STORMBORN

24 | OLD GHIS

_______12/13/16_______

WARHEAD DETONATION
COUNTDOWN
34 hrs 18 mins

The cold dark chamber he was in reminded him of the crypts back in Winterfell where his father and ancestors lay. It's been so long since he's gone there — longer than being trapped in a prison cell. This was his third detainment and probably the last.

The loneliness of dying in a place like this made him think about her.

Of course, there wasn't a single minute where his thoughts didn't drift to figments of Daenerys Targaryen.

It was masochistic to revisit the memories of their fleeting time together but the pain didn't bother him as much as the questions that bottled his mind. Do you think about me? Have you been looking for me all this time? Or have abandoned me for good?

He prayed those questions won't haunt him to his grave. All he could ask for at this moment was to die peacefully.

Above the wailing of the tortured slaves from afar, he heard the metal door open through the narrow hall of the dungeon and footsteps leading to him.

"You're not dead." He spoke numbly at the familiar shadow on the floor.

"Is that how you greet your former lover, Jon Snow?" Her airy raspy voice gave him a chill. So did her red hair as she finally showed herself. It was the first thing that caught his eyes. Even in limited light, it glowed.

At first he felt relieved from guilt. For the first time, his death list crossed off a name. But suddenly, a burst of anger overrode. "How could you?"

"You're asking me?" She chuckled but the hurt in her voice was unmistakable. "As if I was the one who put a bullet to your stomach?"

"You gave me no choice." His jaw clenched and his muscles tightened in the darkness.

"What do you mean you didn't have a choice? You kidnapped that dragon twat because you fancied her and look what her kind did to you?" Her accusing eyes scanned him from head to toe after she stepped closer to the bars that separated them.

"Stop." Jon looked away as his temper began to rise.

"You've always said we're different from them, Jon! That they see us as nothing but flies. You told me we ought to stick together because flies as we are, we can walk under their noses and soon our numbers can destroy them with their aristocratic system. And yet, look at you, dreaming like the little lord you wanted to be!"

His knuckles whitened when he gripped his fists. His veins protruded on his temples.

Speaking through her teeth, she leaned in, placing her face in between the metal bars as she continued. "Tell me, have you tasted her? Did she let you fuck her? Was it all worth it?—"

"Stop!" He stood, eyes pitch black and chest breathing heavily.

In years of knowing him, her fear of his temper had not diminished. It's as if in seconds, he'd shape-shift into a monstrous wolf. "— I didn't join the Nightswatch Enterprises to watch you throw it all away for some bitch, Jon."

Jon sprang forward and Ygritte bolted just in time. The bars rattled upon his grasp. "I haven't! I haven't changed my mind about saving the free folk. Have you? Wasn't that the reason you joined my cause at the beginning!?"