The Bride & The Other Brother
Chapter 25
"Farkas!" Faye exclaimed happily from behind Vilkas, his large hand still holding her anchored behind him.
Farkas' grin grew as he looked at her. The Breton's petite frame was hidden behind his brother's towering figure, her little head poking out around him, a bright smile on her pretty face and her long blonde hair hanging in waves over her shoulders. "Hey there, Faye-Faye," the Companion stated cheerfully, his chipper tone at odds with the dark and dismal prison they stood in.
"What are you doing here?" Vilkas asked, relaxing now that he knew no more guards were coming for them. For now, he thought grimly and refused to loosen his tight hold on the woman anchored behind him. Not until the danger had passed completely.
"I'm here to rescue you," Farkas explained happily, resting Wuuthrad on his broad shoulder, his other hand going to his hip. "Can't you two do anything together without getting into trouble? Or end up fighting?"
Vilkas ignored his brother's comment. "How did you know we were here?"
Brilliant smile still in place, Farkas answered, "You two were spotted last night when the Imperial soldiers dragged you into Whiterun and straight to the dungeons. The Companions got together and formed a plan to rescue you. I was assigned to busting you out. Here…" Farkas tossed Vilkas a large sack. Vilkas opened the sack to find a complete set of black heavy armor he didn't recognize. "Aela told me to get this out of Faye's trunk and give it to you."
"Hey, that's the Blades armor Delphine gave me," Faye exclaimed, pointing at the armor Vilkas was turning over and inspecting with an appreciative eye.
"Sorry I don't have any armor for you, Faye. We were told you were being held across town. Aela's there now looking for you."
"I'm alright," she replied with a wave of her hand, uncaring, before uttering urgently, "Tell me everything. Are the other's here? Are they okay? Do they hate me? How many Imperial soldiers are in Whiterun? Have they threatened the Companions? How have you been?" The words tumbled out of her mouth in a long string as she bounded past Vilkas to his brother, missing the way the Harbinger reached for her hand, almost desperately, wanting to keep her with him.
Farkas laughed, loud and boisterous, as the petite Breton came to stand in front of him, nearly bouncing on her toes with her barely restrained anticipation and curiosity, her bright green eyes shimmering up at him with a million more questions. "Yes, the other Companions are here. No, they do not hate you. There are nearly five hundred Imperial soldiers in Whiterun. The Emperor must want your head pretty badly," he answered, though his smile dimmed at that last statement, then he snapped his fingers together as he remembered another one of her questions. "Oh, and I'm doing just peachy, thank you for asking. How are you, Faye-Faye?"
The Dragonborn tossed him a mischievous grin. "Oh, you know, nothing special. Just preparing to battle a living, fire-breathing Nordic god while also trying to keep my head safety attached to my shoulders. You know, just another Monday."
The two laughed and Vilkas' brow became creased with deep lines, his mouth pulling tight. His narrowed eyes shifted subtly back and forth between Faye and Farkas. When the blonde turned her head, her large jade eyes meeting his, he couldn't keep the scowl of disapproval from forming on his face. Her smile dropped immediately and she gave him a questioning look. Vilkas cleared his throat and schooled his features to impassive, before muttering, "I'll… I'll change in the cell and give you two some… privacy."
Vilkas walked away with the Blades armor in his hand, moving hastily, his body stiff as stone. Faye stared after him with her brows furrowed as she contemplated his broody demeanor. His tone was strange, his behavior even stranger. Something was off.
"I see you two finally found each other," Faye heard Farkas say in a low-pitched tone, and she could hear his smile in his voice.
"Yes," Faye murmured distractedly as she watched Vilkas pull his black shirt over his head, revealing taut, smooth skin over endless lines of hard, defined muscle that seemed to be cut from marble. His body was sculpted perfection, and her skin prickled in reaction to it. Forcing her eyes away from the magnificent sight Vilkas made, her gaze landed on Farkas' sunny smile, and she replied, "Yes. We did find each other." Staring at the man she'd once promised to marry, Faye cringed internally and bit her lip uneasily. "Farkas… I'm so, so sorry about-"
He held up his hand, his smile growing. "It was the best thing that could have happened to either of us," he assured her. "You two found each other, and I found Inga."
