Marina's green eyes filled with tears as the truth picked apart her mentality, shattering the very beliefs she thought she understood. It had been them all along, everything that has lead to this moment was planned. Every word that slivered past the...
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MARINA WATCHED THE WHITE SHIMMERING SNOW FALL TO THE GROUND.
She envied how easy the snow seemed to blend in, as if it hadn't been disturbed in the first place. The flakes themselves lead different lives, different patterns, but when brought together they looked to be one big family.
No matter how hard she tried, Marina couldn't remember anything past Winterfell. She couldn't remember showing up to the gates, she couldn't remember her mother or father. She couldn't even remember what she wore when she met Ned Stark. For years she had told herself that she was born with her magic, that her father had died in some king's useless war and that her mother was taken by an enemy soldier only to never be seen again.
It was an easy lie. Ned Stark went along with it. Catelyn Stark, though reluctant, went along with it. When the Stark children were born and began asking questions, it was easy to give them that story rather than sit for hours racking her brain for some sort of truth.
And the truth? Where to begin?
Everything she had ever known was a lie. Her magic, something she thought she was born with, was forced upon her. Her previous life as a Targaryen ended before it began, and at the hands of her uncle no less. Her life as a Stark was ripped away out of spite. Her second chance at a family ruined right before her very eyes.
"We didn't know" A voice says, startling the sorceress. Marina peered over her shoulder to briefly look at Leaf before returning her gaze to the froze abyss before her.
"Your apology means nothing to me" Leaf paused at the threshold of the cave, holding her tongue. "You both took everything from me."
"I won't apologize for wanting to protect my family. We were being slaughtered by you and the rest of the First Men. You'd do the same if the roles were reversed."
Marina's eyes flickered between their natural forest green and a fiery red. Her anger boiling beneath her skin. Though, with her back turned to the Imp, Leaf couldn't tell.
"You've cared for the Stark Children as if they were your own. If it came down to it, if you were in the position I was, what would you have done?"
The question doused the hot flames beneath her skin. Her irises settled back to their dark green color, leaving no evidence of magic.
If it were Brandon or any of the other children, Marina would no doubt wage war across all of Westeros. No house, big or small, would be pardoned. But would she kill innocent children? Would she take them from their homes and punish them for a parent's crime?
No. She wouldn't.
"The Raven wants to see you." Another one of the imps says, looking between the sorceress and her sister. "Both of you."
Leaf thanked her sister in her native tongue but stayed where she was. Neither of the women made a move towards the entrance once the imp skipped away.
