Chapter 23

  EDDARD STARK

  Eddard was still trying to uand just what had transpired in that damned forest. The hunt had nearly caused a war to break out between House Stark and House Lannister, and was extremely suspicious.

  The Prince's death had sent tensioween House Stark and House Lannister s as the Queen and her brother levelled grave accusations of treason on him and his House, bming his son for the attack.

  And though they had been proven wrong, seeds of distrust had been sowed, and there now was a schism betweewo Houses that would not heal easily. Cregan had e down with a fever rather suddenly half a day after he had been saved, and though Maester Luwin assured him that his son would make a plete recovery, Eddard still worried much.

  Irying and troubling times, he had mueed of his sed son's mind to navigate the perilous and troubling situation that awaited him in the capital. For despite much protest, Robert refused to budge and was more steadfast than ever in making Ned his Hand.

  The Queen and her brother had been much quiet ever sihat informal trial, and had only been insistent on a quick return to the capital so that she may bury her son, but Robert refused to budge until all the bandits responsible for his son's death were caught and interrogated.

  A, it had all proven useless in the end. For it had e to light that the target of the bandits was not even Joffrey.

  No. It was his son.

  "They were after Cregan," he added as he and Robert sat in his sor te into the night after the fession of the st Bandit was given to him by his jailor.

  "Aye! They were after your boy Ned. Your boy," and it sent his blood boiling as he heard those words.

  "But why?" that was the most important question. Was this the Queen's doing, but it was her son that was dead bastard or not. It did not make sehat this was her doing. Not if Joffrey was ag on her orders.

  Or were they both ag indepely of one another? Or was this someone else's doing?

  "I ot think of a reason why Cregan would be targeted?" he asked, and Robert drowned his cup, as he answered.

  "I ," and with that, he reached into his pocket and passed him a rolled missive.

  "A rider came into the night with this," he said, and Eddard unrolled it and read its tents.

  And the missive told of the Targaryen Princess, and how she had married a Dothraki warlord iosh. And initially, it did not make seil he really thought about it.

  "You think the Targaryens are behind this?" he asked, and Robert nodded.

  "Thihink about who would be most if our houses turned against one another. Who is it that bears a grudge against both the Starks and the Baratheons for what they did," and it made sense in a way.

  "But they are children?" he asked, and he did not think this a ploy that a child could think up.

  "Yes, they may be children, but their supporters are not. Even now, many in the realm call me a usurper. I am telling you, hey are the ones behind this. The Dragonspawn!" he thundered as his fist hit the table.

  "I should have killed them all! Should have do years ago," Robert thundered, and at that name, he thought of the boy he had carried out of that tower, the one who slept in this very castle.

  "But they are children. You e them for whatever plots those surrounding them have hatched," Ned had to intervene, and Robert shook his head.

  "No. We should be rid of them. All of them before they bee a problem, and I will see it happen as soon as I return to the capital. I will," Robert announced, and Ned bit his lip, not knowing what to say.

  "When are we leaving?" he asked, for he still had to make preparations for that.

  "Soon," Robert answered as they both began to walk out into the yard to take up the m air.

  "Cersei has been rather insistent that we leave at once. But I o know. I o knoas behind my son's death," Robert spoke in a chilly tone.

  "But she is right. We must leave soon, so you must make your preparations for the journey as well," and Eddard nodded.

  "And what about the match between Cregan and Princess Myrcel?" He khat the Prince had made reservations about it, and Robert shouted his head.

  "The match stands, no matter what my dear wife says," he said as he looked into his eyes.

  "This match will unite our two Houses as they were meant to be years ago, and help us deal with all this nonsense. I know that you and the North must be enraged about Cersei's accusations, but you must five her," he said a bit softly.

  "She was a mother who had just lost her son, and while it does not excuse the words and accusations she uttered, she was simply ag as a distraught and pained mother would," and Eddard hoped that it was as Robert spoke, though he feared the worst.

  "Your boy's quick thinking saved my daughter's life. If those bandits had gotten their hands on her, she would have been taken from me as well," and his words shook as he spoke.

  "She is a gentle soul, that one. Gentle and smart, her and Cregan would be a good match for us and the realm. Especially if my fears about the Targaryen do e true," Robert added.

  "The Dothraki are no threat to us. It is well known that they fear water," he assuaged him.

  "Maybe, but who knows when that would ge. We must be ready, all of us," Robert whispered as Eddard saw his brathering up his supplies.

  "I must go," he spoke to Robert who nodded as Eddard walked towards his brother who was reading his horse.

  "You are leaving," he asked as Beuro face him and nodded.

  "I am," he said as he hugged him, and he was very thankful to his brother for his help in finding Cregan.

  "The rest are getting ready with the men and supplies. We will be leaving soon," and the Night's Watch was leaving Winterfell with a slew of men and supplies, not the amount he had asked for, but all that he and the could spare.

  "I o talk to you about something, brother," Benjen began, making him frown as he led him to a side.

  "Yes..." Eddard asked, and he saw Benjeate before he spoke up.

  "I talked tan a few days ago," Eddard nodded. He had heard about that. However, he had not yet had the opportunity for that, much to his dismay, given that he had too much to deal with in the past few days.

  "And?" he asked, for that was nothing strange.

  "I just wao tell you that your son is blessed in ways more than one," Benjen's words were ominous and cryptic.

  "What do you mean by that?" he asked, for he already thought an to be special. It was why he had sent him to foster in the capital rather than Robb and Sansa.

  "Just..." Benjen bit his lip before his brhed and held his shoulder tightly as he spoke.

  "Just trust him. Trust him and heed his advice. He is no boy. He is a man, a man who knows more of this world than both you and I....."

