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— After the weeks of Rhaenyra not writing back to Jacaerys' frantic letters, the man had finally giving up.
"I need to ride to my mother."
Jacaerys stood by the door of his wife and his shared chambers. Sarra immediately turned her head to the sound of her father's voice.
"Jacaerys.. every day those armies are growing closer. I have just lost men. Men who have wives and children. I will not lose you, too."
She didn't once look away from the burning flames.
"My mother needs me."
"Your mother needs to realise the grave danger of how close those green cunts are to the North."
[Y/N] finally moved her head to make eye contact.
"I'm truly sorry, for you loss, Jace. But your mother will not want another son dead.."
"I will not..."
[Y/N] raises a brow. "If you wish to slander me, go ahead. I'm aware I may have nearly lost a battle, but my men fought well for your mother. But they fought in my name."
Jacaerys glances at his daughter, then back up at his wife. "I'll be back in a week."
[Y/N] scoffs, shaking her head. The man she called her husband only just back from a fight to dive head first into another.
"Just go.. run to your dragon, back to dear mummy."
"My mother has been nothing but kind to you, [Y/N]. What is with the slander towards her name?"
"Towards her name?!"
[Y/N] stood up so swiftly that Jacaerys took a step back.
"What about my name? Your mother may have the Throne, but I hope she remembers who fought to give it to her.."
"Winterfell did nothing."
"The North," she corrects him. "The North will end this childish war, because this incestuous family can't decide whether their uncle-brother is better suited for the Throne or their cousin-wife.."
"You know nothing about my family.." He pointed a finger towards her.
"From the moment I met you, Jace. I knew we would have complications. You didn't come here to ask for my hand, you probably wished for ten whores.. and my brother as your future hand of the King, didn't you?"
Jacaerys stared at her.
"You make love to me, claim your love, and run off?"
Jacaerys looked at the floor.
[Y/N] stepped closer.
"I'm helping you, out of duty. Your uncle had all of the Seven Kingdoms in his hand the day he was born. And your mother is still surprised over that..? It has been centuries, why start a war now..."
"Why bring all Kingdoms and armies down with her, when she could've settled it with her father a decade ago.."
"My mother needs me."
"Then go.. I have nothing to hold against you.. you die out there, your mother will grow even madder than before. The mad Queen and her five dead sons."
[Y/N] walked back towards the chair, holding the sweet baby close to her chest and settling down again.
"Jacaerys.." She called out as Jacaerys turned to leave.
The man reappeared in the doorway.
"Spend any more than two moons at King's Landing-"
"[Y/N].."
She turned to look at him.
He nods and speaks, his words hesitated. "I know, dearest. I know."
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When the Maester had told [Y/N] that she was carrying a child once more, all she did was cry.
All those men in Winterfell dying in her name, and here she sat popping out babies for a man while their love goes dry and boring.
Either that or she was carrying the bastard of Tobin..
She hadn't had a good cry since Cregan died.
Oh, Cregan..
Anyone would prefer him as the Lord of Winterfell that his little sister. The sweetheart of Winterfell.
She stared way too hard at herself in the mirror to realise how many similarities there is between her and Cregan.
She always thought her and Cregan didn't get on when they were younger because she looked different.. maybe it was because of how similar they were was because they always butted heads.
"Mama!" Sarra, her darling eyes wet with tears.
"Hello, darling girl." [Y/N] mumbles, picking up the girl, petting back the hairs of her daughter.
She used her thumb to wipe her soft cheeks of tears. "What are you crying about, my sweet Sarra..?"
Sarra babbled back an answer as a raven squaked repetitively at the window.
[Y/N] took the letter, opening it with her free hand.
Jacaerys frantic writing.
Joffrey was dead. All dragons staying at the Keep were killed overnight. And Daemon was nowhere to be seen.
[Y/N] let's out a sigh, setting the letter on her desk, before anxious playing with her daughter's hair again.
"Mama.. ma.. ma," Sarra babbled away, her chubby hands feeling the different fabrics on her mothers dress.
Her hands then slapped [Y/N]'s cheeks, she giggled when her mother blew raspberries into the palm of her hands.
There were moments in her life she wished that the late King Viserys had just kept it in his trousers.. no need for a drunken usurper King, a one-eyed Prince, and a Princess that speaks in riddles.
If Rhaenyra was sitting on the throne right now. An only child, free to birth as many bastards as she wished. She wouldn't have gone through the grief of losing Lucerys and Joffrey.
Jacaerys wouldn't have to come to Winterfell. He wouldn't have take it upon himself to betroth himself to [Y/N].
She would be left alone, marry some old Lord, and perhaps be birthing children who looked like her.
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"Lady Stark, does the Prince not urge a response..?" A handmaiden in to change bedsheets of [Y/N]'s bed walked in, busying herself with reading the letter.
"No, my husband can wait.. no one knows how long I was waiting for one of his responses not long ago."
[Y/N] sat on the armchair that Lucerys used to sit on, her daughter down for a nap. If anyone else were to walk in during the moment silence they would've thought her like a statue.
She made no movement, her breathing spaced out to the point it looked like she wasn't taking in air.
"Of course, my Lady." The handmaiden nodded her head before rushing off to continue the duties she was actually sent to do.
"Will Prince Jacaerys return sooner than expected?" The handmaiden was no older than herself. Her bright red hair complimented her dark hazel eyes.
