The Storm Queen | Game of Thrones

Twenty One

Robb

Weeks have passed since Fathers execution and I've been named King in the North.

I might be one of the few men in the Seven Kingdoms that never dreamed of being king. I never wanted it. I wear no crown and have no gold, want no glory.

All I have is the loyalty of the men following me and the duty to execute justice. The duty to avenge my father, bring my sisters home.

To free her.

Mother and I sit together in silence one evening. So many long and lonely nights spent in camps. 

My voice is thick as I ask "Have you heard anything from the capital, of my sisters or Cassana?"

"Only that they meant to take her head and somehow it was Ned who lost his," she mutters spitefully.

"It was not her fault-"

"I know," she sighs in defeat. We both heard the reports. That Cassana tried to take the blame, begged him not to take her place. While my mother has her doubts I believe the stories I've heard. Cassana is many things, but she is a fighter.

And she lost.

Mother does not blame Cassana, not for this at least, but I understand it's hard not to when she is breathing and Father is not. "I know. They say the only reason they didn't take her's was because the crowd would have rioted."

She is their princess, she is loved by the realm. It's no surprise to me that the mob would have rioted if they took her head. From what we've heard they rioted regardless.

"Then where is she now?" I ask just wanting answers. I can't count the number of sleepless nights I've laid awake wondering where she is. If she's still in a dark cell, all alone, slowly wasting away. Wondering if my sisters share her fate.

"I don't know for certain, likely in the black cells," she answers. "She has not been seen since the riot. While Joffrey and the others escaped to the keep- they say she disappeared amongst the mob."

"What are you saying?" I ask and she can't look me in the eye.

"There are rumours..." she hesitates.

"Mother," I say so tensely that she flinches. "What rumours?"

And so she tells me. "Rumours that she may be dead. Killed in the riot."

I swallow hard, facing the truth. I should not be grieving for her, she was never my wife. She belonged to Jon more than she ever belonged to me. It's him who should be mourning and yet he's at the wall, so far removed from all of this.

While I'm trying to figure out how to keep her alive, despite it all.

If she is still alive.

"If she was dead Joffrey would be broadcasting it across the realm. We would know," I tell myself. "She's alive, I know it."

She looks at me, meekly. "Please Robb, don't consider marrying her. She'll break your heart."

"She already has," I say and look away. "This is what's best for us. Renly has declared himself king, we need an alliance with the Stormlands."