LION'S LEGACY
41. Safety

FLASHFORWARD
FIVE YEARS LATER

     In the South, Brienne and Jaime had searched continuously for the missing Stark-Lannister children and soon enough, Brienne came across one. Prince Rickard. However, he hadn't been alone. Instead, he was accompanied by the Hound, of all people.

"I asked if you wanted something," The Hound told Brienne after a bit of bickering.

"Ser Jaime and I swore to his parents that we would bring their children home and keep them safe," Brienne explained in a calm tone, earning a scoff from Rickard.

"My parents are dead," He pointed out in a calm tone, "They've been dead for years."

"I know. I wish I could've been there to protect them. I swore a sacred vow to protect them," Brienne explained, earning an odd look from Rickard.

"Which you failed at, clearly," Rickard retorted coldly, much to Brienne's dismay.

"Annalys and Robb ordered the Queensguard to protect their children, not them," Brienne informed Rickard in a determined tone, "I swore to your father by the Old Gods and the New--"

"I don't care what you swore! I don't want to go. I want to stay right here,"  Rickard argued with the woman in a stern tone.

"Prince Rickard, please---"  Brienne began to beg the boy, only to get cut off by the Hound.

"You heard the boy!" The Hound growled at Brienne, glaring at her hatefully, "He's not coming with you."

"He is," Brienne argued, refusing to give up on the boy after all the trouble she and Jaime were going through to find each of the children.

At the same time, Brienne and the Hound drew their swords, ready to fight each other if need be. "You're not a good listener, are you?" The Hound questioned, almost amused by her stubbornness.

"Clearly, she's not," Rickard spoke up, agreeing with the Hound, "She can't seem to understand the word, 'no'. Perhaps we'll have to make her understand."

The Hound tried not to crack a smile. Despite the boy being a pain in the ass, he always seemed to sound like a mad little fucker, even though in truth, he was a little boy at heart that just didn't have any luck in life.

"Come with me, Prince Rickard. I'll take you to safety," Brienne pleaded, refusing to give up on bringing to boy home.

But where was home?

"Safety?!" The Hound exclaimed angrily, 'Where the fuck's that? His mother's dead, his father's dead, his sisters haven't been seen in years and are probably dead, his brothers are most likely dead, too. Winterfell's is under siege and Casterly Rock has been taken. The entire country is at war. There's no safety, you dumb bitch. If you don't know that by now, you're the wrong one to watch over him."

"And that's what you're doing? Watching over him?" Brienne questioned the Hound, not believing his intentions were pure.

"Aye, that's what I'm doing," The Hound responded in a calm tone, "I've been doing it for years now. What have you been doing?"

    Angered, Brienne unsheathed her sword, ready to fight the Hound for the Prince. Rickard backed up, watching the scene closely.

PRESENT TIME
KING'S LANDING

After hearing of what happened to his son, Robb stood in place, horrified as Annalys told him the details. "How could we let this happen, Robb?" Annalys began to cry as she spoke to him, "The entire time, I believe he killed Lady. I viewed him to be another Joffrey. Every time he tried to speak, I'd tell him nothing he said could change what he did. This entire time, he had been trying to tell me what was going on and I didn't let him. This is all my fault. Our son has been harmed by this monster and none of it would have happened if I had just listened."

"You couldn't have known," Robb assured Annalys in a calm tone, "Every piece of evidence made it look as though Rickard had done it. Ambrose most likely did that on purpose."

"I have a feeling we're missing something, Robb," Annalys admitted, much to Robb's concern.

"What do you mean?" Robb asked Annalys in concern.

"I don't think we know the entire story," Annalys continued on, causing Robb to feel uneasy, "I think there's more to it. I think Ambrose was doing more than just beat him."

A disgusted expression formed on Robb's face at Annalys' words, knowing what she meant. "Rickard would have told us if that had been happening," Robb argued, his tone becoming hostile, "And if what you say is right--"

"He'll be suffering a lot more than just being executed," Annalys cut Robb off, her tone sounding low and threatening, "I'll have him castrated and I'll convince the High Septon to make him take the Walk of Atonement for his sins."

Robb remained silent, listening to her plan. Despite Annalys usually going overboard with her ideas of punishment for those who wronged her, for once, he agreed with her methods. Ambrose didn't deserve an easy death for what he did, not in the slightest. For that, he'd allow Annalys to do what she did best. Punish and avenge.

