PART ONE-CHAPTER NINE

"Your mind is a powerful thing. When you fill it with positive thoughts, things start to change."

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"Well isn't this a pleasant surprise?" Rhea heard her father say. It didn't take her long to realise that this was one of the times when Robert Baratheon wasn't as drunk as he usually is and that he remembers things well when he's not so drunk.

She finally stopped fumbling with her hair and looked up to see her father looking at her with a huge smile that Rhea knew-I know what you're doing, and I won't tell your mother. She hadn't failed to notice that Ned Stark was giving Robb the same treatment, and when she turned, she saw Robb swallow in nervousness. "So did you two get any of the work done, or was it just sucking each other's faces all these hours?" Her father asked, and Rhea felt the bright red colour rush to her cheeks.

She finally looked up with all the grace she could salvage out of this awkwardness, and said, "I got the costs and accounts done, and Robb wrote the thank-you letters for all the guests who were in attendance at the feast. So yes, we managed to get work done, father. Thanks for asking so subtly." She joked at the end, hoping to alleviate the situation a bit. And it worked, as she saw her father laugh a bit, and she could have sworn she Ned Stark grin too.

"Well get out you two. And don't get caught for the gods' sake!" Ned Stark said, and Rhea and Robb quickly scurried out.

They walked along the pathway laughing as if their lives depended on it, talking over and over about the very unlikeliness of the situation. "I mean who would have thought that this was going to happen?" They walked briskly as they laughed, and Rhea thought that Robb felt a little playful, as he held her wrist turned her towards him, and asked, "What was going to happen?" he asked, and Rhea for the first time noticed a husky undertone to his voice, and the little flecks of grey in his stormy blue eyes. She liked it- his voice, his eyes. At this point, she wasn't sure if she disliked anything about him.

"Now you're going to act like you don't remember anything from there? Aren't you?" she asked and smiled a bit. Robb smiled wider, if that was even possible, and said, "I'm afraid I'm quite lost on this subject, Rhea. Care to remind me?" he asked, and Rhea could definitely feel the courage that was emanating from him. It took her a while to get her thoughts straight and realise the compromising position they were in, and what would happen if they got caught, again.

She was held against a wall in the pathway that was surrounded by bushes that had winter roses in full bloom, by a man that was she knew she had grown to be fond of and had also kissed. Robb, even though he wasn't very tall than her, made it look like he was a huge shadow looming over her- one that she didn't feel afraid of. She just continued to admire his face from the closest view that he had offered her in the ten days that she had stayed here, and she had forgotten that he had actually in his own way asked for her to kiss him.

"Well, what happened was," she said and took her arms out of his soft grip, and put it around his neck. "We were talking, and someone.." She then smiled and put her forehead to his, and he brought a hand up, pushed a strand of hair behind her ear, and let his hand stay on her cheek. To someone who was watching, there couldn't have been a beautiful sight than this, watching two lovestruck kids holding on to each other for dear life, in a pathway filled with bright blue roses.

Roses the same colour as Robb's eyes.

And for a moment, it was only the both of them that mattered.

"..gathered the courage to kiss me." she said, and finally touched her lips to his. She felt nervous, but it all went away when Robb finally seized the moment like he always did, and kissed her with what she felt was every ounce of passion he had kept in store for her.

It would have lasted longer if Rhea didn't feel a little furry body nuzzling at her feet, and when she pulled her head away from Robb, she looked down to see Grey Wind, Robb's direwolf. She then let go of him and sat down, a movement that encouraged the direwolf that had now taken its position on her lap.

She drove her fingers along its ear and it looked at her with stormy grey eyes and licked at her elbow. Rhea felt ticklish and laughed, and Robb had knelt down in front of her and watched the scene unfold.

"I'm quite hungry, and I'm going to get something to eat. Do you want anything?" He asked, and Rhea for the first time realised that someone that isn't her father had asked what she wanted, even if it was the most trivial of things. She felt like that was enough for now, but the growling in her stomach made her decide otherwise.

"Anything sweet. A ginger cake, perhaps?" she asked. And then for good measure, she added "All this kissing is making me hungry." and smiled at him. Robb laughed and said, "Then I'll make sure to tell them that once we're married, we'll need more cooks to make more ginger cakes." He then kissed her cheek, and muttered that he would be right back and walked away.

Rhea was then left to her thoughts as Grey Wind had finally stopped moving and just lay on her lap as she sat on the floor. She couldn't believe all this was actually happening. She had always felt like she didn't belong anywhere, let alone anyone, and here he was, Robb Stark. A blessing in disguise to make up for all the years of standing out like a sore thumb, because he made her feel like she belonged. In his arms, she felt content.

It felt like home.

She knew that boys like Robb Stark were hard to come by. Most men that she had no care for the female race and very few had truly cared for their women. She had seen her grandfather Tywin grieve his wife every day, and her great uncle Kevan looking at great aunt Dorna like she was a wonder he could never get used to, even after eighteen years of marriage.

