Roslin led the girls out of the room into a small corridor that connected the great hall to the rest of The Twins. She attempted to maintain a strong yet graceful posture and tried to hide the fact that her mind was racing. She had always dreamt that one day a handsome knight would come and save her from her tower where her father kept her prisoner, but as she grew older it became more likely that her knight would drink heavily and buy her for a few silver pieces, but to marry into House Stark was likely marrying royalty; as if she was being saved by a prince instead.

The minute the door closed between them and the hall Alyx broke down into tears, blubbering and Roslin had to fight to keep her from collapsing onto the floor.

"What a baby" Walda said undoing her bodice and doing it up again tighter in order to push her tits up.

"Oh leave her Walda" Roslin snapped, helping the youngest girl back to her feet.

"Oh but Ro, I don't want to marry or be a wife or have children, not yet at least". Alyx managed to say in broken sentence between sobs.

Alyx was fifteen and was close to her sixteenth name day but she had been coddled by her father who had only had one daughter and therefore had been determined to keep her as a baby for as long as possible. This had left Alyx physically ready to marry but mentally still very much an infant.

"Well, the Starks won't want a child to be Lady of Winterfell anyway, will they?" The seventeen-year-old said whilst smoothing out her dress.

"Well I've seen many of my sisters and nieces sold and bought under this roof and I'm quite sure that a house as high up as the Starks will want someone who hasn't lost their maidenhood and from the things that have been said about you and Black Walder, I think father has more chance of becoming Lady Stark than you" Roslin retorted, defending the young girl, who had collapsed back onto the floor in a puddle of tears.

"Girls! Stop bitching, Lord Stark cannot attend to meet you all so Lady Stark will be choosing which of you marries her son. She wants to meet you all again." Roslin's eldest brother Stevron entered from the great hall. The girls fell into silence, almost not registering what he had said. "Move" he shouted, holding the door open for the girls.

The girls appeared almost silently from a door at the back of the hall. Walda lead them out and was easily 3 strides ahead of the others, making sure to push her chest out when she walked, Roslin couldn't see her father in the room so took Alyx's hand in her hers which caused Alyx to walk so close behind her that it was a miracle she didn't fall into her aunt. She let go when they reached the centre of the room and turned to face Lady Stark. Alyx bowed her head whilst Roslin kept her own chin high. Roslin looked over at the red-headed woman who was stood on her own opposite them. Roslin could tell that Lady Stark had seen her comforting Alyx and she watched as a grin filled the middle-aged woman's face. The 3 girls curtseyed low in front of her. Roslin stood silent as Catelyn walked down the line of girls.

"Hello again girls, my son is very sorry that he cannot be here but he is preoccupied with his war council and as I'm sure you're aware we don't have the time to wait for him so I would like to get to know you all" She said in a calm and slow tone that comforted the girls instantly.

She reached the oldest girl and slowly said,

"Would you please remind me of your name?"

"I am Walda, though many call me Fair Walda, I am the great-granddaughter of Lord Frey through his son Stevron." She said, putting on a fake voice that was significantly higher than her true voice and Roslin fought not to laugh.

"And what do you enjoy doing in your free time Lady Walda?"

"I sew and knit, but mostly I like to make time to spend with family and most importantly with the seven," Walda said beaming, her smile was so fake that it could've been stitched on by Roslin's youngest niece who had not yet reached her first name day.

Roslin had never seen Walda pick up a sewing needle in her life and she was sure that the only time she spent with family and religion was when she called out to them during sex with their cousin.

Lady Catelyn politely smiled and moved down the line.

"Lady Roslin?" She questioned.

"Yes Lady Stark, Walder's daughter" Roslin dipped slightly as she spoke into a slight curtsey.

"And what do you do?"

"I mostly look after the younger children my lady" Roslin declared.

"And Roslin dances; she has the most beautiful singing voice, you should hear her sing, she sews; she made my dress, oh and she paints as well" Alyx Frey pronounced, overwhelmed by the excitement that Roslin might be getting married, forgetting that she was in the same position.

Her eagerness made Lady Stark laugh as she took Roslin's hands in hers and gave them a slight squeeze before moving onto the youngest girl who had broken her position in the line and had dropped into a child-like posture.

