Chapter 211

JON ARRYN

Once Robert dismissed the Small council, he came back to his own solar in the Tower of the Hand and sat down to brood over a personal problem of his own.

Namely, his own son Robyn Arryn.

Despite everything he did, the boy's health had only deteriorate further and further in the past few years. And his wife's coddling of the boy was not helping the matters either.

He could understand why she would be so attached to the boy.

She had only been able to give birth to him after 3 miscarriages after all. And Lysa had not been… completely there even before they married.

He could understand that as well.

To be married to a 70 year old man, old enough to be your grandfather was not something that girls dreamed of.

Lysa has been dealt many bad hands in her life. Which was why he always tried to be understanding. Why he was always so gentle with her.

But her coddling of the boy and her excessive pampering was not helping the boy.

He needed to play with children of his own age. He needed to play and run and laugh. Not sit in his mother's lap all day and suck on her tits like a new born.

He wondered, if he had been too lax in his duties as a husband and a father. If the reason why his heir was so weak was yet another mistake of his own.

The lack of a proper heir for the Vale was something that has plagued his sleep for many nights.

And now that Robert was going to the North…

He remembered that Ned had a son of the same age as his own boy. And a daughter of the same age as well. And getting away from his mother's coddling and excessive pampering will allow him to grow.

He wondered if sending his son to Ned for fostering will be a good choice.

It would build another generation of relations between the Vale and the North. And if something came out of the friendship between his son and Ned's younger daughter…

After thinking on this matter for half an hour, he finally decided that sending his son to the North for fostering would be a wise decision.

He was not a young man after all and would not live for much longer.

He hoped that Ned would the father for his son that he himself could never be.

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"ABSOLUTELY NOT!!!" his wife screamed at his face. "I'LL NOT HAVE YOU SEND MY SWEET LITTLE ROBYN TO BE TORN APART MY THOSE SAVAGES."

"Ned is an honorable man." He explained gently "He will treat our boy well and raise him to be a proper lord." He decided not to mention that her sister was also married to the people she was so intent on calling savages. And that the City of Winterhold, which was said to be even more beautiful and advanced than Kings Landing was also in the North.

"No. No no. I'm not sending my sending my poor little boy anywhere. He would not survive without me. I know. A mothers knows." She said with a wild look in her eyes "You're not sending my boy anywhere. YOU HEAR ME!!! YOU'RE NOT SENDING MY SON ANYWHERE! YOU'RE NOT TAKING MY CHILD FROM ME…"

"Enough." He said, more loudly than he had ever done before. It was perhaps the only reason why his wife went silent in the first place "Your excessive coddling of the boy is the reason why he's so weak in the first place. In the North, he'll be able to play with children his age and grow up in a proper household. I'm sending Robyn to the North with Robert. And that's final."

With his piece said, he turned about and left.

"NO!!! DON'T! PLEASE. I BEG YOU. PLEASE DON'T TAKE MY CHILD FROM ME. JON PLEAse…"

Her words faded as he closed the door and left the corridor.

He felt horrible for what he was doing. But it was necessary.

She might be hurt right now but she'll thank him for it later.

And even if she hated him for doing what he did for the rest of his life… Well, nothing would have changed there.