“Please tell me that you’re only jesting with me,” she said and looked over at him with her brown eyes. “you want me to go over to Westeros, Winterfell for that matter and meet the Queen of the North?” Jeyne asked and then shook her head. No.
“Why not?” Eoin wasn’t sure just why Jeyne wouldn’t go and see Katherine Stark and tell them that Rohan doesn’t mean any harm to them. It’s probably what they would do if it was the other way around. Westeros has just finished a big battle with the southern Queen and after all the North and Rohan had been friends for a long time.
“Because they will want to meet the Ruler of Rohan and the last time I checked that was you and not me”
“You know that I can’t go and that’s why I suggested you going” he admitted.
Jeyne sighed softly and looked back out the window before biting down on her lip and started wishing that she hadn’t passed up Kili and Fili’s adventure because if she hadn’t been here then she wouldn’t be asked to go to Winterfell.
“Although,” Eoin said and watched her back “I suppose I
could go but that means that you will have to stand in for me as Ruler…” he said and waited to see if there was some sort of reaction from her.
Jeyne closed her eyes and wondered if someone was testing her, Eoin wanted to make sure that she knew all the parts of how to rule for when she became his wife but she was putting it off for as long as she could. Not because she didn’t love him, no she loved him like she has never loved anyone before; Jeyne just didn’t want to become his Queen, didn’t want the responsibility of the country in her hands.
“You did that on purpose” she said once she opened her eyes and looked over at him, a soft smile pulling at the corners of her lips. “Fine, I’ll go but if the Starks get mad that you sent me then I’m putting the blame on you and saying you bribed me into going”
Eoin laughs. “Thank you”
Jeyne walked over to where he was. “Don’t thank me yet” she muttered and then kissed his cheek before leaving the room.
-.-
In Winterfell
Katherine seemed to be having a rough time without Jon being around, she was a little bit on edge and she found herself not really sleeping but In the time that Jon was gone she did have a little bit of time with Amelia and Demelza. Her red hair made her think of her fiery temper that she had told Katherine that she had.
But Katherine liked her anyway.
Then the real stuff started coming in like the constant scrolls from Lord Glover over the fact that there should be a marriage between the two of them to make sure that the North stays in line. It made Katherine want to claw at his throat everytime she got something from him and then in the end she stopped reading them because they would all be the same.
But it wasn’t only the Northern Lords keeping her busy but the hunger too, there had been times when she found herself wanting to drink from the guards that they had but she knew she couldn’t be so stupid so in the end, with compulsion, she had to end up drinking from some of the animals in the woods that surrounded the walls of Winterfell.
There had been times when Katherine thought that she might’ve been caught but somehow she managed to keep the secret to herself but there was always the nagging feeling that she would have to tell Jon when he got back. But the fear of telling him seemed to push her back because in the end she was a monster. Katherine drank blood to stay alive and if she was honest there had been a part of her that had wanted to die.
How could she tell Jon that she was more than happy to die? Wouldn’t it seem like she was more than happy to be without him than with him? But Katherine knew that that wasn’t the case, she didn’t want to hurt people and other than drinking the guard’s blood back in King’s Landing she hadn’t touched a drop of human blood but there was always a part of her that wanted too.
She couldn’t shut herself away because the North needed their Queen and both herself and Sansa split the responsibilities but when it came to Rohan she knew she would have to deal with them herself.
Katherine wasn’t all that sure if she should really deal with Rohan, wasn’t sure if she should reach out to them at all especially when no one gave things away for free and they couldn’t afford to go into another battle but if she was honest from what she had been hearing it seemed like Rohan had got everything sorted out better than Westeros ever could and she wanted to know just how they had managed to do it.
At the moment there was no sitting Queen or King in the South or at least they didn’t have any Iron Throne to sit on. Katherine still sometimes plays that moment over and over again when she was alone. The melting of the Iron Throne had actually been something she thought she would never see in her lifetime but then along came Jon Snow and he done it.
It was probably stupid but she didn’t honestly care, the Iron Throne was the most dangerous chair that she has ever known and dragonfire melted it. Katherine had never seen something so amazing happen before and now she couldn’t stop herself from repeating it over and over.
It had felt like a lifetime since Jon had gone and in the time that hadn’t been around they had managed to get Winterfell back to looking how it was. The kitchen always smelling so good and Leith knew how to make sure that everyone ate; he was even the one who tried persuading Katherine to eat. In the end she pretended to eat but it would make her sick afterwards. She didn’t need gossip going around Winterfell so she didn’t eat with anyone else in the room, always shutting herself up in the office until it was quiet enough for her to leave.
That’s pretty much what she had to deal with day in and day out.
Then she got a scroll from Rohan to say that someone would be coming to Winterfell so that they could meet face to face and Katherine was actually worried.
Rohan
She looked out on the balcony and honestly still couldn’t believe that she was living here. Jeyne had been at Durinhall for over five years and sometimes she still got amazed that this was where she had ended up. She was sure that she wouldn’t get bored of seeing this.
Her journey to Westeros was coming closer and honestly she was afraid. Jeyne had travelled, sure, but never to another country. She had heard about everything that had happened in Westeros and the North rising up against the South and sometimes she wondered how everything could get this way.
Rohan looked pretty quiet compared to what was going on in Westeros right now.
Jeyne was going to Winterfell in the North of Westeros to see if Rohan could give any assistance but she couldn’t stop the feeling in her stomach that told her she needed to let Eoin handle this.
She had never backed away from a challenge before and certainly not when it came to travelling with Fili and Kili but this time there wouldn’t be no Fili and Kili, there wouldn’t be any adventure, it was about bringing two countries together. Taking back Durinhall seemed so much easier than going over to Westeros.
