Trueblood || Jon Snow ✓

𝖈𝖍𝖆𝖕𝖙𝖊𝖗 𝖊𝖎𝖌𝖍𝖙 ~ 𝖈𝖆𝖑𝖑 𝖔𝖋 𝖙𝖍𝖊 𝖜𝖔𝖑𝖋

IN THE MOMENTS AFTER EDDARD STARK'S HEAD WAS REMOVED FROM HIS SHOULDERS, Yelena's mind was crystal clear. Too clear for her liking. Her ears were ringing and her focus was sharp. She caught sight of the Night's Watch man smuggling Arya out. Relief flooded her chest in that moment of pure, lovely forgetting, and then the world came crashing back. Both her fathers were dead. Her brother was a monster, and her mother let the monster live. Sansa had fainted on the stage, but she couldn't even think about that. As soon as the guards released their hold on her, she collapsed to the ground, horrible loud sobs being dragged out of her chest as if they were on hooks. She could hardly breathe, and she wasn't entirely certain she wouldn't pass out either. Sansa. She thought. I have to protect Sansa. She'd failed in every other way possible. Lost Jon, hurt Robb, failed Arya, led Ned die, and let her brother live. She couldn't think about that or she would curl up and die right there. So she crawled to Sansa, wrapping an arm protectively over the younger girl's back. She could not break this promise.

***

Hours later, when Sansa was in her own bed, guarded by Lishay, Yelena sat before her own hearth, her eyes puffy and bloodshot from crying, her throat sore from screaming, and a dull pain in her chest that wouldn't seem to leave her. Perhaps it was a permanent reminder of her failure. It took her hours to rise from her chair as she'd originally intended and stumble to her desk, pulling out parchment, ink and quill. She willed her hands to stop shaking as she dipped the end of the quill into the black ink.

𝓣𝓸 𝓖𝓻𝓮𝔂𝔀𝓸𝓵𝓯

She stopped short. What on earth could she possibly write to him? Her brother had just chopped off the head of Robb's father while Yelena stood uselessly on the sidelines. She took a steadying breath. She had to do this. It wasn't about her. It was about Robb and Catelyn and Sansa and maybe Arya too. He didn't want her condolences. He wanted to know that his sisters were okay.

𝓣𝓱𝓮𝓻𝓮 𝔀𝓪𝓼 𝓷𝓸𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓘 𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓭𝓸. 𝓘 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽. 𝓑𝓾𝓽 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓱𝓮𝓵𝓹 𝓡𝓮𝓭𝔀𝓸𝓵𝓯. 𝓞𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓭𝓪𝔂𝓼 𝓪𝓰𝓸 𝓘 𝓼𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓫𝓮𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓮 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓰𝓸𝓭𝓼 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓕𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓮𝓽, 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓯𝓪𝓵𝓼𝓮 𝓢𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓭, 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓘 𝔀𝓸𝓾𝓵𝓭 𝓼𝓽𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓱𝓮𝓻. 𝓨𝓸𝓾 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝔀𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓮𝓷𝓽𝓪𝓲𝓵𝓼. 𝓛𝓲𝓽𝓽𝓵𝓮𝔀𝓸𝓵𝓯 𝓱𝓪𝓼 𝓫𝓮𝓮𝓷 𝓼𝓶𝓾𝓰𝓰𝓵𝓮𝓭 𝓸𝓾𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓒𝓲𝓽𝔂 𝓸𝓯 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓢𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓭 𝓫𝔂 𝓪 𝓒𝓸𝓵𝓭𝔀𝓲𝓷𝓭. 𝓘 𝓽𝓱𝓲𝓷𝓴 𝓼𝓱𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓪𝓯𝓮 𝓯𝓸𝓻 𝓷𝓸𝔀, 𝓪𝓼 𝓛𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓵𝓲𝓴𝓮𝓵𝔂 𝓬𝓸𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓾𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓼𝓬𝓸𝓾𝓻 𝓸𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓬𝓲𝓽𝔂. 𝓕𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓮𝓽 𝓶𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓫𝓮 𝓭𝓲𝓼𝓪𝓻𝓶𝓮𝓭. 𝓝𝓸 𝓸𝓷𝓮 𝓲𝓼 𝓼𝓪𝓯𝓮 𝓾𝓷𝓽𝓲𝓵 𝓱𝓮 𝓱𝓸𝓵𝓭𝓼 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓢𝔀𝓸𝓻𝓭 𝓷𝓸 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻. 𝓘 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓛𝓪𝓭𝔂 𝓞𝓷𝔂𝔁 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓯𝓸𝓻𝓰𝓲𝓿𝓮 𝓶𝓮. 𝓘𝓯 𝓷𝓸𝓽, 𝓘 𝓱𝓸𝓹𝓮 𝓽𝓸 𝓻𝓮𝓭𝓮𝓮𝓶 𝓶𝔂𝓼𝓮𝓵𝓯 𝓲𝓷 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓽𝓮𝓬𝓽𝓲𝓷𝓰 𝓡𝓮𝓭𝔀𝓸𝓵𝓯. 𝓘𝓯 𝓘 𝓭𝓲𝓮, 𝓘 𝔀𝓪𝓷𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝔂𝓸𝓾 𝓽𝓸 𝓴𝓷𝓸𝔀 𝓽𝓱𝓪𝓽 𝓘 𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓭. 𝓕𝓮𝓻𝓻𝓮𝓽 𝓘𝓢 𝓯𝓪𝓵𝓼𝓮, 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓭𝓾𝓬𝓽 𝓸𝓯 𝓛𝓲𝓸𝓷 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓛𝓲𝓸𝓷𝓮𝓼𝓼. 𝓖𝓻𝓮𝓪𝓽𝔀𝓸𝓵𝓯 𝓽𝓻𝓲𝓮𝓭 𝓽𝓸 𝓹𝓻𝓸𝓿𝓮 𝓲𝓽. 𝓑𝓾𝓽 𝓘 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓹𝓻𝓮𝓿𝓪𝓲𝓵. 𝓓𝓸 𝓷𝓸𝓽 𝔀𝓻𝓲𝓽𝓮 𝓫𝓪𝓬𝓴 𝓽𝓸 𝓶𝓮 𝓮𝔁𝓬𝓮𝓹𝓽 𝓲𝓷 𝓬𝓸𝓭𝓮. 𝓘 𝓬𝓪𝓷 𝓷𝓸 𝓵𝓸𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝓽𝓻𝓾𝓼𝓽 𝓽𝓱𝓸𝓼𝓮 𝓪𝓻𝓸𝓾𝓷𝓭 𝓶𝓮 𝓪𝓷𝓭 𝓽𝓱𝓮 𝓭𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮𝓻 𝔀𝓲𝓵𝓵 𝓸𝓷𝓵𝔂 𝓰𝓻𝓸𝔀 𝔀𝓲𝓽𝓱 𝓮𝓿𝓮𝓻𝔂 𝓮𝔁𝓬𝓱𝓪𝓷𝓰𝓮.