24 24

288 AC

Dreadfort POV

His face was set in stone as he looked at his emotionless-faced son, who stood before him, not even taking a seat.

"I trust that this helped you understand the consequences of failing, be glad that you learn this from me and not from your enemies." Roose simply said, watching his son's face, the way his lips twitched, almost forming a snarl until they schooled themselves...

"Yes... Enemies, father... I understand." His son simply said, making Roose nod his head.

"Go, and let this by always remind you of the danger in having a smallfolk getting too close to you." His son just watched him, the way his eyes burned in the Bolton traditional ice wrath almost made Roose smile...

Almost...

"Yes, father." His son walked out of the room, closing behind himself as Roose's supported his head, not looking at another person in the room.

"How, how did this happen?" He simply asked the way his voice hid the rising anger, not stopping the other man in the room from almost gulping.

"I-I, this is my fault, milord, I will bear the punishment." Rickard, the Master-of-arms, answered as he steeled his face and voice with some effort.

"Punishment, this is how this started, I WANT to know HOW simple order to PUT two women into CELL for the night changed into RAPE and torture of OUR OWN MEN." Roose didn't scream nor raise his voice, but with each word he spoke, his voice almost gained a weight of its own.

And wasn't Roose Bolton sufficiently pissed, a simple order, a simple show of authority for his son, all that changed into this entire cluster-fuck, and Roose couldn't even say it wasn't his intention, as who would believe in him?

His son certainly not, Roose wasn't blind to his son's disdain for him, something he held even before this entire event of last night, Roose knew very well that even if he had proof of not ordering such a drastic move, his son would still hold doubts, as Roose knew he himself would, in this, his son was just like him, something that made Roose almost chuckle if not for the complications it created...

"You will find HOW, it was you who I ordered to put them into cells, WHAT did you tell those men who were guarding the lower floors?" Roose's cold blue eyes looked at Rickard, who now accepted his fate, he knew that even if Roose himself wouldn't punish him, his hand in this debacle was clear and something his little lordling would surely remember...

"I relayed your order's from word to word milord, I do not understand what these men thought, but I will find the truth that I promise you." Rickard seriously said, and he meant it, even if he had to fly these men's skin himself, this entire incident creating an edge between the lord and his son wasn't something taken lightly, everyone in the castle knew of the lordling's fancy of his private maids, for these men doing something like this without an order from the lord...

"You do that, and I wish to know how they thought they could get away with torturing their fellow guards, even if they didn't listen to order, which I did not give, their fate would still rest in MY hands and not of some prison guards." Roose gritted out, such insubordination was a colossal failure, on which side Roose didn't know, but it was something that made him almost fear, what else happened behind his back?

Roose wasn't a kind man, but he was clear in tip-toeing on the small rope that is called law, and there was nothing worse than traitorous and undisciplined subordinates, just idiotic subordinates were worse...

"The three men and the women?" Roose simply asked.

"The maids are in your son's private chambers, being looked on by Maester himself, and the men in guest rooms, being taken care of by nurses." Roose frowned, but then he let it by, it was clear that any more reprimand from him would risk increasing his son's wrath, and Bolton's were known for their cold wrath, as such, Roose knew he would need to look after any danger from his son, no matter how far fetched that sounded, he was a Bolton, and Roose raised him as such, it was just in their family...

"Nurses hm... Just another show of his brilliance..." Roose mused that the idea of Nurses was at the start ridiculous until the results started arriving, showing how much such simple care helped his subjects, or better yet, Roose imagined the war campaigns where Nurses would follow his soldiers...

After all, the biggest mortality rate was from injuries and not in battles, imagination of entire tents full of these nurses that would take care of injured soldiers was something that Roose knew would change entire wars...

Rickard stayed silent, even if he himself agreed, who knew having women taking such roles would show such good results, and it was certainly better being taken care of by women's tender hands than some old Master's shriveled palms...

"And another thing, prepare a hundred recruits, all of them from fifteen to twenty, the most promising ones, and send them to my son's group for training." This time Rickard couldn't help but argue.

"A-are you sure, milord? I mean, after this... Will not this make your son..." Rickard didn't know how to answer, still, his words made Roose look at him, but he wasn't frowning nor angered, in truth, Rickard almost shivered when he realized that his lord was smiling.

"What? Kill me? Rebel against me? Please, Rickard, use that head of yours for a while, my son, if you look at all his actions until now, you will realize that my son's true wish is to strengthen my land, my men, and my people, all for the sake of when he inherits that he would have a better starting point..." Roose almost grinned...

"An open rebellion with his men? If he did that, he would be called power-hungry, a kinslayer, something my son who likes his reputation of a kind child doesn't wish, no matter how much he tries, his blood if that of Bolton, he wouldn't be ever kind, maybe less evil, but not a kind... No, my son will not move so openly, using his newly gained men against me, as that would weaken Bolton's strength, something my son clearly doesn't wish for..."

Roose was now grinning, something that made Rickard almost back off from how natural that face looked on his normally stoic-looking lord.

"And even if he did, he is clever enough to know that the number of problems it would create, after all, he is still a child, and as a child, a regent would be needed, even if he has good relations to my sibling's, Domeron wouldn't want to share his power again, not with Randar or Talana, who both have their own families to take care of, no, my son wouldn't act so shortsightedly..." Roose confidently said he knew very well how his son would act if he wanted his death, it would need to be seen as an incident, something that would be hard to do in the castle...

Maybe he should send a raven to Talana or Barbrey, both women had quite a nice relationship with their nephew, even though they rarely visited, and Domeron was too young to travel so much...

"No, send them to my son, if something showed to me that my men need retraining, it was this event," Roose ordered, this time, Rickard just nodded his head.

"And Rickard, find the truth," Roose said as he looked at the obsidian sword that was bathed in the blood of his own men...

"And when I find it, milord?" Rickard asked.

"...Then they no longer are of use... I do not need rabid dogs that can't follow orders in my castle." Rickard gulped but nodded, his lord's orders were clear...

And Rickard himself wanted to know just what shit did go through the men's heads when they clearly acted out of their bounds and orders...

Just when Rickard was almost out of the room, he could hear his lord sigh.

"Ah, Talana, you were always better in these matters..." Roose thought of his more sensitive sister, who was always the more kind one of their family, maybe too much kind for the holder of Bolton blood...

It wouldn't hurt to send her a letter...