ASOIAF, GoT, whatevs, is not mine. I am borrowing the characters and their world.

Summary:

AU. First Part of a Trilogy, telling the story of Cadenzsa Forel, Syrio Forel's only child.

Cadenzsa's mother has decided it is time for her child to marry. Since no man in Braavos would dare touch her for fear of her father's sword - and Cadenzsa's, of course - the clever Syrio has relocated to Westeros in hopes of finding a man deeming worthy of his precious only daughter.

He has gone to King's Landing to find a Lord, or a Prince, or a Knight that will give Cadenzsa the life of adventure that she deserves. Cadenzsa, the clever girl, has decided to sail first to the North, and travel down through Westeros, in order to see the land for herself, and to learn of its people. She finds herself, though, soon stuck in the Hold of Winterfell, prey to the charms of the three young men that live there.

Theon

"Lock the door," said Cadenzsa, who was stretched across his bed. She kicked off her shoes and opened the front of her long, pale pink gown. He was happy to see her out of it, too, for he hated that color pink on her. It didn't seem right with her tanned skin. Her smallclothes clung tight to her breasts.

Theon took off his boots and unbuckled his trousers. He slowly removed his doublet and threw it to the floor, keeping his eyes locked with hers. This was the first time since they had met and been alone together that they didn't speak. She silently asked him to come to her with her eyes. Her long fingers tugged at his tunic as she came up to kiss him.

Theon took her face in his hands and ran his fingers through her long hair, feeling his cock swell against her soft body. Her skilled hands slipped beneath his tunic and pulled it over his head. Her hair tickled his chest. Her hand slipped down and gripped his cock, making him whimper unconsciously against her lips. Something about her touch made him go weak, so he pushed her on her back where he knew he could be the one in control.

He smirked as he pushed her hands above her head and held her wrists down. She struggled for a moment, but mostly against herself. Silently, he said to her 'stay on your back and open your legs wide,' which she did.

His long fingers traced down her neck, her collarbone. She sighed, her cheeks flushing red. He kissed down her neck and to the space between her breasts, practically ripping off her smallclothes with his teeth. She moved a little, but mostly stayed where he put her. His tongue traced the curve of her breast, and sucked on her nipple, grazing it with his teeth. Her back arched as she gasped with pleasure, her hands moving to his hair, her nails trailing down his neck and naked back. He could hear the desperation, the pleasure in her voice, and the excitement which came from the fear of getting caught.

His fingers found their way to her cunt, which was already wet and open. He brought himself down, kissing down her body, along her flat belly and down to her hips. His teeth grazed the skin on her thighs as he rolled down her dark stockings with his quick fingers. He kissed all the way down her legs and nibbled at the flesh on her ankle and sucking on her toes before repeating the same thing with her other leg. He almost didn't want to open his eyes, for the sounds she was making were too wonderful to want to spoil with another sense. But when he opened his eyes, he saw her, all open and hairy and wet, slender and strong. He had to have her. Now.

In one swift motion, Cadenzsa came up and wrapped an arm around his waist, throwing him down on his back and climbing on top of him. He was so shocked by her strength that he couldn't help but gasp. She smirked and pulled his trousers down to his knees. He kicked them off as she leaned over him with a deep kiss. Theon's hands gripped at her hips and squeezed hard at the firmness there.

Cadenzsa smirked as her eyes went playfully, sensually dark. He thrust up his hips and entered her so abruptly that she gasped in such a delicious way that he almost came inside her right there. But she was a woman who knew how to control her body, so with that moment of pleasure, she brought up his hands to massage her breasts as her skilled hips rode and thrusted on his cock.

Theon bit his lip to keep from moaning and making too much noise. He'd never felt someone so smooth, so velvety, so incredibly tight. Did she spend so much time exercising that even her cunt had strong muscles? It felt delicious. It felt like mighty waves of cum was building up inside of him. And she was so fucking beautiful it was almost too much.

Cadenzsa then smirked and took one of the rather large candles from his nightstand. "Like to play a rape game?" she asked playfully with a deep voice.

He smiled, but quirked his eyebrow in a very suspicious question. "No?" he said, a little unsure.

She mirrored his raised eyebrow and pursed her lips playfully. "That's the spirit," she said as she poured the hot wax all over his chest; and when she did he screamed in such a pained pleasure he was afraid he'd have woken all of Winterfell. Well, it didn't matter, really. They had all heard him screaming at night when fucking, for he was sure he'd fucked the entire town. But if they heard Cadenzsa... He hoped that they assumed she was asleep in her bed. He hoped that nobody was looking for her.

