Chapter 13
Chapter 13
Ned Stark didn’t understand where he went wrong with the boy.
He didn’t know where all his aristocratic mannerisms were coming from (he did, he was just in denial). After all the boy was a bastard (maybe if you repeat it enough times you will start to believe it). But instead of carrying the shame of the crime that was his birth with a demeanor suited to most bastards, the boy had the gall to walk with his head held high and to dare to act equal to his betters.
When he allowed Cat free reign he had expected the boy to complain of his hard fate to all those that would hear him. Perhaps for him to beg for his ‘father’ to speak to his wife. But he didn’t. Not when the boy was given a tiny room among the servants. Not when he was banned from dining with the family. Not when his lessons with the Maester were discontinued (for it is above a bastard’s station to sit in on the classes of a future lord) at Catelyn’s behest.
It was even more frustrating that the bastard was extremely gifted with the sword (how was he to know that Draco Malfoy had the best tutors in fencing and martial arts money could buy?), more so than his true-born son Robb. And he couldn’t do anything about it. Not without seeming biased and unjust. And Cat? Oh she did try to mellow down that boy but he continued to repeatedly defeat their own son in combat. She held no authority for the bastard. And he suspected neither did he. After all the boy had never called him father. Not. Even. Once.
He was honestly glad for the presence of the Squid. The hostage. The Greyjoy. Although in other circumstances he would have objected to Robb’s friendship with a boy that comes from such a dishonorable family. But at least this way Robb could find some more confidence. Because he was definitely not the only one hearing the whispers among the servants and even other lords of how the bastard was more of a Stark than the true-born half-fish were.
His only hope to put a stop to this farce was to send the menace away to the Night Watch.
He honestly couldn’t wait for Jon to bring the subject up. Because there were no prospects for bastards in the North. It wasn’t Dorne.
It never would be.
Becoming a brother of the Night Watch is the best any Snow can expect from life.
Jon Snow just has to understand that.