I started with a little less than half the men Bolton had. If the Knights of the Vale hadn't come at Sansa's call, I would be dead. If I'd had to fight him sooner, I would have been between him and Stannis Baratheon, and I would likely have had little choice but to bend the knee to Stannis, if I'd lived long enough to do it.

[He almost tells her that his father had thought that Stannis was the true king after Robert's death, but those don't seem like words she needs or would want to hear. It doesn't matter now that both men are dead and he and she are far away from home.

And there's more in his list of ifs... for example, if he'd never been Lord Commander of the Night's Watch, he might not have taken seven stab wounds to the chest and abdomen.

In the meantime, he likes the way she toys with his hair.]

I'd choose you any day.