𝐖𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐑 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐖𝐎𝐋𝐅

five: winterfell

"Robb?" I gasped. He hummed groggily before noticing me squirming on the bed. Robb took a few moments to realize that I was in pain.

"Valaeria!" He panicked. "What is it now?" He asked pulling on his leather pants and belt.

"It feels like I'm being burned alive." I kept in a scream as he shrugged his shirt on before sloppily tying my nightdress over my body. Once we were both dressed well enough, he picked me up and bolted for the Maester.

He shouted for help, and soon Jon was following quickly after us. Ned stopped Robb once we'd reached the bottom of the steps. "Son, what is this?"

"I think the day she fainted. Something like it is happening again."

"I've an idea why. Come." Ned accompanied us to Maester Luwin. The old man told Robb to set me on a cot near his operation table. He examined the area and saw no infections and no internal bleeding.

"This is not something I can deal with, dear girl. It's a matter of magic, not a matter of science. Lord Stark, you said you've a hypothesis?"

"Yes." Ned took a seat next to me. Robb was currently pressing a cold washcloth to my rib cage, and Jon was doing his best to stay awake. "I believe our girl is more than a Targaryen. That day we took in the direwolf pups, their mother was killed. That's when Valaeria felt the pain and fainted. Last night, Sansa's wolf, Lady was killed and her body was burned this morning."

"Valaeria, how long has this been going on? How long has the pain been tormenting you?" Robb furrowed his brow.

"Several hours." I whispered.

"Hours? Why didn't you wake me?"

"I thought it'd go away. I woke you when it became unbearable. I think that's when you burned Lady."

"So, Lady Valaeria has a connection to wolves as well as dragons." Maester Luwin began to take note of this in his sacred journal.

"Yes, is there anything like this in her family history?"

"Not at all. She's the first Targaryen to be intimate and betrothed to a Stark."

"Intimate? You aren't married yet." Ned glared at his firstborn. Robb wasn't paying attention, or he was and decided to dodge the question.

"So, what can she do?"

"She can feel the pain of the wolves. Whether they're dying, or not she can sense it. Can you speak to them?"

"Maester, this is not a fable." Robb sneered unamused.

"Yes." Everyone's heads snapped to my direction. "There are times when Grey Wind answers me."

"He likes you. Of course he answers to you." Robb scoffed.

"No, I'll be in danger and don't say anything. Like when Joffery was in my bed. Grey Wind was in the closet and only attacked when I told him to. The thing was, I spoke in my mind, not aloud."

"He saw you in danger."

"Why didn't he help Sansa when she being beaten? Or me when he forced to remove my gown? I didn't call for him, so he didn't come."

"That is very peculiar." Luwin kept taking notes on everything I was saying.

"He beat my sister?" Robb said lowly.