Update: To Die For You If Need Be Chapter 12 Has Been Written

I've finished writing the latest chapter of To Die For You If Need Be and will start editing tomorrow at the earliest. All depends on how well I'm doing.

Here's a small unedited excerpt of what to look forward to:

"Jon won't ever bend the knee." I mused. "Not if he is as honorable as he is said to be. No self-respecting Northerner would ever bend the knee to a Targaryen. Not after the embarrassment my ancestors put Torrhen Stark through."

"And if he bends the knee the North might just follow Sansa instead." Tyrion said. "She's a strong woman and is your equal in strength."

I nodded even though I had never met the woman. For a short time she had been his wife, though neither had consummated the marriage. A lot of men would have raped a young woman and not feel bad about it because the woman was their wife. Tyrion was more moral than he let on with his constant jests.

"You'll have to talk with him as an equal." Tyrion said. "He will want your respect so that he'll know to trust you."

"How can I earn his trust when he'll know I want the North?" I asked. "He'll know that any conversation will always end with me asking to have the North. Which means he'll upset the rest of the North."

"Maybe he doesn't care about politics. Then you can smile and he'll bend the knee."

"I didn't think of you as such a fool."

"I just hide behind wise words of dead mean."

"No, you hide behind words of dead men which are really your own. I would hardly call them wise."

I turned to see Tyrion raise his chalice before drinking it. If not for how long we had been talking, I wouldn't have grinned. It was a childish turn of conversation and yet I needed the levity. Ruling was hard work and he was one of the very few people I could trust. Hopefully I could add Jon to that list.