Then a friendship, now a duty.
Brother wolf, God be with you!
Our friendship is now dying:
I'm not gift but debt for you.
Marina Tsvetaeva "The Wolf"
After getting out of the carriage that was boring to the Seven Hells, Cersei Lannister picked up her skirts and stepped onto the pavement, unusual in the eyes of a southern lady and exuding the aroma of freshly sawn wood. The younger children, Myrcella and Tommen, had already jumped out ahead of her, but the Queen needed to remain sedate and regal, although she really wanted to go to her chambers as quickly as possible and relax in hot water. A ceremonial and festive feast awaited them - before Cersei could finally relax. While the husband is fucking some whores somewhere else, yes. Even the house of his best friend is unlikely to change Robert's habits, especially since everything will be inclined to this - a sea of wine will be spilled, game of different sizes will be fried, and soon Robert will gather to hunt - to show valor.
"Lest he drop dead there..." - Cersei sighed faintly to her thoughts and caught Eddard Stark's gaze, at first viciously contrasting with his wide, welcoming smile - she noticed this literally a second before her opinion of her husband's friend changed to a more realistic side.
From her attention, Ned's gaze not only warmed, but rather lit up with the familiar vulgar spark with which her own husband looked at all women. The Queen chuckled to herself and reminded herself that no matter how honest a man is according to other men, they hardly take into account whores and bastards.
And Ned definitely had one bastard.
And Cersei would bet her own hair that he keeps him in the castle only because he is the son of a noble lady, and not some whore or peasant woman. After all, Robert and Eddard were brought up by the same person and at the same time - it can't be that Jon Arryn, known for his unsuccessful attempts to have a child until he married Lisa Tully and after the birth of a sickly heir, also did not stop trying, of course, not only with his own wife, could he have raised them in different ways?
Cersei grinned and began to move forward, sedately approaching the Starks standing at the head of the crowd, intending to stand in line with her own husband and eldest son. The boy had also hurried to dismount and approach Robert, obeying the wave of his hand with fat fingers with massive rings - the only things that Cersei liked about Robert. Not fingers, of course, but rings. The Queen was generally quite greedy for luxury and jewelry. That's why she looked around with interest, studying the interior of the courtyard, before she again encountered the gaze of the Guardian of the North, having already come closer to the welcoming crowd.
The castle they entered was going through the not so peaceful time right now - it was being rebuilt, which was clear from the appearance even outside the main Citadel, but at the same time it was decorated with bright coats of arms of the houses present at the future feast. Those were hanging on the walls of the courtyard for the arrival of guests. There were the Golden Lions of the Lannisters, and her husband's Crowned Stag, and the hangman of the Trants was next to the Selmy's cobs of wheat- these were the vassals of the ruling house present in the retinue. Cersei glanced over the coats of arms of the Northern houses. The eye didn't particularly cling to any of those - except the skinned man, it seems. The Bolton house caused a somewhat squeamish feeling.
She was not interested in further looking at the walls of the castle, because she had already understood everything she needed for herself.
They prepared for the arrival carefully and decorated their house, showing respect to the guests. So, they had known about the upcoming arrival and feasts for a long time - Cersei doubted that such decent-sized canvases with full coats of arms and mottoes were kept by the Starks somewhere in the basements. And Stark was clearly helpful, even servile, when compared with the usual northern thick-headedness known as much as the Seven Gods. It could only mean one thing - he needed something from Robert.
The most hilarious thing about all the thoughts that visited the Queen's head at that moment was that she was only partially right, and did not even suspect how much her life would change from the moment Ned was honored to voice his request.
She returned her gaze to Eddard, who was standing in front of her husband. Robert was patting him on the shoulder after a very fervent greeting. So she met his gaze again, already knowing that it was through this very look that she could show him whatever she wanted. A pinch of boldness and superiority, seasoned with a little bit of desire - he will realize his worthlessness, realize that he will never be able to touch what he desired at least for those few moments for which their eyes met.
The old friend of her husband continued to look into her eyes without squirming away - it began to strain, because at the same time he was smiling broadly and, most importantly, naturally, thereby forcing her to look at her action in a new way.
The Queen found more and more differences with the Eddard, whom she vaguely remembered from his last visit to the capital, after the Greyjoy uprising. An unkempt beard and an exhausted stern face, not embittered, but extremely out of place in the whole drunken holiday - Cersei did not remember that day in detail, because everything was covered by a terrible night with a drunk Robert, but even those small memories allowed her to conclude that Ned Stark had changed a lot over the years.
