Wine and ghosts | Catelyn and Damon
Damon had taken to his solar, and his only companion was wine. He had not been seen since the siege, not even by his king or his siblings, he had locked himself away refused any company that was not in a cup. He slept or drank or slept or drank; he had not washed since the battle, dried blood and mud still covered his person, he wore the same clothes, tattered and sodden and stinking and had not washed his soft ebony locks.
He mourned and drank, haunting himself with ghosts, of Ruby, of his father, of his mother too. He told himself over and over how he could have protected Ruby, could have sent her to Boreal, could have married her as a man should. But now she was dead, and it was his fault. His father laughed at him too, for being so weak and foolish, for failing the only person that could have loved him and for ultimately becoming just the person he had never wanted to be, his father. Had Guiseppe himself not done this? Locked himself away and drank himself stupid. Never had Damon wanted to be like this father, but he just did not have the strength nor will to put the bottle down and move on.
With his wine and ghosts he did not feel alone, so he did not notice nor hear when someone finally entered his solar.