Ned hesitated, but quailed under her stern gaze. "I will give you my oath," he agreed. "But, I need your oath in turn that you will not speak about this to anyone. Anyone , understand?"
Catelyn pursed her lips, but nodded. "I swear by the Old Gods that I will not betray any secrets you reveal to me during the course of this conversation."
Ned nodded, satisfied by the oath. "And I swear by the Old Gods that I will answer your questions truly and completely."
Catelyn nodded, satisfied. "Now. Who is Jon's mother?"
Ned debated lying for a moment, but Catelyn had noticed his hesitation. Between her hard gaze and his reverence for the Old Gods, he knew he had to tell the truth. The real truth.
"Lyanna Stark," he reluctantly answered.
She blinked at him, her eyebrows disappearing into her hair. "And… his father?"
"Rhaegar Targaryen."
"I see," she murmured. Ned watched her eyes dart to and fro as she considered the information and worked her way through it.
"So he's Rhaegar's bastard?"
"No," Ned sighed. "She and Rhaegar were married, both in a Godswood and in a Sept. Jon is… he is trueborn."
"So that's why," she murmured. "Given King Robert's reaction to the murder of Princess Elia and her children…"
"Aye," Ned sighed. "Jon is the rightful King of the Seven Kingdoms. If Robert knew, he would order Jon's death."
"Did your sister have any proof?" Catelyn asked. "Or did the prince lie to her to get her in his bed?"
"She had documents, signed and witnessed."
"Damn," she swore. "Where are those documents now?"
"With Howland Reed at Greywater Watch."
"Can Lord Reed be trusted?"
"He swore an oath by the Old Gods," Ned answered.
"Damn," Catelyn swore again. "And no one knew?"
"I didn't know until I found her in the Tower of Joy," Ned answered. "Prince Rhaegar's Kingsguard, the ones who witnessed the marriage, knew, but they told no one."
"And your father and brother paid the price," Catelyn sighed. "Of all the…"
For a long moment, neither one of them said anything. Eventually, Catelyn broke the silence.
"So, you're claiming him as your own to hide him from the King," she concluded.
"And from any loyalists," Ned added, "who would use him as a figurehead to restore the Targaryen dynasty."
"And cause another war while they're at it," she concluded.
"Aye."
"Well then," she said, her voice firming. "If I'm to help you maintain this ruse, I'll need to know some details. Is Jon's supposed mother highborn or lowborn?"
"What does that matter?" Ned asked.
"It matters depending on how you intend to have him educated," she explained. "A lowborn bastard would not be allowed to learn lordly subjects, no matter how beloved he might be. If you intend to give him the same education as our trueborn children, you'll need to claim that his mother was highborn as well."
"I don't intend to back his claim to the Iron Throne," Ned sternly stated.
"I didn't say you would," she retorted. "However, I assume you want Jon to have a good life, don't you?"
Ned nodded.
"Then you'll need to educate him," she replied. "But in order to justify that, you'll need to claim his mother was highborn."
"And who, exactly, is his mother supposed to have been?" Ned retorted, growing irritated. "Shall I tell all my secrets to some other noble lady so that she might claim to be his mother?"
"Of course not," Catelyn scoffed. "Should anyone ask, claim that his mother died in childbirth, and that you reached an agreement with her family to keep her name a secret in order to protect her family's honor. Few would dare question you further on the subject. They may speculate, but so long as you refuse to answer, it'll be nothing but rumors."
Ned leaned back in his chair and thought about her words. After a moment he nodded. "Aye, that may work."
"In order to further support that story," she continued, "you should legitimize him as the founder of a cadet family and set aside some lands for him."
"What?" Ned asked, taken aback. "Why?"
"You can say it was a part of the agreement you made with his mother's family, you see," she explained with a secretive smile. "By acknowledging and legitimizing him, you honor his highborn mother. By promising him lands when he comes of age, you honor her family. But by legitimizing him as a cadet family, and relinquish any claim he has on Winterfell, you protect the succession of your trueborn children, of our children, and refrain from insulting either myself or House Tully. It would be seen as both honorable and an astute political move, my Lord."
"And… you would agree to this?"
Catelyn tensed her lips in a slight grimace. "If you intend to raise him alongside our children here in Winterfell, this story is for the best," she explained. "A lowborn bastard, or one with unknown parentage, living alongside our trueborn children would be seen as an insult. My father, certainly, would object, and other Southern nobility would find it very unusual. Perhaps unusual enough to examine more closely…"
Ned sighed and nodded. "Very well. I will send a raven to Robert."
"Good," she answers with a firm nod. After a moment, her expression softened. "I understand the situation you were placed in, and I agree that hiding Jon's true parentage was the correct decision. For what it's worth, I am sorry."
"It wasn't your fault, Catelyn," Ned reassured her. "And… I am sorry for putting this burden on your shoulders."
"You are protecting your family," she answered with a gentle smile. "The Tully words are Family, Duty, Honor . I can't fault you for living up to my family's ideals. And while I can't promise that I'll love Jon as much as my own children, I will promise to treat him kindly."
"Thank you," Ned said with a sigh of relief. "That is… well, I had feared that you would be quite angry with me."
"To be fair, I was angry, at least a bit, until you told me the whole story," she admitted with a rueful shake of the head. "Now, though, it would seem that we need to take the Stark words to heart."
" Winter is coming, " Ned solemnly recited them.
"And we will need to prepare."