a Jeyne of your choice with a baby?
Thank you for the prompt!
I feel like I should probably apologise to you for this one…
Jeyne curled around her baby.
The soft red curls on his head, the blue of his eyes, the blood in his veins, all of it made her son a target.
Edwyn would never know his father, nor his grandparents, nor even his aunts and uncles. He might not even know his mother, if the Lannisters had their way.
“Mama loves you so, so much.” Jeyne whispered, pressing a kiss to the down on his head, “Mama loves you more than the moon and the stars and the sun.”
She let herself place another kiss to his head, savouring the memory of him. It was a memory she would surely need in the dark of her cell.
Edwyn smiled at her, his gums poking through the curve of his perfect little lips. He waved one chubby fist in the air, and as Jeyne caught it she couldn’t he’ll but marvel over every single one of his tiny, perfect fingernails.
Her baby was perfect and she wished she could see him grow.
Carefully she dressed him in a gown made from one of Robb’s shirts. Carefully she swaddled him in a blanket made from her marriage cloak. She tucked her jewels into the swaddle, hiding them in the folds of the cloth.
It was all she could give him. All she had that would prove who he was.
A plain blanket and swaddling bands went over the top. He had to stay warm, had to stay safe, and blending in was his best chance for that.
“Mama loves you.” She said once more, pressing a single drop of sweetsleep onto his gums. A single drop should not hurt him, and it would be safer than him awaking and making a noise the Lannisters could track.
His eyes blinked shut, and Jeyne mourned for the loss of their sweet blue. She cradled him close to her chest and stole from her rooms. Better her family did not know what she was about to do. Better no one but she knew of her plan.
The castle was dark, but Jeyne knew it almost as well as her childhood home. Months under siege would do that.
The river was her destination, the small patch of bank only accessible through a door hidden by the reeds. It would be visible to the shore on any other night but for the lack of moon in the sky.
“You are sure of this?” Ser Brynden asked as he stood from his crouched position among the reeds, his voice low and kind.
“I am.” Jeyne straightened her shoulders and passed her precious son to his great uncle.
Set Brynden took Edwyn as though he was the most fragile glass, and tucked him securely into an oilskin sling against his front. So too did he take the bag that Jeyne passed him, packed with some of what he might need to keep her son safe and well.
She should have been sending him off with a grand entourage. Should have been keeping him with her in the keep.
But Lord Edmure had been spotted within the Lannister camp and they all knew it was only a matter of time before he was used to make the castle surrender.
A single swimmer would have the best chance at evading the Lannisters, and Ser Brynden had the best chance of being believed as he championed her son’s identity.
“Keep him safe, my lord. Restore him to his home.”
Ser Brynden looked down at her, his face solemn. “I swear, my queen. King Edwyn will see Winterfell, will sit upon the throne of the North as his father did before him.”
Jeyne stepped back, the tears in her eyes finally trailing down her cheeks. “I know you will. Now go! We will buy you whatever time we can. Go! Before the Lannisters wake. Go!”
Ser Brynden smiled, he tucked Edwyn closer to his chest within his oilskin sling, and he slipped into the dark of the water.
And Jeyne waited on the bank until the last of the ripples had died away and her son was truly gone.