A/N: Madanach kept pestering me for a chapter from his POV for once, so here you go. Warnings for rough sex, biting, scratching, hatesex (sort of).

In Liriel's absence, things have not been going brilliantly at Druadach Redoubt - their leader's never been someone to take losing a loved one well, and as if Madanach's mood swings weren't bad enough, there's the dragon...


Fire everywhere. Smoke everywhere, and thank the old gods Druadach Redoubt was mostly inside, safe under the stone. As it was, the damn creature had killed two of his Forsworn already this week, and wasn't showing any signs of dying just yet, although they'd wounded it.

"Get under cover, it's coming back!" Madanach heard Kaie yell, recasting her armour and dual-casting fireballs at it before ducking behind a rock. Madanach sent two Thunderbolts after the thing, using the last of his magicka in the process, and then Borkul had shoved him to the ground, his new Orcish armour taking the brunt of the dragon fire as the thing flew overhead again.

"You do not need to keep doing that, Borkul," Madanach growled. "I'm still quite capable."

"Of course you are, boss," Borkul said calmly, reaching for his bow. "But see here, if you die it's game over for the Forsworn. So you're not going to die on my watch, OK?"

If this dragon didn't die soon, it might be game over for all of them. He'd not entirely believed Kaie when she'd said the things were immortal, and he'd naively thought the Forsworn were more than a match for the beasts. And they would be – if the things didn't keep coming back to life somehow. This was the third time this week this one had attacked, and they'd killed it each time, congratulated themselves on a mighty victory – then in the night, the sound of another one flying overhead, a great Shout that sounded like slanta fo... and back it had come.

Madanach could fight the Nords any day. He'd never reckoned on these bastards.

Kaie was staggering to her feet, raising her bow. She spared one glance for where he was pulling himself up.

"Get him inside," she snapped, before turning back to let off another arrow at the beast. She'd been trained well. Too well.

"Right you are, Princess," said Borkul, grabbing his arm. "Come on, boss, let's get you under cover."

"The Void I will, I'll die like a Reachman," Madanach snapped, wishing his magicka would recover faster. "And you do not take orders from my daughter, you take them from me, understand?"

"Yes boss, and now you're going inside," said Borkul calmly, starting to drag Madanach inside. Madanach flexed his fingers, wondering just how conductive to shock magic that metal armour was. If it was anything like Nord steel armour, Madanach could have the Orc weeping on the floor in about ten seconds. If his damn magicka would just recover...

"Anu save us, it's coming back!" Uraccen could be heard shouting over the dragon's roar. Forsworn arrows flew at it along with ice spikes and fireballs, and Madanach raised his own hands, prepared to make do with what magicka he did have. It would have to be enough.

"Da, get inside!" Kaie howled, blasted lightning at it. The dragon stopped in midair, hovering right above him now, and Madanach knew it was about to breathe fire again. He was already tired and in possession of a few nasty burns on his arms, but damned if he'd run like some craven coward. If Sithis took him today, so be it. He just wished he could see Liriel again...

"KRII LUN AUS!"

A wave of purple magic flew upwards from the south, engulfing the dragon and distracting it. Shrieking, it wheeled around to fight this new foe. Madanach raced out from behind the stockades to see who'd just rallied to their aid. He knew of only two people who could do that Shouting magic, one a mortal enemy and the other...

Fire flashed into the sky, one fireball missing but the other making contact. Madanach felt his heart skip as he saw her, Liriel Queen of Dragons, clad in her Forsworn armour, magic firing in both hands, mage armour making her seem to glow... and she was wearing his torc. She'd come back to him. He'd hoped she would, but there'd been a tiny part of him constantly whispering that she might not, and to actually lay eyes on her again... He could have wept. As it is, that was his Altmer queen out there, firing lightning at the thing with her Atronach backing her up, and she looked so horribly fragile next to that dragon.

"YOU WILL GET AWAY FROM HIM, DRAGON!"Liriel shouted. "Come, come face your death with some honour, Dovah!"

