He did not. [ It's a long way to the Wall, and they had so many enemies. And Jon had said he'd been away, beyond the Wall, further up north. With the Wildlings. ] As to the matter of his safety... [ Is any of them really safe while the enemies of their Houses live and breathe and seek to do them harm?
But the topic of Jon is quickly forgotten. Jeyne has a more important story to tell. And Robb, truthfully, is surprised that she's alive at all — though he fears what she might've had to go through for all that he's done. He's not sure he wants to know.
Just as he's not sure he wants to know what exactly her confession means. ]
Your mother...
[ His expression darkens, and he has to resist the urge to grab her shoulders and demand answers. A part of him that's grown so much darker since his death wants to. But this is Jeyne. His Jeyne.
And there's something threatening to break through his blocked memories. Jaime Lannister. Something about Jaime Lannister. Jaime Lannister sends his regards. ]
[That darkness unsettles her and her anxiety grows wide like a gaping chasm. Whatever strength she gleaned from Robb's presence as gone, as she stands on the precipice, well aware that Robb could view her now as his enemy. She was the daughter of woman willing to murder her son in law, willing to make deals with his enemies. For the rest of her life, she would have to carry the mark of this shame and mourn the losses of all the innocent men involved.
He lost a kingdom because of her, but so much worse and so much dearer. His mother, his direwolf, his life...
She wrung her hands nervously, twisting her fingers until they ached against her palm. Everything else was forgotten except the painful truth.]
She...she was in contact with Tywin Lannister. She worked with him...my uncle too.
[But not Rayland and not her father. That was a small, small comfort.]
No, I... [ Had Raynald been in the hall? Robb doesn't remember, not after he'd given up his memories of that awful wedding feast when he'd been given the opportunity. But what he does know, at least: ] I had your brother remain with Grey Wind. He'd been unruly, he nearly attacked Lord Walder's men... though I suppose he knew that we were going to be betrayed. Grey Wind has always been dangerous to men he does not trust.
[ He also hasn't forgotten that his direwolf had killed one of the knights she'd known since childhood. Noticing that she's wringing her hands, he reaches out to put one of his over hers in some form of reassurance. He doesn't seem to realize what he's done, that darkness in him fading away at the sight of her so troubled. ] I'm sorry. I know how much you loved him.
[ Jon had said the feast had been a massacre. Robb doubts anyone else had survived. ]
If he was with Grey Wind... [Was there still a chance he was alive? No. That hope was quickly squelched before it could grow fruit. No one could have survived that slaughter. Hadn't she already played that game with herself, trying desperately to come up with ways that Robb must have survived and come back to her? The reality was heartbreaking and crushed her each time.
It was better to look the truth in the face now, however deeply it stung. She simply nodded, swallowing her tears.] Raynald would have fought. If he knew what was happening, I know he would have tried-
[Tried to save them. Loyal, honorable Raynald. He was always worthy of their House's words, if their mother was not.] It wasn't your fault, Robb. It's because of me. If you never married me, my mother would not have bargained with Tywin.
[A small growl of rage escaped her as she looked up towards the sky.]
She plotted against us, but from the start she was pushing me to tend to you. How could I not have seen her intentions?
[ He'd been running. And he'd wanted to think about what to say, the right words to say, how to best apologize, what to tell her in the face of everything that's come between them. Her family had a hand in the North's fall, yes, but he blamed her for none of it. He's felt her love, her heart, and foolish though he might be to believe in it, he believed in it. Truly. Fully.
So that is all he says. Her name.
But with it comes the rush of his body, and he quickly closes the distance between them with long strides. Then he takes her face into his hands and kisses her, really kisses her, as long and as thoroughly as the last time he remembers seeing her. On the march to the Twins, in the rain; she'd come after him on a horse, and she'd never looked so beautiful. ]
[For a moment, she nearly hesitates, worried that this might not be her Robb. The way he looks at her, the desperation in his eyes and apparent need for her, it seemed too perfect. But he closed the distance between them before she can react and he pulled her into a proper kiss, the sort that he gave her before, the last time she saw him.
