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He heaved his way through the snow desperate to get to her. The search party had been out for hours and the storm grew more fierce with each minute that passed. He had told her to not go riding today; that the Old Man had claimed a storm had been brewing for days but she had insisted.
He hadn’t been there when she left; he’d been training with the Free Folk in the yard when Ygritte had told him she’d seen Sansa leave. He’d yelled at Ygritte asking her why she hadn’t come to him straight away. A shrug was his only reply and now he and many others were risking their lives because Sansa had not heeded the warnings.
“Sansa!” Jon yelled as he trudged through the snow in a glade. He had tied his horse to a tree and taken to foot through the uneven ground.
“Sansa!” He yelled again. Jon stopped and listened to the wind howling through the trees. Why the devil did she need to go out today of all days?
“Jon...” a meek voice called through the wind.
His entire body darted left then right and he madly tried to see through the blanket of snow that was falling all around him.
“Sansa!” He called again then listened.
“Jon...” he heard again. It was coming from the east. He set off at a clumsy pace trying to go in the direction of her voice.
“Keep calling!” Jon yelled out of breath.
“Jon!” Sansa’s voice got slightly louder. She called it over and over again as he walked toward it, then it called from behind him, somehow he’d passed her.
“Don’t move! Just call my name!” Jon called to her through the howling winds.
“Jon!” she called again and he pivoted on his heel and started toward the South.
Jon found her huddled under a low ledge holding her entire body tight.
“Fuck, there you are Sansa!” Jon cried out as he clomped toward her in the snow. “Are you alright?”
“Dalia broke a leg,” Sansa said as tears escaped her eyes. “I left her to go back to Winterfell for help but the storm has turned me about several times.”
“Are you alright?” Jon asked again as he took her by the shoulders and made her stand before him.
“Yes, I’m fine, but Dalia...”
Jon pulled her against him in a fierce hug and held her tight for far longer than was necessary.
“I need to get you back home,” Jon said as he released her and looked at her face, it was a grey pallor that did not please him.
“But Dalia...”
“Is a horse,” Jon said softly as he wiped her eyes before they iced.
“I’m so sorry,” Sansa said as she cried anew. “I knew I’d been told and...”
“Why’d you come out then?” Jon asked the question that had been burning within him for hours now.
Sansa swallowed hard and looked away.
“Sansa...” he warned. He wasn’t going to let her away with this.
“I wanted...Jon, it’s stupid and meaningless now and...” Sansa stammered.
“Please just say so I can get you home,” Jon sighed as the snow fell heavily on both their heads.
“At first, I wanted to show everyone that I can help, that the traps I set yielded something,” Sansa began.
“You came out here to clear your bloody traps?” Jon asked astounded.
“Originally,” Sansa said softly as she met his eyes. “Then Ygritte...”
“Ygritte, what?” Jon asked, confused as to how she was involved in all of this.
“Then I needed to just get away from the castle,” Sansa said as she swallowed hard.
“What does this have to do with Ygritte?” Jon asked, confused.
“A King is permitted, so who am I to say?” Sansa mumbled.
“A King is permitted what?” Jon asked, all the more confused.
Sansa tried to pull away from him but he firmly held her in place.
“What Sansa?” He demanded.
“You’re permitted to take a mistress. And I know that the two of you were involved in the past,” Sansa said, her voice shaky. “I shouldn’t be surprised that you continued...our vows are not from love.”
“What?!” Jon asked astounded.
“Please don’t embarass me further by denying it,” Sansa said as she tried to shake him loose, but he held tightly.
“I have no mistress,” Jon said steadily. “Whatever Ygritte has told you is a lie.”
“Jon, please...” Sansa sighed as she finally met his eyes.
“Ygritte and I were lovers beyond the wall, and for a time at Castle Black,” Jon said honestly. “But I have not known that woman for almost a year, and we have been married half of that.”
“Jon, I would just rather you were honest with me,” Sansa said clearly.
Jon chuckled. “I am being completely honest with you, Sansa. I take my marriage vows seriously. I’m not some bloody Baratheon.”
“But she said...” Sansa started then stopped herself.
“What? What did she say?” Jon asked her, concerned.
“She said she knew you hadn’t bedded me since our wedding night and that I shouldn’t expect a pretty King like you to sleep alone,” Sansa said softly. “That she was handling my wifely duties for me.”
“Fuck,” Jon muttered under his breath.
“Is she wrong?” Sansa asked.
“She is not warming my bed, or my body,” Jon said as he ran a gloved hand through his hair. The snow was slowing.
“So you haven’t bedded anyone...?” Sansa asked, confused.
“I bedded you almost five months ago,” Jon said as he looked at her. “No one since.”
“Then why...?”
“Because,” Jon sighed as he shifted his feet. “Because she offered and I turned her down.”
“Oh,” Sansa said in realization.
“She’s been making comments and advances since and...and I thought they were just in jest...but now I see they are not.” Jon explained.
“Advances?” Sansa asked.
“To relieve me,” Jon offered as he looked anywhere but at his wife. “I will take care of it and make sure she knows she has no place with me.”
“Oh,” Sansa sighed.
They stood for a moment before Jon took a step away. “We need to get back.”
“Why have you not come to me since our wedding night?” Sansa asked as the wind picked up again.
Jon held her arm and walked ahead of her taking her with him.
“Jon!” Sansa demanded as she pulled her arm free.
Jon whipped around and looked at her angered expression.
“Why not since?” Sansa demanded.
“We married to secure the North,” Jon said loudly. “It isn’t my place to make those demands of you.”
“But you are my husband!” Sansa countered.
“Aye, and you had another husband who took more than his rights,” Jon countered.
“But you are not Ramsay,” Sansa said confused.
“I just...” Jon stammered. “I just assumed you were done with that part of your life after the way you’d been treated.”
Sansa looked at him shocked. He really thought that, even after the amazing bedding they had on their wedding night that still lived in her dreams.
“I’m not!” Sansa yelled over the winds as the snow started to fall more heavily again.
“You’re not what?” Jon asked, confused.
“I’m not done with bedding,” Sansa said boldly. “I want to continue, if you do.”
“You’re not saying this because of Ygritte and...?” Jon asked, surprised.
“No!” Sansa chuckled.
Jon gave her an ear to ear grin and nodded.
“Whatever my lady wishes,” he said as he took her hand and led her back to his horse and their home where things would be very different.