"He is an innocent child, Ned!"
"I know that!" Ned Stark snapped back, a dark scowl upon his face. "But still, he almost killed you. How can you expect me to love him when he almost took you from me?" He pointed to himself, tapping his chest with his pointer finger. "I just can't, Vhaenessa! There is no way!Please do not expect me to."
He turned on his heels, storming out of the birthing chamber and slamming the door shut behind him, leaving a heartbroken Vhaenessa to stare at the door with eyes that glistened with tears.
In all her years as Ned Stark's wife, she had never seen him despise an innocent baby like now.
She blinked, feeling like the world was falling into pieces around her, stabbing her heart with some of the debris.
In the crib, the babe fussed, a strong wail calling for her to pick him up.
She breathed in and out slowly before moving to lift her Targaryen baby out of the crib with the gentleness of a mother.
She began rocking him gently, pressing him against her shoulder, soft soothing words leaving her lips.
"There, there, my precious little darling boy. Mama's here now."
She untied the strings of her nightclothes, baring her fully rounded breasts. The babe latched on quickly, suckling hungrily.
"There, there, baby. Drink yourself full," she whispered softly.
She looked up as a servant girl walked in without knocking. She gasped and tried to cover herself.
"Do you not know any manners?" she asked, her tone cold.
The girl's eyes went wide with shock. She quickly dipped into a curtsy.
"My humble apologies, my lady. I did not know that you are awake. I am Lara. I have been feeding the babe since he was born."
Vhaenessa gave her a piercing look.
"Well, as you can see, your services are not needed now. So, can you please leave?"The servant girl curtsied again before rushing out of there as if millions of dragons were breathing fire at her.
Vhaenessa snorted in amusement at that, her arms cradling the babe closer. No woman was going to feed her babe again; no woman but she.
The door opening again made her frown and look up to tell whoever it is to bloody well leave, but her words went unsaid as her children came walking into the room. Not just the ones she had given birth to, but also the two she had raised as her own.
She deflated at the look on Robb's face when he saw the babe in her arms. It seemed that not only her husband despised the child.
"Mama!" Arya jumped onto the bed recklessly, her arms wrapping around her mother's shoulders.
"Careful, dove," Vhaenessa chastised softly.
"Sorry."
Sansa walked closer to the bed with more dignity than her rambunctious sister. "Are you well?"
Vhaenessa smiled. "Yes, love."
"How can you be well when you almost died because of that ...thing?" Robb questioned angrily.
Vhaenessa's smile vanished.
"Robb!" Jon hissed, moving closer to the bed.
"No, she should hear it," Robb argued.
"Robb, he isn't a thing," Sansa tried to reason, her tone a bit more harsh than she intended. "He is a baby, just a big baby, but still a baby."
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Vhaenessa Targaryen
FanfictionWhen Catelyn Tully never married Eddard Stark, the quiet wolf and instead a Targaryen came to Winterfell and the North.