An Inconvenient Flame [Sandor Clegane]

Chapter 34 - Lemoncloak

I hadn't seen Sandor at all today, it was as if he had decided to stay away from the village. I wanted to bring him a bowl of stew, but Brother Ray said he needed to talk to him and would do it himself. I hadn't argued with him and only found something else to help with.

It wasn't until after nightfall, that Sandor returned. He carried a large handful of wood which he threw on the ground next to the fire before he went to find his bedding. I had remained where I was because I feared he had been avoiding me but maybe he hadn't because he still returned to my side that night.

When I felt him position himself behind me and turn his back against mine, I shifted as inconspicuously as I could and closed the distance between us so that my back was touching his. Sandor stilled and I knew he was looking to see if I was awake, but when I didn't say anything, he suddenly turned around to his other side and I felt an arm go around my waist.

Sandor positioned himself right behind me and placed his forehead against the back of my neck. He heaved a deep sigh when lying still. It took a while but once the soft snores of his emerged, I knew he was asleep already. It wasn't until then that I relaxed and allowed the sleepiness to take me too.

Ever since the time in the forest, which was all a few days ago, we had somehow grown more affectionate towards each other and yet none of us had addressed what happened between us. I had wanted to ask him more than once, but Sandor would never let me finish the sentence. We had quite quickly returned to the same, and he would still come sleep beside me at night. And, now he didn't even hesitate to embrace me during the night.

A few times I had been lucky enough to wake up before him, and find that he was still at my side. This morning was one of those. I had woken up around dawn to Sandor still being behind me. The soft snores of his was undisturbed for quite a while as I remained where I was, enjoying the safety he provided and the sight of the sunrise in the distance.

I kept listening for a sign that Sandor had woken up, but it wasn't there. The only thing I could feel was the tingling sensation of air against the exposed part of my neck, every time he exhaled.

Not long after the others began waking up as well. Today we had a sermon with Brother Ray in the morning. He always liked speaking to us, his sermon's was always about something important and it centered the people. I never felt like they were something that needed to be done because more than once, had it had always been on a quite an important subject.

I watched them slowly move around and gather their stuff. A few of them looked my way more than once and it annoyed me greatly. Their constant hatefulness agitated me a lot more than I allowed to shine through. I clenched my teeth before pushing myself up onto my elbow. They saw and quickly looked away.

My eyes had narrowed but especially at Solara who had been looking at us for quite a while. She was kind enough to me, but never to Sandor and I had a feeling she would ask me when she got me alone. I bit into lip and turned around to face him. He was still sleeping, he proved to be a heavy sleeper sometimes. I laid back down and allowed my hand to travel to his face. I traced the scars on the exposed side of his head.