Summary:

In which Joffrey makes a clandestine visit to Sansa at night, Cat hears what happened to her daughter and the Starks try and get evidence against the Crown Prince. But no one reckoned on Robert's reaction to Sansa's secret.

Let's just say he doesn't take it too well...

Warnings for offensive language, prolonged threat of violence, violence towards women and lashings of melodrama and scandal. Earning that 'Bodice-Ripper' tag in earnest now!

Notes:

I have left you guys waiting for an unforgivable amount of time, mostly because I have managed to lose this blasted chapter a total of THREE times! Also I have kind of been trying to balance updating quite a few fics and it takes me quite a long time to get a chapter written to standard, so I hope you are still following this little tale and thank you if you are.

I think I had better reiterate the warning this is not going have a HEA by any means and you probably won't like Robert all that much after this chapter


Jeyne

Jeyne headed towards the Lord's chamber, hurriedly breaking into a run, hoping that she would be able to reach Lord Ned and Lady Catelyn in time. They had to hear of what the Queen and her son were planning for the Starks, and for Sansa in particular.

"Lord Stark?" she called, knocking on the door and gasping for breath, having run the length of the castle. "I have urgent news for you!"

Ned opened the door and peered out at the young handmaiden. "Jeyne, what is it?" he asked with a cautious look left and right. Satisfied that they were unobserved by any of the royal party, he let her in speak to him and his lady wife, aware that he had already ordered her to report to him if the situation got worse. Evidently it had.

"Should we get dressed for this?" Cat asked behind him with an anxious expression, draped in furs as she came to the door to find out what their handmaiden wanted so late at night, as if was most unlike her to disturb them once they had retired for the night, and Jeyne had been assigned to concentrate on serving Sansa.

"It's important, m'lady and m'lord. I would not disturb you, 'twas not so." Jeyne pleaded.

"Jeyne? What is this?" Cat asked, "All this sounds most alarming?"

Jeyne was starting to gabble, she was in such a hurry to inform Lord Stark. "M'lord, you told me to inform you immediately if anything else happened, only-"

"Come in before the fire, and start from the beginning." Ned told her, appreciating her loyalty to Sansa's cause, little liking what new thing Jeyne could bring to them in their trouble.

"After our conversation about the seal, you told me to let you know if anything else happens." Jeyne said, nodding eagerly as she told Lady Catelyn and Lord Stark her tale, "Well, I was attending the royal chambers, making sure that everything was presentable when I heard the prince and his mother talking."

"You listened in to their conversation?" Cat asked.

"'Tis just as well she did. There is more to this, we must talk on it later." Ned grasped her hand in a gesture Cat knew was seeking support from her. She gave him a quick worried look as if to ask him what new thing they were up against, but his face was grim. She decided not to press him here, sensing his preoccupation but she would have to know the truth. This news was not something he could keep from his wife.

"They were saying that Sansa was refusing to be his wife or his doxy-"

"His doxy?" Cat interrupted in horror at Joffrey's crassness. As if they would give their daughter, however disgraced, to Joffrey as a mistress?

"That's what the prince said!" Jeyne said earnestly. "-And then the queen told him that he should take extreme measures and remove her resistance."

"-remove her resistance?" Cat echoed.

"If she were caught with Joffrey, we wouldn't be able to object any more." Jeyne told them simply.

"He's going to try and get into Lady Sansa's chamber!" Cat exclaimed, realising the depth of Joffrey's plot against her daughter. No wonder she had publicly refused his offer to her at the trial.

"Aye m'lady, they seem most determined to do it!"

Ned frowned, thinking of how they were going to fight back against such a nefarious plot against his House. "We'll keep a watch, outside and intercept him. This cannot and must not happen."

Cat backed him up without question. "As far Jeyne and I are concerned, I think we should stay with Sansa and see what he has to say to her."

"'Tis risky," Ned brooded.

"She doesn't seem to want him anywhere near her." Cat pondered. "She refuses his new offer to her outright, even though it would have salvaged her reputation by all accounts."

Ned exhaled harshly as he answered her, she could see the tenseness in his jaw and how radically he had changed his viewpoint against the Prince's suit. "I'm not surprised."

"Why do you say that?" Cat was starting to get very worried about this. Ned obviously wanted to break some news to her, when Jeyne was away and she dreaded to think what new thing he had to break to her. Whatever it was, it seemed to be enough to change Ned's attitude to Joffrey almost overnight.

