Lannister Blood

24 - A Knight of the Vale

Leander Stone sits across from me at the table closest to my brothers. I haven't spoken since he started to explain. Explain... if you can even call it that. I feel as though I'm meeting an entirely new person; not the one I've been getting to know ever since my return to Winterfell. Jaime and Tyrion are being uncharacteristically quiet in the corner, their eyes canvasing our every move. I couldn't even bring myself to tell them to leave through the shock of Leander's confession.

All I can do is stare at him as he speaks.

"I was raised in Dorne," he explains, his tone gentle. "By a woman I came to know as a mother, Ellya. It was just her and I in the city, aside from a few relatives she had, but I only met them a few times. She... passed. It was sudden and I was young. I knew she wasn't my birth mother, but it didn't matter to me because she was all I had. I didn't learn about you until I came to the Vale. I had always heard the stories of the Knights of the Vale and hoped maybe I could make something of myself, even though I carried the weight of being a bastard."

He rubs his palms together lightly, a nervous tick that shadows another I know well. He meets my eyes.

"Ellya... she named me Lysander. Lysander Sand. I now know it was in honor you."

My nails dig into my knees as I try to absorb everything he says. Ellya... sweet Ellya. She did what I asked. She kept the baby safe and raised him as her own... and now she's gone.

"Lysander," I say quietly, unable to stop myself.

He nods. "Yes. My name was changed when I became a knight. It was the idea of Lord Baelish... Littlefinger as you seemed to know him best by."

"Littlefinger?" I practically spit.

I notice Jaime and Tyrion lean forward at the mention of the name.

"He knew I was your son," Leander says, his expression guarded. "I don't know how. He didn't tell me much. But once he found out who I was, he did everything he could to make sure I became a Knight of the Vale. He took an interest in me; started feeding me information about you and the pregnancy. That you frolicked around with Nobles and scum alike, that I was a disgusting accident that resulted from whoring around the-"

Jaime stands, nearly knocking his chair over in the process. I feel my entire body shaking from the story.

"That's a lie," Jaime snarls.

Leander raises his hands to the three of us. I touch Jaime's arm, keeping my focus on Leander. He seems to relax a bit at my touch.

"His words," he assures us. "Not mine. He fed me many lies for years. And I won't lie to you, Lysandra, I believed them. I grew to hate you for it. I was hurting and gullible. I wanted nothing to do with you... and then I saw you for the first time in Winterfell when you brought Robb Stark. I didn't know it was you then, but I feel that I did... in a way. It was like looking at a memory. One I didn't know I had. And Littlefinger knew it was important to poison me then more than ever. He told me you were a spy, no friend of Winterfell or our allies. That I would need to end your life before you ended many others."

"He wanted you to kill me." My voice is deadly quiet.

"Yes." He sighs, as if the very memory of it hurts. "And for a dark moment, I considered it. But then, as you were awaiting trial, I saw the way you were behaving around people. The Starks, the people of Winterfell in general. You were the complete opposite of everything I had been taught. I thought I may have just been being deceived by a spy, but then the trial came. The way you handled it, the decision you made, I knew in that moment I had been led astray.