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***
Stannis Baratheon drummed his fingers on the edge of the Painted Table. This king had no patience.
- Your Grace,' Eddard repeated the question. - If you knew of the queen's treason, why didn't you tell anyone? Why--' he swallowed the word "fled" at the last moment--'why did you leave the capital?
- I didn't know, Stark. I suspected. Suspicion is not proof.
- What did Jon Arryn tell you?
- Not much. I helped him look for bastards. Then he took the book from Pycelle. He thought the proof might be in it. I haven't read the book. Jon Arryn did, and he died.
- Your Grace, I have read the book. I even took it with me,' Eddard beckoned to Fat Tom. Plain Tom could hardly get out of the capital without falling into Lannister hands, so Eddard took him with him. Until he returns to the North, this is the only man he has.
Stannis turned the pages quickly. Eddard moved his aching leg. The limb ached, but not as much as before. Eddard gripped his cane tighter. He would have to walk with it for another month or two until the wound healed.
- All black-haired,' Stannis said. - All Baratheons, all bastards. That's what I thought. Joffrey is not my nephew. Whose is he? Who gave my brother the horns?
- The Kingslayer,' Eddard said.
- 'Her own brother? - Stannis frowned. - The Lannisteress imagines she's a Targaryen?
- 'I do not know what is in Cersei's head, Your Grace. But I do know she killed the king. Your brother, my friend.
- To put her spawn on the throne,' Stannis nodded. - Why didn't you stop her, Stark? Why did you run away?
- Why did you?
Stannis looked away.
- Do you know, Stark, what news the raven brought an hour before you arrived here?
- No, Your Grace.
- Renly is dead. I have no more brothers.
Eddard didn't expect such a blow. First Jon Arryn, then Robert, now Renly.
- The Lannisters?
Stannis gritted his teeth.
- The letter said it was an illness. My brother was travelling to Highgarden with his... friend, Ser Loras. But he didn't make it. Near Bitterbridge, he became ill. He went to bed and never got up.
- Sounds like Jon Arryn's 'sickness,' Eddard said. - Varys told me the poison that produces this effect is called Lyssus' tears.
- Varys? - Stannis snorted. - Robert should have kicked that dickless wonder out a long time ago. Maybe he poisoned him himself.
- That's what I thought, too. At first. But Varys was trying to save the king. He warned me of the queen's plan, Your Grace. If it hadn't been for the Kingslayer.
- If your wife hadn't been a fool to kidnap the Imp,' Stannis interrupted, 'your leg would still be intact and my brother would still be alive. But what's done is done. Do you know the Lannisters have already started the war? Their armies have crossed the Riverlands border. Lord Pyper tried to stop them at Jester's Brood but was defeated.
- Then, Your Grace, I must return to the North as soon as possible and gather an army. Without the help of the Northmen, the River Lords will not stand.
Stannis nodded.
- 'My maester will send a raven to Winterfell. Have your son summon the banners and lead them to Cailin's Moat. And I'll give you a ship. Tomorrow you'll sail to White Harbour and get to Cailin's Moat at the same time as your son.
- And you, Your Grace?
- I am the rightful king. And the rightful lord of Storm's End. The Lannisters stole the Iron Throne, but they won't take my ancestral castle. I'll sail there and raise an army. We'll hit the Lannisters from both sides, you from the north, me from the south.
- Your Grace, we should bring in the Arryns and the Martells as well.
- And not just them. I'll send letters to all lords great and small. The whole country will know I'm the rightful king and Joffrey is the Kingslayer's bastard.
- Your Grace, you may not be believed. Or believe you, but still support the Lannisters out of expediency.
Stannis gritted his teeth.
- Do not lecture me, Stark. I know very well how few men of honour are left these days. But the Vale must support me. Do you know your wife is in the Eagle's Nest? Everyone thought she was taking the Imp to Winterfell, but she fooled everyone, even me. Once she's there, she should have no trouble convincing her sister to join us. The Lannisters killed Lysa's husband-- she must want revenge. But I forbid you to execute the Imp. He's a valuable hostage who must be brought to me. So write to your wife. Ser Davos!
The man who had saved the Storm's End garrison from starvation was a short and unassuming man of ordinary appearance. But it was not his appearance that mattered, it was his actions. Eddard shook the Onion Knight's hand sincerely.
- Ser Davos, you will go to the Sunspear and meet Doran Martell,' Stannis said. - 'On my behalf you will promise him vengeance for his sister who was murdered by the Lannisters. The Prince of Dornish knows I am a just man.
The Onion Knight nodded and walked out. With a rustle of silks, a woman in red approached the Painted Table. Eddard had heard of her. Melisandre, priestess of the overseas god Rglor.
- Your Grace,' Melisandre smiled. - All these lords and their armies,' she flicked the figures that signified troops off the table, 'are a trifle unworthy of attention. Only the Lord of Light can give real support. Turn to Rglor, Your Grace, command him to burn the idols, and you will have a power that no one and nothing can match.
