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The stars shone brightly in the sky, dawn still hours away. Not that you could tell from the thick dark drapes hanging over the windows to keep out the cold chill of winter. The room was comfortably cool, the fire having died to embers, but she was warm and comfortable under her blankets and fur.
Sansa awoke slowly, as if someone had been calling her name. Rising on her elbow she looked around the room, her heart plummeting when she saw the figure of a man sitting on the end of her bed. He sat quietly looking down at his hands, holding them out on his lap and raising and lowering fingers in succession as if counting them.
She was moments from calling out for help, when the figure turned to look at her. The cry caught in her throat and she redirected it to a whisper.
“Theon?”
It couldn’t be, he died. She wept over his body, the very body he used to shield her brother from harm, giving her sister time to strike.
“Hello My Queen.”
He looked different from the last time she saw him. He didn’t have the same somber haunted look, with sunken cheeks and eyes. He looked more like that healthy and handsome cocky boy that he once was, only his shoulders were straighter, his head held higher then they were even back then.
“You died.”
There was a half smile, and his eyes crinkled with a little mirth.
“What is dead may never die.”
She recognized those words, those were sacred words to the Ironborn. Sansa had heard Theon recite them occasionally in her youth but they were never said with the conviction that he had just then.
“Are … are you with the Drowned God now, feasting in his halls?”
He graced her with another amused smile, but didn’t answer that question.
“It is said that the Drowned God gives all his children a gift. I think Ramsey might have been mine.”
Anger danced across her face. “How can you say that?”
“He peeled away everything I was. Broke me down to my base parts. Once I was nothing, once I had nothing, no ambition, no pride, no hope, it allowed me to become who I really was. Who I was meant to be.”
“He was no gift, he was a monster.”
“Aye, that he was.”
She had sat up and shuffled closer to where he was sitting.
“You never asked what happened to him.”
“It didn’t matter, HE no longer mattered.”
Reaching out she took his hand, it was warm and strong. She ran her fingers over his digits.
“Your fingers!”
“In death I was made whole.”
She threaded her fingers through his and just sat with him before quietly saying.
“I am sorry you died. I’m so sorry.” Her voice cracked and she squeezed their joined hands.
“I’m not. I happily died for Winterfell, for you.” He turned more and looked her in the eyes. “I happily call you my Queen and bend the knee for you. I would do it over and over for eternity.”
The strength of that declaration left her a little breathless.
“There were times I wished I had died with Robb, but if I had then I wouldn’t have been there when you met Ramsey and I wouldn’t have been there to give Arya the time she needed. Everything had to happen as it did or it wouldn’t have worked. I have to go soon.”
“Will I ever see you again?”
“Probably not, I was given this opportunity to say goodbye.”
“Then stay, stay as long as you can.” She was beside him now, shoulder to shoulder, resting her head on his arm.
“Will you remarry Sansa? Carry on the Stark line?” He asked hesitantly.
“A new marriage will not be needed. Ramsey left me a parting gift. I had hoped it was just stress but it’s been months now.”
He looked down and realized she had pressed their joined hands towards her womb.
“I plan on raising him to be a good honourable man. He will be loved, cared for, and will never question my love or his place in the world. He will be a Stark, never become like HIM.”
He felt both sadness and joy at her news.
“Have you decided on a name?”
“I’m naming him one of my brothers. The brave man who died for Winterfell.”
Theon nodded his head and a smile settled on his lips.
“Robb is a good name.”
“Not Robb, my son will be named Theon Grey, and he will be my greatest joy.”
When she looked up, she was alone. It was only her hand on her belly, but she didn’t feel sadness or grief, for the first time in a long time she felt at peace.