✓ | 𝑬𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚𝒃𝒐𝒅𝒚 𝑾𝒂𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝑻𝒐 𝑹𝒖𝒍𝒆 𝑻𝒉𝒆 𝑾𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 (R.STARK 2/3)

Chapter Fourteen::So Cold

"I cannot remember the reason behind it," Raina chuckled quietly to herself, ringing her hands together as the horse continued it's steady pace, and lacked any control at this time. "We just did it." Brienne smiled at her from the horse beside Raina's, a wise and appreciative look lingering in her gaze as her pale face turned to look at Raina. "Robb came up with this brilliant idea that we could sneak out during dinner, get all of our things and be gone before anyone came to check on us. We couldn't have been more than 10 years old at the time-" She exhaled longingly, trying to disperse the stinging in her eyes and the aching in her throat. She wouldn't cry, not now. "Winterfell was huge. A grand castle and Robb knew every inch of it. Him and Jon used to explore it together when they were supposed to be in classes. Robb used to show me all of his favourite, secret hiding spots, which he'd discovered on their investigations. That day, when we were plotting our escape, he showed me the old catacombs below the Keep. They were sewers turned into a crypt, and no longer in use or visited, but they led through the hill, on which Winterfell sat, and straight towards the Wolfswood. I don't know why we were going in that direction, but Robb had said it was the best exit he could find, and for the same naive reason every little girl has for doing such things with the man she loves, I believed him, and went through with it no matter the consequences." Brienne let out a suggestion of a faint laugh, but failed to interrupt Raina's recollection of times spent with her lost love. 

"Robb thought-" Raina paused again, trying to breathe as steadily as she could manage. "Robb thought that we would not be able to stay together, when we grew older. Our parents' spoke so commonly of marriage for their children that Robb feared the two of us would be separated soon, married off to different Lords and Ladies have way across the world, never to see each other again. I, at the same age, was under the same impression, and believed Robb when he said that we could not let it happen. I wanted to spend every day with Robb - spend the rest of my life with him. Even at 10 I was sure he was the one. The prospect of being with anyone else, ever, hurt more than I thought humanly possible, the very idea of having to leave Robb- so we devised this plan. Robb, in all his genius, said that we must run away together, so that we were never separated again, and so that we may spend the rest of our lives together, like we wanted to. We would leave, in the night, when our parents drowned themselves in mead and ale, and while our brothers and sisters set off to bed, ignorant to the actions of the conspiring children. Robb and I would go to our rooms, as though we were going to bed like our siblings, collect our things, and meet in another abandon room, that Robb had showed me weeks before. We'd proceed to leave Winterfell through the decrepit crypts below the keep, and be free into the North before anyone knew any different." 

"Why didn't you?" Brienne's warm voice spoke, contrasting to the bitter chill of the Wolfswood, that Raina recognised far too well. "We did." Raina sighed with an ironic snort. "We got as far as the woods before we realised something." A solitary tear fell down Raina's cheek, the heat of the liquid stinging compared to the cold of the North. "What was it?" "We realised that we were safe. We were children, and we would be together for some time before anyone could dare tear us apart. Robb announced that at the first sign of a betrothal, for either one of us, we would run as far away as we could get - go south if we must - just so that neither of us would ever have to face that fate. Robb vowed that we would die before he allowed any man, that was not him, to claim my hand...How ironic..." Raina let out another shaky breath, swiping angrily at the cascade now flooding from her eyes. She did not wish to cry, she wished to run. Like never before, as she realised this was it. Winterfell was but hours away from her now, and within a fortnight she'd become another member of a traitorous house. As much as she hated her own family, she'd rather be a Glover than a Bolton. 

"You are doing right by him, by your family. It may not seem like it now, but you have done what will keep them safe. That is the bravest thing a woman can do in times like these." Brienne's voice was reassuring,  but it didn't cure the sickness rising in Raina's throat. She hated the idea of submitting, especially to a family such as the Bolton's, but if it spared the lives of her brother's, and her friends, than she'd submit a thousand times over just to keep them alive. "I wish I could go to Jon," Raina sighed, her hands clasped around the rains of the horse like her life depended on her grip. "I wish I could go to him, if not home to my brothers. He was there, too, all my life. He's the only Stark I can name the location of, now. I just wish I could go to him instead..." Raina hung her head, a thought springing to mind as their ride south continued. Winterfell was due to feel a lot different upon her arrival back. Theon and his men had torched the place, killed Bran and Rickon, and now the Bolton's had taken control of it's walls. There was little left of the real Winterfell, the Winterfell Raina dreamt of living in, ruling over, with Robb. The Winterfell she'd spent so many times at as a child, and shared so many memories with. The Winterfell that she new like Deepwood Motte, and loved more than she deemed possible for a home. But Winterfell was a home, the home she'd always wanted. It didn't seem right to return now, without Robb, after all that had happened. 

The thought that had come to mind was of who rightfully owned Winterfell now. It wasn't the Boltons, it wasn't her, it was whomever's name Robb had written on his real will. He'd sent of several copies, all with different names, in case anyone were to find one and discover who would own the title of King if Robb were to fall. But he had his official will, one he did not send to his uncle, or allies; he'd only trusted 2 people with the identity acknowledged in the real copy. His mother, of course - the woman he intrusted with almost everything - and Raina. The second most important person in his life. He'd told her, the night before her she was asked to leave, he'd spent the night lying with her, talking about The North, and everything he ruled over. And he'd told her the truth of who would take his place as King, if he were to die, the name of whom would be his heir before he had his own son. And now, more than ever, she wished she could go to Jon.