A/N: Mature Content warning up ahead. Just skip it to the next section if that kind of thing bothers you :)
Vilkas finally got away from the others upstairs. Most of them had started to drift off to bed anyways, there were just a few whelps left, more intent on getting information about his relationship with Ariella more than anything. He opened his door to find the woman in question seated on his bed, book in lap. She raised her head and smiled as he came into the room.
He sat down beside her and she closed the book she was reading setting it aside.
"Persistent?" She asked,
"Oh yes." Vilkas said, he stood when he realised he still had to take his armour off.
"I should probably change too." She picked up the book she had set aside. "I should have gotten out of this armour before starting to read, huh?" He chuckled and nodded.
"Probably would have been smart."
"I'll be right back." She walked towards the door, and then paused. "Is Kodlak in his room?"
"Should be." Vilkas replied, without a second thought.
Once he removed all of his armour and he had changed into some sleeping clothes, Vilkas picked up the book Ariella had said he should read. He settled in his bed and began flipping through the pages. He was sure they would have been dull to most other people but the Companions interested Vilkas more than anything.
As he turned through the uneventful pages he relished in the small details the book held. A member of the Companions had written it; all the way from Whelp to next in line to be Harbinger. Unfortunately the author died before he was put into the role; as the foreword written by another companion stated.
As time passed Vilkas began to focus less on the pages of the text and more on the fact the Ariella was absent and it had been quite a while. She had probably just gotten caught up by a whelp or perhaps she went to see Kodlak and ended up talking longer than expected.
Why is she talking to Kodlak?
Vilkas frowned at his wolf's contribution. "He's the Harbinger." Vilkas said aloud and the wolf settled down again.
Ariella came back shortly after that, dressed in simple sleeping clothes and under her arm held some clothes she would put on in the morning. She put them on a chair and walked over the crates of books. She selected one about dragons and sat down.
"What happened to your other book?" Vilkas said with a laugh.
"I finished it." She said with a smile, but she hadn't answered where the book had gone. She opened the new book and it was still in a language Vilkas couldn't read.
She looked at him and saw him staring at the pages "The Akavir and the Dragon War, written in Akaviri."
"Ah. Hoping they'll tell you how to stop the dragons"
"Hoping is the key word..."
Vilkas neared the final pages of his book. It had been interesting and while there were parts that were boring the last half of the book had certainly made up for it. The last half of the book was after the member had been accepted into the circle.
There his writing became obscure, less direct much more vague; disjointed even. There was definitely a sense that it was a new person writing this portion. Vilkas supposed it basically was, considering he would have had the wolf in his head as well at that time.
The book was short but the last few pages were invaluable. Despite the obscurity Vilkas had generally worked out that this man was searching for a cure, secretly with only the help of one other shield brother. Their research was limited, they didn't discover a real cure but they seemed certain about one thing; Ysgramor would guide the Companions back to the right path.
Vilkas didn't know what to make of the ideas but he made a note to mention it to Kodlak tomorrow. Perhaps they were finally getting closer to a cure.
As Vilkas closed the book he still wasn't tired, and it would be a while before Ariella would tire as well. He was about to go get another book when he let his gaze wander to her.
She sat quietly, not noticing his gaze as she concentrated on her book. Her lips moved silently as she read the foreign words; her skin seemed to glow in the candlelight. She was captivating.
"What does Akaviri sound like?" He asked her, placing his own book aside.
"I can read it aloud if you'd like." She sat up a bit more and balanced the book on her legs.
"Please do."
She started to read and the words flowed through the air like poetry. He didn't understand a word but the way it sounded was enough. He knew the words probably had dull meanings but it sounded much more fantastic in Akaviri.
Vilkas just sat and watched her as she read. At the start she kept glancing to him every so often, disrupting the flow. Yet she was speaking much more fluently, as if this dead language was her mother tongue.
Vilkas looked her over; she wasn't paying attention to him any more. Just reading, speaking in that voice, those foreign words that stirred something in him.
He repositioned himself and captured her lips with his. Just as Vilkas felt Ariella about to drop her book he broke the kiss.
"Keep reading." He whispered,
"For how long?" Ariella's eyes followed him as he moved away from her.
"Just don't stop until I say so." Ariella turned her eyes from him and she began reading again. Vilkas waited until she was at that natural state again where reading seemed effortless.
The words flowed from her mouth, meanings lost to him but that didn't matter. He liked to hear her speak, especially like that; exotic, confident.
He guided her to lie down. Her eyes only glanced to him once, but her words didn't stop. Vilkas positioned himself between her legs.
He allowed his hands to trail up. He could hear her breath hitch, feel her heart rate quicken and smell the desire growing in her as his hands wandered further up.
His hands travelled under her sleeping tunic and up to her hips. His fingers hooked on the band of her small clothes but stopped as he realised she'd stopped speaking.
She soon carried on speaking in the language that made Vilkas' skin stand on edge. Once she was in the flow again he removed the small clothes and allowed his hands to wonder.
They wondered over her legs, stomach, hips, inner thighs… Ariella's breath would hitch delightfully as he neared his final destination.
