The Wolf Princess

Chapter 12

The water felt warm against her skin, giving her a nice feeling on her muscles that felt so stiff they hurt. Her assigned ladies washed her hair carefully as Lilia's mind was on everything but where it should be.

Karstark had been right. She was a widow before she even got married and as much as Martyn and Willem were good boys, she should be thanking him. That marriage would have ruined the last chance that Robb still had to fix the mistake he had done by repudiating not only the Frey girl but also Arianne. With that, she didn't mean that she wanted those boys, innocent boys, lying lifeless on the ground. What she meant was that their death had resulted in something that they could beneficiate from.

"Your Highness, this is a present," one of her ladies said, waking her up back to the living world. Lilia's eyes met the object the lady carried in her hands carefully. It was a gown, a beautiful gown. The skirt was black, pure black and the top of it was just like a war commander's coat. It was as black as the skirt but it had golden details on it and on top of the gown was a golden tiara.

"This is gorgeous!" she sighed at the sight of the gift. She stood up from the bath and her other ladies quickly covered the girl's nudity with a towel, cleaning her body while keeping it warm and out of sight, though there were only women inside the room.

Lilia walked out of the tube she was in and headed towards the lady with the dress who seemed so amazed at the quality as the she-wolf was herself. She grabbed it and felt the resistance of the fabric. Strangely enough, though, the fabric was still very soft but its softness was different from the silk she used to wear back in King's Landing and in Dorne. "From whom?"

"Your brother, Your Highness," the lady said, catching Lilia by surprise. She had thought that the clothes she would be provided with would be the same old ones she would wear back at Winterfell with the wolf fur cloak as any northern girl would wear. "The King asks that you put this on and meet him, the Queen and the Queen Mother with urgency" Lilia nodded upon the warning. She knew what would be discussed at the meeting and she knew that there would be repercussions that would change the route of the Rebellion and shake Robb's reign even more than it had already been shaken up.

"Then, we must hurry"

The ladies helped her put her corset back on and then they put on her undergown. Only then did they put the military dress on and once they had, they quickly yet gracefully brushed through her hair which was already dry.

She looked at herself in the mirror in disbelief, that was definitely not her. There was no way that was her. But then again, if she had changed so much, what could stop her from embracing that change? Besides, women could command too without having to wear pants.

So, she grabbed the tiara and placed it on her own head, feeling the weight that it brought her. She was a Princess, she was not Lady Stark, not anymore. She had yet to embrace that but she knew she would.

She lifted her head high and proudly walked out of the chambers with her ladies walking behind her, rushing towards the King's council meeting.

As she reached the door, the guards let her in and she found not only her sister by law, her brother and her mother but her granduncle and her uncle as well, both standing in the sidelines and giving her a curious look which she ignored.

Robb allowed himself to smile at the sight of his own sister wearing the dress he had given her. But Catelyn, on the other hand, was purely shocked by the way her daughter dressed. Then, when looking at her son, she realized he had been the one to give her that dress and she simply brushed it off, ignoring all the confusion it brought her.

Lilia walked towards her brother and bowed to him respectfully, taking his hand to join his side.

"Thank you," she whispered. "Why though?"