BELOW ZERO: The Green Knight & The Winter Wolf VOL 3 (Cregan Stark x OC)

EPILOGUE

EPILOGUE

Alana

Fifteen years later...

Winterfell

"What do you think, Mother?"

Maegor Hightower, my first child to come from my body stands in front of me. Ready for his knighthood ceremony and to become the Lord of Oldtown now that he is of age. Seeing my boy go from wearing thick fur cloaks and bearing the Stark emblem on his chest to wearing a rich shade of green and the tower of Oldtown on his chest brings a pang of sadness and pride to the center of my chest.

My hand touches the soft skin of his face. The boy hardly even having any stubble on his face. The Gods did me a service by giving me a son who does not grow facial hair, not in the way Cregan has over later years.

"I remember the day you were born like it was yesterday, Maegor." His eyes gleam at me. "Some would say it should have been the worst day of my life. Some would say I should have resented you and the day of your birth but I do not. I am so happy to be your mother and the day you were born brought me so much joy and happiness when I needed it."

"I've heard all the whispers all my life." He tells me forcing a smile. "But I know that you love me and I know Lord Cregan does too. I do hope that Father is proud of me and who I have become."

"More than proud." I kiss his cheek and push his hair back from falling into his eyes.

His eyes that are exactly like mine but everything else is Gwayne. Even at times when he laughs I catch myself looking around the room, half expecting to see Gwayne standing there with a cup of ale and telling jokes.

"Will you come to visit?" Maegor asks me. "I've never been away from you... Or from Lord Cregan. I do not know how to be without either you, you're my parents-"

"Whenever you need us you send a raven. You send a rider. You send Daeron on his dragon and Cregan and I will be right there. Even if we have to drag your siblings along too."

In the years that had passed since Otto Hightower tried to kidnap Maegor from my arms and I took his own life into my hands and sent him to the seven hells where he belongs, Cregan and I had been busy. Rickon was now a man grown and learning what all his duties will be someday as Lord of Winterfell. Aneira is patiently waiting to be wed to a Lord Manderly's eldest son who was born just a month prior to her.

Since then we have added to our family. Gilliane who is fourteen, Saerella who is seven, Aemmalys who is two, and Brandon who is only four months old. Gilliane reminds me much of myself whenever I look at her but her personality is all Cregan. Do not wake that girl from her beauty sleep or she may try to stab you. We had an instance where Rickon had woke her up and she chased him with his own knife for over an hour. Saerella looks just like Aneira but she is far more of a wild child. Free spirit who would rather play in the dirt and chase the dogs than sit inside and practice her cross stitches.

Aemmalys is the sweetest girl and if Cregan had a favorite child... It would be her. He won't admit to it to any of the other children but between Aemmalys, Rickon, and Aneira there is some competition there.

There are more nights that I find Cregan picking Aemmalys asleep from her bed and bringing her into ours, then telling me he thought he heard her fussing. That girl wakes up with the biggest smile and hugging and kissing her father all morning every morning.

Lastly there is Brandon. Born only four months ago but has the strongest personality of all my children combined. Nearly identical to Rickon when he was smaller which fills me with joy. Rickon did not come from my womb but I always wished he had. Having a child that is so much like him feels like he did come from me. Knowing I could make a child so much like him brings a fullness to my heart that I did not know I needed.

"You do not have to bring them all, Mother. I'm sure Aneira and Gilliane would much rather brush their hair and stay here in Winterfell than come to Oldtown to see me." Maegor has always been the shy child. When his sisters pick on him he just takes it and doesn't fight back.

Nothing like Gwayne in that sense. "They would be thrilled to see the Lord of Oldtown ruling over those lands and proud to tell everyone that you're their brother."

Maegor's eyes fill with tears. "I'm scared..."

"Scared of what, my boy?"

"Scared that I won't be anything like my father. Scared that I will fail... Scared of the lack of acceptance. I was born with fire and blood in my veins but unable to claim a dragon. My egg never hatched... I never bonded with a wolf like the rest of my children, I am plain. There is nothing special about me except my name."

"Everything about you is special." I hold him tightly in my arms, fighting back tears. "You may not have a dragon and you may not have a wolf but you have a heart and that's far better than anything else in this world. Having a heart is a rare find... Your father had such a big heart but it was so big that sometimes he didn't make the right choices."

"Is it true what they say about my father's death? Grandfather Daemon only did it because Lord Cregan ordered my father's death?"

I had been holding the truth from Maegor his entire life. But he got to an age where he started to resent Cregan and never even viewed him as his father. All that love and credit had gone to Gwayne who never even held the boy.

Gwayne who would rub my belly and feel Maegor kick, kiss my belly and tell Maegor while inside of me how much he loved him. How much he could not wait to be a father and how all his love would be for his child. His eyes would then darken as he'd look at me and he'd tell me how much he fucking hated me and wished I was dead. But then would flip at the drop of a pin and be the most loving and caring man I'd ever met in my life.

I never wanted to alter Maegor's fantasies about Gwayne as his father. All he knows is that it was a tourney match gone wrong or at least I thought that was what he knew.

"Who told you that?"

Maegor pulled back, looking at me and shaking his head. "I'm a man now, Mother, you need to tell me the truth. I can handle it."

Gently, I nod. "It was a misunderstanding and Cregan did not make it in time to call off the hit."

Maegor nodded and sniffled. "He's the reason I have no father."

"You are not without a father-"

"I am!" He shouts. "I love you Mother; I love you dearly but you married the man who took everything from me. It was Ser Gwayne who should have taught me to hold a sword and string a bow. Not Lord Cregan who is very much not my father and I do not care if that upsets you. He is everyone else's father but not mine. He will never be mine."

"I am sorry you feel that way.." What else could there be left me to say? I have spent years trying to defend what happened that day.

Years defending Cregan Stark as my husband and protecting my children from worse rumors and misconceptions of what happened between Gwayne, Cregan, and myself. Years protecting Daemon from being called a murderer over a silly tourney. Years being strained from Daeron because he blames me for everything and the older he gets the worse it gets.

"The carriages are ready now..." He looks down. "I should go."

"Maegor, please-"

"Mother... You raised me well. But I do not belong here. I'm not a Stark and I never will be a Stark. I am a Hightower and I plan to give a new meaning to the name. I know I must be like my father and nothing like my grandfather. I will be like you."

"No..." I tell him with a teary-eyed smile. "Be better than me, my boy. And be better than your father... Gwayne would tell you exactly the same."

"So... How do I look?" He asks again as he proudly adjusts his green doublet and fastens his belt on his waist. His hand falling to the hilt of his sword.

I smile proudly at him. It feels as though Gwayne is placing his arm around my shoulder right now, looking at our perfect boy together as he starts his new journey. His life was not easy and I was unable to break that cycle for him. But I can only hope he does better than what Gwayne and I could have done for him. "You look just like your father."