"Your hand wished me to inform you that he will be joining you for your hunt this morning, my King"
The flickering first embers of grey sunlight had barely fallen through the heavy velvet drapes when the boy arrived. Ramsay gritted his teeth climbing out of bed and glancing back over his shoulder at his sleeping wife. He much preferred a hunt by moonlight, it had been far too long in his opinion since he'd had the opportunity to hunt his game of choice.
"Tell my hand to be saddled before the sun leaves the trees of the forest, if he is not, we will ride without him."
No, Ramsay had behaved for too long and was starting to fear that he may be losing his edge. He'd visited his pets in the dungeons the evening before and spent a long moment walking the tunnel that lead from the courtyard to the hounds. He'd peered in through the doors of the chambermaids, surely they would think he had perverse interests in them…oh if they only knew.
Nothing made Ramsay feel more like a king than holding life in his hands and looking straight into the eyes of the person he was taking it from.
As he strapped his leather breast plate to him he starred at Sansa, there was a vague warm feeling which crept through him, one that he wasn't used to and didn't much care for. He was no fool, he wouldn't have the discourtesy to lie to himself and pretend that he didn't love his wife. He did. Roose always told him that love made one weak. Ramsay didn't feel weak though, not with Sansa.
"Petyr" he greeted as the cold morning air whipped his face and he left the confines of the stone castle for the familiar stables. Petyr, that weasel was the first thing he saw, he should have guessed he'd already be mounted and waiting before he'd sent his boy.
Petyr smiled, "My King" he knew Ramsay would try to bolt without him and there was no chance of him letting that happen. Not with such important business to discuss.
Ramsay watched as the rest of the party mounted, they were barely half way through when he saw the sun in the distance lifting off from the top of the forests branches. With a loud crack his horse took off, he growled to himself as he flew through the gates and took off toward the woods with the men who were already saddled in tow.
"You'd do well to learn to extend your patience" Petyr pulled his large brown horse alongside Ramsay when he slowed, finally feeling satisfied in the forests where he felt like he belonged.
"The court has taken my hunts and turned them into slow, boring obligations. I will not wait for slow men."
Petyr knew Ramsay was at his breaking point, he'd taken a bloodthirsty warrior and was trying to turn him into a courtier.
"What would you suggest that we do?"
Ramsay blinked for a moment, he tried to keep his composure but the last thing he'd expected was for Petyr to ask his opinion. Ramsay smirked knowing exactly what he would do.
"I'd rid my court of your pompous lords, the men who are too round to wield swords and too gallant to use them even if they could. The ones who hold the old ways in their hearts. I'd replace them with my boys, strong, loyal and fierce until the end. Unyielding and unquestioning. Then I'd take that Kings guard of yours and hang every one of them from sept. I'd bleed them out one by one and serve the produce in the service of the old gods."
A glimmer flickered through Ramsey's eyes until he broke it…and smiled sweetly "But then that wouldn't be very king like would it."
Petyr had heard a great many things in his time but somehow Ramsay still managed to roll his stomach, not that Petyr would ever give the bastard the satisfaction of knowing that. Petyr had spent a great deal of time away from Kings landing over the last weeks and was pleased that he had returned to a city still standing. Sansa had headed his advice and taken Ramsay in hand although with Margery yet to return to high garden, he was still concerned.
As they entered a clearing Petyr pulled his mare to a halt and looked Ramsay deeply in the eyes, he knew it was time now. "Ramsay, there is a battle coming. One that will curdle even your blood. You may be a warrior amongst men but you will not be fighting men. You are king of the capitol with camps stretching as far as I can see around its walls. Forget tradition and do what needs to be done just as I have and will continue to do. You have my support. I heard stories of the bastards boys of the Dreadfort. Now you have hundreds of thousands of men. Mould them into an army who stand a chance of triumph."
Ramsay's eyes widened in utter glee, "An army of bastards boys?" he was mocking Petyr and he knew it but the man simply nodded his head.
"If that is what it takes"
"An honourable king could never do that to his men"
"You're a fool if you think I put you on the throne to be an honourable king."
With that Petyr pulled his rose roughly to turn and started back towards kings landing.
"Are you not coming on the hunt?" Ramsay questioned
"I never did care for hunting…simply the politics it hosted"
"If we aren't fighting men…then what are we fighting?"
Petyr's eyes burned …"Monsters"
Ramsay watched as Petyr moved away with a roar he shouted after him "I am not a stag or a lion, I am not afraid of monsters!"
Petyr still had a smile on his wiry face as he walked the corridor to Sansa's bed chamber, he was greeted at the door by the kings guard. A handful of old faces and a few new…additions from the Tyrell army but none of them were Ramsey's. His boys were still in the castle, they walked the halls in black and were more dangerous than the entire army as far as the capitol was concerned. Ramsay kept them under tight control but Petyr had heard about their night time hunts. He heard everything.
As the guard stepped aside he saw Sansa sat in the window which edged onto the balcony. Her long red hair tumbling over the green satin of her gown. Holding a book in one hand and her swollen stomach with the other.
"You're glowing" Petyr smiled
Sansa rolled her eyes and grimaced
"I thought you'd gone hunting" she snapped. This was the first time she'd seen Petyr since he'd been back from his business in the North and he'd chosen to go to Ramsay before coming to her.
"Come now Sansa my dove, I have important news"
Sansa winced as she felt a horrible but familiar twinge flicker through her lower back, she kept it as far from her face as possible but she was sure Petyr noticed. She'd woken up only minutes after Ramsay had left, a shudder of pain rousing her from an otherwise pleasant dream.