Jeyne looked over to her side when she saw a shadow out the corner of her eye and she smiled softly at Eoin. “I’m going to miss this view” she admitted and then looked back at him.
“I’m sure you will be there and back again in no time plus it’s not like you’re going for a whole year”
Jeyne had to admit that was true, it was a good thing because she would really miss waking up to this view. It was still hard to believe that she was able to wake up to this view all the time and sometimes she had to pinch herself just to make sure that she wasn’t dreaming because it would really hurt if that was the case.
Then a thought came to her mind “Is this what you feel like when I go away on adventures with Fili and Kili?” she asked and watched him.
“I miss you when you go on the adventures” he admitted “but I know that you love going on them so I’m not going to stop that from happening” he nodded and then put his arm around her shoulders when she leaned in towards him then kissed her forehead.
Jeyne wasn’t sure when fortune decided to smile down on her and change her luck. In the beginning everything had been one rollercoaster because she had only planned to go on the adventure with the two guys, their uncle and one of the most amazing men she had come across but then that led to Durinhall and taking it back and Eoin and now it’s been a very long time and she was happy, although she was sure that her parents were still having a hard time thinking that she could be marrying the next ruler of Rohan. She found it hard to believe too. It was probably why she found herself saying no whenever he asked.
He must hate knowing that everytime he asked her answer would be no. Jeyne loved Eoin with everything she had in her, that wasn’t the case, it was because he was the ruler and she would be the next Queen. It was hard to make people understand, because they didn’t believe that it could be so hard but it really was.
She closed her eyes and put her arm around his back, just making sure that she got to hold on to him long enough before she went to Westeros. Maybe she could ask the Queen in the North how she managed to love the King when everything around her was falling apart. There was nothing like that going on now and she was thankful because it seemed like they were the only place to have their heads screwed on tightly but Westeros was a complete mess but it would get itself back together because it would have too.
Otherwise the country will fall apart and no one would be able to put it back together.
Jeyne opened her eyes when he pulled away and she smiled up at him. “I have to make sure that I’m ready to leave” she admitted before sighing softly. She was doing this because Eoin asked her too but at the same time she was worried because of what if Winterfell wanted to say no to their faces? They were the ones letting them come over anyway.
She couldn’t think that anything bad was going to happen because if she did then she wouldn’t go over there in the first place. Katherine Stark might actually be a nice woman and not want to slam the gates of Winterfell in her face; she might find that there was something she could learn from Katherine from marrying a ruler.
Eoin kissed her forehead once more before she smiled and looked up at her. “Don’t meet any handsome men over there”
Jeyne laughed softly. “They are probably all ugly” although there was a part of her that was interested to see just if there was any handsome people in Winterfell. Word had got to them that Robb Stark’s Queen was one of the most beautiful women that there had been and that she had been a Queen in her own right but Jeyne just wanted to see her and see if there was anything to worry about when it came to Winterfell.
Eoin gave her a smile before she then moved in the direction of the bedroom and checked that she had everything. The North was known to be cold so Jeyne had to make sure that she had everything she would need. This time she would be wearing the trousers that she had used in adventures because it was so much easier to move in. Her dark hair was braided at the side and ran down over her left shoulder.
When Jeyne had everything she then waited for the time when she would be heading off on the ship towards Westeros.
-.-
Jeyne put her bag over her shoulder and then looked up when Eoin came to her side once more. For some reason it was harder leaving for Winterfell than it was going on an adventures yet she never knew why. Probably because it was in another country and she was going to be face to face with a Queen who may or may not want to be friends with them and seek them out in their time of need.
It was a hard job to be living up too especially when she was sure they were expecting the ruler of Rohan and instead would be getting the ruler’s girlfriend. It was hard to be thinking of herself in that contents right now when she was sure they would look at her and see a whore.
Although Jeyne was sure she had been called worse when she worked in that tavern back in Nightsong.
After this she was going to have to travel back there and see her parents because she really did miss her family.
She pulled a hood up over her dark hair and looked up at him. “Are you going to be alright without me?” she said and licked her lip.
“Jeyne you really don’t have to worry because as soon as you get there, get Winterfell to see that we’re no threat to them then the sooner you can come home and everything will be alright” he smiled at her.
Jeyne nodded and then looked over her shoulder. “But what if..” she said and quickly looked back at him but he wasn’t going to let her back out of this one. There was a part of her that was wondering if he was getting her ready for when she was a ruling at his side. It was little things that she noticed but this was the biggest thing she could think of that would put her as the upcoming ruler at his side.
She leaned up and kissed him softly before she then moved away before she started on her journey. Jeyne wasn’t going alone but she wouldn’t be going with Eoin either and then prayed that she could do this. Holding a hand up, Jeyne gave him a wave before she turned away and put her mind on the journey at hand.
Eoin was right.
She would be there and back again in no time.
-.-
Winterfell
They were outside the walls of Winterfell and she had to admit that it didn’t look as scary as she imagined it to be. Jeyne had thought that it would be decorated with everything to do with the Starks but the outside looked as if it was new. She remembered hearing that Winterfell had been burnt but she guessed that it was all now getting back together.
They stepped through into the grounds of Winterfell and she looked up to see all the residents were standing and waiting for them and then they came to a stop and there was two beautiful women standing and waiting for them.
One a very beautiful red-headed young woman who she was sure was made of fire and standing next to her was another beautiful woman, this time she was dark haired and Jeyne guessed that this was who she had come to see.
Katherine Stark, Queen of the North.