THE LITTLE PUP (EDITING AND REWRITING)

2.

Lilia had always been quiet about it, even though she would ask too many questions about it as a child. However, as time went by she started to understand her mother's reasons. She didn't approve of them at all and she condemned them greatly but she could understand. "Sansa, give me a moment with your sister, please"

Her sister did as she was told and quietly removed herself from the room, seemingly relieved to be asked to leave. Then again, so would Lilia if she could flee the conflict ahead.

"What now, mother? I get that you always felt ashamed by his existence, I remember hearing you trying to convince father to send him away... and don't you dare pretend that I'm imagining things! I get that and I understand why his presence always upset you so!" she told her, not shying away from her feelings. Her mother was angrier than Lilia had ever seen her before, her blue eyes turned darker and her jaw clenching in rage.

"No, you don't! You've never been through it! You don't know what you are talking about and you don't understand it either because if you did, then we wouldn't be having this conversation at the moment!" the woman argued. Lilia didn't like being told that she couldn't understand things just because she hadn't gone through them and she found it laughable how her mother's argument was so fickle that it could flow away with one blow... and Lilia was irritated enough to be the one to give that blow.

"Don't blame me! I'm not responsible for your sins! We are currently having this conversation because YOU couldn't love a motherless child or at least respect him! Jon never asked to be born, he is the one who is not to blame for all of this, he is the victim of all of you! I can understand that you felt betrayed because father slept with another woman and came back with her child! I understand that it would be hard for you to live with a boy who constantly remembered you of your husband's betrayal, but he isn't guilty of his parents' mistakes and nor am I!"

She was out of breath and her heart pounded at a rate she didn't know possible. She still had a lot to say but as she was about to continue, her mother did something she never thought the woman would ever be capable of doing – she slapped her. Lilia's hand touched her face which was still burning from the impact. The slap had been filled with the rage and the hurt that it had been motivated by but not with the guilt and disbelief that her mother carried in her features afterwards.

Lilia knew she had pressed a nerve but it didn't change how appalled she felt by what had happened but at the same time, nor the rage that burned in her heart for her mother's behaviour. It disgusted her how she would be such a hypocrite to the point that she couldn't bear to be confronted with her sins. So, she walked closer to her mother with her eyes wide opened, making sure to meet the regretful blue ones that belonged to the woman who had birthed her and as harshly as the winds of winter, she finished her speech with the words that were missing. "I hope that you know that if some sort of tragedy hits this family, it will be the Gods' doing and punishment for your sins"

With that, she left her chambers and shut the door, making the sound echo through the long hallway. She was so angry that she barely noticed Arya, Sansa and Rickon at the door, the latter scared and unable to say a word.

She raced through the hallways and she didn't look back. She knew what she needed and she knew where to go – the Godswood of Winterfell. She walked all the way there and then she sat by the three, allowing her thoughts to fall back in place. She thought about all the things that she said to her mother, every single word spoken by her. Had she truly been right or had she been too hard on her mother? She regretted the last thing she said and she regretted the way she had said things. She didn't regret confronting her mother though. She felt like she should have confronted her a long time ago.

Then, almost as though the Old Gods had guided her, it occurred to her that dwelling on the past would not do her any good. It didn't matter the way she felt towards the argument with her mother because she would never be able to change it or erase it from both their minds.