18 -Chapitre 16-

-POV Eddard Stark-

I have rarely been angry in my life, angry in such a way, but today I had many reasons to be, my best friend died because of his stupidity, his son is not his son but a Lannister bastard born of incest, and my son hates me and has thrown everything I taught him into the fire because I didn't put a crown on his head at his birth.

I had always done everything possible to ensure Jon could have the best possible life, I never wanted any of my children to witness the horrors of war, and I always tried to spare them from that.

I was snapped out of my reverie by the incessant questions of Bran, Sansa, and Arya:

"Father, what did Jon do why did he take my husband and imprison him," said Sansa

"Father, is Jon going to become the king?" Arya asked in turn.

Bran asked: "Father, can I become Jon's royal guard once he's king?"

"Father, is Jon going to send us away"

"Or kill us"

"Is he going to kill Joffrey"

"Be quiet!!!" I cursed myself internally seeing them scared of me and I took a deep breath before saying: "I don't know what your brother plans to do and I don't think I'll know because it's clear he no longer trusts me, but he's your brother and he won't harm you, I'm sure of that, in the meantime, I want you to stop screaming like children you are grown now and winter is already here"

They fell silent and I could see they were not reassured so I took them all in my arms and kissed them to reassure them.

I had to reassure them first and then I had to clear up this whole story, what I feared the most was whether Jon had killed Robert or if he had let him die in peace.

-3rd POV-

"Have you caught all the targets," said the new monarch, looking at Connor who had practically filled the role of right hand.

"Yes, Your Majesty," said Connor with a small smile as he was now the right hand of the king.

"Don't call me that yet until I stabilize the situation I won't be King of anything," Aegon said to Connor in a neutral tone.

"Yes, Commander," he said like all the other soldiers who followed me, Aegon loved this title of commander.

"Samwell," Aegon said, looking at one of his trusted friends and lieutenants whom he had hardened and trusted, "I know you're not yet a great warrior, but you're surely the best strategist sitting at this table, I'd like you to give me your opinion on what to do next"

"I think I can rally the Reach to the crown," he said after concentrating and thinking about the best way to approach unification and the second conquest of Westeros.

"Even your father?" Aegon said skeptically.

"Yes, even my father," said Samwell although hesitating.

"Do you really feel capable of that I don't want you to lose your nerve in front of your father and the people who mocked you during your childhood, is that clear?" said Aegon.

Everyone looked at Samwell with a sort of pity that irritated him, and he said in a serious and severe tone:

"Yes, Commander, I know I can do it Jon... sorry I meant Aegon, when I arrived in the capital I thought someone wanted to use me as a hostage to ransom my father, I was scared because I knew my father would be happy to get rid of me at the hands of bandits and that he would never pay for me," Samwell paused so that everyone could fully absorb his words and then continued saying: "But not only were you not a bandit, but you became my brother, you taught me to fight, you helped me become a man and even if I'm not yet a true elite fighter, I'm no longer the Lady Pig that you knew before, I won't betray your trust Lord Snow"

"I hope you won't Lady Pig, and what's next?" said Aegon using the nickname he had given him during training, the only thing that annoyed Samwell was someone calling him fat so Lady Pig always gave him a second wind.

Everyone smiled at the nickname even Samwell who had learned to recognize a good-natured tease and not react to it.

"We don't need to worry yet, we're not only in possession of one of the strongest fortresses in the Kingdom but we have 15,000 trained soldiers..." he started but Aegon interrupted him: "More than half of whom haven't seen a single drop of blood"

"True they're not yet seasoned fighters, but few lords really have troops with better or a training like ours and even fewer as many who have seen blood, most are just peasants who have never held a sword in their life"

Samwell grabbed a lion figurine on the table of the improvised War Council and said: "What's really going to be decisive is what you do with the Lannisters, if you kill them it's surely war you'll have but if it's peace you seek I think you should be careful with the prisoners and don't let them die treat them with respect and try to negotiate with Tywin Lannister"

"I understand..." said Aegon.

Tristan, Vincent, Jordy, Carvin, Corian, Cédric, Elric, Samwell, Dorian, Connor, Bryan, Valeria, and Jonothor all looked at me with undisguised fear because we all knew that taking the city was the easy part the less easy part would be keeping it long enough to stabilize the iron throne and everyone knew my aversion for the Lannisters."