LION'S LEGACY
17. Consequences

After the execution, while the rest of the children walked in the other direction, Annalys grabbed Lyanna by the arm, stopping her before she could leave as well. She placed a hand on the girl's shoulder as she looked down at her.

Lyanna tried her hardest not to roll her eyes, having the feeling Annalys was on the verge of giving her some life lesson in preparation for her being queen when her mother died. "Do you know why Father and I had to be the one to execute them and not some royal executioner?" She asked Lyanna, who looked up at her mother and nodded in response.

"The man or woman who passes the sentence should wield the sword," She replied without hesitation, causing Annalys to smile and nod.

"When you're queen, you'll have to do the same. Treason should never go unpunished, no matter who it is," Annalys explained and Lyanna tried her hardest not to snap at her mother for hypocrisy.

"What happens if your own blood has done the treason?" Lyanna suddenly asked Annalys, who frowned when she noticed the almost sarcastic tone her daughter used, "What if your own father, for example, was the one who's commited the treason? Does it still go unpunished then, Mother?"

Annalys gave Lyanna an annoyed look, immediately realizing what was going on, "How did you find out?" She asked her eldest daughter, knowing she was referring to Jaime.

Despite how great it was having a daughter that was so much like her, it came back to bite Annalys in the ass on more occasions than one. Annalys finally felt what other people did when she acted the way she did. Defiant, stubborn, reckless, brave, fearless, and too smart for her own and everyone else's good.

"I'm not deaf, nor am I a fool like the rest of them," Lyanna replied with an answer that was so like Annalys that it practically scared the Lannister woman, "You claim that treason should never go unpunished yet you let your own father get away with treason. Grandfather freed your uncle because he claimed he was the only one who could convince Daenerys to release Lady Jeyne and Torra. Now, Lady Jeyne is dead and both Tyrion and Grandfather are still breathing. They deserve to die."

"No, they don't," Annalys argued, shaking her head while Lyanna scoffed loudly.

"But you just told me treason should never go unpunished, yet both men have committed treason right before your eyes and they still haven't been punished for it," Lyanna retorted with an attitude, much to Annalys' dismay.

"It's different, Lyanna," Annalys told her softly, a pleading look on her face, "You don't understand."

"I think I understand a lot more than you think I do, Mother," Lyanna complained, causing Annalys' eyes to widen slightly.

She began to narrow her eyes at her daughter. Lyanna simply stared back at her and the mother-daughter duo started to have their usual stare down until finally, Annalys gave up. Lyanna looked satisfied while Annalys felt impressed. Annalys' stubbornness always led to her winning stare downs with people like Tywin, yet she met her match when it came to Lyanna.

Annalys was about to continue the conversation when she suddenly heard the men on the castle yell, "Open the gates!"

Annalys frowned when a group of Unknown hunters entered, carrying a large crate in their arms together.

"Stay here," Annalys told Lyanna, who went to join her siblings on the other side of the courtyard while Annalys joined Robb, both of them walking up to the leader of the group of men.

"Your Graces," The dark-haired men greeted their king and queen, bowing to them.

"What brings you here, Ser?" Annalys questioned, having the feeling the unknown man was a knight.

"We found a large female direwolf in the Kingswood across the Blackwater Rush. Killed by a hunter who presumed it to be just a regular wolf," He explained to Robb and Annalys in a calm tone.

Hearing the revelation, Annalys and Robb frowned in utter confusion. "There shouldn't be direwolf South of the Wall besides the ones found by my siblings and I thirteen years ago. Especially not this far South."

"That isn't all of it," The man suddenly revealed, turning to gesture toward the rest of the group.

The men wasted no timing moving closer to their king and queen while holding the large wooden-crate. They opened it, revealing what they counted to be seven direwolf pups inside.

"Seven hells," Annalys muttered under her breath, her eyes widening in shock at the sight.

Many of the pups stared up at Robb and Annalys, whining and barking. They looked to be no older than a few weeks old.

