"When the gods wish to punish us,
They answer our prayers."
-Oscar Wilde
Chapter Sixteen – The Start of Everything
Caryssa was spinning around in the lightly falling snow, peals of laughter escaping her mouth, her arms spread wide to stop herself from falling. Her tiny fingers stretched outwards, trying to catch snowflakes to show to her mother. They all melted almost as soon as they touched her palm, but that thought didn't occur to the small girl.
"Ryssa!" Caryssa stopped her spinning and stumbled as she turned to the sound of her little brother. Little three year old Robb was toddling towards her with tiny solemn Jon being pulled along with him. Her mother and father stood in the entrance to the Great Hall, her septa behind them, smiling as her two brothers reached her, even if her mother's smile was half sad at the sight of her husband's bastard son playing with her two children.
"Robb! Jon!" She giggled, as her brothers started pulling on her skirts, trying to pull her to their level.
The little she-wolf reached down and embraced both of the little boys, pulling them hard into her body as they laughed gleefully and tried to wriggle free, even if they wanted nothing more than to stay in her arms.
She let them go, but grabbed their hands and led them back over to her parents, still watching the siblings interact with one another. Her mother, heavy with child, held her hand out to her daughter as she approached and Caryssa let go of Robb's hand to take it.
She always kept a hold of Jon. Robb knew that his big sister loved him unconditionally and, even as young as he was, he felt it down to his very soul, but Jon was more solemn and unsure of his siblings' affections. Lady Stark's coldness towards him often had the little boy questioning his family's love for him, so whenever she was with her little half-brother, her hand was always firmly grasping his. For a seven year old, she was very observant about other people and she knew that Jon often felt out of place.
She had made it her life's main quest to make him feel like he belonged with them and she'd do it. Even if it killed her.
Caryssa took her mother's hand, grinning widely up at her, wide blue eyes staring into their mirror.
If Catelyn had to pick one thing she loved most about having a little girl was having her own eyes staring back at her, the Tully signature blue blinking up at her with the child-like innocence that she herself had long forgotten.
How she had retained that innocence after what had happened to her on her namesday was beyond Lady Stark's comprehension. She could still feel that burning anger and freezing terror that had gripped her when she and her husband found their darling first-born covered in blood with a man's body cold and lifeless on her bed. The sight still plagued Catelyn's dreams, and her daughter's. Often, Catelyn would wake to find Caryssa had snuck into her and Ned's chambers in the middle of the night and was curled up in her father's arms. It made her so incredibly angry that her daughter had been forced to defend herself from a drunken letch who had tried to steal the very innocence that little Ryssa was gazing up at her with now.
Caryssa's smile fell when her mother's face started to screw up in pain.
"Mama? What's wrong?"
"Ned, I think the babe is coming."
As soon as the words had fallen from her mother's mouth, her father had placed Robb back onto his feet and swept his wife up into his arms, rushing her to the Maester's Tower. Caryssa handed her brother's over to Septa Mordane and rushed after them. Her mother had promised she could be there when the babe was born. She had been too young with Robb, but she was seven now and nothing was going to stop her from holding her mother's hand and being the first to see her new sister.
She ran as fast as her little legs could take her, managing to rush into the Maester's Tower before the heavy door could swing shut on her. She climbed the steps to the birthing chamber, ignored her father standing guard at the door and pushed past all the people bustling about to move to her mother's side. She didn't clamber onto the bed like she would have, but silently took her mother's hand and smiled at her.
Catelyn was not surprised to see that her daughter had followed them, or that she had pushed past the Maester and the healers who would assist him to take her place at her side, but it still filled her eyes with tears when her little girl wordlessly took her hand and gripped it ever so gently as a display of comfort and reassurance. I am here, Mother, it spoke to her and Catelyn thanked the Mother for gracing her with a child as thoughtful and kind as her little she-wolf.
"Lady Caryssa, you should not be in here. The birthing chamber is no place for little girls." Maester Luwin stated, and Caryssa took her eyes away from her mother and stared up at him, her gaze even and cold.
"I am not a little girl anymore, Maester Luwin, and you will not move me from Mama's side." She declared as diplomatically as a seven year old could manage, and Maester Luwin chuckled in spite of himself at her determination and resolve. She was certainly Lord Stark's daughter. Only he could bring a child into the world that could flit between child-like playfulness and adult sincerity and seriousness the way Lady Caryssa did.
"Of course, my Lady. Excuse me."
Caryssa nodded at him to continue, and returned her gaze to her mother, who was smiling in spite of her pain.
