CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE – Family, Duty, Honor
"I sustain myself with the love of family."
Maya Angelou
"Have you heard anything from Theon?"
The King and his sister sat at his table, in his tent, having given the guards outside strict instructions that they were not to be disturbed, unless it was absolutely important. 'Life or death,' were Robb's words, and Caryssa appreciated it.
She hardly got to just be with her brother anymore. He was always at his war councils or in the healer's tent, lending the maester a helping hand.
She knew what he was really doing in the healer's tent, but he'd never admit it.
"No, but that doesn't mean anything bad has happened."
Caryssa rolled her eyes at her brother, at his naivety.
To Robb, it was inconceivable that his best friend, his brother, would fail him or betray him, but to Caryssa, she always expected the worst from Theon.
'Hope for the best, but prepare for the worst,' is what Maester Luwin would say, but the she-wolf knew Theon better than that. He was a scoundrel with few morals, and Caryssa had never been proven wrong about her opinion of him.
She doubted he would prove her wrong in this instance.
After all, if he'd had good news about the ships, he would have written Robb back by now. He would have sailed Balon Greyjoy's ships to the Riverlands, but there was no word of him anywhere.
"No word isn't usually a good sign, but you're the King, you can't be wrong, can you?" She teased him, and her brother chuckled, but his heart didn't seem in it. For the hour that they had spent together, he had been distracted and quiet. It was unusual for him. "What's wrong?"
"What? Nothing's wrong. Everything is going well in the war."
"So, it's a woman then. Can't be your future wife as you've not met her, so…the Lady Talisa?" Robb averted his eyes, and Caryssa sighed. "It's just like you to fall in love after you've promised yourself to another."
"I'm not-"
"Don't bother lying, Robb. It's written all over you. You've been this way since you were small. You've always wanted what you can't have," Robb shook his head at her, but, as his eldest sister and longest advisor, the princess pressed him. "Walder Frey is not a man to cross, Robb. I want you to be happy, I do, but you're not just any man anymore. You're a King, the leader of this war, you have an example to set and obligations to keep-"
Robb burst out of his chair, ignoring the way his sister's eyes widened and her hands clenched into fists, and began to pace the length of his tent.
"You think I don't know that? I do. I know I swore an oath, but…I wish there was some other way to fulfil that oath."
Caryssa rose to her feet, and grabbed Robb by the arm to stop him moving, and just pulled him into her arms.
She held him and waited, waited for his arms to wind around her waist, for his head to slump into her shoulder, for the tension to ebb out of his body. Lifting one hand, she raised it to his hair and stroked her fingers through the auburn curls that she'd been jealous of when she was a girl.
With auburn locks like her mother's and the curls of the Stark's, Robb was a perfect combination of Tully and Stark. He and Sansa were so bright and beautiful, it had made Caryssa feel almost bland in comparison. It wasn't until she grew older that she could appreciate her own looks, and realise that she was beautiful too in her own way.
Once she felt his body relax, she nudged him back slightly to take his face into her hands.
"If there were some way for you to have the wife you want, and to keep your oath and honor, I would urge you to take it. But you and I both know that there is no way for you to spurn your Frey bride without jeopardising this war," Caryssa insisted, "I know this is difficult-"
"How do you know? Have you ever loved someone that you couldn't have?" Robb questioned, jerking out of his sister's hold, turning his back to her.
"Yes. I did," Robb softened, almost instantly, once he glanced over his shoulder to see his sister, her face sorrowful. "Jory. We loved each other, but we both decided that we had to do our duties to House Stark. I married the man Father chose for me, and Jory watched and did nothing, because it was the right thing to do."
"You don't regret not fighting for each other?"
"Sometimes. I regret that he never got the chance to find himself a wife, that he never got to know love again. I regret that it was my husband that killed him, but, even after everything he's done, everything he's put me through, I don't think my marriage was a mistake," Caryssa admitted, hoping her brother wouldn't think less of her.
Jaime was a scoundrel and a wretch. He fucked his sister and was the father of her three children. He was a kingslayer and an oathbreaker.
