4

(Last Time)

"Well I'll probably explore, see if there are any good inns to visit." Tytan replied in amusement as he heard Jamie's worries, legitimate as they were. "Who knows we may run into your little brother whilst we are there. He did ride ahead of the main party earlier after all, knowing him he is probably begging for a shag at one of Winterfell's brothels."

"As if you weren't planning on visiting there yourself." Jamie replied with a short laugh, the older man having long come to terms with Tytan's many vices and oddities. "Also I would save your jests for when you see Tyrion. Knowing how you two get on you'll be trading barbs and insults by the end of the night, and with my brother's sharp tongue you'll need all the ammunition you can."

Tytan laughed as he heard that, knowing as he did that what Jamie said was true, as Tytan and Tyrion's relationship was odd to say the least. For the most part the two of them got along relatively well, both of them bonding over a shared love of wine and women. But they also argued often with Tytan being a man of action whilst Tyrion was a man of words, often time this led to them clashing over the pettiest of things.

"True, true. Now come along Uncle, time's wasting!" Tytan replied with a laugh as he dug his heels gently into the flanks of his horse, grinning as he heard his horse whinny of delight at finally being able to run free.

"Oi, wait up!" Jamie shouted as he saw the young prince riding away, heading down the King's Road and on to the distant city of Winterfell.

( - )

Chapter 3

( - )

(In Winterfell)

"You know, I hear they call him the Black Prince because he wears nothing but black." A young girl with pale skin and brown hair muttered as she looked up at a slightly older girl. The other girl being quite a bit taller as the speaker, as well as having waist length auburn hair.

Both of the girls were currently standing towards the front of a small group of people, the pair of them both wearing thick fur cloaks and fine clothes, and ones that were more than fit for nobles. These two girls were Sansa and Arya Stark, the two daughters of Eddard Stark the Warden of the North and the Lord of Winterfell. The pair of them were waiting alongside their father, their mother and their three brothers as well as a number of other vassals and lesser nobles for the arrival of the King and his entourage.

"You've just made that up now." Sansa the auburn haired girl muttered back to her younger sister, her expression not changing as she stood straight her eyes locked on the gate to Winterfell's keep, knowing as she did that the King's party would soon be arriving and that their mother Catelyn would expect all of the Stark children to represent their house properly. "No one calls him that and you have no idea what he wears."

Arya the younger girl merely shrugged in response. "Yeah but it could be true. Besides, I have heard that he is the finest blade in Westeros and that he's apparently blessed by the gods…."

Sansa nodded abruptly as she heard that bit, as she too had heard the same. How much of it was true though and how much of it was merely rumour spread by the commoners she wasn't sure.

"I wonder what gods blessed him though, do you reckon it was the Seven or the Old Gods?" Arya continued to mutter as she took her eyes off her sister and instead looked at the rest of her family, slightly annoyed that she hadn't had the chance to get away from her overbearing mother and get a first look at the Royal family.

Her younger brothers Bran and Rickon Stark were both standing to her left. With Rickon, the youngest Stark child shaking slightly a she gripped onto the side of Bran's cloak an equally nervous and excited expression on his face as he waited for the arrival of the King. Directly next to Arya was Bran, who despite being a year younger than her was still a little bit taller, with the boy having a skinny frame, shoulder length brown hair and delicate features reminiscent more of their mother Catelyn than their father.

On Arya's other side was Sansa her older sister who stood several inches taller than Arya with long auburn hair, blue eyes and quite a pretty appearance, with her taking after their mother as well. Unlike Arya who took after their father with her dull brown hair, a slightly long face and grey eyes.

On the other side of Sansa was Robb, Arya's oldest brother and the Heir of Winterfell. At seventeen nearly eighteen he was an almost fully grown man with broad shoulders and handsome features, like the rest of the Stark children though he took after Catelyn with him having developed reddish colour hair and blue eyes.

Glancing past Robb, Arya could see her father, Eddard Stark, a large man with very broad shoulders, made only bigger by the thick fur coat he was wearing. The man had stern features, shoulder length brown hair and stoic grey eyes.

By his side was Arya's lady mother, Catelyn Stark, formerly a member of House Tully Catelyn stood out from most of the surrounding northerners both due to her bearing and her choice of clothing. Arya's mother was a beautiful if slightly strict woman with sky blue eyes, long auburn hair and a tall thin body. Like the rest of the family though this could barely be seen at present as she was wearing a thick wolf fur cloak over her expensive dress.