"I won't leave you, Mama. I promise." Caryssa whispered, pressing a gentle kiss to her mother's hand.
And she didn't.
Hours went by as Lady Catelyn pushed through her labor pains and finally began to push, and Caryssa didn't leave her side once. She took to dabbing her mother's forehead with a damp cloth given to her by one of the healers, and nattering on about how excited Robb and Jon were for the babe to arrive and how they needed a little sibling so they could learn how to love someone as much as she loved them. Her presence was soothing to her mother, Maester Luwin and the healers soon realized, as she was trying so badly not to panic in order to not to frighten Caryssa that she was actually more relaxed then her two previous births.
Soon the cries of her newborn babe filled the air, and Caryssa grinned at the sight of the bloody baby girl and gently wiped the sweat off of her mother's face.
"She's here, Mama! She's here!" Caryssa squealed in excitement, and Catelyn smiled tiredly.
"Lady Caryssa, why don't you come over here and help the midwife clean the babe, while I tend to your mother?"
Caryssa looked to her mother, who nodded her consent, and she let go of her mother's hand, taking the damp cloth with her and joined one of the midwives. She didn't do any of the cleaning, simply watched as all of the blood and goo was wiped clean and only pale, soft skin was left visible.
"Would you like to hold her, Lady Caryssa?" The midwife questioned, and Caryssa nodded her head rapidly, holding out her arms the way she had been told to when Robb was a baby. Carefully, the midwife placed the babe into the little girl's waiting arms, making certain that the girl had her before she let her go. Caryssa blinked wide eyed at her beautiful baby sister in her arms, as mystified as she had been when she had first held Robb and Jon in her arms.
Throughout her mother's pregnancy and the long labor, Caryssa had thought nothing but what the babe should be named. Her parents had promised her that she would be able to name her, as she had begged and pleaded for days once her mother had told her that she was to be a big sister once again. They had relented, and she had started a list. There had been Lyanna, Berena, Jocelyn, Sansa and Marna to pick from for a girl and Brandon, Rickard, Jonnel, Olyvar and Torrhen to pick from for a boy. Yet, until she set her eyes on her new sister and held her in her arms, she had been undecided.
Slowly, the little she-wolf bent her head and, as gently as she could, pressed her lips to the babe's forehead.
"I promise that I will not ever let any come to you, little baby. I am your big sister and I will always protect you. I swear it to the Old Gods and the New," Caryssa whispered, staring down at the wriggling babe with faint wisps of red hair and big blue eyes that seemed almost too large for her head. "I love you, Sansa."
"Sansa? That's a fine name, little wolf."
Caryssa turned and beamed up at her father, who immediately took in the sight of the newborn in her arms.
He seemed mystified as he stared at his new daughter and he knelt down in front of his children, just as the bells began to toll. Caryssa seemed confused and she looked to her father for answers, but he was reaching out for the baby. With as much care as possible, Caryssa passed little Sansa over to her father pressing a kiss to his cheek before marching back over to her mother and pulling herself up onto the bed, as Maester Luwin had finished his examination and had left the room to look after the boys.
"Why are the bells ringing, Papa?"
"For Sansa. They're going to ring for a whole day in celebration of her birth." Ned explained, with a small smile as he brought the babe over to Catelyn, who immediately opened her arms to hold her baby for the first time.
Caryssa watched as her mother stared down at Sansa, a wide smile spreading across her tired face.
"She's perfect." She whispered.
Ned's thoughts were consumed with finding the truth about Jon Arryn's death, but still he found time to worry about his daughters. Especially with Caryssa being married now. His first born, his precious daughter. He was still coming to terms with the fact that she was not his anymore.
She had always belonged to him, even above Catelyn. The girl loved her mother dearly, but it was Ned she ran to when she hurt herself or was afraid. It was Ned she cried to about her nightmares. It was Ned she sought approval from and took advice from and gave advice to. It was Ned who had been the first person her eyes had ever laid upon, the first thing she ever witnessed was his face staring down at her in his arms.
Once she was placed into his arms, he had loved her and fallen in love with his wife too. Their marriage was one of duty, and, until the birth of their first child, that was all their marriage had been; duty. Though, after the precious gift of their daughter had been given to him, how could he not love Catelyn?
Robert had been the decider. He convinced him that marrying her to Jaime Lannister would be the best thing for her. Ned had his doubts and was very reluctant, but his friend had always been good with words when it came to twisting his arm into doing something.