"Do you think he would try it tonight, Jeyne. How much time do we have to come up with a counter-plan?" Ned asked her.

"He sounded as if he were very much in favour of her plot, but then again they have just come up with it. I just don't know for sure, m'lord."

Ned made a decision, they just could not risk having Sansa unguarded in the face of such a threat. "Jeyne, go and summon Lord Robb please. Ask him to come here to our solar as swift as may be."

"Aye, m'lord!" Jeyne dashed off again, swift and neat as ever.


As soon as Jeyne departed on her new errand, Cat steeled her self to talk to her husband. Something had happened, something horrendous in connection to her daughter and her disgrace and she felt like she did not know all the details.

"Ned, is there something that you're neglecting to tell me?" she asked him. Cat knew by his hesitation to immediately unburden himself that it was bad, and he was trying his damnedest to shield her from the worst of it.

"Ned? Please tell me what is going on?" she pleaded with her husband, holding his hand in hers as she gazed at him with concern and love for this decent man in a position which no nobleman would envy. "Don't keep me in the dark."

Ned looked utterly burdened down by the stresses and strains of this entire situation. His shoulders slumped in defeat, worn down by the troubles he'd tried to shield her from. "Oh Cat-"

She wrapped her arms round him, giving him her silent support, no matter what became of their family, they were a unit. Her place was at his side, shouldering her fair share of his burden. How she wished she could lighten them for his sake.

"I am by your side through good and bad, you know that, don't you?"

"Joffrey... I have had reports that he tried to attack Sansa. One of our maids came to me in secret, afraid to admit the truth but feeling guilty. She saw what happened and brought me proof I cannot dismiss."

"What proof?" Cat questioned sharply.

Ned got up and opened the chest at the bottom of their bed. Cat recognised one of Sansa's dresses in madder-red wool that she knew her daughter had not worn for a while.

"See where it is ripped, Cat? Joffrey did that. He attacked our girl!"

"He tried to-" Cat reeled in shock, hearing the grief and anger in Ned's voice.

"I fear very much that I have made a error of judgement and I don't know if there is anything we can do to put it right." Ned said wearily. "We should never have accepted the king's proposal for our girl. And now I have made everything worse by inviting the royal family back here and allowing them to try Theon."

"He's not going to get a fair trial, is he?" Cat laid her head on his shoulder.

Ned shook his head. "No, Cat, he's not, and now we have given them power over us, such terrible power. We are all in danger now."


"I can't believe that he's got the gall to be doing this." Robb shook his head. The moment his parent had told him why the needed to follow the prince as soon as he left his chambers at night and follow him wherever he went, he knew that something was going on. Ever since the royal family had returned to Winterfell, and the trial of his old friend Theon had started his father had evidently had a change of heart.

"Joffrey thinks he can get away with this. To insult our House!"

"Surely he must know this is unacceptable. Attempting to reach her room?"

Ned suspected that Joffrey didn't know at all, for all his years he'd been allowed to act as he pleased. Since he had never been told it was wrong he thought that his behaviour was perfectly acceptable.

"First, we must find out what he wants to say to Sansa. So for the moment we follow discreetly without him realising we know what he is up to."

Robb was surprised by his father's chosen tactic. "We are going to let him get to his destination, Father?"

Ned's jaw tensed as if he didn't much like the thought, but he knew his duty and had to see it through. "We have to catch him in the act so we cannot accost him just yet. We shall have to catch him on the way back, and then we can confront him with the evidence."

"But what about?" Rob's voice trailed away, not willing to countenance Joffrey attacking his sister for the second time.

"Sansa is accompanied by your mother and Jeyne. He won't get past that tonight."


Sansa

Sansa was getting ready for bed, Cat, Septa Mordane and her handmaiden waiting in her room. She had been warned that Joffrey was planning a night visit, and so she was ready for the eventuality. She couldn't believe that he would dare to do something so underhand and shameful. But Jeyne and Cat seemed quite convinced that he was going to try it.

"Come on Sansa, open the door, just for a little?" she heard Joffrey's voice wheedling her, and looked at her mother in alarm. Would she think that she had encouraged this outrageous abuse of their hospitality. The septa's face was a mask of sheer disapproval as she heard a man lingering outside her charge's door.

Cat nodded, her face grim as if she had expected him to appear. "Just as I thought!" she mouthed, getting the septa's attention and urging her to be silent and observe, let Sansa do the talking. "I knew he couldn't resist coming here after that!"