With it, he steals her protests and her breath, leaving her clinging to him as she gripped his arms and sobbed against his lips. The relief is palpable, as the last of her anxiety falls from her eyes and drops at her feet. With him holding her, the ground steadies beneath her and the world seems to stop spinning.]
Robb- [She has to collect herself again.] Wha- Why are you sorry?
Please, don't cry. [ He gently wipes away her tears, no longer caring that his too are streaming down his face. People can stare, and even she can laugh at him for this moment of weakness, but he doesn't care anymore. He's already lost so much that his pride hardly matters.
What matters is her, and their love. ]
I have been foolish to keep myself away from you. I should not have let you go after I saw you again. Forgive me, my love. I hadn't meant to hurt you. I only felt that I... didn't deserve you.
[She doesn't want to laugh, not for their weakness and not for anything else. She simply wants to bask and absorb every gentle touch and word. Her relief is palpable as she clutches him, leaning into his hand as he wipes away her tears. If there were others, they were as lost to her as his soldiers were during that last goodbye.
His words are enough for a stifled sob to break from her.]
How could you not deserve me, Robb? All you have ever done for me was kind and honorable. You loved me well despite where I came from and what I cost you. I only wish that I could have lived up to your hopes.
[She clutched his hands, running her fingers over his knuckles.]
[ I only wish that I could have lived up to your hopes, he hears her say, and he practically growls in protest, leaning in to kiss her again, a little harder as though to drive the point home. ]
You have. [ He can't bring himself to pull away now, whispering against her lips, the rest of the city falling away as he holds her close again. ] You are everything I have ever dreamed of, and more. And I was a fool to let you think otherwise. Can you forgive me?
[ It's only after a moment that he's able to rein himself in, remembering that they're out in the open and anyone could walk in on them anytime. He cares not for himself; he simply doesn't want to shame her. He's always cared about her honor. ]
I have missed you, my love. So, so much. [ Will Malcolm mind if he brings her over? Will Coda mind if he crashes into her place? ]
[She had always been tentative and shy, but it was made worse after Robb's death, much of the circumstances feeling like her fault. The sudden aggressive kiss and the determination he had in showing he still loved her eased those fears. They become nothing more than murmurs at the back of her mind as her focus was solely on Robb.]
I will always forgive you, Robb. [Her tone was one of soft wonderment, so grateful to see her husband again and to have something more than sorrow in her heart. Her fingertips lightly caressed his cheek, grazing against his stubble.] I don't blame you for keeping your distance. I understood why, just as I have always understood you.
[She hadn't thought of passerbys, happily pressing herself flush against his body as old passions awakened from their slumber and her body truly felt alive again. But she can feel him pull back and she follows his lead, blush tinging her cheeks.]
You won't leave me behind again? [She asked, remembering their final parting in Westeros?] You are with me now?
Aye, I am with you now. Never again shall I leave.
[ Somewhere, at the back of his mind, is a traitorous whisper that it's a promise he can't keep. He's already died, hasn't he? And this place... it takes people away without warning, at any time. But he pushes the voice away, his determination renewed. Perhaps they could escape together. Or perhaps they could simply be here, living a life without war and duty and old-fashioned traditions to worry about.
He keeps her in his arms, kissing the top of her head as he glances at Grey Wind. What an odd little family they make, yet he doesn't want to trade it for the world. ] Shall I walk you home?
[She nods, curling in his arms as they shifted and he started to lead her back towards where her room was. She was alone for now, so it was a sweeter prospect to be with Robb and face that empty room with him next to her, rather than for her to question whether this happened at all.
Jeyne smiled down at Grey Wind, never so grateful to see the wolf. She might have feared him once, but here, he was a sign of her husband, a reminder that this wasn't a dream. He truly was here.]
Robb had been out for blood from the very moment he'd found out that Jeyne was a prisoner of the Boltons. It wasn't Ramsay's jeering words that got to him though, but the broken seashell necklace the bastard had sent along as proof of his conquest.
Robb and Jeyne had made that necklace, out on the beach by the Crag. A simple trinket, yet it had meant everything to him — and Ramsay had taunted him on the face with it. He'd come so close to riding out to Winterfell that afternoon, lack of plans and men be damned; he'd even gotten into a fistfight with Jon, since his brother had the audacity to try to stop him.