Madanach glanced swiftly at his Forsworn, all of whom were staring at Liriel in amazement, even Kaie who was meant to have a bit more discipline than that.

"Don't just stand there, kill that thing!" he shouted. "Don't let the Dragon-Queen do all the work!"

As one, bows were lifted, hands were raised, and the dragon faced a renewed gauntlet of fire, frost, lightning and poison arrows. The dragon ignored them all, crashing to the ground, right next to Liriel and preparing to strike. Liriel drew two swords, a long slender curved blade that crackled with lightning and the other a glowing golden one that gleamed with fire.

"This ends now!" Liriel hissed, and she began to move, ducking under the dragon's jaws as she span and weaved, blades flashing this way and that, carving the dragon along its side. Then it twisted and snapped at her and Liriel cried out, blood spurting out as its fangs made contact.

"LIRIEL!" Madanach shouted, feeling everything seeming to stop, the world going into slow motion as he sprinted towards the dragon, lightning firing from both hands, strongest spells he knew, shocking the beast. He could see it weakening, knew it wasn't going to take off any time soon, but it was still deadly and now those teeth were coming for him. He kept up the casting until his magicka ran out then drew his sword.

Queen of Dragons, if you are not dead (please don't be, please, not like this, not now) now would be the time to prove your title...

Behind the dragon, a healing spell flared, the dragon roared in pain and turned from him again, and then Liriel was there, on top of the damn beast's head, as if she'd done this a hundred times before, grabbing it by the horns and that curved lightning sword slashing away at it, trying to find a weak spot. There was one, actually, right behind the beast's jaw but Liriel couldn't reach it from there. He could though.

Ignoring Kaie's cries of "Da, get away from it!" Madanach ran closer, sword at the ready. While the beast was still trying to throw Liriel off, Madanach's glass sword found the weak point behind its jaw and slid in to the beast's head, at the same time Liriel's curved blade sank into the top of its skull. The beast howled its last and sank to the ground, dead. Madanach retrieved his sword, cleaning the blade and sheathing it, watching as Liriel just crouched on the beast's skull, eyes closed and a healing spell sealing the last of her wounds, leaving only the faintest of scars. He'd just killed a dragon – they'd killed a dragon. Liriel Dragon-Queen, truly one to be feared. Madanach didn't fear a lot, and he didn't fear Liriel, but there was something about the way she'd thrown herself into the fight, something about her fury and her fearlessness and the skill with which she'd taken the thing apart that was going to straight to the baser parts of his brain. She truly was a fierce battlemage dragonslayer, and by Sithis he wanted her.

"What – what's happening?" Duach gasped. "Sir, it's on fire!"

Unlike every other dragon they'd killed – ha, that was a lie, it was the same one three times and they all knew it – the body wasn't just lying there prone. It was smoking, fire emerging from within and consuming from beneath. With Liriel still kneeling on the beast's head.

"Liriel," Madanach shouted. "Liriel!"

The Altmer shook herself down, retrieved her sword and leapt to the ground, wiping the blood off, sheathing it and getting to her feet, looking rather nervously at them all as the dragon burned behind her. Then it happened, white light boiling out of the dragon, spiralling up in a vortex and wrapping itself around Liriel. Madanach couldn't take his eyes off her, taking his headdress off and walking towards her, lightheaded and in some sort of trance, he must be, he'd never seen magic like this before.

"Queen of Dragons," he breathed. She stepped forward, glancing up at him then away, an oddly shy and childish gesture from someone who'd just killed a dragon with no fear. She just nodded, looking awkward, and honestly, so she should after disappearing on him. He'd wondered constantly how to play this, whether to be harsh and make her beg for forgiveness or kinder and gentler while she told him how sorry she was, and hoping the camp wouldn't think him weak if he did take her back. Honestly it had gotten to the stage where even that was starting to seem like less and less of a problem, if she'd only just come back.