And not to say that for the worse. The narrow face was clean-shaven on the chin and under the nose, but Eddard had left sideburns, barely noticeably graying, but cut much shorter than her father's - Tywin also wore such a beard. The young Stark in those memories of hers wore shoulder-length hair, as Robert himself still wears it, but now Eddard had a much neater and shorter haircut. Stark's appearance was of little importance to her, but now he attracted her attention.
Lord Stark, as it turned out, was trying to achieve this, because a second later he stepped up to Cersei and handed her a bouquet of yellow roses, it is not clear how he found himself in the middle of this almost winter weather still fresh and pleasantly smelling. The smell of roses mixed with the smell of wooden logs and frosty air. Despite herself, she smiled in response to Stark's phrase about admiration and homage. Robert, on the other hand, laughed loudly as usual and slapped his friend on the shoulder. Eddard, who had already finished pleasantries with her husband, got down on one knee and touched her ring with his lips. At that moment Robert was already hugging Catelyn.
Cersei exhaled the frosty air along with the scent of flowers and smiled again. Much colder.
The queen graciously accepted the courtship from the vassal. Yes, that's right.
Jaime finally stood up next to her and pointed at the flowers with a grin with only his eyebrows. She grinned back at him, acknowledging with warmth in her chest that her brother sometimes understands her without words. The twins did not have time to say even couple of words to each other, as the King finished greeting Stark's brood and gave an order in a tone that did not imply refusal.
"Ned! Take me to the crypt! I want to honor her memory!"
Cersei opened her mouth to voice her objections, but Jaime took her elbow warningly and nodded at the scowling Warden of the North.
"My king..."
Stark's tone was much less warm than before. You could feel the pieces of crushed ice in this tone, they were heard somewhere between Eddard's hoarse low voice and the silence that hung over the crowd when everyone listened with bated breath to the objections.
"It's nice that you remember about my sister, of course, but there is one matter of primary importance that we need to solve."
"And what is this matter?" Robert narrowed his eyes with bags under them and moved a little threateningly to his friend who dared to contradict his orders. "Does this matter allow you to ignore the order of your King?"
"This is the matter, in case the King refuses to help," Eddard paused and looked with his instantly frozen gray eyes first at the King, then glanced briefly at his retinue and returned to contemplation of Robert. "This matter, if you refuse to help, Robert, will give me a legitimate opportunity to challenge your authority in the territory of the Northern Kingdom. No, this is not a betrayal!"
Ned shut up Robert with just a gesture of his palm, whose bloodshot face and mouth open for a thunderous shout suddenly terribly enraged Cersei. And for the umpteenth time in the last month she longingly remembered her brother's warm embrace and how he would love her when this boar finally left for the hunt he adored. But the hunt seems to be postponed, and probably Eddard's protest will result in a quarrel if everything remains exactly in the tension in which it is now. When the children of Stark himself look at their father in fright, Catelyn, nee Tully, gasps for air like a fish, and Cersei's own firstborn looks wide-eyed at the man who opposed himself to his father, as if he hadn't done something offensive, but as if it's a feat. Joffrey even had a satisfied grin on his face, as if he expected something to happen.
"After all, Robert, are you a Defender of the Realm or not? I broke the law because of this very case and sacrificed the honor of House Stark when I left the deserter from the Watch alive. He has the necessary information, he is a witness to terrible things. You understand perfectly well what must happen for me to give up my honor. Winter is coming. The long summer will be replaced by the long night. The one that the legends tell about. The one that will mow down half of the population of the Seven Kingdoms. The Others and the Wights were seen beyond the Wall. And this is not the first case."
Jaime clamped Cersei's elbow too hard - it made her cry out, but the sound of it was stiffled.
She would've endured this little pain, of course she would. If not for how serious Stark was when he said this, and how suddenly her heart was squeezed by a premonition of something evil.
***
Cersei Lannister was definitely embittered by everything that was happening and would like to take a good soak in warm water and drink a little more wine than she'd already managed, that's right, but natural curiosity, love of intrigue and a desire to understand the situation in more detail won out. It already stank of primal fear and forced her to believe the Lord of the Northern Lands, forced her to accept Ned's offer on this rather odd descent into the Crypt of Winterfell, together with Eddard and Robert himself. The latter all the time they walked to the grave of Lyanna Stark, frowned in silence, grunting and jingling the jewelry on his belly.
