Lady Stoneheart. The name stuck in his throat and made him feel ill. After all this time he'd spent trying not to remember her, he did not imagine this tree would be so selfish as to pry that secret from his mind. He had hurt the Starks with it once already, he could not imagine having to see them suffer that truth a second time over. Not when he could see the pain already writ in Hermione's eyes and she had never known the woman at all.

He swallowed his discomfort and looked away.

"... I'm sorry, I didn't think it would be that. She's-" He clenched one of his fists together, then spread his fingers out again to the time of one long and heavy breath. "They can't know, Hermione. They had to know once already because of me. I can't do that to them again."