The Stag Queen (on hiatus)

Winter is Coming: Part IV

Cassana remains seated after her parent's announcement. She stared into space while her siblings and the Stark children, minus Robb, discussed the new engagement. She knew her parents were watching her, waiting to see what she would do or say, but she refused to move until she'd let it all sink in. She was going to be married, not only that, but to one of her best friends. She had no say in the matter. She wouldn't get to marry who she wanted; she wouldn't marry for love as she hoped, which in many ways broke her heart. Maybe Robb was who she wanted; maybe he wasn't; the point now is that she would never know. At least she and Robb were blindsided together; they could bond over their lack of choice. She felt eyes on her and knew exactly who they belonged to, her Mother and Father waiting for her to show them any form of attention or reveal any emotion other than the stoic one she wears now. She had been oblivious to the noise around her as she stayed stuck in her head, but a touch to her shoulder soon broke that when she looked up and saw Robb staring down at her, she took in a breath she didn't know she was withholding and gave her best fake smile.

Robb knew it was fake because he knew her so well that he knew she was drowning in her head and needed to be saved from it. "I'm feeling like a walk. Would you like to join me?" He bent down to her level so she could hear him. He offered her a small smile to help ease her. Cassana smiled at him and took his outstretched hand in hers. "That sounds wonderful, lord Stark." Robb rolls his eyes at her teasing and squeezes her hand in his. "Of course, Princess." Cassana, at that moment, wishes to smack the smirk from his face but instead rolls her eyes back and scoffs.

Both are painfully aware that the eyes of both sets of parents are trained on them and still choose to ignore them as they walk past the four. Cassana ignores the look of pain her Mother wears and the look of guilt on her Father and Godfather; at this moment, she cannot feel sorry for them. She is too busy feeling it for herself and has no room to share her grief. The two walk in silence down the halls of Winterfell, neither quite sure where they are going till they reach it. The Godswood was a sacred place; her Uncle brought her there once on her last visit to the North after she asked about the First Men and the history of the North. "It's been so long since I was here." Robb stares at her face to see if he can decipher her thoughts with the slightest twitch of her brow. "Aye." Cassana smiles at the memories of her younger years that run through her head, the moments she wishes she could return to when it was all simple and easy. She breaks from her thoughts and turns to look up at Robb. "Shall we?" Robb grants her a smile and nods for her to walk ahead.

"After you, princess." Cassana pushes him away from her with a scoff. "Must you always be such an ass?" Robb wipes off his hands after catching himself from falling on his face and turning to her. "If I were not, you might start to think something was wrong with me," Cassana smirks before glancing around the woods. "That would be true if I didn't already know something is most certainly wrong with you." They stay silent momentarily; Cassana takes in the frozen ground and the old trees. Cassana turns to stare at Robb and sees his eyes haven't left her. "What do you think about our new arrangement?" Robb looks at her, not expecting her to break their silence so quickly, but answers her just as quickly. "Whatever the King and my Father ask of me, I will do you know that." Cassana scoffed at his answer. She wasn't surprised by it, but she'd hoped that maybe he'd have more to say than that. "Yes, whatever my Father wants, he gets. I hope you'll think of me when we are married before you bend to his will." Cassana slowly backs away from him after she says this, but he gets closer.