Now the time for vengeance was at hand. Not vengeance, Lancelot had reminded him though. Justice. There was a difference, the monk had said, and he believed that Robb embodied that goodness still, despite all that he'd been through and all that he'd been made to suffer and all that he'd done in turn.
That's not to say the wolf wasn't out for blood, anyway. Winter was coming, and his name was Robb Stark.
—
It doesn't take long for Winterfell to descend into chaos, and Robb makes his way through the keep in the thick of it, slipping undetected into passageways and corridors with ease. This has been his home, after all, so he knows the ins and outs more than anyone, except perhaps Jon.
He and the monk pause in a diverging path; one end leading to darker places, the other outside, to where they hear echoes of Ramsay's voice. With a growl he starts toward the latter, but Lancelot grabs him by the arm. "You must find her," he reminds, and Robb stops, chastised. She'll be safe once Ramsay is dead, he'd thought, and while true, it wasn't the most important part of this whole operation. Jeyne was.
So he takes a deep breath, nods, and turns the opposite way. Like a wolf tracking its prey, instinct is guiding him to where he might find her.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
♛ widow_of_the_crag.
He did not. [ It's a long way to the Wall, and they had so many enemies. And Jon had said he'd been away, beyond the Wall, further up north. With the Wildlings. ] As to the matter of his safety... [ Is any of them really safe while the enemies of their Houses live and breathe and seek to do them harm?
But the topic of Jon is quickly forgotten. Jeyne has a more important story to tell. And Robb, truthfully, is surprised that she's alive at all — though he fears what she might've had to go through for all that he's done. He's not sure he wants to know.
Just as he's not sure he wants to know what exactly her confession means. ]
Your mother...
[ His expression darkens, and he has to resist the urge to grab her shoulders and demand answers. A part of him that's grown so much darker since his death wants to. But this is Jeyne. His Jeyne.
And there's something threatening to break through his blocked memories. Jaime Lannister. Something about Jaime Lannister. Jaime Lannister sends his regards. ]
no subject
He lost a kingdom because of her, but so much worse and so much dearer. His mother, his direwolf, his life...
She wrung her hands nervously, twisting her fingers until they ached against her palm. Everything else was forgotten except the painful truth.]
She...she was in contact with Tywin Lannister. She worked with him...my uncle too.
[But not Rayland and not her father. That was a small, small comfort.]
My brother...was he in the hall when...?
We had no word of him.
no subject
[ He also hasn't forgotten that his direwolf had killed one of the knights she'd known since childhood. Noticing that she's wringing her hands, he reaches out to put one of his over hers in some form of reassurance. He doesn't seem to realize what he's done, that darkness in him fading away at the sight of her so troubled. ] I'm sorry. I know how much you loved him.
[ Jon had said the feast had been a massacre. Robb doubts anyone else had survived. ]
no subject
It was better to look the truth in the face now, however deeply it stung. She simply nodded, swallowing her tears.] Raynald would have fought. If he knew what was happening, I know he would have tried-
[Tried to save them. Loyal, honorable Raynald. He was always worthy of their House's words, if their mother was not.] It wasn't your fault, Robb. It's because of me. If you never married me, my mother would not have bargained with Tywin.
[A small growl of rage escaped her as she looked up towards the sky.]
She plotted against us, but from the start she was pushing me to tend to you. How could I not have seen her intentions?
♛ widow_of_the_crag.
Jeyne.
[ He'd been running. And he'd wanted to think about what to say, the right words to say, how to best apologize, what to tell her in the face of everything that's come between them. Her family had a hand in the North's fall, yes, but he blamed her for none of it. He's felt her love, her heart, and foolish though he might be to believe in it, he believed in it. Truly. Fully.
So that is all he says. Her name.
But with it comes the rush of his body, and he quickly closes the distance between them with long strides. Then he takes her face into his hands and kisses her, really kisses her, as long and as thoroughly as the last time he remembers seeing her. On the march to the Twins, in the rain; she'd come after him on a horse, and she'd never looked so beautiful. ]
I'm sorry, love. I'm so sorry.
no subject
With it, he steals her protests and her breath, leaving her clinging to him as she gripped his arms and sobbed against his lips. The relief is palpable, as the last of her anxiety falls from her eyes and drops at her feet. With him holding her, the ground steadies beneath her and the world seems to stop spinning.]
