The Last Velaryon - Robb Stark

17 - Possibly Changing the War

Night had fallen over the war camp and to my surprise nothing too serious after I had gone from being a Lannister to a Stark like I always should have been. Robb and I headed to the war tent seeing his mother where he got handed a letter immediately wanting to crumble the piece of paper by the look on his face. "This cannot be true." Robb muttered, re-reading the letter that one of his banner men had delivered to him moments before we had even fully entered the Stark war tent.

The lord responds back. "We've had ravens from White Harbor, Barrowton and the Dreadfort. I'm afraid it is true."

"Why? Why would Theon ... " Robb mutters in disbelief.

The lord remarked. "Because the Greyjoys are treasonous whores."

"My brothers?" Robb questions softly, needing to know if they were still alive.

The lord lowered his gaze sadly. "We've heard nothing of them. But Rodrik Cassel is dead."

"I told you, never trust a Greyjoy!" Catelyn raised her voice turning her head to the lord and rather to her firstborn son.

Robb rose from his chair and passed me before I could utter his name. "I must go North at once."

"There's still a war to win, Your Grace." His banner men spoke up.

Robb got in his face shouting at the lord with his emotions running high. "How can I call myself king if I can't hold my own castle? How can I ask men to follow me if I can't ..."

"You are a king. And that means you don't have to do everything yourself." He cut him off abruptly.

His mother suggested an alternative option. "Let me go and talk to Theon."

"There will be no talk. He will die for this." Robb snapped back at her, completely not thinking that if rode back home then what was the point of making it this far in the war.

The northerner banner men met his kings gaze calming down the young wolf who was wishing for blood of someone he considered a brother. "Theon holds the castle with a skeleton crew. Let me send word to my bastard at the Dreadfort. He can raise a few hundred men and retake Winterfell before the new moon. We have the Lannisters on the run. If you march all the way back north now, you'll lose what you gained. My boy would be honored to bring you Prince Theon's head."

"Tell your son Bran and Rickon's safety is paramount. And Theon ... I want him brought to me alive. I want to look him in the eye and ask him why. And then I'll take his head myself." Robb bared his teeth ordering him and his mother out of the room. "Leave me alone with my wife now."

Robb leaned over the war table with his palms grumbling like an animal under his breath. "Robb, your banner man is right. If you go back home then everything you've fought for so far would be for nothing."

"He lied to me. He betrayed me. He told me he would give me his father's ships so we could attack Kings Landing. How am I supposed to deal with traitors in my ranks!" He raised his voice at me.

Covering my face with my hand I sighed. "Let the lord bring Theon to you and then you can decide what to do with him."

"And what do you suggest for sailing to King's Landing?"

I paused, biting my lip trying to find a solution that worked. But there was only one and it had a high risk for failing or succeeding. "It's risky, but I'll write a letter to my father."

"You'd get me the Velaryon fleet."

Shrugging my shoulders I leaned my palms flat on the table. "I'll try my best to do so. You're my king after all."

"I'm not your king anymore, Haelesa." Robb rounded the war table placing his hands on my hips, bringing me closer to his chest. "You're my wife now, Hael. You are my equal in every way."

Closing my eyes I simply enjoyed the brief moment where he kissed my forehead before I knew we needed to get back to the business at hand. "We should write a letter before the sun rises. That way the Raven can be sent out immediately in the morning."

"What are you going to say? Are you sure you can truly convince your father to ride with me when you're supposed to be loyal to House Lannister?" My young wolf husband asked me, moving to sit back down in his chair with a scroll of paper and a quill in one hand.

Running my fingers through my white hair I sucked in a shaky breath. ""That I'm pregnant and our house memory lives on."

"Are you?" Robb's face lit up at the thought.

Raising my hands up in surrender I had to crush the flicker of hope in his blue eyes. "No, no, not yet anyway. With our current rate we are going I doubt that'll be a problem for you to put a Prince or Princess inside of me."

"So why are we saying that you are pregnant when you're not?" He raised a brow at me.

Rounding the table I placed my hand on his shoulder squeezing it gently before he started writing what I told him to write. "It'll just be a little white lie. Just write it down and place your name on the scroll." He kissed my head before I leaned down kissing him softly, praying that my father would answer my call.

The next morning I woke up in a panic feeling sick to my stomach. Tossing the furs aside I leaped from the bed thankful that Robb was already up before me. So I wasn't waking him up when I bent over the chamber pot puking up whatever was in my stomach from last night's dinner. "Hey Hael, I was thinking we could get some breakfast. Are you awake - oh my god!" Chezney rushed inside the tent seeing my current state pulling my hair away from my face.

When I had finally stopped getting sick she helped me to sit down at the table and chair we had set up in the corner of the tent. "Oh my gosh. I've never gotten sick from eating the camp food before."

"Your forehead isn't warm and you don't see pale or anything so that's a good sign." My friend put her freehand to my forehead remembering some of the signs the Maesters back home had told her when her mother had caught a small cold.

"Well that's a relief. I don't need to be catching a bug in the middle of this war."

My best friend made a face, biting her lip, seeing a more roundness in my stomach that had been there for a few weeks now. "Haelesa. I have to ask you a very serious question. When was the last time you've bled?"

"What are you trying to be a Maester now?" I snorted out a laugh.

She glared at me. "Just answer the question, please."

"I don't know. It's been a while. I think I was supposed to start maybe two weeks ago. Why are you asking me this?"

Chezney ran a hand through her loose hair. "Have you only been sleeping with Robb?"

"Not exactly...I was sleeping with Jaime a few times before Robb and I got married. But that shouldn't mean anything. I would've known if I was pregnant. I mean women have late periods sometimes right so nothing is happening. It's just a stomach bug." I was in denial not thinking that another alternative option had occurred.

Chezney grabbed me by my shoulders making me look her in the eyes. "Haelesa, you're pregnant."

"I am not. I can't be pregnant."

She snapped back at me. "Yes, you are pregnant."

"I can't be pregnant with Jaime's child!"

My childhood friend takes a step backwards asking me very nervously. "Don't you mean Robb's child?"

"I slept with Jaime more than I have him. So - it could be either of their babies." Covering my mouth with my hands I lower my head into my knees feeling tears welling up in my eyes.

Chezney touched my shoulder making me lift my head up. "We need to get you to a Maester and maybe tell Jaime, then Robb just to be safe." I hoped that I'd figure out who the father of my child was. On one end it could further the war or get us closer to ending it.

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