Looking away from her mother Arya then looked further down the line seeing the stoic features and wild black hair of her other sibling as she did, or rather her bastard born half sibling, Jon Snow. The boy in question being buried toward the back of the crowd of waiting nobles and retainers, with Catelyn Stark having tried to put him both out of sight and out of mind. The Stark matriarch not wanting the boy to embarrass the family during the King's visit.

Not that Arya would forget Jon as he was one of her favourite siblings even if he was a bastard. Still her mother hated the boy that much was clear for everyone to see, so for now Arya wouldn't draw attention to him.

"Well what do you think?" Arya continued to ask as she looked back to her sister, noticing as she did that she hadn't answered her question.

"Shut up Arya they're about to arrive." Sansa muttered back quietly still not looking at her sister as she tried to shut her up, partly because the King and his party was about to arrive and she didn't want Arya embarrassing them, and partly because she didn't want to admit to her younger sister than she didn't know the answer.

Further down the line Eddard Stark, often referred to as Ned, let out another sigh as he heard his daughters muttered conversation. The older man having to push down a very slight smile as their bickering reminded him of the arguments he used to have with his brothers and sister, Brandon, Benjen and Lyanna, when he was their age.

Pushing those thoughts aside for now, Ned instead focused on the matter at hand. It had been over a few months since Ned had received a raven telling him that the King of the Seven Kingdoms was coming to Winterfell. And because of this the last few months had been hectic as invitations were sent out to all the Houses in the North and the entire of Winterfell had become a hive of activity as people rushed to ensure everything would be ready for when the King arrived. After all this would be the first time in many years that a King of the Seven Kingdoms had come this far up north.

Ned of course knew the reason for this, Jon Arryn, Ned and Robert's friend the man who they had both warded with as children had died. This had upset Ned but not too unduly as Jon had been in his sixties and had lived a full life, but still the loss had hit him hard made more so by the fact he hadn't seen the man in over nine years.

Of course with the loss of Jon Arryn this left the positon of Hand of the King open, which is of course what Robert was coming north for. At some point during this visit Ned knew that Robert would ask him to become the new Hand, and from what he remembered of his old friend he rarely ever took no for an answer.

Still despite this Ned was looking forward to the visit as Robert had been a dear friend. Plus for years he had been hearing stories of his eldest son, Tytan Baratheon, stories of how he had divine powers and of how he was unmatched in skill with a blade. At first Ned had waved such stories off as nonsense, all of it having been spurred on by excitable commoners, after all the time of magic and mysticism had long since passed.

But as the years had passed and these stories continued a part of him had begun to wonder, after all the gods worked in mysterious ways. Because of this a part of Ned wanted to see just what this Crown Prince was like, what he was made of, especially since some of the stories he had heard painted him as a blessed and noble warrior, whilst other painted him as a drunkard and a whoremonger. It would be interesting to see just what kind of a man his future king was going to be.

Ned pushed aside those thoughts for now however as he heard the distant clatter of hooves on stone, a telltale sign that the King was about to make his entrance and that soon enough he would have his answer to just what kind of a man the Crown Prince truly was.

( - )

(Some time earlier)

"You know nephew when you said you would be coming to Winterfell ahead of the rest of the procession, I had imagined you doing something a bit more… than, well a bit more than this…" Jamie Lannister said a slightly amused tone to his voice as he looked around the brothel that Tytan had ended up bringing them too. No doubt one of the very few that existed here in Winterfell.

The Prince in question was currently sitting sprawled out on a seat, an attractive red head with a glorious body and attractive features was currently sat on his lap, one of her small hands currently shoved down the Prince's breeches a slight grin on her face as she looked up from kissing Tytan and smirked at Jamie.

"Come on now Jamie, we've been on the road for months." Tytan replied cheerfully as he looked up from where he had been previously nuzzling into redhead's neck. "Call it a bit of tension release."

Jamie rolled his eyes at that as he took a seat nearby, waving away a nearby whore who had been hovering around him as he instead grabbed a goblet and filled it with wine. "And there I was thinking you'd decided to turn over a new leaf."

"I have uncle." Tytan replied with a grin as he looked over at the girl on his lap, smiling slightly as he saw the faux pout on her face. "Hence why I'm not drunk and am only courting the attention of this lovely lady. Speaking of which what is your name again?"

"It's Ros milord." The redhead replied in a husky voice, a smirk present on her face as she continued to move her hand up and down, leaning forward as she did and kissing her way up Tytan's neck.

"Well Ros what do you think we should be doing, riding as a part of a slow moving procession in the bitterly cold wind? Or staying in this delightful little inn with warmth, wine and fine women?" Tytan asked a grin on his face as he held Ros a little tighter to himself, delighting in the feeling of her lips as they glided up his neck before reaching his own. After which she engaged him in a fierce and fiery kiss.

