Chapter 67: Death of Illusions

Catelyn Stark felt as if the gods were playing a cruel trick on her when Robb told her he wouldn't wed Dacey despite her carrying his babe. Her very first grandchild would be a bastard. They would be claimed by the Mormonts but that wouldn't change how they were born. It wouldn't change how people saw them. Her innocent grandchild would suffer for their parents unwillingness to do what was right, and it felt like it was all some punishment for how she had treated Jon.

At first she wanted to blame the Mormonts. Cat knew her son would want to do what was right the moment he learned she was pregnant. He would've taken her as his queen in a moment, so it had to be her decision to return to Bear Island that was stopping them. However Dacey was also her best chance to change things. It wasn't as if he had any others he cared for and whenever they brought up his marriage as a way to gain an alliance with Dorne or to convince the Vale to join them Robb was firmly against it. If Dacey decided she did want to be with Robb then he would marry her.

While Robb rode south he'd sent companies of men across the North to run out any lingering ironborn and help begin rebuilding the keeps and towns ruined by them. Eddard had suggested it as a way to show the North they intended to help and assure those lords wary of their decision to allow the wildlings past the Wall.

She knew Eddard was still in contact with not only his brother and the Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, Jeor Mormont but the King-Beyond-the-Wall, Mance Rayder.

"How did you get them to agree to your terms?" Davos Seaworth asked as they sat for supper with the Baratheon party after Robb's departure. Apart from the Mormonts they were the only lords to stay in Winterfell. The rest either left with Robb or to check on their keeps before Robb's return. Most left a few captains at Winterfell in case anything of import happened.

"They're people the same as us," Ned said reaching for his cup. "Their ways are different but in the end they want the same things are us. They're just a wild horse we need to care for. They'll buck but in time they'll settle and be tame as any other."

"You say that but you're all the way down here while my daughters are half the distance from where you've let them settle," Maege Mormont said with a laugh. "I don't think they'll be too happy when they come to steal a wife and my Lyra or Jorelle put maces through their skulls."

"They know the laws here," Eddard said shaking his head.

"And why should they keep them?" asked the stern faced Selyse Florent. "You trust those uncivilized men to obey your laws because you ask? They know no gods but the twisted things they dreamt in the cold night."

"They obey because they are free to keep their customs among themselves," Eddard said grimly, "but I've told them the moment they take a thatcher's daughter she'll be found and a company of Northmen will put to rest whatever clan or village thinks themselves wildling raiders rather than free folk of the North."

"You would wipe out an entire village for one man's crime?" Axell Florent asked with surprise.

"I hope the threat a way to avoid such a thing," Ned admitted. "If I said simply the man who took her would die then they might kill any girls they take and hide the bodies once they knew we were looking for them. This way I hope once others learned the girl taken they might kill the raider for his crime. That way when our men arrive the girl will be taken care of and the kidnapper dead by the time our men arrive so they need not risk themselves getting her back."

"Or it could band the village together against you," Gendry said looking up from his plate.

"It could," Eddard said with a nod, "but then they are supporting the kidnap and rape of some poor woman and deserving of what comes, don't you think?"

"If they've agreed to your terms is there a reason they've yet to come swear to our king?" asked Selyse.

"They will by the time he returns. There was so many of them," Eddard said with a grunt of agreement from Alester and Axell Florent. "It felt like they stretched through the entire forest. Even when I left they were still bringing people through."

"Could they have actually won if you didn't get them by surprise?" Arya asked from her spot beside Shireen, who was laughing along with Rickon while Patchface danced off to the side.

It was Edric Baratheon who scoffed. "Not unless we fought with our hands and abandoned our horses. Most of them still used stone or bone for their weapons. Any decent armor or steel they wield is taken from dead rangers or raids. Only the Thenns were fairly well armed, and even then only with bronze. The few horses they had were used for burden more than mounts. A company of skilled men in well made armor could've torn through them in time."

"It sounds as if all the Watch needed to defend itself was more men and better equipment," noted Davos.