Her blonde eyebrows shot up to her hairline. "You did?"
"She didn't leave me like I thought," he explained with a good-natured grin. "She went into hiding because she's pregnant with my pup," he stated proudly with a thumb pointed at his broad, puffed out chest.
Faye's eyes bulged. "What?!"
"Yup. And I convinced her to marry me."
Her mouth dropped open. "WHAT?!"
Farkas burst out laughing at her dumbfounded expression. "I'll tell you both everything when we get out of here."
Nearly bursting with the joy she felt for him, Faye leapt up and threw her arms around his thick neck. "I never wanted to hurt you. I've only ever wanted you to be happy," she whispered into his shoulder, tears filling her eyes.
His large arms wrapped around her tiny frame dangling from his neck, her feet swaying more than a foot off the ground. "I know. That's all I ever wanted for you too."
She smiled against his shoulder. "I couldn't be more happy that you found the woman you were meant to be with and that your dream came true, Farkas."
"Thank you," he said sincerely, giving her a friendly squeeze before lowering her to her feet. "And hopefully your dream will come true too."
Faye stepped back, unable to stop smiling, wiping away her tears with the back of her hand. Farkas stood silently, staring at her face with a weird expression on his face. "What?" she asked self-consciously, tucking wayward honeyed strands behind her ears.
"Oh, sorry," he said. "This is the third time I've seen your face. You know, without the hood. It's weird. I'm still getting used to what your face looks like. It makes you seem like a stranger."
They heard Vilkas grumble something under his breath and they both turned to look at him. The Harbinger was dressed in full armor, his shoulder leaning against the cell doorframe, arms crossed tight over his strapping chest. Faye couldn't stop her eyes from roaming over his body from head to toe, or the warmth spreading to her limbs. The ebony, Blades armor he wore was made from small square armor plates connected to each other by chain armor and sewn to a black cloth backing. It hugged his lean, muscular form like a glove. Sensing her scrutiny, Vilkas' chin turned slightly and he fixed Faye with sharp, steely eyes. It was only then that she noticed he was glaring at her. She got a sinking feeling in her stomach at the dark expression on his face and at the sight of that glare that she'd hoped to never see again.
"Is there something wrong, Vilkas?" Faye inquired with a tilt of her head.
"Should there be?" he shot back, watching her carefully.
The Dragonborn's spine stiffened at the harshness of his tone and her emerald eyes flashed. "What's wrong with you?"
"I'll… I'll wait upstairs," Farkas uttered pleasantly, though he was eying his brother warily. "Meet me when you're both ready."
Vilkas' cutting gaze held her, his expression stony while his twin climbed the stairs and shut the door. Seeing the icy glitter in his eyes, Faye shifted nervously. "It's, ugh, it's good to see Farkas," she chirped, clasping her hands in front of her body, not sure what to say.
His eyes turned stormy though his face remained unreadable as he continued to stare intently at her with those piercing silver eyes, onyx locks dipping over them. "Is it?" His voice held an edge of steel.
Not understand his meaning, Faye tipped her head, leafy-green eyes questioning and unsure. "Of course. I care for your brother. I'm glad to see he is unharmed and that he is here to help us escape. Are you not?"
Some dark emotion flitted across his face before he hid it behind a veil of ice, his scowl deepening. "No. I'm glad my brother is the one to rescue you," he grumbled dryly before moving toward the stairs.
Vilkas brushed past her, and she could feel the heat and anger rolling off him in waves. The blonde quickly snagged his wrist and pulled him back. The raven-haired Nord's head snapped around to her and he ripped his wrist from her grip putting distance between them.
"Vilkas," she ventured softly, treading carefully, unsure of his mood, "what's wrong?" He ignored her, a muscle working violently in his jaw, his lips pursed in a severe line. Faye focused her gaze on the corded muscles of Vilkas' throat, watching the strong beat of his pulse. "Please, talk to me." Her voice sounded desperate even to herself.
