Game of Thrones: Frozen Fire

What Was Promised

Sometimes he wondered if he had ever said anything regarding his future. Sometimes he asked himself if his decisions had been the right ones, but then he remembered he had been raised to take that role as Lord of Winterfell, to lead his people and bannermen, to be just and kind, but also protect them. Painfully for him, his father never taught him how to be king or fight a war. He had not had time.

In days like that one, he missed him. Robb wished he could have gone to his late Lord Father and ask for advice.

He watched the face of his smiling son, demanding his attention by tugging on his furs.

"Papa," Iagan's voice called, soon squealing when Robb lifted him off the ground and held him high above his head. Flying like the dragons, Robb thought.

Had Eddard Stark ever thought that when he was a child, he would once become liege lord of the North? Could have he ever fathomed having a son who could become king? Strangely enough, Robb could see all of this in his own son as blue met blue. Iagan had the same spark in his eyes that Dany had.

"What do you think?" Robb whispered as he sat his son on his lap, watching his chubby cheeks and bright eyes studying him. Of course he would not get a reply, but the boy seemed to understand him.

Iagan placed his tiny hand over Robb's heart. "Papa?" he called softly and cooed in incoherent words. That made Robb chuckle.

At that moment, Theon knocked on the door.

Robb had decided to stay in separate chambers with Dany. She was still in pain and he feared to hurt her while they slept. The last thing he wanted was to cause her more pain than what she had already suffered.

Iagan turned to Theon and grinned, lifting his hands and opening and closing his fists. "Don, Don," he chanted.

Robb arched an eyebrow at his former friend, at the man who would have probably become his second in command had not been for his betrayal. Could he be able to ever comprehend why Theon still wanted to be loyal to a father who had never shown any interest in him? He hoped so, because it was obvious he had been an important figure in Iagan's life during his absence.

Theon snorted a laugh. "He likes to be taken outside and play with the snow; and Rickon cannot carry him around for long."

Nodding, Robb looked down at his son and ruffled his hair. Iagan giggled innocently. If his child could see goodness in Theon, did that mean there was more than traitor's blood running through his former friend's veins?

"Would you protect him from your people if you had to? Will you call him your king when he takes the crown? Would you keep him safe?" Robb asked through clenched teeth, with some rage still present in his tone.

"Why would Northmen attack him? Why would I not call the son of my King a prince, a true heir of the throne? Why would I not keep him safe if I swore to keep you safe?" Theon was firm, his voice did not waver and he never looked away from Robb as he recited the words. "I'm not longer an ironborn, because they have turned their back on me, while the North has given me everything."

"I trusted you." It had been one of the moments in which Robb had doubted his instincts. Theon had been like a brother to him, his best friend, but the moment he decided to be neutral during the ironborn attack, Theon had also decided not to defend the family he had grown with.

"I doubted and I shouldn't have."

There was still a spark of the man he thought he knew, but after everything that had happened to Robb, he could not just accept an easy apology.

"You will come with me to the Wall. Of everyone, you know the lands better and I'll need the help, but if you even give me one reason to not trust you, I'll make an example out of you," Robb uttered in an icy tone, one he had slowly grown accustomed.