Hello, everyone! I'm so excited about how many new followers and views I've gotten over this past week! Thank you all so much for being amazing readers!

Here's chapter 11!

Iris sighs as she pushes the door open to Honeyside. Her violet eyes widen, trying to see through the darkness.

"Laas," she Whispers. Seeing no one, she feels her way over to the lamp and uses her flames to light it, bathing the small house in a golden light.

Dropping her bag and cloak onto the kitchen table and heaving a sigh, she finds that she's happy to be home. After changing into her fur-lined pajamas, she aims her hand at the fireplace, creating a roaring fire. Humming to herself, she crosses the small room to her cabinet and grabs two bottles of alto wine and a wine glass. With another heavy sigh, she settles down in her chair, pouring herself a generous amount of wine and gulping it down. She's had a rough few weeks, and she needs to unwind.

Iris's body sinks deeper into her chair, loving the warmth burning on her face as she covers up with a blanket. She hasn't been warm in such a long while, she thinks. One of the things she misses most about Daggerfall. The warmth. She is not built to withstand the frigid ice land of Skyrim; she is a Breton, after all.

A wave of sadness and shame washes over her as her thoughts turn to Bryn's rejection. She grabs the bottle and pours herself another glass, singing softly to herself in an attempt to keep her mind off of it.

"Dovahkiin, dovahkiin, naal ok zin los vahrin wah dein vokul mahfaeraak ahst vaal. Ahrk fin norok paal graan fod nust hon zindro zaan dovahkiin, fah hin kogaan mu draal."

Honeyside quivers with the use of her Thu'um, but she doesn't care. The trailing notes of her Voice ring about the house, echoing eerily. Now, that she's alone, she can finally let herself break down. With a metaphorical axe, she hacks away at the wall in her head, allowing the grief and embarrassment flood her mind.

Tears immediately spring to her eyes as she pours herself another glass of wine. She's never felt so foolish. She wishes she had never kissed him. No matter how right it felt, no matter how amazing it was, it wasn't worth how she feels now. She'd almost rather to wonder what would've happened than actually kiss him and feel his aching rejection.

She pushes herself out of her chai, stumbling a bit from the wine, and grabs her journal and the second bottle of wine before sitting back down.

I shouldn't have done it. Gods, I'm so stupid. I wish I hadn't done it. But he was just so close and I just—Gods damn it. I kissed Bryn. It was about a week ago. While I was still trying to recover from Mercer's stab wound. Bryn was redressing it for me when I just did it. I grabbed him and kissed him. Gods, it felt amazing, and I know he thought so, too. But—

He pulled away—he pushed me away. He said we couldn't. I told him we could because Karliah didn't kill Gallus ,and Mercer isn't the Guildmaster anymore, but he didn't care. I was wrong about him. I thought we both felt the same about each other, but I guess not. I just feel so fucking stupid. It's hard to even be around him now. I feel like he's just waiting for me to try again, so he can reject me again. I should never have kissed him. Because now, when I look at him, that's all I can picture. I'm just so fucking disappointed, and I feel so stupid—no, I am fucking stupid—why did I have to—

Iris roars, throwing her wine glass against the wall, which shatters into a million pieces and sprinkles onto the floor as she collapses into sobs. She slams her journal closed and throws it across the room. Drawing her knees to her chest, she buries her face in her legs and lets herself cry in earnest.

"This is your own damn fault," she cries softly to herself, feeling absolutely pitiful.

But suddenly, a knock sounds on her door, the hollow wood echoing as she gasps, scared half to death.

"Lass?"

She curses under her breath when she hears the familiar voice penetrate the door. He's the absolute last person she wants to see right now. She violently swipes the tears from her face and looks at the broken glass in panic before getting down on her hands and knees and sweeping the glass into a small pile. She cries out when a shard slices her palm.

"Iris?" Another knock sounds, causing her to jump again.

Giving up on her cleaning, she wraps her hand in a cloth napkin and hurries to the door. She cracks it open, peering out through the narrow opening.

"H–hey, Bryn." She tries to smile.

His eyebrows immediately furrow. "Is everything okay?"

"What? Yeah, yeah. Everything's fine." She shoves another smile on her lips.

"You're being an uncharacteristically bad liar right now, lass." He tries to open the door, but she props her foot against it. His eyes narrow as he looks down at the door. "Iris."

"I'm fine, Bryn. About to go to bed, actually."

His eyes scan her face before looking behind her. "Is that why there's glass all over the floor?"

She opens her mouth, at a loss for words; everything's so foggy from the wine. He takes her off-guard and pushes the door open, catching her by the wrist when she stumbles backward.

"What happened?" His widened green eyes take in the broken glass and wine drops on the wall.

"I—It was an accident." She closes her eyes, trying to focus on not sounding inebriated. "Just knocked it over when I—when I was, uh, you know—"

Bryn's strong hands appear on her shoulders, and she forces her eyes open.

"Iris, have you been drinking?"

She lets out a scoff. "No."

He raises his eyebrows, giving her a knowing look. "Iris."

Sighing, she drops her gaze. "Just a little."

He frowns at her, not bothering to hide his disapproval. "We're supposed to meet Karliah tomorrow morning, remember?"

"I'll be fine." She waves her hand. "I don't get hungover." She shrugs. "It's a Dragonborn thing, I guess."

"That still doesn't give you cause to go through two bottles of wine by yourself, Iris," he says, frowning as he examines the remnants of the second bottle.

"I don't usually have two, though. I usually just have a glass before bed."

"Then why is tonight different? What's different?"

She doesn't answer, chewing on the inside of her cheek and avoiding his intense eyes.

"Iris, you can tell me."

"I almost died three different times, Bryn! All in a row! Almost dying is a little hard to deal with."