How could he have done this? Did he have no notion of how to behave? Sansa and her mother looked at each other, astonished that he would be so reckless.

As soon as she heard the voice through her door Sansa froze in horror. Cat and Jeyne could see that she was trembling at the awful leering tone of his voice through the crack in the door.

"Answer him, Sansa. Ask him what the hell he is doing here?" Septa Mordane whispered, "-he must think that you are alone, but do not open to him. Speak to him through the door."

"Your Grace, you should not be here! What are you doing, my lord?" she stammered, sounding genuinely shocked and scared by his recklessness. Did he care nothing for her reputation which was low enough as it was?

"But I came specially to see you!" he protested, shaking and wrenching the handle as if he was trying to force his way into the room. "Why won't you open up? I just want to talk to you for a bit away from my parents, in private."

"You can't be here, your Grace. Please go back to your chamber, and we'll forget that you came here." She pleaded that he would come to his senses and not shame her like this.

"You don't want to talk to me? Your betrothed?" Joffrey's voice rose in demand. "You owe me that, at least!"

"We have nothing to say to each other."

There was a thump against the door, as if he pushed against it. Sansa prayed that the bolt would hold. "What?" he hissed.

"I'm sorry for everything, my lord, but I should never have accepted your suit. It was unfair of me to do so."

"You accepted my suit! You agreed to marry me and be my queen!"

She bowed her head in remorse, genuinely sorry to have hurt him. "I'm sorry. I should never have done it, for my hand and heart were not mine to give."

"You keep saying that. Are you mad? You could be a princess, queen when I inherit and you're going to refuse that? I told them all I would take you back, even though you have shamed yourself with that peasant Theon."

"The price is too high, ser," Sansa told him, "I cannot."

"Why?" Joffrey was utterly baffled by her steadfast refusals. The thought that he would not instantly get his own way was a difficult concept for him.

"I am married to him now, as I said the first day of the trial. I could not marry you now, not even if I wanted, which I do not."

"You ungrateful cunt!" He hissed, through his teeth. "Most women would be ashamed of the way you've treated me!"

The women looked at each other, shocked at the vile name he had called Sansa. Jeyne held her hand over her gaping mouth, eyes wide.

Joffrey was still ranting at Sansa, fuming at his lack of success. "You run off with a man no better than a pirate and a thief, spreading your legs for him, I have no doubt. You cock-teasing whore! No wonder he leapt to your defence!"

"My lord, you have no right to say such things!"

He was not even listening to her at this point. "I give you a chance to redeem yourself even thought you deserve it not, and you still flout me and refuse my hand."

"You know why I would not." She replied, stung by his insults. "I have not forgotten that day in the stables, and I never will." Once he had not gotten his own way, the petulant spoilt side to his personality was coming out for all to see, Joffrey hated to be denied. "You hurt me!"

"Oh for Seven Hell's sake, are ye still stewing about that? Alright, I was a little bit rough with you, but you must know that I was frustrated that you barely paid me any attention, even though we had honoured you with my hand." Joffrey snapped, frustrated and annoyed that Sansa would not bend despite his cajoling.

"You ripped my dress and struck me!" she protested. "How could you think that I would ever meekly accept you after that? No ser, you should never have come here."

"I'll be back and next time you'd better have your door ready to welcome me." Joffrey hissed, poison and malice seeping through the door like poisoned fumes. "Else that brother of yours, Bran, isn't that his name? he might just have an accident, mightn't he?"

"An accident?"

"Keep him talking if you can!" mouthed Cat silently next to her but Joffrey sounded as if he were finally moving away, having given her his ultimatum.

"Remember what I have said, my lady! Tomorrow night, your door open to me at this time or I shall make trouble for your lover, don't doubt that I won't!"

It took all Cat's self-discipline not to say anything at that clear threat to her younger son, but she knew that they had to give the prince enough rope to hang himself metaphorically.

"Well, I never!" exclaimed Septa Mordane, shocked by the glimpse of the less pleasant side of the prince's personality. "Came here, as bold as you please, threatening and swearing. No wonder you were showing reluctance to marry him. I frankly am starting to see why!"

"What do we do now?" Sansa said worriedly.

Cat considered the situation she went to Sansa's desk and scribbled a note on a bit of parchment. "Jeyne take this and find Lord Stark and Lord Robb before they get to Joffrey. We have a change of plan."

"Aye, my lady!" the handmaiden bobbed a curtsey and scampered off, leaving Sansa alone with her mother and the Septa.

