SOLIVAGANT ─ HP & GoT [ON HOLD]

☽ Chapter X ☾

"You are avoiding him."

"No, I'm not." Thea replied nonchalantly, not looking up from the book she was reading attentively in the chair by the fireplace.

Across the room, Lily clicked her tongue in discontentment. "Yes, you are and it is all because of her." After seeing her mother's strong gaze, Thea thought it was best not to try to deny it again. It was true, yes, the young woman had been avoiding him for some time and yes, maybe that was related to the Stark woman's distrust of her...

It seemed that all the words that had been exchanged between them had been forgotten by the time Lady Stark saw three of her children returning to the castle with Amalthea, coming from the Godswood. Robb had said something that had made the young woman smile, and Catelyn's face had twisted into a suspicious expression, lips pressed into a straight line and eyes narrowed.

Rickon had come down from Robb's back where he was perched like a monkey, and ran towards his mother talking quickly trying to be faster than Bran in describing in detail what they were doing and the story about dragons that Amalthea had told them.

Catelyn listened absently, always with her eyes on the oldest son and the young woman with black hair, and had been quick to reprimand the two youngest boys for having been away so long, and to send them away. When Amalthea decided to accompany them, the matriarch feigned a smile as she murmured some words to Robb, who looked at her in confusion, unaware of the suspicions that crossed her mind.

Remembering that was enough to make Thea huff in scorn. She had seen men of enormous beauty: her Fred, Cedric, Sirius in his youth with all his aristocratic features, and for Merlin's sake, even she couldn't deny that Draco Malfoy was a very handsome boy... And yes, Catelyn's son was handsome, but did that really give her the right to imagine that any girl in the world would immediately fall in love with him and do anything to get their claws in him? Did it really give her the right to be suspicious of Thea just because her son had been kind to her to make her feel a little more welcomed? Unlike her, that despicable Theon or even Lord Stark himself, because however welcoming he might be, he hadn't made any attempt to try to know her.

Amalthea was in Westeros to find a home, not to fall for any man she came across. So, in order to try to avoid any conflicts, the witch thought it would be better to start trying to avoid any contact with Robb, something that he did not take long to notice and wonder as to the reasons why. Wherever he was, she did her best not to be. If she saw him in a castle corridor, she did her best to get past him as quickly as she could with an exchange of kind and courteous words, even when it seemed like he wanted to say more.

There was a time when she thought she was being paranoid and absurd about her own behavior, but the sudden appearance of that maid, Erin, (the one who showed her a cold and severe attitude when she came to call her to drink tea with Catelyn) that interrupted them, and who had been quick to report that Lady Stark wanted to speak to her son, showed her the opposite. Lady Stark had eyes everywhere.

"Are you really going to let that woman let you stop doing what you want?"

"I'm at her house for now, I have to try to avoid conflicts."

"That doesn't mean you can't make friends."

"It does when she has illusory ideas that I want something more than friendship with her son and can cause me more troubles than I need."

"You can be the most stubborn person I have ever seen, and I am married to your father!"

This caused Thea to finally look up from the words in the book, and smile in Lily's direction. "That's funny, he says the same about you."