"How long till we can get her back?" Robb sat in his throne in the great hall of Winterfell, looking at Steven who was leaning against one of the tables.

"Your grace, it's only been 5 weeks now." Steven looked at him and furrowed his eyebrows.

"What are they waiting for? We both know that the Lannisters hate us with everything they've got and will kill us if they have the chance." Robb began to pace in front of Steven.

"I don't think the Lannisters will start a war any time soon. They have their own problems to attend to first." Steven said and Robb hummed in response, not satisfied with the answer. "I understand that you miss her, Robb, but starting a war won't help."

"Soon they will marry her to Jaime." Robb laid his crown on one of the tables. "They will make her bear his children, the man who stabbed her father in the back, eat with her brother that killed her best friend and captured her other brother. And what am I doing? Sitting here, locked up in a castle with only unimportant matters left to attend to."

"They're not necessarily unimportant." Steven shrugged and looked at Robb with sympathy.

"They are. All the important matters like rebuilding a castle, helping bannermen in need after the war, the wall and wildlings, deserters and killers have already been attended to." Robb huffed. "Now I'm here, deciding whether or not some farm boy will get a piece of gold for his goat."

Steven sighed, looking at the floor. As a hand of the king he was there to give Robb advice and help him in these matters. If he had to be honest himself, he was also getting quite bored. All the commands had been given, now they could only wait till they were either carried out or completed.

"Elena knew what she signed up for." Steven said. He knew that the whole reason for Robb's tantrum was because he missed her dearly. "She knew the consequences of her actions, she knew what she'll have to do."

"You know she would do everything if it means saving other people. She never looks out for herself." Robb sighed. "And that's what worries me. Who out there, in King's Landing, would look after her if she's not doing it herself?"

"Robb-"

"Daddy!!!" The door barged open and a little kid with black hair and bashing blue eyes stormed inside and towards Steven.

"Hey there, little guy." Steven chuckled and lifted him up the moment his son came near. "Where's your mother?"

Robb chuckled, walking closer to Steven and one of his sons, Castiel. Steven had quite a lot of children. 5 to be exact. There were the twins, Michael and Gabriel. Castiel, a boy of 4 was the youngest of the group. Then you had Charlie and Meg, the two beautiful sisters.

"Castiel!" A woman barged in, looking around frantically. Her golden locks fell before her slightly reddened face, her brown eyes widening when she spotted Robb. "Your grace, I'm so sorry. He just suddenly dashed off."

"It's okay, Lady Mary, You have nothing to apologize for." Robb said with a small smile playing on his lips.

"Here you are, back to your mother." Steven carefully handed Castiel over to his mother. He kissed her on the forehead afterwards, holding her cheek. "Let's get you back to your grandfather."

"I'm sure Chuck will be delighted to see him." Robb smiled and walked closer to Mary. Steven's family had arrived a week back and already Robb liked them. They had much of Steven's kindness.

"After all those years I don't think Cas really wants to part from you again, Steve, not even for an hour." Mary sighed when Cas struggled in her hold.

"Daddy please!" He yelled while his chubby arms reached for his father.

"If you wait just for another hour I'll teach you how to shoot an arrow, okay?" Steven asked.

"Okay." Cas muttered and after his mother smiled at his father, they left the great hall.

"Steven, I don't mean to be rude but this is really bothering me." Robb looked at him with sad eyes.

"What is it, your grace?"

"Well, you and your wife both have golden hair." Robb received a nod from Steven. "So how come Castiel is, you know... Black haired?"

Steven first looked dumbfounded, eyeing Robb wearily until he burst out laughing, grasping his chest with his hands when he doubled over. Robb only watched him in confusion. Especially when Steven almost tumbled over.

"I'm serious." Robb didn't even crack a smile.

"Your Grace, I'm sorry but-" Steven snickered. "Mary would never cheat on me, trust me." Robb lifted an eyebrow.

"We found him on his own, abandoned on the road. We adopted him." Steven continued to laugh. Robb then face palmed himself, sighing into his hand in shame.

"You're never going to forget this, are you?"

"Not a chance."

Suddenly the doors swung open again, revealing Jon who was breathing heavily with a reddened face.

"Jon?" Robb straightened up and took a sprint towards his brother when he almost tumbled over. "What's going on?!"

"There's something... You need to see." Jon said while steadying himself by leaning against the door. "It's very, very urgent."

