strengthanddevotion‌:

Ned can hardly believe what he’s seeing. Rhaegar had died on the Trident over a year ago now. Hadn’t he? Ned hadn’t been back in Winterfell very long and here was Rhaegar Targaryen standing in his solar. 

“How did you get in here?” He asks, his voice low. He’d half a mind to take Ice off the mantel and finish what Robert clearly hadn’t. The other half of reminded him that technically this was Jon’s father, and that he’d made a promise to his sister. “Why did you come here?”

“I sneaked my way past your guards. It wasn’t easy to be honest. I nearly got caught until I told one I had a important message for you and he let me go.” Rhaegar waited for Eddard to pull out his sword, to swing at him but nothing so far had turned to violence. “I ask to stay here. Until I recuperate.” He hadn’t heard anything about his son but had heard of Lyanna’s passing and he didn’t know what Eddard did and didn’t know about the two of them.

“Eddard, I heard you were the last one with Lyanna…did-did our child…” He could hardly finish his thoughts and Rhaegars eyes fell to the floor. “I never wanted this to happen. I had wanted to annul my marriage to Elia, I loved her and our children but Lyanna…She was strikingly beautiful and she loved me.”

Rhaegar wasn’t sure why he was telling Eddard all of this, he didn’t know if the Lord would believe him or not. “I was going to take over the throne, my father had been slipping further and further towards the end…Lyanna wanted to escape a marriage to Robert, we married…” He was fighting back tears at the thought of his dead family. “I’ve lost all of my family. My brother is somewhere across the Narrow Sea and for all I know he and mother could be dead. I understand if you throw me out, if you execute me. You have every right to do so. My family started a war and we are to pay for that”