it is his face that she sees on her screen, his voice projected through the bracelet, and alayne's heart begins to beat so fast. there's a catch in her throat, a sign that signals the beginning of tears, but she swallows them back for the time being. robb is here. robb, whom she believed dead all this time. tyrion had spared her the details of his death, and that had been his kindness to her. she knew that the freys had betrayed him at a wedding, that they had broken guest right, and she had hated them all for it. she had hated them so much that sansa had thought it would consume her heart in equal parts grief and anger. sansa had wept for days.
but alayne stone has no brothers, whether they be kings or bastards, and she does not know how to reconcile the two. especially not when he calls her by her old name.
you're supposed to be dead, she thinks. you died and then you lost the war and left us all behind. but alayne had not seen the body herself, she had only the words of lannisters to provide her truth. could they have lied to her? why would they have done that? what advantage did it serve them to lie about the death of their adversary?
the bracelet slips from her fingers and clatters to the floor loudly as a shaking alayne tries to gather up enough composure to speak. when she does, it's so quiet and so drawn that robb might not even hear. )
( VOICE ) LET THE STARKPAIN BEGIN
it is his face that she sees on her screen, his voice projected through the bracelet, and alayne's heart begins to beat so fast. there's a catch in her throat, a sign that signals the beginning of tears, but she swallows them back for the time being. robb is here. robb, whom she believed dead all this time. tyrion had spared her the details of his death, and that had been his kindness to her. she knew that the freys had betrayed him at a wedding, that they had broken guest right, and she had hated them all for it. she had hated them so much that sansa had thought it would consume her heart in equal parts grief and anger. sansa had wept for days.
but alayne stone has no brothers, whether they be kings or bastards, and she does not know how to reconcile the two. especially not when he calls her by her old name.
you're supposed to be dead, she thinks. you died and then you lost the war and left us all behind. but alayne had not seen the body herself, she had only the words of lannisters to provide her truth. could they have lied to her? why would they have done that? what advantage did it serve them to lie about the death of their adversary?
the bracelet slips from her fingers and clatters to the floor loudly as a shaking alayne tries to gather up enough composure to speak. when she does, it's so quiet and so drawn that robb might not even hear. )
Please --
( she takes a deep breath. )
I...I beg you, not to call me by that name.