Roslin heard the door behind Lady Stark creak open, the Lady Stark turned to greet them, to be meet by Roslin's father.

"Alyx Frey!" The Lord shouted, "Stand up straight girl!"

The girl who had been so giddy and happy was slowly swallowed up by tears.

"Grandfather, please I don't want to marry yet!" The young girl begged.

Anger took over Lord Frey's face as he walked over to his granddaughter and raised his hand to strike, Roslin saw Lady Stark look away as he brought his hand down but to her surprise, there was no noise, when the Lady Stark looked back she saw that Roslin had grabbed her father's hand to stop him. Lord Frey struggled out of the girl's grip before hitting Roslin straight across the face with the back of his hand; Roslin fell to the ground as her father yelled,

"You insignificant bitch! I give you the chance to one day be the lady of the north and you repay me like this!"

Roslin remained on the floor, not wanting to anger her father anymore. It wasn't irregular for Roslin to face the wrath of her father. Walder adjusted his shirt before walking around the girl and throwing himself down on his chair.

Lady Stark walked up to Roslin and offered her one of her hands.

"Lord Frey, I have made my decision" Catelyn said maintaining eye contact with Roslin, not looking at the frail lord. "On behalf on my son, Robb Stark, will you Roslin of House Frey give your hand in marriage?"

Roslin, shocked by the situation, timidly replied "If you think that Lord Stark will have me"

Lord Frey smiled " We will be expecting you in the Sept in one hour, Roslin go find a nice dress we want the young lord to be pleased with his mother's choice"

Catelyn curtseyed deeply and watched as Roslin was ushered out of the room quickly by her oldest brother before leaving herself.


"An hour?!" Robb exclaimed.

"The faster it is done, the faster we can get to King's Landing" Catelyn assured him.

"What's her name?" Robb whispered, realising that he should probably know before he met her.

"Her name is Roslin; she is a maid of 16. She's seemingly perfect she sings, dances, sews, everything you could want in a lady of the house. She's kind but what won me over was her bravery, she stood up to her father for what was right"

"And she looks?" Her son asked quietly not making eye contact with his mother almost embarrassed.

"Extremely beautiful, though I do fear that you will tower over her, she's tiny. She'll be buried by the furs in the North" She laughed slightly and saw her son sigh in relief despite his attempts to hide it.

"I will look after her, I know this isn't the way you wanted me to marry, the gods know it's not what I wanted, but she will be my wife and my family, I will keep her safe" Robb said, looking at his mother for the first time since she returned.

"I know you will. Now please go at least put a clean shirt on for your wedding" She said softly, taking his face in her hands. He smiled lightly before leaving the tent swiftly.


"Perwyn!" Roslin shouted running through the courtyard after her brother.

"Ro! I heard about your wedding, you can finally escape this place, go somewhere you'll be treated how you deserve" Her older brother embraced her.

"We can escape, Father has offered to send a small company of men south with the Stark army and you're to be the face of House Frey, I'm sure if you befriend Lord Stark it won't take much to convince him to let you stay at Winterfell"

"Oh Ro, you don't have to, I will be happy to get away from the place for as long as the Stark campaign allows" He said a worried smile filled his face.

"Oh, I have something to ask, will you give me away?"

With so many Frey's it was impossible to be close to them all, and Roslin could safely say that she had never met several of her siblings not to mention their children and their children's children. The closest relationships came from your full siblings, the people you shared a mother with, Perwyn had been the firstborn of Bethany Rosby and Roslin the last, Perwyn had always sworn to look after his sister.

"Oh Ro, I would love to" Perwyn stated, once again hugging his baby sister "And I have a wedding gift for you"

Perwyn took his sister's hand and led her up one of the towers to a storage room.

"Close your eyes" Perwyn said before opening the door. Roslin obeyed, she heard the moving and opening of boxes before her brother said,

"Okay, open them"

She opened her eyes to find her brother holding a white dress with a pink belt. It had lace sleeves and a lace patterned bodice and skirt.

"Is that mother's-"

"Wedding dress? Yes" Perwyn finished and answered "I found it when I was cleaning out up here, I was waiting to tell you until you were betrothed, this is soon then I expected"

She ran and hugged her brother, her eyes filling with tears.

