Winterfell
POV of Eddard Stark
"I saw your new Glass houses yesterday." The Lannister dwarf said. "It's fascinating, this new glass. No bubbles. No milky texture. Pure unadulterated glass. Of course, I had seen it at King's Landing before. But seeing it here in your glass house and your windows reminded me that Lord Bolton truly lives in the North and not in some alien land that I've never heard about."
Eddard Stark stayed quiet for a moment. For all that he disliked the second son of Tywin Lannister for his debauchery, he cannot deny that Tyrion was cleverer than people ever gave him any credit for.
'Your own best friend lives a life of debauchery.' A voice similar to his own spoke in his mind and he ignored it, even as he realized that he was being a hypocrite for disliking Tyrion for his vices when he tolerated it well enough when his friend Robert did the same.
No, the true reason he hated Tyrion and all the Lannisters was because of what Tywin had done that day in front of the Iron Throne.
He could still close his eyes and see the bashed skull of Aegon Targaryen to this day. And the girl too…
What Ser Gregor Clegane and Ser Amory Lorch had done was unforgivable. And then Lord Tywin had presented the corpse of those poor innocent children like he was presenting some grand treasure.
And his friend. His own friend laughed at them and called them dragon spawns.
To this day, he wondered if the war had truly changed Robert so much or if he was always like this and he refused to see it.
He remembered the other Lannister as well. Sitting on the Iron Throne with a smirk on his face. Cleaning the same sword that he had used to kill the king he had sworn to protect.
No, the true reason he disliked Tyrion Lannister was not because of his debauchery, though that was there as well but because of his family.
That shouldn't have put Tyrion in the wrong. But prejudices were hard to break, and once you saw what the Lannisters were capable of, it was best to play it safe.
"Lord Bolton… is one of a kind." He said, not wanting to disrespect the dwarf who might become the Warden of the West one day. Though he personally doubted that such a thing would happen. "His presence in the North is a boon to all of us."
"Is it Lord Stark?" Tyrion asked from behind his glass. How many has the man drunk since morning? "If my memory serves me well, I think the Boltons and the Starks have a history. In fact, some might even say that the Boltons are to the Starks what the Raynes and Tarbecks were to the Lannisters."
"You don't need to worry about any of that Tyrion. The matters of the North will be solved among the Northerners."
"Solved. As if by a betrothal?" Tyrion said while wagging his eyebrows. "I heard rumors in King's Landing that you have set up a betrothal with Lord Bolton. I had wondered if there was some truth to the rumor."
He stayed silent, not wanting to admit the truth but not wanting to outright lie either. He was an honest man and lies had never come easily to him.
Tyrion took his silence for what it was. "So, I see… It seems like you'll have one heck of a good son in a few years, Lord Stark. However, I do wonder why the news of this betrothal did not reach far and wide. I doubt there was any reason to hide such a betrothal. From what I've seen and heard, Sansa is a wonderful young lady on the cusp of becoming a beautiful woman and the reputation of Lord Bolton speaks for itself."
Then Tyrion bent forward and said in a mock whisper "He doesn't… play for the other team, does he? I mean I'm not judging or anything but…"
"I think you've had enough drink Tyrion." He said and took the glass away from his hands.
Tyrion looked at his empty hands in surprise, as if not believing that the wine had suddenly gone out of his reach before he blinked and smiled. "You right Lord Stark. It seems I've had a bit too much to drink. I'll leave you to your… thing and go back to my room."
Then Tyrion jumped down from the chair and wobbled out of the room on his stunted legs.
When Tyrion left the room, Lord Stark let out a breath that he didn't know he had been holding.
The cunning man had managed to take out the secret of Sansa's betrothal from him. Well, it was actually not a betrothal but a contract between Boltons and Starks and a betrothal promise made by Lord Bolton. At least nobody knew the terms of the contract yet.
He would have preferred people to assume that a betrothal had taken place between the two houses, rather than knowing the terms of the contract and that a betrothal had been promised instead of a real betrothal.
Though in hindsight, the betrothal promise wasn't really much of a secret. Everyone in Winterfell already knew about it.
But the conditions attached to the betrothal were thankfully not revealed so there was really nothing lost there.
That said, he really needed to watch himself in front of Tyrion. The dwarf was smarter than people really gave him any credit for.
Anyway, Tyrion would soon leave for Dreadfort, and after that, he could finally relax.
After all, Winterfell was a stop on his way, and Tyrion could not stay here permanently. He was an official envoy, and Lord Bolton should have already been informed that Tyrion would be visiting the Dreadfort.
It would have been disrespectful to Lord Bolton to keep him waiting any longer than necessary, and he doubted that the Lannisters would have been so disruptive to the Boltons.
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Ch.122: Envoy and Ambassador
Ch.123: Tyron Lannister's Past