Chapter 37

Robb and Jaime marched South. Jon had hugged his brother. He felt as Robb tightened his hold. "Marry her, concede and plan ahead. Do not let the old Lion get to you." Jon had nodded and then proceeded to agree with his "grandfather." He would marry a Frey and be granted passage through the Twins.

Jon sought Ygrette as soon as he agreed to the marriage. Ygrette was cold to him. "I am to marry in a fortnight." He had said as soon as he out of her.

She merely shrugged, any other woman would have yelled at him or at least cried but not his Ygrette. "It matters not." But it did matter and Jon could tell it did. In the past few months she had shared his bed and he had grown very fond of her. She was fond of him he could tell.

He was not a man to show affection to anyone outside of his family. It was rather hard for him to express his feelings for this young woman.

"I am yours as your as you are mine." He echoed her words. She had said them to him once she shed her furs. It had been too warm to wear furs once they reached the Neck. Ygrette stiffened but kissed him harshly.

Lord Lannister did not only have his wedding in mind. The man decided to marry uncle Tyrion and Lady Sansa Arryn of The Vale. Uncle Tyrion had raged but was just as impotent as he had been when his own marriage had been announced.

It was Jon's job to keep his uncle in line and prevent him from doing something rather foolish. Lord Lannister had been very displeased when his youngest son was nowhere to be found the morning they were to depart for the Twins.

"I will find him. We shall ride in the evening." Jon said and went in search for his uncle. Tywin rode off with his men to the Twins, as did half of his Northern host including the Mormont women and Ygrette. She had been strangely quiet about the whole affair. Jon dreaded the moment he would set foot on the Twins. The weddings would take place there. He would choose his bride and be done with things.

Tyrion did not have that choice, he would have to marry Sansa Arryn and put a child in her belly. Jon had been present in that meeting and remembered it quite vividly.

"You will both do your duty. Jon will marry one of the simpering Frey girls. You will consummate the marriage and then choose to leave her in her ancestral home or ship her to Winterfell, whichever you choose. Tyrion will marry Lady Sansa." At this point the man had turned to his son. "You will put a Lannister baby in her belly. That will be your only task." He smirked nastily.

"You seem to have a certain fondness for that or so we are lead to believe by the rumors."

"With willing partners, not little girls who barely speak their mind." Uncle Tyrion spat.

"No matter, you will do as you are told. You are my son and the Lannisters will be the Lords of the Vale." He had said with a stronger voice.

"For the last time, remove your whores or there will be dire consequences." Jon chose to ignore him and left the tent. Uncle Tyrion stayed and decided to pursue his outrage at being tied with the Arryn girl.

Jon understood him by principle and decided to extend the same courtesy uncle once had with him. The lord of Winterfell found his uncle with Shae, the whore. He was unconscious, from the ales and wines he supposed. Bronn helped him get uncle awake.

He was unintelligible for most of the ride and vomited for the other half.

They arrived to the Twins two days after Tywin and his host. Ghost was not permitted inside the castle. He let Ghost out and gently reminded his men and his host about Ghost and his need to roam free.

Tyrion was better and looked better. They entered the Castle and were effusively welcomed by Lord Frey. Jon accepted the welcome but could not forget this man owed fealty to Riverrun. The fact that they were in the presence of traitors and oath breakers not bode well with him.

He kept quiet however. Some men escorted Uncle Tyrion. He was to be ready for his wedding and feast. Jon did not fail to see Shae was there, barely noticeable but there nonetheless.

Lord Walder Frey brought him out of his observations. "Lord Stark, as promised to your illustrious grandfather I have assembled my daughters." Jon noticed Lannister did not flinch or give away any emotion when the Riverland lord addressed him as his kin.

Frey began a long introduction of all his female progeny. He even included infants who were there for his perusal. The ladies were all rather plain. Jon did not want to be obvious but they were all lacking. The young man was used to true beauty. His mother was a true testament of beauty as was Joanna. Arya had a wild beauty about her and so had Ygrette. These women in these halls were all unremarkable. He did not think he was vain but this was an unpleasant task and if he was to be saddled with a woman he did not know or remotely liked he wanted that woman to at least be easy on the eyes.