Though he felt her watching him, he dodged her stare, his chest uncomfortably tight with emotion. "So, did you two work it out?" Vilkas finally asked after a very long pause, his voice a rough scrape, eyes refusing to meet hers.
Assuming he was talking about her and Farkas being able to get over what happened at the Temple of Mara and be friends, she answered, "Yes. The damage is undone. Everything is back as it should be." The moment the words left her mouth, she swallowed uneasily. If she thought he looked fierce before it was nothing compared to the glare he shot her.
"Unfucking believable," he gritted out harshly, and she flinched from the force of his anger. "You were always going to go back to him, weren't you?" His words were clipped and accusing, his eyes hard with fury.
The Breton bristled at his accusations. "Excuse me?"
"Don't try and play innocent," Vilkas barked. "You've been playing me this whole time, pulling me under your heel with your lies and bright eyes." The hard expression he wore made the rough planes of his face appear even more forbidding than usual.
"How dare you." Incensed, her small hands curled into tight fists at her sides. "Take it back," she uttered between her teeth.
Vilkas' eyes narrowed dangerously. "No."
Emerald fire blazed in her eyes as she lifted her chin and took a threatening step toward him. "Take it back!"
His hands shot out and gripped her shoulders in a tight, painful grip. His face was set like flint, anger hooding his gaze. "I knew it," he growled low in her face, the sound raw and animalistic, and his eyes shifted colors as he struggled for control, his inner beast rattling its cage. "I knew this would happen. I just knew it was too good to be tru-"
Growing hot with indignant anger, Faye snagged his chiseled face between her small hands. His strong jaw was tense beneath her palms as she dragged him down to her level, staring deep into his unnaturally yellow eyes. "For someone so smart, you can be pretty dumb sometimes," she muttered irritably.
His feral yellow eyes practically scorched her and she rubbed her thumbs gently over the apples of his cheeks. "Stupid Nord, don't you know that I love you?" She slipped her fingers into his onyx hair and traced calming lines and trails across his scalp. "I love you, Vilkas," she stated forcefully, her eyes still locked with his. "You. No one else. And I am never changing my mind."
Vilkas was silent for a long moment, and Faye could feel the tension in his body as he stared back at her, his now silver eyes severe surrounded by the black war paint as they shifted intently back and forth between hers. "Swear it?"
She spoke slowly, enunciating each syllable separately. "I swear."
His mouth swooped down to capture hers so fiercely, so unexpectedly, she would have stumbled back if his hands weren't cradling her face between them. His body surged roughly against hers, all firm muscle and underlying strength. His mouth was neither tentative nor gentle, but a fierce declaration. A claiming. The moment she parted her lips, he made a deep, masculine sound in the back of his throat and thrust his tongue into her mouth, invading her in a thorough and dominating pattern. Faye gripped his shoulders to steady herself as his tongue swirled expertly around hers before searing a path across her upper lip, leaving a rush of tingles in its wake. When his teeth raked hungrily over her bottom lip, she whimpered, unable to keep the needy sound inside.
The Nord caught her whimper with his mouth as he tilted his head to get to more of her. His large hands slid down her back and she shivered wildly beneath his touch, her body instinctively responding to him as if she'd been born for this, for him. His hands grasped her rear, hauling her against him. Faye moaned into his mouth the moment his hips pressed against hers, her body flushing and heat gathering in her belly. Her arms tightened around his neck, drawing him closer, until every inch of her was pressed firmly against his taut body, her softness molding perfectly against his hardness as if she'd been made specifically for him.
Vilkas ground himself against her, fingers kneading her flesh through her clothes. The feel of her pressed so wantonly against him and the heady scent of her desire sent the longing that seemed to reach into the depths of his soul to spike higher, hotter, blurring his mind and clouding his senses. It was as if the prison cells had faded away the moment his lips touched hers. Nothing filled his mind, his senses, but her. Her touch, her scent, her taste. He wanted to drown in it, to take her deeper, to watched her expressive jade eyes as he slowly loved her. But not here in this horrid, godsforsaken place.
The memory of where they were punctured the blur of desire surrounding them, snapping him back to his senses. Vilkas tore away from the kiss with a curse. He pressed his forehead against hers, breathing out a hard breath that fell heavily across her skin. "Do you see what you do to me?" His voice was low and raspy, sending shivers down her nerve endings. "I can't even think straight when it comes to you."