And now she was a wife. And no doubt soon, she would be a mother. Catelyn had gotten with child after the very first night they had laid together as man and wife, and now they had six children together. Caryssa would certainly inherit her mother's fertility and have plenty of babes of her own.
It was hard to see his eldest daughter growing up and starting a family of her own, especially as all he could see when he looked at her was the little girl who had held her newborn sister in her arms and solemnly promised to be her protector forever before giving the babe a name.
Suddenly a knock at his solar door interrupted his silent reverie and Jory poked his head around the door.
"Lord Varys is here to see you, my lord."
"Send him in." Ned ordered, and the door was pushed open wider, allowing him to see the Spider as he sauntered through the door.
There were very few people that had Ned's trust in the capital, virtually none bar his own household staff and his daughters, but not one of them was Varys. He wouldn't trust the pale, entitled eunuch as far as he could throw him.
Ned gestured to the chair in front of his desk for Varys to sit and then nodded for Jory to wait outside, which he did though he did not close the door.
Varys did not sit either. He looked about the room, inspecting it most likely, before he even opened his mouth.
"How is your son, my lord?" Varys questioned, and Ned frowned, thinking of poor Bran all those miles away.
"He'll never walk again."
Varys closed the shutters to the Lord Hand's windows before walking towards the other side of the room, and Ned focused on his desk, paying no mind to the fact that Varys was clearly making the room safe to talk freely in. As freely as one can talk in the capital.
"But his mind is sound?"
"So they say."
"A blessing, then," Varys stated, closing another shutter, before he moved towards the door. "I suffered an early mutilation myself. Some doors close forever," Varys closed the door, but not before giving a small smug wave to Jory where he stood guard, "Others open in most unexpected places. May I?"
Ned nodded, and Varys finally took a seat.
"If the wrong ears heard what I'm about to tell you, off comes my head. And who would mourn poor Varys then? North or South, they sing no songs for spiders, but there are things you must know. You are the King's Hand and the king is a fool – your friend, I know, but a fool – and doomed unless you save him."
"I've been in the capital a month," Ned glared, holding Varys with the cold icy stare that Starks were famed for. "Why have you waited so long to tell me this?"
"I didn't trust you." Varys replied simply. Ned resisted the urge to scoff. The Spider, the keeper of secrets, didn't trust him, Eddard Stark, a man famed for his honor and loyalty?
"So why do you trust me now?" He questioned instead.
"The queen is not the only one who has been watching you closely. There are few men of honor in the capital. You are one of them," Varys stated, his face portraying his honesty. Ned could not tell if the eunuch was being genuine with him, but he seemed to be. Yet the Northern lord had learned long ago that not everyone was what they seemed on the surface. "I would like to believe that I am another, strange as that may seem."
"What sort of doom does the king face?" He wanted to get to the point of things now. The quicker he learned of the danger posed to the king, the quicker he could eliminate the threat.
"The same sort as Jon Arryn," Ned felt as though he had been dunked into an icy bath, the way his whole body seemed to freeze at the spider's words. "The tears of lys, they call it. A rare and costly thing, as clear and tasteless as water. It leaves no trace."
Ned pushed away from his desk and rose to his feet as he tried to process what he had just heard. He knew that Jon Arryn's death was suspicious, but for him to think it and for another to confirm his suspicions…they were two different things entirely. He paced behind his desk for a moment, before turning away from Varys and staring out of the room, out onto his balcony.
"Who gave it to him?"
"Some dear friend, no doubt. But which one?" Varys asked rhetorically, shrugging his shoulders even though the Hand of the King was not watching him. "There were many. Lord Arryn was a kind and trusting man. There was one boy. All he was he owed to Jon Arryn."
"The squire, Ser Hugh?" Ned prompted, turning to face the Master of Whispers.
"Pity, what happened to him, just when his life seemed to be going so nicely."
"If Ser Hugh poisoned him, who paid Ser Hugh?" Ned gripped the back of his chair, leaning his weight against it slightly. This news was unwelcome, though he knew he had to get to the bottom of it. He had hoped, had prayed, that his suspicions would be proved wrong. That it was just a sickness. The Gods did not always answer his prayers.
Varys held his hands up.
"Someone who could afford it."
"Jon was a man of peace. He was Hand for 17 years – 17 good years. Why kill him?" Ned pondered, his voice gruff with his sadness.
"He started asking questions."
Ned felt a tremor ripple through him.
Jon was asking questions, just like he himself had been ever since he had arrived in Kings Landing.