~

"So then Damon just bowed before the man and then dashed away with the skirt still on!" Sam told Elena and then the two burst out laughing. He had been telling tales about Damon in his earlier years the whole way back to the Red Keep.

"I can't believe he did that." Elena chuckled. They climbed the stairs, she had to lift her dress up to do so. "I swear to god, if we have to climb one more stair I will throw this bloody hood off and fly up."

Sam chuckled and looked up to see if there were indeed more steps. Instead of seeing more stairs though his eyes met Jaime's who stood there with his arms folded before her chest. He nudged Elena's arm who first looked at him and then followed his gaze.

"Jaime." Elena greeted him awkwardly. She straightened her back and looked him right in the eyes.

"If my right arm hadn't been chopped off I would've grasped for my sword." He descended from the few steps till he came eye to eye with Elena.

"I don't see any reason why you should." She frowned. Jaime waved Sam away who obliged slowly and walked away. He took a last glance over his shoulder to make sure Elena was okay before turning around a corner.

"Where you have been?" Jaime put his hands on his hip.

"Exploring the city." Elena answered rather truthfully as Jaime started to circle around her.

"Of course, and I am the bloody dragon queen."

"What do you want to hear? That I've been scheming with some high sparrow to kill you all, is that it?" Elena followed him with her eyes when he continued circling around her.

"It would've been more believable."

"Well, I'm sorry, but I don't deal with fanatics and I'm not planning to kill them either." Elena said and crossed her arms before her chest. "Contrarily to your sister."

Jaime's hand shot out and grasped Elena's wrist tightly. "Don't dare to insult my sister in front of me." He growled. Loki, who was standing near Elena's feet, started to bark at him.

"Yeah, I hear you get quite emotional when it comes to her. Might even push some boy out of the window."

Jaime clenched his fists and took in a deep breath before he even dared to answer her. He then chuckled coldly, shaking his head. "Wouldn't you have done it? To protect Robb Stark? Even though he married another, of course."

"I wouldn't have to since Robb isn't my brother." Elena shot back, not backing down from a fight with him. She wasn't going to bow down to any of them in any way possible.

"You think you're so much better than us, don't you?" Jaime narrowed his eyes but still a smug grin played on his lips. "After all your failures, after all those times we won you still think you can beat us."

"To be honest, I think we did just fine this time." Elena narrowed her eyes too.

"And how much did it take, huh? How many people, men who had children and wives, did you have to kill?" Jaime stepped closer and looked down at her small frame. "I heard about The Twins. About the whole army you sank to the bottom of the river. Let's not forget the fact that you tried to kill your own kin."

"You think you're so much better?" Elena hissed at Jaime, finally losing her temper. "You stabbed your own fucking king, the one you were sworn to protect, in the fucking back!"

"You know nothing about what happened that day!" Jaime yelled suddenly, so hard that Elena stood there dumbfounded, looking at him with wide open eyes. Jaime sighed deeply and closed his eyes for a moment, trying to steady his breathing.

"He wanted to kill everyone. He had wildfire stashed everywhere beneath the city." Jaime hissed and stepped closer to Elena, looking at her with dead eyes. "Burn them all he said, burn them all."

Jaime bit on his lip, looking away from Elena when her eyes filled with sympathy. "He was going to kill my family, my father, my sister. You would've really wanted me to obey his orders? To kill everyone? To take orders from a mad man? You know how he was." Jaime scoffed.

"So I stabbed him in the back." Jaime had steadied his heartbeat and breath but couldn't bear to look at Elena. It was her father after all who they were talking about. He swallowed the lump that was growing in his throat.

"I... I didn't know." Elena whispered. She looked at his eyes and finally realised that he wasn't just a monster, the one that killed her family. He was a person with reasons for his actions, just like her. It made everything so much harder.

"Almost nobody does." Jaime looked at her. "Maybe they do but they won't hear it. Oathbreaker, kingslayer. People like the shit on other people rather than seeing the reason in their deeds."

Elena casted her eyes to the floor again, turning away from Jaime.

"You remind me of Ned Stark in a way." Jaime said without a hint of any bitterness in his voice. Elena looked over her shoulder. "You have the same determined, iron look in your eyes. And the same bluntness that got Ned killed."

"Was that a threat?"

"I'll leave that for you to decide."

"You know you can't kill me without causing more trouble than preventing." Elena turned towards him again. "So you'll have to put up with me and try not to kill me. I don't think this time Robb would let it down so easily."