Stannis gritted his teeth.
- There's that speech again, woman. To me, your god and the others are the same rubbish. Power can only come from men.
- Your wife has already turned her heart to the Lord. You should do the same.
- Celisa is a fool,' Stannis bellowed. - And I don't want to hear from you or see you again. Get out!
Melisandre blinked in bewilderment.
- Where to, Your Grace?
- Anywhere. I don't need you. Winterfell, Riverrun and Storm's End for me. Eagle's Nest and Sunspear will soon be for me. I'll take my throne without your charms, witch.
- Your Grace, the prophecy of Azor Ahai clearly states--
- All prophecies are rubbish. I don't believe in such nonsense. Are you deaf, woman? I said get out!
With a wooden nod, Melisandre obeyed.
- Your Grace,' Eddard began cautiously. - Perhaps you shouldn't have refused her help so abruptly. What if you could use her?
- I could use you. You were my brother's Hand. And now you'll be mine. Lord Eddard Stark, I appoint you Hand of the King.
Eddard bowed silently. For the first time, something resembling a smile appeared on Stannis's grim face.
- How did you know? - He asked suddenly. - The book, the bastards. Jon Arryn took longer than you, and he'd been in the capital for fifteen years. You came here and solved the whole thing in a couple of months.
- I had help, Your Grace. Partly from Lord Baelish, but much more from Lancel, Robert's squire.
- Lancel Lannister? The queen's cousin? Why would he help you?
- Not all Lannisters are bad men, Your Grace. Lancel is an honest and glorious young man.
Stannis gritted his teeth.
- He's Ser Lancel now. And a master of the law. That at fifteen years of age! Not a bad career for an honest and honourable young man, eh?
- Your Grace, if it wasn't for him, I wouldn't be here.
- If you want to believe him, believe him. But I don't. All Lannisters are liars. Do you know who they put in charge of Robert's murder? The Greyjoy boy, your former hostage. As if that brat could hurt my brother!
- He could, Eddard had to say against his will. - He could, Your Grace, if your brother was drunk. And Theon had a motive: revenge for his older brothers killed in the Greyjoy rebellion. I believe, Your Grace, that the Queen might have used Theon as a weapon.
Stannis shrugged irritably.
- 'What difference does it make? Whosever hand struck the blow, the intent was Cersei's. My brothers, Jon Arryn, your son - all these deaths reek of Lannister. And they'll pay for every one of them.
***
Three girls and a jester were playing in the castle courtyard. Arya and Shireen were playing, and Sansa was standing on the sidelines, sulking. When Arya saw Eddard, she ran straight to him. Sansa stayed where she was.
- Daddy, Daddy! I've invented a game of knights, princesses and dragons. Quill is a dragon. I'm a knight. I wanted Sansa to be the princess, but she said you ruined it and because of you she'll never be queen, so she won't play. Did you really ruin everything, Papa? Isn't Shireen a real princess? If her daddy's the king now?
He ruffled his daughter's hair.
- Yes, Arya. Lord Stannis is king now. And Shireen is a princess.
- And when he dies, will she be queen? Because I read that only a man can occupy the Iron Throne. I don't think that's fair! What's wrong with women? Daddy, who's going to be king when Shireen's daddy dies?
- Stannis Baratheon isn't going to die, Arya. Not for a while, anyway. In the meantime, he may have a son, or several.
- And if he doesn't? Shireen said her Uncle Renly died. And you said Joffrey, Myrcella and Tommen aren't Baratheons. So besides Shireen and her daddy, there are no more Baratheons left?
Eddard frowned. A disturbing thought, it had crossed his mind too when Stannis had told him of his brother's death.
- Robert has a bastard, Edric Storm. If the king has no sons, he will legitimise his nephew and he will be his heir.
- 'Good,' Arya said gravely. - I don't want the Baratheons to end up like the Targaryens. Father, but the Targaryens aren't over, are they? There's still the beggar king and his sister.
- Married to a Dothraki Khal. Viserys plots to invade Westeros with a horde of nomads, but it's a foolish plan. He has no ships to cross the Narrow Sea, and even if he does, our knights are still stronger.
- Papa, we'll defeat the Lannisters, won't we? And give the throne back to King Stannis?
- Yes, Arya, we will.
Arya smiled.
- 'Papa, when are we going home?
Her leg suddenly exploded with pain. Eddard gritted his teeth, waiting out the agony.
- Tomorrow. We sail to White Harbour. From there, you and your sister will go to Winterfell, and I'll go south to the war.
- And Mama? And Robb?
- Your mum's visiting your Aunt Lysa at the moment. I hope she returns soon and brings the Imp back as a prisoner. And Robb... well, he's old enough now. Robb will go to war with me.
- Can I go to war, Dad? Please?
- No, Arya. Go play with the princess.
Arya sighed disappointedly. Eddard turned round to speak to his eldest daughter, but found her gone. Sansa was gone.