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Eddard

He alking through the crypts beneath Winterfell, as he he had walked a thousand tis of Winter watched him pass with eyes of ice, and the direwolves at their feet turned their great stone heads and snarled Last of all, he came to the tomb where his father slept, with Brandon and Lyanna beside him "Proarland of pale blue roses, and her eyes wept blood

Eddard Stark jerked upright, his heart racing, the blankets tangled around hi on the door "Lord Eddard," a voice called loudly

"A y and naked, he stumbled his way across the darkened chamber When he opened the door, he found Tomard with an upraised fist, and Cayn with a taper in hand Between the’s own steward

The ht have been carved of stone, so little did it show "My lord Hand," he intoned "His Grace the King commands your presence At once"

So Robert had returned fro past time "I shall need a fewwithout Cayn helped hirey cloak, trousers cut open down his plaster-sheathed leg, his badge of office, and last of all a belt of heavy silver links He sheathed the Valyrian dagger at his waist

The Red Keep was dark and still as Cayn and To low over the walls, ripening toward full On the raold cloak walked his rounds

The royal apartor’s Holdfast, a massive square fortress that nestled in the heart of the Red Keep behind walls twelve feet thick and a dry moat lined with iron spikes, a castle-within-a-castle Ser Boros Blount guarded the far end of the bridge, white steel arht Within, Ned passed two other knights of the Kingsguard; Ser Preston Greenfield stood at the bottom of the steps, and Ser Barristan Sel’s bedcha, and a strange chill went through him Ser Barristan’s face was as pale as his ar was dreadfully wrong The royal steward opened the door "Lord Eddard Stark, the Hand of the King," he announced

"Bring hiely thick

Fires blazed in the twin hearths at either end of the bedchalare The heat within was suffocating Robert lay across the canopied bed At the bedside hovered Grand Maester Pycelle, while Lord Renly paced restlessly before the shuttered s Servantswine Cersei Lannister sat on the edge of the bed beside her husband Her hair was tousled, as if fro sleepy in her eyes They followed Ned as Tomard and Cayn helped him cross the roo

The king still wore his boots Ned could see driedto the leather where Robert’s feet stuck out beneath the blanket that covered hireen doublet lay on the floor, slashed open and discarded, the cloth crusted with red-brown stains The room smelled of s whispered when he saw him His face was pale as ht him close Ned steadied himself with a hand on the bedpost He had only to look down at Robert to kno bad it was "What?" he began, his throat clenched

"A boar" Lord Renly was still in his hunting greens, his cloak spattered with blood

"A devil," the king husked "My own fault Too much wine, damn me to hell Missed my thrust"

"And where were the rest of you?" Ned deuard?"

Renly’s mouth twitched "My brother commanded us to stand aside and let him take the boar alone"

Eddard Stark lifted the blanket

They had done what they could to close hih The boar roin to nipple with its tusks The wine-soaked bandages that Grand Maester Pycelle had applied were already black with blood, and the smell off the wound was hideous Ned’s stomach turned He let the blanket fall

"Stinks," Robert said "The stink of death, don’t think I can’t sood, eh? But II paid hi’s smile was as terrible as his wound, his teeth red "Drove a knife right through his eye Ask them if I didn’t Ask theht the carcass back with us, at my brother’s command"

"For the feast," Robert whispered "Now leave us The lot of you I need to speak with Ned"

"Robert, an

"I said leave," Robert insisted with a hint of his old fierceness "What part of that don’t you understand, wonity and led the way to the door Lord Renly and the others followed Grand Maester Pycelle lingered, his hands shaking as he offered the king a cup of thick white liquid "The milk of the poppy, Your Grace," he said "Drink For your pain"

Robert knocked the cup aith the back of his hand "Aith you I’ll sleep soon enough, old fool Get out"

Grand Maester Pycelle gave Ned a stricken look as he shuffled from the room

"Da was throbbing so badly he was aled his eyes He lowered himself to the bed, beside his friend "Why do you always have to be so headstrong?"