"Septa Mordane, do you mind if you give me a moment alone with my daughter?" Cat asked.

"Of course, my lady, I'll be right outside if you need me-" she told her mistress and exited the room, still shakking her head and chuntering over the events of the night so far.

"I never knew what he was truly like. No wonder you didn't want to marry him, Sansa." She said eventually after she had left.

Jeyne had already slipped out of the room scurrying down the servant's pathways to find Ned and report to him what they had heard, armed with a scrap of parchment with Cat's instructions on it.

"What do we do now? Joffrey is heading back to his chambers. He plans to return here tomorrow night, eager to get his own way." Cat sat on the bed, indicating for her daughter to join her.

"He threatened Bran. I can't believe he would do that. He's lost his mind, mother. Why would he come here and say such things?"

"What happened in the stable, Sansa?" her mother asked.

She went red and fidgeted, clearly unwilling to talk, but Cat knew that something had happened.

"Something did happen, didn't it?" she urged her daughter with a sympathetic gentleness that humbled the younger woman.

"He attacked me, in the stable. I didn't mean to get caught with him. He deceived me into following him here, and then we were alone and he wouldn't let me go."

"He kept pressing me, and saying terrible things to me when I refused. He struck me across the face. There was a struggle and he ripped my dress."

"Is it true? He dared lay hands on you? Gods, why did you never say something of what he was capable of?"

"I tried, but I couldn't say it. I was ashamed and scared, so scared! Theon saved me, when he burst in and hit him, I was so thankful, so grateful. I knew he loved me and he wouldn't let any harm come to me."

"Did you really care for one another?" Cat asked her.

Sansa bit her lip, looking at her mother, willing her to understand why she had acted as she had, her eyes brimming over at the thought of her absent husband. "Aye, mother. I am sorry to disappoint you, Mother, as I know you never thought much of him, but I loved him, for a long time. I asked him to ask Father for my hand and he was refused. Everything was so hopeless and when Joffrey offered for my hand, Theon was so unhappy, we both were, for we knew it was all over, but we couldn't let go."

Cat was silent, acknowledging the bitter truth that she had known for a long time but not wanted to. No matter what she and Septa Mordane had done to discourage this unsuitable relationship they had never been able to break their infatuation with each other. Perhaps they really did love each other, after all.

"I tried to do my duty to the family and accept Joffrey and forget my love, but after Joffrey did that, I just couldn't do it." Sansa admitted, baring her soul. "I've failed everyone, failed my House and yet I... Theon and I all we ever wanted was each other, and now I carry his heir under my heart. How can I let that go?"

Cat shook her head, her hand lay on her daughter's shoulder giving her a quiet and tangible support. "I never pressed you that day, when you said you didn't want to marry him. I thought it was just nerves, or an infatuation with Theon you would not let go."

"I begged him to take me away from here. To marry me, so we could never be parted again. We tried to get to the Isles where we would have been safe, but we ran out of money and no matter how hard we worked to get enough, we couldn't persuade anyone to take us for less than forty silver stags."

"I have failed you, Sansa." Cat said heavily.

"No, mother-" Sansa started to say, but Cat was not to be deflected.

"You should have been able to confide in us-to trust that we, your family, would be able to protect from the likes of Joffrey, and yet you could not. You had to resort to Theon instead. Was he good to you?"

Sansa nodded. "He would have done anything for me."


Cat, Ned and Robb gathered in Sansa's chamber for a hushed family conference. Everything had changed since they realised there was far more to their situation than had previously been thought.

"What do you plan to do, Mother?" Robb asked. "We can't allow this to go any further, can we?"

Cat had been thinking hard since she witnessed Joffrey's visit and talked to her daughter. "It will require people to guard Sansa from harm, but I think that Joffrey should keep his appointment tomorrow night."

"You do?" Ned said in surprise.

"Jeyne and I will be here and maybe Lady Asha could also lend us her aid and her axe. I think 'tis only fair that she should hear what is going on. We need as many allies as we can find." Cat suggested. "I'll admit I was worried when they turned up, but she might be able to help us if we approach her rightly."

"'Tis a great risk, but we need enough evidence to incriminate Joffrey from his own mouth." Ned agreed. "Very well, we shall do as your mother suggests. We must fight this plot with everything we have."

The next evening

Sansa, Cat and Asha stayed awake waiting for Joffrey to approach. Asha stood guard at the door.