Jaime eyed her up at down. If he was honest to himself, he was starting to respect and maybe like her. He took her wrist in his hands and pulled her closer till he could whisper in her ear. "You're lucky I like you, Snow. I wouldn't provoke my sister though if I were you. She's less forgiving than I am."

Elena remained silent for a while. She already knew Cersei was the dangerous one of the two, Jaime had changed a lot since she last saw him. He seemed more reasonable and less arrogant, maybe even honourable.

Elena looked up at Jaime's eyes. He was closer than she had expected him to be. "Good thing I'm marrying you then."

"Ser Jaime." One of the guards walked towards him and slightly bowed. "The King commands you to come to the throne room immediately."

~

"So Jaime has been disbanded from the kingsguard?" Sam's legs were dangling off the balcony as he was sitting on the very edge, looking as Elena threw off her hood and spread her wings. She did knock some vases over though in the process.

"Apparently so." Elena groaned in delight, moving her wings till the muscles finally relaxed. She plumped down on one of the chairs. "Which means that now there's nothing holding them back from marrying Jaime and me."

Elena poured herself some wine and looked around her room. They did give her one of the most luxurious, not one in the cellar as she'd expected. "Loki, down." She said when the wolf tried to jump on her bed.

"There is the trial of Cersei and Margaery." Sam said and climbed down from his spot, walking towards Elena.

"There's that, yes. I'm so excited just to see Cersei there, powerless amidst the common folk with no one to help her but her conscious. Might even rip me of my hate for her."

"I don't think I'm going." Sam shrugged.

"Why not?" Elena asked, looking at Loki when he suddenly started to bark violently at Sam. Sam shrugged in response, looking down at Loki when the pup started to crowl. He frowned when his head started to throb violently, his hand shooting up to caress his head. It happened more frequently every day since Elena's arrival and it was getting worse.

"Sam, are you okay?" Elena stood up and walked towards him.

"I'm fine, just..." He groaned and fell to his knees, both hands holding his head. His vision blinded, the pain taking over his entire body. "Just make it stop!!!"

"Felicity, Angelina!!!" Elena yelled their names and the girls soon charged inside. "Call a measter, anyone! Quickly!"

She turned back to Sam and tried to get a look at his face but he wouldn't let her. His nails were crawling over his head and his hands were nearly ripping his hair out. Until suddenly his screaming stopped and his arms fell to his sides.

"Sam?" Elena laid her finger under his chin and lifted it up so she could look at his eyes. They were blue instead of hazel.

"Elena."

"Damon?" Her eyes widened when she recognized the colour of his eyes. "Damon, is that you?!"

"Yes it's me. But listen, we haven't much time." He grasped both her shoulders and forced her to look at him. "Do you have the doll?"

"I do, Abigail gave it to me."

"Good. Then you must go see Liane immediately. He'll know what to do with it. Tell him that he'll need everything, including the blood. Lots of blood. Tell him that it must happen at dawn during the full moon."

"Blood? What are you talking about?!" Elena asked but Sam's body doubled over again. "Damon?"

"We haven't got much time." He looked back up. His chest was rising and falling repeatedly. He grasped Elena tightly. "Promise me you'll do it."

"Damon, please just tell me what's going on." Elena begged while tears started to form in her eyes

"I can't. You just have to be strong now and do as I ask." He commanded and looked deeply into her eyes. "Can you do that?!"

"I can." Elena muttered and looked down.

"Promise me, Elena, promise me." He shook both her shoulders to make her concentrate.

"I promise." Elena said.

"Good." Damon sighed in relief and laid his hand on her cheek. It was then that he noticed the tears that were welling up in them. "It's going to be all right."

She looked down and tried to swallow away the lump in her throat. "Damon, I'm scared." Elena sobbed into his hands. It was probably the first time she admitted it to herself. Cersei, Jaime, the high Sparrow, Ethan, they all scared her more than she would ever admit.

"I know." Damon sighed and laid his hand on her cheek. "Listen to me, Elena. I'll be right beside you the whole time. You're not alone, okay?"

Elena nodded, savouring the smile that appeared on his lips. At least he was there, still alive. Soon she felt his hands slip away from her cheek. Sam's body fell to the floor in a ball.

"My lady, I brought the maester." Felicity opened the door and let the man in.

Elena looked up at him, seeing that he didn't have a chain around his neck like the other maesters. Even the maester of King's Landing couldn't be trusted.

"What happened?" Sam groaned and lifted himself off the floor.

Elena looked down, her eyes empty. "You fainted."