His old friend, closer than any brother. “Please, Robert. For the love you bear me. For the love you bore my sister. Please.” The king looked at them for a long moment, then turned his eyes on his wife. “Damn you, Cersei,” he said with loathing. Ned stood, gently disengaging himself from Sansa’s grasp. All the weariness of the past four days had returned to him. “Do it yourself then, Robert,” he said in a voice cold and sharp as steel. “At least have the courage to do it yourself.”