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The Crippled Wolf-Stark SI: Ch.75
🕑 Added 2025-08-03 19:22:16 +0000 UTCChapter 75
TYWIN LANNISTER
The festivities for the Royal Marriage came to an end, though for him and the rest of the occupants of that damned room, the celebration had been cut short the moment they had laid their eyes on the monsters in that room.
And Tywin Lannister was not a Godly man, but even he felt the ungodly nature of that thing. It was alive, yet dead, and if the King’s words were true, the enemy in the North threatened to turn each and every soul of the world into that horrid thing.
And with that, many of the King's actions began to make sense, as Tywin saw how the King had been preparing for that very enemy ever since his ascension, or perhaps even before that.
It made him rethink the various epithets bestowed upon their King, prompting him to wonder if there might be a kernel of truth to some of them. That Cregan Stark, the Boy King, was indeed blessed by the Gods so that he may lead the realm of men against this undead enemy rising up in the true North.
He was about to embark on the journey back home when suddenly a servant came to call upon him, saying that the King had summoned him to his solar on an urgent matter.
Tywin had no reason to refuse, and so he found himself in the King's solar once more, and for the first time since they had met, Tywin saw genuine rage in those eyes as the young King addressed him from behind the desk.
“Tell me, Lord Tywin, have I not been generous to your House?” the King questioned, his loyal Master of Whispers stood behind him as Tywin frowned.
“I don’t understand what you mean?” he asked, and the King slid forward, a letter angrily beckoning him to read it.
“This!” the young boy threatened, as Tywin reached for the paper and read it for himself, and with every word that he read, regret began to bubble up inside him at the choice he had made years ago.
“That idiot!” Tywin cursed, with a weak breath as a sense of loss and rage tore through him.
“I would much rather say, traitor!” the King spoke angrily, and years ago Tywin had decided that the one to inherit his legacy would be his eldest Jamie.
That his son, thin and long, and blessed with the blade, would carry on his name. In that pursuit, he had waited for years, drowned millions, and yet now he wondered if he had made the right choice.
Able as he was Jamie had caused nothing but trouble for him ever since he was a child, yet unlike him the boy that he had shunned had risen up on his own, becoming a member of the King’s Council on nothing but his talents and if the rumors were true was set to become the second most powerful man in the realm.
“Has this been confirmed?” he asked, thundering, and the King raised a brow.
“Do you think I would summon you here otherwise?” and it was the frail former Maester who continued in that nasal voice of his.
“Ser Jamie has been meeting with this foreigner for some time now, and we have credible reports that it was he who sought out this stranger,” and to think that his son would continue to humiliate him in front of the world.
“By every law of the land, I could hold you captive and have your head for his actions,” the King threatened, and Tywin ground his teeth, for he was right.
“I will see this matter resolved, your grace,” Tywin assured him, and the King’s grey met his green, and he could see the young King weighing his options, and Tywin hated how Jamie had put him in this condition.
How he had left his fate in the hands of their King with his stupidity.
“I shall leave at once and see to it that this farce is stopped. I shall punish him and bring you this Blackfyre agent’s head myself,” Tywin assured him, for his own patience with Jamie had long run out.
And while Tyrion was long out of his grasp, he would make sure that Jamie’s heir would inherit none of his father’s naiveties.
“No!” the King declared after some thought as Tywin’s heart sank.
“We are kin, your grace! You are wed to my granddaughter. House Lannister would never dream of betraying the Cro....” he tried to assure him, but the King shook his head.
“I warned you five years ago, didn’t I?” and he had.
“I told you that your son’s life lay in your hands now. I spared him, for the exact reason that you give me now, yet now I see it for the mistake that it was, both for me and you,” and with that, the King reached for a piece of paper and put it in front of him along with a quill and ink.
“Pen a letter to Lady Alysanne Lefford,” the King commanded him like he was a damned commoner, and to this day, no one had ever talked to him like this after Aerys, yet even he had shrunk in fear under his gaze.
But the Stark boy was not afraid.
“Tell her that she is to arrest Ser Jamie Lannister and have him escorted to the capital,” and for a wife to have her lord husband and the father of her children arrested for treason, that was cruel.
“Let me send Kevan...”
“No,” the King refused to budge.
“The Lannister retinue will not take a step outside these halls, not until I have your traitor son in my hands,” and that was it.
Tywin had no choice, as he reached for the quill and penned that letter, sealing his son’s fate. He finished writing the letter, and the King passed it on to his exiled Maester who left the solar leaving him alone with the King.
“I assure you once more that House Lannister had no part in this,” he said, and the King raised a brow.
“Do you think that you would be sitting here breathing as you are if you were,” and the King rose from his chair and walked towards the balcony.
“You should thank the Long Night and its coming for if it were not for the rising dead, I would have you and your entire family hung for this,” and Aerys would not have cared, he would have hung them all regardless.
“What do you intend to do with Jamie?” he asked, and the King glanced back before answering.
“I spared his life once and left his fate in your hands. His fate now rests in my hands once more,” and he turned away, making his intentions clear.
“And I have long run out of patience with him...”
0000
DAENERYS TARGARYEN
Days had passed since the Red Priest had made her the offer, and while the life around her went on, the words from that day continued to occupy her mind all the time.
Truth was that she did not know what to think of it, for her enemy was offering her heart’s desire, and while accepting it would give her what she desired, it would also mean abandoning her entire lineage.
