Lyanna moved silently though the halls of Winterfell castle until she reached her room, slinking in though the door as silent as a mouse without anyone being the wiser. However the small smile her victory had brought onto her lips fell quickly as she caught sight of the man seated on her bed.
"You were gone all night." It was a statement without any particular tone or inclination, and his face was as stony as the great wall. She could not have guessed his thoughts even if she had spent every second of every day of her life by his side.
"Father." She said instead, trying for the same emotionless mask. She failed miserably, but it brought a smile to his lips as he gestured for her to take a seat next to him on the bed. She did as bid.
"Did you bring your dagger?" She nodded. "Good. Never leave without it."
"Are you here to tell me of Sansa's marriage, the king's offer to make you his hand, or maybe my own pending marriage?" She asked instead of giving her usual promise to always carry her dagger with her, and she could see the surprise on her father's face as she spoke.
"You know much more than most." He said, earning himself a nervous smile.
"I met Lord Tyrion on my way to the stables. I fear he had had a little to much wine and was in a sharing mood."
"Ah... I hear he is an intelligent man. What else did he tell you?"
"He said you knew better than to deny the King, and that I should too."
"Aye, Robert might be my brother of the heart, but he is a King and Kings tend to have violent tempers. But he will keep his word. You will have a fine husband."
"What exactly did the King promise you? I know what people say about him…" She stopped, forcing herself to take a deep breath before continuing, attempting to hide her unease. "Will I have to… I know I look like aunt Lyanna…. And he loved her…"
"He gave his word not to dishonor you. He was highly offended that I even dare to suggest he would even considered doing such a thing to one of our blood."
"Then why does he want me to come? What would he gain?"
"Robert as always appreciated beauty, especially that of Northern women. I only agree because your brother is taking the Black, and I don't want to leave you here alone with Lady Stark. But I promise you, I won't let him hand you off to just anyone."
"You won't have a choice. As the King deems it, so shall it be. Is that not what they say? I will have to make the best of it."
"You are too mature for you age, when your aunt was told she was to marry Robert she was furious. And he loved her in his own way, you do not even have a name, yet you are so willing to accept anyone."
"Septa and Lady Stark has made it very clear to me what my options in life will be if I do not find a husband. One chosen by the King would most likely be better than on who would agree to take a mere bastard on his own volition."
"I would have found a good match for you."
"Even so, it makes little difference if my husband will be bribed with money or the king's favor. Perhaps the latter will even prove better."
"You give yourself too low a worth, and that is my fault. I have let my wife speak down to you too often. I let you suffer to ease my own guilty conscious. But you should know I have already had a fair few requests for your hand. You are renowned for your beauty as much as anything else. And if your husband makes you unhappy you will always have a home in Winterfell. You are my blood. Your happiness is as important to me as your sisters'." This earned him a true smile from her as she leaned against him, taking comfort in his warmth.
"Is it true?" She asked after a moment of silence. "Sansa will marry the prince?"
"Yes, Sansa and my lady wife are most pleased with the match."
"But not you." She observed, earning herself a small but sad smile.
"She is too young. But Robert promises me a long engagement. I will expect you to help me keep an eye on her and Arya when we go to King's Landing. Bran too."
"Always."
No more than moments after her father left did Lyanna follow suit, intending to track down her twin. Not surprisingly he was still sleeping of the previous night's festivities when she snuck into his room. Without a second of hesitation she snuck into bed with him, wrapping her arm around his sleeping form. Things were changing too fast, she would take comfort where she could find it, for she knew that no matter what would happen in the future she knew she would never feel safer than she does at her twin's side. They had entered this world together, they faced their hardships together, and somehow she had always thought they would always stay together, even when he had started talking about joining the Night watch the year before. Now it did not seem that way anymore. She would go south, she would marry a man of the King's choosing who would care little for her as long as he had the king's favor and she gave him an heir. And she knew she would never feel as safe or whole again as she did at the moment by Jon's side. This would always be the only bed in which she had no expectations on her, where she would be truly loved. It had been the one they had shared as children to keep warm before she was deemed too old to sleep in her brother's bed.
As the day of their departure grew closer Lyanna noticed more and more eyes on her as she moved around the castle. It was only years of experience that allowed her to slip out of Winterfell and away from prying eyes. No doubt they were trying to figure out whom the King intended to wed her to. But as far as she knew the King didn't even know that himself yet so why they kept an eye on her remained a mystery. Did they think the King would let her choose? She doubted he would listen to anything she said, he had showed little interest in talking with her, instead he made her feel like a moving monument to Lyanna Stark, one he marveled at and never seemed to take his eyes of when it was in sight. Everyone noticed. The Queen especially.
