Iron and Blood: a Theon & Sansa Story

Chapter 54

Theon
"You were always the least intelligent of the fucking three of you," Theon's father shouted at him. "Now even your sister's got more sense than you." Despite him, Theon kept his composure, careful not to show an inch of emotion. It grew impossible when his father went on, "The fact that a Stark bitch is standing in my tower instead of rotting in a cell amongst hounds tells me you are no son of mine."

Theon's jaw tightened. "Lady Sansa and Lady Arya are not responsible for their father's actions." He added, "It was a long time ago."

Suddenly, his father laughed. "You mean to tell me this ugly little boy is a Stark girl, too?"

Theon knew Arya would not be able to restrain herself. "I'm not an ugly little boy," she hollered, "which means I won't grow up to be an ugly little man like you."

"If you were a boy, perhaps you would have been worth something to me," Theon's father remarked, unbothered. "Would you care to tell me why I have not already thrown these little cunts from my window, Theon? Because I've nearly lost my patience."

"The Starks are not my prisoners," Theon told him. "And they are not yours. You will not harm them—not unless you want the North on your shores again."

"My shores?" he exclaimed, visibly seething. "These are supposed to be your shores someday, boy! Now you've gone and become a highborn Northern fucker who doesn't know his own name."

Theon took two steps towards him before he replied, "I am Theon Greyjoy. Sansa and Arya Stark are not my enemies, and they are not yours, either."

"And what?" Balon turned to slam his fist against the table. "Have you been fucking the new Lord of Winterfell?"

Theon shook his head but said nothing.

"Then why are you here?" his father asked, his voice so full of bitterness that Theon didn't know how the words fit between his rotten teeth. "Have you come back just to tell me my third son is as dead as my first two?"

Again, Theon shook his head. He sighed, "I'm here because I need your help. In return, I have Robb Stark's word that he will implore his father, the Hand of the King, to give the Iron Islands their freedom once again."

Balon chuckled. "Robb Stark's word? That he'll ask his dumb fuck father to give us what? A title? A title that every Ironborn has decided we already own?" He drew close to Theon, his breath hot. "You can take your girls back to their cold little town or else I'll fuckin' kill 'em while you watch."

It did not stir Theon. "Where is Asha? I'd like to speak with her." He knew his older sister had once been milder than their father, and Theon only hoped she still was.

His hopes were dashed when a voice rang out from behind him. "I heard my baby brother had brought his Northern whores into town. Did you think I wouldn't come running?" Theon turned. Asha stood at the door, grinning. She had the same round face and short-cropped hair she had at fifteen, only she did not look so much like a little boy anymore. Her shoulders were broader than Theon's, her nose more crooked, and she had a scar through the end of her eyebrow that she hadn't had before.

Asha stepped around the girls, eyeing them up and down. When she noticed Sansa's hair, her grin disappeared. She touched the braid on Sansa's shoulder and seemed to shudder.

"Is one of your whores a Stark?" she snapped.

"They are not whores," Theon corrected her, "but they are Starks. Ned Stark's only daughters." Asha only stared at him, dumbfounded.

Balon Greyjoy pushed his son aside to reach the girls. He would not have hurt them, Theon knew, but without thinking, he ripped his father backwards by the arm. As old as he was, Balon had the strength of any young man, and he turned to whip his fist across Theon's jaw.

Theon knew it was a test, so he did not fall.

Instead, he wiped the blood that gathered beneath his nose and declared, "Sansa and Arya will sleep in whatever chamber you give to me so I can see that they are not harmed in the night." Theon saw Asha and his father exchange a glance.

"I'll take them," Asha decided. "If you let Father choose, he'll put you all somewhere he can slit your throats while you sleep." She ushered Theon forward to the door and whispered so that only he could hear, "We'll speak privately later."

Asha led them down the stairs, circling the tower several times before slipping into one of the dark passageways along the wall. It was so dusty that Theon coughed on the thick of it. "I don't remember this part of the castle," he remarked.

"You don't remember anything," Asha muttered back at him.

Theon felt Sansa grab onto his hand and squeeze it gently. It comforted him, even if only a little. Asha moved her palm against the wall until she reached a wooden door, which she kicked open to reveal a little room with a mattress and a window that let the moonlight in. Inside, along the western wall, there was another door, narrower, and it was already open.

"There's another bed in there." Asha pointed to the second doorway. "No one will find you here. You have my word."

Theon knew that Sansa and Arya would have little faith in the word of his sister, but he was certain it was true. "Thank you, my Lady," Sansa said politely, though her voice shook.

"Don't call me a lady," Asha grumbled back. Theon saw Arya hide a smile. "Do you have belongings with you?" Theon's sister asked him then.

He nodded. "Very few," he replied, "but what we could carry in our saddlebags is down with our horses at the bottom of the tower." The trunks of clothes they had obtained at the inn were too cumbersome to carry on their own, so Theon, Sansa, and Arya packed the contents as tightly as they could so that they would have some fresh wear on Pyke.

"Come down there with me," Asha commanded. "I'll help you bring them up."

"I can't leave them," Theon reminded her.

Asha just rolled her eyes. "No one comes down this way. Father is convinced the demons of the Drowned God lurk in these halls." She started for the door and called back to Theon, "Come, little brother."

Theon turned to Sansa and Arya, who stared at him with wide eyes. "Stay here," he began, "and bar the door. Will you be all right until I return?"

They looked at one another, and then Sansa nodded. Theon shook Arya's shoulder in assurance, and then kissed Sansa's cheek once he was certain his sister was not watching. He hurried out after her; behind him came the sound of the door being barred.