"She must have recently given birth to eight direwolves," The man continued on, causing Annalys to turn to him in confusion.

"Eight? There's only seven here," She pointed out to him, a deeply puzzled look on her face.

"We found one lying dead alongside the mother. Must have died soon after its birth, Your Grace," He explained and Annalys tensed up, finding it to be a similiarity to her own position.

"The direwolf is His Grace's family sigil. We believed it was right to bring them to you," He continued on as he turned to Robb, who looked to be stunned speechless.

Annalys turned him, feeling concerned for his reaction. Something wasn't right, she knew that much, "Robb? Are you alright?" She called out, noticing the way he was practically in a trance-like state while looking down at the direwolf pups.

Robb was tensed up due to the similarity to what happened with him and his siblings when finding their direwolves to what was happening now. The similarity of it brought chills down his spine.

Grey Wind and the other direwolves had been found after Robb's father executed a man, an execution that occured with Bran being a witness due to his father believing he wouldn't be a child forever and that "Winter was coming."

Now, these direwolves had shown up after Annalys called for execution of two traitors and had her eldest children watch for the same reason Ned Stark had Bran watch all those years ago.

"Seven direwolf pups and we have seven children. Can't be a coincidence, Robb," Annalys spoke up, causing Robb to tense up as he recalled Jon saying words so familiar to hers thirteen years before to his father.

"History is repeating itself, as they say," Robb commented in a sarcastic tone, causing Annalys to sigh in frustration.

"We must keep them and raise them, Robb. They'll die if we don't," Annalys complained and Robb immediately turned to her with a hesitant look.

"This is King's Landing. It isn't wise to have seven direwolves running around," Robb argued with Annalys, clearly hesitant to keep them due to having the feeling that something wasn't right about the whole ordeal and how similar the situation to the one his father had experienced years before when Robb was a boy, "It isn't the North where they have acres and acres of land to run freely on. They'd have to spend most of their time within these walls.

"They have to be here for a reason, Robb," Annalys continued to complain and Robb began to have more difficulty denying her wishes as she continued to make such a valid point, "Why else would a direwolf be this far south?"

"Many reasons, I would assume," Robb sarcastically replied, earning an annoyed look from his son, "Not everything is destiny, you know. Some things are simply coincidental. Like this." He explained, pointing toward the direwolves.

He refused to look at them, however. He knew if he did, he'd end up agreeing to keeping them. They reminded him so much of grey wind when he was just a pup. Now, his direwolf was huge, the size of a small horse that even Rickard once tried to ride him like one just a year before.

How were they supposed to keep seven direwolves in the castle, direwolves that would soon grow to be just as big as Grey Wind? They would mean eight would now reside in the castle and sometimes, even Summer would be there due to Bran's constant visits as the Master of Whisperers.

Feeling eyes on him, Robb slowly turned to find Torra, Eddard, Lyanna, and Olyvar eavesdropping their conversation. Once they noticed that their father had caught them, they tried to hide behind the nearest wall, which didn't work well.

"Quit eavesdropping and come over here," He told them, sounding stern when in truth, he was actually being so.

The four eldest children of Robb and Annalys sighed in defeat due to being caught before approaching their parents and the uknown man.

"Can we please keep them?" Lyanna immediately begged after locking eyes on the direwolves.

Looking down at his daughter, Robb looked hesitant to agree. Annalys, however, smiled as she watched the scene occur. She knew within no time, Robb would agree. Unlike Annalys, he rarely ever said no to the children. It was like he didn't know how to say no to their pleading eyes and Lyanna's fake tears.

Annalys, however, wasn't a fool and knew exactly what they were doing. She knew because she used to do the same thing to her parents, which led to her almost always getting her way, especially when it came to Jaime. Like Robb, he had no clue how to say no to his children. Well, just Annalys in Jaime's case, but he and Robb still dealt with the same thing.

"Please! Please! Please!" Olyvar begged loudly, jumping up and down as he gave his father a pleading look.