But he wouldn't be touching that with his hands, at least not first.
He lowered his head and began kissing her legs. Trailing kisses until he reached the tops of her inner thighs. He could smell her and he could hear that she hadn't stopped reading.
He put her legs over his shoulders and lowered himself. Pushing her tunic up, he trailed kisses from her naval until they found their target. Ariella's breath hitched as he made contact but she continued reading.
He went slowly at first, allowed her to get used to the feeling. He sucked, stroked and kissed her all over hearing moans beneath the words she was saying.
He applied more force, allowing his tongue access to her deepest regions. He felt her squirm beneath him as his tongue licked along her.
He introduced a finger after a while; slowly pushing it in and out, curling it slightly. She dropped the book beside her but didn't stop speaking. Akaviri poured from her mouth between gasps and moans.
Ariella squirmed more and Vilkas used his free hand to hold her still. He glanced up at her; her head thrown back, cheeks crimson, lips moving as she allowed Akaviri to be heard.
Vilkas had grown hard long ago, it was easy to ignore but seeing her like that…
He worked faster, wanting to bring her over the edge with his mouth before he would do it all over again.
It didn't take much; a curling finger and a lapping tongue and the dragonborn was writhing beneath him as she came.
She was whispering in Akaviri now, soft moans escaping her as she came. When he heard his name, Vilkas gave pause, it name sounded unnatural to the flow, a disruption to the words.
Yet she repeated the same phrase as before after it, to her there hasn't been a break in the flow. Vilkas wondered seriously for the first time what she was saying yet another ache took his attention quickly.
His pants were straining and Ariella was already ridding herself of her clothing. Her orgasm over she wanted Vilkas to get as close as possible to her, to make her feel like that all over again.
He complied quickly, stripping himself and wasting almost no time. He sheathed himself in her and felt relieved. She kissed him, tasting what could only be herself on his lips.
They moved slowly, hands feathering over each other as their hips rolled in perfect time. There was no need to rush anything.
Vilkas began to speed up, not by much but enough for Ariella to know he was nearing the end. They wrapped their arms around each other tightly as the trusting became more animalistic the closer they came to the edge.
Ariella was there before Vilkas but the tightening of her walls seemed to push him over allowing him release.
They staying connected for a while before they got into the bed proper.
Ariella tucked herself against Vilkas' chest and he stroked her hair feeling sleep washing over him.
"Vilkas…" Ariella's whisper was almost lost despite the complete silence.
"Yes?"
"I love you." She then repeated the phrase she had said in Akaviri, so before she had been saying she loved him. He felt his heart leap into his throat.
"I love you, too." And he was certain that he did.
In the morning Ariella felt the cold hit her as the blankets were tugged from her. Despite the mass of pelts covering the bed Vilkas had somehow managed to claim them all. The man in question had his back turned to her and even when she pressed against his back the pelts still let the cool air hit her.
She breathed a curse and sat up. Vilkas was sleeping almost soundly. He was whimpering in his sleep but Ariella was used to it. She never told him because she knew he would become withdrawn and not want her sleeping near him; and Ariella didn't want that. The man was like a furnace and sleeping on her own would leave her cold; in more than one way.
She didn't want to wake him though. He hardly slept as is and he needed all the sleep he could get. Ariella could see the way a certain fire in his eyes seemed to die when he got tired; it was always replaced by something else, just not him.
She leaned over and gently pushed a piece of hair from his face. He seemed at war even in sleep. She wondered how long he had been like this and she wanted to ask but she couldn't. That would open up a whole topic of conversation he wasn't ready to have yet. He would tell her when he was ready and she would wait.
Vilkas tightened his face and Ariella could tell he was awake. She poked him in the side and then said, "Care the share the hundreds of pelts?"
He rolled over, one arm bringing the blankets across Ariella before pulling her close to him. He didn't open his eyes just held her close.
"Can we just stay here all day?" He mumbled into her hair.
"I wish we could, but Aela says she wants to take me hunting later." Vilkas stilled around her, so she quickly added, "It'll be good to practice my archery, that's what she said."
She felt him relax around her and she cuddled up to him more, relishing in his warmth. "You should probably speak to Kodlak today as well."
"Hm? What makes you say that?" Vilkas mumbled to her.
"Didn't you say you wanted to see him yesterday?" Ariella commented, "besides I think the old man's jealous I have so much of your attention these days." Vilkas chuckled and tightened his grip around her.
"Well I don't see why we can't stay for a few hours longer. Aela's not even awake yet." Vilkas seemed positive about that but Ariella wouldn't have a clue what was happening beyond these four walls so she trusted him. While she basically knew everyone's routines the scholar still had trouble telling the time down here without the sun to aid her.
"A few hours sounds nice, especially if I get some blanket." She looked up at him. "I'm beginning to see why you bought those extra pelts now."
"Because your Breton blood keeps you shivering at the slightest cold?"
"No. You're a blanket hog."
"I'll try to share in the future." Vilkas said with a chuckle hugging the woman closer.