But he was her husband; he was the man who once made her laugh, the man with whom she'd shared a thousand kisses and more besides, the man who loved her for who she was and encouraged her to be who she was and to give no apologies for it. He was the father of her child and the love of her life.
This was her chance to tell her brother, tell him that she carried Jaime Lannister's child, and that she didn't want to be ashamed of it any longer.
She opened her mouth to say the words.
"Robb-"
Roose Bolton burst into the tent, with their mother and the Lady Brienne following.
"Your Grace, more news from Winterfell."
Robb and Caryssa exchanged a worried glance.
They weren't to be interrupted, unless it was important. Life or death.
"What is it?"
"The Ironborn have taken Winterfell. Theon Greyjoy leads them."
Robb snatched the letter from the older man, and scanned it quickly, as though searching for a lie.
"This cannot be true."
"We've had ravens from White Harbour, Barrowton and the Dreadfort. I am afraid it is true." Lord Bolton said.
"Why? Why would Theon-"
"Because the Greyjoys are treasonous whores."
"I don't care about why he did it, what of my brothers? Bran and Rickon?" Caryssa demanded.
Winterfell was their home, and it could be retaken. Her brothers were more important in her eyes, far more important than stone and mortar.
"We've heard nothing of them, but Rodrik Cassel is dead."
"I told you never trust a Greyjoy!" Catelyn snapped, towards Robb, though she did not look at him. She was seething, Caryssa could tell, and full of worry for the boys.
"That's not helping, Mother." Caryssa scolded, though she was just as frightened for her brothers.
Bran and Rickon were just children, vulnerable and defenceless.
Who would protect them now that Rodrik was dead?
They were half a world away, fighting a war that seemed to have no end, and it would take weeks to make it back to Winterfell with their current host.
"I need to go north."
Robb moved to leave the tent, as though he were about to go and order his entire army to turn around and march back to Winterfell, but Roose Bolton stepped in his path.
"There's still a war to fight, Your Grace."
"How can I call myself King if I can't hold my own castle? How can I ask men to follow me if I can't-"
"You are a king, and that means you don't have to do everything yourself."
"He's right, Robb," Caryssa knew that she could not let Robb forsake their cause in the Westerlands. They had to beat Tywin Lannister, "Let mother and I go and talk to Theon. Perhaps we can persuade him to see reason."
"There will be no talking, he will die for this."
"Theon holds the castle with a skeleton crew," Lord Bolton explained, "Let me send word to my bastard at the Dreadfort. He can raise a few hundred men and retake Winterfell before the new moon. We have the Lannisters on the run. If you march all the way back north now, you'll lose what you gained. My boy would be honoured to bring you Prince Theon's head."
"Is that what he's calling himself? Prince Theon?" Caryssa scoffed. She wished she could face Theon herself, and kill him for the pain he caused Robb, for taking her home and putting her brothers' lives at risk. First, though, she'd punch him for having the gall to call himself the prince of anything. Prince of whores, maybe.
Robb stared into Roose Bolton's eyes, and nodded once.
"Tell your son Bran and Rickon's safety is paramount. And Theon, I want him brought to me alive. I want to look him in the eye and ask him why, and then I'll take his head myself."
Robb had gone to the Crag, and with the supplies in the Maester tent all but gone, Caryssa had little else to do but wander the camp and the surrounding woods.
She would spend her mornings helping serve the men their rations, asking each one their name and thanking them for their service. She tried her best to remember them, often repeating their names over in her head.
The Frey men were harder to recognise, all of them looking vaguely familiar to the others. The Boltons were easier; they were loud and boisterous and crude. She so often felt the urge to beat them, and that's how she remembered them. 'That one whispered to his friend about my breasts, his name was Kleon,' and 'That one, Pym, he was the one who tried to smack my behind before he realised who I was.'
In the afternoons, she would spend time with her mother, often doing needlepoint or stitching holes in Robb's tunics.