Standing on her toes, her small fingers caressed the nape of his neck as a tiny smile played at the corners of her lips. "I know the feeling."
"Do you?" His gaze roamed over her face in a very masculine, possessive way that was making her pulse pound loud enough to echo in her ears. "The mere sight of you, the smell of your arousal, the warmth of your body…" His hands dragged up her sides, and Faye felt her stomach muscles tighten. "…it all turns my blood to flame." His voice had dropped until it was soft and achingly sultry. "Is that what you feel, Dragonborn?"
The smoldering, liquid heat in his eyes spiraled out, boring into her. His hand slid across her ribcage to boldly cup her breast, her pulse jumping wildly. Her chin angled, she refused to avoid his gaze, even though her heart was pounding like a jackhammer. She let out a stuttering breath as he caressed her expertly between his fingers through her clothes. "Y-Yes," she stammered breathlessly, her back arching, wanting more.
They heard the door at the top of the stairs open. "Hey, I can't keep fighting these guards up here forever," Farkas bellowed down at them, a hint of annoyance in his voice.
Faye attempted to step back, but Vilkas' hand snatched her chin, lifting it sharply, forcing her to meet his gaze. "You are mine," he rumbled in a throaty voice, his silver eyes so severe and piercing that she flinched under their unrelenting intensity.
Slowly, her small hand rose between them and brushed a stray lock of his hair from his eyes. "Yours," she stated firmly, without a doubt, knowing it was true until the day she died.
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The two towering Nord twins stood imposing and dangerous on either side of the petite Breton as they climbed the last stairs of the prison together. One wore wolf armor with Wuuthrad on his back, while the other wore Blades armor and held Dragonbane in his hand, both pairs of silver eyes sharp and cautious. The blonde woman between them wore torn and tattered sky-blue mage robes under a scarlet cloak and was weaponless, but assuming she was powerless would be a grave mistake. Once they reached the door that would lead them to freedom, Faye stopped and reached back to pull her hood on, but Vilkas caught her wrist. She raised her head to him, brow cocked.
"No more hiding," he said simply as he lowered her hood.
"No more hiding," she replied softly, looking up at him coyly from under her long, black lashes as he curled a golden tendril away from her face.
The three stepped out of the dungeons and into the streets of Whiterun. Faye squinted and lifted her hand to block the sun that was setting in the sky, coating it with thick, purple-hued clouds, the makings of a storm. Once her eyes adjusted to the light, she took in the sight of nearly fifty Imperial soldiers running towards them in the distance, longswords drawn. Word of their escape must've gotten out.
"How many Imperial soldiers have you killed so far, brother?" Vilkas asked coolly as he deftly tossed Dragonbane in his hand, adjusting his grip.
"Twenty," Farkas responded casually as he cracked his neck. "Not a bad start to the day."
A darkly wicked smirk curled the Harbinger's lips as his fingers tightened on the hilt of his blade. "Can't wait to get started."
The twins raised their weapons when the soldiers were a few feet away, but before they could rush forward, the small blonde woman between them took one step forward. Her long flowing, honey-blonde tresses tumbled in loose waves over her shoulders down to her waist as she drew in a deep breath, filling her lungs, before releasing a Shout that shook the town's foundations, holding nothing back. An inferno of fire left her mouth in a massive wave of flames that was as tall as the buildings around them. The wave of fire raced toward the platoon of Imperial soldiers before crashing over them, enveloping them, and the heat of the fire was so strong it turned them to ash in mere seconds.
The Nord twins slowly lowered their weapons, stricken with awe as they watched the small young woman slowly turn around to face them, the ashes of her victims blowing away with the wind behind her.
"Damn, woman, you're like a bloody dragon," Farkas murmured, unable to stop staring at her in astonishment as he slowly sheathed his weapon on his back.
"We need to get out of the city," Vilkas stated firmly, putting away his sword.
"The others are waiting for us at the city gates," Farkas said as they began running through the streets of Whiterun.
