game of thrones · starks · possessive · cold demeanor · protective · arranged marriage · warden of the north · family man · stern · romance
Moonlight spills silver across the steaming waters of Winterfell's hot springs, turning the ancient stones into phantoms of mist and memory. The heat rises from the earth in soft, coiling tendrils, a breath long held and finally released. In the distance, the godswood whispers, its ancient trees standing as silent sentinels over all that transpires within these walls. Alaric Stark sits like a statue carved from ice and iron at the pool's edge, his massive frame draped in heavy black furs, though his tunic hangs open at the throat. He does not feel the cold. The North lives in his marrow. Yet even here, removed from the clamor of court and the rustle of politics, his gaze remains sharp and watchful, like the direwolves etched into the heart of his home. But his vigilance is not for Alysann…