"I warned you what I would do, if you did not leave you door open, Sansa. I take it you care nothing for your little brother Bran, then?" Joffrey sneered through the door.

"My parents will keep a guard on him. I won't allow you to harm him."

"You never know where and how I'm going to strike." He smirked. "A knife in the dark, a fall from a tower-he likes to climb, doesn't he? A drop of something in a drink. You can't keep him safe forever."

"What do you want from me. You can't want me as your queen, not after this."

Jofrey was not bothered by her protest. "You would be my very special 'friend'," he insinuated with a smirk that she could practically sense through the door. Sansa's skin crawled at the way he said that.

"I don't know what you mean by that."

"Don't you, Sansa the not so innocent any more? You would come to King's Landing be a part of our court, you would come to me whenever I ordered, and you'd do everything I bid-" his voice trailed away lasciviously.

"You want me as some sort of mistress?" she said, appalled by his arrogance and disrespect.

"I always thought you were a smart lass. So have we a deal?" Joffrey gloated, greed and lust apparent in his voice. "I always desired you from the moment I saw you."

"Never, you insult me by even suggesting it." Sansa retorted. "Now please leave me alone, Joffrey!"

The queen appeared, sweeping into the corridor like she owned it, followed by her husband. This was the last thing the Starks had wanted.

"I was under the impression that there was some kind of nocturnal disturbance here so I decided to investigate."

"Did you know your son was coming here?" Cat fired back. She would very much like to know exactly how much the queen knew. Had she put Joffrey up to this?

"Yes, I did as it seem it was just as well, as he seems to have uncovered your little intrigue It was amazing how the Queen was going to brazen out the fact that her son was found attempting to enter a maid's room without her consent, making lurid threats against her and her family.

"Our little intrigue?" Cat said in amazement.

"What are you hiding? Have this door opened! Why is Lady Stark hiding like a criminal?" Cersei demanded, keen to cause trouble. "They are up to something, I'm sure of it! Why can't they produce their daughter?"

"Aye, I shall deal with this. Joffrey, go to bed." Robert's face was set in a stern mask.

The Prince protested, resenting being sent away by his father. "But-"

"GO!" Robert bellowed, his blue eyes blazing.

Joffrey scurried away, not needing to be told twice.

Robert's face was red with fury. He advanced on Sansa who stood cowering by her bed-hangings, trying vainly to shield her swelling stomach. She looked absolutely terrified by the sight of the king approaching her which was not surprising; Robert with the bloodlust on his face was a sight to terrify hardened warriors let alone one lone young female at her most vulnerable.

"What the hell is this?" he said in a low dangerous voice, that Ned knew well. He moved into position, not entirely sure that Sansa would be safe. "Now, Robert, please let's not do anything hasty-"

"Fuck me, you're up the duff, ain't yer?" the king exclaimed as he pulled the bedrobe open and stared at Sansa's ripened belly which she had tried to keep shielded.

Sansa was frozen in terror. She tried to speak, but no words came out.

"I should strip you of your titles and exile the lot of you!" he raged, teeth bared as he pointed at the evidence of her swollen belly. "Stark, did you really think you could hide this? Your daughter is ripe with a kraken in her belly and you thought you could conceal this?"

"Your Grace, this is a crisis I never thought to be in, but no deception was meant. We merely confined Sansa in punishment, as Theon is currently in custody in our cells." Ned tried to persuade his old friend, but Robert did not seem as if he were listening to his explanations.

"No wonder you insisted you were wed to that no good wencher Theon. How long have you been hiding this? Lying to your king?" Cersei interjected with more than a hint of triumph.

"We are wed." Sansa insisted. "He put his cloak round me, we took vows, I cannot break them!"

The Queen seemed unimpressed by her statement

"Wake up your useless maester and feed her some tansy right in front of us here. I'll have no refusals. This disgraceful mess has gone on long enough!" sneered Cersei."She should be in the dock side by side with her lover."

Sansa stood up to her, stung beyond endurance. "Then try me, and I will stand by his side proudly!"

A wicked gleam sparked in Cersei's green eyes, as if she would love nothing better. "Is that so?"

"I am wed to Theon in the sight of the Gods by a septon of the Faith, your Grace, I have done nothing wrong." She declared, speaking clearly, " -I carry his heir, and I will not get rid of our child which was conceived in wedlock and in love."

Sansa's brave words as she stood her ground merely served to infuriate Robert's temper, inflamed to unreasonable heights.