Hell, even her father Robert loved his Lyanna so much that he waged a war for her, and she knew, as much as he hated to admit it, that he still wishes for a future with her, something utterly impossible. And the fact that Robb Stark was a diamond in the rough that made her feel like she more than what she actually was, made her realise something.

She loved him, more than anything.

***

When he had her pressed against a wall and with her pretty brown eyes searching his face deep in thought, Robb just couldn't believe that this girl, this beautiful little girl, was actually meant for him.

He always knew that he would have to get married for a political alliance, but he never expected to be so smitten with his future wife. He thought with his way with girls, he would just end up putting a son in the girl he would marry and do his best to get on with his life. That was when he thought a married life like his parents wasn't possible.

And then, Rhea came about.

All emotions that he didn't know were in him had surfaced with no difficulty, and he could be with her with such ease, it felt like breathing. Now as he walked to get the ginger cakes she had not so subtly asked for, he thought of how it would be after they get married.

She definitely got along well enough with the family. Sansa just adores her and looks up to her. Arya doesn't hate her, and that's a start. Rickon was always around Rhea and she would accompany him all the time when his mother was with Bran in his chamber, looking over him. And he was sure that Bran would love to spend time with her, as much as she awaits his awakening. And Jon, he had no idea.

Apparently, his mother and father had already started doting on her, and Robb found that quite surprising what with his parents not exactly showing their affection out for all to see, at least not for anyone other than the family. They were quite reserved, and if Rhea had managed to get close to them, then she managed to do another thing right.

He grabbed the ginger cakes, put them in a rucksack and walked back towards what he would now consider the most favourite part of the castle- A bloody pathway with roses. Roses!

Gods, this is what it feels to be Sansa, I suppose.

He walked back cursing himself over his apparent softening of the heart, and when he reached his destination, he saw Rhea talking with Jon, with both Ghost and Grey Wind on her lap. He stood opposite her and was appearing to be in a very light conversation of sorts.

He was partly happy that even Jon, who preferred being removed from the family was getting along with Rhea, but a small part of him wanted to smack him with the hilt of his sword for interrupting their time alone. It's not like they get a lot of that.

"Did he really do that?" She asked and laughed and Jon nodded yes, in the most modest way possible. He then walked towards them and asked, "I hope 'he' isn't me?".

"Well... If you don't want it to be, then no, Robb it isn't you." She said, and Robb groaned. "What are you telling her?" He asked his brother in what he hoped came out as playful. And he was relieved when Jon didn't think he was jealous because then Theon and Jon would never let him hear the end of it.

"Just a few amusing stories from your glorious childhood." He said and smiled. "Be a little more specific Jon." He said.

Honestly, Robb just wanted to look like a hero to this girl that he was hopelessly fond of. If anything embarrassing came out of Jon's mouth that made Rhea look at him differently, he would have words with him later. For sure. He wouldn't have her think any less of him.

"Something about you and Jon holding each other's hands as your father walked behind you when you were in your early days of walking." She then stood up and pointed her hands to the ground that they were all standing on. "And I can actually picture you two walking like two little ducklings!" She said, and both brothers laughed a little.

"Look at you! You can actually laugh!" she said, looking at Jon. "What is that supposed to mean?" Jon asked and smiled, again.

Robb had to admit, that at that moment Jon had smiled more around her than he had around any of them. He always had a kind of melancholy about him, something Robb never knew what to do about. But now, he felt like a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders. Because Jon is probably the one whose shell is the hardest to break, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't worried about Rhea and Jon getting along- after all, he was family too.

And that was when he realised that he loved this extraordinary girl, right in front of him, who was changing his life for the better.

"All right, I'll give you love birds some time alone, of course, you both are probably here to have some time alone, aren't you? After all, it isn't easy to get any alone time here." He said, getting grim all over again. Robb knew there was more to it than what meets the eye. And he knew very well what it was. But this wasn't the time for that. Of course, just like anyone else, Rhea was completely oblivious to it.

But then again, it wasn't Robb's problem to solve, so there was nothing he could do. Jon's going to learn to sort out his life on his own. And if it doesn't end well, they will have a conversation. A serious one for sure.

As Jon walked away, Rhea stood next to him as Ghost wandered away along with him, and Grey Wind just got up and stood with him. "Something's off about him all the time, isn't it?" she asked. "Yes, there always is."

They then went back to sitting down and talking and eating up those cakes that Robb had brought out the kitchen until the sun went down and they had to get back to their families.

Robb knew that she would leave soon enough. He knew that she would eventually come back too. But something about her made sure he never wanted her to leave, even if it was only until they got married.

As he went to bed after dinner and enduring all the suggestive glances that Theon was giving him, he could only think of one thing. About how great a future they were going to have.

Little did he know how hard he'd have to fight for that.

***