____

     Annalys was pacing up and down the children's hallway, feeling the need to keep watch that night for some reason. Just then, she heard crying and whimpering coming from Rickard's room. Soon enough, she heard a scream belonging to Rickard. She quickly ran to his room, only to find the boy lying in bed, tossing and turning. He was having a nightmare.

"No! Stop!" Rickard cried out, "What are you doing? Stop!"

Annalys rushed over to her son, who cried and whimpered in his sleep. She sat down at his bedside, placing one hand on his face and used the other to rub his back. "Rickard," She called out softly, "Rickard, wake up. It's just a nightmare."

Panting for breath, Rickard's eyes fluttered open, finding his mother sitting before him. His eyes began to fill with tears, but for the first time since his mother learned of the incident with Lady, she no longer looked at him as if he were some monster, which gave him some comfort, at least.

"Do you want to tell me about it?" Annalys found herself asking Rickard, trying to find the best way to comfort him. He looked hesitant, causing Annalys sigh in defeat, "I promise you, it does make you feel better. I speak from experience."

"It's not just a dream, though, Mother," Rickard suddenly confessed, causing Annalys to frown in concern.

"What is it?" Annalys questioned almost immediately after hearing his words, "Is it about what he did?"

"I-I didn't tell you and Father everything," Rickard admitted, tears beginning to spill from his eyes, "You don't know the whole story."

"Rickard, what am I missing?" Annalys asked in a pleading tone, fearing for whatever her son was on the verge of saying.

"I should have told you earlier, but I didn't know what to do. I didn't know how you and Father would react. Ambrose..." He trailed off, stammering as he spoke, "he said he'd hurt you and Father if I didn't agree, but I didn't listen. I said that he could never hurt you both, that you were too strong for him to defeat. But then he said he'd hurt Dash. He said he'd kill him if I didn't agree. He said he'd hurt Joanna, too. He made me agree and I knew I couldn't say no. I couldn't let them get hurt."

"What did you agree to do, Rickard?" Annalys desperately asked her son, her eyes wide in shock.

"I tried to tell him to stop, but he didn't listen. I told him no. I screamed, but no one could hear me. Dash wasn't there to protect me. Ambrose always made me lock him in my room before my lessons. He made do things, things a little prince should never do with a man, especially not one so much older..." He trailed off, watching as Annalys' eyes filled with tears, "He always smiled when I fought back. He liked to hurt me, too. Whenever I made a mistake in one of my lessons, he'd make it an excuse to hurt me. He'd hit me with a belt, sometimes a shoe or other things. He made me kill Lady. He said if I didn't, he'd hurt Joanna. I couldn't let him hurt her so I did it."

"Why didn't you tell me this sooner?" Annalys cried out, immediately grabbing Rickard up and hugging him tightly.

"I didn't want him to hurt you, I didn't want him to hurt any of you," Rickard admitted as he sobbed, "I was ashamed, too. It's all my fault. Lady is dead because of me."

Rickard continued to cry as Annalys hugged him tightly, sobbing as she felt consumed with guilt. All this time, she claimed Rickard had gone mad when in truth, he was being assaulted and manipulated by his tutor. It was all her fault, too. She should have realized it sooner. She was his mother, she was supposed to protect him and she failed.

"This isn't your fault, Rickard. It's mine. I should have listened to you that night. I should have let you talk," Annalys explained, crying as she stroked her son's head while hugging him, "He'll pay for this. I promise you."

"He isn't dead?" Rickard questioned in concern, frowning as he pulled away from his mother, "I-I thought you killed him. I thought you said you'd make him pay. How could you let him get away with it?"

"I didn't, my love," Annalys argued, frowning at his urgent tone, "I'm not your father. I don't give men who wrong me quick deaths. I let them pay with a slow and agonizing one. Now, I've realized that Ambrose deserves worse."

"What will you do, Mother?" Rickard questioned in concern.

"I'll make sure a part of him is removed that will ensure nothing like this ever happens again. Then, I'll make him suffer even more," Annalys explained, much to Rickard's satisfaction, "I thought you were mad, my son, but you're not. You're just...different," She paused, cupping his face in her hands, "How, I don't know yet, but you are. You're different, just like I was. I have no clue if it will help you in the future or harm you, but you mustn't smile at the sight of chaos and vengeance like I just seen you do. It's the reason I thought you were mad in the first place. Others will start to think the same and the last thing you want."