"You bloody stupid little bitch!" he snarled, he raised his fist and advanced on her, his face twisted in rage. Before anyone could stop him, he struck her across the face, making her fall onto the bed, stunned that he could have lost his composure so badly.

No one could believe that Robert would have resorted to violence so readily. For a moment they were so shocked that they seemed frozen. There was no sound except for Sansa who had burst into frightened sobs, clutching her inflamed and swollen cheek.

"Your Grace!" she sobbed.

It took Ned and Renly hauling on his massive arms with all their strength to stop him from raising a hand to her again.

"Let me at her!" Robert growled, teeth set in a fearsome grimace. "Defy me, would you?"

"Robert, you can't do this!" Ned urged. "Whatever sins she has committed, she is my lass. Please don't do this! You can't! How could you have struck my girl?"

Robert turned on him, raging. Ned honestly thought that he would hit him next, Robert was in a fearsome and indiscriminately lashing out. "Can't I? She is lucky I only hit her once!"

"She is with child! You can't strike a woman who is expecting!" Renly hissed, trying to get through to Robert, tussling with him. "Gods, what is wrong with you? And you wonder why she wanted nothing to do with your son?"

"Since when did that ever stop him?" Cersei said from the doorway, a bitter smile on her voice. She looked if she were enjoying herself immensely. "His Grace is well-known for getting handsy with those who cannot defend themselves."

Robert flashed her a look of utter hatred. "And you can hush your mouth, you poisonous wench!" he snarled.

Cersei just gave him a smirk of triumph, enjoying scoring a point over him.

"Think how this looks to the world, you losing your temper and hitting a woman. Is that how you want to be remembered? As a brute and a bully?" Renly urged, his muscles straining against Robert's weight.

"I don't give a damn. The scheming witch has made a fool of us all. Another wanton bitch that knows not her duty." Robert snarled.

Cat and Asha blocked his path. Swift as a flash, Asha withdrew one of her throwing axes from her tunic and passed it from hand to hand.

"Your Grace, I cannot allow you to raise a hand to my child." Cat stood before Robert, her chin up, defying him to make another attempt at violence.

Asha's mouth stretched into a grim defiant smile, literally challenging Robert to raise his hand once more. "May I remind you that if any harm comes to Lady Sansa, as mother of Theon's child and our heir, that you will regret it? Striking a pregnant woman, it must make you feel like such a big man! Such a strong proud warrior!"

"Is that a weapon you have in your king's presence?" Cersei demanded.

Asha did not back down one bit, eyeing the Queen with dislike and scorn.

"I must say, Lady Catelyn, that your discipline of your daughter seems very lax! I am assured that my Myrcella would never dream of acting in such a shameless fashion." Cersei retorted.

"Good-sister, enough. You are not improving the situation at all." Renly remonstrated, trying and failing to keep the peace. "Lady Asha, please, we do not need weapons here!"

Asha did not lower her weapon. Her smile to Renly was tight and menacing, though her words were polite. "On the contrary, I think we certainly do! But at least one of you has the decency to make peace here. Lord Renly I must thank for having the honesty to deal with us- oh, should I not have said anything?"

Cersei's lip curled. "I might have known you would leap to the girl's defence." She said poisonously, eyeing him with sheer dislike. "What did she do? Start making eyes at you as well? I suppose you went out of your way to inform the Greyjoys, didn't you? How swiftly you turn against your own House!"

Robert was astounded at the news that his own younger brother had gone over to the other side and was actually aiding the guilty couple. "You've been working against us?"

Robert, be sensible! All I want is justice to be done."

"Oh yes, you're al about Justice aren't you?" sneered Cersei.

"Robert, come, is this necessary?" Renly tried to calm the situation, ignoring his good-sister's snide comments. "The girl is distressed as it is. Let us all go to bed and consider this when we are all rested. There is no need for any more unpleasantness."

"You are meant to be on my side? Or does loyalty mean nothing to you?" Robert gritted out.

"Brother...Rob, please back down. I have no wish to be hacked to death in my bed. Lady Asha means what she says, and in truth you must see we are in the wrong. Joffrey should not have come here to threaten the lady tonight."

Renly was at last getting through to the king, though he glared at the sobbing Sansa and his jaw was stubbornly set, he started to back away.

"I should throw her into jail with her lover. Send her away to a septry for the rest of her life, or maybe the Silent Sisters? Cersei made sure to get her viewpoint across. "It amazes me how this girl has no shame for how she has dragged down her house!"