Chapter Eight

Elyse was in the Godswood of Winterfell, seeking some form of solace. It had been weeks and she was dressed in black, mourning for Jaime. His loss was devastating to her. It was made even worse when she couldn't even bury his body. All they had was his right hand sent to her in a wooden box. A warning that they would soon come for her children. Jaime's sword's hand that also held his ring, Elyse took it and wore on a gold chain around her neck. Sometimes she would wake up to cry when she realized he was truly gone. The children would rush to hug her and they'd cry together. Elyse knew she had to be stronger not only for her own sake but for her children's as well.

Robb had been very patient and understanding. He realized that she needed space and time and he gave it to her. He didn't try to touch her, not a kiss or even to hold her hand. All he gave her was those piercing gazes of his clear blue eyes, that scorched through her with more intensity that any kiss or touch. She tried not to think of Robb especially when she was mourning for her husband. Elyse stared at the black pool and saw Robb's reflection next to her. She turned around and looked at him. Robb gave a small smile.

"I didn't mean to startle you." He said.

"You didn't." Elyse said, shaking her head. "I was just thinking..."

"About your husband?" Robb asked and she nodded. "You really love him..." Robb said as he looked at her. He sounded despondent.

Elyse sighed and turned back to look at the weirwood tree with its red leaves and white bark. She then hugged herself, wrapping the woollen shawl around her shoulders tightly.

"He was my husband. Father of my children. Of course I loved him. I still do."

"I thought of you every single day since you left me." Robb told her. Elyse turned and looked at him when she heard that.

"You don't know how many times I had wanted to ride to Casterly Rock and take you with me."

Elyse grew quiet hearing it. She had wanted to leave Jaime too. The night she caught him with Cersei, she had wanted to take her horse and ride north. Back to Robb and straight into his arms. But she didn't. Elyse didn't know what stopped her but she stayed on. Then Jaime had gotten ill and she learned that she was with child. She knew she couldn't abandon her husband and her duty.

"You said once that we weren't meant to be together." Robb said and took her arm holding it. "I never believed it. Maybe it was bad timing and Fate just keep screwing things up between us but when I saw you in my tent that night. I knew I would love you till my last breath."

"You've always been such a romantic." Elyse said and gave a sympathetic smile. She shook her head. Strange it sounded naive even, coming from a King. But Elyse knew Robb had always been the passionate idealist, unlike her. She was much more grounded.

"Robb Stark who would marry for love at the risk of losing a war or even getting himself killed."

"Real love doesn't work that way." Elyse said as she pulled her arm out of Robb's grasp. "Love is something that takes time. It is not perfect or passionate. It grows out of duty and faith. It even requires forgiveness. I never thought I could love my husband as much as I did but I do."

"And you will love again." Robb told her. "As much as you did him and maybe even more."

"I will wait for you..." Robb said, staring at her eyes. "Till you're ready. No matter how long it takes. From this time to the end of time. I'll wait for you."

He took her hand and brought it his lips before kissing it firmly.


Elyse watched on seeing, her son Arthur practising his archery. She was sitting on the long stone bench. Bethany was next to her playing dolls with her sister Arielle. The twins just watched, seeing Arthur with his bow and arrow. Rickon was there coaching him and Arthur nodded and listened close as Rickon gave him instructions.

"Why can't we play too Mama?" Daschle asked her.

"Because you're still too young Sweetheart," Elyse told her five year old. "And arrows are not toys."

Arthur pulled his bow and released the arrow but it didn't hit the target. The boy gave a frown and turned to look at his mother. She gave a kind smile. Arthur looked so much like young Tommen did. His wavy gold hair shone in the sun and his jade green eyes.

"It's alright." She said softly. "You'll do better soon."

Arthur gave a nod and turned back. He held the bow again and pulled the string.

"You need to relax your bow arm and bend it a bit more," Robb spoke. Elyse looked on seeing the King walking towards her son.

Robb gave her a smile, one she returned. He stood behind Arthur and helped him with the bow and positioned it correctly.

"Put it higher, closer to your mouth and anchor it..." Robb said. He then smiled at Arthur. "There your aim should improve."

