Among Lions and Wolves • |Book 1|

.chapter thirty.

Wolves. Hundreds of them. They had not all been direwolves, but there were still plenty of them. And they all surrounded Rhaella.

"Gods," Robb stepped forward, his pace quickening with every step.

Rhaella sat with her knees pressed up to her chest, her back to him. Her back was bare, he noticed, and it had been stained with dirt. He would have ran to her had it not been for a white direwolf jumping to its feet, teeth bared and a low snarl rippling from its throat. Grey Wind jumped in front of him, protecting him.

"It's okay, Grey Wind," Robb said, pressing a hand to the wolf's back. Grey Wind fell silent but refused to move.

Nymeria had been watching, her head turning from the white direwolf with electric blue eyes to her brother, Grey Wind. Upon seeing Grey Wind relax a little she turned toward Rhaella and laid beside her, a faint whimper coming from the she-wolf.

"Rhaella?" Robb called out, his voice unsteady. From what he saw, he'd been too late and so had the wolves. He took a step closer. The white wolf also stepping toward him, its fangs visible still.

Grey Wind lept forward, his own showing. Nymeria then jumped up, stepping in between the wolves with her head turned toward Grey Wind, her fangs showing only a little as a warning.

"Grey Wind," Robb called. His direwolf backed away a little. "Rhaella, call them off, please!"

He couldn't see her over the wolves, not when she had been curled up into a tight ball and with two massive direwolves towering over her. But he heard her. Faintly, but still loud enough to carry.

Nymeria relaxed and backed away but the white wolf still remained. Rhaella reached out her hand, placing it to the white direwolf's side and used it for support. She rose to her feet, slowly turning to Robb.

"You were right," she said, her eyes on the ground and not him. She couldn't look at him.

"I hate that I was," he replied, truly meaning it. Nothing hurt him more than knowing that for once he'd been right. "I wish I wasn't."

"But you were," her eyes flashed up, meeting with his. Robb flinched, he'd never seen them so cold. "About them, about the lion, about everything."

"I'm sorry," he said, sadness swimming within his blue eyes. "I truly am."

"For what?" she asked, her voice shaky. "You have nothing to be sorry for. You were right and I was a fool to ignore you. I should have stayed in Winterfell. I should have just married you. This wouldn't be happening if I had just been the good little girl I had been raised to be and had done my duty."

"This isn't your fault, none of it is your fault. How were you to know what was going to happen?"

She stared at him, "How? Robb, how many times did you hint at stuff like this? Of course, this is my fault. It was my own stupidity that led to this. It's my own fault I was..." her voice trailed. She lowered her eyes, tears stinging them, and slowly lowered to the ground. She gripped her arm, her legs felt too weak to hold her up any longer. "I should have never left Shadow's End. I should have never woken up. I should have died instead of my mother. It's my fault, all of it."

"It isn't your fault!" Robb couldn't give a damn any longer about the wolves that guarded her. He rushed forward Grey Wind doing the same to block him from the wolves. He placed his hands on her arms to keep her from collapsing, "Do not blame yourself. This isn't your fault. You've done nothing wrong to deserve what's happened to you. You were just a girl placed into the wrong hands, but you're in the right hands now."

"Please," she whimpered, tears running down her cheeks. Behind him the wolves fought, Grey Wind's whimpers drowned by the snarls of the white wolf. "Please don't touch me."

"Rhaella, it's me," he said, to her, cupping her face so that she would look at him. "I would never hurt you and you know that. I love you." He quickly let her go, realizing she was standing naked in the middle of the forest. Removing his cloak, he draped it around her shoulders.

Grey Wind yelped, falling to the ground, no longer able to keep the wolves off him. Robb turned to find his wolf gravely injured. He pulled his sword from its sheath and started for them, yelling at them to get off Grey Wind. They listened, only to turn their attention toward him.

"Stop!" she screamed and the wolves did. Each and every one of them backing away, tails between their legs as they cowered to the ground whimpering like scared dogs. Robb dropped his sword and knelt down next to Grey Wind, his wolf covered in gashes all over, whimpering softly. "Leave."

Robb had thought she meant the command for him, but when he looked up, he saw the sea of gray dispersing, Nymeria going with. The white wolf, however, stayed.

"I told you you were one of us," he said softly, turning his head around to look at her.

"And I told you you were right," she said sharply, "about everything."

She came toward him, finding the strength to walk. Her eyes, however, were on Grey Wind, as she knelt down and place her hand on his neck and ran her hand over the wound the white wolf had made.

"She's vicious," she whispered. "I'm sorry."

"Why are you apologizing?"

"Grey Wind means a lot to you," her voice no longer sounded harsh and cold, "he meant a great deal to me too."

"Meant?" Robb looked down at his wolf to make sure he hadn't died while his eyes had been on her. "He's still alive."

"But for how long?" she asked him, "These wounds are series, and he's far too large to transport."

Robb noticed she had a leaf in her hair. Reaching out his hand, he tried to pull it out. Rhaella moved away, her own hand raising up to brush away everything that had been tangled in her hair.

"I'm sorry, but must you cower away from me? You know me, you've known me for some time now. I won't hurt you."

"I feel disgusting," she said, her voice laced with venom. "It doesn't matter if I know you or if I've known you, I don't want you or anyone to touch me. I don't even want you looking at me."

He dropped his gaze to Grey, a soft sigh escaping his lips, "Okay," he whispered, "But I still love you."

"Don't," she rose up, tugging his cloak tighter around her. "The best I can do is ride to Shadow's End and send for a maester that can possibly help Grey Wind. Other than that, I can't help him. I know nothing about patching up wolves. You shouldn't have come near me."

"I know, it's my fault!" he stood up, his temper getting the best of him. "It's all my fault! You may blame yourself, but it's really me who you should be blaming."

"I don't blame you," she stepped away from Grey Wind. "None of it was your fault, Robb."

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Again, another chapter that I thought was awful but it turned out to be decent.

I have also noticed the way I captured Rhaella in this chapter was beyond perfect. When I wrote it I didn't exactly see it, but I did this time around and I'm blown away. My little baby is realizing her strength while she's at her weakest. They grow up so fast 😢