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***
- Come in, Lord Royce,' Sansa said to Bronze John. - Would you like something to drink?
- No, thank you,' Royce replied. - To be honest, I want to get things sorted out quickly and get back to the Vale. There are too many things that need my attention for me to linger here.
- Like you, we also want to get things sorted out and resolved,' Snow said. - That's why you're here.
- First, I want to apologise to you,' Sansa said.
- Apologise? - Royce frowned in bewilderment. - Apologise for what?
- For lying to you about my aunt's death,' she admitted, and Bronze Jon's face changed. - Lysa Arryn was killed by Petyr Baelish, throwing her through the Moon Door before my eyes.
Royce looked at Sansa and boiled with anger right before his eyes. His face was red, his eyes bloodshot, and seeing what was happening, Snow put his palm on the hilt of his sword. But here Bronze Jon was able to pull himself together and calm down.
- Why... Why had he done this?
- Lysa Arryn blabbed to me that she was the one who killed Jon Arryn on Baelish's orders,' Sansa replied, 'and then wrote a letter to my mother accusing her of killing the Lannisters. Everything that has happened, this whole war that has taken so many lives, was planned by them.
Royce jumped up from the bench and paced the room, while Sansa lifted her chin and closed her eyes. The knight's anger was justified, if Sansa had told them the truth from the start, a lot of further problems could have been avoided.
- Why didn't you tell us everything at once?! - Royce finally spoke up. - If you had told us the truth, we would have thrown Baelish through the Moon Door that very day!
- I was afraid,' Sansa replied. - Baelish was behind Jon Arryn's murder, he had a hand in Joffrey's death, he killed Aunt Lysa before my eyes. How fast could he get rid of me? I was scared to death, but believe me, later on I regretted not telling the truth. If I'd told you, Littlefinger wouldn't have given me to the Boltons.
Bronze Jon froze in place, then decided to clarify:
- Are you saying he brought you to Winterfell himself?
- Yes,' Sansa nodded.
- No one kidnapped you?
- Did Baelish say that? - Snow interjected. - That Sansa was kidnapped by the Boltons?
- That's right,' Royce confirmed. - We've come on Lord Arryn's orders to free Lady Sansa.
- Oh, if I had been kidnapped,' Sansa sighed bitterly. - Petyr did everything he could to bring the Vale into the war. If you had come to my aid, you would have become Cersei's enemies, and that woman never forgives anyone.
- So many lies,' Royce growled. - The Seventh Eye, so many lies.
- Lord Royce, there is no doubt that Petyr Baelish's actions have killed a great many people,' Jon said. - House Arryn and House Stark have suffered the most. Baelish walked over dead bodies for the sake of power, and there's no doubt he would have killed you and me as well.
- And he will answer for it,' Lord Royce promised sternly. - It's a shame, Lady Sansa, that your late uncle didn't kill that serpent in that duel. But this time he will not be denied, and I will personally wring Baelish's scrawny neck!
- Then I will order Baelish to be handed over to you at once,' John nodded. - But, Lord Royce, I have no doubt Littlefinger has his own men in your retinue, and he has ears everywhere. If you want to take Baelish to the Eagle's Nest, you'll have to choose your guards very carefully.
- That's my concern, Lord Snow,' Royce retorted. - Right now I want you to hand Baelish over to me as soon as possible. Preferably now.
- I'll have him brought in immediately,' Jon nodded and called for the guards.
It didn't take long, but the doors swung open and the guards ushered in Petyr Baelish, who even now acted as if he were a welcome guest at the Red Keep. His chin was proudly raised, a smile snaking across his lips as if he had everything under control and all the recent events were part of his plan. For a moment Sansa was even frightened at the thought that this was the case.
- Lord Royce, you're taking a long time,' Petyr stepped forward, jingling the chains that bound his hands. - I hope it's all sorted out by now, or I'm getting tired of the local hospitality.
Without saying anything, John Royce stepped close to Baelish and looked him in the eye. It made Littlefinger uncomfortable, as did the look on Jon Snow's face, and only Sansa looked at him without any emotion on her face.
- I suppose Lord Arryn has asked about me? - Petyr decided to probe. - How is his health, by the way?
- Better than his father was,' Royce hissed, 'especially after you poisoned him.
Baelish's face had hardly changed, but his eyes had gone ice-cold:
- 'What nonsense are you talking, Lord Royce? As Lord Protector of the Vale, I order you to deliver me to Lord Arryn immediately. That's an order!
- I no longer take orders from you, Littlefinger,' Bronze John's broad palms rested on Baelish's shoulders. - And Lord Arryn would be much better off if he never saw you again.