"Preparation slays more opponents than steel," Arya said with a smile.

Sansa turned to her sister asking, "Another one of Syrio's lessons?"

"It doesn't just mean it's better to prepare though," Arya said nodding. "It's a reminder that steel itself doesn't take lives. Steel on its own is nothing. It's the person wielding it who is the danger."

"A good thing to remember," said Melisandre, which Sansa took notice of.

Catelyn frowned noting how her daughter had been spending more time with the red priestess. She'd seen how feverishly devoted Selyse was at times, but Sansa still followed the Seven. Thankfully she still came to the sept with her each day and spent as much time with Jeyne as she did speaking with the Asshai woman. Instead she focused on her grandchild.

"Still it is unsettling to know they could do something before we have time to reach them," Cat said shaking her head mournfully. "It's bound to happen. Some young fool will think himself above the law and some girl will suffer for it, and even more after that."

Eddard frowned hearing his wife say such a thing, though thankfully it was only before those close to them and not the other lords of the realm. "We can't account for all the evils of man. None can."

"Of course. I only mean to say I'm our girls are safe here within the walls of Winterfell." Turning to Dacey she said, "Perhaps it's better to stay here at least until things have settled with the wildlings?"

Dacey shook her head. "Bear Island is as safe as any place. Our people might be less in number but they're worth more than most. We've dealt with stray wildlings for years. This should be no different."

"How long before you return?" Catelyn asked cautiously.

Dacey frowned. "I'm not sure. We agreed to discuss where they'll be born when Robb returned. The only reason I didn't ride with him was Domeric mentioning Walder might see it as an insult that he put a babe in me but wouldn't marry one of his daughters."

"He's like to find insult in the water not parting to keep his feet dry," Selyse said with a scoff, earning some chuckles from the table.

Catelyn tried to find ways to spend time with Dacey. She would let Rickon run around with Shaggydog and Osha while she when to watch Arya and Eddard in the yard, which just happened to be where Dacey would be. Thankfully she wore extra armor and those who sparred with her avoided her torso. While praising Arya and Eddard she would pay compliments to Dacey and escort her back to the keep or on her way to pick up Rickon.

It was over a sennight before she felt a tense shift in the air.

Eddard seemed quieter than usual and then one day asked her as they lay in bed together, "Have you noticed any of the men behaving oddly?"

"Not enough for me to have noticed." She turned and saw he was contemplative so asked, "Why?"

"Some of the lords left men here," he said more to himself than her.

"Surely to act on their behalf if not to ease their hearts as well as that of their king knowing their number bolster our guard," she said with a somber smile as she stroked his beard. "Last time Robb went that far south Winterfell was taken by a turncloak. It would do him no good to worry of such a thing happening again while he settles things with the Freys."

She saw Eddard's gaze harden, though he nodded in agreement with her. "It would do no good to worry him."

However that didn't seem to settle things with him as the tenseness in him lingered. Over the next few days she noticed him often seeking out Gendry, Davos, the Florent brothers and oddest of all even Melisandre. When she asked him why he sought them out he answered simply, "I'm their host and lord of Winterfell. It's my duty to care for them."

"That's my duty as Lady of Winterfell to make sure their needs are met," she argued.

"And you've done so well," he said with an assuring smile, "but while you tend to their comfort I have to ease their minds and assure them their support isn't ill placed. All we've done so far is give their forces refuge, but they still have lands and people beyond the Riverlands. If they feel ill cared for or ignored they may abandon our cause to try and make their own once again."

Pushing it out of her mind she focused on making Dacey feel at home in Winterfell. She called back to all the little tricks she'd picked up during her pregnancies. She did her best to help her but she noticed the girl was tense, seeming almost paranoid at times. Dacey wore mail nearly all the time, wore a sword half the day and kept a dagger for the rest.

Then one day she snapped when Catelyn asked, "Wouldn't it be better for the babe to not wear your mail so often?"