Ned had ever such a terrible feeling.
"Stop feeding that wolf from the table. She eats enough as it is."
Caryssa ignored her husband, holding another piece of her bacon in her palm for Rhaenyra to devour. The direwolf gently nibbled it from her mistress' hand, being careful not to harm her, which made the she-wolf smile and pet her with her free hand.
Jaime watched her as he chewed on his own meal, trying not to smile at how happy his wife looked even when she was disobeying him. She seemed a little bit more at peace than she had the day before and wondered what had changed.
"Why are you staring at me?" Caryssa asked him, arching a brow at him when he didn't stop.
"I'm just admiring my view. It's improved significantly since my return to the capital," Caryssa fought off a blush at his compliment, shaking her head at him and choosing to eat her buttered bread to avoid ruining the moment with her ingrained sarcasm. It had been two days since the tourney feast and their debauched coupling in the abandoned corridor, and they had been getting along quite well. "What plans have you made for the day?"
"I'm going to the Tower of the Hand to meet with my father and have lunch with my sisters."
"We could go riding in the Kingswood when you're finished with your family," Jaime suggested, and Caryssa looked at him in confusion. Outside of their marital bed and their chambers, they spent little time together. He would train with the Kingsguard and do his duty by protecting the King, and she spent her time with her sisters or, very reluctantly, with the Queen and her children. "You miss it, don't you? Riding in the Wolfswood with your brothers? The Kingswood is just as pleasant to ride through-"
"Jaime, that would be lovely," Caryssa cut him off, smiling widely at him. He was being thoughtful, and he was trying. In truth, she did miss the Wolfswood. She missed the feeling of the cold northern air biting her cheeks and blowing through her hair. She missed the quiet of it, of hearing nothing but the chirping of birds and the rustling of the wind through the trees. She missed Robb's loud laughter and Jon's silent snickering as she got them to chase her. "It will be nice to actually get to ride my horse. Poor thing's probably forgotten me."
"I doubt there's a creature on this earth who could forget a face like that." Jaime complimented, and this time Caryssa didn't hold back her comment, even if her face felt warm from his flattering words.
All of his compliments were setting off alarms in her mind. He was being too nice, and it was strange. Jaime was not one to mince his words or hand out needless compliments. He, like his entire family, used compliments as barely veiled insults or tools of manipulation. She had noticed that a lot since she had met them, especially when it came to Cersei.
Cersei was almost a master at using compliments as her way of molding a person into becoming her spy or something amongst those lines. Caryssa had already had to warn Sansa not to be taken in by the queen's pretty words, but she doubted that Sansa had taken her warning to heart.
"What have you done?" Her eyes were narrowed, and she had placed her food back on its plate, giving him her full attention, ignoring her direwolf for the moment. Rhaenyra had placed her head firmly on her lap, blue eyes staring up at her intently. She most likely wanted more food or just to have her head rubbed, but Caryssa was determined not to have her mind taken away from the topic at hand.
"What are you talking about?"
"I've learned enough about married men from the women in Winterfell and my mother to know that an increase in compliments and effort has a direct correlation to some sort of misdeed, so what have you done?" Caryssa questioned, and Jaime looked at her in surprise, before he grinned in that oddly attractive smug way of his.
"Surprisingly, I have done no wrong, little wife, but it's nice to see that you can't be easily swayed by a pretty word from a charming man. My mind will be at ease for the next time the King decides to throw a feast."
Caryssa rolled her eyes at him.
Out of all the women in Westeros, her upbringing with her 'honor above all' father and her 'family, duty, honor' mother would make her the least likely to stray from her marital bed. Though she didn't feel the need to defend herself. It should go without saying.
"Well, as long as your mind is at ease with my fidelity, I'm going to go take Rhaenyra for her walk." Caryssa stated, rising from her chair and grabbing the leash.
Rhaenyra was at her side in an instant, though she seemed to grumble as the leash was placed around her neck.
Lady and Rhaenyra hated the leashes, though Sansa's wolf seemed more tolerant of it. Caryssa had once taken her eyes off of her wolf, only to turn back and find she was trying to chew through the leather of her leash. The snowy white and grey pup had stopped the action as soon as she realized she had an audience, but it was enough for Caryssa to know that she hated the silly thing.
"Hush," Caryssa murmured to her companion, and she could have sworn she saw Rhaenyra nod at her, as she tightened the leather around her neck so the wolf couldn't slip out of it. Straightening up, Caryssa turned to look at her husband. "I'll meet you in the stables in the afternoon for that ride."