- Oh, please.
Petyr's words turned into a convulsive wheeze as Royce's fingers closed around his neck. The old knight's grip was deadly, and no matter how much Baelish struggled, he could not break free. His strength was not enough to deal with the experienced warrior. Littlefinger's face poured blood, and he tried to say something, but all he could get out of his mouth was a death rattle. Royce was squeezing the life out of Baelish more and more with each passing moment, and he only calmed down when Petyr stopped beating. The knight's arms came loose and his breathless body collapsed to the floor.
- We leave the North immediately,' Lord Royce said in a lifeless voice. - There is nothing more for us to do here.
- I dare not delay you,' John replied, and as the knight left, he ordered the soldiers, pointing to Baelish's corpse. - Burn the body outside the castle.
The soldiers picked up the body by the legs and dragged it away, and Snow sat down beside his sister and put his arm around her shoulders. It was only at that moment that tears glistened in the girl's eyes, but she said nothing. She just leaned into her cousin's shoulder.
***
A few days earlier.
- And what is the second half of the story? - Ser Davos asked, ahead of the others.
- First, I will ask each of you to swear,' John began, 'that you will not tell anyone what you are about to hear. If you don't agree, you can leave right now, I'm not obliging you to do anything.
- Why such precautions? - Karstark asked.
- Because what I'm about to tell you could turn our whole lives upside down if it got out,' Snow said. - I shouldn't have said anything at all, but I don't want secrets between us. So, your word.
Tormund was the first to swear, for he didn't give a damn about all the secrets put together. Harald Karstark followed suit, then Ser Davos. Sansa was the last to swear, and it was the first time in her life that she had called the Old Gods as witnesses rather than the Seven. The gods of the South had long since proven their weakness in the eyes of Sansa, who henceforth bound her fate only to the North.
Jon breathed a sigh of relief. He wasn't going to be honest with them, particularly about the fact that he wasn't quite the Snow they'd once known, but was in fact a pungent mixture of two entities, one of which had come from another world.
To be honest, Jon couldn't understand why Dovakin's soul was in this body. What had caused it? Melisandre's ritual? Who Jon had been told had left Castle Black and was on her way to Winterfell. Could it really have been the Lord of Light's wish? After all, Dovakin knew that gods existed, and many of them had not the most pleasant temperament and a very specific sense of humour. He even wondered if Dovakin and Jon Snow had ever existed, because their memories were so jumbled that it was impossible to know who had some memories and who had others. Could he have lived both lives, and when he died, just remembered one of them?
John had no answers to any of these questions, so he wasn't going to tell the others about them. Especially since he had enough to share.
- It all happened again after I died,' Jon started to say, but Sansa interrupted him:
- 'Wait, Jon. I still don't know what you mean when you say you were dead.
- That I was dead,' Snow replied slowly. - I wasn't breathing, my heart had stopped. The life had left my body. Ser Davos can attest to this, he was the first person I saw after I was resurrected.
- But that's... That's impossible! - Karstark exclaimed.
- Is that what you're telling me? - John was surprised. - I understand no more about what happened than you do. Be that as it may, I stand here before you, though my body should have been burned long ago.
- I can hardly believe it,' Karstark exhaled.
- Neither do we,' Ser Davos replied, 'though we have seen it with our own eyes.
- Will you allow me to continue? - John asked. - Thank you. When I told the lords what I saw on the other side, I had to leave out some details. The thing is, I saw not only the Words I used on the battlefield, but my whole life.
- What's the big deal? - Tormund asked.
- From her very first day,' Jon clarified, and Sansa immediately pitched forward.
- Your mother...' she whispered.
- I saw her, Sansa,' Snow replied quietly. - I saw her die giving birth to me, but before she did, she handed me over to Eddard Stark. And now I know why your father never told anyone who she was. Because I'm Lyanna Stark's son.
Jon's words had the effect of a lightning bolt. They looked at him as if he claimed kinship with the Night King, and only Tormund didn't understand, for to him Jon's origins meant little. He was a Northman, and the rest didn't matter.
- Wait,' Karstark was the first to come to his senses. - But Lyanna Stark was kidnapped by Rhaegar Targaryen, which was one of the reasons for Robert Baratheon's rebellion.
- Who knows what really happened then? - Jon asked in response. - But I remember the stories that when Eddard Stark came to Dorne to fetch his sister, he had to fight three knights of the Kingsguard who were guarding the Tower of Joy. One of them was Erthur Dane, the Sword of Dawn, considered the deadliest knight of his time and Rhaegar Targaryen's best friend.