Robb- [She has to collect herself again.] Wha- Why are you sorry?
no subject
What matters is her, and their love. ]
I have been foolish to keep myself away from you. I should not have let you go after I saw you again. Forgive me, my love. I hadn't meant to hurt you. I only felt that I... didn't deserve you.
no subject
His words are enough for a stifled sob to break from her.]
How could you not deserve me, Robb? All you have ever done for me was kind and honorable. You loved me well despite where I came from and what I cost you. I only wish that I could have lived up to your hopes.
[She clutched his hands, running her fingers over his knuckles.]
I thought you hated me for all that happened.
no subject
You have. [ He can't bring himself to pull away now, whispering against her lips, the rest of the city falling away as he holds her close again. ] You are everything I have ever dreamed of, and more. And I was a fool to let you think otherwise. Can you forgive me?
[ It's only after a moment that he's able to rein himself in, remembering that they're out in the open and anyone could walk in on them anytime. He cares not for himself; he simply doesn't want to shame her. He's always cared about her honor. ]
I have missed you, my love. So, so much. [ Will Malcolm mind if he brings her over? Will Coda mind if he crashes into her place? ]
no subject
I will always forgive you, Robb. [Her tone was one of soft wonderment, so grateful to see her husband again and to have something more than sorrow in her heart. Her fingertips lightly caressed his cheek, grazing against his stubble.] I don't blame you for keeping your distance. I understood why, just as I have always understood you.
[She hadn't thought of passerbys, happily pressing herself flush against his body as old passions awakened from their slumber and her body truly felt alive again. But she can feel him pull back and she follows his lead, blush tinging her cheeks.]
You won't leave me behind again? [She asked, remembering their final parting in Westeros?] You are with me now?
no subject
[ Somewhere, at the back of his mind, is a traitorous whisper that it's a promise he can't keep. He's already died, hasn't he? And this place... it takes people away without warning, at any time. But he pushes the voice away, his determination renewed. Perhaps they could escape together. Or perhaps they could simply be here, living a life without war and duty and old-fashioned traditions to worry about.
He keeps her in his arms, kissing the top of her head as he glances at Grey Wind. What an odd little family they make, yet he doesn't want to trade it for the world. ] Shall I walk you home?
no subject
Jeyne smiled down at Grey Wind, never so grateful to see the wolf. She might have feared him once, but here, he was a sign of her husband, a reminder that this wasn't a dream. He truly was here.]
Only if you promise to stay for awhile.
rescuing his queen from ramsay
Robb and Jeyne had made that necklace, out on the beach by the Crag. A simple trinket, yet it had meant everything to him — and Ramsay had taunted him on the face with it. He'd come so close to riding out to Winterfell that afternoon, lack of plans and men be damned; he'd even gotten into a fistfight with Jon, since his brother had the audacity to try to stop him.
Now the time for vengeance was at hand. Not vengeance, Lancelot had reminded him though. Justice. There was a difference, the monk had said, and he believed that Robb embodied that goodness still, despite all that he'd been through and all that he'd been made to suffer and all that he'd done in turn.
That's not to say the wolf wasn't out for blood, anyway. Winter was coming, and his name was Robb Stark.
—
It doesn't take long for Winterfell to descend into chaos, and Robb makes his way through the keep in the thick of it, slipping undetected into passageways and corridors with ease. This has been his home, after all, so he knows the ins and outs more than anyone, except perhaps Jon.
He and the monk pause in a diverging path; one end leading to darker places, the other outside, to where they hear echoes of Ramsay's voice. With a growl he starts toward the latter, but Lancelot grabs him by the arm. "You must find her," he reminds, and Robb stops, chastised. She'll be safe once Ramsay is dead, he'd thought, and while true, it wasn't the most important part of this whole operation. Jeyne was.
So he takes a deep breath, nods, and turns the opposite way. Like a wolf tracking its prey, instinct is guiding him to where he might find her.