She Wolf • |Book 2|

• Chapter Four •

"Four nights now," With unnecessary force Roose placed his cup down onto the table. Along his jaw a muscle twitched, his dark eyes slowly raising toward the window. "Find those bloody beast and slaughter them all!"

"All of them?" Rhaella enquired, her dark brow slowly raising as she peered up at him, "I've heard hundreds roam the woods."

"Heard?" Lord Bolton had lost his patience with Rhaella. "I was there when you and those wolves road into camp, I know how many there are."

"Really?" She glanced around the table, her eyes wide. "I scarcely knew and I led them."

"You led a pack of wolves?" Ramsay sat forward, enthused with the news. To Rhaella, he reminded her of a child.

"To the best of my abilities. Some say there were hundreds," she casually sipped from her goblet, "others say thousands. Who's counting though?"

"What still gets me is why not a single wolf was around to save you when we found you, including your direwolf." Roose looked up from his plate. "Were you not their master?"

"Wolves have no master, only an alpha," she smiled, "and I am not their alpha."

"How fitting, didn't they say your husband could turn into a wolf?" Ramsay asked, "What did they call him, father?"

Roose glanced sideways at Ramsay, his expression showing that he was in no mood for his son's games.

"The young wolf," Sansa's quiet voice spoke up reminding them she was still there.

"Ah right," Ramsay turned back to Rhaella, "did he ever turn into a wolf?"

"No." she replied.

"He did in the end, I heard. Head of his direwolf sewn to his body."

"Enough!" Roose growled, his dark, malicious eyes on his son.

It had been some time since she last felt this sick. Her hand clutched tightly to her stomach while the other to her lips. She could taste the bile rising as the threat of supper resurfacing loomed.

"I beg pardon," Rhaella closed her eyes shut for a brief moment. And then she stood, pushing back her chair with force. "Excuse me."

She turned to rush out the hall, not stopping to wait for approval. Just as she passed through the doors she heard another chair scraping against the stone but chose to ignore it. She needed air and fast.

Outside had been no better. The stench of feces, decaying and
burnt flesh hung in the air making it worse. She had found an empty barrel discarded just outside the door and doubled over, face down in the barrel as she vomited up her dinner.

Someone had joined her, pulling back hair that had fallen past her shoulders. They started to rub her back and whisper words she could hardly hear over her retching.

When she had managed to stop and her throat was burning, she stood up to find a cloth being offered to her. Rhaella took it, wiping away the salvia that clung to her lips.

Sansa stood beside her, her blue eyes swimming with concern, "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything."

Rhaella shook her head, her eyes closed to prevent the tears from falling, "Ramsay would have continued either way," she said, "I just didn't know... about Grey Wind."

Arms wrapped around Rhaella, pulling her into an embrace she hadn't felt in well over a year. Sansa rubbed her back and murmured comforting words, easing the pain Rhaella felt in her chest.

"Let's go and get you cleaned up," she said when they pulled apart. "And maybe something to wash away the taste in your mouth, I know it must not be pleasant."

Rhaella merely nodded her head in response. Together, both women set off for Rhaella's chambers.

"These were Jon's old rooms," Sansa said the moment the door closed. "Do you still..."

"Love him?" Rhaella sat down in a chair, her head swimming. "I think so," she admitted. "I don't really know, with all that has happened, I hardly have time to think. I mean I must, I chose his chambers, didn't I?"

"I thought the worst of you for loving him," Sansa admitted. "I'm sorry, could you ever forgive me?"

"There's nothing to forgive," she said. "It must not have been easy from your perspective. You probably thought me some heartless harlot that would have rather loved a bastard than a man of noble blood."

"I didn't quite understand, and I was so quick to judge you. I was so awful to you, especially in King's Landing. Please, forgive me."

Rhaella looked up, "I was no better. I could have warned you about Joffrey, perhaps protected you since you were family after all, but instead, I left you to fend for yourself and I let Arya go."

"You did try to warn me," Sansa sat down in the chair beside her. "Here, in Winterfell long before this all happened. You tried to warn me about Cersei and Joffrey, and I had been a fool to shout at you."

"I forgot that night," she smiled, "Had Robb not shown up when he had, I might have pushed you down the stairs."

"I would have deserved it," Sansa smiled.

"Alright," Rhaella placed her hand over Sansa's, "I forgive you, sweet sister. I see now you are a changed woman."

"As are you," she replied. "And I do believe you are a Stark now as well."

"Only in name," she said, "though my daughter is in blood."

Her blue eyes grew wide, "Daughter? You...? Robb's? Rhaella, you know what this means?"

She nodded her head and placed a finger to her lips, "They will never kill the wolves, Nymeria did not bring together hundreds just to lead them to extinction."

"Nymeria?" Sansa started to laugh, "Go figure Arya's wolf would be the one behind the wolves. And that she would find you."

"Nymeria and Ghost were the only two wolves I had been the closest to," she smiled softly, "I found it funny that Nymeria had a pup very identical to Ghost, but with blue eyes. Everything about her screams winter, she is a true sigil of House Stark."

"Except our sigil is a gray direwolf."

"You will say different when you see her."

•a.n•

I found this waiting to be used. To those possibly confused, Rhaella originally road in with wolves at her command. I changed that around to having Robb bring her in unconscious with only Winter and Grey Wind.
However, you know how stories go, things get twisted around. Well because this went off the original draft, I decided to keep it. In a way it shows a bit of Rhaella's character as she tries to casually play the game. I had also loved the relationship that started to blossom between Sansa and Rhaella.