"Please!" Eddard exclaimed, staring up at his father as he begged him, "It's the only thing we've ever wanted."

Hearing Eddard's excuse, Torra, Robb, and Annalys turned to look at him with a pointed look while Annalys tried her hardest not to smile in amusement at how full of shit he was.

"Oh, you know what I mean!" Eddard continued on, causing Robb sigh in defeat before turning to the group of men.

He nodded in encouragement, gesturing for them to hand the direwolves to his eldest children.

Annalys smiled as the four children formed a line, waiting to be given their direwolves. First, Torra was handed a direwolf, one that had fur that was completely black.

Next, Lyanna was handed her direwolf, one that had a silvery grey fur. She smiled, firmly holding the pup in her arms.

When Eddard was handed his smoky grey direwolf, he laughed happily and the direwolf barked, clearly happy as well.

Next came Olyvar, who ended up choosing his direwolf. He chose the only one that was completely white, clearly liking it the most for some reason.

There was three left, the ones left for the other children. Rickard would end up getting a direwolf with light grey fur while the twins got direwolves that were almost identical with their grey and white fur.

Annalys smiled happily, watching the priceless looks on the children's face as the direwolves are placed in their arms.

"You will train them yourselves. Feed them yourselves. And if they die, you will bury them yourselves," Robb instructed in a stern tone before he found himself sighing in frustration as he muttered, "Gods, I sound just like my bloody father."

Hearing her husband's words, Annalys began to smile while Robb looked annoyed. "What will you name them?" She questioned her eldest children as she raised a brow at them.

They stood in silence for a long moment before Torra ended up being the first one to speak up. "Freyja," She suddenly spoke up, causing Robb to freeze in place while Annalys' eyes widened.

"G-Good choice," Annalys managed to get out while Robb looked uneasy and almost annoyed.

Before Torra could notice the man's reaction, Annalys roughly slapped him on the back, causing him to curse loudly before turning to him. "Seven hells! What was that for!" He exclaimed, only to notice the warning look on his wife's face.

He sighed in defeat, understanding what she was getting at. As they decided to change the subject, they turned to look at the twins and Olyvar, who seemed to have already thought of some names. "Dusk," Eddard answered at the same time that Lyanna answered, "Dawn."

The twins turned to each other, smiling. "Winter," Olyvar suddenly spoke up, causing the group to turn to him, "I think Winter is the perfect name for a white direwolf."

"I find it odd that Torra ended up with the completely black one and Olyvar ended up with the completely white one while the rest of us ended up with the grey ones," Eddard bluntly remarked, only to groan as Lyanna slapped him on the arm.

"Shut up, you idiot," She growled at him lowly, earning a glare from Eddard as he rubbed the arm she had struck.

"Why must you always hit me!" Eddard exclaimed in annoyance, glaring at his twin sister, "Can't you use your words?"

"Clearly, she can't," Robb suddenly spoke up in a sarcastic tone, turning to look directly at Annalys, "Just like another person I know."

"Do as I say," Annalys retorted as she turned to look directly at Lyanna, "Not as I do."

"Come," Annalys decided, grabbing ahold of two of the remaining direwolves while Robb grabbed the last one, "Let us bring these to our other children."

"Let's just hope Rickard doesn't try to ride this one, thinking it's a horse," Robb commented quietly, causing Annalys to smile and shake her head at the thought.

"Our youngest is something else, I swear," Annalys remarked, both of them knowing it to be the truth, "He's going to cause more trouble than the rest of our children combined as he grows older, I'm telling you."

"The issue is none of our other children pay attention to him," Robb complained as they made their way up the stairs while holding the direwolves, "Joanna and Torrhen have each other, Olyvar and the twins have each other, Torra enjoys being alone since she's used to it while Rickard's left all by himself."

"If you're suggesting we have another, it would seem you have gone mad during our time apart," Annalys complained, earning a small eye roll from Robb.

"No, that is not what I'm saying," Robb argued with a small smile on his face, "I just think...perhaps for the next day or two, we spend time with all of our children. The war has been won and if we're lucky like we were last time, we'll have at least five years until the next one. It's a perfect opportunity to get to know our youngest son."