"I look forward to it." Jaime smirked and Caryssa shook her head at him, knowing just from the look in his eyes where his mind had gone. The dirty bastard. She was not going to go for a roll in the hay with him, no matter how debauched and wanton he seemed to want to make her.
She left their chambers without another word, choosing not to fall into the same trap she had found herself in many times before where she retorted with something witty and sarcastic and Jaime replied in kind. They would end up in the same back and forth for too long and she would end up late. Her husband had caused her to be late one too many times to certain functions and private meetings, mostly with the queen. It was almost as if he was trying to fuel the hate his sister bore her.
Not that Cersei needed any help in her burning hatred for Caryssa. The lioness seemed to manage well enough on her own in finding reasons to belittle and pick at the she-wolf. Not that Caryssa cared much. She refused to let Cersei push her unhappiness onto her.
Shaking her head to free her of her Cersei-centric thoughts, Caryssa vowed not to let anyone ruin her day.
Today would be one full of peace and tranquility, and nothing would get in the way of that.
Well, she hoped not.
Her trip to the gardens was pleasant and calm and overall peaceful.
Rhaenyra was well behaved even when some of the other ladies in the court walked by and visibly recoiled at the sight of her. The wolf had even attempted to chase some butterflies that had fluttered in her vision, but Caryssa had ordered her to stop before she could actually catch and harm any.
She had stopped to talk to one of the servants tending to the garden about the new flowers that were being planted (the King had ordered for more winter roses to be planted, and Caryssa knew it was not a coincidence that they were being planted in the same area she always took Rhaenyra to) and how grateful she was for his hard work (he had blushed and stumbled in his thanks which had made her smile).
The gardens were beautiful, but seemed to be more vibrant and full of life than usual, so she had complimented him on his work, like she did at Winterfell to the servants who tended to the Glass Gardens. The dedication the gardener had and the love and attention he gave to each flower, shrub, bush and tree reminded her of the staff of Winterfell.
She was just about to leave the gardens when she found Jory searching through them for Arya, and her peace was shattered.
Her sister was missing.
No one had seen her for hours.
Insisting that Jory let her join in the search, he took Caryssa and Rhaenyra to the Tower of the Hand, the last place someone claimed to have seen Arya. Slightly panicking about the harm that could befall her sister in such a place as the Red Keep, Caryssa almost didn't notice that her direwolf had started to tug on her leash.
"What is it, Rhaenyra?" Caryssa asked, and the wolf just whined as she continued to pull against the leather lead.
"Perhaps she's telling us where Lady Arya went." Jory suggested, and Caryssa's eyes widened at the thought and loosened her grip on the leash to see what Rhaenyra would do.
The wolf sniffed the ground around them, her owner exchanging a look with the head of her father's guard, but once she had the scent, her wolf's nose barely left the ground. She led them through the Tower of the Hand, deep down into the castle, so deep down that Jory's hand never left the hilt of his sword and he walked as closely to Caryssa as he possibly could while remaining a decent distance.
Rhaenyra's nose led them to one of the rooms off of the dungeons which held a few surprise objects.
"Dragon skulls." Caryssa breathed as she stared at them in awe. One was so large that it brushed the high ceiling of the room, and the she-wolf could only imagine how large a dragon it must have belonged to. Maybe it was Balerion, the largest dragon known to history, the dragon whose breath forged the Iron Throne, she mused.
The wolf led Caryssa and Jory passed the dragon skulls, bypassing a locked gate in favor of a set of stairs that led them to a small alcove that lead to the Blackwater, where old men were fishing.
"What was she doing out here?" Jory questioned aloud, as they picked their way across a small path of rocks until they finally made their way back to a solid path.
"Chasing a cat, most likely. Syrio Forel has her doing it as part of her dancing lessons," Caryssa replied, as the wolf led them back to the gate that would give them entrance to the keep once more. "I'm going to be having words with that girl. She shouldn't be leaving the Keep. It's dangerous."
"I think you'll have to wait in line, my lady. Lord Stark looked ready to have a fit when Lady Sansa told him that she hadn't been at her lessons and that no one had seen her."
"I think I will have first try at trying to instill some sense in to her," Caryssa claimed, as her eyes lapsed onto a dirty ruffian that looked very familiar in front of a pair of guards that weren't allowing her passage. Passing Rhaenyra over to Jory, she hurried forward and grabbed the child by the shoulders, breathing a sigh of relief. "What do you think you've been doing?"
