I'm still alive! I haven't updated in almost 2 months, but I'm back. I am almost finished with the next chapter, so with any luck, I'll be able to post that next weekend. Thank you to everyone who is reading this. It means a lot to me. Enjoy!

Oh, I almost forgot. In case you guys haven't been noticing, some strange things have been happening to Alana. That voice she keeps hearing isn't her internal monologue. You'll find out more in the chapters to come, but just keep in mind that not everything is as it seems...

Chapter 9

Alana woke up shivering, despite the fact that she was wrapped in several blankets, and as she moved to massage warmth back into her legs she noticed her skin was cold and clammy. She felt the need to cough, and she curled up, coughing into her closed fist so hard she was sure she must be dying until at last it passed. Opening her eyes, she took in a small crowd of people watching her, Renly and Robert in front, and behind them Lord and Lady Stark, both with looks of concern on their faces. She noticed her betrothed, Robb, was sulking in the back.

Oh, and she was naked under the sheets.

"What are you doing here?" she sputtered, pulling the covers tighter around her, as if it would make her invisible, as if she could sink into the bed. The mere act of talking hurt her lungs, and sent her into another fit of coughing.

"You nearly drowned," her father growled, and she realized just how furious he was, furious enough to kill anyone who wanted to hurt his daughter. "We were all terrified you wouldn't survive."

"And why am I not wearing any clothes?"

"The cold would kill you in minutes if your clothes were wet," Ned explained, his expression quizzical, and Alana could nearly see the gears turning in his head as he tried to make sense of what had happened. "It was to keep you warm enough to survive."

"I was terrified you wouldn't survive," her father admitted, frowning as though he were disappointed. "But I think it is necessary-"

"We don't have time to play games," Rober interrupted. "I need to know who tried to kill you."

Alana squeezed her eyes shut. "I don't remember," she admitted. "The last thing I remember was being pushed into the lake. I looked up, but the water was too murky to see." Realization hit her hard, and for a minute she was so shocked she couldn't breathe. "I know who it was," she gasped.

"Who?" asked Robert, quirking an eyebrow upwards.

Alana raised a shaky finger at the Stark heir, who had until then been sitting silently in a chair, watching the scene play out. "It was him," she announced. "He was the only other person it the Godswood with me, he must have tried to kill me so we wouldn't have to marry." For a few moments Alana almost grinned with triumph. It wasn't as though she had been constantly in fear of her life, she had only known someone was trying to kill her for several moments, but it seemed she had already pulled herself out of danger.

For a few moments, her chest swelled with pride. Her bubble of happiness shattered as her father merely raised an eyebrow, and the Starks glanced at one another. "Robb didn't try to kill you," her father replied slowly, conviction in his voice. It occurred to her that it might have been the first time he had called her betrothed by his name.

"What makes you so sure? It had to be him. There was no one else."

Her father opened his mouth to reply, but it was Robb who spoke first. "Because I was the one who pulled you out of the water."

Now that she looked closely at him, it seemed to make sense. His hair still looked damp, and he was shivering ever so slightly. It was good that she was in the blankets. If she hadn't she might still be cold, or maybe frozen to death.

Still, it raised even more questions, and she raised an eyebrow. "Then… who was it?" she asked.

She glanced at Robb, but he shook his head, his shoulders rising and falling. "When I heard the splash, I thought…" he glanced over at her father and uncle. "I thought something terrible must have happened." He clearly had something he was hiding, but everyone in the room either didn't notice or chose not to press him. "But there was nobody else in the godswood. I saw no footprints in the snow."

"Maybe it was a ghost," her father joked, cracking a smile as he tried to lighten the mood of the room. Instead, it left everyone in the room staring at their feet as they tried not to think of Winterfell being haunted.

After a few moments of silence, Ned spoke up. "I'll have the gates sealed and my men search for whoever pushed you into the lake. What did he look like?"

Alana scrunched her brow and closed her eyes, trying to bring back the last things she had seen before being pushed. "He had dark hair. Not as dark as ours," she added, glancing at her uncle and father's raven black hair. "And he had hair on his face, but it was too short to be called a beard."

Ned nodded. "I'll send word to the men to close the gates and search the castle. If he's still here, we'll find him." With a nod, Ned stepped out of the room, followed by his wife.

"I'll have our men search the nearby area, in case he escaped. I'll find him and give you his head as a wedding present," he vowed, staring off into space as though he was picturing how heroic he'd look bringing a criminal's head to his niece's wedding.

"We'll let you get some rest," her father announced, resting his arm around Robert's shoulders and dragging him out of the room. "Come on, Robb."

