Still Soulmate

Chapter 2: Just the Two of Them

  Jon led Ygritte by the hand through the godswood. She kept pestering him to take a break, to lose some of the stress so here they were. He hadn't told her what they were doing or where they were going but he was taking her somewhere special, somewhere that she should know as part of her home. As the trees thinned around the springs he could feel the slight rise in temperature- only slight enough that you would have to know of it to sense it.

  He started to strip down then, he was bare to his waist when Ygritte grabbed his muscled bicep and pulled him around. She raised an eyebrow and ran a hand down his chest, over the scars and over his abdomen. It was strange really, he was so self conscious of the scars that he wouldn't let anyone see him shirtless. Whereas before he would go bare chested whenever he was too hot or when he was getting a shave. He had no problem with it. Now Ygritte was the only person in the world that he could even contemplate letting see him this way.

"You want to have sex here in the woods?" she asked with a little smirk breaking him out of his thoughts.

"I wouldn't mind it but that's not the only reason I brought you here," he said, smoothing the back of his hand down her cheek.

He couldn't understand how her skin was so smooth and perfect after the life she had lead beyond the Wall. His biased heart could only explain it away with the reasoning that it was because she was just so perfect through and through.

"What did you want to show me then Jon Snow?" she asked.

"Well, you'll need to take off your clothes," Jon replied, pressing a chaste kiss against her lips before pulling back and continuing to strip.

She took a moment to look his naked body up and down before stripping off her own clothes. She no longer wore the furs of her people but clothes that were similar to Jon's but with a more feminine cut. She hadn't worn a dress since their wedding but Jon didn't begrudge it, she was a practical, hands on warrior, dresses were not practical in her way of life. Her heavy cloak fell to the floor followed by the woollen jerkin then the tunic, more and more pale skin on show until all of their clothes were on the ground at their feet. Jon shivered and he saw the goosebumps on her arms too, the cold air of the North merciless against their bare flesh. He saw her soul mark standing out stark against her wrist, smiling as he ran his fingers over his own 

"Like what you see?" Ygritte taunted, raising her arms above her head and running her hands through her fiery hair. Jon watched the locks fall back down against the pale skin but turned away before lust could take over completely.

He walked over to the nearest spring and dropped down into the water with a splash, moaning as the warmth washed over him, easing the cold from his muscles. Looking back over his shoulder, Jon saw Ygritte slowly walk over before she slide herself into the water. He watched her sigh and roll her shoulders at the warmth, her blue eyes closing from the briefest moment.

  "This is like in the cave," she said.

  "Yes," was his reply.

  He had thought of this, the connection to their first time in that cave. It held a place in both their hearts, it was where Ygritte had wished they'd stayed when she was dying. It was where Jon hoped to go when he realised with absolute certainty that he was going to die just before Ollie sunk the dagger into his heart.  

  This place was also special from his childhood though. It's where he would come with Robb, sometimes Theon would come, sometimes Sansa would come when they were very little and the concept of boy and girl meant nothing. It was best when it was just Robb and him came though, when they would mess about in the warm water, laugh and confide in each other. A place where they could come and be best friends and brothers without Jon being the bastard, without Lady Stark's disapproving glare over him associating with her children.

  She made her way over to him then, the water washing gently around her, little ripples dancing off across the surface. The steam curled around her naked body, caressing the skin in a way that Jon so wanted to do so he pushed away and met her in the centre of the pool. The king pressed a kiss to her neck, then her jaw, then her neck. Her hands wove their way into his dark hair while his hands ghosted down her skin, continuing under the water down her thighs.  

  "Did you come here as a child?" Ygritte asked, pulling away slightly and cupping his jaw in her small hand.

  "Yes, it was my very favourite place, especially on colder days. I came with my brother Robb," Jon replied, smiling somewhat shyly.

  "He was the one your age? The one that was the King in the North before you?" 

  "Yes."

  Jon was suddenly overcome with sadness, being in this place with the person he loved most in the world but knowing that he would never be here again with his brother, that he would never see his brother again. Because he was murdered by Lannisters and Freys. He knew that the sadness and the anger must be seeping through their bind because Ygritte pulled him back in by his shoulders and kissed him deeply once more.

  "We had very different childhoods you and I. You were sat in your big castle with your family learning your letters and how to swing a sword. I was in the real North, Tormund looked after me when my mother died. I learnt to use a bow so that I could eat. To think that you Lord Snow, King Crow is my soulmate. Little old me," she laughed, cupping his face once more.

  "Yet I'm so glad you are. You're not like any girl or woman that I've met this side of the Wall. Except for Arya maybe. I think you'd like her, she's full of fire and fight just like you. She always wanted to be a knight," Jon smiled down at the water at the memories of his sister. He was always the one that he got on with the most, even better than with Robb sometimes- especially if Theon was around, " I just hope she's okay, that she's alive."

  "You were closer to your family than I was and you've lost them all but Sansa."

  "I have, but I've got you now, I'm okay with you. You're my world," he told her, brimming with so much love.

  Ygritte just smiled and quickly kissed him before pulling away fully and splashing up water into his face. Jon spluttered and laughed, shacking his now wet face, feeling the water cool against his skin.

  "That's cold you menace!" he grinned, splashing her back.

  For a while that's what they did, splashed around trying to dodge the other's assaults. In the end Jon dived forward and tackled his wife, grabbing her and lifting her into the cold air. Still laughing, Ygritte weakly punched his arms and he let her drop back into the water.

  "I got a letter from Daenerys Targaryen yesterday," Jon told Ygritte, sobering up slightly.

  "The dragon queen?"

  "Yes."

  "See I'm getting there with all of your southern politics," Ygritte smiled, tracing her fingers over his mark, making them both shiver.

  "She wants me to go to Dragonstone to meet her Ygritte. She'll probably want me to bend the knee just like Cercei does," Jon told her.

  "Well then don't go, you're not going to King's Landing are you?" 

  "The only thing is... well I got a letter from Sam too."

  "And how does that change your mind?"

  "He said that Dragonstone is basically built on dragonglass. If I go there and persuade her that the Night King is a real threat, well then we could mine the dragonglass and make enough weapons for the whole of the North. It would bring us just that bit closer to being able to face them," Jon explained.

  "Then you know what you have to do. But I'm coming with you," Ygritte said seriously.

  Jon just nodded, pulling back and getting out of the pool. The air froze the water on his skin and he grunted at the discomfort as he grabbed his clothes, hastily putting them back on. 

  Once Ygritte was dressed also, the two of them made their way back through the trees to Winterfell. It was strange really, this was Jon's home but he couldn't help but feel the weight drop back down on him as he walked through the gates.