Wow! I didn't expect such strong opinions, though I love that you let me know about them. Some of you hated the last chapter and some of you loved it. I've never before seen that kind of reaction but I accept it. Part of writing a story is that not everyone reading has to really agree with everything but you have to admit that without plot twists this would become quite boring.
Thank you for your response.
Chapter 23 : No Reprieve
The nights in Winterfell were peaceful and quiet. The cold forced people to find themselves inside their homes earlier than in other places, even if they were used to it. They weren't fond of any type of frivolous entertainment either; they lived with little and made the most of it. Northerners were hard people with warm hearts for the ones they loved.
The bloodcurdling scream heard stabbed the silence of the night like an arrow through a heart.
It was Theon the one who burst into the room where Robb and his mother were speaking. He didn't ask for permission. He didn't apologize. It took Robb only one look at his former best friend – brother – to know something very wrong had happened; the ironborn looked wild, the sweat making his hair stick to his face and his eyes seemed almost unfocused when he spoke.
"She cut his hand," he breathed out. "Your wife, she… she ordered Dacey to cut the Kingslayer's hand."
It was only that he needed to hear for him to hurry himself out of the inner castle, with Theon following closely behind and his lady mother not far from them.
He didn't know what to make of it. He actually didn't know where to go but Theon kept talking about the blood and the courtyard, about the mud and Maester Luwin attending the Young Lion's wound.
What had happened? What had driven Daenerys to do such thing? He had heard the stories of how ruthless dothraki people could be, of the rituals they performed and of Daenerys taking part of them in her role as their queen but she hadn't so far showed it in front of him. Robb of course knew she was a very strong woman, but she had not showed signs that could lead her to do this.
His steps slowed down at the sight of Maester Luwin ordering a couple of men to take the Kingslayer into the castle. Dacey was standing there with a conflicted expression on her face and a bloody sword still in her trembling hands; she had fought before and killed people but he guessed she had never expected to maim a brother-in-arms, a man Robb knew had become of significance for her even if they pretended to despise one another.
The heir of Bear Island woke up of her stupor when she saw how they dragged Jaime into the castle, letting her sword fall into a puddle of blood, mud and melted snow. "I'm sorry," she whispered as she walked past Robb.
The Kingslayer had passed out, and his body was limp.
Robb blue eyes shone like cold steel when they fell upon his wife, who stood there in her embroidered cloak, the hood covering her head and shadowing her face. Light snow was sprinkled over her head and shoulders and a piece of her braided hair peaked out to fall over her chest.
"What have you done?" He growled through his teeth, taking a long step her way but she didn't move. "What have you done!" he demanded before standing only inches away from her, noticing her clasped hands in front of her.
He roughly pulled off her hood and looked into her violet eyes, noses touching but she showed no sign of recognition, as if she were out of herself.
"Answer me!" he shouted and she lowered her gaze.
"It had to be done."
"Robb," his mother called softly, forcing him to twist his head around to see servants and guards looking at them. He knew this had to be done in private, just like his mother had advised in unspoken words.
And so her grabbed Daenerys by the arms and dragged her into the castle, pushing her roughly, feeling an unpleasant burning in his stomach, feeling frustrated and hurt. More hurt than she had ever done to him before.
His wife had betrayed his trust.
-o-
"Speak! Explain yourself!" he ordered as he shoved her in their bedchambers, his mother following closely and closing the door behind her quickly, right before Irri tried to enter the room.
Daenerys had lost her balance and had to brace herself on the bed to not fall onto the hard floor.
"They sent a finger. Sansa's," she looked up when they heard the sharp intake of breath from his mother and her prayer to the Gods for her daughter to be still safe. Alive. "I had to do this! For you," she stressed, looking at him with pleading eyes. "For all of you," she added with her eyes on his mother.
"For me?" he spat between clenched teeth. "For me? I'm King in the North, Daenerys! The King. You have nothing to do for me. I take the decisions. How do you think this will look for the men I lead? For the Seven Kingdoms? I can't even control my wife!"
"Robb," Daenerys called meekly. "My Wolf, I-"
"Quiet!" he bellowed. They could only hear the fire crackling in the hearth.
