"Bar the doors!" I commanded as I heard the cries from inside. "Let no man in. Do not open until I say so."

The Lord Commander grabbed my shoulder. "My Lord, is it wise to go in?"

I laughed to hide my fear "I must. It's my duty."

He nodded respectfully at me, patting my back as I yanked open the doors and entered the bloodiest battle of my life.

...

Edda was giving birth.

The nurses swarmed around her, some holding her legs open, others insisting she breathed. And all my lady could do was scream and cry.

I shoved aside one nurse so hard that she fell on the ground. I scooped Edda's sweating hand in mine, kissing it.

"Stay strong my love-"

Her screams interrupted my sentence. I wasn't sure what to do. How was I to comfort her?

I turned to her handmaiden Arena. "Is there nothing you can do? Nothing?"

"My Lord," an older nurse explained, "I'm afraid to say she has to endure the hardship of childbirth by herself."

Tears poured down her face as she looked at me. "Ramsay?" She wept. I observed the soft grip she had on my hand and compared it to the reddening grip she had on a nurse's.

"It'll stop hurting soon, little one," I insisted, "Squeeze me tight."

"Please don't leave me..." she choked, throwing her head back and screaming.

I looked up at the old nurse. "Alleviate her pain. Please. Let it stop!" I hadn't realized I was screaming. I didn't want to break down. I'd only cried once in my life, once, and it was while holding Edda during her night terrors. I was not going to cry again.

"All we can do is stand by and help," she mumbled.

The grip on my hand was still soft as the sound of her wails of pain echoed throughout the Great Keep.

...

Eight hours of labor and a lot of blood loss. But, finally, our child came out.

A girl.

I held my newborn baby girl as the nurses patched Edda up. She'd passed out right after the little girl was born surrounded by her blood.

All I could do to calm myself was stare at my baby. A girl, yes, but... a beautiful girl. A baby with grey Stark eyes and a tuft of black, curly hair.

"... My lord," one of the nurses approached me with open arms for the baby. I jerked my child away from her, making her understand that she would not take her from me. "Lord Ramsay I'm pleased to inform you that Edda will be alright. However I would wait a while before putting another child in her. She's young, and very weak-"

"But she will be alright, will she not?" I cut her off, "She'll be able to move?"

"Of course." She assured me.

"Good." I held my daughter against my chest. "Tell the guards to ring the bells. Let them all know that Erika Bolton, Lady of Winterfell, was born on this day."