Rosennis Stark did not think herself a fool. The opposite, in fact. Though the letter from her son made her reconsider.
She read Ren's words with a white-knuckled grip, an awful cold fury spreading through her entire body. Her son wasn't sure, but now he had raised the idea, Ross was. Cersei's children were not Robert's. Ren did not speculate on who the true father was, other than to say that he had little idea, but to her, it was as plain as day.
Saints, she - of all people - should have known. Ross knew what Jaime and Cersei had been to each other. Known exactly what secret the Queen would kill to protect. Jon Arryn had worked it out, Stannis too, and Arryn had died for it. Bran had heard something, something he did not understand, and Cersei sent her cousin Lancel to hire assassins to silence him.
Gods, if Ross was a fool, the Lannister twins were downright simple. She could believe Jaime when he said that he hadn't touched his sister since before Riverrun, if only for Cersei's obvious hatred of him. She knew he had gone back to her after the Rebellion. One child could be a mistake, and it was just a coincidence that Joffrey and Myrcella had been twins. Three children, however. Three royal bastards, with no trueborn heir in sight. At this point, she knew both Jaime and Cersei well, and had thought - well, not better of both of them, but she had not believed either would be so bloody stupid.
In an uncharacteristic display of rage, Ross tore the letter into four pieces, screwed it into a ball and threw it savagely into the fire, shaking hand covering her mouth to stop the scream of frustration escaping.
She could not even reply to Ren. Jaime received his letters, and she could not risk him reading it. Perhaps she could write to Jaime directly, though what would that accomplish? Telling Ned would start a war; he would go straight to Robert. Her son seemed to be in the same mind as she was, however; in his letter, he wrote that he would try and delay Ned from discovering anything. Her brother was loyal to his friend until the end; he would recognise that continuing the investigation would put him in danger, knew exactly what could happen, but would plough on regardless because it was the right thing to do
Though she was hardly going to sit tight in Winterfell and let this cascade out of control. Ross hastily scrawled a letter to her brother, hoping the raven would reach King's Landing fast. The news from Ren would already be weeks out of date. She told him to come home, as soon as he could. Come home, without asking questions; hang Robert, or anyone who said he couldn't. From her, Ned would find that concerning enough to, hopefully, listen.
She opened the door, about to march to the rookery there and then, only to come face to face with Robb, about to knock. Both of them jumped out of their skin.
"Auntie," Her nephew recovered, grinning. "Sorry to startle you. I - " He broke off. "Are you alright?"
"Yes," She waved him off, knowing she must have looked harried. "Walk with me, if you've something to say,"
He hastened to keep up with her long strides as she set off towards the rookery. "I had a question about those grain reports, and..."
Her mind was elsewhere, though as Robb spoke, she did try to listen. Her nephew was a good acting lord - his father had taught him well - though was, of course, still a boy. Ross and Maester Luwin were more than able to assist him, particularly with the accounts and finances, which no young boy had any time for. That was Ross' domain, as it had been even before she was married.
"... Oh, and Rickon is acting up again. He kicked his nursemaid and refused to sit down for his lessons, running out to play with with the wolves. We may need you to have another word with him,"
It had been an unpleasant surprise when the three wolves that had gone south had turned up here again. The men escorting them - Crow and Nymeria in cages, Lady running beside them - had told the whole sorry tale of what had happened near the Trident. Ross was half-tempted to go to King's Landing herself and give Joffrey the smacks his mother should have years ago, when she heard of what he had done to Morganna.

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The Long Winter | Jaime Lannister X Stark OC | GOT/ASOIAF
FanfictionStark OC x Jaime Lannister | Lannister OC x Robert Baratheon | Rosennis Stark was not like her sister Lyanna. She wasn't bold, nor beautiful and nor wild; more stiff, stony and icy cold. She comes out of the rebellion with scars on her skin, a basta...