“Can we trust them?” she asked, Ser Jorah, and he was the only man who could help her in this matter, for all his faults, he was loyal to her—not for the reasons she hoped for, but loyal nonetheless.
“If there is one House in the Seven Kingdoms that I would ever put my faith in, it is the House Stark,” and she had heard that the Northners were fiercely loyal, and she wondered what the Starks had done to inspire such loyalty that even a traitor was willing to vouch for their word.
“Your words make me question your loyalty?” she asked sharply, and the aged knight bowed.
“I am loyal only to you, my Khaleesi,” he pleaded, for you love me.
But I do not love you. I never can, and I never will, she wanted to scream, yet the words did not leave her throat as she sat in her usual place by the window, and gazed out at the city.
“The Starks would have my head if I were to ever return to their lands,” and she raised a brow as she turned to finally look at him, as she posed another question.
“So, if I were to accept his terms unamended, would you follow me to Westeros knowing that you would lose your head the second you land on those shores,” and those blue eyes gazed into her eyes, as he gave the answer.
“I would gladly offer my head for you,” and he would, though she had no intention of accepting the offered terms, and this new King had offered her a chance to amend the terms to a reasonable extent, and she believed that a secluded life in that red home of hers in Bravos would be a reasonable enough demand.
“You speak so well of the Starks, yet they broke their oaths when they rose against my father,” even though she knew of his faults, but they had broken faith with their King.
“Half the realm rose up against your father,” Ser Jorah answered as he rose up once more, and she need not be reminded of that.
“The Prince kidnapped the daughter of the Starks, and when Lord Stark and his heir went to the Red Keep seeking answers, your father burned the father and son,” and she had read how he had tied a rope around Rickon Stark’s neck and made him watch as her son was burned alive in front of him.
“The Starks rose in rebellion only after that,” yet it was rebellion nonetheless.
“What of his claim that I will find no friends in Westeros now?” and Ser Jorah’s lips thinned.
“The Targaryen family has not ruled over those lands for two decades now, and while Cregan Stark has ruled for but five years he has bound the realm in a web of marriages and alliances that make his rule mire secure and ardent than it ever was,” and she had heard that he had wed his siter to the Tyrells, hence making him kin to three Lord Paramounts directly.
“What of Dorne?” she asked, and Ser Jorah.
“If he is smart enough to reach out to you, then he is surely smart enough to know of Dorne and their actions,” and so Dorne would not come to her aid as well, hence making it impossible for any campaign to conquer Westeros.
This Cregan Stark offered her a chance at being the Lady of Winterfell, and for a second, she let herself imagine herself living in a Large castle wed to a young and noble lord, but she would be little more than a prisoner in those Halls.
And no matter what the boy King may claim, she would be in no different situation than she is today.
Daenerys did not care for honors, titles, or castles. She just wanted to live in peace.
“Then what of the Red Viper?” and she had heard Varys and Illyrio mention how he was coming to Essos, and Ser Jorah rubbed his chin.
“I believe he comes here on behalf of the King, to confirm once and for all the true nature of the boy we call Aegon Targaryen,” and it all hinged upon that, for who was that boy who claimed to be her nephew.
“He is not,” she whispered as Ser Jorah stilled at her words, and she turned away from him.
“I have no way to prove it, but he does not feel like family,” and the room was silent.
“You have only seen each other half a dozen times, perhaps...” but she shook her head.
“He is not,” she declared, and if she could feel that, then the Red Viper would know it as well in a heartbeat.
“But how can you know for certain?” Ser Jorah asked, and there was one way.
“Illyrio, he would know that the Red Viper would see through their lies,” and that she was becoming suspicious of them. It was why they had brought up the Red Vipers' name in her presence.
“Then why would he let him meet the boy?” and years ago, she had been a young and naive girl, oblivious to the wretched and ruthless game being played around her.
But she was no longer that girl.
“He won’t,” she declared as she turned around to look at Ser Jorah.
“They will kill the Red Viper before he ever lands on these shores....”
.
.
.
And just as she had spoken, five days later, a letter would arrive for her from Varys and the rest bearing word about how the ship of the Red Viper had been sunk.
0000
In the Free City of Braavos, Tycho Nestoris addressed the conclave of thirteen that ruled the city in truth. And it was an unceremonious gathering, one that had been called up specifically by the returning ambassador.
“May we know why exactly have you summoned us all on such short notice?” asked one of the key holders as the balding man stood in teh centre of the room, his key hanging from a chain around his neck.
“Has the Iron Throne decided to make an enemy of us?” one asked.
“Or have they accepted our offer of a joint venture?” and the balding man shook his head.
“No, today I summon all of you here to speak to you of a grave matter that involves the fate of this world,” and the room turned silent at those words.
“Fate of the world?” one of them scoffed.
“What did you see in that wedding, Nestoris, that you feel concerned about the fate of the world?” and the balding man looked into the eyes of his peers as he told them the truth.
“Death...”
0000
Comments
Skulldragon7
his siter to the Tyrells, hence making him kin -> his sister to the Tyrells, hence making him kin
FallenMetalGod
Thank you. It was nice seeing Tywin unable to do anything. I am curious if the Red Viper could have survived. Great job, as always, and I can't wait to see what happens next.
TypistTyphon
Tftc
Radiant Tiefling
Thank you for the chapter.