Petyr watched her curiously and strode across the room to join her on her seat.
"I've found Bran and Rickon"
Any pain she had felt was gone and for the first time on a long time it felt like her heart had been set alight.
"Really?"
Petyr nodded.
"I'm having them brought to Kings landing but nobody can know who they are. You understand that your brothers would pose a threat to your Husband"
Sansa grimaced again, unable to ignore another jolt of sharp pain.
"I have tried to hold Ramsay back as best I could"
Petyr stroked her cheek, he could sense her pain and felt his stomach drop slightly in fear. He'd known this would happen and that the child would come but if he lost Sansa now then almost everything he'd done would be wasted.
"You have done well and what I asked. Everything is in place and I have free'd him now to do his worst."
Sansa's eyes widened in horror
"You can't mean that, you'd rain Bolton hell down on our own people?"
Petyr smiled "It will take monsters to fight monsters my dear"
Petyr sat in silence for several minutes, watching Sansa to confirm his suspicions and when he saw her grimace again he sighed.
"How long?"…"How long have the pains been coming?"
Sansa flinched waiting for the pain to pass, when she realised she was found out she gasped and whimpered clutching the cushion beside her.
"Please don't tell them" she pleaded looking to the doors. She knew the moment they found out word would reach Ramsay and he would…"ahh" another pain hit her and suddenly her gown was soaked with water.
She looked down disgusted expecting Petyr to jump away but he didn't.
He stood calmly and took her by the elbows moving her to the bed, he knelt down before her and spoke gravely. "This will get considerably worse before it gets better. You won't be able to hide it. You will scream and they will hear."
Sansa shook her head…"I won't, I promise I won't."
Petyr had seen his fair share of births as a brothel owner, he knew the young girl in front of him had no idea what was about to happen to her but he nodded and gripped her hand.
"There are things we need to do this Sansa. I must get them, can you manage without me for a short while?"
Sansa nodded bravely and began to unlace her dress.
Petyr stood, walked swiftly to the door and closed it behind him. He clutched his hand into a fist as he made his way to the dungeons. Down cold dark steps and into the gloomy darkness. He opened the door to the hounds where he found four of Ramsey's boys sat around a wooden table drinking ale and taunting the dogs with juicy meat they held on string.
They looked at him with loathing and disgust "What are you doing down here hand" the largest spat.
Petyr took a breath "The queen's pains have begun. Fetch the King"
The large man gulped and the others at the table flew to their feet in a manner that Petyr hadn't thought possible. Before he could order his thoughts the men were gone, he'd give Ramsay that…he had those things extremely well trained.
When the Kings guard outside Sansa's door came into sight one moor Petyr knew he'd been right. He heard Sansa's stifled scream and saw the men exchanging cautious words. None of them quite dared to fetch the King themselves, all still wary of Ramsay's notorious tendency to flay the messenger of disturbing news.
"Lord Baelish the maids are attending the Queen"
The king's guard moved to block his path but Petyr was set.
"I've sent the Kings boys to fetch him, he should arrive shortly and I gave my word to the Queen that I would return the moment I'd delivered the message."
The men still blocked his path.
"It will give her relief to know that her husband has been sent for… how long were you planning to wait before you sent word?"
The men moved aside with dipped heads and Petyr stormed past into the room where a handful of maids were fussing around a flushed red and groaning Sansa.
"He's coming isn't he?"
Petyr nodded his head "I'm afraid so"
Sansa's pale eyes rolled "It can't be normal for it to hurt this much"
"I'm afraid it is my dear"
He stayed beside the door the entire time, desperate to comfort her but knowing it impossible. As he left he said a silent prayer, that Sansa and the child would make it through this alive.
For over an hour it continued, the pain worse and longer every time. Her young hand maids replaced with burly older servants who'd delivered more than their fair share of children. Sansa cursed their stupid traditions, she wasn't a fan of the measter but this seemed like the sort of thing she should have one for. "No men in the birthing room" was what the broadest women kept saying. Even the guards who stood by the door had been forced several feet away.
"Try to breath deeply" one of the women said as Sansa gasped for breath between pain.
Ramsay rode harder than he ever had, he'd lost his breath and cold air blustered through the fur of his cape. His boys rode behind him, they'd left the hunting part long behind, nobody but his own men could keep pace with him. As they flew through the gates people were knocked from their path and scattered before them. Word had spread like wildfire…the Queen was giving birth.
He sprung from his hose landing with a crash on the stone floor, he ran the steps with a sick perversion growing by the second. As he men dismounted behind him bewildered stable boys flocked to grab the abandoned horses before they ran.
"Get out of my way" he seethed as the Kings guard outside Sansa's door braced themselves in his path. He could smell her pain from behind that door.
"My King you can't…"
"It's not proper"
The men meekly protested.
A deep frantic scream of pain from the chamber made Ramsays blood boil.
He took his sword in his hand and tossed it in his grip as though it were no heavier than a feather.
"Every second you stand in my way…is another piece I will send you back to your family in."
The kings guard scattered and Ramsay burst through the door to see his wife on the brink of birth.
Not one of the women said anything, Sansa fumed as she saw the women who'd been so bold until now suddenly cower. They'd heard Ramsay's threat to the guards.
The corridor was full of Ramsay's boys and Sansa knew it was useless to resist. She'd known this would happen. Ramsay's perverse obsession with pain, sordid acts of the body and family all combined into one monstrous event.
She could see the glint in his eyes….he was going to watch.