"Gods, are you truly so blind?" Dacey yelled as she came to a stop, startling Catelyn, Maege, Brienne and some of the guards who followed them. "I know what this is. I know the only reason you spend so much time with me is to try and convince me to wed Robb. He's warned me you might try something like this, feared you might even embarrass yourself begging me to marry him, but at least that would be honest instead of this pathetic game you play while being so blind to everything else around you."

The Mormont heir internalized a scream and stormed off, Maege giving Cat a quick apologetic look before rushing off after her daughter with a trio of guards. Brienne walked to Catelyn's side, frowning as she looked from the retreating Mormonts to her liege.

When she came to supper Dacey met her to apologize, saying it was the unbalance of pregnancy that drove her to say such things. Catelyn quickly forgave her, having experienced it herself at times. She spoke frankly with Dacey, who shared her reasons for wanting to remain Lady of Bear Isle. It felt like a defeat Catelyn could only accept, but found the woman's words lingered with her.

It started as they sat to eat that she noticed it wasn't just Dacey and Eddard who were tense but half the court seemed to have an anxiety about them. Osha had become a kind of nanny for Rickon whenever she and Eddard were busy, the wildling woman having proven herself during Theon's betrayal. Now she was one of the few Rickon trusted as much as his family, and she even seemed to be able to rein in Shaggydog at times. Yet even when Catelyn hadn't asked her the wildling woman was near Rickon watching him, or rather watching those who came near him.

Arya had devoted herself to her training since the moment they returned, but now it seemed as if Syrio was beside her all the time. No longer did she stumble across her daughter in some odd disguise or running about keep while balancing a blunt dagger on her palm or any of the other countless tasks Syrio sometimes sent her on. Even Sansa suddenly spent more time with Melisandre, who joined her on her walks with Jeyne while her Baratheon and Florent guards followed.

It dawned on her how Brienne had suddenly taken to following her more often than she had weeks earlier. She wasn't sure she'd been without her for more than a few moments. Her sworn shield hadn't even been to train, and she found it was Eddard who asked her to guard her.

When she asked him about it Eddard looked up from his desk to tell her, "You said last time Robb went this far south Theon tried to take Winterfell from us. Before that when I went south it was you and Bran who were attacked." He rose from his chair and took her hand in his, opening her palm to trace the feint scar from where s he had held the catspaw's Valyrian steel dagger. "You bear enough scars, my lady."

Though she had kissed him and taken him to bed, as she lay there afterward she couldn't help but feel there was more to it than he said. His concern for her might explain Brienne but the others? Was it truly the memory of what Winterfell faced when its men rode south that drove their paranoia?

Her answer came when she was pulled from her sleep by a clattering in the hall. She sat up with a groan and found Eddard had leapt from the bed and grabbed his sword belt which lay beside it.

"What was that?" she asked as she narrowed her eyes toward the door and strained her ears.

They heard a grunt and suddenly a dozen wolves howling from the yard. She gasped and climbed out of bed as Eddard drew Honor's Hail, tossing the scabbard aside as he made for the door and glanced to her as she followed him to the door, pulling a robe over her chemise.

"Stay back," he warned before opening the door.

Cat gasped as she saw guards in the corridor, half of them trying to kill the others. Brienne stood against a wall beside their door, the table outside it smashed as she held the wrists of a man nearly as tall as her trying to drive a dagger into her neck. Her sword lay buried in the armpit of another man beside them and she was struggling to keep the dagger away as it scraped at her breastplate.

When the attacker heard their door he gasped at the sight of Eddard, but before he could pull away from Brienne she tightened her grip on his wrist and held him in place. His shock faded as Honor's Hail was driven through the side of his neck, Brienne's cobalt armor turning indigo as the blade's withdrawal unleashed a torrent of blood before she could throw the man aside. With a grunt she pressed a boot into the body of the other fallen man, ripping her sword free and rushing forward to help the other guards.

Before Catelyn could stop him Eddard followed Brienne, helping the female warrior tear through the betrayers until only the few loyal guards remained. "Go check on the children," he told four of them while keeping two to follow him and Brienne back to their room.