Well, she'd just walked in, killed a dragon and reduced it to a charred skeleton before their very eyes. Whatever happened next, Madanach guessed that them thinking him weak for not turning her away was no longer going to be an issue.

"Madanach," she whispered and the little hitch in her voice, the faintest hint of nerves, an utterly fearless dragonslayer thrown off her game by him – Sithis yes, he liked that, he could stand to hear her whimpering his name all day.

"You came back," he murmured, reaching to run fingers over that beautiful hair of hers. Liriel just nodded, unsure what to say. Madanach realised he didn't know what to say either, but he knew what he did want. He cupped her face in both hands, pulled her to him and kissed her. She whimpered again, and she really needed to stop doing that, it was utterly ravaging at all his reserves of self-control when she did that, but her lips were parting beneath his and she was kissing him back.

Behind him the camp burst out into spontaneous cheering. Liriel broke off the kiss immediately, looking absolutely mortified. Madanach grabbed her wrist before she could run off again.

"Don't run," he murmured. "It's all right, I can get us a little privacy, just don't leave until we've talked."

"Arrogant swine," Liriel breathed and Madanach didn't even care, as long as she was back and talking to him. "I'm not – I'm only wearing this torc because of the fire enchantment. I am not the damn Reach-Queen!"

Ah, so she'd found out its significance then. He'd actually had the idea while watching her dance at the party, taken one of the Red Eagle Redoubt contingent aside to commission it and signed off a writ authorising requisitioning of the materials from Kolskeggr Mine and then forgotten about it until the thing arrived two weeks after she'd left him and he'd come close to giving up on seeing her again. He'd left the thing on his strategy table and disappeared into his tent with a large bottle of jenever without the tonic and stayed there until Kaie had tentatively come knocking and quietly said the books from Nepos had arrived and did he want her to get the torc melted down? He'd taken the books, told her to leave the torc for now. He'd asked Nepos for everything he could get on the Altmer people, culture, religion, social and sexual mores, biology, courtship and marriage, everything. He must have spent about three days non-stop reading and making notes and at the end of it all, he'd realised everything. That Altmer were not Forsworn, Altmer didn't love lightly and they treated sex as a deadly serious sacrament, to be reserved for only the deepest connections, and that their long lives meant that those deep connections were usually reserved for other mer. That while there'd been some great human-Altmer love stories, they always ended tragically when the human died and the heartbroken mer left behind shut themselves away, pining for the rest of their lives for their lost love. That Altmer mated for life, they'd wait centuries for the right person and they rarely gave themselves to anyone until they were sure, usually after a lengthy courtship of decades. And he'd likely just taken her maidenhood after barely knowing her, because he'd been lonely and emotional and a little drunk and she'd been there, so very very beautiful and actually worrying about him. No wonder she'd run away.

But I don't have decades, Liriel...

"You wear that, and every Forsworn in the Reach will know you," he said, hand not leaving her cheek, fingers tracing those fine Altmer cheekbones. "They'll know whose you are, know not to raise a finger to you."

"You do not own me, Madanach," Liriel hissed, and wasn't that just like her, proud to the last. One of the many things he'd come to love about this woman.

"No, no one owns a dragon, I know," Madanach murmured, planting gentle kisses along her cheekbones, and that was setting her off whimpering again. "But to love one and not be destroyed in dragon fire – that's something I want the world to know about."

"You're getting very close to me doing just that," Liriel whispered, but her breath was hitching in her throat and her cheeks were flushed and Madanach remembered how she'd felt while he was inside her and the way she'd tasted and the sounds she'd made and by Sithis he wanted that again.

"But not there yet – noted," he said, trying to keep the smirk off his face and not really succeeding. "Come on, come inside. We should talk."

Liriel nodded, taking his hand and letting herself be led in.

"You are far too soft on her, Da," said Kaie, arms folded and glaring at Liriel, who just looked away guiltily.