She cowered, slipping off the bed and onto the floor. Her muddied dress pooling around her, making her look like the child she hadn't been in far too long.
"You failed me," he hissed. He couldn't feel pity for her when her eyes filled with unshed tears, when she trembled at the sight of him towering over her. His own heart felt frozen at the thought of the woman he loved betraying him. "What did you think? Did you think I was going to kill him as soon as I knew? You must think I am that foolish, aye?"
She averted her eyes and he saw her swallowing hard. There was no need for answers on her part. He knew he was hot-tempered but he was no fool. He had to make hard decisions but he never took them for just any reason.
"Do you believe that if I propose a trade of my sister for the Kingslayer they will accept it now that he's maimed? Do you think they won't hurt Sansa because we cut his hand? You are going to get her killed!"
Tears fell down Danerys cheeks even if she hadn't blinked. It was as if she could not react to anything, as if she could not utter apologies. But would he accept apologies? They would do nothing to mend the situation they had found themselves in due to her rush to prove her power.
His blood felt like it was boiling through his body and his heart frozen in his chest, all at once.
He grabbed her by the hair and forced her to look at him. Forgotten were all those times in which he gently ran his fingers through the platinum tresses while they laid naked in bed, while he lazily kissed her and took time to learn every curve, every crevice in her body.
"You will cost me everything," he spat with fury. "You have insulted me, Daenerys Targaryen. You've done much worse than calling me a boy, you've treated me like one. Like a child who cannot take care of himself."
"Robb, my Wolf. Please," she begged. "Understand-" she reached for his face with trembling hands but he slapped them away.
"You should understand. I'm your King."
"If someone did that to our son, wouldn't you have done the same? Wouldn't you have wanted to protect him? I wouldn't bear the thought of my child being hurt!" she screamed in a shrilled voice, fully crying now. "I had to," she whispered like a mad woman. "I had to hurt him because they hurt my family. Our family."
"I was going to send him back to King's Landing with Brienne of Tarth to trade him for my sister." He tugged on her hair and she closed her eyes tightly. "How am I supposed to do that now? Tell me!"
She tried to shake her head but his hold didn't allow it.
"If it had been our child, my child," he breathed out in a whisper. "I would've burnt the Seven Kingdoms and kill each of them at the right time, which is what I plan on doing unless you get in my way again."
He released her, noticing how her body crumpled against the side of the bed, looking exhausted and in pain.
"From now on, you're forbidden to leave the castle and all decisions would be made by the Lord of Winterfell in my absence, Bran. You're no longer entitled to advise him. Your maids will serve you but you won't have the power to give orders to the guards or any of my men."
"Robb, son" his mother called sternly but softly.
Only one look told her this wasn't the right time to try and tell him what to do.
"Theon will replace Dacey in her duty as your guard. He'll stay."
"No," Daenerys said firmly. "He hates me!"
"Then he won't listen to you, which is what I need to be sure of." He straightened, feeling empty and tired. "I will leave tomorrow and return to the Westerlands."
"Don't do this to me." She reached for him, her fingers barely grazing the top of his boots. "I love you, my Wolf."
He said nothing back. Robb just turned around to leave the room, letting his mother stay with Daenerys, listening how the sobs grew louder while his mother's voice made hushing sounds and murmurs.
As he walked down the corridor he wondered how you could hate and love a person at the same time.
-o-
"We need to keep this for ourselves right now. Nothing good will come up if this is heard by our enemies," Catelyn said as she paced in front of his desk with her hands clasped together. The worry on her face was evident. All of them were afraid of the consequences considering what had happened with Sansa and the Kingslayer.
Robb had had to speak to Maester Luwin when he profusely apologized for keeping information from him but Robb understood it had been done under Daenerys orders. He just explained she no longer had that power at which the master only nodded reluctantly, accepting his orders.
"It's our only chance until we are able to rescue Sansa and Arya," Robb agreed. They couldn't just attack at any time and risk the territory they had conquered. Plus, if they showed any sign of weakness, their allies could change their minds. It was a tricky situation in which the wrong step could be their downfall.
Sighing, Robb tried to keep calm as he remembered what his wife had done.
