Solitude was customarily sunny, with just a gush of warm wind every now and then, just as Malvina preferred it, but she lacked the energy to appreciate the weather. All said energy was instead focused on refraining from killing Erikur and his ever-present housecarl. If the Altmer was supposed to be in charge of protecting the foolish Thane, he was doing a horrible job at it; if he had any sense what-so-ever, he could have kept the fool from her presence at all times.
Of course, there was always the possibility that Melaran wouldn't really be that upset if Malvina did end up killing his Thane. If that was the case, Malvina found herself having a new appreciation for the mer.
"-on't you agree with me, Dragonborn? Someone in your position can certainly see the advantages of a closer association between us." Erikur argued, putting far too much empathise on the word 'association'. They were just outside the main entrance of the Blue Palace and a few people were watching them, or else Malvina would have long since shoved past the man and went ahead to deal with her business for the day.
"Go away, Erikur. I don't really feel like killing today, but I can still be persuaded." It was a lie, of course: she had a considerable thirst for killing that day. Such matters though were perhaps better admitted when not in the presence of a housecarl and in ear-shot of several guards.
The blond Nord only smiled, his lip curled in a tight, unpleasant expression. "I assure you, Malvina, I can ma-"
"I said to shut up!" She snapped, interrupting him with a cold, dangerous look in her eyes.
Erikur seemed baffled, if not incredulous, of being treated so callously, but recovered fast, much to the misfortune of his survival chances. "I was only stating that it might be beneficial for you not to disregard my attention so-" The rest of the sentence was cut short by Malvina elbowing the man in the stomach with a scoff before leaving both the heaving Thane and the housecarl behind her.
Really, she had better things to do than deal with that pompous man and his elf toy.
"And don't you ever dare use my given name so carelessly again, Thane." She shouted over her shoulder as an afterthought. She couldn't have people going around thinking she was just everyone. If Erikur didn't like calling her 'Dragonborn' he could just choose another title- Gods knew she had plenty of those- but her name was hers, not to be used by the likes of him.
Logic would argue that she'd allowed Miraak to use her name without penalty, but Malvina preferred not to look too much into that. After all, she'd been willing to hear Miraak read even the most boring of books before. The man's voice just gave him an advantage that most people didn't have.
Yes, that was probably the reason.
Once inside the Blue Palace, Falk Firebeard greeted Malvina with a respectful tilt of his head. "Dragonborn, I cannot express how grateful I am you've been able to make it." He exaggerated, compelling Malvina to hurry him along with a motion of her hand.
"Then don't." She cut in shortly. "I'd much rather hear why you wanted me here to begin with."
"Yes, of course! Well…"
She tuned out most of what he said after she got the main details.
…
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…
The room was quiet, comfortably cool and once again orderly and clean, but Miraak found himself unable to settle down in his chair and work no matter how much he tried.
It was because the memories of what took place in that chair, as well as in his bed, but he liked to think himself above being affected by such irrational things.
He ended up grabbing his writing material and moving to the living room despite his efforts.
Since Malvina and he had dealt with the tension between them the other day, he'd thought it appropriate to resume working on the blasted book as soon as possible, but something always seemed to get in the way.
When he finally found a space to work in, his hand hesitated on the quill.
It was infuriating, to say the least.
Reading the last passages he'd written before the whole sexual fiasco with the Last Dragonborn –passages describing rather scandalous behaviour-, he suddenly found them…lacking. It was probably because he had something to compare them with. It was incredibly easy to remember his night with Malvina and all the horrifying, wonderful details when he allowed his eyes to close, and even easier to draw parallels with what he'd written in his book.
Despite his better judgement, he allowed himself to remember and his hand moved, preserving the proof of his weakness fully on paper.
Well, at least it meant he'd be rid of Malvina all that much faster.
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…
She reached Proudspire late in the evening, but not so late that the streets were completely dark.
The lights were still on in most of the house, and there was a surprisingly pleasant aroma coming from behind the front door. Rabbit, potatoes, garlic, herbs. She could even smell honey.
With wary optimism that she would be able to enjoy a good, hot meal and then have a quiet evening in her room before just collapsing in her bed -it had been a long, exhausting day, after all- she stepped inside the house. The door was unlocked, of course, and it opened soundlessly.
Despite the spacious stone rooms, Proudspire Manor was always warm and bright, one of the things she liked about it, and the even stronger smell of food made everything feel like actually coming home.
She noticed vaguely the flowerpots in need of grooming as she moved through the house, and was still thinking about them when she passed the doorway to the living room and stopped dead in her tracks, eyes going wide and mouth falling open.