It was almost mid-day by the time her twin came riding towards her, stopping only as an arrow swished in front of his horse. He raised both eyebrows as if to ask it had really been necessary to release it from her bow-sting.
"I couldn't hold it any longer." She lied with an easy smile, before looking over at the target in which the arrow had launched itself smack in the middle.
"Good aim." Her brother said, following her eyes as he swung himself off the horse.
"But I don't know how much use it will be in the royal castle."
"Perhaps I should be practicing with my dagger instead so that I can stab my no doubt oafish husband-to-be before he can touch me?" She asked dryly.
Since the King's arrival to Winterfell her father had added practicing with her bow and her dagger on the list of forbidden activities, forcing her to hide the practice. Which had been made easier by the fact that he long ago learned that forbidding her to ride would be no more useful than forbidding Bran to climb. Hence she had taken to disappearing into the woods on her horse to practice in secret since the royal party had arrived.
Jon and Arya being the only ones to know of her new habit. It had in fact been Jon who had brought her target into the small glen she had picked to be her training ground and had hence been able to guess her current whereabouts. He had never been able to refuse her, but, like their father, he could not quite bring himself to approve of the activity.
"I doubt oafish is the word most would use for him. There are rumors you will marry the Queen's brother. They have been talking about it all day in the castle while you have been hiding away here."
"Lord Tyrion?" She asked, her head snapping towards him in surprise. She liked him well enough. It seemed he had taken to her a great deal, and she to him. But as far as she knew neither of them had had any romantic inclination towards the other.
Tyrion preferred his whoring ways, having told her countless of colorful stories disregarding his sister's disapproving glare as he did so. While entertaining they were nothing she would ever want to be apart of personally. But she supposed their sudden friendship could be taken as such, in reality he had simply decided to, in his word, teach her the rules of the game she is being forced into before someone slits her throat in her bed. His stories and warnings would no doubt prove educational and useful in the capital. But marrying him?
"The Kingslayer." Jon corrected, sounding none too pleased. He probably would have preferred the younger brother.
"He is one of the Kingsguard." She reasoned. "They are not allowed to marry. And he is a Lannister. He will not be the one I wed."
"I asked father about it. He admitted the King had mentioned him, but nothing more."
"He is the Lannister heir." She said as if that would clear everything up, and it should. Even with the King's backing she was still a bastard and the Lannister family was the richest family in the seven kingdoms. "Now, did you ride all this way to tell me of a rumor brother?" She knew he hadn't.
"Father has ordered you and our sisters to be fitted for more suitable court gowns."
She had little interest in such things, she'd rather he had left her be and be allowed to feel sorry for herself.
With her thoughts once again on her upcoming marriage as she released another arrow, ignoring her brother. Maybe Lord Tyrion wouldn't be too bad... physical attraction was only a small part of marriage. It certainly could be worse. One of the kitchen maids had told her of her sister's husband once. The tale had been enough for it to please her when she heard he had drunk himself to death. He was a true monster.
It wasn't until she reached for her fifth arrow that she spoke again. "Should I take a lover before I wed?" Her words surprised even her, and shocked her brother so thoroughly that he could not speak. Allowing her to continue. "Septa said a woman's first time is very painful, even if he takes care. If he does not care for me… I don't want my first man forcing himself between my legs, seeing me as nothing better than a whore's daughter."
"He will not. You a daughter of the first men. You are more beautiful than the Queen, braver than our father, and the kindest soul I have ever known. If your husband-to-be does not see that, he is blind and does not deserve you."
"Perhaps he will be, blind I mean. Maybe old and fat too."
"And perhaps he will be the Lion of the Lannisters." Her brother countered. "The most beautiful man in the seven kingdom, or so I hear. Personally I don't see it."
"He will not." She said, but it was enough to bring a small smile to her lips. "Sometimes I wish you were not my twin, then I could marry you. We would have been happy, would we not?"
"Not Robb? You would have been the Lady of Winterfell." He joked lamely. But she knew his feelings all too well. Always second to their siblings to everyone but each other.
"Not Robb." She said instead, leaning up to kiss his cheek before she hid her bow and arrow from sight and mounted her horse. It was time to return and face the seamstress. Her black dire wolf faithfully following behind, as she had done since Jon had handed her to her a few months earlier, taking the albino for his own, and gifting the proper grey ones to the trueborn Starks. She much rather have her beautiful Night than any of theirs. And as she looked down at her wolf she could not help but smile.
TBC…
