"Father." Jon summoned his courage and asked Eddard, "Let me go to King's Landing with you. I can be a squire, a guard, anything. I don't want to stay at Winterfell."
What he left unsaid was that he no longer wanted to face Lady Catelyn's icy gaze or feel as though he had no place there.
Eddard looked at Jon, at the features that so closely resembled Lyanna's, and sorrow stirred in his heart. He had originally planned to leave him at Winterfell to help Robb while taking Catelyn south, which would have conveniently kept the two apart.
But now, with what had happened to Bran, Catelyn was staying behind. If he left Jon here too, the boy might be even unhappier. Perhaps this child with the blood of House Targaryen truly was destined to go south. In King's Landing, different opportunities might await him.
Or, once he had established himself in the south, he could find a way to secure Jon's future, allowing him to earn honors and lands through military service or some other means and cast off the name of bastard for good.
After considering it for a long time, Eddard nodded. "Very well, Jon. You may come with me. But King's Landing is not Winterfell. There are more rules there, and people's hearts are more complicated. You must always be careful in what you say and do."
Jon's face lit up. "Yes, Father. I won't let you down."
On the morning of their departure, a thin mist shrouded Winterfell.
Eddard was fully dressed, wearing simple traveling clothes beneath a black fur cloak. A squire beside him carried his sword, Ice. The Valyrian steel greatsword was an heirloom of House Stark, and he needed to take it with him.
Sansa had been so excited that she had