Chapter Text
Sitting in his solar in the Tower of the Hand, Eddard Stark, Lord of Winterfell, felt more tired than ever and cursed the day King Robert had come to Winterfell with his entire court.
And now he was truly fucked.
The conversation he'd recently had with fat Robert had left him stunned. He wasn't as young as he'd been when he'd arrived at King's Landing with his troops to find Jaime Lannister sitting on the Iron Throne with Aerys's bloodied body at his feet. But now? - he felt tired, exhausted and cornered. His beloved Cat, so fierce and spirited, would scream her head off if she heard what he had agreed to in return for finally returning to Winterfell, with winter so close... and that would only be the beginning... though, truth be told, it was because of her that he had no choice but to accept Robert's proposal. How could Cat be so unreasonable as to do what she had done? Ned had always known there was something crazy about his wife's sister, Lysa, but Cat! He still found it hard to believe. However, the meeting he had with Varys, whose mellifluous voice made him feel uncomfortable, while the Spider told him what Cat had done and the evidence he showed him left no doubt as to its veracity, he had to thank the gods, it seemed, that Cat had not been accused of treason....When he asked Varys why such a decision had been made, the eunuch simply replied that it was for the good of the realm. Eddard suspected that Varys had his own reasons for not telling Robert about his wife and that crazy woman, Lysa Arryn. The whole thing stank.
The only good thing about it was that he would soon be able to return to his beloved Winterfell and leave behind this stinking city where, he now realised, everyone conspired against everyone else. When he got to Winterfell, he would have a long talk with his wife.
He already hated this city, rotten and smelly, full of phonies and schemers, and wished he had never set foot there. And now... his best friend had put him between a rock and a hard place, leaving him no choice.
It was bad enough to see his precious Sansa, so gentle and beautiful, betrothed to Joffrey, who had been so cruel and spoiled. But this... he could never have imagined in a thousand years!!! But alas...there he was, on his third glass, trying to wash the bitter taste of his conversation with Robert out of his head.
~~~~~~~☆~~~~~~
Meanwhile, Lord Tywin, accompanied by tens of thousands of Lannister soldiers and his brother Ser Kevan, his staunchest supporter, was on his way to King's Landing to settle things once and for all, for he did not believe in half measures.
As he sat in his chambers at Golden Tooth Castle, he replayed in his mind for the umpteenth time the events that had led him to leave Casterly Rock for King's Landing.
Weeks earlier, shortly after returning from a hunt in a nearby forest, Maester Creylen had requested an audience at his earliest convenience; he had recently returned from King's Landing, having travelled to Winterfell with the royal retinue, eager to bring back the medicinal plants that only grow in the North. At first he refused to believe it and practically kicked Maester Creylen off his solar, threatening to hang him if what he had told him reached the ears of anyone else, then he stayed shut in all evening with only a bottle of Gold Arbour for company, though he had not allowed himself to get drunk for a long time and despised it when others did, especially his loathsome dwarf son. The last time he had done so was after he had lost his beloved Joanna, that delicate and beautiful flower that had been tornfrom his hands to give him that terrible deformed creature instead, that he was about to give to the sea to be swept away by the waves…
The more he drank, the more taciturn he became, until late at night his brother Kevan finally managed to get into his solar and force him to share a late meal with him. At the end of the meal, sitting in front of the fire, Lord Tywin told him the gist of it, giving that Kevan was the only person he could trust, which stunned his brother, and they both recalled the background that had led to such a shameful and disastrous event , the signs that Lord Tywin had almost failed to notice, or had chosen to ignore.
Later, left alone, the Old Lion got ready to goto bed, and , with his eyes fixed on the flames of the hearth, he turned over and over in his mind all that had happened until he finally came to a decision, the only one possible under the circumstances. But...deep down he suspected that it would not be so easy to convince Jaime...and in that case...
The Old Lion sighed and leaned back against the pillows, closing his eyes and trying to fall asleep; he would have little time to rest when he finally reached the capital.
~~~~~~~☆~~~~~~~
Sansa was walking in the gardens with her Septa when she saw Prince Joffrey coming to meet her, accompanied by his guards.
As always, and despite what had happened with Lady, Sansa was still smitten with her golden prince.
Joffrey approached her with a smirk of smug superiority and a little contempt:
"Lady Sansa, allow me to escort you to a more secluded place. I have a gift to give you."
Sansa's eyes lit up and, taking Joffrey's proffered hand, the two of them made their way to a pavilion at the far end of the royal gardens, surrounded by dense trees. Once inside, Joffrey made her close her eyes and Sansa felt him place something around her neck.
Opening her eyes, Sansa saw a gold pendant of a roaring lion with eyes of tiny rubies, the emblem of House Lannister.
"Thank you, my prince!" exclaimed Sansa. It is a beautiful gift! I can't wait until we're married to give you babies with hair as blond as yours and eyes as green as yours."