Annalys frowned, suddenly freezing in place. She turned to look at Robb, looking almost offended. "What?" He asked, clearly oblivious to what had made her so offended.

"I know our children, Robb. Just because I haven't been able to spend as much time with them as I used, it does not mean I don't know them." She complained, clearly taking his words the wrong way, "I gave birth to them. I nursed each of them at my own breasts. I know those children more than you may think."

"That's not what I'm saying, my love," Robb sighed, giving her an apologetic look, "You weren't there five years ago when Lyanna looked me in the eye and told me she hated when we left to go to war because she felt alone and uncomfortable in a place she felt to be a stranger's home. You may not have noticed it, but I do. Do you see the difference between Lyanna, Olyvar, and Eddard and our three youngest?"

Annalys frowned, shaking her head, despite having the feeling she knew exactly what he was getting at.

"They act differently. Completely different, actually. Our eldest children were raised differently. They were moved from King's Landing to the Riverlands to Casterly Rock to Winterfell and then to Casterly Rock again, all within the first four years of their lives," He explained, causing Annalys to look saddened, "They had to endure months without us, the twins affected by it most of all. Our youngest children never had to deal with that. All they've known was peace in King's Landing until this war had begun. You saw the way Joanna reacted to my departure. Never once has our eldest reacted like. They're used to it, our youngest children are not."

"What are you trying to say, Robb?" Annalys asked, tears beginning to form in her eyes, "I've done the best I've can to make up for that. Don't you see that? We both have."

"We can make up for the mistakes we've made with them, but I also believe you had a point earlier today. They won't be children forever," Robb paused, letting out a sigh as he started to something that practically went against everything he had been complaining about, "Perhaps while showing our eldest children that King's Landing is our home and always will be our home, we should stop sheltering our youngest children from how cruel the real world is."

Annalys' eyes widened, not expecting Robb to say such a thing. "What do you mean?"

"Joanna should be taught how to defend herself as Lyanna has, even if she prefers dresses to swords. Torrhen shouldn't always be studying our history and how to learn High Valyrian, he should be learning how fight with a sword as well, how to lead." Robb explained in a calm tone, "And while doing that with them, we should be spending more time with Rickard, not always allowing him to remain alone to play with his toys alone. Just because he doesn't have a twin or extremely close in age to them like Olyvar is, it doesn't mean he can't form a bond with his older siblings."

"What about Torra?" Annalys asked, sighing when the direwolves whined in her arms, clearly wanting her to get out of the position she had been remaining in for several minutes while conversing with Robb.

"I believe she shouldn't have the freedom to do whatever she wants, whenever she wants," Robb complained in a stern tone, "Yes, she may be fifteen now, but she is not an adult. She left King's Landing on her own, rallied the Brotherhood without Banners, and traveled all the way to the Wall by herself with that boy Aden."

Hearing Robb's revelation, Annalys' eyes widened. Robb frowned, not understanding why Annalys looked so shocked. "You didn't know?" He questioned in confusion.

"Bran only told me he saw her with you on the ship coming from Eastwatch," Annalys informed Robb, a deeply frustrated look on her face, "I thought she had gone with you to Dragonstone in the first place. I didn't know she traveled all the way up North alone with Aden."

Taking one last look at Robb, Annalys turned to the two members of her Queensguard that had been walking with them. She walked closer to them, handing them each one of the direwolves. "Bring these to Prince Torrhen and Princess Joanna," She ordered before turning to look at Robb, "I must speak with Torra."

"Good luck," Robb remarked, just before Torra walked off.

A day ended up passing and Annalys was still unable to have a talk with Torra. Annalys finally realized just how stupid and foolish she had been for giving the girl so much freedom. Torra clearly thought she was able to do anything she wanted, whenever she wanted. Of course, she didn't do anything with that said power like Joffrey had, but it didn't mean she didn't constantly put herself in dangerous when going off on these adventures of hers while never telling anyone about what she was doing.