"Well I think you chose the best option… certainly for me." Ros replied shamelessly as she broke the kiss, a slight smirk on her face as she looked over at Jamie in amusement.

"Well there you have it uncle, now how about we get you a woman of your own. I'm sure there will be some takers, after all you're Jamie 'fucking' Lannister." Tytan said with a grin, the expression only growing as he saw his uncle roll his eyes.

"I think you're mistaking me for my younger brother Tyrion…" Jamie replied dryly. "Besides I am a member of the Kingsguard."

"And your point is?" Tytan asked with a grin, enjoying needling his uncle a bit as he did so. It was all in good fun after all.

"My point dear nephew is that the King will be arriving at Winterfell soon and it would be improper and embarrassing for us to not be there with him. Certainly for you not to be there at least." Jamie replied as he sipped his wine, wondering as he did so just what his sister would think if she saw just what her precious son was up to.

"I take your point Uncle." Tytan replied with a nod and a serious look, before a grin suddenly broke out across his face as he stood up still holding Ros easily in his arms as he did so. "Well anyway I'm off, I'll be back in a bit, hopefully in time for us to make the meet and greet up at the castle!"

Ros let out a delighted laugh as this was happening, "I take it then that I'm about to take your own point… my Prince?"

Tytan grinned as he heard this. "I like this girl!"

Jamie rolled his eyes as he heard that, "Of course you do, she is just as shameless as you. Unlike you though Tytan she is supposed to be shameless, as the future ruler of the Seven Kingdoms you're not."

"So you say." Tytan replied absentmindedly as he ignored his uncle for the most part, more interested at the moment in the beautiful and vibrant red head in his arms.

"I don't know why I bother…" Jamie sighed as he took another drink of his wine, shaking his head in amusement as he watched Tytan carry Ros into one of the nearby rooms, the door slamming behind them as the woman's laughter was soon replaced by moaning and giggling.

Looking away from where his nephew had just disappeared Jamie instead looked around the rest of the room, shaking his head in amusement as he saw the Prince's other guards all following his lead as they made the acquaintance of the many girls who worked in the brothel. Noticeably however none of them were as fine as the one the prince was currently bedding.

Jamie however was soon distracted from this sight as he saw the door to the building suddenly open letting in a blast of cold air as more Lannister guardsmen entered. These ones wearing the Lannister colours but lacking the fine plate armour that the Prince's guards had. Though considering those men had all been specifically picked out to protect the Crown Prince this wasn't surprising.

Shaking his head Jamie knew who was about to enter, because as much as Tytan and Tyrion argue they both tended to think in a similar way. Standing up Jamie watched as his younger brother entered the building, the man standing at under four feet tall, with messy blonde hair, intelligent green eyes and slightly deformed features.

"Brother!" Tyrion said as he entered, a smirk spreading across his face as he spotted Jamie standing by one of the tables. "Why I never thought I would see a person of your renown in a place like this."

"I would like to say I thought the same about you… but then I would be lying." Jamie replied with a slight smile. "I do have to say though, with you having ridden ahead I would have thought you would have been shacked up with half a dozen whores by now."

"Alas the journey was a bit hard on me." Tyrion replied as he waddled over to where his brother was standing, the siblings both pulling up seats as Tyrion sat down and poured himself out some of Jamie's wine. "By the time we made it to Winterfell I was rubbed raw, and not in the good way."

Jamie winced as he heard that, knowing as he did that due to his brother's affliction that riding a horse was very uncomfortable, no matter how much padding was put on the saddle he was going to chafe.

"Still though I'm here now and am going to get myself a quick shag in before we have to deal with the Starks." Tyrion replied in amusement as he took a long swig of his wine before refilling it, uncaring that he was drinking most of the wine his brother had bought.

"Yes it's going to be trying to say the least." Jamie replied carefully, his eyes flitting around the room checking for people potentially listening in. Not that he needed to as the tension between the Starks and Lannisters was well known, and had been since King Robert had first taken up the crown.

Jamie's own relationship with the Stark's was especially strained, as it had been Ned Stark who had found him after he had slain the Mad King, the Targaryen tyrant who had been usurped by Robert. The man had found Jamie soon after the deed, soon after he had cut the Aerys Targaryen down before he could order the deaths of nearly every person in King's Landing, not that Ned Stark had cared to ask the reasoning behind Jamie's actions before he had labelled him an Oathbreaker and a Kingslayer. Both of which had been names that had stuck with Jamie even now many years later.

