Catelyn is gone.

Returning to her room, Ned found it empty, Catelyn and her retinue had vacated. On the bed was a small envelope, a wax seal covering it. Ned picked it up, breaking it with a wayward finger.

Eddard,

I am returning to Winterfell. I will co-ordinate our forces there, preparing for whatever may come. What you did with Cersei Lannister was a betrayal of our union, I know you understand that. But... for the sake of our house, and the kingdom, it's a betrayal that must continue. With Stannis and Renly out for your blood, we must remain allied with the Lannisters, as ambitious and depraved as some of them may be. Give me time. Once I understand the situation more completely, perhaps my perspective on sharing your life in King's Landing may change.

Your wife,

Catelyn.

Ned sighed as he held the communique to a candle, quickly reducing it to unreadable cinders. He had been a fool, a **** to his manly urges just as much as Robert had been. Though after what he had seen that bastard do to Sansa, such a comparison made him blanch.

The unwilling king cursed his actions. He wished he had never come south, never allowed Cersei to suck on his cock, never killed Robert. Still... the greater part of Ned's being new, that when next the golden-haired Lioness came to her, he would be as powerless to refuse her as ever before.