Still Soulmate

Chapter 6: Family

  She supposed their chambers were nice but they had the same dark and unfriendly feel of the rest of this castle. Pretty much the same as the "queen" who resided there. Jon was all wound up, even more than she was, she knew that he felt bare without his direwolf and without his sword.

  Ygritte was starting to regret this whole thing though. The Targaryen woman was beautiful but she seemed rotten and spoiled on the inside. She had an army of those foreign savages who reminded her too much of an organised army of free folk- something that was very dangerous. Then there were those dragons, they were not the ice dragons that were said to hide around the Shivering Sea, but they were dragons. It was amazing to see them flying, alive and free. It was also very bad news for them.

  She sat down on the bed then, watching her husband as he went over to the window. He had pretended to be an Unmarked for all of his life before her apparently. He'd never told her that and it was curious. As she watched his shoulders slump forward as he leaned on the window she thought that maybe she knew why he did it. Because he didn't feel like he was worth it. In recent years he had gotten better but Ygritte knew that before them he had had problems with what he thought he was worth. She would ask him though, to confirm it.

  She had her own secrets though. These ones were worse, they were current. The free woman ran a hand over her still smooth stomach. Ygritte would tell him obviously.

  Maids came in them with steaming hot water that they pored into the bath. Bucket after bucket until it was full and then they left. Jon turned away from the window and went over to the tub, took off his glove and ran his hand through the water.

  "Want to share?" Ygritte asked, sprawling across the sheets as she watched him.

  Brown eyes turned to her, a smile curling his lips, "sure," was his reply.

 He stripped off first with her watching. She took in all of him, every scar, every muscle, eyes focusing in particular on the blue flames on his wrist. There was the soft sloshed of water and a small moan of pleasure as her husband lowered himself into the water.

  Husband... it still felt weird to think it. It felt right but weird. She'd always looked forward to meeting her soulmate- not that she had expected a crow like Jon. She'd just never really connected that to marriage for some reason. 

Jon looked over at her then, one eyebrow raised as the steam rose up around him, his pale skin reddened by the heat. "You coming."

  "Absolutely," she replied, pushing herself off of the bed.

  She walked over closer to the tub to that he could get a good look, revelling in his gaze fixed on her skin as it was revealed. She slipped into the bath with him then, toes curling in pleasure at the heat. She sat opposite him, their legs tangled together. Ygritte was only settled for a second before Jon pulled her forward into a passionate kiss. His lips quickly moved along her jaw and down her neck, pulling moans from her and making her press against him, seeking as much skin on skin contact as possible. He reached her clavicle and then moved on, worshipping her skin until she pushed him away.

  "Ygritte?" he asked, she'd never done that before. Especially after a stressful day.

  "We really do have some things to talk about," he said, scooping up a handful of water and depositing it over his head, wetting his dark curls. He scrunched up his nose and closed his eyes as water dripped down his face. 

  "The Unmarked thing? About this?" Jon guessed, gesturing at the room around them.

   "Why did you pretend to be Unmarked?" Ygritte asked, confirming her husband's guess.

  "Because... because I was a bastard, no one would want a bastard for a soulmate. I don't- I didn't want the fuss then, anyway, my father was Marked, had a soulmate in Lady Catelyn but he still had me. To me that meant that the whole soulmate thing really didn't mean much I guess," Jon explained, looking down at where their bare flesh touched under the water.

  "Well it turned out well then," Ygritte smiled, completely unsurprised by the explanation.

  "Do you... do you want to talk about Daenerys?"

  "No, no I don't. I just have something that I have to tell you," Ygritte replied. She was nervous now, something that didn't happen to her, she just wasn't a nervous person. She blamed it on the baby, it was messing with her emotions obviously. 

  "What?" Jon asked, looking at her curiously.

  "Well it's your fault cause I told you that it would happen."

  "What, what would happen?" Jon asked looking more worried now.

  "I'm actually pregnant this time," she stated, finally getting it out and feeling better instantly.

  Jon sat there opposite her speechless, just looking down at her belly. With a hand that she could have sworn was almost shaking he reached out and touched the still flat stomach, his light touch tickling and causing her to flinch away slightly. He looked back up at her then.

  "How long?" was all he said.

  "About two moons," Ygritte said, patting her stomach gently.

  She looked in his eyes and saw that they were soft. He kissed her gently before pulling back and suggesting that they actually wash before the water went cold. She laughed at that suggestion and grabbed the rag beside the bath. When they had both cleaned each other they got out and dried off. 

  Then Jon just stood there. He looked her up and down his gaze resting on her stomach with an expression that she could only describe as wonder. She wanted to know what he was thinking, how he felt about the whole thing but she was stubborn and wasn't going to ask. If he wanted to tell her he would. Instead she stepped forward and ran her hand down over the scar on his chest then the muscles and scars of his abdomen.

  "We should dress at least partially so that we don't scare away the maids that bring our meal," Jon said to her, stroking a hand absently over her stomach.

  "Well don't you spoil all the fun. It's warm here and so quite nice to be naked and free," Ygritte laughed, giving a little twirl.

  Jon snorted and smiled, walking around her to grab his clothes. She watched him for a moment, she couldn't quite believe that his response had been so calm, especially after his reaction when she talked about the concept of children. Her husband seemed almost happy about it.