Fortunately though Jamie only really cared about the opinions of those closest to him. Cersei, Tyrion, and Tytan, they at least all knew the truth behind his actions.

Of course them knowing this had also created certain ill feelings within them for the Starks as Cersei, the person he loved most in the world, held nothing but hatred for all the Starks for the way Ned Stark's words and accusations had painted Jamie. Tyrion too had gained somewhat of a dislike for the Starks, though not to the extent of Cersei, the dwarf instead limited himself to slight distaste as oppose to outright hatred and mistrust.

As for Tytan, well he had also gained a certain dislike of Ned Stark over the issue, unlike the other two though he held no ill will to the Stark family. The young Prince being surprisingly noble when he said that people should not be judged for the sins of their fathers. Then again Tytan was always full of little nuggets of wisdom like that, far more than was normal for someone of his age. Then again he was apparently 'Blessed by the Gods', so maybe it wasn't that strange.

"Well anyway." Tyrion spoke up as he downed the last of his wine. "I'm going to get myself a girl. I heard in the town that there is a really beauty here. A girl called Ros, apparently she is beautiful enough to put some of the finest courtesans in King's Landing to shame."

Jamie let out a slight chuckle at that, his elbow resting on the table with his head in his hand as he gave his brother an amused look. "Well if you're looking for an audience with her you'll have to wait until she is done with Tytan, though considering how tightly she was clinging onto him I very much doubt you'll ever get a chance."

Tyrion let out an exasperated sigh at that. "I thought he was supposed to be acting like a proper Prince now."

"You're only saying that because you don't like the competition." Jamie replied in amusement, a slight grin spreading across his face at the put out look on his younger brother's face.

"Well it's not exactly a fair competition. I mean you're comparing the unwanted dwarf son of Tywin Lannister with the handsome Crown Prince who by the way happens to have magic powers… I wonder who all the women will choose." Tyrion complained only half serious, because as much as he and his nephew liked to argue he was actually fond of the man. He was far better than that sack of shit Joffrey. On top of which the boy had never once said a deliberately cruel thing about Tyrion's disabilities, even when he was a kid he chose to value people on the merit and nothing else. It was an admirable trait that Tyrion very much respected.

"Welcome to life, it's unfair isn't it." Jamie replied dryly.

"You know I'm supposed to be the cynical one, not you." Tyrion replied in amusement. "Though you should probably hurry the young Prince up, after all the King's procession is only a league or so away."

"Which give us what, about an hour or so by the time they make it through the town?" Jamie replied with a cocked eyebrow, knowing well enough just how slow the procession was. After all it had taken them three months to do a journey which followed a single road from King's Landing to Winterfell, a journey which would likely have taken a troop of horsemen less than a month.

"True." Tyrion replied with a shrug. "Well anyway I'm going to get myself a whore, what about you, are you going to avail yourself of their company."

Jamie gave Tyrion a dull look at that, not rising to the bait.

( - )

(Currently in the Winterfell Courtyard)

As the sound of clip clopping hooves on stone drew closer Robb Stark, the eldest child of Eddard Stark and the heir of Winterfell, leaned forwards a look of anticipation on his face as he ignored his two sisters whispered conversation and instead waited for the King to arrive.

A few moments later the first of the royal procession arrived through the gates of Winterfell. The first ones into the courtyard were a half dozen mounted flagbearers, all of the armoured men were holding large banners that held either the sigil of a prancing Stag with a crown around its neck, the symbol of the first Baratheon King. That or they displayed the sigil of House Lannisters, a symbol of a roaring lion on a crimson background.

Following behind the flagbearers were two members of the Kingsguard, an elite group of the finest warriors in the Seven Kingdoms, all seven of whom had sworn their lives to protect the king and the royal family.

After the men in golden plate armour there came a boy slightly younger than Robb with shoulder length blonde hair, slightly pointed features and emerald green eyes. Unlike the other members of the procession so far though this boy was not wearing armour but instead was wearing high quality clothing that reflected the colours of House Lannister with a deep red jerkin and breeches with gold lions on it and a fine crimson cloak with a black fur trim around his shoulders.

Robb frowned as he saw this boy, at first thinking that this was the legendary Crown Prince he had heard so much about. He was not quite what he was expecting, but the blonde ponce on the horse was far less impressive than the stories he had heard.

Further down the line of Stark children Robb could see his younger sister's face instantly light up as she stared at the golden haired prince. Looking back at the boy, Robb scowled slightly as he saw the smug smirk on his face as he looked over at Robb's sister. In that instant Robb decided he didn't give a damn about how blessed the Prince was, he decided right here and now that he didn't like him.

