert. Nothing like Robert. He remembered the boy, Gendry, who he visited in the Street of Steel. He looked so much like Robert. Ned only needed a moment to realize he stood before one of Robert's bastards. And the baby girl, Barra, she had black hair like Robert and his eyes too, bright blue. If he had met Joffrey without knowing he was Robert's son…

"Septa Mordane, bring Sansa back to her rooms. Start to pack her things."

"Wait! It's not fair!" Sansa screamed, tears in her eyes.

"Come on, child. Remember your manners," Mordane told her. She almost had to grab Sansa out.

Ned thought about Jon Arryn. He had taken a book to Pycelle, a book with the physical description of the members of the great houses of Westeros, and he visited Robert's bastards in the days before his death. Ned took the Lineages and Histories of the Great Houses of the Seven Kingdoms and opened at the page of House Baratheon. He had looked at House Lannister so far, finding nothing that pointed as to what Jon Arryn was looking for.

House Baratheon began with the man who was made Lord of Storm's End three hundred years ago when Aegon invaded Westeros. "Lord Orys Baratheon, black of hair." The names followed. Davos, Robar, Boremund, Axel Lyonel, Borros, Gowen, Ormund, Steffon, Robert. A succession of names, all of them with black hair. One name was missing. "Joffrey Baratheon… golden-haired."

That couldn't be. Ned verified all the Baratheons, and they were all black of hair, except for three: Cersei Lannister's children. Robert's children? No, he had to be certain. He looked at the unions between Lannisters and Baratheon. The most recent one was between Tya Lannister and Gowen Baratheon ninety years ago. They only had one son who died in infancy, but Maester Malleon said he had a full head of black hair. He looked into the pages of House Lannister and found a marriage between a Lannister man and a Baratheon bride more than a hundred years ago. Their four children were black of hair. He kept looking. The gold always yielded before the coal.

That was what Jon Arryn discovered. The seed is strong. The Baratheon seed was strong, that's what he meant. He remembered something else that a small man told him, back in the North. Joffrey may look more like my brother than his father. His mind didn't work for a moment. He knew who was Joffrey's real father. All that thanks to his daughter and a Lannister.


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