Moments later, the three were outside the city gates being greeted by their Companion family. To Faye's surprise and delight, they greeted her with nothing but smiles and slaps on the back, and comments about her face. She couldn't help but look at each one of their faces, a sense of warm joy settling within her. She hadn't lost her family. The only family she'd ever known. And they were here risking their lives to help her. She felt so blessed in that moment, unworthy of the blessings she had.
"Where's Aela?" Vilkas asked as he noticed the huntress' absence.
Farkas spoke up, "Oh, she's at the other dungeon. We thought that's where Faye was being held."
"She's alone?"
"No, she's with our newest recruit. A Nord warrior from Morthal named Benor."
"Those two are inseparable these days," Njada added with a sly grin, elbowing her husband hard in the ribs and causing the dark elf to wince.
Vilkas asked, "Should we wait for them?"
Farkas shook his head. "No, they know to meet us at the Companion safe house."
"Then let's go."
"We can't." Farkas turned his head to eye the city gates with anxiety. "We're waiting for one more."
Vilkas raised an eyebrow. "Who?"
Farkas turned back to his brother, bright smile in place. "My wife."
"YOUR WHAT?!" Vilkas exclaimed, staring unblinking at his twin.
Before Farkas could answer, the city gates opened and a tall, comely Nord woman with short, choppy black hair and deep blue eyes came waddling forward with a round belly. She held a large sack in her hand that was full of clothes for Vilkas and Faye, as well as food and water and potions.
Farkas waved his hand urgently at her. "We need to go. Now. Waddle faster, wife."
"I DO NOT WADDLE!" Inga bellowed indignantly as she came to stand beside her husband, scowling as she shoved the sack into his hands. "It is called pregnancy swagger."
Faye bounded over to her friend and gave the pregnant woman a friendly hug. "It's good to see you again, Inga. I'm glad to see you're alright."
The Dragonborn pulled back to see the Nord woman glaring down at her. "Don't give me that sweet talk, Breton. As soon as I pop this kid out, you and I are going to have a few rounds hand-to-hand for your trying to marry my husband."
Faye's eyes widened with alarm. "I wasn't-"
Inga's blue eyes rolled. "Yeah, yeah I know. I heard the whole story. But I still think I deserve to get a punch in or two."
Faye smiled as she took her friend's hand. "If Alduin doesn't devour my soul, you are free to lay a few on me."
A grin formed on the Nord woman's face. "If you save my husband and my child from the fire and destruction of the World-Eater, then I'll only hit you once."
The Breton was beaming. "Deal."
Inga suddenly hissed in pain and bent over, a hand going to her belly. Farkas was at his wife's side in an instant, rubbing her back worriedly. Alarmed, Faye placed a glowing, healing hand on her friend's stomach. "Are you alright?"
"Yeah, I'm fine," Inga hissed between her teeth. "Kid's just kicking the hell out of my ribs is all."
Faye closed her eyes and used her magic to probe Inga's belly, making sure everything was okay. She felt something then and her eyes snapped open, her mouth dropping. Her wide, forest green eyes lifted swiftly to meet Inga's midnight blue, her mouth working but no words coming out.
Inga's dark brows furrowed at the Breton's expression. "What? What is it? What's wrong?"
Before Faye could answer, the sound of footsteps and clinking armor made her head turn, and what she saw made her breath catch.
In the distance, the Dragonborn saw at least a thousand Imperial soldiers marching toward them. On horseback at the front of the army was the Emperor of Tamriel. She knew it right away from the noble attire he wore and regal presence. Walking on foot on either side of the Emperor's white horse was General Tullius and chief lieutenant Legate Rikke. As the Imperial army drew closer, the Companions drew their weapons and took battle positions. Farkas pushed Inga behind him, her back pressing against the city gates while Vilkas came to stand protectively beside Faye, Dragonbane drawn in his hand. Faye swallowed the lump in her throat when only a few yards away, the Emperor halted his horse and held up his fist high in the air. The soldiers stopped marching behind him and the Emperor dismounted. The Emperor strode forward toward them with Tullius and Rikke flanking him.