"What's happening?" she asked as Eddard stormed past her, throwing open the chest holding his armor.

"We've been betrayed," he said setting his Valyrian steel sword down to quickly put on his greaves.

"By who?" she asked watching him grab his cuisses and polyns, putting them over his thighs and knees before getting to his feet.

"Help me," he ordered as the guards stood sentinel at the door. Catelyn rushed over when he pulled a hauberk on, Brienne setting down her sword to help her secure Eddard's cuirass.

"I can handle the rest," she told Brienne, taking a vambrace from her. She went about putting on Eddard armor asking again, "Whose betrayed us? Who are the men attacking us?"

"They'll be Karstark and Glover men," Ned said looking to Brienne. "Did everyone prepare as I told them to?"

"Prepare?" Catelyn asked putting on his pauldron as Brienne nodded. Once the second was secure she asked him, "You knew this would happen?" When he nodded and turned to pick up his helmet she asked, "Why didn't you tell me?"

Before he put the armor on he met her eyes, frowning as he told her, "Because Jon wrote that he saw this happening in a fire."

Catelyn's eyes widened. "Like the red priestess?"

"I wasn't sure you would keep quiet about it once you heard it was just something he saw in a vision," Eddard said putting on his helm and picking up his Valyrian steel sword before turning to leave the room. As he passed the threshold he ordered Brienne and the guards, "Stay with my wife!"

Catelyn stood at the door watching him run through the corridors ready for battle. For a moment she was silent, overcome with shock. Not only had he kept this a secret, but he knew about it because of Jon and some vision in the flames?

"Brienne," she said looking to her sworn shield. "Is what he said true?"

"I don't know for certain, my lady," she said warily. "I know the lord had been concerned lately and asked certain people to discreetly prepare themselves, but I wasn't certain why."

Catelyn gaped at the corridor before leaving the room. Brienne put a hand on her shoulder but before she or the guards could say anything Catelyn told them, "He said to stay by me, not for us to stay here. Come or don't, I'm going to check my children."

They followed her as she made her way through the keep, the sounds of battle ever present. She could hear steel clashing as men yelled and took their final breaths, cheers of victory alongside agonized screams.

Her heart caught in her throat when she came to the corridor of her children's rooms and found Osha stood in the corridor with a bloodied dagger in her hand, bouncing a sniffling Rickon on her hip while Arya stood in front of him making funny faces despite her thin dancer's sword behind her back being soaked in blood from one of the six men Syrio was pushing aside in the corridor.

"Rickon," she gasped, rushing to his side.

"Here's your momma, little lord," Osha said turning to her, holding her dagger away from him as she let Catelyn take Rickon.

Arya smiled as she looked past her to Brienne. "Thank you for keeping her safe."

Brienne smirked at the praise. "Of course, my lady."

"Have you seen Sansa?" Arya asked with a frown. "She wasn't in her room."

"She wasn't?" Catelyn asked, looking to the open door to Sansa's room. The bed looked slept in but the heart had a fairly fresh log in it.

"Rickon sent Shaggydog to find her," Arya said with a frown, "but I'm not sure he understood really. Maybe I should go-"

"No," Catelyn snapped before she could finish. "Syrio, please make sure she doesn't leave her room."

"As your wish, my lady," he said with a bow of his head before stepping past her, waving a hand toward Arya's door. "Go, girl."

Looking to Rickon she said, "I need to find Sansa, okay sweetling? I want you to stay here and stay quiet. I'll send Shaggydog back as soon as I find him."

"Okay," Rickon said with a pout, hugging her before she let him down and he took Osha's hand, the wildling nodding to her before they hid inside Arya's room.

The morning sun was cresting the horizon enough for them to see out the windows as they continued through the keep. In the bailey she saw some of the Glover men left screaming as Nymeria and a dozen wolves tore at them while Eddard and a group of guard knocked them out and killed them before rushing toward another group making for the gatehouse.

Eventually they heard someone cry out in annoyance as they passed the library, "Stop it, Shaggy! Stop!"