Theon also hoped that Robb understood.

He took the candle out of Cadenzsa's hand and sat up, bending her to arch her back, pouring the hot drips onto her nipples; he felt her cunt shiver in pleasure around his throbbing cock. As he put the candle back on the night stand, he felt the wax falling and flaking onto their bodies. When Theon flipped her onto her back and spread her wide to grind into her, she didn't object.

Fucking Cadenzsa was like a dance. In truth, everything she did was a dance, from swordplay to eating to, well, dancing. Everything she did was so fluid and graceful, and in combination with his focus and dexterity was a veritable equation for - possibly - the best fuck in recorded known history. It had only just begun, and it was already the best Theon had ever had.

At one point during the night, she turned over and bent to where she was bidding him to take her from behind. Theon couldn't do it; he wanted to, but he simply couldn't. He had been captured that night by her eyes, and could not bear to look upon anything other than her gorgeous face. It started out as a more-than-fantastic fuck, it seemed, but as they moved together, their bodies covered with slick sweat, they were lovemaking.

He couldn't stand her against the wall and fuck her like that. He couldn't pick her up and fuck her grinding against his door. He certainly couldn't take her from behind like a hound takes a bitch. All he could do was slowly caress her cheek, stare into her eyes, feel her body respond to his touch and make mental notes of how she liked it. The best part was that he could feel that she liked it dirty, but the fact he was doing it so sweetly was driving her even more mad. When she came, she couldn't help but scream, and Theon had to quickly cover her mouth with a kiss so deep and passionate, he came with her.

They collapsed on top of each other, breathless. He moved out of her slowly and fell on his back on his bed. Unconsciously, he still had his arm wrapped around her, and when he pulled her close to rest her head in the crook of his neck, she did not object. In fact, she nuzzled close and wrapped her arms around him, her heart beating hard through her chest.

This was the part that was usually awkward. This was the part where he either paid, or left, or had them leave. But Cadenzsa stayed. Cadenzsa stayed, and Theon did not mind it. He didn't know how long they stayed like that, all tangled together, but it was awhile. The way she stroked his hair and ran her fingers through the whiskers on his chin gave Theon a moment of comfort. For the first time in ten years, he felt like he was home, for home was where she was.

He studied the curves of her face, and all the freckles on her cheeks and arms. He bid her lay flat on her back as he crawled atop her again for a deep kiss. She wrapped her arms around him and he felt a strange comfort he hadn't felt ever before. She smiled at him, serene, studying... He bent down and then nuzzled his face between her legs and tasted of her delicious cunt. Theon knew that she would probably scream, but he was so happy and so deeply pleasured to be down there that he didn't care. She tasted magnificent, and he reached under to stroke his cock as he pleasured her with his tongue so they could come together again.

Theon knew that this was love. He knew that because, after a fuck, he never wanted someone to just stay with him so badly. The moments between them were not magical, but simple. The world in her eyes was one that he could retreat to, and to her he was a Champion. Was she doing this just because he had saved her life? He hoped not, for it seemed that she was slowly saving him from a fate that he didn't know he hated so much.

As Cadenzsa dressed, Theon carefully adjusted her clothes and fixed her hair so that she did not look so disheveled as a woman that had just been fucked raw. He poked his head out of the hallway and made sure that nobody was there before he sent her on her way. She walked outside, though, first to make up some excuse about her needing some fresh air should anybody see her. Maybe she'd even make up a lie about how Lord Stark's Ward was fucking somebody so loud that it woke her up. Cadenzsa was smart like that, and Theon liked her for it.

He didn't fall asleep right away when she left. Love had given him wings, so he must fly. He wanted to creep into her room and curl up next to her, holding her hand until she fell asleep. He dreamt of holding her hand that night, too, as they stood on a ship that was sailing the sea. Theon had never felt this way about anyone before.

The next morning he was dismissed for the day while Robb was being a little Lordling for Lord Stark. Theon started to go hunting, but instead went into town and bought a fine new bow that had come off one of the trading carts that had come through town. There were arrows, too, that came in a fine holster of boiled leather to match it.

When he was on the road towards Winterfell, he found Cadenzsa sitting in the forest near a stream, soaking her feet in its cold waters. Her stockings were tucked into her shoes which sat by the banks of the river. She was alone, with her sword at one side and a basket of berries and mushrooms on the other side. Theon dismounted his horse and walked towards her; she looked over her shoulder at him and smiled.

"Sorry for not standing, my leg is a little sore, today," she said.