"They won't let me passed! They think I'm a boy!"
"You know this boy, Lady Lannister?" One guard questioned, and Caryssa looked at them both.
"This 'boy' is my sister, Lady Arya Stark of Winterfell, daughter of Eddard Stark, the King's Hand. Now if you don't mind, I am going to take my sister to my father so he can put some sense into her head." Caryssa snapped, because, while she was relieved that her sister was well and that she had been found, the overwhelming worry that had rushed through her had dissipated into anger at her sister for not being more sensible.
This was not Winterfell. In Winterfell, she could explore to her heart's content from morning until night.
King's Landing was not Winterfell. It was not safe here, especially for children wandering about in places they had no right to be in.
"Yes, Lady Lannister. We'll let you be on your way." The second guard replied, stepping out of their way and Caryssa promptly pulled Arya forward, with Jory and Rhaenyra following.
Arya grumbled all the way back to their father's solar, but a sharp glare from her elder sister silenced her each time she started up again. Caryssa was silent and her hand shook around her sister's arm. Arya long ago learned that meant her sister was truly furious, and that let her know that she had done wrong.
As soon as they were in their father's solar, his eyes were on them and he seemed relieved and angry at the same time, mirroring his eldest daughter's emotions. Jory closed the door behind them, still holding Rhaenyra's leash in one hand, and Caryssa nudged Arya forward until she stood in front of their father's desk, before she sat down.
Ned was seated, his hands clasped together on the table, his concern written plainly on his face.
"You know I had half my guard out searching for you?" Arya was silent, and Ned shook his head. "You promised me this would stop."
"They said they were going to kill you!" Arya exclaimed at her father, and Caryssa's eyes widened.
"Who did?" She questioned, a fresh panic filling her heart. This was exactly why she hadn't wanted to come to the capital. There was no one around that they could trust but the people they had brought with them, and now her father's life was at risk.
"I didn't see them, but I think one was fat." Arya answered, and Caryssa grimaced almost in time with Ned.
"Oh, Arya." Ned sighed, pinching the bridge of his nose.
"I'm not lying! They said you found the bastard and the wolves are fighting the lions and the savage…Something about the savage." Arya insisted, and Caryssa was inclined to believe her. Arya had never been one for tall tales, especially about something as serious as this.
"Where did you hear this?" Their father asked, taking Arya just as seriously now as his other daughter seemed to be given the look of worry on her face and the way she was practically gnawing at her bottom lip.
"In the dungeons, near the dragon skulls."
"What were you doing in the dungeons?"
"Chasing a cat." Arya replied to her father's question, and both Caryssa and Ned rolled their eyes at the same time.
Thankfully, the girl was saved by Jory knocking at the door with a message.
"Pardon, my lord. There's a night's watchman here begging a word. Says it's urgent."
With a nod from Ned, Jory gestured to the man from the Night's Watch to enter. Caryssa stood at the same time her father did, both of them moving to stand by Arya. The Lady Lannister smiled politely at the man, though he did not return the gesture, simply moving his eyes over her body before giving his gaze to Ned.
"Your name, friend?" Ned requested, as polite as he was taught to be by Jon Arryn. Any man of the Night's Watch was friend to the Starks.
"Yoren, if it please," Yoren gestured to Arya. "This must be your son. He has the look."
"I'm a girl!" Arya protested, and Caryssa looked down at her.
"People would not be mistaken about your gender if you kept yourself clean and tidy."
"Did Benjen send you?" Ned questioned, trying to keep things on topic and an argument between his daughters from breaking out.
"No one sent me, my lord. I'm here to find men for the Wall, see if there's any scum in the dungeons that might be fit for service."
"Oh, we'll find recruits for you." Ned sighed in relief, as though he were about to receive some bad news from the Wall. Caryssa had been worried of that too. As soon as Jory had announced him, her mind had jumped instantly to Jon and her uncle Benjen, wondering if either of them had been hurt or worse.
"Thank you, my lord, but that's not why I disturb you now," His words knocked the wind out of Caryssa. Just as she had stopped worrying because of his previous words, he spoke again and filled her with more concern. "Your brother Benjen, his blood runs black – makes him as much my brother as yours. It's for his sake I rode here so hard I damn near killed my horse. There are others riding too. The whole city will know by tomorrow."
"Know what?"
"Best said in private, my lord." Yoren suggested, and Caryssa felt her blood run colder than it ever had.
