Rare / Robert Baratheon / Rieka Stark

18. Treason

"I'll go ahead with my daughters. Get them ready. Do it yourself. Don't ask anyone for help." Ned instructed.

"Right away, my Lord. But... Lord Baelish is here for you." jory added glancing to the door. 

"Get the girls, tell Rieka first, she will help with her sisters. She should be the easiest to convince." Ned mumbled. Jory nodded heading off as Petyr came in. 

"His Grace went on about you at some length after you took your leave. The word "treason" was mentioned." Petyr remarked.

"What can I do for you?" Ned countered blandly.

" When do you return to Winterfell?" Petyr questioned.

"Why? What do you care?"

"If you're still here come nightfall, I'll take you to see the last person Jon Arryn spoke with before falling ill. If that sort of thing still interests you."

"I don't have the time." Ned corrected.

"It won't take more than an hour. But as you please."

Jory knocked on Rieka's door, she wasnt there when he peered in. 

"Rieka?" He called out but a hand grabbed his shoulder making him jump. "My lord." Jory said breathlessly. 

"I need to know what Jon Arryn died for." Ned declared.  "Round up all the men we have and station them outside the girls' chambers. Who are your best two swords?" Ned questioned Jory.

"Heward and Wyl." Jory answered

" Find them and meet me at the stables." Ned requested.

"Your father resigned." 

"What?" Rieka questioned. 

"No doubt he will be taking you and your sisters home." Robert added softly. That thought had once made Rieka so excited to go home to robb and bran and rickon but now... staring back at robert she didnt want to leave yet.  

"I'm sorry your marriage to Ned Stark didn't work out. You seemed so good together." Cersei mused as she came into Roberts chambers. He hesitated seeing Rieka at the piano. "Leave us." Rieka did as commanded getting up, tipping her head to Robert as she left. 

"I'm glad I could do something to make you happy." Robert agreed, his eyes following rieka, he didnt want to deal with Cersei, he wanted to spend the last moments he could with RIeka if she was truly leaving him for good. 

"Without a Hand, everything will fall to pieces."

"I suppose this is where you tell me to give the job to your brother Jaime." Robert mused.

"No. He's not serious enough. I'll say this for Ned Stark - he's serious enough. Was it really worth it? Losing him this way?" Cersei pondered.

"I don't know. But I do know this, if the Targaryen girl convinces her horse-lord husband to invade and the Dothraki horde crosses The Narrow Sea... We won't be able to stop them."

" The Dothraki don't sail. Every child knows that. They don't have discipline. They don't have armor. They don't have siege weapons." Cersei corrected.

"It's a neat little trick you do, you move your lips and your father's voice comes out." Robert informed her.

"Is my father wrong?"

Rieka didnt leave however, she listened at the door. She wanted to know what was really going on. She wanted to know what was the last straw that had her father quitting something that he had left his wife and sons for. What he had dragged them down here for. It wouldnt be for something trivial. 

" Let's say Viserys Targaryen lands with forty thousand Dothraki screamers at his back. We hole up in our castles, a wise move. Only a fool would meet the Dothraki in an open field. They leave us in our castles. They go from town to town, looting and burning, killing every man who can't hide behind a stone wall, stealing all our crops and livestock, enslaving all our women and children. How long do the people of the Seven Kingdoms stand behind their absentee King, their cowardly King hiding behind high walls? When do the people decide that Viserys Targaryen is the rightful monarch after all." Robert pondered. Rieka listened intently and realized that Robert was right, some would start to declare for the Targaryens and supporters could come out of the woodwork, especially if they wanted Cersei off the throne.  Cersei would be Robert's downfall, Rieka saw it now. 

"We still outnumber them." Cersei remarked.

"Which is the bigger number -- five or one?" Robert questioned.

" Five." Cersei agreed confused.

"Five... one." Robert corrected, Cersei stared back at him confused.  "One army, a real army, united behind one leader with one purpose. Our purpose died with the Mad King. Now we've got as many armies as there are men with gold in their purse. And everybody wants something different. Your father wants to own the world. Ned Stark wants to run away and bury his head in the snow." 

That didnt sound like her father. Maybe he didnt want to kill off the Targaryens but maybe Robert was right, he saw the dangers in the world. Ned has a softer heart, saw the good in people. Maybe being married to Cersei for years on end turned him around to see the bad in people, the bitterness, the need for control and power that everyone else wanted to cherish. 

"I felt something for you once, you know?" Cersei whispered.

"I know." Robert agreed.

"Even after we lost our first boy -- for quite a while, actually. Was it ever possible for us? Was there ever a time, ever a... moment?"

"No." Robert admitted and Cersei's face was stone and unchanging. "Does that make you feel better or worse?"

"It doesn't make me feel anything." Cersei lied. It did hurt. 

" What do you know of King Robert's bastards?" Ned questioned.

"Well, he has more than you, for a start." Petyr offered.

"How many?" Ned pushed.

"Does it matter? If you fuck enough women, some of them will give you presents."

"And Jon Arryn tracked them all down. Why?"

" He was the King's Hand. Perhaps Robert wanted them looked after. He was overcome with fatherly love."