"But, lass, this isn't the way to deal with it."

"Everyone deals with things differently." She pushes his hands off of her, moving to stand in front of the blazing fire.

"You could always…talk to me about it, you know." Gentleness laces his voice.

She shakes her head, wrapping her arms around herself.

He comes up behind her. "Why not?"

"Why are you here?" It comes out harsher than she means it to.

He heaves a sigh. "I couldn't sleep in the cistern. I was going to ask if you could spare a bed but…"

Iris scoffs loudly. "Why would I agree to that?" She's being mean, she knows, but can't get herself to care.

"Well, uh, you have before but…"

She finally turns around, her eyes burning. "Almost dying wasn't the only reason behind those two bottles of wine, Bryn, and you know it. And then you come here and ask to stay over?" She shakes her head quickly, fighting back tears. "You can't do that to me."

"I–I know. I'm sorry. I shouldn't have come."

"No, you shouldn't have." She pinches the bridge of her nose, letting out a shuddering breath. "You can't just come to me when it's convenient."

"What? No, Iris, that's not it at all." His eyes narrow in concern. "What happened last week—"

"I don't want to talk about that." Iris turns away, her stomach churning.

"I think we should."

She shakes her head, biting her lip to hold back tears. "I don't want to."

"Iris."

He appears in front of her and reaches a hand out to touch her arm. His eyebrows are low over his eyes, concern etched on every feature of his face.

"Can we just pretend it never happened? I'm sorry. I shouldn't have—I just thought you—I–I don't know." She feels trapped under his eyes, losing her fight against her tears. "Please, I don't want to talk about it. Your blatant rejection already hurts enough as it is." She doesn't mean to say that part out loud, and she slams her mouth closed.

Shock writes itself on his face. "Lass, no. I–I wasn't…I wasn't rejecting you."

She scoffs. "That's what it felt like," she whispers.

He gently cups her cheek. "I wasn't," he says firmly. "Believe me, I want to just as much as you do."

"But you said we couldn't."

"That doesn't mean I don't wish we could." He carefully wipes a tear from her cheek. "I just…have to be the voice of reason, you know?"

"I still don't see why we can't just do it."

"You know we can't, lass."

"What if we just kept it a secret from the Guild?" Hope fills her violet eyes.

"We'd still face the same repercussions."

"We already are. You're already a distraction to me. I already put you before the Guild. Nothing would change if we just did it."

He hesitates, searching her face. "I know."

"I'm so tired of fighting this. We both know how we feel."

"I'm tired of fighting it, too, lass." He sighs, lightly tracing her cheekbone with his thumb.

"Then, let's just do it."

He watches her, hope flickering in his own eyes. "Let's wait until this whole mess with Mercer is over. It would be…inappropriate for everyone to find out now, don't you think?"

She sighs, but nods. "I guess so."

He grins softly, melting her heart. "Patience, lass."

"My weakness."

"And you're supposed to be a thief?" He brushes a lock of hair behind her ear. "You really shouldn't have drunk so much, though."

She rolls her eyes. "Bryn, it's fine."

He draws her into his arms. "I'm sorry, Iris. I should've been clearer when I stopped us. I was doing it for myself mostly. I thought you'd know how I really felt."

She sighs. "Don't make me feel even more stupid about it."

"Stupid?" he asks, pulling away and frowning.

She heaves another sigh, shaking her head. "After that happened, I thought….well, I thought maybe you didn't feel how I did."

"Meaning?"

She shrugs. "I thought…I thought you didn't care about me after all. That you didn't want to be together, like I did. And still do."

He takes her face in his hands and kisses her forehead. "I'm sorry. I wanted it to keep going. It took everything in me to stop." His thumb lightly traces her lips. "Even now…it's so damn hard to keep myself…"

Her heart pounding, Iris's bright eyes gaze into his. "Then, don't."

"You've been drinking, Iris."

"I can still think clearly enough."

"We shouldn't. We should wait until this is all over."

"One kiss won't hurt, Bryn," she breathes, bringing her hand up to rest on his arm.

She watches as his eyes flit downward to rest upon her lips before looking back into hers.

He gives her a sort of bashful smile before muttering, "Fuck it."

Then, he closes the small gap between them and kisses her full on the mouth. Right as their lips touch, Iris feels sparks fly around them. She pulls him closer as he moves his lips almost hungrily against hers. Her heart pounds rapidly, gradually speeding up, as he rises in intensity. They stumble back, Iris's back pressed up against the wall as he moves to pepper kisses down her neck. Her head tilts back, her breath coming out in a shudder, before tilting back down to meet his lips again. She laughs softly as he moves one hand to behind her knees, the other on her back, and lifts her easily into his arms. They move toward the bed; Iris swipes her journal off the sheets when he sets her down. He joins her, their lips never parting, on the bed, his hand tangling in her hair. Iris's poor heart feels like it's going to flutter straight out of her chest. She wraps her hand around the back of his neck, pulling him closer.

But they have to part eventually. Both breathing heavily, the two thieves face each other with growing smiles. Laughing, Iris falls back onto her pillow.

"I'm not complaining, Bryn, but you need to learn to count," she pants.

He lays down next to her, a smile on his face. "Aye, I lost count."

She grins at him, pulling the blankets over herself. "You can stay," she tells him. "We can travel to the Stone together."

He nods, a crooked smile on his face as he joins her underneath the blankets. "If I had known all of that was going to happen, I would've been over here sooner."

She nudges him with her elbow. "And you're the one who was fighting it."

"Well, of course. You're the clever one, remember?"

YAY! FINALLY! :D

I wish I could say this is how their relationship stays, but...let's just say Iris and Bryn have hard times ahead of them. MWAHAHA

As always, thank you so, so much for reading, and be sure to favorite, follow, and review!