"You may be becoming a Stark but you will always be my little sister and Robb Stark may be stronger than me but if he hurts you he'll wish he had never been born" Perwyn said laughing but Roslin felt a few tears of his own dropping onto the top of her head.

"Thank you. To think I'll no longer be a Frey by sunset tonight"

"We will have to be quick then" He said, running out of the room and down the stairs.

"For what? Perwyn? Slow down!" Roslin shouted.

"Come on! The girls will want to see you" He shouted before running off towards the east wing.

Before chasing after her brother Roslin thought it best to leave her mother's dress in her room. Upon entering the dark room she found her youngest sister sat on her bed.

"Ro! Alyx just told us! Congratulations"

"Thank you, Arwyn" The room was lined with 10 thin beds that once had been filled by the many daughters of House Frey but as the girls had married the room had grown empty until the only people left in it were Tyta and Roslin, whilst the younger girls occupied the next 2 rooms along the wing.

"Was that your mother's?" Arwyn asked.

Roslin just nodded, as she ran her hands down the lace sleeves, imaging what her mother had looked like wearing it. Her mother had died just a few months after Roslin had been born, meaning that her mother lived in her imagination fueled by stories from Perwyn and her mother's 4 other sons.

"Come on Ro! Get changed, I want to do your hair" The young girl ran out of the room and into her room next door.

Roslin stood up and looked at the dress that laid on her bed and in those few seconds, she felt like she didn't deserve to wear the dress.

"Ro! Hurry up!" She heard from behind her, she turned to see Tyta whose look of joy fell from her face as she saw the terror on Roslin's. "Come on, I'll lace you up"

Tyta was only 13 years older than Roslin but had been a motherly-figure her whole life, most of Roslin's other sisters had left young to marry various lords across Westeros. She was grateful that Tyta would be coming with her North, but knew that one day she too would be married and would have to leave her as well. The girls continued in silence and Roslin slipped into the dress, the atmosphere around the sisters was filled with care, they didn't have to speak to show how much they loved each other. The silence was broken as various young girls burst into the room, some armed with hairbrushes, others with powder, each ready to gently attack the bride.

"You look so pretty Ro" Marissa said whilst brushing her hair through.

"After what I did to father, I thought she would pick Walda" Roslin said, whilst Arwyn took over and began to braid.

"Walda is a brat, it's not hard to see, one day she will have a bastard and father will cast her out as a disappointment" Tyta said from her bed, she had begun to gather her things and for a moment Roslin was confused before realising that Tyta was packing.

"Tyta, would you mind packing my things as well, I won't be coming back here tonight and I don't know how quickly we'll be leaving tomorrow"

Tyta nodded and opened the wardrobe that the girls shared beginning to pull dresses and fold them in piles.

"I'll put your nicest nightgown in the room that father has prepared for you and Lord Stark and I'll pack the rest" Tyta smiled before leaving Roslin with the eager girls.

Arwyn braided the top half of her hair into a bun and allowed the rest to fall down her back. After finishing with Roslin, the girls quickly got dressed into a variety of old formal dresses, likely saved from the last Frey wedding, before leaving and going to the Sept, leaving Roslin alone.

The door slowly opened to reveal Perwyn stood offering his arm, he had changed into a white shirt and grey overcoat, he had shaved his patchy remnants of a beard, something that would've made Roslin laugh at any other moment. In his hands, he held a grey cloak that was embroidered with an emblem of The Twins, it had been made by her father's first bride Perra and had been resewn every 10 years or so and now resembled a tatty blanket."It's time Ro"

She turned and he placed the heavy cloak on her shoulders, it had such a weight that Roslin had to fight twice as hard to maintain her posture under it. They walked down the corridor, with every step her grip on her brother's arm got tighter until they finally reached the Sept's doors.

"Perwyn, I can't do this" Roslin began to worry.

"You have to. For father, for the house, for yourself. I am always with you. She is always with you." Perwyn said softly.

Perwyn took his hand and removed his necklace, placing it instead around Roslin's neck. It was a sliver shield and it had the emblem of House Rosby.

"She loved you so much, she would've been so proud" He said, and Roslin could see the tears in his eyes beginning to form.

Roslin took a deep breath and stared at the large wooden doors in front of her.

"Ready?"

"Ready".