- Damn it,' Davos exhaled. - Everyone in Westeros had heard the story, but no one had ever wondered what the Knights of the Kingsguard were doing in Dorne in the first place?
- What's so strange about that? - Tormund asked.
- The thing is,' Karstark explained to the wildling, 'the Guard has its name for a reason. Their primary duty is to protect the royal family. Lyanna Stark couldn't be one of them, but....
- But if she was pregnant by the crown prince, the Knights of the Kingsguard had a good reason to protect her,' Ser Davos finished. - Now I understand why you chose to keep quiet. If anyone finds out who your father really is, the consequences will be unpredictable.
- But they are only words! - Tormund objected. - There is no proof! I could go out there right now and say that my father was an ice dragon, but who would believe me?!
As Snow listened to his allies, he watched Sansa. After Jon's confession, it was as if the girl had withdrawn into herself, her gaze frozen like a dead man's.
- After what Jon did on the battlefield, the lords might believe it,' Davos said. - And even if they don't, there will always be people who want to use those words to further their own ends. With an army of the dead coming at us, such information could divide the Northmen, which would be suicidal for us.
- Sansa? - Jon called out to the girl. - Will you say something?
The girl looked up at Jon, stood up silently and walked over to him. Looking into his eyes, she gathered her courage and answered:
- I don't care who your father really was. In my eyes he was Eddard Stark, our father, and you have Stark blood in you. Nothing else matters.
Before Jon could even open his mouth, the door swung open and one of the maids came running into the chambers.
- I told you not to disturb us,' Snow frowned.
- Forgive me, Lord Snow,' the maid said excitedly, 'but your brother has escaped.
- What?! Where?!
- To the wildlings...
***
Several days had passed since Jon's big day, most of which Sansa had spent trying to convince Rickon that he should sleep in his room at the castle. But Young Teen Wolf, as the younger Stark was known, was bored in the castle and spent more time in the company of the wildlings, who clearly liked the boy.
Tormund even joked that the Free Folk seemed to have a new leader or even a king, for which the bearded man nearly got a smack on the head from Brienne of Tarth, but he was glad. The wildling was devouring the tall maiden with his eyes, and so he was glad of any show of attention on her part, even if it was just that. By the way, Lady Brienne herself was not at all pleased by such a show of affection. In her eyes, Tormund was a rough savage who could only be married to a savage like her.
Meanwhile, the Lords of the North had an unexpected problem: having declared their independence again, they suddenly discovered they had no king. The main Stark heir, Rickon, didn't want to hear about anything, preferring to spend his time with the Free Folk, not to mention that he was too young. Sansa was not suited for the role either, being in fact the widow of Ramsay Bolton. Jon Snow was Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, and as a bastard he had no claim to the title.
The situation threatened to spiral out of control when Lady Melisandre from Castle Black, Tormund and Lyanna Mormont intervened. At the nearest meeting of the Lords of the North, the Priestess of Rglor stepped to the centre of the hall and declared:
- Your arguments about who should rule are pointless, for the choice has long since been made,' her confident voice and defiant appearance caught the lords' attention. - Jon Snow is the chosen one of the Lord of Light, the reborn Azor Ahai. He is the Prince that was promised. He is the one destined to lead the battle against the Lord of Darkness, and without him, you are all doomed. If he falls, all of you will fall.
The Red Woman's words were greeted by the lords with a less than joyful roar, but no one dared to contradict her. If Jon Snow was to be believed, it might have been the woman who brought him back from the dead. So was it worth it to mess with that witch?
- I don't know what she's talking about,' Tormund said, 'but I'll say this. The Free Folk are only willing to go after one man. The one man who didn't leave us to die at the Wall, who didn't leave us to the White Walkers. We will follow Jon Snow and no one else.
Before the lords could react to these words, Lyanna Mormont rose from her seat. The little girl who had been entrusted with so much responsibility had grown up too soon, and so she looked at the world through eyes that were not those of a child.
- Lords and Ladies of the North,' her voice rang through the Great Hall. - The Boltons once came to us and demanded our loyalty. We refused them. Then Stannis Baratheon came and demanded we recognise him as our king. But we refused him. Why? Because only the King of the North, whose name is Stark, can rule us. The North remembers its vows. House Mormont does! I don't care if he's a bastard or a brother of the Night's Watch! Jon Snow is my king from this day until the last! He is the true King of the North!
- Yes! The King of the North!
- Jon Snow, the White Wolf!
- The Wolf of the North!
The lords leapt from their seats with their swords raised above their heads. The Great Hall thundered beneath the vaults:
- King of the North! King of the North! King of the North!