"I won't leave. I want to hear this." She stated, looking at her father to show how serious she was. She would not move for anything or anyone and she would put up a hell of a fight before she allowed anyone to remove her from the room.
Knowing that Caryssa at least would not leave, Ned placed a kiss to Arya's forehead and nudged her towards Jory.
"Go on. We'll talk more later. Jory, take her safely to her room." He ordered and Jory nodded.
"Come along, my lady. You heard your father."
Jory led her away and Yoren closed the door behind them. All the while, Caryssa braced herself for whatever news was so terrible that a man of the Night's Watch deemed it necessary to ride all the way from the North to tell her father before anyone else could.
"Well?" Ned pressed, resting his hand on his daughter's shoulder and squeezing it slightly to give her some comfort. He could see in her eyes that she was steeling herself for the worst.
"It's about your wife, my lord," Caryssa held her breath and tried to stop herself panicking while she waited for the man to finish speaking. "She's taken the Imp."
"Oh, Gods."
Caryssa paced her chambers in her hunting garb, quiver, bow, sword and all, waiting for Jaime to return. She had told him she would meet him in the stables, but he had not been there. She had been tempted to go out and look for him, but she wouldn't know where to start.
Her heart was racing. She could feel it thundering in her chest and she knew it was because she was worried that Jaime had found out about what her mother had done. She was panicking. She knew little of Jaime's temper, but if he was anything like her, he would be furious that his brother was being held prisoner.
The phrase Lannister's always pay their debts was running through her head over and over again, possibly making her more frantic. She did not dare to think what Jaime would do to repay her mother for taking his brother. To make things worse she had not seen her father since he had gone to see the king. This only pushed her already frayed nerves closer to the point of no return.
Rhaenyra was sitting in front of the fire, her eyes following her mistress' every move, making the occasional whimper to let Caryssa know that she knew that she was worried.
It was only when Daena entered that Caryssa stopped moving about the room like a mad woman, mumbling under her breath and pacing.
"Ser Lannister has ordered me to pack some of your things, my lady." Daena informed her, before entering Caryssa and Jaime's chambers to being her task.
Caryssa's eyes widened, possibly bugging out of her head at an alarming degree, and rushed after her handmaiden.
"Did he tell you why?"
"No, my lady, but perhaps you are going to Casterly Rock. I've heard it's beautiful there." Daena replied, and Caryssa shook her head. That couldn't be possible. He would have mentioned it that morning. Well, she hoped he would. Besides, a journey of that distance would require more than a few hours planning. Provisions would need to be collected, his men would need to be organized…she would need to be organized.
"Where is he now?"
"He's gone to find Lord Stark, my lady, he didn't say why- my lady!" Daena called, as Caryssa bolted from the rooms with a barking Rhaenyra following closely behind. She went straight to the stables, thanking the Gods that she had ordered Snow to be saddled, mounted her steed and cantered through the city.
She could only think of one person who might know her father's whereabouts, one person who would be more than willing to help her, and that was Lord Baelish, so she pushed Snow into a gallop, yelling at bystanders to keep out of her way, which they did.
The she-wolf had expected there to be more drunken lechers and half-dressed whores around, but as she grew ever close to Baelish's place of business, she was surprised by how few people were around. Caryssa slowed Snow to a trot, looking around the houses to see that people were leaning out of their windows clearly watching some sort of dispute.
That's when Caryssa dug her heels into Snow's side and forced him to go faster once more.
Her jaw almost hit Snow's saddle when she pulled him to a stop outside of the brothel. Jaime and her father were fighting. Bodies lay across the ground. Jaime obviously knew about Tyrion and had confronted her father. She had hoped that he would be more rational about things, but that was probably asking too much of him clearly.
When she focused more clearly on the dead guards, some Lannister and some Stark men, she felt her heart break.
"Jory!" She yelled, tears running down her face.
Both Ned and Jaime were distracted by her cry of anguish, leaving them both vulnerable to attack, yet neither of them landed a blow. It was a Lannister guard who thrust his spear through Lord Stark's leg, forcing him to the ground. The only sound heard was a mix of Ned's cry of pain and his daughter's scream.
Caryssa's vision tinged red. She felt anger bubble up within her, a fury that she did not often feel, and she barely registered her arms moving back to her quiver, her fingers grasping both her bow and an arrow. Without thinking, she strung the arrow to her bow and let it fly, watching it with a dull satisfaction as it sunk into the guard's eye and he fell to the ground dead.
