Beguiling Wolf

Chapter 5

"I'm going to be training after breakfast and I've never fought a sellsword do you want to spar?" Robb asked abruptly, and his eyes were like twin rivers of ice, Lyra glanced at her twin in curiosity, but he was ignoring her not letting his thoughts show on his face.

Bronn figured the young pup was wanting to intimidate him with his battle prowess and scare him off his sister but unfortunately, he wasn't going to be, in fact, he would relish the challenge and knew if he beat him then he would gain his respect and perhaps an ally. Bronn had been fighting since he was a child had been involved in many fights and battles and he was not arrogant when he spoke of his skill. it's what kept him alive. 

"aye, it sounds good" Bronn grinned mayhaps he'd allow Robb to wound him? Ladies did like fussing over their loves after all...and he might be able to get a little cheeky with Lyra...

"Ned, what the hell are we going to be doing today?" The king asked sounding slightly sober, which was entirely surprising to Bronn, perhaps the Old Gods were in the mood for miracles.

"I was planning for us to go on a hunt today your grace, I know you enjoy them, and Bran needs to practice his aim with Theon" Ned spoke before taking a sip of his drink "we can head out at midday but until then you can watch the training your men are welcome to use the yard as well" 

"Good! It's been a while since I've seen some proper fighting all those southern cunts care more about their tourneys than which end to hold a sword!" Robb roared his approval as his wife looked on thinly veiled hatred and disgust painted across her face. 

"Hey, Robbie we can race our horses again" Lyra leant over and whispered into his ear enjoying the grin that spread across his face at the suggestion. 

The family carried on eating their breakfast politely conversing and eating their meal, Lyra noticed that Bran was practically falling into his porridge and when she inquired he stated he couldn't sleep well and he had dreamt of a weird looking raven, Lyra suggested that he either take a nap or go to bed earlier and he readily agreed, when Jon came in through a side door he looked rough and a small frown tugged at her lips and she averted her gaze keeping it firmly on the table, clutching her fork with a white knuckle grip. 

Jon sighed unhappily seeing his sister's reaction to him, he knew he had caused it and needed to fix it, he spotted the sell-sword who was glaring at him, 'fix it' he mouthed before stabbing his sausage on the plate with a bit more force than necessary and Jon gulped before approaching the high table ignoring the narrowed eye glare of Lady Stark, her anger he could handle the sadness of his beloved sister he could not. 

"Ly?" he saw her flinch into herself slightly and felt guilt burn at the back of his throat "can we talk?" 

"uh, yea if I might be excused father?" Lyra asked her father who nodded his consent frowning slightly in worry at the tension between them- the oldest three of his children rarely, if ever fought, Rob's eyes were narrowed in on his sister, but she ignored the stare. She stood up and followed Jon out of the great hall and into the stables where she moved over to Traveller feeding him an apple to avoid looking at Jon. Traveller's intelligent brown eyes assessed her before nuzzling closer to his mistress, prepared to kick the other one should the need arise, he liked the black-haired brother as much as the other Starks but his mistress was his mistress and he'd not allow anyone to harm her. 

"Last night I was a cruel and vicious bastard, I shouldn't have taken out my anger on you, you and Robb, Arya and Bran even Rickon- though he's just an infant right now- have always had my back and been in my corner to defend me. I just got so angry last night with this royal visit it's just constantly being shoved in my face that I'm not a true Stark just a baseborn bastard when it's just your mother doing it, I can ignore it because I have you and you don't care about my last name and I can trick myself into thinking I'm your trueborn brother but I'm not and never will be can you ever forgive me?" Jon let out all his feelings and thoughts into a jumbled mess, he had hoped that his apology would be more eloquent but apparently not.