He had already informed Theon of the new plans for him, and he seemed more than pleased to serve him and regain a part of the trust he had lost. Of course, Robb had warned Theon of not hurting Daenerys under any circumstances because she was still his wife and queen.
Meanwhile, Jaime was still resting as Dacey kept a close eye on him. There was no longer need to keep their secret, since her worry had been revealing enough.
"He said he knew," Dacey murmured when Robb had called her to explain the new arrangements in Winterfell. "He was sure at one point or another, he would be punished, that he had gone too long through life without paying for his debts," she spoke with sadness.
"Perhaps, but it wasn't the time."
"Many times he asked me that if it weren't you, Your Grace, he'd rather be me who did it. I was merely respecting his wishes as well as your wife's."
There had been a time when he had passionately disliked Daenerys, when he had been forced to marry her, but they had grown so close, soon they were wrapped together, held by strong vines that kept them safe in their own world. Robb couldn't accept easily that now they were strangers again. Was she cursed with madness as her father or had she been honest in her attempt to keep their family safe?
"You and the Kingslayer cannot be together, Dacey," Robb sentenced, meeting her gaze. "He is a traitor before all and this doesn't erase his sins."
She obediently nodded but Robb knew that not being together only meant not making public their affair. Women from House Mormont never justified their actions to a man, even if she was loyal to her king.
"He would need to plead forgiveness and swear to be loyal to me, things that won't happen any time soon."
"Indeed, Your Grace."
It was odd how one thing, one bad decision, had destroyed all the happiness they had achieved after Catelyn's return and Iagan's birth. Overnight they found themselves bitter and angry.
-o-
Cradling his child in his arms, Robb let himself take in every detail of his son. His eyelashes were white as snowflakes fallen on his cheeks. And when he looked at him, Iagan's eyes seemed alive, as if the blue in them were the ocean under the bright sun, shining and moving with the force of the wind.
Such a marvelous creature couldn't have been born from evil. Robb refused to believe Daenerys had deceived him to lead him to this point, to betray him.
At that moment, he heard the soft steps approaching. He looked up in time to see Daenerys standing there. She looked haggard, her hair falling loose around her and her eyes reddened out of so much crying. He had heard her whimpers and screaming for him whenever he walked past her chambers but he had refused to see her since the incident.
By her side was Grey Wind, looking at him with curiosity, as if he didn't recognize him completely.
"Do you wish for me to leave?" she whispered in a somewhat hoarse voice, like someone who had been screaming for a very long time. Her eyes were cast down and didn't dare to look at him, only at the baby.
She was scared of him. It was a very unsettling feeling. This wasn't her. Had he broken her in his haste to mend her doings?
"No." He approached him carefully but he felt hurt when she took a step back in fear.
Grey Wind growled at him but stopped as soon as Robb handed Iagan to Daenerys. She cradled the babe close to her chest as if he were the only living creature who could bring her comfort during this time.
"I must leave now," he stated, hating the way she choked on her own tears and how he couldn't bring himself to wipe them away like he used to.
"You weren't going to say goodbye?"
No. He wasn't because he couldn't fix things like that. Was there a solution for their problems? Would time be enough?
He said nothing and walked past her.
"Will you ever forgive me?" she asked and followed him as he hurried to leave. She put Iagan in Irri's waiting arms when the handmaiden came into view. Daenerys kept on following him down the stairs, with Grey Wind close behind her. "I still love you."
He blew a breath through his mouth, crushing the need to turn around and pull her into his arms, against his chest. Never had he made empty promises and he wasn't about to start now.
Walking past the door that led to the courtyard, where his men and horse waited for him, he saw Theon. Robb called his name as a command at which Theon nodded.
"My Wolf," Daenerys called just as she put a foot outside while he mounted his horse, right after gesturing goodbyes to his brothers and mother to whom he had had the deference to tell when he would leave.
He heard her struggling against Theon, trying to escape from his hold as she shouted, "My King! Don't leave yet."
He ignored her, spurring his horse, ready to return to battle.
"Robb!" she screamed with all her strength as he crossed the gates and kept on shouting until he could hear the wolves crying with her, even Grey Wind at his side. They howled with sorrow and Rhaegal whimpered in his cage.
Not once he dared to look back.