WELL FLAYED [Game Of Thrones: The Boltons]

12. Little Bird

HER EYES WERE SULLEN AND SWOLLEN and red, all dried up from tears. She cried to sleep last night, trying to wash away what she had witnessed. However, it was all useless as whenever she closed her eyes, she could still see the the mutilated and flayed men - morphing into a one big nightmare she couldn't seem to wake up from.

Violet came back and forth to service her lady, confined in yet another quarter - but this time, there were no windows, only narrow slits on the stonewalls that she could only peek from. Streaks of light poorly expelled the darkness around, while the murmurs of the passing wind through the crevices slowly killed the warmth inside. She may be a lady - a noblewoman, but she was just another prisoner held by Ramsay Snow. Titles didn't matter anymore. In that moment, she felt no more lowly than his hounds.

"Do you regret loving this man now?"

His voice played over and over in her mind. Perhaps she did - slowly.

Ramsay Snow was a kind and benevolent man with a smile so friendly and pure which melted her heart when they met...when he saved her from hunger and cold...when he lend his castle for warmth. She was swept off with his boyish charm and passion. He was talented. He was skillful. He was wise. Great with bows and arrows. Great with war tactics. Great with words. He surely knew how to revive the butterflies on her belly whenever he talked to her. He was passionate, determined, a force to be reckoned with - with a vibrant fire that kept her warm. That was the man she fell in love with. And not the monster lingering in the dungeons bringing horror both to the innocent and the guilty - to men and women and children.

She fell in love with the mask that he wore, and before she could unmask him, it was too late. His disguise as a harmless lamb lured her from the flock. Now she's trapped with the flayed men, forever wailing for their skin that he would wear for his next disguise.

Once his fire gave her warmth, now it burned her. And with it, her love. It was turning into ashes and he could no longer do anything about it; no gifts of jewelries, no gifts of dresses, no gifts of pets would have the power to undo what he did and what he made her feel. Her heart was crushed and there was no mending it now.

She should have listened to Myranda; she should have ran away while she still can. But now that they're bound with each other before the gods, before their houses, it would be hard to.

The next day, Ramsay invited Nisha for breakfast in the great hall. She told Violet that she didn't want to make an appearance, but then Violet told her that she didn't really have a choice; order was order.

She arrived in the great hall with crammed feelings of abhorrence and hate, but she couldn't really do anything about it, so she just sat there silently. She didn't have her appetite, yet she forced herself to eat to give back the nutrients that she vomited from the days and nights she was stressed and scared. She knew that no one here would take care of her, so she took care of herself. She would need strength to plan another escape.

The married couple ate in silence. They did not share a glance nor had a small talk to distract themselves from the insufferable tension between them. But when the second course was served, Ramsay spoke up - suddenly ordering his servants to bring out the new addition to the slaves.

They dragged out the bony and filthy Yorr. His tangerine curls were gone - bald he became, stubbles on his chin grew, one eye was blinded, one ear was sliced, and one pinky finger was cut. He was wearing the same tainted clothes when his father was murdered in front of him, when his blood spurted at him while they decapitated him. His smell was rancid; a stench that reeked of shit and rot and death. It covered the entire hall when he came around.

Nisha couldn't finish her food; but it wasn't just about the smell. It was the state that her friend was in. Ramsay completely broke Yorr. He turned him like one of his rabid canines and swines - depraved of human dignity.