𝐓𝐀𝐈𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐃 ; ＴＨＥＯＮ ＧＲＥＹＪＯＹ

𝟘𝟙. kisses and tells

it was a bright and sunny day and there was not a single cloud in the sky. talia and her family were going to arrive at winterfell in approximately a few minutes to meet the royal baratheon family, including the king himself who was a dullard named robert. a long time ago there used to be a different family in power, a family with fire-breathing beasts and scales as hard as the toughest armor. dragons, they were, and it was the targaryens who rode them through the sky's, soaring through the clouds on wings bigger than the sails of a ship. of course, the last dragon died a long time ago. not even talia's grandma had seen a dragon before. it was a pitty, talia always had thought. because if the targaryens had still had dragons, maybe then robert wouldn't have won the war.

talia's family was house taint, one of the most powerful house's in all of the seven kingdoms, and envied by all. they lived in the north, right across the lapping azure waters separating them from the iron islands. sometimes talia would sit in the balcony of her bedroom and look out at the water and watch krakens swim around below. they were powerful beasts, she simply thought. almost as good as a dragon. defiantly as big as one. sometimes they dragged ships under the water and drowned everyone in them. they were powerful and she envied them, and the greyjoy's who got to bore one for their sigil. her family's sigil was a boring one. it was a sword dripping with crimson blood, and their words were 'tainted steel', henceforth why her last name itself was taint. they were a family to be feared.

the horses galloped through the winterfell walls and came to a stop. talia and her family started to climb down from them so the servants could put them away in their pens. the starks were waiting for them in the courtyard. there was a red haired girl, a mousy brown haired girl, two little boys, a handsome red haired boy, a sad looking black haired boy standing behind them all next to a smirking boy holding a bow. when talia stepped forward with her family, the smirking boy turned his fleet eyes on her and looked at her. up and down then up and down again. talia felt her cheeks go hotter, and she looked down at her feet. 

talia was always a gorgeous girl, everyone said it, but she never thought of herself as one. she liked to spend alot of her extra time reading or learning how to shoot a bow in the courtyard, because her father had been paying a tutor to show her how to do it ever since she was very little. she had always been good at the bow and the tutoring lessons clearly paid off. she could shoot perfect bull's eyes every single time. she was also talented with a sword and she had a valyrian sword she had been given for her birthday as a gift from her father. she called it fallen angel because it was black as the ocean at night. another thing she liked to do was read, she could stay up all night reading if she was invested in a good story. sometimes she even read out loud to her horse, who she named scarlet because of her ruddy auburn hairs. 

her family finished all of the formal greetings with the starks. that was when ned stark started splitting up his children to show them all to their rooms. the black haired boy offered to do so for talia, but they all ignored him. talia realized that must be the famous bastard she had heard her older sister talking about on the way there, who's name was jon snow. talia didn't know why, but looking at him she knew something was differnt, like there was a deep dark secret waiting to be uncovered.

her older sister was being shown to her room by robb, her second older sister by sansa, her little brother by bran. since rickon was too young to show talia to her room and somehow arya had disappeared somewhere, ned said he would do it. "no, i'll do it," said the boy that was smirking at talia and looking at her strangely earlier. 

"okay thanks, theon." ned stark said and he smiled at him before walking away with talia's parents. talia began to hesitently follow theon.

"you have a bow." talia commented as they were walking.

"no shit." theon said rolling his fleet eyes.

talia sighed. she already didn't like this boy for being rather a creep, and now he was being arrogant with her. as they were walking she noticed some targets for archery practice. talia stopped walking, she has an idea.

"what the hells?" theon turned around. "can you hurry up? i have other things to be doing."

"give me that." talia pointed at his bow and then held out her palm. 

"no! it's expensive" theon said shaking his head making chunks of blond hair fall into his eyes.

"my family is the richest in all of westeros, even casterly rock. i can pay you back if it breaks." she said. hesitently theon handed her the bow. "i'm going too need an arrow too you know," she said rolling her eyes and tapping her foot as she waited for the arrow.

finally he gave her the arrow so she pulled it back and nocked it against the bow then she closed her eyes and lifted the bow up. 

"what are you doing? you're going to kill someone shooting like that!" theon cried out.

talia shot. she heard the thwump of the arrow landing in the target and opened her eyes to check. bull's eye. "another arrow." she said inpatiently.

theon's mouth was dropped open. he was standing perfectly still as a statue.

"another arrow i said." she said rolling her azure eyes. "and close your mouth or you're going to catch a fly in it."

theon clamped his mouth shut with an audible popping noise and then gulped. embarrassedly he gave her another arrow which she did the same thing with, closing her eyes and shooting. she heard a loud cracking splitting sound and knew the arrow had shot the other one clean in half.

"h-how did you do that talia?" theon stuttered out a response.

"call me lady talia and maybe i'll tell you lord theon." talia said. if he wanted to know her secrets, he was going to have to be polite at the very least to her.

"how did you do that lady talia of house taint?" theon corrected himself, redder than an orange. 

talia stood up on the tips of her toes and kissed him on the cheek. he looked like he was about to faint that's how shocked and embarrassed he was to her gesture.

"now i can't tell you," she said smiling micheviously.

"why?" theon said dumbstruckly.

"because," said talia, "a lady never kisses, and tells." and then she walked away leaving him dumbfounded.