She cannot feel the snow. She cannot feel the snow the way the Night Watch members can as they bury themselves in coats. But she thinks she hates it more than them. She somehow thought there could be no more snow then at the Wall, but the Others have brought more and more, blanketing the world.
After the first of the wildings froze in their bed most left the Wall, in different directions, for parts unknown. Some of the Night Watch members followed. Many died attempting to defend the walls and the walls came down and Melisandre just cannot understand how she could have been so horribly wrong. How she could have failed. What did she do all this for, if not to stop them? And now they will destroy the world.
“My King.” She enters his room and he is sitting in a chair, staring at his feet. He does not look at her. She walks slowly. She always walks slowly, but she makes a point of this time, like he will startle and run if she is fast or loud approaching him.
“Well, now, Priestess. What do your fires say?” His smile is cruel and it does not suit him. He does not smile when he is being cruel.
“They say we will die, my King.”
He inhales and lets out a short laugh. ”Well. That, at least, is true. You seem very accepting of this development.”
She closes her eyes. ”Yes. We failed. We should die.” She opens her eyes and they glisten. She kneels down at his side and wraps both her hands around his arm.
He stands and she follows. ”It should not snow at King’s Landing.”
She shakes her head, almost desperately. ”No. No, my King. It should not.”
He takes a short, shallow breath. ”We will fight them, tomorrow. We will bring all the men and we will fight.” She nods and runs her fingers up and down his arms before catching his right hand and rubbing her thumb along his calloused palm. He leans down and kisses her grabbing her arms so she almost cannot move, and she pulls him backward and he pushes her against the wall.
She lets out a sob and he almost stops, but she presses against him and he lets out a grown and almost looks furious at himself and she loosens the lacings at her back and he pulls her dress off the rest of the way. She unlaces him and he hisses, but lets her and she suddenly thinks that this will be the last time they are alive and together and there is nothing she can possibly do to stop that and, for the first time, she wishes she could not know the future.
