BLACKBIRD (Game of Thrones)

CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE

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KING IN THE NORTH
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DAYS HAD PASSED SINCE EDDARD STARK'S DEATH. Valencia had seen very little of her husband and mother by-law. They had vanished before her eyes. Valencia knew where Robb was, in the godswood, praying. She envied how he could so easily pray while she remained conflicted about the Gods she was raised to worship, and the Gods she married into.
She felt selfish for how she reacted to Robb's avoidance, finding her heart longing for his presence, though she never made her wants clear. But at nights, when she felt the bed dip, and he radiated with warmth from beside her.

Valencia still felt alone.

They sat in the Great Hall of Riverrun, it's Lord, Hoster Tully too ill to attend the council meeting. Yet here Valencia sat, her husband on her right, Lilith on her left, and Catelyn Stark beside her son. They sat along a long table, looking over to their Lords who had been arguing all night.

The arguing raged hard and long, each Lord that had pledged to Robb voicing their own opinion and disregarding others, it seemed as if whoever yelled the loudest was the most correct. They shouted battle strategies, where the strike next, some wanted to ride to Harrenhal and take the impregnable force before the Lannister's could, other's wanted to remain at Riverrun. Valencia could hardly believe her ears when she heard a Lord demand they ride and lay siege to Casterly Rock. She couldn't decide which fortress would be harder to conquer, Casterly Rock, or Harrenhal. Lord Tywin had been smart as a young man, he fortified every wall in the Rock, he strengthened it's stones, built it's towers and made it the impenetrable Keep it was known to be.

Only a fool would lay siege to Casterly Rock.

Due to the raucousness of her Lord's the uncomfortable scraping feeling of an headache began to tighten in her skull. She groaned underneath her breath, her palm against her forehead, gently massaging her tight skin to dull the pain. The afflication burned through her brain, suckling on her skull, the squeezing of the bone becoming unbearable. Her body felt weak, and her lips had turned swollen. She hadn't want to go to the gathering in the godswood with the other Lords, but it was Robb who had practically begged. He needed her by his side.

"The proper course is clear: Pledge fealty to King Renly and move south to join our forces with his!" Lord Mallister demanded loudly. Valencia winced at his loud voice piercing her mind.

Robb sighed and straightened himself, and spoke for the first time since the gathering, "Renly is not the King."

Lord Galbart Glover rose to his feet, eyes narrowing on his Lord. "You cannot mean to hold to Joffrey, My Lord. He put your father to death."

"That doesn't make Renly King," replied Robb. "He's Robert's youngest brother. If Bran can't be Lord of Winterfell before me, Renly can't be King before Stannis."

Valencia's eyebrows furrowed and she turned to met Robb's eyes, her lips curled, "you mean to declare for, Stannis?" Her tone was filled with annoyance, believing that perhaps Robb had changed his mind on helping her achieve the Iron Throne.

Before Robb could reply Lord Glover spoke up, "Renly is not right!"

Greatjon Umber than stood, his dark eyes looking over everyone as he howled. "My Lords, my Lords! Here is what I say to these two Kings!" He hocked back a ball of salvia deep within his throat, and spat it down at the ground. Valencia felt a flinch of anger building her, but held back because of the ache in her mind. No matter what happened between herself and her uncles, they remained her uncles, her blood; her family. Although she did not hold much love for her uncle Stannis, she was practically raised alongside Renly who was not much younger than herself when she was born.

"Renly Baratheon is nothing to me, nor Stannis neither!" Thundered Greatjon. "Why should they rule over me and mine from some flowery seat in the South?! What do they know of the Wall or the Wolfswood? Even their Gods are wrong!" The Northern Lord's laughed loudly, enjoying the amusement of Greatjon.
But as they laughed, the ache in Valencia's head lessened, as a rage burned deep within her. She had been disrespected by these Lord's time and time again, and for a fleeting moment they gave her the respect she had tried so hard to achieve. But the moment was gone, and now they scorn her family, her flesh and blood. "I'd watch you tongue, Lord Umber," she spoke up, her top lips curling back. Greatjon turned and met her deadly gaze, "it is my family you mock, my flesh, my blood, my House. And need I remind you, all of you. That I am still the sole heir to that flowery seat in the South." Her voice came low and threatening, her chest rumbling with warning.

Lord Umber turned his large body around to fully face her. "When I fought beside you, my Lady on the Greenfork, you not only proved yourself worthy of battle, but of my respect. No disrespect was meant to harm you, merely those who oppose us, it is your family that opposes us, not you. You are as much Northerner as I am."

A large uproar came from the crowd, some agreeing and some disagreeing. But it was Dacey Mormont who shut them all up, as usual.

"I saw her in battle!" She yelled, her voice strong and firm. "For every Northerner that died, ten Southerner's took their place. I saw her take down more Lannister's and tribesmen of the Vale than I could count. She may have been born in the South, to Southerner's, and she may not have the blood of the First Men in her. But she has proved herself, and she is every bit of Northerner as I." Valencia gave a small nod and smile to Dacey, for which she returned. Soon enough, the other Lord's began to agree, becoming convinced by the Northern Lady and Lord.

"Why shouldn't we rule ourselves again? It was the dragons we bowed to and now the dragons are dead!-" he unsheathed his longsword from his scabbard and pointed it at Robb. "-There sits the only King I mean to bend my knee to. The King in the North!"

Valencia's eyes grew wide, and the anger in her mind subdued as Greatjon Umber bent the knee to Robb. Placing the tip of his sword deep in the ground.

Shock drowned her nerves, channeling her emotions as a frozen hand clasped over her mouth, wrists and ankles; she was locked down. Her skin began to grey, her mouth hung open and her swollen lips parting, her eyes had reached new levels of roundness, and her lungs contracted. She glanced nervously to Robb who remained still, looking to his Lord's.

She couldn't let this happen, but she couldn't move.

Robb slowly brought himself to a stand as Lord Karstark stood, withdrawing his own sword and kneeling before Greatjon. "I'll have peace on those terms!" Karstark thundered, "they can keep their Red Castle and their iron chair too! The King in the North!"

Valencia's heartbeat thundered like the strikes of thunder, her chest rumbling and her nerves freezing. She couldn't let this happen. She couldn't let Robb become King.

Theon stood next, his eyes locked onto Robb's. "Am I your brother, now and always?" He asked.

Robb nodded, "now and always." Theon unsheathed his sword and knelt, sticking the tip into the ground.

"My sword is yours, in victory and defeat. From this day until my last day."

One after another, Lord's knelt and spoke the words, declaring for their new King. They spoke the words that had not been uttered since the reign of Aegon the Conqueror, and yet, here they were, in the Great Hall of Riverrun.

Valencia looked to Robb, her body clenched and her expression stoney. She seemed calm on the outside, but on the inside, she raged like the storm she was born into.

Pure, blind, white hot rage swarmed Valencia Baratheon, her fists clenching and her eyes becoming black slits.

For as she looked upon Robb Stark, she did not the man she believed she loved.

She saw an enemy.

"The King in the North!"
"The King in the North!"

"THE KING IN THE NORTH!"

END OF PART ONE