"How do you do my Lady?" He said this phrase at least twenty five times and to girls aged fourteen to one and twenty.

Most of the girls were scared or dim witted all but one particular girl. She had brown hair and smiled, the first smile any of these ladies had given him. She had a little gap between her front teeth, it was small but it was the sort of things mother would have noticed had she been there. She would be furious to know that her father had chosen a wife for her eldest son without her. Would mother really care? Jon suspected she wouldn't not with father dead. That news would take precedence. Growing up Jon and his siblings knew something to be a fact. Mother and father loved each other very much. Robb and him especially knew it. They were the oldest and because of that had seen mother and father be affectionate with each other so much more than the rest of them.

"What is your name my Lady?" He asked politely.

"Roslin Frey." She said with big brown doe eyes.

Jon decided his fate then. She would be the next Lady Stark.

The halls looked magnificent fit for the weddings to take place. The grooms and brides had been prepared separately.

Tyrion asked for skins of wine and was conceded to some extent. "You should stop that." His nephew said as a barber cut his dark hair.

The older man growled and motioned a cupbearer to pour more wine in his cup. "The drunker I get the easier it is to forget what I'm about to do." Jon did not have anything to comment after that.

Tyrion was infuriated with the injustice of it all. He was to marry a woman who despised him; her family had actively played a role in his demise. Tyrion's lack of enthusiasm was not completely rooted with that but also with his father. Once more Tywin Lannister slighted him, made him his puppet and ordered him to marry Sansa Arryn. "Put a Lannister baby in her belly." His father had been adamant in their meeting. "I want the Vale. Once you marry the girl and have a baby our family will control most of Westeros."

Tyrion had been incensed. "Have Robb, Jon, Jaime, even Bran could be a better choice."

"Jaime refuses to forsake his oath. Do not be so conceited as to believe you were first choice."

"Robb is a better candidate." Tyrion tried to rein his increasing fury.

"Robb is not a Lannister. He is a Stark as are the rest of my grandchildren. You are a Lannister of Casterly Rock and will do your duty."

"I will not." Tyrion was at the end of his resources. He was offended, humiliated, and angry with his father.

"You will do as I say and that matter is final. You will contribute to our legacy and give me the Vale." His father barely increased his voice and deemed the matter closed.

Tyrion was now getting ready for his wedding to the Arryn girl. Jon took him away from Shae and mounted him on a horse. They were to be married men by the end of the night. Jon was as displeased as he was but seemed calmer. Robb had grounded him, given him perspective.

Perspective, it was exactly what he lacked. There was nothing to be gained with this marriage, not for him. In a few hours he would have another person hating him, and if Lady Sansa's reactions were to be trusted she would hate him with a silent but fervent passion. At least he would have Shae. Father could not take her away from him. He would take his wife and his whore to Winterfell and stay there as a guest with his sister. Father at least had conceded that since he would not consider him to return to the West with his new bride. Father denied him Casterly Rock. The notion that he was to be a guest of Cersei's angered him more than he cared to admit. He should be running the West as the heir to the Westerlands but he wasn't. He was to marry and be another of Tywin Lannister's pawns. Tyrion refused to find another perspective and raged.

Jon and him were to descend and meet with Tywin. They would wait with the Septon. Sansa and the Frey girl were to walk down with Walder Frey.

He stumbled down his seat Jon by his side. They were in the great hall; Tywin and his triumphant smirk awaited them. Tyrion asked for more wine.

"You take delight in embarrassing you father. Always have done so." The man wrenched the cup of wine away from him and handed him a heavy Lannister Cloak.

They had to improvise he presumed. In walked Sansa and the Frey girl, beautiful as the young girls that they were. One looked incandescently happy while the other had red eyes from crying. Both girls wore heavy cloaks with emblems from their respective houses.

The ceremony was a dull affair. He barely registered the Septon's words. He had to be prodded to put the cloak around his tall bride. She had the decency to bend her knees. He would thank her later.

Jon did the same with his bride or so he assumed. Tyrion was too preoccupied with not vomiting on his bride's feet.

