Thank you to my friend and muse Tommyginger for helping me with this story along the way!
...
Stannis thought of Sansa for the rest of the day. Her smile plagued his mind and Melisandre found it hard to speak with him of the future plans that were to unfold in the next few weeks. She sighed, "Were you listening to me?" Stannis looked at her a shrugged, "Makes no matter to me what you think my next step should be. Right now, I am focused on the girl in front of me, the one that is playing the role of my ward." He rubbed his eyes, "She spoke to me last night of her brother and mother. Tell me, do you know where they are?" Melisandre shook her head, "I do not. If anyone will know of their whereabouts at this time, it will be Lord Baelish."
He stood and looked at Ser Davos who had been sitting quietly, listening to them bicker for the past hour, "Write to Lord Baelish by raven and ask him their whereabouts. I have an idea that will bring joy to our Sansa Stark." Davos nodded and smirked,
"Quite the surprise, your grace. I will do it in haste."
Melisandre watched Davos leave the room and she hissed, "We must focus on the next step. You must court the girl as soon as possible. I would tell you to simply take her and force marriage upon her, but she is a innocent soul. The Lord of Light wishes for you to court her, to woo her into marriage." Stannis chuckled, "I will not woo her in such a hurry, Melisandre. She is obviously very confused at this time." His once mistress sighed and leaned against the table, "At the beginning of all of this, you wanted only one thing; her virtue. Now, you are wishing to give her time?" Stannis growled, "I never wanted just her virtue. If you forget, I wanted to make her my Queen, I wanted to have Robb Stark with my army to take the throne." He paused, "I wanted her to have my sons."
"And she can! You just need to-"
"Papa?"
Both of them looked to the doorway and saw Shireen standing in the doorway, "Can I go to the beach today?" He eyed her and then looked at Melisandre, who in turn smiled, "I will leave you alone, your grace." Shireen watched Melisandre walk from the room and she whispered, "Sometimes, she scares me when she smiles." Stannis could not help the chuckle that escaped his throat, "Go to the beach, Shireen, but be careful. Stay with the guards."
..
"How would you like to write to your mother and brother?"
Sansa looked at Stannis with a large smile and squealed, "Your grace, that would make me so happy!" She jumped up and hugged him in her excitement, not caring if it was allowed or if he would mind. Stannis slowly wrapped an arm around her back and cleared his throat, "Yes, well, Ser Davos and I agree that perhaps it would be best. I also wish to write to your brother Robb to speak with him of a treaty of sorts." Sansa pulled away, "A treaty?"
Stannis nodded and let her go, "A treaty to bring the houses of Stark and Baratheon together once more. I need your brother's army, Sansa, as he is promising to be quite the leader and King in the North. His people love him and he will help us advance to the Iron Throne." Sansa was confused, "Us?" Stannis caught himself and cleared his throat, "Shireen and myself. In order to remove the Lannister's from the throne-" Sansa smiled, "No need to explain, your grace."
"Stannis."
They shared a moment and he explained, "When you first got here, I spoke with you in private and confidence. We agreed to speak by our birth names. As your one true King, I request you speak to me as Stannis." Sansa had never heard a man, never mind a King speak the way he did. She could not help but blush and question, "You request this of me? Yet you do not order." Stannis smirked, "I will not order you, Sansa." Sansa bowed her head, "Thank you, your gr-" She paused and let out a breath,
"Stannis."
...
She looked down at the parchment in front of her, unsure of what to write. In only moments, Sansa would be sending her letter to her mother by raven, and yet here she sat with nothing written down. A glass of water was placed in front of her and she looked up, "What do I write?" Stannis shrugged and sat across from her, "I haven't a clue." He saw her get frustrated, so he offered, "Perhaps simply mentioned that you are alive and well. Tell them that you are away from Kings Landing and you are acting ward, but do not mention who you are with. Until we know for sure we are not threatened, they must not know where you are."
Sansa nodded in agreement, "Of course. You are quite brilliant, Stannis." He snorted, "My brother didn't think so, which is why I am on this blasted rock." Sansa cleared her throat, "Perhaps it is fate of the supposed Lord of Light that you took over Dragonstone?" He chuckled, "Perhaps."
...
Ser Davos nodded as a guard handed him a small folded note, "Thanks to you." He had been expecting this note back all day and as he unfolded it, he received the biggest shock. Davos clenched his fist that held the note and rubbed his face, "Poor girl." He rushed from the room in just moments and went to Sansa's chamber to find it empty. He stopped and passing handmaiden, "Have you seen Lady Stark?" The girl nodded and pointed down the hall, "She's with the King in his solar." Davos pushed past her and made his way to Stannis' solar with panic in his heart.
As Davos made his way, Sansa was beginning to write her letter as Stannis enjoyed his fifth glass of wine. He watched her as she wrote, her biting her lip as she thought, just that in itself making him shiver. A knock on the door interrupted his thoughts about her and he ordered, "Come in." Davos entered and bowed slightly, trying not to pay mind at the fact Sansa was looking up at him with a smile on her face. Stannis questioned,
"What is it?"
Stannis finally saw Davos' face and he frowned, "What happened?" Davos cleared his throat, "Might I speak with you in privacy, you grace?" Stannis stood and whispered to Sansa, "Keep writing, Sansa." She nodded and as he closed the door behind him, Davos sighed, "There has been a horrible incident." Stannis arched an eyebrow, "Incident?" Davos handed him the note and watched as his King read it to himself, his eyes moving back and forth and his face becoming angry. But wait...was that sadness he saw? Stannis threw the parchment on the ground and hissed, "When were they killed?" Davos bowed his head, "It seems that they were murdered just four days ago. Robb Stark is dead, your grace, what do we do now?" Stannis shook his head, "We cannot do anything right now, I must think." He turned and looked at the door, "Let's leave her alone for now-"
"You must tell her, your grace!"
He hushed Davos, "I will tell her tonight after dinner. Right now, give the girl some peace."
As the two men walked down the hall to discuss the news they had just received, Sansa sighed and dropped her quill as she stood and walked to the door. She had thought she heard Stannis whispering just outside the door, but when she opened it, no one was there. Sansa frowned and looked down the hall, but still saw no one. As she went to return to the room, she caught sight of a balled up parchment and bent down to grab it. She slowly began to unroll the parchment as she return into the room and closed the door behind her.
...
I think that is a good enough cliff hanger for you all. Thanks for reading!