"She just killed a dragon for good," Madanach told her. While he loved Kaie dearly, treasured her as he had all his children, she could be rather too overprotective sometimes. "That, daughter, is something I intend to remain on good terms with."

"And if it had been a pig-ugly Orc or a strapping Nord warrior man with that sort of power, would you be so eager to have them around then?" Kaie returned, clearly not backing down so easily.

"Kaie," Madanach growled. She was his daughter and he loved her, but even so, there were limits.

"Fine, fine," Kaie sighed, knowing when she was beaten. Instead of nagging her father, she turned to Liriel, glaring at her. "You break my father's heart again, I will not be so generous, you hear me?"

"I hear you," Liriel said quietly. "I'm sorry."

"Good, now get in there," she said tersely and stalked off, shouting orders to the rest to start clearing up and lining up for medical treatment. Speaking of which... Madanach's own healing spells flared, and the burns on his arms faded away. Much better.

"My daughter can be a little overprotective," Madanach sighed, leading Liriel into the deserted camp. "She means well though. She lost her mother and her sisters, I'm all she's got left. She's determined to not lose me too."

Liriel didn't answer, just following him inside in silence. Oh good, it was going to be like that. Well, this conversation was always going to be an awkward one, but he'd hoped she'd have at least something to say for herself. It wasn't that he'd never initiated anyone sexually before, but they'd always been other Forsworn, desperate to get it out of the way so they could claim adulthood, grateful and pleased afterwards and parting on friendly terms, with no hard feelings on either side. When he'd married Mireen, he'd known damn well he'd not been her first and he'd been quite all right with that. This was entirely new territory.

Finally they reached his tent, and he led her inside. He'd had it enlarged and a double bed installed – not a terribly fancy one, a simple wooden frame with straw and furs, nice and low maintenance but better than his previous bedding and more importantly, shareable. That was if Liriel didn't run away again. Madanach stretched out on it, watching her. She was staring at him, outright terror in her eyes.

"For the love of Anu, I'm not going to molest you," Madanach snapped. "Take the chair if you'd prefer." It came out harsher than he'd intended, but she nodded meekly and slipped into the wooden chair, still looking as if she was about to bolt any second. Then she saw the books on the dresser next to her.

"Oh gods," she whispered. "You've been..."

"Studying, yes, I needed to know what obscure Altmer courtship custom I'd violated," Madanach said, watching her as he propped himself up. "Imagine my surprise to find out the typical Altmer courtship takes about ten years before there's even any physical contact, and that it can take another ten before any sex happens and that usually requires a formal betrothal first, and that while Altmer come of age at fifty, it's near unheard of for anyone under a hundred to even commence courtship, never mind marry. Liriel, if you don't mind me asking, how old are you?" A question he really should have asked a damn sight sooner. He'd just assumed she was an adult, capable of making her own decisions, and she seemed like it, but what if he'd been wrong? Sithis help him, please let her be of age...

"One hundred and thirty three," Liriel whispered, cheeks blazing as she stared at the floor. Madanach felt all thought processes grind to a halt, the abstract knowledge that Altmer lived for centuries if illness or violence didn't get in the way having in no way prepared him for the actual knowledge that his Dragon-Queen was twice his age, and had already been of age for a good decade or two before he was even born.

"I... see," was all he felt qualified to say on that, and suddenly all those depressingly tragic human-mer love stories began to make sense. If he saw out the next twenty-five years he'd consider himself lucky, but in that time, Liriel wouldn't even age. The books had said converting Altmer ages to human involved taking fifty years off the Altmer's age to find their years of adulthood, divide by ten and then adding sixteen years to represent a human childhood, making her approximately twenty-four or equivalent, which seemed about right to him. Which he could live with, but for her, it'd be the equivalent of marrying someone who was going to age and die before her very eyes and within two or three years of the wedding, and she came from a culture where falling in love again after losing a spouse was uncommon and even a little scandalous.