Following behind the blonde prince was another armoured man, this one being a colossal man wearing dark coloured plate armour with a helmet that had been crafted in the shape of a snarling dog, a huge great sword strapped to his back.

Following behind this man was then the royal carriage, a big lumbering thing with ornate gold decorations showing the Lannister lion and the Baratheon stag, and following behind that was the king himself, Robert Baratheon.

The instant Robb saw the man a surge of disappointment rose up in him, this was the King of the Seven Kingdom. The man didn't look anything like the stories his father use to tell him of a warrior king, one who gathered a rebellion and defeated the tyrannical Mad King and ended the Targaryen dynasty. The man that Robb saw was nothing like that. In fact he looked more like a fat drunkard than he did a warrior king.

Despite the man's less than kingly appearance though everyone knelt as Robert rode into the courtyard, four other Kingsguard following closely behind him.

As the king came to a halt, one of the party's squires ran over to him carrying a stool over to help the overweight and possibly drunk Robert off his horse.

Once he had his feet on the ground Robert then walked over to the kneeling Ned Stark, a gruff expression on his face as he motioned for everyone to stand up. Which is what they all did as Robert finally came to a stop in front of the northern lord, the two of them staring at each other for a moment.

As this was happening everyone else in the courtyard could feel the tension between the two building, with many of those present thinking that something bad was about to go down.

"Your grace." Ned said slowly as he bowed his head to the slightly taller but far fatter man.

The king cocked his head to the side not taking his eyes off of Ned's stoic expression. After a few moments of silence the king finally spoke. "You got fat."

The whole yard grew silent at that, Robb looking uncomfortably at his father as he heard that, wondering how he would reply after all the man was the king, you couldn't just tell him to 'fuck off'. To his surprise though Ned didn't reply audibly as he instead merely glanced down at the king's large stomach, his eyebrow raising in amusement.

Pausing for a second Robert then broke the silence by letting out a large bark of laughter, his large belly shaking as he threw his head back before taking a step forward and pulling Ned into a large manly hug.

Soon after that Robert then turned to greet Lady Stark, shouting out "Cat! Good to see you!" as he did so.

Not that Robb paid much attention to this as he instead looked over at the royal carriage, his eyes widening slightly as he saw an incredibly beautiful blonde woman stepping out of the carriage, a look of distaste on her face as she looked around the courtyard.

Following behind the Queen, for that was the only person this could be, were two younger blonde children. One a boy of around Arya's age with golden blonde hair and piercing green eyes and similar looking girl who looked younger at around Bran's age.

It didn't take long for Robb to come to the conclusion that these two children were the young Prince Tommen and Princess Myrcella. Which would mean that the other blonde prince, the one who he thought was Tytan may in fact be the Queen's other son, Joffrey. Which begged the question of where the Crown Prince was.

"My Queen." Ned said as he bowed to the approaching woman, taking her proffered hand in her own and laying a light kiss on her knuckles.

"Lord Stark." Cersei replied absentmindedly as she looked around the courtyard, seemingly looking for someone.

Before anyone could wonder who she was looking for though, they were distracted by the sound of approaching horses. Everyone in the courtyard turning around as eight more riders entered. Six of the riders all wearing full red and black plate armour a Lannister lion and Baratheon stag emblazoned on their chest plates.

In front of these six soldiers though were two other men, one of them was a handsome older man with golden blonde hair and piercing green eyes. The man in question currently wearing a full set of golden Kingsguard armour. This man could only be Jamie Lannister.

As for the other man, he had short black hair, twinkling sea green eyes and was wearing a set of mail and leather armour, a finely crafted yet surprisingly undecorated sword strapped to his side. The moment he saw him Robb instantly knew that this was the Crown Prince, there was just something about him that drew the eye, maybe the air of confidence or maybe the sheer presence he gave off.

Either way his sudden appearance attracted the attention of the entire courtyard as he pulled his horse to a stop, before with a slight grin he swung himself off his horse.

"Sorry I'm a little late!" The Prince said loudly as he looked around the courtyard, his cheeks have a hint of red at them as he looked around.

"My Prince." Ned replied as he gave the man a slight bow. "It's an honour meet you."

"You as well Lord Stark, I've heard so much about you!" Tytan replied his smile turning a little tighter as he greeted Robb's father, before he proceeded to do the same with the rest of the Stark family. Finally coming to a stop in front of Robb as he gave him a nod.

"Well met Robb Stark, I hope we get a long just like our father's do." Tytan said as he gripped Robb's hand in his own, Robb noticing as he did so the calluses on the Prince's hands, and the strength of the grip. They were the same hands Robb's father had, the hands of a warrior.

( - )