Stranger - hotd Cregan Stark

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That afternoon, Maester Keltan confirmed Valaena to be six weeks pregnant, to which Cregan joked that their firstborn would have been conceived at the wall.

As Lady of Winterfell it was Valaena's job to take care of the feast celebrating her pregnancy, she felt silly, celebrating it. Fortunately Lady Dayne offered to take care of the festivities, when Valaena told her husband, he couldn't bear the thought of staining the feast with Lord Dayne's words, perhaps he and his wife did not share sentiments, he had hoped in fact that Lady Dayne's kindness towards his wife helped ease the tensions.

Cregan took Valaena around the grounds of Winterfell on horseback, within a fortnight the air had turned colder again and he smiled as Lady Alis helped his wife with picking out new dresses.

At night in their chambers Cregan had declared Valaena was starting to show, even if just a little bit, much to her annoyance, as she declared that he called her fat. 

Valaena still had her doubts about carrying a child at her young age. She felt uneasy at some mornings, and couldn't quite understand the love which Cregan expressed towards their unborn child. He'd talk to her stomach, and besides making her laugh it made her feel quite odd also. She wrote to Helaena about it, confiding in her aunt about the fears of childbirth, who told her not to worry, as motherhood was something that came naturally.

Valaena her nameday would be within four weeks, and she had made plans with Cregan to visit Dragonstone slightly after her nameday, so that they wouldn't have to travel als an important council would be held the day before it. It was also then that Cregan decided they should celebrate both her nameday and their future first child, as many Lords and Ladies from all over the North would visit for the council.

Cregan had made sure the kitchen would always serve her salmon and chicken baked in herbs and garlic, however at the start of het eight week of pregnancy Valaena felt horrible ill whenever she smelled either fish or chicken, and so Lady Dayne advised her to abstain and turn to Northern stew for a while.

She told Cregan at their next supper, staring at his plate of stew. She grimaced, scrunching her nose up at her plate of salmon.

Cregan watched her, his eyes on her nearly every waking moment, making sure that she was alright. He tilted his chin slightly.

"I think..." mumbled Valaena as she pushed her plate away. "Salmon is not to it's liking..."

"It?" Cregan frowned at her. "Well, we won't know if it'll be a boy or a girl." Valaena's voice was soft.

All the guilt of not feeling how mothers always preached they felt during carrying came flooding back as Cregan stared at her. She couldn't read him, did he think her to be cold. As she thought him to be too carefull. Already he was making a fuss when they were intimate or whenever she rode on horseback.

Cregan pushed a bowl of stew over, first Valaena stared at it, but her hunger got the best of her when she cradled the stew with one hand and took hungry spoonfulls. Closing her eyes.

"It'll be a true Northerner judging by his appetite."

"His?"

"I feel like your carrying our son, and our heir."

Our heir, gods Valaena was starting to love his R's, the way he spoke, the words he used.

Love.

Valaena frowned, her mouth opening to speak but she found herself closing it again. Staring at him. Love

"I love you." She did not mean for the words to leave her mouth, her eyes widened, in fact her cheeks heat up and the spoon fell from her hand, clattering onto the table. She feared for a moment, as Cregan got to his feet and walked over to her, a wolfish glint in his eyes as he bent slightly forward and grasped her chin. "Good."