It was as cold as a witch's cunt. That was the only way Sandor could describe night north of the wall.

The group had been marching less than twelve hours before three of their party had died. Sandor felt a twinge of shame. That bloody monstrous bear. He would have been fine fighting it if Dondarrion hadn't set it on fucking fire. But he had, and the sight of the blue eyed bear roaring towards them on flame had chilled him even more than the weather. He knew Thoros had saved his life - and now the man was severely injured. He could hear the man beside him, shifting uncomfortably as the remaining men tried to sleep.

But how could one sleep then they were on a block of ice, surrounded by wights? That Snow fellow, Mormont and the ginger Wildling with a thing for that fucking blonde Tarth woman were on watch, and the rest had been urged to get some sleep. Beric and Sandor had been on first watch, then the two other Wildlings. Thoros was not assigned watch, for obvious reasons.

"Clegane," Thoros rasped. He turned to look at the Red Priest, who was pale as the dead surrounding them.

"You want wine?" Sandor asked, as gently as he could. He knew what it was, to be dying in the arse end of nowhere.

Thoros smiled, but shook his head. "I want to talk to you. About Maud." Sandor tilted his head to show he was listening. "I need you to take care of her when I'm gone."

Sandor didn't even pretend like Thoros wasn't going to die. There was no way to get help, and even with the wound cauterised, the damage was done. "You can't do your healy magic on yourself?"

A weak chuckle at this. "No, no healy magic for me. So I need you to promise me you'll be good to Maud."

"Aye, I'll be good to her," Sandor said slowly. He wondered what the man knew. He'd caught them in the tumbledown shed and had been making pointed comments, but did he know about...before? He wasn't sure.

"I know everything," Thoros read his mind. "Card game shenanigans. Everything. So that's why I'm not joking. I know how Maud feels about you. And I reckon I've seen how you feel about her. So if you have any issues, any at all, about her past, I suggest you get them out in the open and don't let them fester."

"By issues you mean?" Sandor prodded.

"You bloody know I mean Anguy. You're acting like it's fine, but if my girl showed up after five years with a ring and a dead husband I know I wouldn't be sunshine and rainbows."

Sandor snorted. "Of course I'm bloody pissed off. She married that fucking cunt of a man. He was a smarmy little bastard who played Maud like a fucking fiddle. But what am I supposed to do? Tell her she's a stupid little girl? That she should have fucking seen it? She thought there he was, an honourable man to take her away from it all. But fairy tales aren't fucking real and she found that out the hard way." He hadn't quite realised the anger that had been burning him until he hissed this statement.

"She's lost a lot. You can't hold it against her to want a happy ending," Thoros responded gently.

"We've all lost a lot. That's life," Sandor responded, bluntly.

"Her father was murdered. Then her two brothers. Then she was made a slave to the brother of the man who killed her father. She befriended him. They ran off. And then he left her." Sandor made to cut in "Oh, I know that's not how you see it but it's what she thought happened. So when an old friend of her brothers showed up and offered comfort, she took it. Anguy was weak and selfish, but he did care for Maud. He just cared for himself more."

"Clearly," Sandor muttered.

"But you. You love her, so I'm trusting you'll look after her. I'm not saying buy her a diamond. I'm just saying if you're angry at her tell her now and don't let it ferment."

"I don't bloody love her," Sandor said, a bit too loudly. The men on watch turned to look at them, until Sandor glared them down.

Thoros let out a chuckle that turned into a cough. "Aye, and the wights really just want to be our friends. I'm not stupid, Clegane. I've seen how you treat her. If you're not in love, you're damned near close. Honour a dying man's wish and think about it."

"If I agree, will you shut up?" Sandor groaned. His mind was swimming. There was no way he was in fucking love. Cleganes didn't know how to love. They were born without that skill. He liked Maud, he was fond of her, and he wouldn't mind a tumble or two with her, but that was that.

"If you agree, I can die happy," Thoros smiled. "But a bit of wine wouldn't go amiss."

Sandor handed over the wine skin. The man drank deeply, before handing the skin back with a happy sigh and rolling over.