Rickard remained silent, simply nodding his head in understanding. In the years to come, he, too, would notice that the traits he carried that made him 'different' than his siblings, it would help him survive what was yet to come.

______

That night, Annalys laid in Rickard's bed, holding him in her arms the entire night in order to make him feel safe. She felt like a horrible mother for being foolish enough to see what her son was going through earlier. To think she thought he was mad.

When morning came, Annalys left to avenge her son. She had him castrated. The royal executioners enjoyed that, seeing as though Annalys and Robb did the majority of the executions themselves.

As he was castrated, he was paraded through the streets naked, where foods among other things were thrown at him by the people of King's Landing. He was forced to walk all the way to the dragon pits, where Rhaegal was waiting for him.

The dragon ended up burning him to crisp before eating him, much to Annalys' satisfaction.

  As she was returning from the dragonpits, she was stopped at the gates of the Red Keep. Four Red Cloaks stood before her, looking uneasy. "What is it?" She questioned, knowing by the look on their face, "What happened?"

"The Imp," One of the men began to inform Annalys in an urgent tone, "He escaped in the night."

What the Red Cloak seemed to leave out was that it had been days since Tyrion went missing, but they were only just realizing it.

"What?!" Annalys asked in disbelief, her eyes wide in shock, "How!"

_____

A few days ended up passing after Tyrion was revealed to be missing. Annalys and Robb weren't dumb. They knew right away their children were involved. They knew it just by the way they all seemed to be with each other all the time now, despite many of them not getting along.

  They knew the children must have done it together, but they weren't going to bring it up until one of them ended up accidentally letting it slip.

Annalys didn't care about punishing each and every one of them, she wanted to know who had been the ring leader of it all and her money was on Lyanna.

A stunt like that was something Annalys would have pulled in her youth and that basically showed who it must have been. Lyanna, the miniature version of Annalys.

Annalys and Robb stood in Qyburn's workshop, watching as the head of a dwarf was placed in front of them. He looked similar to Tyrion, but it was clearly not him, even with the scar he had across his face.

Annalys looked content as she stared down at the head that belonged to someone who was most likely innocent. Robb, on the other hand, looked disgusted, feeling a bit bad that someone had killed the man just to try and gain the reward Annalys was offering for Tyrion's capture.

"Not him," Annalys spoke up in a calm tone, causing the man who had brought it to her to sigh in defeat.

"Are you trying to deceive your queen?" The Red Cloak escorting the man asked angrily, "Shall I throw him in a cell, Your Grace?"

"There's no need for that, ser," Annalys argued calmly, "It was an honest mistake. Let us pray the next one is more successful. Escort the man out."

The knight nodded, just before escorting the peasant man out of Qyburn's workplace.

"Take the head," Annalys tried to command the other Red Cloak, only to have Qyburn object.

"Pardon me, Your Grace," Qyburn quickly spoke up, "I would take it, if you don't mind. It could prove useful for my work."

Annalys stared at Qyburn closely, knowing that if she turned, she'd see Robb looking almost horrified. "Very well. Take it," She encouraged him in a calm tone, just before walking out of the workplace with Robb following after her.

"You're very insistent on capturing Tyrion," Robb pointed out, letting out a small sigh in defeat, "Don't you think you're going a little too...overboard?"

A look of disbelief formed on Annalys' lips as she turned to look at Robb. "Says the one who has had Theon Greyjoy locked in Casterly Rock's dungeons for years now," She complained, taking a step toward Robb, "I believe that's overboard, but I don't complain, do I? No, because I accept you to make your own decision that don't involve me."

Hearing Annalys' words, Robb felt himself becoming angry, sick of Annalys' treatment toward him lately.

Instead of continuing on, Annalys turned on her heel, on the verge of walking away when Robb spoke up. "When did you stop loving me, Annalys?" He suddenly asked without thinking, causing them both to be rendered shocked.

Annalys slowly turned to him, her eyes wide in utter disbelief. "I never stopped loving you. What are you talking about?" She asked him softly, moving closer to him with a saddened look on her face.

"It's different between us, mostly on your part. At the beginning of our reign over the seven kingdoms, even with so many children, we still had time for each other. Now, all that we seem to do is work, go our separate ways throughout the day unless we're heading to bed or need to talk about the children," He explained in a calm tone, "I've tried to fix it, but it seems like you enjoy being alone rather than with me."

