An Inconvenient Flame [Sandor Clegane]

Chapter 2 - Clegane

"Life isn't about finding yourself. It's about creating yourself."

          The entire castle was still buzzing with the arrival of the royal party. The feast had only just ended and had lasted far into the night. I hid a yawn behind the back of my hand. I had not yet been excused by mother, even though the Queen had wanted me to stay. She had called me to her in the late hours and begun asking about my age, and other personal things like, "have you bled yet?" She had asked with a raised eyebrow. It was one of the questions that bothered me the most.

"No." I had answered truthfully, I hadn't despite my age. Mother had addressed it before, but nothing could be done about it. I kept my head high when the Queen's expression faded into one of content. My brow furrowed before I asked to be excused. It was strange for her to ask but I had feared an ulterior motive.

I hadn't completely wrong and soon found out Sansa had also been speaking to the Queen. I then overheard a conversation, explaining that told me she had been promised to the prince instead. Luckily, I would say. I was a year older than the prince, and the Queen had found Sansa prettier. If not more compliant.

The joining of house Baratheon and Stark, wasn't unwelcomed but I wouldn't want to marry that scrawny little prince, luckily, or hopefully, my previous statement about the Queen finding Sansa prettier was right. Father and mother hadn't found me a match yet, despite mother pressuring the subject father had been adamant it wasn't important. It was as if he wanted me to find my own way, find love if you could say so.

I lowered my head, and curtsied to the Queen before turning away from them. I walked out of the hall, with long secure strides and held my head high. When I passed the man from earlier, he turned his head after me but when I stopped and turned back at him, he slowly turned away again, looking like he had done nothing wrong. His hair hung lifelessly around his face, covering most of the injured part, almost making him look normal from this angle. I raised an eyebrow, thinking he was a strange man before leaving the great hall.

The fire was still warm when I returned to my room, and I kept it going for a long while. I hadn't gone to bed after changing into my nightgown. I had remained seated on the edge of my bed, one leg bent underneath me, the other foot resting on the edge of it and my chin resting against my knee. My fingers were playing with the fur underneath me, intertwining with it every time I ran my fingers through. It was a gift from father, one I had been given on my sixteenth birthday. It was a dire wolf skin, black, with a few white spots randomly placed.

With a deep inhale I slipped off the bed and grabbed my shawl, swinging it around my shoulders before leaving the warm security of my room. The castle had finally gone quiet after the feast. I breathed in deeply and enjoyed the cold air that surrounded my small frame but still shivered due to the temperature shift when continuing down the familiar halls. I turned to the library, mostly because of the great fire there but also for something to read. Something to pass the time with when I denied myself sleep.