Vilkas turned his head and caught Faye's eyes. She read the question in his steel irises and nodded. Vilkas issued an order to the Companions before sheathing his sword. The Dragonborn and the Harbinger then strode forward, side by side, to meet the Emperor of Tamriel. As they drew closer, Faye's eyes took in the sight of the Emperor. He was a tall Imperial in his sixties with a baldhead and long white beard with a royal bearing and a keen intelligence in his icy blue eyes. He wore robes of navy blue with a prominent red and gold pattern running down the front and in the center of the pattern was the Imperial symbol. His head was held loftily with a golden amulet hanging around his neck.
"Dragonborn," Legate Rikke said in greeting as they came to stand a few feet away from one another. "It's nice to see you again."
Faye's eyes narrowed on the brunette Nord woman. "I can't say the same, I'm afraid. The last time I saw you, Rikke, you were drugging me and dragging me away to the dungeons to be hanged."
"You deserve worse than a hanging, Deathstalker," the Emperor hissed, his voice cultured and eloquent yet containing such lethality that it made Faye cringe internally.
"I am not the Deathstalker," Faye stated adamantly. "My mother was."
The Emperor raised a disbelieving eyebrow. "And you expect me to believe that, do you?"
"It is the truth," she uttered earnestly.
The grin that formed on his aging face was full of such malice that Faye unconsciously recoiled from it. "I don't think so. I saw the Deathstalker's face the night she killed my wife and daughter. And the face I'm looking at now is identical to the one I saw all those years ago."
"How do you explain that, then? That was ten years ago." Faye's hands were moving emphatically with her words as she tried desperately for him to see the truth. "How could I possibly look exactly the same after all this time? It's impossible. I am not the same person. You must see reason."
The Emperor seemed unmoved by her impassioned declaration. "What I see is the same face that stole those that I loved most in this world," the old man spat venomously at her. "What I see is the Deathstalker. Whether you made a deal with a Daedric Prince to remain young or used magic to alter your appearance matters not to me."
"My mother was the Deathstalker. I have proof."
Legate Rikke crossed her arms over her chest, eying the Breton disbelievingly. "What proof?"
Faye took a deep breath before answering. "Kodlak Whitemane, the former Harbinger of the Companions, was the one who killed my mother. After her death, he took me to the Riften orphanage. The account of it is written in his journal, which is at Jorrvaskr right now."
Tullius and Rikke eyed each other while the Emperor's scowl deepened, the anger in his eyes slamming into Faye with full force. "Fine," the Emperor spat. "I accept that you're story may hold some truth."
Faye exhaled heavily on a breath of relief. "Thank you. You don't know what it means to have you believe me-"
"You mistake me, Breton," the Emperor responded sharply, interrupting her. "Just because I believe you might not be the Deathstalker, does not mean that I'm letting you go."
A wave of pressure crashed from her throat to her gut. Her pulse quickened, her throat went dry, and her lips parted in fear and confusion. "W-What? Why?"
The ice in his blue eyes glittered ruthlessly at her. "Because your life has been forfeit since that bitch mother of yours butchered my Helena and my little Amelia!"
Faye gaped at him. "You wish to kill me for a crime I did not commit?"
He pointed a bony finger at her, shaking with rage. "The daughter will pay for the mother's sins."
"You're insane!" Faye cried, aghast. "Don't you know who I am? I am Dragonborn. The only one. Only I can defeat Alduin. You must let me go!"
"I don't care what you are!" The old man screamed in her face, his voice cracking with his anger, but she also saw the pain in his eyes. This man was mad, that much was clear, mad with grief. So much so that he was blind to anything else but revenge. Her heart ached for him.
"I'm… I'm so sorry…" Faye whispered gently.
"I don't want your sorry," the Emperor hissed viciously. "I want you to bleed!" He stepped toward her, his elderly body quaking with the force of his anger. "You are my blood enemy, and you will pay for that monster's crimes!"
The dragon blood in her curled and frothed, her tiny hands curling into fists at her sides. The Dragonborn was unable to take anymore of this man's lunacy. "I will pay for nothing. I'm the Dragonborn, and I have a destiny to face. Come and get me if you wish. But I must warn you, I will not be defeated until you've broken every bone in my body. This world needs me to protect it, and I will not let a madman like you stand in my way."
