Prologue

I try so hard to remember those days when I was a girl, readily available to be teased and mocked by anyone who wanted to feel good about themselves that particular day. When the only solace I had was my room, my maid and my sister. All I ever wanted was to leave that wretched place, just like my mother. And I did.

The mustiness of the Twins, the constant humidity and the dank that made you want to scrub yourself clean every hour. Somehow my hair was the only hair that dared to not go limp as my sisters' did – one of the few pleasant thoughts I had about myself while I lived there. The crowded rooms and the overflowing dining hall during feasts, with uncountable brothers and sisters and uncles and nieces.

All of that feels like a different world altogether. My world became so vast the moment I stepped out of that place.

And now it feels even smaller than the one I began with.

"How long have you been lying here without a fire?" He murmured as he entered the room, in case I was asleep.

"Not very long. Just got lost in my thoughts for a while." I replied while barely holding on to my past life's memories.

He bent down towards the furnace, struggling to revive the dying embers. "This is hopeless. I can see why you gave up. I suppose I'll have to join you under the covers then." He said as he ran towards the bed, ducking under the covers beside me.

I shrieked as I felt his icy hands all over my belly through my nightdress, "Seven hells Robb! Hands!"

"Oh gods I'm so sorry! Let me warm them up for you."

"Let it be Robb, just…hold me." He wrapped his arms around me as I asked, "Everything is ready then? For tomorrow?"

"Aye. As ready as it can be." He sighed, as I turned towards him, finding him looking right at me but clearly thinking about the days that were to come after tomorrow. If they even would.

His shoulders were still as broad as the first time I saw him, although he had lost a lot of weight since then. One could see it in the sharpness of his jaw, though the heavy beard covered most of it. Rationing had done that, especially since the seas had frozen over and no more food could get to us from the South. Not that it would matter after tomorrow.

Robb. When did he ever not frown? His siblings told me of a time when he was so terrible at holding in his laugh, they would pull pranks on him in public to make him burst with laughter at the most inappropriate moments.

By the time I first saw him, the lines between his brows were already slightly visible, only sharpening when he would make his face pensive. Now, they were practically engraved. I still could not resist trying to press them away with my fingers.

"Whose hands are cold now?" He said jokingly, as I tried to flatten the frown lines on his forehead for the umpteenth time.

Even now, as he looks into my eyes, I feel almost the same as I did the first time he looked at me so – scared but at the same time, excited. Or perhaps the feelings are one in the same.

The first time I saw him, I didn't even look at him properly. All I remember seeing was a large, dark, looming figure, drenched in the rain as he climbed off his horse.

And those eyes of course. The bluest eyes even the murkiness of the Twins could not dim. Put my most beautiful sister's to shame, those eyes. Yet what terrified me, like everyone else, was his reputation, and from what I could gauge at that moment, his anger.

"I can come with you Robb. I can fight alongs—"

He released a deep breath, as if my concern for his wellbeing were a burden, "Then who is going to protect the remaining people inside the keep, eh? You are their queen. Everyone who is left here will need you to keep their spirits up. You will be their last defence."

"And you? Who is going to protect you? You expect me to sit here while my husband goes off to battle for the thousandth time and this time against an enemy that refuses to die?! How am I supposed to just—!"

"Ayana." He interrupted me in exasperation. "I don't want to fight you, not tonight, please. How long have we wasted our time together doing just that?"

Too much.

"Then how would you like to spend our last night together, your grace?" I hated this, pretending like I wasn't scared shitless. Like tomorrow all our nightmares weren't coming true. The long night had lasted for months, and tomorrow would determine whether it would end, or last forever.

I heard the mattress creaking as he propped himself over me, tracing his now warm fingers across my forehead, my lashes, my nose, my lips, my neck—

"I want to remember this, us, just like this. This is all that matters. If everything ends tomorrow, I want to remember the warmth I feel when I am beside you, and inside you." He murmured as he leaned in to finally kiss me.

Everything that had brought us here together, all the pointless wars, the doubts, the arguments, the betrayals and the hurt, I would face a million times over, if it meant I could hold on to him for just a little longer.

"Lie to me Robb. Tell me everything will be fine and that you will survive and we will finally have a real chance to be together, please." I whispered as he nuzzled at my neck.

A part of me laughs at who I have become. Never would I have imagined that I would or even could fall in love so desperately, and could be loved so greatly in return – that the day the young wolf chose me, would seal our fates forever.

If I had known that tomorrow was going to happen ten years ago, I would have run across the ramparts of the Twins right at that looming figure who I would call my husband, and kiss him – beg him to choose me – tell him that I would love him more than anything and that I would not waste a single moment spent with him.

But alas, our lives were never meant to be so easy.

Author's Note: Hello! Welcome to my first ever fic. I have been reading fan-fictions for a long time yet have never had the guts to write one myself so here it goes. Criticism is most welcome, as is politeness.