Dacey had gone with Robb, so there was no more sword training. Not that Dacey would train her anymore, not after discovering her secret.
Mother and daughter sat together. Caryssa was trying to sew a direwolf's head onto a handkerchief, but she had gotten rusty since the war had begun, and Catelyn was going through the list of supplies.
The two women were keeping themselves busy, while the men hunted.
Jaime had escaped sometime in the night, killing his own cousin and Lord Karstark's last remaining son.
Lord Karstark was braying for blood, and his men were begging to give it to him.
So, Caryssa sat and she stitched, praying that it was Stark men that found her husband first.
"Lady Stark, Princess."
Brienne stopped the man from entering, but Caryssa looked at him, and brightened when she noticed it was Artos, one of her own guardsmen.
"No farther."
"Keep your hands off me, woman." He snarled at her mother's sword shield.
"Don't enter without an invitation, man." Brienne snapped back, and then Artos realised his error.
"Forgive me. Princess…they've caught the Kingslayer. You said to come get you once he'd been found."
Caryssa all but threw down her needlepoint, and gathered her skirts in her hands, following the man through the mud.
Her mother would follow, but Caryssa had to make sure that no real damage was done to Jaime, so she moved as fast as she could with Artos giving her a helping hand through the angry mob.
They pushed through to the front of the crowd, to find Lord Karstark and his men standing off against Errold and Beron, two of Dacey's men that made up her guard. The others had gone with Dacey and Robb, but the men left behind with Caryssa were loyal to her and her alone.
Her men had their swords drawn against Karstark and his men, all of whom were armed, and were standing in front of her husband, who was on his knees and back in chains.
"Any man who stands between a father and his vengeance asks for death!"
"Well, I am no man, Lord Karstark. Will you kill me for standing between you and our prisoner?" Caryssa questioned, stepping out in front of Jaime, in case her words were not clear enough.
"This monster killed my son."
"He will answer for his crimes, I promise you, but not here, and not like this." Catelyn interjected, having finally arrived to the altercation.
"I will have his head, and if either of you try to stop me-"
"You will strike me down? Strike down my daughter? Have you forgotten me, ser? I am the wife of your liege lord, Eddard Stark! I am the mother of your King!"
"And where is our king now?"
"You know very well! He has gone to the Crag to accept their surrender."
"Aye, gone to the Crag, but not to negotiate," Lord Karstark said, "He brought that foreign bitch with him."
"How dare you!"
Brienne lifted her sword from its sheath, holding it threateningly from where she stood behind Catelyn.
"Threatening my Lady is an act of treason!"
"Treason? How can it be treason to kill Lannisters?"
Caryssa took another step to shield Jaime.
"I understand your grief, my Lord, but vengeance is not the answer. In the name of my brother, the King in the North, stand down."
"You understand my grief? You're his whore-"
"Watch yer tongue, ser, and remember who yer're talkin' to," Errold Snow snapped, moving closer to his charge, reminding the lord that the princess was well guarded. "Princess Caryssa is no 'ore. She's a good and just woman, far better than her sorry husband deserves, and I won't 'ear another word against 'er."
Murmurs of agreement sprinkled through the crowd around them. The men in the camp loved their princess, and this lord had impugned her honour.
"When your brother returns, I will demand his murderer's head."
"Wise men do not make demands of kings." Catelyn warned, but Lord Karstark would hear no warnings.
He was a man full of grief, stricken mad with it, and he cared for nothing else, but avenging his sons.
"Fathers who loved their sons do. I will have his head."
The lord and his men turned, giving the prisoner one last glare, and departed, leaving Caryssa struggling to remain composed.
She turned to look at her husband, wondering why he looked surprised for a moment, before he hid it in his eyes, underneath the arrogance that swelled when he wanted to pretend that he was still the proud, golden lion that his father had tried to raise.
In truth, he was a wounded mongrel, covered in blood and muck, defeated.
He had lost, and still his sarcastic wit prevailed.