"Oh, I will do more than break your bones," the Emperor promised darkly, a crazed glimmer in his eye.
Faye made sure to enunciate properly. She was in the presence of royalty, after all. "Go. To. Oblivion."
"Hold your tongue, woman," General Tullius barked. "You're speaking to the Emperor of all of Tamriel."
"Speak to her like that again, Imperial, and it'll be your tongue I'll be holding," Vilkas threatened in a low tone as hard as the sharp edge of his blade. Faye turned her head to look up at him. Though he appeared relaxed, she sensed a latent fury roiling just beneath the surface of his calm.
The Emperor's icy blue eyes shifted to Vilkas with unmasked contempt. "You come to beg for her life, snowback, you should be on your knees."
"I don't like anything that puts a man on his knees." Intense silver orbs were narrowed dangerously with barely leashed anger, the black war paint around his eyes and the stray locks of onyx hair hanging in his face making him look feral and deadly. The primal, almost savage, protectiveness he felt towards her was practically oozing from every inch of him.
The Imperial's heavy white brows drew together in a scowl as he tried unsuccessfully to stare the powerful, young Harbinger down. "If you don't kneel to your Emperor, snowback, then I'll take your life for your impertinence."
Faye's eyes slid back to Vilkas. His body was taut and lethal, radiating menace from every well-defined muscle. His lips pulled dangerously and she almost shuddered at the dark veil that had fallen over his steely eyes. "You clearly don't know who you're talking to, so let me clue you in." There was cold fury in every line of his handsome face and a sense of power radiating from him that was unequaled. "I am not the one death comes for. I am the one dishing it out. I am the Harbinger," Vilkas growled, sinister and murderous. "The Harbinger of death."
"I rule this kingdom," the Emperor ground out before pointing at Vilkas. "As long as my heart beats, I rule over you." His tone had turned taunting, the blue of his eyes twinkling with challenge. "I own you, snowback. Surrender and kneel, if you know what's good for you."
Vilkas growled threateningly, and the savage rumble from his throat made Faye's entire body tremble. Her jade eyes widened in shock as she watched rage transform Vilkas' finely chiseled features, darkening them with a killing rage. "The only one that owns me is her. If you wish to take her from me, then I will meet you on the battlefield. In which case…" The towering, raven-haired Nord leaned threateningly down into the Emperor's personal space, a surge of anger roughing his sharp words. "…look at my face, Imperial. Take a good long look. Because the next time you see it, it will be the last thing you see on this earth."
"You are a fool, snowback. I have a thousand men behind me. And you have…" The Emperor looked past them to the Companions standing at the city gates, which now included Aela and the newest Companion Benor, and scoffed, "…eight citizens with swords and a pregnant woman."
Vilkas' face wrenched with black fury, his eyes shredding into the Emperor with their sinister vehemence. "I have eight of the greatest warriors in all of Skyrim, each worth more than a hundred of your soldiers." A wicked smirk curled the Harbinger's attractive features making him look even more striking, as well as ruthless. "And, don't forget, I have the Dragonborn at my side. And let me assure you, she is a dragon you do not wish to see unleashed."
Those icy blue eyes shifted to Faye, assessing, and the Breton stood as tall as she could, trying to stretch her four foot eleven height to five feet, her chin held high. "Then we shall see the fire and brimstone she possesses," the Emperor uttered harshly. "I will not let my blood enemy go without a fight."
"Then you shall have a fight," came an unfamiliar male voice from the side. All five of them turned their heads to find Ulfric Stormcloak, the Jarl of Windhelm, standing there with his arms crossed over his chest, and at least a thousand Stormcloaks behind him.
"I was wondering when you'd show up, cousin," Vilkas uttered to Ulfric in a low-pitched voice, leashing his anger.
The Jarl grinned mischievously at his cousin, his hazel eyes glinting roguishly beneath wayward strands of shoulder-length, sandy blonde hair. "I wouldn't miss this for the world."
Author's Note: Ulfric was the cousin Vilkas mentioned in Chapter 23.