They were proclaimed husband and wife. Sansa wiped some tears but could not bear to look at him for more tears leaked from those blue eyes.

He grabbed her hand and led her to the wedding table. "I promised you to take you to your aunt. I am afraid I will have to break that promise. You shall go North with me." He tried to reach for her hand but the girl shied away and fixed her gaze in front of her.

He drank more and more until it was time for the bedding ceremony. Jon and his Frey were seized and divested. His nephew wore a grim face and his bride looked terrified.

Thankfully he was able to slip out of the halls with Sansa untouched. They were not as important as Jon and new bride were. They were a mere addition to save time. He was sure young Sansa never imagined her wedding to be so unremarkable.

She stiffened when he touched her elbow and they left to their appointed quarters. Once more he was glad a cupbearer escorted them there.

Their quarters were decent, not beautiful like in King's Landing or imposing like in Winterfell or Casterly Rock.

He stepped inside and watched as his young wife removed her gown. She had tears in her eyes but looked resigned to her fate. She looked impotent, helpless just like he felt.

"Stop." He said and turned away from the young woman. "I can't." That was incorrect, "I could, I would but I won't. Not like this." She glanced at him with big blue eyes.

"But your father." She knew, his wife knew, at least she couldn't hold him responsible for the fiasco that their lives would be.

"If he wants somebody to be fucked I know where he can start." He growled.

"I won't share your bed. Not until you want me to." He slurred. He would keep this promise; his father be damned.

"What if I never want you to?"

Tyrion grabbed a nearby glass of wine. He raised it as if to make a toast. "And so my watch begins."

He drank his wine and made fell on a nearby chaise.

He woke up a few hours later a maid insisted on knocking like the world was coming to an end.

Tyrion looked towards his wife's direction and found her soundly asleep. He unsteadily opened the door. The woman looked embarrassed but entered the room nonetheless.

Sansa woke up too. She looked scared and then relaxed once the maid dressed her. Tyrion left the room. He searched for a privy and some breakfast.

Father looked at him with reproach but kept quiet. Jon was breaking his fast as well. The boy somberly smiled at him. It was done then, he had a wife in all the sense of the word.

He ate some bacon and bread. "I trust matters went well yesterday night. I need not remind you of your duty." His Lord father did not ask, he commanded. "We have secured passage from the North to the south." His father drawled.

Tyrion did not point out that it had been Jon who had wedded and bedded the Frey girl. "What have you decided?" His father addressed Jon.

"Roslin will go with nuncle Tyrion and his new wife." Roslin, that was the name of the simpering girl.

Tywin nodded. He then addressed them both. "Very well, Jon will March South with his Host. I will secure these lands. Jaime and Robb should be making way for Jon and the Northermen. Kevan holds the West. Once Jon and his Host reach and sack King's Landing. Jaime and Robb will storm whatever lands do not submit to us and that includes Renly Baratheon and his newly acquired knights."

Tyrion did not have a clear sense of who would take the throne. It rather seemed like father planned to rid himself of the Queen and the princesses. "Who would take the Iron Throne?"

Tywin wiped his mouth. "I received the ravens yesterday and had to change tactics. Joanna, Arya and the Crown prince are well and in Dragon Stone. Stannis Baratheon is ready to support his nephew and his rightful claim to the Thrones as are we."

"What about Tommen?" Jon asked, he perked up with the news.

"No word of him." Tywin commented. "Stannis was succinct with his words."

Tyrion smirked because he could read his lord father very well. Gendry Baratheon, first of his name was betrothed to one Arya Stark of Winterfell. Once the war was over she would be queen. Tywin would have his blood on the throne and possibly run Westeros once more. He would surely be the best fit for Hand of the King. Ned was dead and Stannis was as a very unlikely choice. He lacked the popularity for it.

He looked at Jon. Tywin was smug with satisfaction; Jon was content and less likely to oppose Tywin, not now that he knew at least his sisters to be alive and well. Tyrion chose to ignore the rest of the lecture. It did not concern him, not anymore. He was to go North and be hated by his lovely sister and wife.