He almost stopped to see how beautiful she looked there at the river. There was water running over her hands and feet, and her gown scrunched up above her knees. He loved her so dearly, but he did not know how to say it. So instead, he said "I have a gift for you."

Cadenzsa gave a toothy grin. "Really?" she said with a tiny laugh. "Oh, I hope it isn't some frilly jewelry thing..."

"No, no, never," said Theon, walking towards her and pulling out the bow from behind him. "This is something completely practical. I figured that it will be easier for you to practice archery if you have your own bow and arrows. You know, after your father comes to get you and all." The words came out a bit more clumsy than he wanted them to.

She didn't gasp, but her expression changed. As she took the bow and arrows in her hands, he saw a look that he hadn't ever seen on her lovely face before.

"Don't you like it?" Theon asked.

She put the bow down next to her and looked up. "I don't want to go," she said.

Theon frowned.

"I know what you're thinking, but it's now why you think. I hate it here, in truth. I can feel myself dying on the inside just being in such a place as Winterfell. And it's not that I want to stay because of you...it's that the thought of you being trapped alone in this place for the rest of your days makes me sick."

Theon smiled and squeezed her hand. "Don't you worry about me," he said. "I was fine before you came and I'll be fine once you leave. Who knows? Maybe a miracle will happen and they'll get so sick of me that they'll send me home." She seemed a little hurt for a moment at this, but then understood. Poor foreign girl, learning a tricky new language in such a confusing time in her life...

"When can you go home?" she asked.

This was not the first time Theon had wondered when he could go back to the Iron Islands...he always assumed that he would return when his father died, so there would be no threat to the King when he took over Lordship of the Iron Islands. But, on some hard nights, when Theon was very sad, he wondered if he would ever go home again. In truth, nobody had ever told him if and when he could go home. But at his nineteen years, he had faith that his blood was still salt and iron, and he would go home someday on a ship, with white sails shining. Cadenzsa was watching, though, so he answered honestly:

"I don't know. Most-likely when my father dies. I'll be the Lord when that happens."

"What about your mother?"

Theon shrugged. "Well it doesn't matter if she's alive or not, I'll be Lord either way. If she's alive, then I'll see her."

She seemed distressed at this, for her fingers intertwined with his and she sighed sadly. "You'll never see him again, then," she said.

Theon hadn't thought of that. The Ironborn were not necessarily sentimental people, nor were they people that openly expressed great deals of affection. They were warriors of the sea. They were hard men. Hard men did not weep and wail to be held by their fathers.

"No, I suppose not. But not much can be done about it," he said with a smile, trying to goad her into doing the same. "So there's no use worrying." He took her chin and wiped her eyes with gloved fingers. He leaned in and kissed her. She tasted salty, like the sea. When they parted, she wiped her eyes.

"I heard that you spend many of your days at the pleasurehouse before I came." Theon didn't know what to say; was Cadenzsa a jealous woman? "I can't believe you would do that to me. Do you know I could catch some cunt-disease from them?"

Theon then laughed and shook his head. "My cock is too important for me to loose with a cunt-disease. I used to fuck a lot of them, but I've only fucked one of them in years. Here and there I'll fuck a servant girl. They're sometimes virgins."

"Only one?" laughed Cadenzsa. "Who is she, your favorite whore?"

"Are you jealous?" asked Theon.

She rolled her eyes. "No..." Cadenzsa sighed. "It's more complicated than that."

"Either you're jealous or you're not. Pick one," Theon demanded.

"Fine. I'm not then."

There was a very awkward silence between them. Theon wondered who could have told Cadenzsa that he spent his days at the whorehouse in town. Was it Robb, who was already in love with her? Or was it the bastard, who cared too much for a woman's honor to let it be soiled by Theon Greyjoy, the hostage of Winterfell.

"Who told you?" Theon then asked.

Cadenzsa broke into a tiny smile. "I made it up to see if you would betray yourself. Which you did." She grinned. "Honestly, my lord, I thought you a lot of things but I didn't think naive was one of them."

A beat. An angry frown. "Are you having a go at me? After I bought you a present like that?"

Cadenzsa laughed. "I just wanted to see a part of you that I hadn't before... The part that got angry, or sad, or frustrated." She took his hand. "I'm sorry."

Theon shrugged it off after a moment with a smirk. "You're smarter than I thought."

"...Thank you?"

He gave a sad smile. "Listen," he said, " we can play these games all month long if you like. But you're going to have to be alright with the fact that, when you leave to marry some fat lord with a huge belly and little prick, I'll still be here, probably fucking lots and lots of girls to make up for the fact that it'll probably never be as good as it was with you."