"Ah, fuck you, Ned," the king said hoarsely "I killed the bastard, didn’t I?" A lock of lared up at Ned "Ought to do the same for you Can’t leave a or’s head Ugly thought Never told the Hound Let Cersei surprise hirunt as a spas his agony "The girl Daenerys Only a child, you were rightthat’s why, the girlthe gods sent the boarsent to punish , it rong, Ionly a girlVarys, Littlefinger, even my brotherworthlessno one to tell me no but you, Nedonly you" He lifted his hand, the gesture pained and feeble "Paper and ink There, on the table Write what I tell you"

Ned smoothed the paper out across his knee and took up the quill "At your command, Your Grace"

"This is the will and word of Robert of House Baratheon, the First of his Na of the Andals and all the rest--put in the daoes I do hereby command Eddard of House Stark, Lord of Winterfell and Hand of the King, to serve as Lord Regent and Protector of the Realm upon myupon my deathto rule in e"

"Robert" Joffrey is not your son, he wanted to say, but the words would not coony ritten too plainly across Robert’s face; he could not hurt hi had said "my son Joffrey," he scrawled "my heir" instead The deceit ht May the gods forgive me "What else would you have me say?"

"Saywhatever you need to Protect and defend, gods old and new, you have the words Write I’ll sign it You give it to the council when I’m dead"

"Robert," Ned said in a voice thick with grief, "you must not do this Don’t die on me The realers squeezing hard "You aresuch a bad liar, Ned Stark," he said through his pain "The real I’ve been Bad as Aerys, the gods sparefriend, "not so bad as Aerys, Your Grace Not near so bad as Aerys"

Robert ed a weak red sthis I did right You won’t fail me You’ll rule now You’ll hate it, worse than I didbut you’ll do well Are you done with the scribbling?"

"Yes, Your Grace" Ned offered Robert the paper The king scrawled his signature blindly, leaving a smear of blood across the letter "The seal should be witnessed"

"Serve the boar at my funeral feast," Robert rasped "Apple in its mouth, skin seared crisp Eat the bastard Don’t care if you choke on him Promise me, Ned"

"I promise" Proirl," the king said "Daenerys Let her live If you can, if itnot too latetalk to theerdon’t let them kill her And help my son, Ned Make him bebetter than me" He winced "Gods have mercy"

"They will,closed his eyes and seeh, but it hurts too"Shall I call theave a weak nod "As you will Gods, why is it so cold in here?"

The servants rushed back in and hurried to feed the fires The queen had gone; that was some small relief, at least If she had any sense, Cersei would take her children and fly before the break of day, Ned thought She had lingered too long already

King Robert did not seem to miss her He bid his brother Renly and Grand Maester Pycelle to stand in witness as he pressed his seal into the hot yelloax that Ned had dripped upon his letter "Now givefor the pain and let me die"

Hurriedly Grand Maester Pycelle ht of thedrank deeply His black beard was beaded with thick white droplets when he threw the eave him his answer "You will, ive Lyanna your love, Ned Take care of my children for me"

The words twisted in Ned’s belly like a knife For ahimself to lie Then he remembered the bastards: little Barra at her e, and all the others "I shallguard your children as if they were my own," he said slowly

Robert nodded and closed his eyes Ned watched his old friend sag softly into the pillows as the milk of the poppy washed the pain froled softly as Grand Maester Pycelle came up to Ned "I will do all in my power, my lord, but the wound has et him back By the time I saw hi, but only the gods can heal hi?" Ned asked

"By rights, he should be dead already I have never seen ato life so fiercely"

"My brother was always strong," Lord Renly said "Not wise, perhaps, but strong" In the sweltering heat of the bedchaht have been Robert’s ghost as he stood there, young and dark and handso from his belly, yet somehow he slew the boar" His voice was full of wonder

"Robert was never aas a foe re," Ned told hiuarded the tower stairs "Maester Pycelle has given Robert the milk of the poppy," Ned told him "See that no one disturbs his rest without leave from me"

"It shall be as you command, my lord" Ser Barristan seemed old beyond his years "I have failed ht cannot protect a king against himself," Ned said "Robert loved to hunt boar I have seen hiround without flinching, his legs braced, the great spear in his hands, and as often as not he would curse the boar as it charged, and wait until the last possible second, until it was ale thrust "No one could know this one would be his death"

"You are kind to say so, Lord Eddard"

"The king himself said as ht gave a weary nod "His Grace was reeling in his saddle by the time we flushed the boar from his lair, yet he commanded us all to stand aside"

"I wonder, Ser Barristan," asked Varys, so quietly, "who gave the king this wine?"

Ned had not heard the eunuch approach, but when he looked around, there he stood He wore a black velvet robe that brushed the floor, and his face was freshly powdered

"The as fro’s own skin," Ser Barristan said

"Only one skin? Hunting is such thirsty work"