Her world was changing around her, faster than she could have imagined, and all she could do was run as fast as she could and hope to not be left behind. Like her sister she might be held in the gilded cage of the Red Keep, but unlike Sansa she knew how to please the hand that fed her and how to use that power. But while it might give her more power than most free men, she was still in a cage. A northern woman was not meant for such things, no woman was. Yet it was her choices that had led here to where she stood. She could have refused the marriage; she could have hid in the wild north, or even as servant in the south. But she had let her honor and pride guide her action and it had led her staring out the window, secretly watching, as her father left the capitol to take the black. Funny not long ago she had sent a letter to the most important man in her life, also stationed on the wall, and not two weeks later she smuggled a letter into the belongings of the second. A man that no longer held any love for her, a man who thought her a turn-coat, a man who she respected more than any other. Her father. She could only hope he would read her letter, that he would believe her. That he would forgive her.

As she watched, for the first time in a long time, she felt a stab of jealousy as she saw her sister hug their father farewell, as he spoke to her in that calm, comforting tone of his. She wanted to be down there, but again she had made her choice. The King could not know her feelings; he needed to believe that she was completely loyal to him, that she was on his side in all matters. She had taken a risk convincing the King to follow his mother's suggestions, to agree to an exchange of a sort. But the Gods seemed to have been on her side for once.

Lord Tyrion was free as well, he had won his own freedom. But in the process of saving him Jamie had been captured by Robb, something Lyanna had never even imagined a possibility when she sent Robb his letter. Desperate to have her beloved twin back, as well as hinder a war with the North, the Queen had come to an agreement with Lyanna's father that allowed Jamie's freedom as well as Ned's without the King loosing face. In short, Jamie was to be released and Lord Stark was taking the Black, like his brother and his bastard, while his eldest son became the new lord of the North. Life was a strange thing indeed. Never had she expected the Queen to be her ally in anything. But she knew that alliance was over now. She knew that only the Lannister spawn in her belly was keeping the Queen from attacking her outright. No doubt she prayed Lyanna would die in childbirth. Not that any of this agreement was mentioned in any official document. As far as the public knew Jaime had never been captured, and Lord Stark was being released under certain stipulations out of the King's love for betrothed, and his beloved aunt Lyanna. But others would know.

Watching her father mount his horse Lyanna had to wipe a tear from her eye. Soon at least she would have one friend in the castle, that was more than she felt she could say at the moment. Even the trusted leader of the King's guard had left King's landing after her father's initial arrest. But according to the reports Lord Tyrion was less than three days travel from King's Landing. And soon her father would insure the release of her husband.

Lyanna wouldn't help but wonder if he knew he was to be a father, had Robb told him? Had he learned before that? Had his father told him? Would he be happy to become a father? They had never discussed it in their short marriage. But she supposed any man would be pleased to learn that his wife carried his child, a possible heir. Jaime was probably not an exception to the rule.

It was amusing that she knew more of her brother-in-law's views on children than her husband's. But regardless of his views she vowed to herself that she would convince him to stay in King's Landing. Even if it would have to be the Red Keep since his father had refused to allow him to have his 'whoring ways' in the Lannister manor. That was probably the best thing about her husband's release and the end of the feud between her two families. She could leave the Red Keep, she could go back the house she briefly seen as her home. Though she would still have to come to court at least on a weekly basis, if only to insure Sansa's happiness. No matter what Sansa thought of her, she was Lyanna's responsibility. She had promised their father to look after her sisters when they first arrived in King's Landing, and while she may have failed Arya, she would not fail her other sister.

It was the clearing of a throat behind her that brought Lyanna out of her reverie. Turning around she was faced with someone who she recently had begun to deem as her least likely visitor, Sansa.

"You didn't even come down to say farewell. You know we may never see him again." She accused, her eyes hard.

"I am aware."

"Then why? I don't know why he forgave you. He said to trust you, that you are protecting us."

"I am."

"I don't see how. Father said King Joffery only released him because you asked him to. Why would he listen to you, why not me?" She demanded, sounding as the child she was.

"You don't know how to manipulate and mollify. You are a Lady of Winterfell. You never had to learn, all you had to do was ask, and now you are the King's betrothed."

"Are you saying you have… laid with him?" She asked, looking absolutely horrified, her eyes wandering to her belly.

"No!" Lyanna protested fiercely, not understanding how her sister could make such a leap. "Never. All you need to do is observe and play on a people's wants and desires. That is the only way to survive in this city. Joffery never had his father's approval, as he laid dying he asked for me and father. Not his wife or heir. I look like the one thing his father wanted but could never have. That is why he became obsessed with me. And with his father gone, he wanted to prove that he can have what his father could not. While I keep a certain distance, constantly remind him that I'm his aunt, I also flatter him. Have you not seen the Queen with him? The King is nothing but a spoiled child, and you win the affection of a spoiled child by spoiling him even more, yet surprising and keeping them want more. But if you cross them, they will not hesitate. I am walking on a very thin line. Be happy you don't have to."

"The King is not a spoiled child, he is the King!" Sansa protested.

"Be quiet!" Lyanna hissed, glancing worriedly on the closed door. "There are ears everywhere in this castle, in this city. You have been here for months, have you learned nothing?"

"Fine, I only came here because father asked it of me. He wanted me to tell you that he knows what you are doing. That Winterfell will always welcome you, and not to forget you are a daughter of the North."

A relieved smile spreading on Lyanna's lips as she the words left her sister's lips, and something about her expression must have softened something in Sansa because she added.

"I hope it is twins, I was always jealous of your and Jon's relationship." With those words she turned around.

"Sansa." Lyanna called out before she reached the door. "Thank you."

"Just tell me one thing. The King, he is not all bad, is he?" There was a hint of worry in Sansa's tone that had never been there before. Not in connection to her betrothed. But Lyanna could not see her face, her back was still turned to her. However her shoulders tense as if fearing the answer.

"I don't think so. But he has a temper, worse than his father. Where King Robert would sober-up and retract his orders, Joffery would not. He is unbalanced. If you go though with the marriage he will hurt you if you ever hurt his pride. That means you would have to let yours suffer."

"He didn't execute father."

"He did not." She agreed, allowing her sister a sliver of hope. "But be careful around him. You have seen something he is not proud of, that is why he is distant with you. I don't know what. He is tight lipped whenever I bring you up."

With the warning echoing between the two sisters the younger left and Lyanna's hand went to rest on her belly, on her unborn child. She doubted there could be twins in there, surely she would feel it if there was two babies within her. But then again, she did not feel any, not yet.

TBC…