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

Chapter Seventeen::Broken Arrow

Rodrik made it. That sly bastard made it out alive. He was wounded, granted, or so Ludd said, but he was upright and breathing - that was all Raina cared about. Ethan was still dead, and that brought with it unquenchable pain, and hatred towards her fiance, but with her closest friend back on his feet, and having survived the fray, Raina felt more confident about surviving through this than she had a few days ago, or even just a few hours ago, when everything was still hanging in the balance. At least one person was back in her life that hadn't been there before, even when he was still across the Wolfswood, he was still alive. 

Raina had picked up an old practice bow, and had begun shooting multiple arrows at the target just to relieve some anger that had been pent up for quite a while. She skipped breakfast, whatever appetite she'd had previously was now nothing but a dull hum in the bottom of her stomach that she easily managed to ignore while practicing. She wanted to take her mind off of everything. She didn't want to think about Robb, or her own family, or any Stark or Forrester, in fear of reviving the pain that had currently been subducted by anger towards the Boltons. She shot another arrow; she liked to imagine Ramsay's head on the target, picturing the arrow impale his forehead again, and again, and again. She wished this could be the only way she'd ever see the bastard's face, on a target, and not have to face him every day for the rest of her life. She wanted some form of escape from this peril that she had previously agreed to; she wish she had some white knight preparing to charge the keep and rescue her. But she knew that white knight died some weeks ago, and the only saviours she still kept were far away, and under the impression that she could survive this. The only way she wouldn't, would be if she chose the battlements over dining with the Boltons, or producing an heir for them. No way in the seven hells would she let Ramsay's dick, if he even had one, come anywhere near her. Not even if she did marry him in the end. She wasn't entirely sure when that union was due to take place, but she knew Roose Bolton was smart, and he wouldn't wait too long to bring his house, and Raina's, together. She just hoped that gave her enough time to plan some sort of way out. 

"You're very good with a bow," Mused a cruel tone from over her shoulder, causing her head to whip around, and her fingers to release the arrow they'd previously kept against the bow string. No surprise that even without looking Raina managed to get a bullseye. "Thank you," Raina murmured in response, reaching for another arrow to shoot so that she didn't have to look at the man at her side. "Perhaps you'd enjoy coming hunting with me sometime, I imagine you'd be quite adept at it," The bastard offered, his pale skin mirroring the same grey as the overcast sky. Raina shot another arrow. "I'd be honoured," She forced a smile, that felt more to her like a sickening grimace though her betrothed didn't notice, and kept her teeth gritted throughout the whole encounter. "Wonderful." He chimed, "I shall arrange for us to go presently," He leant against a nearby wooden post, that supported a balcony above the training area. 

Raina looked up at it with a sad feeling lurching in her stomach. Once stood up upon that balcony, was Lord Eddard Stark - Ned -  a man that Raina still regarded as her hero. He was a loving, kind man, that Raina loved more than her own father. The thought of his death almost brought tears to her eyes, as the last time she had seen the man she held with such a high regards, he had been stood atop that very same balcony, smiling down at her and Robb, as they practiced their archery with Robb's half brother, Jon. He'd laughed at Raina's quip, as she commented on how poor Robb's skills were when compared to her own and his bastard brother's. They were about 15 at the time. Jon had laughed also, and to his delight Catelyn Stark was no where in sight to glare at him for it, as she always did. Robb, after having quite enough of her teasing, had lifted Raina into his arms and charged off, holding her and pretending to drop her on multiple occasions. The afternoon ended with her being thrown into the pond in the Godswood, and Jon forcefully joining her, after failing to beat his brother in a brawl. 

Raina had loved Jon like a brother. Despite his last name being Snow, he was by no means evil or cruel like the bastards Raina had met since. Jon was compassionate and friendly, he looked out for her just like Robb, and always had her back. But, more so, Jon was as alone as Raina felt sometimes. He was mostly shunned by his adopted family, as he was not a Stark, and not always welcome. Raina made him feel different, wanted, like he belonged, even if it was just for a few hours while the other's did family things. That was the main reason Raina didn't hold Catelyn with the same high regards as she did Ned - Catelyn always blamed Jon for her husband's unfaithfulness, and held him responsible for holding the name Snow, and treated him so badly Raina wanted to scream in her face sometimes. Catelyn was the reason Jon was not with Robb throughout the war, she made him feel so unwanted that he went to the wall. Something Jon would never forgive himself for, as he had not been there when his brother had died. All because Lady Stark blamed a child for his birth. Raina honestly hated that woman for it most of the time.  

She shot another arrow. This time she split the previous one in two, as her newest shot glided straight through it, and through the back of the target. "My, you are very talented, aren't you?" The bastard quipped with a metallic smile, eyes glistening with pure insanity. "I suppose I am," Raina mumbled holding her bow tightly, and lining up another shot. The bastards face was, once again, imagined on the target. She hit him straight through the head.