Arthur gave a nod and let the bow go. The arrow whizzed through the air and hit the bulls eye of the target.

"Mama! I did it!" Arthur cried in joy and jumped. "I hit the target!" Elyse smiled back at her son. Arthur rushed to her and Elyse hugged him.

"I think Papa would be proud." Arthur said. She felt the tears in her eyes when her son said that. Elyse immediately brushed the tears from her eyes. She didn't want Arthur to see them.

"Yes. He would be very proud of you," She said and gave a bright smile. She looked ahead and saw Robb was just staring at her. The longing in his eyes, Elyse only wished Robb would understand how hard it was to let Jaime go. She could still see him in all her five children, they took after their father more.


Robb had brought her riding to the surrounding lands outside Winterfell. She looked around seeing the rugged, wild beauty of the Northern highlands. The mountains and moors, the heather grown abundantly. It was so different from the coastal Westerlands where she had lived for seven years and the riverbanks and valleys of the Riverlands where she grew up. The winds blew coldly and Elyse pulled the fur cloak closer to her.

"What are you thinking about?" Robb asked her as his stallion rode beside her mare.

"I was thinking how beautiful it is here and how it's so different than I imagined." Elyse said her eyes surveying the landscape.

"It was all covered in snow during the Winter..." Robb spoke. "Some places forty feet deep."

"It must be hard." Elyse commented. "For the people living here with the cold and the extremes."

"It is." Robb gave a nod. "But we Northerners are used to it. We are built to withstand the cold."

"Ah yes..." Elyse smiled and gave a soft laugh.

"What is it?" Robb asked her, suddenly curious of the source of her laughter.

"I remember something your mother said when my father suggested that you'd marry me..."

"And what did she say?" Robb asked, his eyes glinted curiously.

"She was afraid that I might not be hardy enough to withstand the cold. And something about the small build of Frey girls and how they weren't strong enough to have babies. She had seen my sister Roslin and she assumed I was like her."

"My mother is not always right." Robb sighed. He then smiled at Elyse. She wasn't finely built like her sister Roslin Frey. Elyse was tall and she had the curves. Robb then realized Elyse was looking at him.

"How did you meet your wife?" She asked him. He smiled at the memory.

"On the battlefield. She was nursing the injured..." Robb said. "I think she didn't like me much at first..."

Elyse laughed hearing that. "I can't blame her. You can be infuriating sometimes."

Robb shrugged. "Talisa hated war. She thought it was senseless and cruel."

"She was right. It is." Elyse spoke. "Wars are senseless and cruel."

"Not all wars..." Robb said. "Some wars are worth fighting for."

"At what cost?" Elyse asked him. "You men..." She then shook her head before sighing. "You think that dying in battle is some great honour, not knowing the pain you leave behind. The crying mothers and wives. The orphaned children..."

Robb looked at her closely. "You were the one who persuaded Jaime to give up the North didn't you?"

"He was weary of battle and he didn't want to lose any more of the gold." Elyse said. She gave a small smile.

"Jaime and I see eye to eye on most things and he seeks my counsel on all matters." Elyse then thought of her late husband. She couldn't remember a single argument they ever had. Their marriage worked because Jaime treated her like an equal, which was rare in a world where the husband was Lord of everything to a wife.

"He was very lucky to have you as his wife." Robb spoke, his eyes gazing at her.

"No..." Elyse said softly. "I was lucky to have him as a husband."


"I can't let you do this..." Elyse sighed as she looked at Robb.

She was in Robb's private drawing room one morning after breakfast. The children were having lessons with Arabella conducted by her Septa. It had been over a year since they had arrived in Winterfell and the mourning period had been over a long time. Elyse didn't have to wear black but she still did. Tyrion Lannister had written to her, saying that Queen Daenerys had offered her a home in King's Landing where she'd be under the Crown's protection. Elyse thought it would be best to bring her children there, except Robb wouldn't let her.

"I can't burden you with this responsibility." Elyse told him. Robb only gave a bemused smile. "You know there is no way I'd let you leave My Lady."

"But my children will have a home of their own in the Capital." Elyse sighed. "My brother in law, Lord Tyrion wants to raise them. He is their uncle."