He was on the verge of saying something, but there were problems with the wording, or with Cersei's presence - it seemed to be the question for discussion that she would not approve of and probably started arguing. From this it was clear that Robert had no desire to quarrel over the grave of Ned's sister, and it seemed to the queen that this was exactly what Eddard was counting on when he invited her with a note through some nameless and very quickly vanished boy.
Cersei was no doubt wondering why she was invited without the king's approval - after all, Robert almost had a quarrel when he realized that his wife's going with them. Stark's gray eyes - in which, it turned out, some wicked mockery was maturing - glanced briefly at Cersei's face in those shameful moments when Robert, with a crimson muzzle, tried to say something incoherent about the presence of the queen on this, if may say so, joyride.
She caught his gaze, and something in his indifferent eyes seemed to tremble from her obvious malignant fatigue. Perhaps it was just a glimmer of a torch, but his actions said the opposite - he simply and briefly asked if there was any difference at all, because he invited the queen to go with them only because he assumed that it was self-implied.
Cersei was interested, yes, but most of all she was intrigued by Eddard's desire to show his favor to her, and not to her husband.
No northerner had ever looked like the sycophants of the court of King's Landing, but now he behaved like a man who had started some combination in the style of the Southern Lands. And Cersei would not have been confused at all if she didn't know the exact opposite about the North and the Starks - they were not inclined to this kind of intrigue. And so far the woman wasn't entirely clear about Eddard's motives, and what's already said was more than unsettling, so he did not want to believe it. That's why the queen chose to simply wait.
She was used to intrigues, she always looked down on schemers of any nobility, because she knew one simple thing that her father had taught her with all his actions, and so did her life full of contradictory events and unsatisfied dreams.
Whoever has the power sets the rules.
Cersei Lannister put up with Robert because the Arryn falcon was always hovering behind him and the Stark direwolf was baring its fangs, and there were two brothers who could also throw the Lannisters off the pedestal - not that it seemed possible while Robert was alive, because he was something of an obstacle while he counted her children as his own and he didn't drag the bastards into the castle.
And while Cersei felt that she and her beloved children were relatively safe, she endured, because Jaime protected them from direct physical threats, and the old father would always find a cure for political ones. But today Stark was gradually showing her husband who really is the master of the North and on whom the loyalty of these wild lands to the Iron Throne depends. The balance of power has changed, and Cersei allowed herself to think that Stark just wants to up his price by talking about the threat from behind the Wall, after all the Starks always keep their word, don't they? He would not betray Robert for the sake of greater power, no matter how much she wanted it, and it was his odd behavior for Stark that made her even think about such a possibility, and not any other suspicions. And the old dead Arryn, as well as his crazy wife with a half-wit sickly child, were definitely no longer a threat.
Cersei Lannister was frequently wrong in her conclusions, but this time the woman was relatively right, not because the conclusions were correct, no. If Ned Stark had known about her assumptions, he would have just shrugged his shoulders and agreed that he was not going to betray the King, nor listen to Catelyn Tully, who of course would soon receive a milestone letter for the entire plot of the confrontation between the Lannisters and the Starks. The Queen could hardly have guessed that the main threat from Eddard Stark in relation to Cersei was only one - he disliked Jaime Lannister very much.
Cersei wrapped herself in furs, trying to figure out Stark's game, who was clearly reluctantly leading them towards the resting place of Lyanna Stark. An oppressive silence hung between the two friends who were one step ahead, and Cersei was half angry about the whole situation, which included the lack of time to rest after the trip, and half intrigued by the trick of the Warden of the North.
"Why is my wife needed here?"
Robert decided to clarify, finally speaking to Eddard, who stubbornly maintained silence, slowly walked along the rows of Stark statues, as if enjoying the awkwardness felt among the only living people in this crypt.
"I thought that the Queen would be interested to learn about the conspiracy that has radically changed the lives of each of us. And it seemed to me most appropriate to hold this conversation where you wouldn't dare to stab me for what I say, my friend."
While the Warden of the North was saying this, in a measured and monotonous manner, they continued to move towards the grave of Lyanna Stark, because by the end of this little speech, Eddard was facing the statue of his dead sister and saying the last words without looking at Robert. There was something to see, Cersei thought, when she looked at Robert, bloated with anger and reddening, and realized that Stark was clearly playing with fire, but was not going to stop.
And what did he mean by that?
