Prologue
A/N: Six years have passed since the events of George R.R. Martin's A Dance with Dragons. Some things have changed yet others remain the same. Winter has come at last, bringing with it all the horrors of the North and the kingdom of Westeros is falling to pieces.
Since the Song of Ice and Fire Series contains mature adult content this story will be rated as such. The story will be told through the eyes of many characters as is the fashion of G.R. R's writing, only that these characters will have Stark blood. The OCs and world created belong to G.R.R. Martin.
Her long dark red brown hair fell over her breasts concealing her pink nipples. She stretched like a cat and the cloth that had been concealing her lower body fell on the floor, next to the bed she had been sleeping in.
Her eyes were closed, dark eyelashes casting shadows under her eyes. Her breath was slow and measured; a smile playing at the edges of her lips.
He approached slowly.
One step. Two steps. Three steps…
Ser Kalos Lannister stumbled and fell on the flour. The girl opened her eyes quickly and smiled when she saw him.
"My lion" she whispered and stretched more, her nakedness on full sight, taunting him.
He felt pressure against his britches and swallowed, sifting uncomfortably.
"My lady Alayne. Why was I not notified of your arrival sooner?" he asked, trying hard not to stare at her beautiful body.
She was cream and strawberries, honey and wine. Yet he hadn't seen her in over a year.
"My dear knight, how quick you are to accuse me… Or dare I say that during my time away you have forgotten me?" she asked in an innocent voice and turned around, her front against the red silk of his bed and her white, round bottom visible, her long auburn hair failing to conceal it.
She pressed her elbows on the bedding and her feet rose and started moving in the air, slowly.
He reached her side quickly and grabbed one arm forcefully. She raised her deep blue eyes to his, letting out a small scream of surprise. "I am Captain of the Kingsguard now. You better do well to remember this"
Alayne lowered her eyes. "As you say my Lord. Such tidings reached the Eyrie but my lord Father was quick to dismiss them. How could such a fool of a knight become Captain, he asked? How could a man who possessed nothing else other than the Lannister name rise to such a position, he said? How could…"
He grabbed her wrist more forcefully than before and turned her around so that her front was to him. She gave another small squeak of surprise. "Are you here to insult me, Alayne? Because if so, know that I have killed women before and I will do so again if the need arises"
Her blue eyes grew larger, betraying surprise and fear. Yet her next reaction baffled him; she smiled.
"Oh, I never thought you incapable of doing your duty. Protecting the king… Such an honour! Tell me of your honourable quest to Winterfell. I want to hear from your lips how you slew the traitors and protected the realm and the King?"
Ser Kalos shifted position and licked his lips. A cold breeze had entered the room from an open window and Alayne's nipples had grown hard. The pressure in his breeches was becoming near impossible to control. He yanked them down quickly with one hand while still holding Alayne's wrist with the other.
The girl gave another gasp of surprise but she made no move to oppose him. When he entered her she was covered in warm moisture and it was his turn to give a gasp of surprise.
"Tell me, my lion" Alayne continued and he pushed hard, trying to reach her depths.
"I went to Winterfell with a band of twenty men. As envoys, of course, not to raise suspicion. Once in there we were attacked by Bolton men, led by the Bastard himself. They wanted to skin us, they did, but we taught them better" he said and he thrust hard inside her again, the girl squirming in pleasure.
"More, my Captain" she pleaded.
He pinched her nipples hard and run his tongue over one, both hands now grabbing her wrists as he pumped inside her. "I skinned the Bolton Bastard myself. A sly one that was but I thrust my sword in him and he screamed…."
Alayne shouted in pleasure. "Like this?"
He released her wrists and turned her body around, entering her from behind. "His guts sprawled the stone floor, his little tongue twisting…"
"You showed him, my Captain, my lion. You showed him. What of his wife?" Alayne said as she screamed again, digging her nails in his lower back as he pumped into her.
"The Stark girl? What of her. I cut her head clean of her body and it rolled down the steps of Winterfell. She was heavy with child, that one, but once she was down that was that"
With a final stroke he came into her, hard and fast, his pleasure mounting. He never saw her reaction; at that moment he scarce cared whether his words had wounded her womanly nature. Nevertheless when he was done he rolled off her, his chest heaving and she pressed her head over his shoulders.
"How long will you stay Alayne?" he managed at last.