"I will raise your children with you. Winterfell is their home. They'll be Starks now." Robb said as he pulled her in and touched her both her shoulders.

"They are Lannisters. My son, Arthur is Lord of Casterly Rock. He may just be a boy now but I assure you once he is old enough, he will fight Lancel's claim."

"And you have my word that I will march with him along with my bannermen to support his claim." Robb said.

"A Stark helping a Lannister?" Elyse laughed bitterly and shook her head. "The world must be ending."

"Things have changed." Robb told her. "My brother Jon is now consort to the Targaryen Queen and she has recognized my rule of the North as a free and independent state."

"What?" Elyse was confused and stared at Robb. "Your brother and the Queen?"

Robb gave a nod. "It's true. They are married now..."

"But how?" Elyse was thoroughly shocked by the news. She never heard any word of it.

"Fate I supposed...Her dragons destroyed the White Walkers who had crossed the Wall and attacked villages in the far North. They met and fell in love." Robb smiled.

"Isn't he a Night's watchman? I thought watchmen can't marry?" Elyse asked Robb. He only gave a shrug.

"Things change my Lady..." Robb smiled and pulled her close, springing an unexpected kiss on her lips

"You haven't." Elyse told him when she pulled her lips away. She then gave a small frown. "You're still as bold and impulsive."

"One of my finer qualities..." Robb said teasingly. He pulled her closer and nuzzled her nose.

"Oh..." She sighed languidly. "What am I going to do with you Robb Stark?" Elyse asked and caressed his cheek.

"Marry me." He said gazing at her with that intense blue stare of his. "Be my Queen and my wife. Live with me and bear my children. Our children will be happy here in Winterfell. Yours, mine, ours... It doesn't matter. I will love them the same."

"I have to think about it. I'm not sure about Stark men. I hear they're as ferocious as direwolves my Lord..." She whispered softly.

"You know what they all say, we Frey girls are a timid lot." Elyse said with a smile.

"No..." Robb said and shook his head. "On the contrary Madam, I know a Frey girl who was probably the bravest, most stubborn girl that I've ever met. She drives me utterly crazy..."

"Does she?" Elyse asked as her blue eyes widened curiously.

"She does. She is also the most beautiful woman that I have ever seen. And she saved my life more than once." Robb said and leaned to kiss her lips.

"And I love her deeply..." He whispered in Elyse's ear.

"Always so romantic..." Elyse sighed. "You must know Your Grace, the Frey girl loves you too. But..." Elyse paused.

Robb looked at her, seeing the worry and sadness on her face. "What's wrong?" he asked.

"I can't marry you so soon." Elyse told him.

"The mourning period is over." Robb reminded her.

"The customary mourning period is over but I still weep for him." Elyse said.

"Life must go on. You know this." Robb told her and caressed her cheeks. "I was devastated when Talisa died. Believe me. I didn't think I could love again..."

Robb's clear blue pools were staring right at her again. "Then you came..." He spoke and looked at her.

"I was married to someone else." Elyse told him.

"Doesn't matter." Robb smiled. "I still fell in love with you."

"Just give me time, Your Grace..." Elyse said to him.

"Robb..." He corrected her.

"Robb." Elyse repeated softly.

He pulled her in his arms again. Elyse smiled as she rested her head on his warm chest. She could hear the beating of his heart and that calmed her down for a while. Robb was there with her and her children were safe. Everything would be fine. Of course she had no inkling that Robb's mother Lady Stark never liked the idea of having the Lannisters in her household and she wasn't pleased with her son's decision to marry the widow of Jaime Lannister.


"You could have any beautiful young woman from the noble houses in the North Robb." Catelyn cried. "Why of all the women in this realm, would you choose to marry her? A Lannister and an enemy."

"I love her Mother..." Robb sighed.

"Love?" Catelyn stared at him in disbelief. "How can you love her? She is the widow of the Kingslayer, your enemy. The same man who pushed Bran out the window. His bastard son cut off your father's head Robb."

"Elyse saved my life and yours too Mother." He argued. "If she hadn't sent the raven to warn me, we would all be dead. I owe my life to her." Robb said tersely, his eyes staring at his mother.

"Then offer her your protection as you are doing now but do not make her your wife." Catelyn told him.