Sansa kissed Joffrey and looked up at him with adoring eyes.
Little did Sansa know at that moment that her wish to have the blonde-haired, green-eyed babies would be fulfilled very soon, but she would not have them with Joffrey...
As Sansa kissed her prince, Arya, her little sister, hid behind the trees and watched the whole scene with a grimace of disgust. Soon after, as Sansa bid farewell to Joffrey and headed for the Tower of the Hand, Arya came out of hiding and caught up with her, tugging at her hair.
"Oh, Arya, leave me alone!"
Arya pinched her arm angrily:
"I saw you making out with Joff! How disgusting! How can you like that wretch after what he's done to Nymeria and the Lady?"
Sansa, flushed, turned away from her sister:
"You know it is not proper to spy on others, Arya! And it is none of your business what I do with my betrothed! And what happened with our direwolves was your fault for pushing Joffrey and making Nymeria bite his arm!"
"That's not true!!!" shouted Arya, very angry. "It was your fault for lying that you didn't remember anything when you were asked about what happened there!
You are a coward and a liar! I hope instead of marrying your stupid golden-haired prince, you marry a bald and grumpy old man... !!! ".
"Shut up, Arya!" - Sansa shouted, shoving her sister, who in turn pulled her hair again.
"Girls," came the stern voice of Septa Mordane as she rushed towards them.
"Shame on you both for behaving like two fishermen's wives instead of two ladies of a noble house! March to your chambers at once, or I will report your unseemly behaviour to your Lord Father!"
Sansa, her lips pursed, hurried after Septa Mordane, muttering under her breath that Arya had once again messed up as usual.
~~~~~~~☆~~~~~~~
A few days later, Lord Stark and his eldest daughter Sansa dined with the royal family. Sansa, sitting across from Joffrey, glanced at him from time to time, unaware of the sour expression on Queen Cersei's face, who was not at all pleased with the betrothed of her adorable eldest son.
Reluctantly, the Queen ate small pieces of her roast capon and looked with disgust at her fat husband, whose long beard contained chunks of food, as he drank goblet after goblet of the finest wine in the Reach.
When the servants brought dessert, Sansa placed her favourite lemon cake on her plate and cut a slice, savouring the sweet and sour taste of the cake.
Lord Eddard watched the Crown Prince with a sullen expression, for there was a lascivious edge to Joffrey's gaze on his daughter that he did not like at all. It was not the first time he had regretted that he had accepted Robert's proposal that their children marry one another.
Robert, now quite drunk, was calling for the servant to refill his goblet of wine when one of his personal servants entered and bowed to his master:
"Your Grace, Lord Tywin Lannister's banners have been sighted a few miles from the capital. "
Robert grunted and downed his wine goblet in one gulp.
"Very well. Tell Pycelle and Varys to meet him at the Gold Road gate. I will meet the Old Lion in my solar after he arrives at the Red Keep".
Ned." The king fixed his eyes on Eddard Stark.
"I'll expect you at my solar in a few minutes."
Without another word, Robert rose from the table and left the dining hall, accompanied by his own guards, not even noticing how his wife, Queen Cersei, blanched when she heard that her father was about to arrive at the Red Keep.
~~~~~~~☆~~~~~~~
Later, as the setting sun painted the towers and spires of the Keep in a deep red, a long procession of lords, knights and guards from.the Westerlands entered the inner courtyard of the Red Keep. Sansa, standing on the upper gallery surrounding the courtyard, looked up to see the tall, bald man, with two thick stripes of golden hair covering his cheeks and bright green eyes, wearing dark red armour and a long red cloak, entering the courtyard at the head of the procession, mounted on a magnificent white destrier. For a moment the man looked up and met her gaze, watching her for a while.
However, an uncomfortable feeling ran through her body as she met his gaze, and lingered even after she averted her eyes...
"It's Lord Tywin," a voice whispered beside her and, turning her head, Sansa saw Lord Baelish standing beside her, stroking his pointed beard in a thoughtful gesture.
Sansa had heard many tales of the patriarch of House Lannister in Winterfell, of his brutality and how merciless Lord Lannister was to his enemies.
It was the first time Sansa had seen the fearsome Lord of Casterly Rock with her own eyes, and though she did not know it at the time, it would by no means be the last…
"Why has Lord Lannister come here?" Sansa thought aloud.
"Well, the reason for his visit is not known for certain, but I suppose we will know soon enough."
"Nor will it matter much to us," Sansa murmured, trying to convince herself that she meant what she said, her attention drawn to her beloved Joffrey, who was there in the company of his mother, Queen Cersei, to greet his grandfather. Also present were her own father, Lord Stark, and Varys, and soon after Sansa saw Lord Baelish descend from the gallery to greet Lord Tywin Lannister. At that moment, Sansa could not imagine how wrong she had been to make light of the Lord of Casterly Rock's arrival. She was too young and unprepared for the vicissitudes and intrigues of court and what fate had in store for her. .....