"That isn't true," Annalys argued, tears beginning to form in her eyes as she finally realized her distance from the man she loved.

"Tell me, when's the last time we had sex?" Robb found himself asking and despite most assuming it was irrelevent to the conversation, it meant everything.

When they were first married all those years ago, their relationship became famous with many claiming, "they spent their days fighting side-by-side on the battlefield and their nights wrapped around each other in the bedchambers."

Sex was a big part of their marriage, believe it or not. It was made them feel so close to each other, so bonded. It bonded them just as much as fighting alongside each other in war did. Those two things were once all that their marriage revolved on.

Now, they had eight children and Annalys had a kingdom to rule. Everything was different. However, during those years, Annalys and Robb still spent their nights with each other, practically latched onto each other. It was the reason they had so many kids. After all, they had more than enough heirs already.

It meant that the fact that Annalys and Robb couldn't remember the last time they bedded one another proved just how much of a distance there was between them.

"I-I don't remember," Annalys confessed softly, feeling saddened by the revelation, "Before Edric was born."

"You left King's Landing pregnant with Eddard when you were two months along. You returned with Edric was he was about one month along. Now, he's nearly a year old." Robb informed Annalys in a calm tone, "It means the last time we ever bedded each other was nearly two years ago."

"That can't be," Annalys argued, shaking her head since she refused to believe that.

It couldn't have been that long. That was impossible. For years, Annalys and Robb practically bedded each other every single night. How could two years have passed? Was there that much of a distance between them?

"It can," Robb responded in a frustrated tone, "I understand you're trying to rule the seven kingdoms and you're struggling at the moment, but can't you realize I am here to help you?" He complained, "I married you and allowed myself to become King Consort to you, despite hating the South more than anything. I've created a family with you and it seems all I can do in this damn city is sit around and do nothing."

"You hate the South?" Annalys suddenly asked, causing Robb to sigh in defeat.

He didn't mean for her to know that.

"I hate this city," Robb admitted truthfully, "But I deal with it because I love you and I love our children. All of you are happy here and that makes me happy. But sometimes, it does bother me that I am a Northerner in a city filled with Southerners. Even Torra fits in more than I do and she was born a damn Wildling. I follow the Old Gods yet my wife and my children followed the Faith of the Seven. I don't even have a proper Godswood here to worship. As much as I'm happy here, with my family, a part of me still misses my old life, in the North. I was born to be Lord of Winterfell, not King of the Seven Kingdoms."

Annalys remained silent, saddened by Robb's confession. She was about to speak up, but when she realized Robb was still talking, she shut her mouth.

"I know apart of you misses your old life. As much as you like being Queen, I know you miss your old life as much as I do."

"I do," Annalys confessed, a saddened look on her face, "I miss leading armies with you, not seven kingdoms. I enjoyed having the ability to be reckless without having to worry about being ripped off the throne. I enjoyed being able to do whatever I wanted without having to worry about leaving my children an orphan," She paused, taking a step toward Robb before wrapping her arms around Robb, "But we are not those people anymore. We are the parents of eight children and the rulers of the Seven Kingdoms and the Wildlings. We are not young anymore. Both of us are nearly thirty-two."

   Robb remained silent. He knew she had a point. They weren't young anymore. They were no longer teenagers or in their early twenties. They were Torra's age when they were doing everything they were now missing.

"I'm sorry," Annalys found herself confessing to Robb in a soft tone, giving him an apologetic look, "I didn't even realize the distance between us. I should have. Because whatever you may think, I love you more than you could ever know. Always and forever."

Robb smiled softly at the three words she even had their children promising to each other. "And I love you. Always and forever," He responded, slowly wrapping his arms around Annalys before lifting her up.

She let out a large laugh as she was lifted off the ground by her husband. "Where are you taking me, my love?" She asked him as he began to carry her down the hallway.

"To our chambers," Robb responded in a calm tone, "It seems we should make up for the last two years."

"Mmm," Annalys hummed in response, kissing Robb on the lips and then on the neck, "I can't wait for this."

Robb quietly laughed, shaking his head at her words.

AUTHOR'S NOTE:

Tyrion's trial 2.0 is coming up and he'll have someone fighting for him😬

Who do you think it is?