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  CREGAN STARK

  Another day passed without much ge, though the Royal Family did annouhat they would be leaving with a week, and san's mind once more began to race as he thought of his future pns.

  His father had e to meet him, but Cregan had fallen asleep just a bit before that, and so they had not gotten the opportunity to talk again. Something which Cregan po resolve rather tomorrow.

  The master refused to let him out of his bed, though thankfully, he was finally able to walk around a bit. He raying that he would have recovered enough in a week to make the journey with his father because with just how plicated the things had bee, he did not wish to send him to the capital all alone.

  His direwolf was rec as well. Aurora had taken many injuries while proteg Myrcel, though thankfully, none of them would leave any perma damage except for a few scars.

  She had been spendiime with Myrcel, with the young Princess refusing to let it away from her sight. She had e to visit him as well, along with Tyrion, and the young girl g to Aurora rather fearfully. Cregan did not have the heart to take it away from her as he let Aurora stay with her.

  And as Cregan y there, he lotting his revenge. Joffrey had tried to kill him, but the bandits. He khe person who had sent them after him, and he had hoped to avoid this specific person's scrutiny for as long as he could, but the man had struck first.

  And nan po reciprocate.

  He would make Petyr Baelish pay for what he had dohe mogbird thought himself to be quite untouchable because of his wealth and influence.

  Now, it was time to break that damned pride.

  Now, Cregan just had to bury that bastard.

  And as he y there, suddenly his door was unlocked, and he frowned as he looked out the window of his room and saw that it was rather te for someoo visit him.

  And he perked up as he slowly reached for his e once more on instincts, a as the door opened, his grip loosened, as he saw just who it was.

  Her blonde hair was dishevelled, and her small, plump face was flushed as the young Princess Myrcel slid into his room with his direwolf Aurht beside her.

  "Princess," he greeted the girl, who quickly and quietly closed the door behind her.

  "What are you doing here at this time, my dy?" he asked, and she looked down in embarrassment as Cregan raised a brow.

  "I...I couldn't sleep," she asked, and Cregan looked towards the door.

  "Where are your servants, guards, and your mother?" he asked.

  "Mother is with Tommen," she replied, and there was a bit of indignation ione as she looked up at him.

  "She is always with him, and the servants all went to sleep," she answered quickly as Cregan shook his head.

  "And the guards?" and she fidgeted before she answered.

  "I slipped past them," and then she looked at Aurora, who had lept up onto the bed.

  "She helped me," she answered as Aurora perked up as if it was a thing to be proud of.

  And Cregan sighed as he pushed himself up.

  "This is highly inappropriate. I will have guards apany you to your room..."

  "No!" she said as she ran forward and jumped up.

  "I won't go. Father told me that we are to be married; this is nothing strange for a married couple," and Cregan chuckled as he heard those words ing out of her mouth. She stared into his eyes with glinting green eyes.

  "We are not yet married, Princess," he answered softly, and she frowned.

  "But we will be," she argued, and she was stubborn and smart. Of the three siblings, she was the sharpest and smartest.

  "Just let me stay for some time, and then you tell me a story. Then I will leave," she pleaded, and Cregan sighed as he looked into her eyes and nodded.

  "Sure, but let me tell the guards that you are here. I will not have a ruckus in the castle, just because of this," he said and stood up, and pushed himself up using his e as he walked out the door and saw the guard supposed to guard his room sleeping.

  He struck his leg, with his e.

  "Wake up!" he chided, and the man sprang to his feet and looked around and stilled as soon as his gaze met Cregan.

  "Young master..."

  "Go and have your captain someone else. You clearly are in need of rest..."

  "No. My prince..." but Cregan's frustration must have shown as he shut his mouth after a single gre.

  "Yes, my lord," and Cregan nodded.

  "The Princess is in my room. Tell that to the captai it cause a ruckus in the night," he said. After a few more instrus, he walked bato the room. As soon as he did, he saw Myrcel had ed herself in his thiket and was already asleep.

  Aurora y atop her, asleep as well, and Cregan walked upto the bed and tried to see if he could slide in but thought better of it. She had really fallen asleep so quickly, and it made him doubt her iions as he shook his head, walked up to his desk, and lit up a dle.

  He then pulled up a chair beside the bed while taking up the spare b and ing it around her.

  "Damn you," he cursed as he picked up the tome he had been reading, and so an hour or so passed before Cregan Stark found his own eyelids sliding down as sleep came to him as well.

  0000

  Early in the m, an enraged Cersei Lannister walked through the Halls as she admohe guards she had stationed outside her daughter's room.

  "I thought my instrus were clear," she raged, as the man looked down.

  "Yrace, we tried t back the Princess but King Robert was already there. He stopped us and told us to return," and her lips thinned further as she walked through the halls and towards that boy's room.

  The guard outside the boy's room made to stop her, making her rage.

  "You dare stop me from seeing my daughter!" she raged, and the man looked at the Lannister men around her and stepped back as she ehe room ready to sh out a as soon as she did she stopped.

  "Myrc..." and her eyes nded on her daughter, sleeping by herself on the rge bed with that accursed animal beside her.

  The maids had told her how she seemed to be having trouble sleeping ever sihe day of the hunt and would often wake up screaming and shouting into the night. She had been worried about her, a here she was, sleeping so soundly.

  She saw her sleeping, and the mother inside her made her stop as she looked to the side and saw him—the boy she so feared sitting there beside her, a book lying beside him as he y asleep on his chair.

  And for some reason, she stopped and turned around after a final g her daughter.

  "Let her sleep," she said to the guard.

  "Have them call me when she wakes..."

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