When the dawn came, he was dead.

It was eerily quiet in Maud's room. She was used to having at least one of the Brotherhood in spitting distance, but now she was alone.

It had been over a day since the men had left for their journey north and Maud didn't know what to do with herself. She'd tried the small library but the books were all boring biographies of Crows. She'd tried the kitchen but had been shooed out for not being quick enough and generally getting in the way. In the end she'd trained with some of the Wildling women for a while.

She kept thinking back to her goodbyes to the men. She'd hugged Beric, whispered a demand to Thoros to bloody try not to die (at which he snorted and kissed her forehead affectionately), and then turned to Sandor.

"Come back to me?" She'd said, with a small smile.

Sandor had snorted, lip twisting into a half smile. "And what, you'll suck my cock?"

Maud's eyes had danced, remembering her promise to him before the Battle of the Blackwater. "There are easier ways to get your cock sucked than running off into danger."

"You'll need to tell me about those ways later," was the hushed response. With a final tight squeeze of her hand, he'd joined the other men to the tunnel and the portcullis heading beyond the wall.

Her heart had sang when he glanced back at her, and it was that quick glance that kept her going now.

But then the silence was suddenly broken. A horn was sounding, people were shouting, and Maud felt a shiver of fear. She jumped from her lumpy bed and flung the door open, following the path to the sound.

"There's someone out there!" She heard a Wildling yell. She peered over the side but couldn't quite see anything - she could just about make out a dark blob moving. Then it stopped, suddenly.

Davos grabbed the spyglass and peered through "It's Gendry!" he cried. "Open the gate!" He ran to the tunnel with the portcullis gate and flew through as it began to slowly creak open.

Maud's stomach was in knots. Why was Gendry back alone? Although it hurt, she had accepted that Thoros would not return. But Sandor and Beric had to come back.

Davos and a group of Wildlings carried Gendry back into the castle grounds. He didn't look hurt, just exhausted. "Send help," he muttered weakly. "Raven...Queen Daenerys. They've got a wight...they…" with that he collapsed.

Maud let out a breath she didn't know she was holding. He didn't mention any deaths, so everyone had to be fine, right?

All she could do was wait.

Sandor clung tightly to the body in front of him, eyes half closed against the stinging wind. He was on a fucking dragon. If it wasn't for the fact he had a snarling wight tied up in front of him, and that the cold wind was like being lashed with a whip of ice, he might have enjoyed it a little bit more. As it was, Sandor sighed in relief as he caught sight of Eastwatch and gripped tighter with his thighs as the beast began to dive.

As soon as the dragons landed the men tumbled off their backs. Sandor bent over, breathing heavily as his legs shook. He could hear Mormont and one of the wildlings be sick, but his mind was on something else.

"Get a fucking place to lock up this bastarding wight," he said, almost throwing the undead body at the assembled gawping Crows and Wildlings.

Duties completed, he spinned, searching the crowd. There she was. Running towards them, Davos by her side. Sandor ignored Davos, ignored the men he'd gone north with, the Crows and Wildlings trying desperately to subdue the wight into a crate, even ignored the blonde bint who had brought the dragons. His mind was only on Maud - the worry in her eyes as she raced to them. He started to stride towards her, suddenly desperate to move up their meeting, even if just by a few seconds.

She pulled up short in front of him, Davos sidestepping as he looked for the rest of the men, for the Snow boy that demanded he be left behind. Sandor didn't care, didn't hear the man's shouts.

"You're safe," Maud sighed in relief as she looked up at him, eyes searching for any visible injuries. She only had a second to look, as almost instantly Sandor leaned down and kissed her fiercely, one arm hooking around her to pull her closer. He overtook all her senses: all she could taste, smell, touch was him. She melted into his embrace as he took control - not giving a shit about the people or dragons nearby.

Her lips were tingling when he pulled back, and she craved more.

"You're mine," Sandor growled, and it sent a spasm through her body. She had no time to reply as he grabbed her hand in his giant paw and, without a backwards glance, dragged her with him back to Eastwatch. Fine with me, she thought, as she followed the man to his room.