Stranger - hotd

22

Valaena spend the next hours not only unpacking her belongings, but mainly she focused on bathing and setting out her collection of perfumed oils on the dresser in the corner. It was pleasantly warm inside Cregan's room. Their room. So she took off her cloak and swung it over the chair that sat next to the dresser.

Valaena had been humming, taking out various dressers when her eyes fell on a thick scroll stuffed between a dress that Helaena had gifted her for her last nameday.

She bent down slightly grabbing the paper and holding it up in the setting sunlight. She had written to her aunt, countless times. But no reply ever came. But this scroll clearly contained Helaena's writing. Her heart beat faster as her eyes slid over the words.

Dear Valaena,

Mother and Grandsire are furious, I am certain that Aemond has tried to reach you by now, and I understand why. He loves you.

As my dear niece I love you as well. I pray you are well. I will read ypur letters, but mother is refusing to let any of us respond to them.

She chastised Aemond in front of the whole family for sharing your bed.  But do not worry, Grandsire is not to know. Neither is your mother. I will write again soon. Be safe.

Love
Helaena

Valaena frowned at the short letter, Helaena was always straight to the point, apart from when she spoke in riddles. Aemond must have told his family of sharing her bed, as she did . Had he tried to use it as a last attempt? She didn't care for him as much as she had ago. Not in a way she had always cared. Anger, betrayal, and hatred had grown where her love for him had once been.

Her cheeks burned and against her better judgement she chose not to get rid off the the letter but stuffed it inside one of her summer dresses. She continued unpacking her belongings. Hoping to find a dress that would be suited  for dinner and perhaps would also please her husband. In Truth Valaena was hoping to hold onto something, a piece of home perhaps.

Eventually, Valaena settled on a short sleeved dress, made out of purple smooth cotton and silk. The neckline was low but she wore the cloak Cregan had gifted her to make up for it. She chose to wear her hair loose, using only a single pin to keep some strands our of her face.

With much exitement Valaena dove into her jewelry collection, she wanted to wear her diamond and ridiculously large sapphire necklace, but when her eyes settled on a golden chain encrusted with pearls falling down in drops she couldn't contain her excitement to wear the peace. It had been a gift from her father. Ser Laenor, she was a young girl still but his good companion Ser Qarl had brought it from one of his many travels, shortly before Ser Harwin passed, and Ser Qarl murdered her father.

She had always felt he had not, and that perhaps it would have been an enemy of her mother to slay Ser Laenor, as it greatly weakened not only Rhaenyra but also Jacearys' position at court.

The maidservant, Ella had told Valaena where to find Cregan, their private dining chambers were at the end of the hall, and with her cloak clasped shut Valaena entered the room. She secretly hoped they wouldn't lie together, but perhaps she was supposed to. Had to lay claim to her new position as Lady of Winterfell. The wife of the Warden of the North.

Cregan had been hunched over the table, writing something down in ink before sliding a box over to ths other side of the table. 

"Laena." Greeted the Lord of Winterfell his wife. Eyeing her appearance carefully. He himself wore no cloak this time. It was much warmer, almost hot inside the chamber. She probably still underestimated the natural heating that Winterfell had been built upon. The hotsprings that left little sizzling bodies of water inside the gardens of Winterfell.