Catelyn quickly threw open the door to find Sansa pushing away a Rickon's black furred direwolf tugging at the sleeve of her nightgown. Stood off to the side looking through the pages off a book was Melisandre. Not far from them was a table where a Baratheon guard lay dead atop it while two burn men lay at his feet, their bodies little more than scorched masses of flesh and bone.

"Ah, Lady Stark," she said with a smile. "Lord Stark said you were fine but it is a relief to see it for ourselves."

"Sansa?" Catelyn said walking to her before rubbing Shaggydog's head and telling the direwolf, "Go to Rickon. Protect him and Arya. I'll protect Sansa."

The direwolf whined before turning and leaving the room. Sansa frowned and called out, "Thank you Shaggy!" With a sigh she turned to Catelyn telling her, "Father said we should stay here. I'm sorry if you worried."

"Why weren't you in your room?" she asked looking from her to Melisandre. The red priestess arched her brow at Sansa, who sheepishly looked down.

"I couldn't sleep so I sneaked down to find a lemoncake and came here to read something Lady Melisandre mentioned."

"I found her here reading," Melisandre said turning to Catelyn. "When the men found us my guard tried to stop them but they proved more than he could handle himself. Thankfully my Lord hasn't left me so defenseless. Thankfully Lord Stark told us this was to come else I fear we might have lost more than a few loyal guards."

"He told you of this?" asked Catelyn.

Melisandre nodded. "He warned Lord Gendry and Alester as well as Ser Davos and Axell, but asked me to look over the letters he received from the maester at the Wall. It seems he saw this attack in a flame so we've had time to prepare."

Catelyn gasped remembering the night Eddard had seemed so tense, when he said it would do no good to worry Robb. It seemed clear he had known since then this would happen since then.

Suddenly they winced as horn blasts cut through the dawn air. Melisandre turned to look out the window and smirked. "I look forward to meeting this Jon Snow. It seems all he saw has come to pass."

"What do you mean?" asked Catelyn.

Pulling aside the curtain, Melisandre motioned outside the window saying, "Here come the falcons to tear at their prey."

Carelyn left the two guards with Sansa as she rushed out to the corridor, finding a window looking out to the eastern fields where a host of a thousand men were making their way to Winterfell. Among them she saw banners flying not only for house Karstark and Glover, but Hose Arryn and half a dozen other houses of the vale from Borrell and Corbray to Hunter and Waynwood.

She saw a line of men escorting a battering ram cutting through the host, but before they could begin their charge more horns sounded, and this time not from the attacking force. Instead half came from the mass of a thousand Baratheon riders charging in from the south west of Winterfell while the other half came from the near three thousand wildlings charging from the trees to the north.

The Vale knights peeled away to try and cut off the Baratheon forces while the Karstark and Glover forces turned to face the mass of screaming wildlings. She watched the forces crash into each other, hundreds of men dying in moments as spears skewered steel and flesh.

Then came the howls and horns as the gates to Winterfell opened and she watched Eddard ride out with two hundred men, decimating those guarding the ram before joining the wildlings in picking off the northern men who betrayed them. She did her best to look for Ned in the fray but it was nearly impossible, so instead she went to the courtyard and listened to the screams and yells, waiting until it grew quiet and a guard finally called for the gates to be opened for their lord's return.

The moment Ned had dismounted she ran through the men gathered to throw her arms around him, not caring that she now had other men's blood staining her gown. She only cared that it wasn't his. "Were you hurt? I tried to track you but I couldn't keep up with it all."

He pulled off his helm, taking a deep breath as he looked to her with a somber smile. "I'm fine, Cat. I feared you might have hoped I would returned injured for keeping this from you."

"Never," she said shaking her head. "I know you had you reason but you can explain after you've questioned the captured men about why they've done this."

Eddard shook his head. "There's no need. They attack us because their lords have fallen in with Roose Bolton just as the Freys have."

"The Freys?" She gasped, her eyes widening. "Robb!"

"Will be fine," he quickly assured. "He knew of this as well as the attack from the Freys and Boltons following him south."