She climbed off of her horse, replacing her bow to its quiver, and ran towards her father, falling to her knees in front of him. Her hands cradled his face and lifted his head to look up at her. He was in agony, but he tried to mask it for her and she saw right through him as his body shook from the effort.
"I am so sorry." Caryssa choked out, tears still running down her cheeks.
Jaime hadn't wanted her to be involved. He hadn't wanted her to see him like this, to see him at odds with her father, let alone his dagger in her old guard's eye and a Lannister spear through her father's leg. Yet, there was nothing he could do about it now. She would understand later. She had to.
He moved forward and placed a hand on her shoulder, almost wishing he hadn't when she looked up at him. Her eyes were rimmed with red. The blue irises that were usually sparkling with mischief and warmth were shimmering with yet to be shed tears and pain. There was no trace of the smile that had been there when they broke their fast together that morning, just anger and misery, her mouth halfway between a frown and a snarl.
"Why did you do this?" She questioned quietly, her glassy eyes accusing.
"I'll tell you on the way to the Eyrie."
"If you think I'm going anywhere with you, you are a fool." Caryssa hissed at him, and Jaime's expression turned sour. He had to leave now, and he wasn't going anywhere without his wife, so he only had one of two choices.
"You can leave with me now, willingly, or I'll bind your hands and your feet and throw you over the back of my horse," Jaime gave her the ultimatum, as she looked back at her father, who was gritting his teeth so he wouldn't cry out again. "It's your choice, wife."
"Go," Ned murmured to her, and Caryssa glanced at him in surprise. "Once my leg is healed, I'll come for you. The King will send men. I'll persuade him. Go."
Caryssa did not want to leave her father wounded in front of a brothel where his men lay dead, but she couldn't disobey him either. Squeezing her eyes closed, she pressed her lips to his forehead and murmured something almost inaudible in his ear, before releasing him.
Glaring at her husband, she rose to her feet, giving him a wide berth as she made her way to her horse once more and mounted the snow white stallion.
From his place on the ground, Ned Stark watched his daughter reluctantly ride away with his enemy and felt his body shake with a whole new kind of pain. He had been wrong to trust Jaime Lannister with his daughter. He had let Robert persuade him that it would be the best thing for her, but seeing the misery in her eyes when she saw Jory dead and him wounded, he knew that he had made a grave mistake.
I will make things right, he vowed, and I will get you back.
A/N:
Hello beautiful people!
This chapter was indeed late again. I am terrible at updating on time, but the reason I give myself a date is to motivate myself to keep writing. My writing moods tend to flit between fandoms quite erratically but when I know I have to update this story by a certain time it pushes me to finish it. The reason this one was late was because when I went to update it on the 25th, I realised that I wasn't happy with it so I started rewriting several scenes and adding important ones that I hadn't included before. So, as I am now overall happy with how this chapter turned out, here it is!
We've got a flashback scene to little Caryssa and Sansa's birth! I wanted to include that because I didn't really get a chance to show Caryssa's relationship with Catelyn, so that flashback was born. Plus, it was pretty cute, right? Caryssa naming Sansa, being the first Stark to hold her? I liked it anyways. We got some Jaime/Caryssa fluff, probably the last for a while unfortunately, and then some worried!Caryssa searching for lost Arya. Then the last scene. Initially I was going to write the whole scene with Ned and Jaime, but my story is centered around Caryssa and I wanted her to stumble into the ends of their battle and influence its climax.
I hope you enjoyed it, no matter how late it was.
To combat my tardiness with the updating, I've decided that this story will be updated every three weeks instead. Two weeks for writing and a week for editing. I'll even try to make it two chapters every three weeks, emphasis on the try, to make up for the extra waiting time.
Anyway, on to the reviewers! Thank you to everyone who reviewed on the last chapter, you are all wonderful and I love you guys!
The reviewers who have my eternal love and gratitude are:
DarylDixon'sLover, NicoleR85, ropertfree72, MADStar529, Lucy Greenhill, babiluv22, HermioneandMarcus, Guest (1), A, BrokenCalibre, Lilo23, highwayblues1, Bella-swan11, Guest (2) and Allie.
Thank you for all your comments, both kind and constructive!
The next update will be on April 20th, three weeks from today. I know that three weeks is an annoying amount of time to wait, but it gives me more time to write something a lot better and gives me more time to edit it. Sometimes I rush through the editing or don't edit at all, which then annoys me when I read through it after I've posted it and find mistakes.
So April 20th, watch out for the update!
Thank you all for reading and I can't wait to hear your feedback!
SophStratt.