Of course she'd run screaming. Frankly, it was surprising she'd come back at all. And if he was in any way a good and unselfish man, a decent human being, he'd tell her he was sorry, let her go and send her away to find love with a fellow mer instead.

Madanach the King in Rags was none of those things.

"You don't want me any more, do you?" she whispered, not meeting his eyes. The bed creaked as he rolled off it, coming to sit opposite her.

"I didn't say that," Madanach said, taking her hands. "Liriel, macreena, why didn't you tell me I was your first?"

Liriel let out a sob, still not daring to look at him.

"I didn't want – didn't want to..."

Didn't want to what? Have sex? But she'd said yes, she'd screamed his name and begged for more, pulled him to her, come undone in his arms, she'd appeared to be a very willing and enthusiastic participant or he'd have stopped, he had some standards!

"Liriel? Liriel, talk to me. Tell me why. I meant what I said in that letter, you've done nothing shameful or wrong."

"Shameful?" Liriel did look up at that, fury rising in her eyes, and that was his Dragon-Queen all right, all proud and angry and ready to devour the unwary. "What would you know about shame, you've never been ashamed of anything in your life!"

A fair point, now he came to think about it...

"Do you have any idea what you've done?" she snarled, yanking her hands out of his and prodding him in the chest. He had a feeling this was going to end badly, and yet at the same time, he could sense some power rising in her, all the rage of an angry dragon, and Sithis help him, he couldn't help but want to see it unleashed.

"No, what have I done?" he asked, beginning to smile, knowing it was the sort of response that had always driven Mireen up the wall. Liriel it seemed was little different in that regard. She leapt off the chair, jabbing at his chest.

"You've ruined me, you selfish son of a bitch!" she shouted. "You just used me and you didn't care about anything else but getting me right where you wanted me, and now you've had me and you won't even leave me alone, you keep sending letters and expensive gifts and calling me Dragon-Queen and wanting to talk to me and... and... if the Altmer love of my life turned up tomorrow, I'd probably end up turning him away because I can't stop thinking about you!" She'd been jabbing at him throughout and as she shrieked the last phrase, the tent shaking as she did, she shoved him backwards on to the bed and pounced. Madanach caught her as she landed on top of him, face twisted in fury and yet still beautiful, fiery and furious and passionate and alive as he'd always known she was under that cultured exterior, always known and now he'd got in deep enough to see it first hand. To love a dragon and not be devoured – this was what he'd hoped for.

"Nor can I, Dragon-Queen," he growled. "Believe me, if I could have got you out of my head, I would." Grabbing her by the hair, he pulled her to him for a bruising kiss that elicited an outraged shriek from her that just made him harder. Sithis, he'd missed her. Liriel was straddling him now, grabbing his upper arms and her nails digging in, clearly stronger than she looked. He slid one hand down to grab the back of her neck while the other slid down her back, grabbing her backside and pressing her hard up against him so that she could not possibly miss his arousal. He could hear her growling, arms finding their way under him so she could pull him closer, grinding against him and Sithis he needed to get out of these clothes, get her naked now, feel skin against skin, get inside her, claim her again as his. He could feel her fingers grab his hair, pulling his head back, forcing him to stare up into fierce golden eyes, delicately slanted in a way a Forsworn woman's eyes rarely were – but when it did happen, it was considered a sign of great beauty.

"Everything about wanting you is wrong," she hissed at him, teeth bared, but the wriggle of her hips that sent jolts of pleasure through his cock gave the lie to her words.

"So leave, I'm not stopping you," he growled, knowing full well she wasn't going to stop now.