"Ned! What the hell?! I came to your wilderness to get you out of here to the capital, to make you my right hand instead of Jon! What the hell, Ned?! What are you doing? I'm doing you the honor!"
"We've already talked about the engagement, and I'm telling you, it's too early to discuss such things. I don't like it. And that's part of what I want to explain to you. Be patient, Robert."
Cersei caught the tension in Stark's voice, for the first time in the entire conversation, and leaned forward, wanting to ask her questions as well, but was stopped by Stark himself, who began to speak. He still had his back turned to them as if studying the face of his sister's statue.
"Robert, I hope you don't still live in blissful ignorance and already know that your ascension to the throne was arranged by my wife's father and Lord Arryn? And I hope, my Queen, that you can guess that the story of how my sister was stolen and stripped of her honor by Targaryen is the inside-out truth that turned the wolves against the dragons."
"What?! What are you talking about, Ned?!"
Robert growled and reached out to grab Edward's shoulder to turn him around.
"No, let him continue," Cersei was amazed at the amount of pain and venom that filled Stark's voice, and was determined to hear the truth that he wanted to tell them. "I want to hear it."
"Nobody asked you!" Baratheon snapped and pulled Eddard towards him. "Ned!"
Eddard turned around, obeying the king, and looked up at the royal couple.
"Lianna had no intention of marrying you, Robert. We thought she'd put up with it. But wolf's blood is not water. I'd be calmer than the older brother and sister, otherwise how would I ever agreed to replace Brandon just because Jon Arryn said so."
"What... What?!..."
Robert couldn't find the words, but he couldn't help but express his indignation. Cersei stared intently into Stark's eyes and tried to guess what he was leading to, but still did not say a word, although at first she wanted to quarrel with her husband right there.
"Lyanna and Rhaegar were young romantic idiots, both fell madly in love and were generally worth each other. One was composing ballads, the other was mocking the knights during the tournament because of Howland Reed. At that time, I could not take my eyes off Ashara Dayne myself, so I can roughly understand what she felt when she realized that she could not be with the one she loved. And there was nothing stopping her from taking what she wanted. Wolves usually do that, Robert. I'm the odd one, I was brought up in the same castle with you, so obviously it had some effect on me..."
Cersei barely refrained from laughing out of nowhere - it wasn't the time or the place, but it was clear that Eddard was trying to joke even in such a situation. Robert clearly did not understand the joke, but decided not to pay attention, because he saw a much more pressing issue.
"Ned, what are you saying? How are you... Why you?..."
"Because you're living in the past that didn't exist, Robert," Eddard said wearily and put his hand on the king's forearm. "He didn't kidnap her. She just let herself take what she wanted, as Brandon did with Lady Barbry Dustin in his youth, curse his bullshit, because she hates me now - ugh, these women... And how you did it when only a blind and deaf man who lived in a mute family did not know about your affairs, Robert! Lianna knew and it was then that she spoke to our father for the first time, but when did fathers listen to children in matters of engagement, am I right, my queen?"
"Why do you say that, Lord Stark?" Cersei wasn't ready for Eddard to abruptly switch the attention to her. "Why are you talking about the past, which has long passed and which cannot be changed?"
"It just caught up with us, my lady," Eddard shrugged. "Someone definitely killed Jon Arryn. And if it wasn't one of the three of us, congratulations, Robert. You've got some quality conspiracy under your ass."
"Why do you think the three of us have a motive?" Cersei decided to clarify. "And... once again, the conspiracy?"
"My lady, it's simple."
Stark turned to the statue and stretched out his hand to absentmindedly stroke the stone direwolf, depicted in not the most life-size. Robert, in those moments, was trying to take in the information and gasping for air, but he couldn't squeeze anything out of himself. And Eddard continued.
"I asked you just a few minutes ago, Robert, if you still live in blissful ignorance. As I see, you do. That's why your motive disappears, so I and the Queen remain. With the queen, everything is simple - the same motive. Revenge and power. Well, I just didn't do it, although obviously I could, if I was ever worried about politics in the South, and not about the wights and walkers in the North. So in the event that none of the three of us ordered the murder of the Hand, we have a player who either wants all the power for himself, or wants to take all the power specifically from you two. Now let's think about what to do. And then we'll go feast - they're baking a boar right now, and skewered red fish... I think all this serious talk made me hungry. By the way, Robert, I had a couple of plans that need to be considered in the near future. This is important for the Wall and the North as a whole, but it can also be useful for the economy of King's Landing."