#x jon

She floated behind him, beneath the twisting branches, milk-white in the moonlight. He was all slender grace, and when a cloud passed over, he'd disappear into the shadows, only to re-emerge bright and cutting beneath the light once more. The maze of trees gave way at last to stony ruins, and their feet exchanged the leafy rustle of the forest floor for the muffled thud of leather soles against the worn cobbles. Before them, the castle rose; a jagged specter against the black night. 

"She looks bare without the Wall around her," he stopped, gazing up. "The ice hugged the stone, and everywhere the two met, magic sealed their bond." As he spoke, fog seemed to thicken around the castle, and for half a moment, a vision of ice rose around the ruins. "Magic lingers here yet, waiting in the castle, underground in her deepest recesses, where mortals fear to tread."

Her guide pushed a rusty gate against the stone, and it grated like teeth against a fork, rattling something loose in Sansa's head.

"Speaking of mortals, where are the others?" she asked.

"What others?"

"Well, you know," she struggled, her thoughts like sand slipping through her fingers, "the others seeking the castle, like...like my siblings...and everyone haunting it. All of your co-workers." She felt a strange pride, remembering the dour knight at the entrance. "Shouldn't we converge with them now that we're near the castle? Where is the wagon?" 

"The wagon?" He turned to her, his face an icy mask. "My co-workers?" 

"Well, not to group you with a wannabe Michael J. Fox or anything but…" 

The disdain he could convey in the twitch of his lips was truly impressive. 

"Is that what you want?" He looked back and there was a threat she hadn't felt before, though he stood still as stone, his words barely carrying in the wind. "To be among those fools once more?" All at once, sound came rushing to her, and her vision briefly narrowed, as if she'd been underwater, and just now, breached the surface. Suddenly, she could hear shrieks and laughter above the jarring echoes of cheap sound effect machines coming from the other side of the castle. 

"Well, I should head back to the lodge and meet my siblings."

"The siblings who abandoned you?"

"A nasty prank for sure, but my phone died. By now, they must be worried sick…"

"You told me you sought the Nightfort." His voice was a blade. 

"Because... that is where the wagon is waiting to bring me back to the lodge." The moon shifted, casting his face in stark relief, his eyes receding in dark sockets, revealing cheekbones visible just beneath his paper white skin. "I'm sorry if I have misled you.." 

"And here I thought it was I who had misled you. Will you dare elude me yet?" He loomed close, and she sighed, for his face was alive with ethereal beauty and the world quieted around them once more. 

"Well, the lodge has apple cider donuts... and a roaring fire. What will you tempt me with down this path?" She slid past him, through the gate he'd opened, suddenly reluctant to end their little game.

"Join me, and I'm inclined to make you my queen." She felt his gaze burn as she let the cloak slip from her shoulder. Glancing back, a thrill of excitement lit within her at the promise in his eyes. 

Let her siblings worry a little longer. 

“I’d be a fool to refuse such an offer.”

“You are no fool,” his breath clouded over her bare skin, a frozen peril. “But I cannot say that you are wise.”

“What am I then?” she palmed his thigh, where he pressed behind her.