Chapter 88

A week later

"Lord Karstark offered me the hand of his daughter in marriage. The gall of the man. Can you believe it?" he asked in slight anger and annoyance as he huffed and sat down on the chair in his study, trying not to look at the amused smiled on his aunt's face as that would only serve to annoy him even more.

"And what's wrong with that?" his aunt asked innocently. Too innocently "Alys Karstark is the same age as you and is the daughter of one of the Great Houses of the North."

He gave an annoyed look to his aunt who barely managed to keep a straight face for a short moment before she started giggling to herself.

"Very funny auntie. Very funny."

"Okay okay. Perhaps not Alys Karstark then." Her smile dimmer and her expression turned a little serious "But that doesn't mean that you can remain a bachelor much longer. You need to think about your house and about having an heir."

"I'm only 13 years old auntie." He said with a long suffering sigh but she was not one to be deterred by such feeble excuses.

"Old enough to marry and sire a child." She said "Dom. Listen to me. Despite the great amount of progress you've brought to your lands. Despite all you've done for your people. As long as you remain without an heir, the people in your lands will always feel insecure. I know that you want to enjoy your freedom for a while longer but you have to stop thinking about yourself and start thinking about your people."

He let out a sigh at her words "That was a cheap shot auntie." He mumbled to her. She knew how much he cared for his people and was not above using it to manipulate that fact to help him.

"So. Will you think about it?" she asked and he sighed once again and felt himself slide down on his chair in an inelegant display.

"I don't really have much of a choice in that matter." He told her and she sharply turned to look at him and frowned.

"What do you mean that you don't have a choice?" she asked.

"Well…" he hesitated for a moment but then realized that she'll find out soon enough anyway so he continued "Lord Stark thinks that House Bolton has amassed too much power in the last half a decade."

Her face turned grim "Well, he's not wrong there. If it was me in his position then I would have done everything to stop your advance. Maybe even try to assassinate you if the opportunity arose. Though I have a feeling that he still doesn't understand the true scope of your powers."

He gave her a deadpanned gaze and she just gave a shrug.

"Well… The point is that Lady Catelyn Stark has convinced Lord Stark that he couldn't leave such a powerful vassal all alone without having familial ties to them."