She didn't scream right away, but that was mostly because she was too busy gaping like a fish.
There were two people spread over the living room table, naked as the day they were born and flushed red from the effort to destroy her table –Gods, she'd used to read in the chair right there- and covered in sweat and other bodily fluids she did not want to dwell on.
She recognised Miraak easily enough, since she could pretty much see all of him from her position. He seemed pretty content- if not, she thought with bile rising in her throat, excited- to be ridden like a…like a something on the furniture.
She couldn't see the face of the woman, but she had a pretty good idea who it was-
Miraak sputtered and cursed loudly when he realised there was someone else in the room, lifting himself to stand and causing the rider to curse at him in response.
"What the Void are you doing, fetcher?"
Jordis squealed, completely horrified and red in the face, and stepped back from the scene before her a few steps. She recognised the voice in an instant.
"Jordis?" Her Thane asked, seemingly caught unguarded, a few locks of her sweaty dark hair sticking to her forehead as she snapped her head to the side to face the Nord war-maiden.
"This is… eh, exactly as it seems, but I can explain!" The Breton said rather lamely, and not at all convincingly. It was hard to be convincing when she and the black-eyed man were still entangled and very much naked on the living room table.
The Housecarl sputtered an apology and fled the room, her cheeks only burning hotter with every excuse the Last Dragonborn shouted at her back.
"Jordis! Come back!"
Whatever she'd expected to see when she returned to her post in Solitude, that was not it.
Even her Thane usually had more shame than that!
She wanted to believe at least her room had been left alone, but she knew better than to hope for that.
The blonde Nord sighed, sat down in a seat in the kitchen- forcefully not thinking about what her Thane and her companion might have used it for-, put her head in her hands, and tried to purge the memory of the last minutes from her mind.
"Jordis! I swear I'm not naked anymore- you can come back!"
…
…
…
"This is humiliating."
A pause, in which there was only the sound of heavy breathing. Malvina pushed herself onto her feet and tugged at the shirt she'd thrown on after Jordis interrupted.
"I hope you realise this is all your fault." He added, frustrated with her lack of response.
"At least we lasted a day." Malvina muttered, rather offhandedly as they watched the door where her housecarl fled the room through.
Miraak sent the Breton a burning glare, his eyes still cloudy and dilated from the activities they'd been engaged only moments earlier.
"No we didn't." He argued, shoving his robe back on over his head and moving to a seat by the table. "You lasted barely half a day."
Malvina frowned and huffed. "We lasted until the evening- I'll call that a day."
Miraak just shook his head in aggravation. "It's not even dark outs-"
"I said we lasted a day!" She interrupted shortly. "And stop blaming me, you were the one who provoked me into jumping you."
The man snorted. "Please, all I did was comment on the quality of your armour."
Malvina pivoted on her heels to face him fully, her hands firmly on her hips, and Miraak had to admit she looked rather appealing with only a hastily thrown shirt on. "You said my armour was flattering." She argued hotly back, moving to jab a finger in the middle of his chest. Miraak's black eyes narrowed, but he did not back down, instead rising to his feet. "That wasn't meant as an invitation." He hissed.
The Breton very obnoxiously threw her head back and laughed. "Well, if memory serves, you were the one who pushed me against the living-room table!" Her gaze was hard and challenging, and she pushed closer until her chest pushed against his in her stubbornness.
"Well, I don't remember you trying to stop me!"
"Bite me!"
They ended up finishing that argument quickly enough after he did just that.
…
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…
The next morning, three figures ate breakfast in perfect silence.
Malvina had forced Miraak to share her room with her the other night so that Jordis could have her bed back, but the housecarl had been unable to make herself sit on the bed and had slept in the chair.
Miraak and Malvina had argued long into the night and did not do much sleeping after they were done.
No words were spoken until Malvina finished eating.
"So, Jordis…" She started, wiping the crumbs around her mouth with the sleeve of her shirt, and Jordis tried not to notice how Miraak's eyes followed the movement. "I have this lot of land in Falkreath where I just finished building a new house."
Hope, real and palpable, rose in Jordis' chest.
"It needs a steward to look after it, and I was thinking you would be a perfect candidate!"
No protests were uttered, with Jordis insisting she depart for Lakeview Manor the very next day.
And...another one down. I'm actually thinking of starting a new story, so there might be a short delay in updates, but I will try not to make people wait too much for the next chapter!
As always, you are all great and thank you for reading!