"Perhaps.. but with him there always comes a war," [Y/N] gave a dry laugh that made the girl tense up.
"You don't think-"
"Dear girl, did you come here to talk politics or to change the sheets?!"
The girl took a deep breath. "I- Sorry, my Lady. I will do my duties."
[Y/N] nods before returning her attention to the flame. God's how she wished she had the courage just to touch one speck of it.
Every night she would stare at the fire and wonder if a wolf would burn the same as a dragon. If the God's had blessed her with the power of touching death without letting it take her.
But she couldn't- she wouldn't. She had Sarra and the unborn child to worry about. She had Winterfell to worry about.
And Gods be with her, Winterfell will not fall into the hands of a Dragon Prince, a Dragon Prince that possessed no Dragon.
Finally the handmaiden leaves, and [Y/N] is left with her thoughts and her baby's snores filling the room.
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The next day, she had finally decided to write back to Jacaerys, keeping any news of her new pregnancy a secret - he would be the only thing preventing her to fight with the men of the North.
She had written her sympathies and her love to Rhaenyra - not mentioning the Rouge Prince, many people knew where he was off to.
But she had immediately gotten a letter back that Jacaerys was heading to Dragonstone with his mother and Aegon the younger.
That's when she knew that her husband was desperate for this chance to be king.
"Send my love to Sara."
He couldn't even spell his own daughters name right.
Nightfall had arrived as people drank the night away, knowing of what was to come, [Y/N] stood on the balcony watching her people drink until they fell.
She laughed as a group of women waved at her, and waved back. They walked away leaving Lady Stark with a small smile on her face.
But it instantly fell as she heard the cries of her daughter from the room she left her in.
[Y/N] ran into the room to find Tobin standing over Sarra's cot.
"I heard her crying, I thought she'd might-"
"Back away from my daughter.."
Tobin turns to face her. "The babe.. the one growing inside you, is it mine?"
[Y/N] scrunched her brows. "Tobin, what makes you think that?"
"We had our moments, m'lady. You and I both know we found comfort in one another."
"Tobin.."
"[Y/N].. that Prince knows nothing about you."
[Y/N] wanted to laugh. Jacaerys knew nothing about her? No one does! No one knew her favourite colour, or what age she was when she first got Ethon.
She was a mystery to all. And yet people have given up their lives for her. And this man in front of who ran off thinks she has yet to realise this.
"Tobin, please. You're drunk, perhaps-"
"I love you, [Y/N]!"
"You don't know me!" [Y/N] exclaims. "You or that stupid Prince!"
"I will learn to know everything about you! Claim Sarra as mine, you and that Prince's marriage will be over. We can have our family!"
"How can you be so stupid, Tobin?"
Tobin shrugs. "I.. I'm not stupid.. I will love you until the God's claim me.. I will help-"
[Y/N] scoffs. "I do not need your help, i do not need your love. Me and my children are happy where we reside and who we reside with. What makes you any different.. weren't you the one to run off..?"
"[Y/N]-"
"It's Lady Stark to you, Tobin. You do not address me as such unless we are a loving courting couple, which we're not!"
Tobin sighs. "I will always love you, [Y/N]. Every since I was a boy I remember seeing you, with your brother, you were so happy. You never seen me! And as soon as you do, that fucking Prince ruins it for me."
"These two," Tobin gestures to the babe in the cot and [Y/N]'s stomach. "I will learn-"
"Tobin, I hope you learn that no is no. I do not need you."
He shakes his head. "Then what was that night then?"
"A mistake. Just how I hope you barging into my babes room is a mistake and you took the wrong turn."
She didn't notice a tear had fallen as Tobin wiped it away.
She immediately steps back in disgust. Her eyes full of anger.
"I want you no where near me or my babes again.. if you dare to do such a thing-"
Tobin stepped forward, that look he had when he heard of Jacaerys returning, was back in his eyes burning.
"You'll do what?" His hands were a phantom on her waist.
"I won't hesitate to slice off your hands, boy. For ever touching me or my children."
Tobin laughs.
"While this child may be my bastard, the child will never know who you are. I will make sure you never see yourself on the battlefield."
[Y/N] sighs.
"Not if I have the chance to take you down on the battlefield first, Lady Stark."
A chill ran down [Y/N]'s back as Tobin was quick to leave the nursery.
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[Y/N] sat outside as the cold air hit her cheeks. Her silent time alone soon was taken over by the rushed sound of footsteps.
[Y/N] opened her eyes to be met with a group of handmaidens.
One girl stood forward than the rest. "M'lady.. the usurper King has sent this letter, for you.. we couldn't help ourselves, we read-"
[Y/N] took the letter and let the girls rush off.
"Lady Stark,
I hope this letter finds you when you are most confident about this war. Your true Queen is dead.
I have your husband and his brother here in Kings Landing. This is no threat, just a warning that I know what will happen.
Your alliance with the Black Queen has fallen.. what ever will you do?
With love and much regards,
King Aegon II"
[Y/N] could feel her heartbeat in her ears. Rhaenyra dead. Jacaerys and Aegon the Younger captured.
This man was taunting her, knowing that Winterfell can no longer hold back from the war. They have their Ladys husband. The husband who personally came to Winterfell seeking their alliance for his mother.
And a Stark never forgets an oath.
And [Y/N] instantly remembers how much she hated that quote.
Her people need to ready themselves for a war.
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