An Inconvenient Flame [Sandor Clegane]

Chapter 45 - Hate as much as Love

The constant rocking of the ship was something I had a hard time adjusting to. It was unlike anything I had ever experienced and had already made me heave the entire content of my stomach out again. I had done it a few times of the first couple of days before I refrained from eating too much.

The first time I did it, Sandor had seen me and mocked me, but when he saw my annoyed expression, he had stopped again. He hadn't remained unbothered by it either, I had seen it in the expressions he made sometimes.

I released a heavy sigh and rubbed my eyes before burying my face in the covers again and curling up into a ball underneath them. I had just been listening to the faint voices traveling through from the deck of the ship where the sailors were working. They were undistinguishable and almost entirely masked by the sound of water hitting against the side of the ship.

When deciding I had been lying down for far too long already, I swung the covers away and sat up. I swung my legs out over the edge of the bed and allowed my feet to rest on the floor. It was unbelievably cold, and I raised my feet up again, cursing a little before deciding to place them down again.

I was quick to gather my stuff and get dressed. The first I did was to get my shoes on because even though the cold had felt heavenly, it was still too cold to stand on for a longer period. I shivered a little as the cold fabric of my clothes touched my body. It had just been lying on the floor.

I grabbed my shawl and wrapped it around my shoulders before leaving the cabin. Sandor had already left that morning, just before dawn as he always did. When I asked him about it, he had just said it was to avoid people. I had not believed him entirely because people already knew, or some did and then the word had traveled. Just like it had done in the village. It wouldn't be long before Jon knew as well, if he didn't already.

I took the staircase leading up onto the deck two steps at a time. The fresh air hit me like a wall when I stepped out onto the deck. I halted for a moment to inhale deeply and enjoy the wind pulling at my clothes and hair. When I did this, some of the nausea that had been present completely vanished again.

We had already been on the sea for days and would only need one or two more to reach King's landing, a place I had never imagined I would return to. The distance we needed to travel was long but traveling by ship was a lot quicker than I had ever imagined. We had already been by Dragonstone to pick up more soldiers, and two other boats.

A lot of people had joined us, therein Theon, fathers ward. He was not the same as I remembered. He had been through many hardships, which some of them he had deserved. He had always been cocky, but that had also found an end. He now stood behind his sister Yara, who wanted the salt throne, and then there was the Dothraki and Unsullied who stood behind the white-haired queen. They each occupied one of the other ships.

Besides them, I had met one whom I never would have imagined to be fighting for the White-haired queen. Tyrion Lannister, the imp as he was known as, apparently, he was the White-haired queen's Hand. He would sail with us to King's landing, also hoping he could convince his sister, whereas the queen had decided to ride her Dragons to King's landing.