As soon as she reaches Winterfell with Margaery and the royal escort, Asha Greyjoy is allowed to look for her brother. Stannis warns her he may have killed him, or that Theon may have already died. But Asha feels her brother is still alive. And she knows where to look for. Once she gets there, she directly walks to the kennel: the dogs bark fiercely when she comes in. Stannis is with her, and he shushes them quickly. Asha walks to the last cage: it is wide opened and, inside, she sees a scrawny old man, huddled up like a fetus in his mother's womb, swaying fast, his hands covering his ears. She kneels next to him and lays a hand on his shoulder. He startles so violently she gasps with surprise. She knows this scraggy wrinkly is no one else but Theon Greyjoy, her brother. She whispers his name: he shakes his head frenetically:
"Reek, reek" he moans.
Even his voice has changed, even his voice sounds like an old man's one. She gives him a sorry look: maybe he just needs some time.
"Lord Bolton… Where is Lord Bolton?" Theon asks, his eyes looking completely lost as he looks around to see if Ramsay is here.
"He's dead Theon. He's dead. He'll never hurt you again. It's over."
Asha tries to be as sweet as possible but she is not really used to it. Theon shakes his head again:
"Lord Bolton can't die. He faked his death. He already did it. He faked his death."
"Boy", Stannis intervenes, "Ramsay is dead. I killed him myself. He is dead, I swear it."
He then turns to Asha:
"Take him out of here and give him a bath. I need to talk to him."
Asha nods and stays with Theon as Stannis walks out.
A few days later, while Theon feels a bit better, he receives him in his room. He has not taken the Lord of Winterfell's room because he still hopes Jon Snow is going to change his mind. The young man comes in shaking like a leaf, but at least he looks better now. He wears clean clothes, he has taken a bath every day since Stannis has taken Winterfell, and he has eaten. Still, he is more Reek than Theon. Stannis glares at him: he has never really trusted the Greyjoys, and what Theon did to Robb was an awful treason. He can see the boy is traumatized, he has seen the marks on his body, but, still, he can't feel pity for him.
"Why have you killed the young Starks?" he directly asks. He has a lot of things to do and he doesn't want to lose time with fake gentleness. Theon shakes his head:
"I… I…"
He keeps shaking.
"Why did you kill them? They were just children."
"They… I…"
Theon swallows hard.
"Spit it out!" Stannis shouts, angrily.
"It was not Bran and Rickon!" Theon shouts too before breaking down.
Stannis blanches and, within three strides, grabs Theon's collar:
"What did you just say?"
Crying, Theon shakes his head again:
"Please, your Grace, please, don't hurt me. Reek… Reek is a good dog. Good dog. Anything… Anything you want…"
Stannis's grip gets tighter:
"You are not Reek. You are Theon Greyjoy, son of Balon Greyjoy. Eddard Stark has treated you like his own son, you rode at his son's side during the war. You have betrayed Robb Stark, who was like a brother to you, you have taken Winterfell and burnt Brandon and Rickon Stark."
"Not them… Not them… The miller's boys… The miller's boys…" Theon repeats.
Stannis lets him go brutally:
"The miller's boys?"
Theon nods:
"Bran and Rickon escaped… I couldn't find them… I… I needed to show I was… I was…"
Stannis takes a few steps backwards, while Theon keeps talking. But the King doesn't listen to him anymore. The young Starks are alive. That's the only thing he's thinking about for now. He turns to Theon:
"Do you wanna be forgiven?"
Theon looks up at him and swallows hard:
"Ye-yes."
"Find these children. Bring them back home. I will forgive you then."
"B-but… Y-your G-grace… T-they w-won't f-follow m-me", Theon stammers.
A slight smile roves on Stannis's lips:
"Oh, you're not going on your own."
Theon slightly frowns at the King's words but he sends him away and he leaves quickly.
Margaery wakes up in the morning and moans with satisfaction: she thought Winterfell would be freezing, but, indeed, she likes it here. Stannis had decided that they would stay here for a moment and she approves his decision. The battle took place weeks ago, Theon had left to find the Starks and she almost felt like home here. She missed Highgarden's sun and climate of course but the people working in the castle had prepared a beautiful room for them, with heavy wolves' furs to keep them warm. She yawns and opens her eyes: Stannis is turned on her side, looking at her. She smiles and whispers sleepily:
"Morning…"
Her husband smiles at her and strokes her hair: he has things to do today, but he would like to stay with her and spend the day in bed. She smiles back at him and runs a hand on his beard.
"You need to shave, love"
He tries to hold back his surprised look: she has never given him sweet names. She notices his look and feels herself blushing intently.
"Can I do it?" she asks, trying to create a diversion.
Stannis simply nods, still surprised and she quickly leaves the bed. The King puts his breeches back on and goes sit, shirtless, on a chair in the middle of the room. Margaery gets dressed and leaves, coming back with water, shaving brush and a razor. She walks behind him and plunges the brush in warm water, before applying it on his beard. Stannis closes his eyes with the contact, and opens them again to look at her. She puts her hair behind her shoulders so it doesn't bug her while she carefully put the razor against Stannis's throat. He loves how she looks concentrated, her tiny hands perfectly handling the blade. None of them is talking: the room's silence is only broken with the crackling of the flames in the chimney and the sound of the blade on Stannis's cheeks. He keeps staring at his young wife, feeling pretty excited by what she is doing. But it's not only lust he feels. He is happy to be with her, at this moment, at all the moments they spend together. Her gentleness, the way she treats Shireen, the way she treats him, everything she does is lovable. Everything she does is beautiful. He thinks about her all the time she shaves him. When she finally wipes his face with a warm towel, he grabs her hand gently and pulls her to him. She smiles and kisses him deeply before staring at his face:
"Much better", she whispers.
He smiles and his hand slip under her dress. She looks at him with a smile and undoes his breeches. They make love on the chair, and, when they're done, that Stannis leans against her perfect chest, he pants:
"When was last time you've bled?"
Margaery, panting too, shrugs:
"I don't know. You think… You think I could be with child again?"
"I've joined you every day since we left Castleblack. Every day", he insists.
She moves away to look at him and beams:
"I'm gonna meet Cressen as soon as possible."
"Good idea", he approves nodding.
She has a brief excited shout and he can't help chuckling. She cups his face and kisses him deeply, stroking his tongue with hers gently. She has stopped telling him she loved him, because she did not want to feel as disappointed as the first time. She understands, though, that he cannot say it, even though he feels it. Selyse and he probably never told each other, mostly because none of them felt it back then. But Margaery has stopped caring about it: she knows he loves her. She knows it by the way he acts, not the words he speaks. She kisses him one last time, and, overexcited, she puts her dress back on and storms out of the room to meet Maester Cressen.
Sit on his chair, Stannis dreamily stares at the door she has just closed. The sound of a horn brings him back to reality and he frowns before standing up. He walks to the window and his eyes widens with surprise.