"Never," she snarled. "You did this to me, you live with the consequences." In one swift move, she'd swept the fur away from his right shoulder and sank her teeth into his flesh. Madanach bit his lip, muffling the cry of pain, but he'd suffered worse and more to the point it meant her self-control was gone completely and she was his again, his Liriel, back in his arms. He reached out and began stripping her top off, revealing those exquisite breasts again, but leaving the torc, she could keep that on. A reminder of whose she was. Liriel gasped but didn't stop him, shifting back as he sat up, burying his head in her chest, kissing and nipping and leaving little bite marks all over her skin. Liriel's fingers began to start taking his armour off as well, and he left her breasts alone long enough to assist with getting his top half off before returning to them. He wasn't gentle, but nor was she, howling in fury and raking her nails down his back, hard enough to break the skin but he didn't care, pain meant you were alive and the opposite of love was not hate but cold indifference. Mireen had taught him that.

But now was not the time to think of her, not with a beautiful elf in his arms. Grabbing her hips, he spun her over and flung her on her back, crawling on top of her and shedding the rest of his clothes before helping her with hers. Liriel moaned, opening her legs and a little exploration with his fingers revealed she was already soaking wet. No need to drag anything out then.

"I hate you," Liriel hissed even as she spread her legs and angled her hips upwards.

"I know," Madanach told her, smiling as he entered her, driving deep inside her and no resistance this time but still gloriously tight, soft flesh parting before him and seeming to suck him in, and she didn't cry out in pain either, just a long, low moan as she flung her head back. Madanach kept right on fucking her, hard and fast, luxuriating in how it felt as she clung on to him, digging her nails into his back, crying out a litany of please and yes and harder and oh gods, Madanach, please, and she was his, all his, no one else's, no one else had ever got to her like this, no one else had ever seen her broken and despoiled like this, no one had ever heard her beg them to fuck her – no one but him. Let the entire camp hear this if they liked – but watching Liriel fall apart in pleasure was reserved for him alone.

"Madanach, yes, yes, damn you, yes," she cried, on the verge of sobbing as she clung on to him and Madanach couldn't take it any more.

"Liriel, yes, mine, yes," he rasped, burying his face in the crook of her neck and then he was coming, losing himself to the moment as he thrust into her, moaning as he spilled inside her, thrusting a few more times before collapsing on the bed, carefully withdrawing from her as he did. Liriel was lying back, unmoving, eyes closed, face flushed and breathing heavily, clearly as worn out as he was. Thank the gods, he could still keep up with her.

For a few moments, neither of them moved, too worn out or not wanting to shatter the moment with words. At least she'd not run away yet. Finally Liriel got up, wincing, and reached for a leather cloth from the pile Madanach had recently acquired for precisely the reason she needed them – post-coital clean-up.

"I'll have that when you're done," Madanach murmured sleepily. Liriel nodded and passed him another one. Clean-up done, Liriel crawled under the furs, shivering in the cool air. Not running then, but she was awfully quiet, curled in a little ball, back to him. Worrying. Madanach joined her under the covers, spooning in behind her, one hand resting gently on her upper arm.

"Cariad," he murmured. "Are you all right?"

She just shuddered, giving a little sob. Not all right.

"Liriel?" Not again, he didn't think he could stand to lose her again, not after this, she was his, he loved her, he'd give her anything she wanted (except the centuries by her side, the one thing she really wanted). "Cariad, don't... don't tell me you didn't want that." Another shudder, and he realised with faint horror she was sobbing quietly.

"Cariad..." he whispered, stroking her hair, feeling utterly wretched and this was not how it was meant to go, not at all. He hated feeling helpless, the whole reason he'd revitalised the Forsworn was because he couldn't sit idle and do nothing when people needed him.

"You win, all right?" she spat, still huddled and facing away from him. "You win, you've got me, apparently I can't stay away from you or stop touching you or keep any kind of control over myself when you're around. Congratulations, Madanach, you've got the Dragon-Queen in your bed. Happy now?"

Of course not, not seeing her like this. "Liriel," he murmured in her ear. "Don't be like this, please. Makes me feel like I just forced you."

Liriel made a little choking noise. "What more can you possibly want from me?" she whispered.

"You to love me back." The words were out before he could stop them. Anu help him, if she'd not guessed before, she knew it now. For a second, Liriel didn't react – then she was crying for real, turning around and snuggling into his arms, howling on his shoulder.

