The feast was in full swing and all were enjoying it immensely, well those at the lower table were, some who were sat at the upper tables and the main upper table where the royal family were sat were not quite enjoying it as much as others were. There was some general grumbling but nothing that could be heard by the lord and lady of Winterfell and certainly not by the king who was already into his third goblet of wine.
At the table where mostly the children were sat with a few older people, Arya for once was sitting quietly while she ate her food next to Jon, her thoughts for the moment keeping her quieter than she would normally have been. She was glad that Jon had sat next to her, she still thought of him as her favourite brother even though now he was not and she had wondered since the announcement what that would mean for the close relationship that she had always had with him. She studied her cousin out of the corner of her eyes, watching him silently.
A loud banging on the main table had everyone turning their heads towards it and before them all stood the king, swaying just a little and people wondered for just a few seconds until everyone's attention were on Robert just what the king was going to blurt out this time, the last time, was the news about Jon, perhaps this time some thought, cruelly, he was going to say it had been just a jest and the boy he had claimed as his own, was in fact a bastard still.
"Lord Stark, Lady Stark and good people of Winterfell, I want to thank you all for your warm hospitality that has been shown to my family and those who travelled with us to the North and I am sure that many of you, even if you do not say it will be pleased when myself and the rest of my court return to King's Landing and the south."
The king paused for a moment to take another mouthful and listen to the rumbling of denials from those sat in the great hall. Only those of his party he noted did not deny his words and he saw Cersie's first born, sitting and sneering from his seat at the people of Winterfell and more importantly at his now eldest son, Jon, the king knew there was going to be problems there, the boy had been none too quiet about his views towards Jon who he still considered to be nothing more than Lord Starks bastard.
Robert was not stupid he heard about the words that Joffrey had spoken to others concerning Jon's parentage and also the comments he had made about Lyanna and the names he called her, along with that little kraken, who was Ned's ward.
He pursed his lips together as he considered what he was going to do to the two of them, at first he had considered leaving Theon's punishment to Ned, as was the right thing to do but the young fool had been heard calling Lyanna other names, and there was no way he was going to let the little kraken get away with that. He knew that the fight between Ned's son Rob had been over something the young kraken had said in insult towards his aunt and her son.
"Well soon you will all see the back of myself and my entourage as soon we will be returning South and I am sure that many of you will be pleased by that, and there will be others who will be returning to the South with us from the North. Amongst those returning to King's Landing with us will be Lord Stark who has agreed to become the new kings hand and my son Jon, who will take his rightful place amongst my family as my first born heir and as such, will become the crown prince of Westero and heir to the Iron throne."
His words were received with stunned silence by the people of Winterfell but not by certain members of the royal party, the queen and Joffrey being the loudest amongst them.
"WHAT?" Joffrey yelled, "YOU ARE PASSING ME OVER FOR YOUR WHORES BASTARD!"
The king turned in rage towards the Joffrey, his voice cold despite the rage he was shaking with, at the words that Joffrey had spoken, concerning his beloved Lyanna.
"You will remove yourself from this hall and consider the words you have used, and if I ever hear you referring to my first wife or son in this manner again, I will have your head removed from your body."
The inhabitants of the hall were confounded they had thought the king would erupt into an even greater rage than he had, in fact they were shocked that he had not.
The queen stood up and got into the kings face, screaming at him and before them all, he raised his fist and hit her, knocking her backwards in her chair, the sound of his fist reverberating around the room. For a moment not a sound was heard apart, from the queens heavy breathing and hiccuping, as she tried to control her tears but then Ned got up from his chair and stepped forward.
"My liege enough, there is no need for this violence, especially while there are children present."
The king nodded at Ned's words, a little taken back that he had allowed his rage to overtake him, not that he cared one writ for his useless wife, nor that blonde haired bastard that she had borne him, he had suspicions that Joffrey was not even his anyway, and hoped that was one of the things that Ned as his new hand would find out. If any of the children that the Lannister bitch had borne were his or the bastard get, of someone else and he had his suspicions about that too.
Glancing over at the queen who was now being helped from the main hall by one of the kingsguard, her own brother, no less. He glared at the two of them, as Jaimie helped his sister and lover from the room, he was angry that the king had struck his sister but for the moment there was nothing he could do about it.
The king knew most took him for a fool but he was not as stupid as people thought, he just let them think it. Especially the two Lannisters who were presently making their way from the hall, two Lannisters who would soon discover that the king was not what they and everyone else thought him to be, something they would pay dearly for, for deceiving him.
A/N: So what will be the result of this night? This was suppose to be part of the previous chapter but it ended up not being that way. There will be more Stark/Jon interaction in the next chapter this time between Arya, Rob and Jon.