Blood Upon The Snow ||| Cregan Stark

thirty-nine

Jacaera woke from her medicated slumber slowly. Each sense came back on its own. Her eyes could open but took many moments to be able to register sights.

She could hear things but it was quiet wherever she was. There was a steady, dull throb to the side of her body.

It took a while for Jacaera to register that she was awake. For her to remember what happened, that she'd been at a battle and injured.

Obviously, she wasn't still at that battle. She was lying in a bed. A comfortable bed. Jacaera remembered the wound in her leg and took a breath, stretching her stiff arms to move the blankets.

There was a wad of gauze wrapped around her thigh. She'd been helped. Her side didn't hurt as intensely anymore either.

She looked around the room and clued herself in. The dark wood, the furs. She was in Winterfell. That's right. Cannibal took her there just before she passed out.

Jacaera tried to sit up in the bed, groaning with the effort of it. Her side still hurt, her thigh too. And her body, where the arrows had entered her. It was all sore.

When she was sitting up, Jacaera rubbed her face and touched her hair. Clean and braided as she liked it.

It didn't take long for the door to open. Jacaera was still a little bit slow on the draw, having woken up only minutes prior, but she didn't need to be quick.

Her reaction was immediate. Comfort filled her, the person she saw made her heart warm, relief flooded her. Someone she trusted. Somewhere she knew she was safe after everything.

"My love," Jacaera said fondly, trying to manoeuvre herself out of the bed to greet Cregan. She wanted to get up and hug him, to feel him again after how long it had been.

Cregan felt guilt. Knowing what he would have to do. What he would have to tell her. When at least she was happy then, at peace.

He took what he could get, cherished the moments when she wasn't devastated.

Before Jacaera could get out of bed, Cregan put his hands on her shoulders and encouraged her to stay in it. As a proper greeting, though, he leaned down and embraced her, kissing her softly.

Jacaera hadn't felt that tenderness in months. It had been something she was sorely missing and glad to finally have it back again.

"How long?" Jacaera asked when Cregan moved away to pull one of the chairs up to the side of the bed. He sat down in it before he answered.

"Long enough," was his reply. She didn't need to know exactly how long she'd been unconscious. For it to make her feel like shit. He knew it would. "There's a maid bringing up dinner. In the meantime, would you care to explain?"

He knew the gist of things. What battle she most likely came from. But he needed to hear it from her. To let her explain all of that before he ruined her.

Jacaera knew she owed him that much, at least. After showing up on the brink of death.

So while they waited for dinner to be brought to them, Jacaera explained everything to Cregan. Things in King's Landing, the fight with Aemond at Harrenhal, finding Addam and Seasmoke, and killing the remaining dragons on the Green's side.