Queen of Kings / Ned Stark / Gendry Baratheon

3. Doomed

"So sad..." Evie said blandly as she stared down at Jon Arryn. "He was a bore. Rules and what not. Oh! Can grandfather-"

"No. Never." Robert cut her off. "The day I let Tywin Lannister be hand you will know I have lost my damn mind."

"He was hand of the mad king for 20 years." Evie corrected. "He is the smartest man I know. He has never lost a battle-"

"No Genevieve." Robert barked.

"Seems like the best option." Evie grumbled. She always felt like she was in trouble when someone said Genevieve.

"Find your mother." Robert barked. "We are heading north."

"Why?" Evie questioned. 

"Just find your damn mother." Robert demanded. Evie stuck her tongue out at him as he waddled away. 

"Careful, I'm going to get that tongue." Gendry mused, he made sure no one else was in the sept before he kissed her, their tongues mingling. 

"Did you hear father?" Evie questioned. 

"No I was focused on you." Gendry corrected. 

"We are headed north."

"North?" 

"Yeah, thats what I said." Evie agreed leaning into him. 

"Why?"

"Thats what I asked, seemed like a good reasonable question and he bit my head off about it." Evie agreed. 

"I think he sees a lot of mum in you and that pisses him off." Gendry offered. 

"Everything pisses him off." Evie corrected. 

"North?" Cersei questioned. "Why the hell would we go north?"

"Not yell at the messenger." Evie corrected looking through her mothers wardrobe. "This is so cute! I'm taking this." Cersei chuckled moving to Evie, twirling a strand of black hair in between her fingers. 

"Oh," Cersei realized letting her hand fall to her side. 

"What?" Evie questioned. 

"Ned Stark." Cersei answered. 

"What about him?" Evie countered. 

"Robert is going to want him to be hand." 

"He hasnt seen Ned Stark in like a decade." Evie corrected. 

"Yet Robert is a bumbling idiot." Cersei agreed. 

"Is he really going to make us go all the up there, grovel, really it seems pathetic." Evie decided. 

"Thats because you are smart." Cersei agreed. "Brilliant really." 

"I suggested grandfather but father shot that down," Evie informed her. 

"You suggested your grandfather?" Cersei questioned. 

"Of course, seems a logical choice." 

"NOt your uncle Jaime?" 

"Why would uncle Jaime be a good choice?" Evie countered, Cersei laughed out. "I'm sorry, he's great but he's more fun uncle than rules and laws and shit." Evie added. 

"YOu are right," Cersei admitted. "He doesnt want it. The days are long and their lives are short, he told me." 

"Jon Arryn was old." Evie corrected. 

"Pack up!" Robert barked. He was so excited to be seeing his oldest friend. 

"What if he says no?" Gendry questioned. 

"Stop unpacking my clothes." Evie countered slapping his hand away from her trunk. 

"I'm just saying, a smart man would fuck no to our father." Gendry offered. 

"A dead man." Evie corrected. "Our father tends to get what he wants, even if he doesnt deserve it." 

"The king is riding to Winterfell to seek you out." Catelyn remarked. It took Ned a moment to comprehend her words, but when the understanding came, the darkness left his eyes. His old mentor Jon Arryn, was dead but his friend was coming for a visit. 

"Robert is coming here?" Ned questioned in disbelief. When she nodded, a smile broke across his face. Catelyn wished she could share his joy. But she had heard the talk in the yards; a direwolf dead in the snow, a broken antler in its throat. Dread coiled within her like a snake, but she forced herself to smile at Ned. 

"I knew that would please you," she agreed. "We should send word to your brother on the Wall."

"Yes, of course," Ned agreed. "Ben will want to be here. I shall tell Maester Luwin to send his swiftest bird." Ned declared happily. "Damnation, how many years has it been? And he gives us no more notice than this? How many in his party, did the message say?"

"I should think a hundred knights, at the least, with all their retainers, and half again as many free riders. Cersei and the children travel with them." Catelyn pondered.

"Robert will keep an easy pace for their sakes," Ned realized. "It is just as well. That will give us more time to prepare." The princes and princesses. Ned remembered meeting the twins, Genevieve and Gendry, thick black hair like Robert, then came Joffrey, he didnt remember much of Joffrey but he remembered the twins, they were always connected at the hip. Reminded him of how he used to be with his siblings when they were all young and care free, before the wars. 

"The queen's brothers are also in the party," Catelyn told him. Ned grimaced at that. There was small love between him and the queen's family, Catelyn knew. It seemed everyone knew that. 

 The Lannisters of Casterly Rock had come late to Robert's cause, when victory was all but certain, and he had never forgiven them. But the children were innocent. Hell, Robert's eldest were older than Robb by a few moons. They werent children anymore. 

"Well, if the price for Robert's company is an infestation of Lannisters, so be it. It sounds as though Robert is bringing half his court."

"Where the king goes, the realm follows."

"Everyone, literally everyone is coming." Evie realized. "Why not summon Ned up here? I mean seriously," She looked around at all the carriages, all the horses, she looked to Sandor. "It's stupid, its a waste of time and resources." 

"You are smart one, princess." Sandor agreed. 

"Evie." She demanded. Sandor smirked back at her. "You call me princess to annoy me." Evie agreed. "Fine but its still stupid to waste a moon, who is going to be looking after the realms while we are gone?" 

"LIttlefinger." 

"We are doomed." Evie declared.