"Hang on a moment," Alana said before dissolving into another fit of coughing. Robb, who had been standing up to leave, paused for a minute. His eyes strayed to her bare shoulder which had become exposed when she sat up, before glancing away, immediately looking guilty. "I wanted to talk to you," she continued, her voice weak. "I wanted to thank you for saving me."

"It was my pleasure to save a princess" he answered, his mouth curling up in what may have been the first smile he wore since she had met him.

Alana laughed hollowly. "I'm no princess."

Robb quirked his eyebrows upwards. "I was always taught that any relative of the king was a prince or princess."

She shrugged, and pulled the covers tighter around her as they threatened to fall. "Perhaps, but certainly not the king's bastard niece."

Robb frowned. "I never learned of any exception, so I intend to keep calling you princess." Good gods, he was so sweet. Before she could say anything, a shiver wracked his body, and Alana noticed his clothes were still wet.

"You're freezing," she observed. Alana let herself fall backwards onto the bed and rolled to the side, leaving enough room beside her for another person to lay. "Come, lay down. We'd have to cancel the wedding if you died of a chill, and I'd hate to waste such a beautiful wedding dress."

Immediately, Robb flushed adorably, his face turning a shade of red. "I- well- we shouldn't when you're..." his voice trails off and he glances down to her chest. "When you're like this. It would be... it wouldn't be honorable. People might talk."

Alana snorted. "Half of the people here think I've already fucked half of the Stormlands. Besides, we're betrothed. They'll just think we're getting a head start on our wedding night."

She could practically see his resolve weakening, and she smiled to herself when at last he admitted defeat and nodded, sliding under the covers next to her. "Hello," he grinned at her as he shifted to get comfortable.

Alana wrinkled her nose and rolled away, wrapping the covers around her. "You're cold," she hissed, prompting a laugh from him.

"Isn't that why you had me lie next to you?" he asked, smirking. He wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, and she squirmed away, arching away from his icy hands on her stomach. "If anyone sees us they'll say I seduced you."

Alana laughed and turned over, so she was face to face with her betrothed, their noses almost touching. She was vaguely aware that her chest was no longer covered by the sheets, and she was fairly certain Robb noticed it, too. "I'll tell them I was the one who seduced you."

For a moment, it seemed as though he was going to respond with another comment about how he had to be honorable, and he'd probably accidentally hurt her feelings, so Alana did something rash and reckless. She leaned forward and pressed her warm lips against his cold ones. For a seconds, neither of them moved, until at last she pulled away. Robb's eyes were wide open, and he licked his lips almost hungrily afterwards. "Was that your first kiss?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. "You seem a little… overwhelmed."

Robb gave a dry chuckle and ran a hand through his hair. "Its not my first kiss, but its my first with a noblewoman."

Alana nodded. "My first with a noble as well."

Robb raised his eyebrows. "Really?"

Alana rolled her eyes and lightly smacked his chest. "Believe it or not, I'm not some common harlot."

"No," Robb interjected, shaking his head. "That's not what I meant. I just thought, well, since you're so beautiful, I figured nobles would be asking for your hand in marriage left and right."Alana ignored the way her heart soared when he called her beautiful. Byron was always much more guarded with his compliments, and Alana was always questioning his ulterior motives. She hadn't thought of Byron for a few weeks, he was like a bad dream slowly fading from her mind. "Nobody asked for my hand," she muttered, looking away. "Nobody wanted me."

"I'm sorry," he whispered, and Alana wondered if she could detect pity in his voice, but decided it didn't matter. "Before you fell in the lake, I asked you something, and I wanted to talk to you about it further." He cleared his throat uncomfortably. "Do you think that- maybe- we might someday come to love each other?"

"Robb," she begins, and she wonders if he can already tell that she's going to let him down, break his heart before they are even married. "The last man I thought I loved betrayed me, and I barely thought of him since." She sighed. "My love life is... complicated, and I don't want you to think I'm leading you on. I don't know if we can ever be more friendly than we are now."

Robb nodded. He didn't look happy to hear it, but he seemed to accept it. "I understand. But just so you know, I'm willing to work to earn your love. I want to be able to say that I love my wife."

"I'm willing to work, too. But I can't make any promises." She glanced up at the sound of a servant passing by the room, the door open slightly. "Perhaps you should go. I'd hate for your famous Stark honor to be tarnished by being found in the bed of a naked woman."

Robb turned red. "You were the one who wanted me here in the first place."

"Who would your parents be more likely to believe, an innocent maiden, or you?" She asked, batting her eyes.

"You're infuriating," he decided, standing up and making his way to the door. "I'm looking forward to seeing you in your wedding dress."

"And I'm looking forward to being seen in my wedding dress," she called after him, and for the first time she didn't think she'd mind being married to Robb Stark.