Just FYI, this is also posted on my ArchiveOfOurOwn account too. Same name, same story. Enjoy. And don't forget to comment please.
For the entire day, the knowledge simmered in his gut like the first time he ever drank bad wine, sitting too low to come back up but Divines if he didn't want to just take a punch and let it out.
Until word reached them of the Imperial retreat, Ulfric would keep it to himself.
To a degree.
He was dying to talk to Loriel about it but hadn't seen hide nor hair of the Mer since his dumbfounded silence long before the noontide meal was even served.
Heaving a sigh, he quietly closed the door to his room behind him and shed the mild armor at his shoulders followed by his coat, practiced fingers swift upon his tunic's fastenings before a soft knock caught his attention.
"Enter."
It was surprisingly early for Loriel to be appearing at his room, but there he was all the same, quietly closing the door behind him.
And then the Mer stalked across the room to him.
"You are an atrocious human being and I hate you," Loriel growled, moments before those long gold fingers curled in his tunic and hauled him close, mouths crashing together like waves.
He kissed with so much eager passion it nearly hurt as Ulfric's back met his dresser, Loriel so so close and there was no disguising what he was feeling pressed up against each other, teeth and tongue and lips at war with their hands in each other's hair and a moan stifled in his throat at the sheer fierceness of it all.
When they broke, they were both breathing heavily, Loriel's amber eyes half-lidded with desire, lips kiss-bruised, and jaw chaffed by the scratch of the Nord's beard on his skin.
Talos he was so so close to dragging Loriel over to the bed right then and there.
Loriel swallowed noisly and traced the tip of that wicked tongue over lips he wanted to kiss again, and in a voice soaked with lust, he murmured five words.
"I'll get you for this."
And pulled back before the Jarl could respond, slipping out of his grip and out the door in short moments.
Leaving Ulfric standing there stunned with his back against the dresser, out of breath, and his trapped cock achingly hard.
Letting out an annoyed groan, he let his head thump back against the wood and dragged a hand across his face.
I'll get you for this, he grumbled inwardly, steadying himself and shedding his clothes with less care than before in order to take care of the problem Loriel had left him with, fingers wrapped around himself and the cold air doing nothing to simmer the fire in his blood until long after he brought himself relief with the mental image of a certain gold-skinned Mer on his knees with his head between his thighs and a mouth warm, wet, and wicked being so attentive.
He slept uneasily, every time his eyes opened he was desperate for relief that he was so certain only Loriel could give him.
But daylight came, and at breakfast he saw Loriel again, the Bard and the Jarl feigning ignorance to what had occurred between them, letter or the kiss, until it was secret no more.
And the secret was exposed on the lips of a Stormcloak courier who simply couldn't present the news to his Jarl fast enough.
"The Imperial forces are pulling back!" he declared into the war room, startling Ulfric, Galmar, and Ysrarald with the announcement.
"Which camp?" Ysrarald asked, trying to get the courier to slow down.
"All of them, sir!"
And past the door of the war room, Ulfric caught a glimpse of Loriel's face.
And the grin on his lips.
The war was over.