The girl cocked an eyebrow. "As long as Lord Baelish wants me to stay. He has brought the heir of the Eyrie with him"
Ser Kalos abruptly turned to face her. "He has brought that weakling boy with him? Why here, why now? He is but, what, thirteen years of age?"
"Some would say a man grown. He is to be wed soon" she said carefully and watched his reaction.
He jumped from the bed as if he had just been visited by ghosts. "What is this Alayne? You are marrying the boy and you visit me? What if someone saw you? I would be hung for treason and adultery and so would you!"
Alayne curled under the covers of his bed. "Ser Kalos even if I was to wed the King I would still visit you. My love for you has only strengthened during my time away"
For a moment Ser Kalos regarded her carefully. Her steady breath, her full lips her big, blue, innocent eyes. "Come away with me! No one shall ever know! We shall sail to Pentos together or go to Quarth? The war has still not reached them. We shall be safe there. The Dragon Queen protects all who come to her and she will not turn us away especially if she knows we have information of the King….."
He paused and studied her expression.
Alayne was laughing loudly. "Now, that Ser Kalos is treason!"
He walked back to the bed and held her wrists tightly. "What else is there Alayne? I am a knight of the Kingsguard I have taken my vows… I cannot have you if we stay in Westeros. The better still. White walkers and wights have been sighted south of the Wall. I slew five such creatures while coming back from Winterfell. Soon, there will be nothing left"
Her expression suddenly turned serious and she rose from the bed without taking his hand to steady herself. She grabbed her robes and put them back on.
"Winter is coming" she whispered, the Stark words.
He watched her helplessly. "Please you must not marry him!"
Alayne paused, studying him. "Rest easy, Ser Kalos. I never said Robert Arryn was to be wed to me. There were arrangements for this, once. The little lord soon changed his mind, though. He wanted a younger wife, a wife with much more of a name than I"
Ser Kalos exhaled and the girl walked to his side, caressing his face. "My heart belongs to you and only you despite knowing that you have bedded many girls since I last saw you"
The knight shook his head quickly. "Never, mylady. Never. I swear to everything I hold dear"
She raised her eyebrow. "And what do you hold dear? Your honour as a knight of the Kingsguard? No, you dismissed this soon enough. Your family name? You forgot that sooner. Your love for me?"
"Yes. My love for you" he repeated and at that moment he knew it was true. He had been faithful in his own way. He had nod bedded a woman since last he had seen Alayne.
She laughed. "I believe you"
Alayne bent down and kissed his brow. "Now, I must return back to my father's chambers before he knows I am missing"
He watched as her skirts swayed behind her and her red hair fell tousled down her shoulders. He lay in bed long after, thinking about Kings and Queens. He had never defied an order. Never. Whatever they commanded him to do, he did. When Queen Margaery had whispered into his ear that she wanted Ramsay Bolton dead he had been quick to gather twenty swords and horses and head to Winterfell. The rest was history.
And yet there he was, so enthralled by Alayne's kisses that he would put all those vows aside. Sleep did not come to him easy and when last it did it was a troubled one.
When he felt the touch of steel on his face he tried to scream but cloth was pressed into his mouth. He opened his eyes only to see… Darkness… And a shadow dancing in his room.
The shadow pressed the dagger against his throat again until blood spilled and then put its finger on its lips. Ser Kalos nodded and the shadow took the cloth away from his mouth.
"Who are you?" he began, chocking.
The shadow moved. "I am no one. Who ordered you to murder the Stark girl?"
Ser Kalos closed his lips but the shadow was quick to chop a finger from his right hand. He went to scream but the cloth was back inside his mouth muffling his cries.
"The longer a man takes to tell the truth the more fingers no one will chop"
He swallowed and the cloth was taken from his mouth, leaving him free to talk. Yet he stayed silent. When the next finger was chopped off it wasn't as unexpected as the first one.
"A man could end his suffering. A man could tell the truth"
Ser Kalos studied the shadow. It was a humanoid shape for sure, yet it had no face. The Faceless Men. The realisation hit him hard and he knew in an instant what he must do.
When the cloth came out again he whispered Queen's Margaery's name. The shadow seemed pleased yet it took one more of his fingers nevertheless.
"Fear cuts deeper than swords" it whispered. "A man shall now wear a glove on his left hand. If a man says anything no one will know. If a man has lied no one will know and no one will come back"
As the shadow leapt from his window ser Kalos pressed his severed fingers against the red silk cloth of his bed and began to cry.
...
