Golden Lioness [Game of Thrones] COMPLETED!

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

"Honour. Valour. Duty. It's all just bullshit." 

- Jaime. 

Joanna could see the smoke in the air when she exited the tavern. She was desperate to know what happened and to see if the fire had touched Brandon Stark. As she hustled into Winterfell with her skirts in her hands the smoke clung to her clothes. Joanna thought about "fate" while she ran into the courtyard past the Westgate heading for Brandon's room. Just when Joanna had decided that her family could not be related to the death of Brandon Stark, a fire starts. Perhaps it's better this way, Joanna thought while she wove her way through men who were rushing towards the smoke with buckets of water. If the fire started from something completely unrelated to my family and kills Bran.... But Joanna knew better, there were no simple coincidences in her life. 

Once she was in the courtyard outside the Guest House and the Great Keep, she saw that the fire was not anywhere near, meaning that Brandon Stark had not been touched by the fire. A sigh of relief left Joanna's body, but only for a moment as she saw as a man sprint into the Great Keep, with a blade at his side. Once again, Joann broke into a sprint, following the man. 

She entered the Great keep to see shadows of the man and his blade bouncing off the stone walls as he ran. He was further ahead of her but Joanna was determined to make it to Brandon Stark's room before the man could do much damage. As she bound up the stairs, thoughts raced through her mind. First, she thought of Joffrey. A part of her wanted to congratulate him. Having a murderer in their midst would be incredibly unsettling for the Starks.  The remaining parts of her wanted to wrap her hands around the boy's throat and squeeze. Secondly, Joanna was aware that she had no weapon. 

The fear the grew inside of her as she thought about her empty hands. There was no sword at her waist or knives hidden in her shoes or in her dress. Joanna was unprepared, but she decided that she could not stop when she reached the top of the stairs. She huffed to herself and shook her head as she hurried down the twisting hallway to Brandon's room. This is a bad idea.  

Joanna heard sounds of fighting from inside the boy's room. When she arrived, she saw Catelyn Stark being pushed onto the floor with sickening grunts. Joanna rushed into the room, preparing to jump onto the back of the attacker to take him by surprise, but something in the corner of the chamber caught her eye. There was a blade sitting on a table next to Brandon's bed. Joanna rushed to the knife, jumping over Catelyn Stark who laid on the floor, obviously in shock at the whole situation. With quick hands, Joanna grabbed the knife,  took a moment to aim before chucking the blade at the man's face. 

He screamed as the dull blade lodged itself into his eye, and he fell to his knees as blood rushed down his face. The man dropped the dagger he had been holding.  Joanna took advantage of his shock and she ran towards the man to take the knife from his eye with the intention of jamming it into his neck. But before she could reach him, a flash of brown fur jumped onto the man and began to tear out his throat, spraying Joanna with blood. The man's screams quickly died out. 

There was a moment of silence as Joanna watched the wolf with the bloodstained muzzle hop onto Brandon's bed and make himself comfortable before plopping down. Joanna could feel a pair of eyes on her, and she knew they certainly did not belong to the dead body at her feet. She spun to see Catelyn Stark sitting up, gazing at Joanna. Joanna knew that Catelyn was not truly looking at her, the older woman looked lost and afraid, soon beginning to shake while looking down at her hands. Joanna saw that the flesh on Catelyn's hands had been all torn up and was bloody, most likely from trying to fight off Bran's attacker. 

"My lady," Joanna spoke softly, trying to get the woman's attention. "My lady," she spoke again less softly, and more impatiently. Joanna wanted to go to her own chambers as she could feel an enormous headache forming. Luckily, Catelyn's blue eyes drifted back to Joanna's and the older woman slowly became more present. "I'm going to fetch the maester, then go to bed, " Joanna stated. She knew what she was not behaving as a proper lady should, Cersei would be disappointed. But a proper lady would not be throwing knives at a killer that she had practically conscripted, she reminded herself, which made shame wash over her.  

 She heard their voices before she could prepare what she wanted to say. As she turned the corner to exit the building, Joanna found Maester Luwin standing at the steps of the Great Keep, talking with Robb. 

"Maester Luwin," Joanna greeted him. "Robb," she said. Both of them turned, a look of horror washing over their faces as they saw the droplets of blood that had sprayed her own face. 

"What happened?" Maester Luwin asked with fear evident in his voice. 

"Are you alright?" Robb's eyes checked her bodies for wounds and seemed to relax when he did not see any immediate problems.

"There was an attacker," Joanna spoke, watching as the faces in front of her went from horror to terror. "Everyone is alive, except for the attempted assassin." Joanna tried to recall more information, as her head was being clouded over with thoughts whirling like a storm. "Catelyn is hurt," Joanna looked at the master. "You should probably check on her," she said and the man in the grey robes nodded, disappearing up the stairs.  Joanna looked at Robb, who seemed to be at wit's end with worry. 

"Things are changing, Joanna." His northern accent was thick and he spoke slowly with his eyes downcast. Joanna nodded, understanding what he meant. Cersei would have told Joanna to seize the opportunity to take advantage of Robb in his sad state, but Joanna wasn't in the mood to put in an effort into playing with his emotions.  Joanna took his right hand in both of hers. She enveloped it with her own fingers. 

"I know, Robb," she spoke solemnly, dreaming of laying down in her own bed and sleeping. She had a long day, and the rush from the small battle upstairs had left her exhausted. 

"I'm glad I have you," Robb told her.

"And I, you," she said from a script in her head. Robb took his free hand to caress Joanna's cheek gently and she leaned into his palm. She really just wanted to go to bed, but it became clear to her that Robb had a different mindset when he kissed her.  

It was a quick kiss but still quite passionate. While their lips were connected, Joanna felt a tear trickle down Robb's face. She pulled away slowly when he retracted his hand from her face to swish the tears from his eyes. Joanna watched as he inhaled strongly through his nose, pulling himself together. 

"You should go see your mother," she told him and he nodded. They both went their separate ways, Joanna to her chambers and Robb to his family. As she walked across the gravel courtyard, she felt eyes on her back. Joanna turned just in time to see Robb's auburn curls spinning as if he was looking away quickly. 

Things were changing, and Joanna was sure that she was ready for them. 

A/N:

THIS ONE WAS SHORT 

BUT IT WAS ALSO PLOT HEAVY??? WHAAAT 

also im really pleased that we finally got some action  hahha both ways ;)