The following day, Annalys entered Torra's chambers to find the fifteen-year-old girl lying fast asleep, despite it being nearly midday. Her direwolf, Freyja, laid on the ground near the girl's bed, fast asleep as well. "Rise and shine, Torra!" Annalys exclaimed loudly, making her way toward the curtains that blocked out all the sunlight, "The only people in bed past midday are drunks and you're anything but that..." She trailed off, noticing how frizzed and tangled Torra's hair was, not to mention the state she looked to be in, "Despite looking exactly that."

"Must you be so loud?" Torra muttered under her breath, flinching as Annalys opened the curtains to allow in the sunlight, "When did you even return? I thought you went missing again."

"Again," Annalys repeated in a mutter, letting out a loud scoff, "You say it as if it's a common occurrence."

"It is," Torra muttered under her breath, sounding annoyed, "Now, would you mind leaving? I'd like to go back to sleep. I had a long night."

Annalys went to take a seat on the bed next to where Torra laid, only to suddenly freeze when she saw the blood staining Torra's sheets. Her eyes widened, knowing for a fact it couldn't have been from the girl's moonblood.

She sighed in frustration before looking down at the girl with a stern look. "Get up," She demanded in a stern tone, but the girl refused to open her eyes and sit up, "I said, get up."

An angry look appeared on Annalys' face when Torra didn't listen. She turned on her heel and began to walk away. Hearing Annalys' footsteps become more distant, Torra smiled in satisfaction, assuming that her mother was finally leaving.

Suddenly, Torra screamed out as Annalys poured a large cup of cold water on her face. She began to cough up the water, wasting no time with abruptly sitting up. She turned to look at Annalys, extremely annoyed as she wiped the water that was dripping down her face.

"What was that for!" Torra exclaimed, giving Annalys a look of disbelief.

"How reckless can you be!" Annalys shouted at Torra so angrily that the younger girl found herself practically flinching in fear since she had no clue what was about to happen, "You traveled North alone with that bastard boy, planning to go beyond the Wall by yourself when I wasn't around to stop you," She paused, glaring at Torra almost hatefully, "You think I'm a fool and clueless as to who that boy really is, but I'm not. I know Baratheon blood runs through that boy's veins. Robert Baratheon's blood, in fact."

Hearing her mother's words, Torra's eyes widened in utter disbelief. "You really think I'm stupid enough not to see the similarity between the way Aden looks and the way Robert used to look when he was younger? I was raised as Robert's daughter for seventeen years, do you think I wouldn't be able to tell when there is a Baratheon right under my nose?"

"Please don't kill him, I--" Torra began to beg, a saddened look on her face.

"If I wanted to kill him, I would have done it already, don't you think, Torra?" Annalys asked coldly before roughly lifting up Torra's bedsheets to reveal the blood staining it, "But I'll tell you now, if you end up falling pregnant because of that boy, I won't be the one you have to worry about murdering him."

Torra tensed up, knowing for a fact Annalys meant Robb. Robb was protective of all his children, but especially his daughters. Annalys was fine with what Torra was doing as long as she was safe with it, but it didn't mean Robb would be. And if she ended up pregnant, they all knew for a fact Robb wouldn't take it lightly.

"Never disobey me again, Torra, or there will be consequences for your actions," Annalys told her daughter in a stern tone, "I am your mother, I will not stand here and let you become another me. Being so reckless will have you ending up just like me and I know for a fact it won't be a good thing for anyone, especially you."

With that, Annalys turned on her heel and walked off, causing Torra to sigh in defeat as an uneasy look formed on her face.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Damn, first Lyanna basically calls her mother a hypocrite and then Annalys tells off Torra.

Lemme just say, Torra is a VERY stubborn person if you haven't noticed already. She really doesn't listen to anyone, not even Robb, but someone she ALWAYS listen to is Annalys😂 she's lowkey afraid of her. But I mean, who wouldn't be?