Curate, connect, and discover
continued from here , @eyeofvengeance
there was nothing more terrifying than the sound of dragon wings on the wind. of that sansa had become certain. she had not wanted this position, had not wanted to be the one left behind in the wake of a war that was not hers, nor cregan's, to fight. but duty had called the way it so often did for men, and stark - bound honor meant the lord of the castle had gone to do his part – left behind in his stead the only family who had not turned her back . . . or died. it had meant that when the wind had howled with something more than winter, it was no man who crossed the threshold into the courtyard to meet aemond targaryen, but sansa in her quiet rage.
sansa who had sent her cousin's son into the crypts with the maester and the master - at - arms, and every maid they'd been able to find. had insisted she would do this alone. whatever it was that he wanted, she would handle – and none else would suffer for it.
but as he speaks, she cannot get a hold on him. cannot track the train of thought, cannot understand what it is he's asking for in between the pretty words and complimentary syllables. she knows it is something, to hear a man of his infamy speak of forging something stronger than oaths and service – it is always something.
“ forgive me, prince aemond, i fear i don't . . . quite follow what it is you are asking of me. ” her gloved hands interlace together in front of her, a careful flicker of grey - blue eyes across his features, studying the careful twitch of muscles, each consideration even as his voice softens. “ if you have not come here to kill me, or my kin, then perhaps the northern air has done you well in the fraction of time you have drawn breath within it. ”
red curls billow in the wind, cold encompassing the courtyard, but sansa dares not to allow herself even so much as a hint of a tremble now. not when she must be the voice of those who needed her. nor would she dare allow him inside the walls of winterfell proper, not without a better promise of his intentions. “ your dragon will not like it here. ” she says softly, boots shifting upon the stone path. “ even visenya did not fly so far north with her. i cannot decide whether that makes you courageous or full of folly. " or both. those words go unspoken, though the implication remains as sansa shifts her gaze from aemond to beyond the walls of the courtyard, beyond to where she fears for the worst in seeing large wings of a dragon come to life again.
“ speak plainly of your wishes, and i will allow you both warmth for the evening. else i am just as keen to stand here with you all night, it will not be i who freezes first. ”