She smiled. "When I ride South with my father," she said, "I will take this matter to the King."

"What matter? My fucking whores?"

Cadenzsa rolled her eyes and laughed. "No, you fool, your freedom!"

Theon groaned and rolled his eyes. "Don't be a fool," he said. "Robert Baratheon was the one who sent me here in the first place. And he's not going to listen to some lovesick, foreign, Dancing Girl."

Many girls might weep at that insult. But Cadenzsa was not many girls.

"I'll learn to speak the Commontongue better, then!" she said, frowning. "I'll lose my accent and learn to speak like a Westerosi Lady. Then the King will have to give me a hearing."

"So what are you going to say to him? 'Oh, please, King Robert,'" japed Theon in a high-pitched voice, "'I briefly met the son of the man who rebelled against you ten years ago and would see him set free!'"

"My father will have him release you into our House. I'll bring you back to Braavos with me until your father dies! Then you can be away from this place, where its warm and the sea is all we have. We can live in my father's Manse. You can teach archery there. You can be a Master-at-Arms!"

"You'll be good enough at archery at that point to start teaching. You're a fast learner, Cadenzsa. And you'll be a good teacher."

"Not as good as you."

"What makes you think that he will?" asked Theon, now rather annoyed.

Cadenzsa smirked. "You don't know how persuasive I can be! I hear that the King has a taste for beautiful young ladies."

Theon laughed. "You'd fuck the fat Stag King for me?"

"Who says I have to fuck him? I just have to get him alone and naked enough to where I can tie him down and whip his fat belly with the blade of a sword til he yields to my every whim." Theon laughed again. "What's he going to say to his guards? A little Braavosi girl tied me down in my bed and slapped my belly til I cried! Arrest her!" Theon laughed; Cadenzsa did, too.

He took both of her hands in his and held them tight; she felt like home.

"I wish you could come with me," whispered Cadenzsa.

"If I run away with you, I can't stay in Westeros. And I have no idea what'd happen to the Iron Islands if I suddenly disappeared. They kept me on condition of my father's good behavior..." A pause. "If we did, we would have to go somewhere far away." Theon wasn't in the mood to play games, really, but it seemed that playing pretend with their futures was making her happy, so he did it. After all, she would only be here for another few weeks before he never would see her again. So why not play along?

"Across the Narrow Sea," she said. "Far away from Westeros. Maybe to Volantis or Lys. I also hear that Pentos is a beautiful city, though I've never been there. Or, like I said, we could live in Braavos together. "

"Your father won't let you keep a fuck-toy in his house, Cadenzsa."

"You're not a fuck-toy!" said Cadenzsa. "You're a man."

"Well, your father won't let you keep a man in his house to pleasure his daughter at night. If anyone finds out what happened between us-"

"-Are the Westerosi so concerned with what happens to a girl's cunt? Are they so concerned that they think only of what they think a girl wants but not what she actually wants? Can a girl not decide for herself whom to love and what to do about it?"

Stupid foreign girl. Sweet foreign girl. But still stupid foreign girl. "It won't work, Cadenzsa. Let's just never speak of this again and keep it a secret. You came here to marry a Westerosi Lord. Nobody will want to marry you unless you're a virgin. So nobody can know about us." At this point, he wasn't trying to be cruel to her; he was trying to save her. Theon wanted to love her, but he knew that he couldn't when he was a hostage here.

Cadenzsa tilted her eyebrows up in sadness. "You wouldn't care about something like that, would you?"

Theon's heart stopped, and in that moment he felt stupid for it never occurring to him that perhaps she wanted to marry him. He was so convinced that she was so different and radical that he had somehow forgotten that she was still a woman...and a woman, no matter what she said, wanted a wedding cloak for her pretty shoulders to be kept warm by. It didn't matter how feisty they were; they always wanted the same thing.

"Cadenzsa, listen-"

She didn't give him the chance to listen. She grabbed the bow and arrows and stormed away into the forest. He wasn't sure why he felt so foolish for the whole thing. Women were silly and irrational creatures, and he so hoped that Cadenzsa was different in that respect. Regardless of that, he was still hurting that he hurt her, for he really did love her. And because of that love, he couldn't let her suffer and wait for him.

Gods only knew when Theon would be free of the North. Theon did not know when he could go home, for nobody had ever told him. When he was a child, he had asked when he could return to the Iron Islands on nights that were full of tears. Those were the nights where Lord Stark found him crying in the stables, and he said to him that he should not cry, for Winterfell was his home now.

