The nights were growing colder. The fire that they had each night really wasn't quite enough to keep warm. Jaime knew that they would be warmer if they slept closer together. He suspected Sansa knew it too. He also suspected that she would take such a suggestion from him to mean something entirely different from what he intended it to mean, so he said nothing at first. He wouldn't be able to remain silent for much longer. Not if the nights continued to grow colder as they had in the last few days. None of this was worth anything if they both froze to death in the end.
Sansa kept telling herself she wasn't cold. She was a child of the north. A Stark of Winterfell. Winter was in her blood. How humiliating it would be if the cold ended up being the thing that made her seek out Jaime Lannister's assistance. She shivered under her blanket as the first snow began to fall. The shivering made her ribs hurt again. There was no way she could fall asleep like this. She glanced across at Jaime on the other side of the fire and could see that he was just as cold as she was.
"Are you warm enough, Sansa?" He asked her on seeing her gaze."
"Yes." She said, trying to hide the chattering of her teeth.
"I thought I asked you not to lie to me." He said, irritated.
"I'm not frozen yet, Ser." She said, refusing to admit she needed any additional help from a Lannister.
"It must be the wolf blood in you. Lions aren't meant for cold places like this." He said.
If that was supposed to be an invitation of sorts she wasn't about to accept it. She thought of telling him that perhaps the lion shouldn't have come so far north if he didn't like the cold but that would have been rude. He had been helping her after all, and he hadn't really done anything unkind, so she said nothing.
Jaime sighed. "Sansa, you should come sleep closer. For your sake as well as for mine."
"I can't…" She breathed. It wasn't that she didn't trust him not to harm her. She didn't want to need him for anything else.
"I won't hurt you… you must know that...and all of this will have been pointless if we both freeze to death" He said.
"I know." She said, still not moving from where she lay.
"You can't possibly be any warmer than I am. And you've been sitting close to me on horseback for three weeks so I doubt you're frightened by my proximity...what's stopping you from simply getting warm the only way you can?" He asked her.
"I don't know." She said evasively.
"I think you do know. But if you'd rather stay over there and freeze to death and leave me to freeze along with you I suppose that's your choice to make." Jaime said, angry.
Sansa tried not to feel guilty at hearing those words. She knew he was right. If his story had been true, then no one had forced him to come and rescue her. It would be stupid of her to let them both freeze simply out of stubbornness. Tears in her eyes she got up and took her blanket with her, laying down next to Jaime without a word. He helped her cover them both with the second blanket and then he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her close for warmth.
"See, it's not so bad?" He said gently once she was settled.
"I didn't expect it would be...I just...I don't like needing so much help...especially from…"
"From a Lannister?" He guessed.
Sansa nodded. "But you're right, There's no point in both of us freezing."
None of this was going the way that Jaime had wanted it to go. It had begun with Sansa not wanting to be rescued, moved on to her refusing to let him help her with her injuries, and then she didn't even want to be near him for warmth. He had resigned himself to the fact that he was no hero. She was a Stark and he was a Lannister and there were some things about their family histories that would always come between them. Still, some part of him had hoped that he could be of some use on this journey. It would have been nice if she seemed a little bit thankful or as if she needed him for something. Perhaps he had been entirely wrong. Perhaps keeping his oath was never going to mean anything to anyone. He might as well just stayed home if that were the case. It was too late for that now. He was going to see this through no matter if she wanted him there or not.
He looked down at where Sansa was falling asleep in his arms. She was a beautiful young woman. The bruises on her face from the tree branches were all but faded but he could see more bruising on her collarbone from something Ramsay must have done to her. She hadn't deserved to be treated so. It was too bad she couldn't have had a more worthy knight to rescue her.
Sansa had never slept in a man's arms before. Ramsay was far too restless at night and often didn't even stay in the bed after he took his rights. She woke up feeling warmer than she had in several weeks. And she felt peaceful. She knew that at least for now, Ser Jaime wouldn't hurt her and there was a certain amount of security in knowing that. She felt tears forming in her eyes and she pulled away from him before she could allow them to fall.
"Is it morning?" Jaime asked, opening his eyes.
"Yes. It snowed a lot last night." She told him.
He pushed back the blanket that Sansa had already crawled out of to find that the ground was covered by several inches of snow.
"Will it slow us down?" She asked him of the snow.
"Not too much. You needn't worry about that anyway Sansa. I'll keep you safe."
And for the first time since they had started on this journey she thought that he might actually mean that.
