So in Love

Chapter 4

"Who plans a hunting trip the day after a feast?" Theon tightly held onto the reigns of his horse. He still felt slightly unbalanced and a piercing headache was splitting his skull into two, but when his Lord and the King had asked him to accompany them, Robb and most of their men on this trip he had not really known how to say no. "It's a day to spend in bed in the company of a pretty lady!" He raised his voice.

Robb shook his head and chuckled. "As if the lady you've set your eyes on would have joined you in that bed of yours."

Theon felt his cheeks heating up and he licked his dry lips. "A guy can dream, right?"

"Is that what you've been doing all those times you've been telling me about those great adventures and nights you've had?" Robb raised his eyebrows. "Or are you the kinda guy who's in love with one girl, but doesn't mind satisfying his needs with the body of another?"

Theon took a deep breath. "Is this the part where you're gonna tell me that I'm not good enough for your sister?" Theon turned his face towards his best friend. "You already made that clear. She will marry a King. I can't compete with a King." He dropped his shoulders and his horse slowed down. "Does it change anything if I say that every time I've been with another girl I dreamed she was your sister?"

"Honestly?" Robb furrowed his eyebrows. "I think it only makes it worse." He had a playful smile around his lips though and slowly the caravan of hunters, on their way home already now the sun was setting, rode away from them. "And yet..." Robb paused for a long and agonising moment.

Technically Theon was their hostage, a price his father had to pay for his role in the rebellion and the side he chose at the time. But the Starks had never made Theon feel like a hostage. But sometimes, in the middle of the night or when one of the Starks started a sentence and took a very long time to finish, Theon feared they all of a sudden remembered again.

"You'd be good to her, I just know that." Robb continued and Theon let out the breath he was holding, all of a sudden feeling a few pounds lighter once more. "I don't know anything about prince Joffrey." Robb forced his horse to stop and carefully he checked if none of the King's soldiers had stayed behind to overhear their conversation. "And you know my sister just as well as I do. She is naive and in her mind all princes are charming and brave and perfect."

It was one of Sansa's most beautiful flaws. Even in this world, consumed by greed and a hunger for power, where every time someone ended up on the throne others already plotted to bring them down again, she only saw goodness. When she thought about war, she didn't think about the killing and the screaming and the smell of burning fires. She thought about all the heroes saving the poor damsels in distress before anything bad could happen to them.

"Father wants to take her, Bran and Arya to King's Landing." Robb continued talking as if he hadn't noticed that Theon's mind had drifted off.

"King's Landing?" Theon widened his eyes. "Were you just saying that your father is really planning on taking them South?" He shook his head in disbelief.

Ned couldn't do that. He wasn't allowed to do that.

Theon had it all figured out last night. Joffrey would leave Winterfell again, his hand promised to Sansa once she was of age and old enough to get married. After a while Sansa would stop dreaming about the prince, who would by then be nothing but a fading memory. And prince Joffrey would meet another maiden, not as pretty as Sansa, but just pretty enough and maybe from a more important family. King Robbert would forget about the engagement, a plan he had made hastily just so he could convince Ned to become his hand. And when Sansa would hear about the wedding, Theon would be there to comfort her and she would notice that she had actually stopped caring about the crown prince and that the prince of the Iron Islands was who she really wanted.

"He is."

Theon's daydream shattered and the million pieces exploded before he could gather them again to glue them together. "He can't do that. They should stay with their mother, here in Winterfell. The South is no place for a Stark." Everyone knew that. Even Theon knew that and he wasn't even a Stark.

Robb's lips were forming a straight line and he narrowed his eyes. "Father thinks Sansa might actually like it. She has always loved music and stories and feasts. Winterfell is not quite as alive as King's Landing. She might not even want to come back home once she has tasted what the capital has to offer."

"You have to stop him from taking her." Theon's voice sounded slightly higher than usual and every word trembled. "What if she gets hurt or even worse, what if something happens to her father and she's all alone, far away from home?"

Robb's glance met his and then Robb curled his lips up into a smile. "You really love her, do you?" He cocked his head and stared at his best friend. "I'll see what I can do." He planted his heels in his horse's flanks and Theon did the same.

Quickly they caught up with the hunting party, but when they rode through the gates of Winterfell they found the courtyard completely empty and the deafening howling of the dire wolves sang in their ears.

"Father?" Sansa rushed out of the castle. Loose strands of red hair were dangling from her braids. Her eyes were red and swollen and traces of her tears were visible on her cheeks. "Father, you have to come quickly. Bran fell off of the old tower while climbing and the Maester isn't sure if he'll ever wake up again."

Not only Ned jumped off of his horse as quickly as possible. Theon and Robb did so too.

"How did that happen?" While Robb and Ned rushed past Sansa, Theon stood still next to her.

"They don't know." Sansa sniffed and then she turned around to follow her father and brother. "But I don't want him to die!"

Theon hesitantly wrapped an arm around her shaking shoulders. "Your brother is a Stark. I'm sure he's not giving up that easily."

"Do you think so?" She looked up at him and Theon allowed himself to drown in her beautiful blue eyes. "I'd give everything for him to live!"

"I'm sure you don't have to give anything." Theon lead her up the stairs towards her brother's bedroom. "If we all pray for him, then maybe the Gods will help him to come back to us."

"I hope so." Sansa wrapped her arms around Theon and Theon felt his heart racing in his chest. "Shall we pray together tonight?"

A smile spread across Theon's face while he embraced her and pressed her to his chest. "I'd love to."