"Thank you for fighting on my behalf, Lady Stark. I would have come to your defense but-"
"Take him to the stockade. Bind him with every chain you can find!" Catelyn ordered, watching her daughter as she watched her husband hauled to his feet, and dragged away by six men.
"You've become a real she-wolf in your later years. I can see where my wife gets it from. There's not much fish left in you."
"And gag him!"
It was dark, and perhaps she should have turned back to the camp by now, but she was not afraid of anything in the woods. She had her bow and a quiver full of arrows on her back, and Rhaenyra at her side, so she had little to fear.
She hadn't wanted to be in camp when her husband lost his head, because she had little doubt that Lord Karstark would try again, before Robb returned at dawn. He had given his men ample to drink, to increase their ire.
Jaime wouldn't last the night. Not without Robb's protection.
It was clear that Lord Karstark did not respect her mother, or herself, and Robb had taken Lords Umber, Glover and Bolton with him, as well as Dacey, to help him negotiate the surrender of the Crag. There was no one left that would be able to persuade those men to stop.
She could stand in front of his cage, but then they'd both be dead.
Caryssa had to live.
She owed it to the child growing inside her to survive.
Truthfully, Caryssa was fearful of what would happen when the soldiers found out that she carried a lion cub in her belly, especially Jaime Lannister's cub. It worried her to think of what the Karstarks might do, as their lord was clearly not in his right mind.
He had already threatened her once. It was not fanciful to believe that he would make good on his words, and she would not be safe.
But where could she go?
Winterfell had been taken by the Greyjoys. She could return to Riverrun, but that was still too close to the war.
"Oh, Rhaenyra," The princess sighed, and softly petted the direwolf between her ears. Rhaenyra was growing larger and larger each day, and now her head was level with Caryssa's swollen belly. "At least I know that you'll always be with me."
The wolf whined, and bumped her head into her mistress' side, and Caryssa smiled weakly at her.
Suddenly, Rhaenyra's ears perked up, lips curled, teeth bared, and she stared into the treeline opposite them, snarling at whatever or whomever was coming.
Caryssa quickly pulled her bow from around her shoulders, withdrawing and nocking an arrow, knowing that it could only be a threat could be moving towards them.
Two figures burst through the trees, and the princess' eyes widened.
"Brienne? Jaime? What is going on?"
The prisoner, still in chains, and his captor exchanged a glance.
"She'll have to come with us now."
"We can't kidnap Lady Stark's daughter, when you swore an oath to return the other two to her."
"She's seen us-"
"You're going to King's Landing to free Sansa and Arya?" Caryssa questioned, looking between her husband and her mother's guard, replacing her arrow into her quiver. Brienne nodded, and the she-wolf returned it. "I don't understand."
"We don't have time for this, wench. Just grab my wife and let's get a move on!"
"Forgive me, my princess, but I swore my lady an oath. Come peacefully, or-" Brienne withdrew her sword, and pointed it towards the she-wolf. "I'll have to persuade you."
A/N:
What's this? Three updates in one year? Two updates in one month? What can I say? I've been feeling inspired!
So, what did you think of this chapter? A lot happened in this chapter. We found out Winterfell was taken (this was supposed to happen a couple chapters ago, but I forgot, whoops), Jaime escaped, Catelyn and Caryssa saved his butt, and now Brienne and Jaime are on the run, straight into Caryssa, who's just been kidnapped. Again.
Thank you to the people who've reviewed the last chapter. You guys are awesome!
A massive thank you to;
NicoleR85, alphafoxxy, BrittStar1199, ZabuzasGirl, Padfootette, Riddicks-gurl1988, Guest 1, HPuni101, BrookeWorm3 and Guest 2.
I have also chosen two previous reviewers to have minor characters written into my future Robb/OC! Forgive me if I didn't pick you, but I think I'll do it for future planned stories too, so keep your reviews coming! I love seeing familiar usernames sending reviews!
So, congratulations to Dreamhare and Sparky She-Demon! Please check your PM inboxes for my messages!
Anyway, thank you all again, I hope you enjoyed this chapter, guys!
Sophie!