Robb was getting irritated by his mother's demands and frowned at Catelyn. He was not a boy anymore and he didn't need his mother to tell him what to do.

"She was supposed to be my wife. If I had done what I had promised to do and follow through the agreement with Walder Frey, we'd be married with a litter of our own by now." He said.

"Things have changed Robb. You married another and so did she." Catelyn spoke sharply.

"She is a Lannister. Mark my words. Your men will lose respect for you if you marry her. The war may be over but people don't forget easily. Their sons and fathers dead, killed by her family or her husband's. It's all the same."

Robb only kept quiet hearing what his mother had just said. Of course, he was too much in love to listen to his mother being a passionate, romantic man that he had always been. He finally wed Elyse a few months later. A simple ceremony in the Godswood of Winterfell with the Stark family present.


Elyse was married again for the third time. Strange though, that she wasn't a maid on her wedding night, but a mother of five. She was twenty five going twenty six a widowed Lady, not the naive seventeen year old who had married Jaime Lannister. Elyse sighed. The way her life turned out, she could never have imagine it as a girl. Her late mother had taught her not to expect much. To be a devoted wife and a proper lady. She also told Elyse to always be strong. That sometimes there were forces beyond a woman's control but if she maintains her inner fortitude, it would see her through the worst of days.

She heard the door opened and she smiled seeing Robb walking in. Her husband. He was her husband now. He smiled back at her, dressed in a long night tunic. Robb walked towards her and pulled her into his arms.

"You're finally mine." Robb said, touching her face gently and leaning to kiss her lips.

It was sweet and slow and Elyse wrapped her arms around him. She gave a soft moan and the kiss grew deeper. They moved to the bed and he pulled her night dress down. Looking at her naked body for the first time made him breathless. Robb pulled her closer and kissed with such fierce intensity, Elyse found herself trembling. His hands roamed down the curves of her body. His fingers stroking the delicate folds that made her gasped in pleasure.

Robb moved his head down and captured one of her nipples in his mouth. She breathed in sharply., the jolts of pleasure she felt as his tongue lapped on her nipple. He suckled on her breast and she held him close, her fingers grasping on his dark auburn hair.

"This is forever you know..." Robb whispered hoarsely as he moved up and kissed her lips. "You're mine forever."

Elyse smiled and parted her knees, she sat astride him and felt him entering her. It had been so long since she was intimate with a man, the only one who had been her late husband Jaime. Robb kissed her deeply as he pushed in one long, deep thrust.

"Oh the gods..." Elyse moaned. Robb pulled his lips away and rested his forehead on hers as both of them breathed in heavily. His eyes staring right at hers as he moved inside her, rocking their bodies in throes of passion.

She wrapped her thighs around his waist and pulled him closer as his thrusts grew deep and more rapid. Her hips rose to meet him. She groaned and pressed kisses on his shoulder and neck.

Robb smiled lazily and pushed her down on the bed as he continued making love to her with passionate, desperate urgency. "I love you..." He told her, his penetrating blue gaze was on hers as his thrusts grew faster.

"I love you too..." Elyse said. Robb bent to kiss her lips. His fingers found her nub and rubbed it dexterously. Elyse almost screamed out as she felt the crest of her climax. There was a fine sheen of perspiration on their bodies despite the cold. Robb's lips never left hers and she kissed him hungrily back. He let out a low rumble in his throat and he slammed in one last time before releasing his seed in her.

Robb breathed in heavily afterwards and kissed her forehead. He rested his face right above hers, noses and lips touching each other's. Elyse just breathed in, holding him close. He was still inside her but she didn't want to let go and he didn't move either.

"I want to be in you forever..." Robb told her. His voice soft and gravelly as he kissed her lips.

"I want you in me forever too..." Elyse whispered back. He kissed her lips again.

They lied in each other arms after making love for at least two more times that night. Elyse snuggled closer to Robb. Strange that when she fell to sleep, she dreamed of Jaime.


A year later.

Aurum had grown into an adult lion and he was quite a large lion that they had to build a large enclosure for him. It seemed that lions do not get along well with direwolves. There were many instances when the Starks' direwolves and the Lannister lion had gotten into altercations that had to be broken apart by five men pulling the chains on the lion. Bethany was unhappy to see her pet lion stuck in a cage.