"Liriel," he sighed, kissing the top of her head and holding her close. "Liriel, I'm sorry, maybe it's too soon..."

"You're going to be dead in thirty years!" Liriel howled. "And there's nothing I or anyone else can do to stop it! You're going to break my heart!"

He really should let her go, send her away, never see her again, let her get over him in peace...

"You'd rather leave now and never see me again?" he murmured. Liriel shuddered, shaking her head. He could still feel the torc round her neck, the metal warm from where it had been next to her skin – for as long as she wore it, she was his and he drew comfort from that at least.

"No," she said in a tiny voice he could barely hear, but he could feel his heart skip. "No, no, I love you, no... I love you." All the fight went out of her, and she just sagged in his arms, head resting against him.

"I love you," she whispered, and only she could say it like it was an announcement of impending doom. Madanach pulled her close to him, smiling into her hair, and it was wrong to feel overjoyed when she sounded so defeated, but he didn't care, he adored her and she was his now, really and truly his.

"I love you too, macreena," he breathed into her ear. "For the rest of my life, I will love you."

"But not for the rest of mine," Liriel said, sounding utterly broken, and there were still tears rolling down her cheeks. Madanach tilted her head up to look at her face, guilt gnawing at him to see her like this, but not strongly enough to send her away over.

"The Dance never ends, macreena," he whispered. "We move in and out, but unless we fall from it completely through soul trap or vampirism, we come back. Anu and Sithis are always vying with each other, but they always balance out and when our time in the Void is done, Anu brings us back to the world for the next steps in the Dance. Cariad, I promise I'll come back, if you promise to look for me. You won't be alone forever. Just don't shut yourself away from love after I die."

To his surprise, Liriel actually laughed. "Of course you will," she said fondly. "Should have known you won't let a little thing like dying stop you."

"Never," Madanach promised. "The Dance doesn't end until the world does, Liriel."

Liriel lifted her eyes to his, a look of dawning horror in them, as if she knew something he didn't. Then her eyes narrowed, her face all steely determination.

"I will make sure of it," she said fiercely. "I swear it as the Dragonborn, the Dance won't stop while I draw breath."

Odd, why would it stop? Then Madanach thought of the dragons, unkillable, unstoppable, ravaging the Reach and probably elsewhere, and he could do little to stop them. No one could... except Liriel. The Dragonborn apparently, and while he paid little attention to old Nord legends as a rule, perhaps he ought to make an exception for this. Seeing as she was his queen in waiting and all.

"I think," he said softly, stroking her cheek, "it's about time you told me what this whole Dragonborn business is really about, don't you? How did you do it? How did you make a permanent end of that dragon and why are they coming back after so long dead? I asked Keirine, but she told me that some things were hidden even from her."

Liriel nodded, and it was clear that while these things were hidden from his talented sister, his talented queen-to-be knew them all too well.

"I'll tell you," she promised. "But you can't tell anyone else, not yet."

Madanach promised to keep quiet. No reason for the rest of the Forsworn to know after all, and having insight into the dragons not available to the others was a valuable thing indeed.

"And you have to promise not to freak out and go all overprotective on me," said Liriel firmly. "I am quite capable of looking after myself, and I can do what's needed, but not if you're loudly insisting that you're not letting your queen go into battle on her own. I don't interfere with you running the Forsworn, you will leave the dragons to me, right?"

Madanach was actually quite happy to leave the dragon-fighting to her. After facing down the same one three times, he'd love to be able to delegate dealing with the blasted creatures to someone else.

"Agreed. Now tell me what's going on."


A/N: And there we are, more smut for you and the two of them back together. I partly wanted to get inside Madanach's head for a bit, and partly wanted to show Liriel from the outside, prove that even though the King in Rags has swept her off her feet, she's still a damn Dragonborn, and there's not really any such thing as a non-badass Dragonborn.