Catelyn shook her head. "How?"

"Domeric," said Eddard. "He helped his father come up with this plan, but also faked Devan's death to let the boy ride to Robb and meet him at Moat Cailin to tell him all of it. He even suggested means for us to counter his father's attacks. It's why I had the free folk camping in the woods. It's how I knew to make sure we had at least a thousand riders to overwhelm those from the Vale."

Seeing her shock, Eddard frowned and took her hand. "Come. I'll show you the letter. There is some you need to read yourself."

She followed him to their chambers, watching him pull a folded letter from a pouch on his belt and hand it to her. Unfolding it she found it was actually multiple letters. Two from the Wall, or rather one from Maester Aemon explaining the more confusing one from Jon which warned the old man of winter heat and suggested falconing. Then there was a raven letter from Robb warning them of the attack as well another more detailed one about their plan. She gasped as she read that it was Petyr Baelish who involved the Vale through their tepid alliance with the Lannisters.

Not only that, but his only true demand for sending men to aide them was that they capture her alive and ship her to him. It wasn't her sister wanting to make sure she and the children were safe. Petyr's only demand was her, though Roose intended to wed Sansa to Domeric to secure their position and keep Arya as a spare until they had a healthy heir, at which point they'd kill her and Sansa as they would Rickon.

She had cried into Eddard's shoulder after reading them as the illusion of the man she had considered her friend finally died and she was left to see the truth of Littlefinger. In time she calmed and dressed with Eddard as the lords all gathered for a feast to celebrate their victory.

It was Eddard who stood from his chair at the high table, quieting the room as he held his cup in hand. "Looking upon all gathered here I see only those I can trust. Those loyal to House Stark. True men of the North and knights of the south."

Cheers went out across the room as Eddard smiled briefly but motioned for them to quiet.

"We are war. For more than two years we have been locked in a war with southron lords who look down on us, but we have also fought alongside southron lords. We've stood shoulder to shoulder with men of the Reach and Stormlands. Even men and women from beyond the Wall."

Eddard took a moment to motioned toward the man in a patchwork cloak he introduced earlier as Mance Rayder sat beside a beautiful blonde woman, a lean grey eyed man and a snowy haired man with a massive belly and golden bands covered in runes. The free folk tilted their cups toward Eddard as he looked back to the room.

"Today we faced something all of us fear. A betrayal from men we fought beside and called brothers. However we we able to fend them off because we knew their intent before they ever took up arms. If not for that I fear few of us would be here now. For that we have two men to thank.

"The first is Domeric Bolton, who disobeyed his father to let my son know he was marching to his death with an army of Bolton men following him. Without Domeric sacrificing his loyalty to his family to do what was right I and many others would have lost families instead. To him I gave thanks!"

"Domeric!" Men cheered, as well as, "The Flayed Knight!"

Eddard took a quick drink before looking back to the crowd as they quieted after taking their own drinks. "And while Domeric is likely riding to us as we speak, the other one responsible might still be trapped in the lion's den. For that I ask you all understand some secrets kept to let other live. And sometimes those require larger sacrifices, ones made without hesitation by Jon Snow."

There were a few gasps from the hall before all went quiet to watch their lord speak somberly of his son in the south.

"When Jon learned I had been arrested he returned to King's Landing knowing he would play the turncoat, and by doing so convince the cruel boy king to send me to the Wall rather than take my head. It was him who formed the Fellowship of Fire that freed me from my sentence and brought me home, much as it was him who asked Domeric to guard my daughters with his life and return them to Robb should the worst happen.

"It was his message which arrived over a fortnight ago which told me he or the red priest following him saw this attack in a vision. Despite the risk of being found out he sent a message to us. To me there is no doubt now, nor has there ever been, that Jon Snow is a true son of the North! I will take no umbrage with those who spoke ill of him before, but from this day forward I will not suffer any who speak poorly of the boy I raised and care for as any of my blood. For there should be no doubt now that as all true born sons of the North, he remembered! So let us not forget his sacrifices and instead honor a young man who has fought for us alone, surrounded by vipers and lions!"