"Why can't he be free?" Bethany cried. "He's miserable in the cage."

Elyse sighed tiredly. She had explained to her daughter several times but Bethany just wouldn't accept it. She was quite stubborn and headstrong. Elyse was sitting on the chair knitting woollen clothes for the babe she was carrying. Her belly was getting rounder as the weeks passed and Robb was certain that it was a boy.

"It's for his safety Beth...Do you want the direwolves to rip him to pieces?" Elyse asked her daughter who only frowned.

"But Aurum needs to move around..." Bethany told her. "He's a Lion Mama."

"Direwolves are silly..." Daschle commented and rolled his eyes. He had definitely inherited his father's arrogance as well as Jaime's looks. Even Elyse realized it. Daschle had grown tall for an eight year old, while Quinn was an inch or two shorter.

"They keep howling at the moon. Aurum roars only when he's hungry or if he's bored. Papa was right, lions are the king of all creatures."

"No dragons are the king..." Quinn argued and frowned at his twin. Daschle stuck his tongue out at Quinn.

"Mama!" Arielle called her and ran towards her. Elyse was shocked to see her five year old covered in mud.

"Seven Hells..." Daschle quipped. "What happened to you?"

"I was runnin..." Arielle said. "And I fell." Daschle frowned hearing the Northern accent in his sister. Arielle had adopted the Northern speech and their diction, greatly influenced by her maids and Septa.

"It's running, not runnin Arielle." Daschle said and shook his head. "You look like a commoner in the mud and now you talk like them."

"Daschle!" Elyse said sharply. Her son only ignored her. Elyse went to Arielle and took her dirty clothes off. Arielle beamed brightly at her mother. Her cheeks were all pink and her blue green eyes were bright like the ocean. Elyse sighed, seeing that her daughter's long golden hair had streaks of mud too. Arielle was a pretty, muddy, little angel.

"You need a bath Princess..." She smiled and pinched Arielle's button nose. The girl only giggled.

"Where is Arthur?" Elyse asked her children. She realized then that she hadn't seen her ten year old since morning.

"He's gone off with Lord Stark." Daschle said. "Something about executing a deserter."

"What?" Elyse was shocked to hear that.

"He's bringing Arthur to see it. Lord Stark will do the beheading himself. Why can't they use an executioner Mama?" Daschle asked his mother.

"It's the way it's done here." Elyse said. She was annoyed with Robb and that he did not bother to seek her permission. She didn't want her young son to witness a beheading.

"Northerners are strange..." Daschle commented. "We're one of them too..." Quinn spoke out and looked at his twin.

"We're not." Daschle frowned. "We're Lannisters. We're not from the North. We don't look like them or think like them. We don't even worship the same gods."

"But Lord Stark says..." Quinn stammered.

"He's not our father." Daschle said and glared at his twin.

"Enough Daschle." Elyse said and gave a loud sigh. Of all her children, her third born was the most trying.

There was a knock on the door and Elyse was surprised to see Rickon standing there. He was holding a small rolled up note in his hand.

"What is it?" Elyse asked her brother in law.

"It's from Lord Tyrion. Sent by raven from the Capital." Rickon replied.

"Oh." Elyse uttered. Rickon walked in and handed it to her. Elyse took off the string and unrolled the note.

"What is it Mama?" Bethany asked, sounding excited. "Is Uncle Tyrion coming to visit?"

"Maybe he'll send for us?" Daschle spoke. "I can't wait to get out of here."

Elyse ignored her son and read the note. Her breathing grew shallow as her eyes widened when she finished reading it. Elyse felt like her heart had skipped several beats and she soon found herself so giddy, she almost fainted.

"Lady Lannister,

I have news that your husband, my brother, Jaime is not dead. In fact unbeknownst to us all, he has been alive all this time. Jaime has been kept prisoner by Stannis Baratheon for the past three years. Stannis has now agreed to a ransom and we will do an exchange. Your presence is required in King's Landing where Jaime will be brought there for recovery.

Your Brother in Law,

Tyrion Lannister."