So was Winterfell his home forever? Would he live the rest of his days until Lord Stark died in Winterfell? Was the legacy and name of the Greyjoy House to never be carried on by him? Would he never marry and father sons? These thoughts had never bothered Theon before. But, now, that he had somebody that wanted to marry him and he, Gods be good, maybe actually wanted to consider marrying back?

Did Theon want to marry Cadenzsa?

When he was a child, his brothers spoke of how they would someday take Rock Wives. They were to marry Ironborn girls from one of the many families that pledged fealty to their House. Perhaps from House Sunderly, or House Drumm they would find a bride? But Theon's brothers were dead before they could marry girls from Sunderly or Drumm or Saltcliffe or even from House Farwynd. Theon had imagined that he would someday marry, but it would be an arranged one that had been made by his parents. But Theon sometimes had trouble remembering his parents; the one he remembered the most were his brothers and sister.

The day he was taken from Pyke was the subject of many of Theon's nightmares. While Theon hid in his bedroom, crying into his sister's arms, the sounds of the battle raged on. His mother, Alannys, had come running into the room, a terrified expression on her face. Theon remembered her brown hair, normally pulled tight back, but this time it was disheveled.

Theon remembered when the men came in, breaking down their doors. They seized his mother, the Queen, and tore him out of his sister's arms, who was screaming "Leave my brother alone!"

"Not my boy! Leave me my boy!" screamed and sobbed his mother desperately as the soldiers took him away. Theon remembered it all. It was the last real thing that he remembered about Pyke before they took him.

Cadenzsa had said she was afraid of being trapped here. Cadenzsa didn't know what fear meant. She had never been stood in front of her broken family and taken away to a far away place as a hostage. Cadenzsa had never been used as a tool against her family, or taken as the price for anything. Cadenzsa was a free woman, and she deserved to be happy, so to want her there with him would be selfish. He wouldn't let her die there with him.

Later that night, at the feast, Cadenzsa barely looked at him. She was amiable enough, but she still kept her eyes away from his. Jon was there, too, and she didn't know if she was being nice to him to be cruel to Theon or not. But Cadenzsa seemed like she was too mature to play such games. He didn't talk to her that night. Or the next night. On the third night, he could bear it no more and had to find her.

He found her in the Godswood at sundown, before the feast. She was sitting at the black pool, looking up through the trees. Her hair was half-up in golden pins with her curls flowing down, and the gown she was wearing was an exquisite island blue with gold trim around the collar and sleeves that belled out at the elbow. He came to her and knelt at her side. There was a silence between them; he opened his mouth to speak, but she held up a hand and stopped him.

"Please, don't," she said. "I can't stand men that speak in flowers." Perhaps she meant 'flowery'. "Just speak honestly to me. No fancy words, just honest."

Theon took her hands and took in a breath. "I'm sorry I'm such a dumb cunt."

Cadenzsa broke out laughing.

"I don't know how to do this. I know how to talk to women. I know how to get them screaming out of their clothes...and Gods do I know how to make a woman come." Cadenzsa cringed a little, but she didn't say anything for she was waiting on him to finish. "But I don't know how to...be around you. I just know that you're different. And beautiful. And I like you."

"I like you, too," said Cadenzsa with a smile.

"And I don't want to fuck you if we're going to get too attached to each other, especially because you're leaving, soon."

Cadenzsa sighed with a nod and a wistful glance down. "I understand," she said.

"I don't want to hurt you."

"You mean, you don't want to hurt me by fucking other girls." Theon frowned. "I know that you spend every other day in the whorehouse nearby. And I think you feel guilty with it, now that you see me." She smiled and looked up to the sky. "I'm sure that whatever husband I end up with will probably be the same. Honor is an absolute for women, but for men?" She laughed. "I don't care that you fuck other girls. I just don't want to be one of them. But if the day comes that you want to fuck nobody else but me, then let me know. Perhaps we can talk my father into finding a way to get your freedom."

A beat. Theon looked up to the Wierwood tree, which was dripping with red sap. In that silence, he almost heard the Old Gods say to him "she is your freedom.' But he did nothing about it, for he convinced himself that it was only his imagination.

"Cadenzsa," he said. "I care deeply for you."

She nodded with a squeeze of his hand. "I care deeply for you as well."

Theon stood. "The feast is starting soon. I should go. Will you come with me?"

Cadenzsa shook her head. "Not yet. I have never felt a place as holy as this one. As still... I'd like to stay for awhile. I might try praying. Perhaps I will even pray for a husband with a heart as great as yours."