People cheered and raised their glasses, half of them yelling for Jon Snow while the northerners bellowed, "The North remembers!"

Catelyn saw Eddard sit with tears in his eyes, taking a breath as she reached out to squeeze his hand. Yet it was her who started to weep as she clung to his arm. While others shed tears of joy in the face of death, she wept for her mistakes and the boy she damned who saved all she loved.

Chains rattled as Domeric woke to find himself hanging from a wall in the Dreadfort's dungeons. Taking a breath he raised his head and found his father stood before him as the frowning gaoler held a torch behind him.

"You succeeded, Domeric," his father said meting his eyes. "You failed to kill me, but that matters little in face of your other successes. The Freys are likely suffering a siege while the men I sent south struggle to return to me. The Starks dine in Winterfell with wildlings and southron lords while Karstark and Glover mourn their losses and the knights of the Vale stand vigil for their fallen brethren. Let none say that my son hasn't achieved a great success today. Nor should they say any less of the fool who fits his foot into his mouth."

Domeric winced as Roose slammed a gauntlet covered fist into his chest. As he coughed Roose grabbed his jaw, making him meet his cooled gazed. "You mother might have suffered your delusions but I won't any longer."

"Don't speak of her," Domeric said trying to shake his head, but his father held his face in place. "You don't deserve to."

"She was my wife," he said grabbing a handful of Domeric's hair before smacking him across the face. "I put you in her. If I so wish I'll dig her up and let her join you here. I'll make you eat whatever hair and nails remain of her and lick her bones clean. I am your lord and you are my son. You have no say in my life. It is I who determines what you deserve. What you've earned."

He roughly tossed Domeric's head aside and stepped back, pulling off his gauntlet and tossing it to the gaoler. "I'll tell you what I deserve. A worthy heir."

Domeric chuckled. "I'm sure Walda will bear you many a halfwit child. I pray my brothers and sisters suffer the pain of being orphaned so they might have a better life."

Roose shook his head but kept his eyes locked on Domeric's. "You misunderstand, son. I'm not a kinslayer and you are still my eldest son and heir. I'm going to break your fantasy and make you into a worthy heir."

Domeric's confusion faded as Roose grabbed his throat, his fingers pressing into his neck until he could no longer breath. He pulled at the chains holding his wrists and ankles but could do nothing as his bulging eyes met Roose's pale, icy gaze.

"I won't kill you, son." Watching consciousness fade from his son, Roose told him, "I'm going to kill the man you think you are."

AN:

Man to be honest the show has actually killed a lot of my enthusiasm, which sucks cause next few chapters were some of my favorites to write but I haven't been in the mood to go over them. I hated the first episode, thought the second was fine but the third really disappointed me. I legit laughed out loud when I realized I got some shit with Northern Conqueror for not killing main characters and having the walkers die before Cersei and Euron, and then that's what happened in the show. I've read fanfictions that have handled characters better than paid writers on a multi million dollar show. If it wasn't literally just 3 episodes left I'd dump it but now I just want to see how bad it'll get. At least there's Endgame, which really just makes the show look even worse beyond the awful choice to make everything so dark.

I'm sure someone is gonna go on and say how Edric is wrong about his assessment of the battle at the Wall, but remember it's coming from a thirteen year old and isn't the point of why I had him say it.

Ending was originally very different but I switched it up, extended the Dom bit and moved the end bit to the next chapter. The Dom bits are a bit of a cheat timeline wise but I think narratively they work better the way I've divided them.

I always struggle with chapter titles, but thought this one kind of fitting as it came to me when I switched out the ending. Originally I had the ending line in the middle of all the Dom stuff, but thought it a better line to end on and more fitting with the North's view of Jon being shattered and Cat's illusion of the man Jon is dying as well as the final nail in the coffin of who Petyr is and what he's done.

Next Chapter: Jon gathers his allies for a meeting before he departs King's Landing. Robb returns to Winterfell but a vision guides him elsewhere.