Chapter LXXIV – The Scorned to Scorch the Earth

"So… about that 'agreement'…"

She broached the subject shortly after they left the meadery, heading towards Whiterun. Karnwyr joined them faster than usual; the day spent alone in the wilderness was apparently plenty of time for him to miss them already.

Bishop sighed slightly, scratching the wolf's head absentmindedly and mulling over in his head all that he could say not to raise questions that could lead to some of the more… precarious subjects.

"You know how he got around you…" he smirked, giving her a meaningful look.

"I… I just don't understand what he would agree about… Mercer seemed more upset when he was… nice, not when he was… you know… handsy…" she shrugged in uncertainty. And even if Mercer got upset with Raven getting overly affectionate, why would he care about it? He threatened to have him force himself on her if Bishop failed in his task, for Gods' sake, why would he care about how she was treated by him in any way?

"Yeah. Well… Raven does this… thing. See, he's always all smooth-talking, trying to be charming. It's effective for persuasion and even for intimidation or things like that. Mercer liked to use him as… kind of a spy, I guess. Raven would get any information from anyone. But… that meant, he knew a lot. A lot of things that Mercer would've preferred he didn't," Bishop smirked in a somewhat pleased manner before continuing.

"One day, Raven was supposed to find this girl who had some information on the Guild. He was supposed to find out what it was, then make sure she didn't spread it. Anyway, he did his thing, getting to know the girl a bit, talking and shit. Then… he got kinda… head over heels for her. And when he did, he started to tell her things. More things. Things about the Guild. Eventually, his solution was to recruit her. But Mercer was pissed. Still, Raven knew stuff on him, so he let it slide," Bishop shook his head in amusement.

"Then it happened again… and again. Sometimes it was someone in the Guild, sometimes someone outside. That fucking idiot couldn't keep his damn mouth shut whenever he liked someone. Frey was so livid. But Raven still must have had some shit on him. Honestly, I can't believe Mercer didn't cut out his tongue sooner," he shook his head with a smirk. He didn't seem surprised by Raven's punishment back then. Perhaps Mercer threatened him with just that before.

"Eventually… he told the wrong shit to the wrong person… it… started a small… hmmm… mutiny, I guess… never mind… I don't know what happened after. But it's pretty obvious now that there was a condition to having Raven watch you. And when he started to treat you like he did the rest… well Mercer wouldn't risk him divulging Guild secrets to you," Bishop shrugged, his amused expression gone at the recollections.

Raven told her about the mutiny… about Bishop's mutiny. Raven actually started it?

Now she needed to know more.

"He told me about the mutiny… he told me you riled up some of the members against Mercer… and that you got caught… and punished… with some people alongside you. Raven started that?"

Bishop stopped in his tracks, his brows shooting up as he stared at her for a long while, deep frown forming on his face.

"Fucking Raven… He told you that?! Ugh… he's lucky his tongue's already gone!" Bishop groaned in annoyance.

"Bishop! Stop making light of it! Besides… that was all he said. There were really no details. Just that he tried to warn you that it would end badly… and that good people got hurt because of it…" she said quietly, waiting for him to elaborate.

"Yeah…" he sighed, shaking his head slightly. "He… he was charged with extracting information on dissent among the members. Anything bad they said about Mercer, Raven was supposed to find out. By that time he was already… never mind. He told all that he found to… someone. That someone then told it to me…" he paused a bit, looking over the horizon rather than at her.

"I used the information to gain some… allies, I guess. You know the shit Mercer pulls – we were all getting fed up with it… Anyway, then shit happened. Like Raven said, he tried to stop it, but couldn't. I don't know if Mercer ever did anything to him… I don't even know if he knew it was Raven who first spilled the secrets. But anyway… after all that… it's pretty obvious that he was on thin ice with his… affections," Bishop shrugged, starting to walk towards the city again, not elaborating further.

"Who was that 'someone'?" she asked after a while, concentrating on all the things Bishop left out of the story, obviously intentionally.

He scoffed, shaking his head a bit: "Does it matter?"

"I guess not… you just… seemed to avoid it rather pointedly…" she giggled slightly, poking his upper arm with her finger.

"Yeah, 'cause it fucking pissed me off! He was dragging him into all that shit! Everyone knew that whoever Raven got his eyes on had a large target painted on their backs! It was just so fucking obvious that they would know some shit that Frey didn't want them to know!" Bishop exclaimed suddenly, throwing his hands up in frustration.

Wait, did he just say 'him'?

"'Him'?" she looked at him tentatively, gently probing for him to finally divulge the information.

He sighed in defeat, shaking his head: "Yeah… Jules."

His brother? He said 'some shit went down' and he died… did he mean this? Did Mercer kill his brother?

"D-did Mercer…?" she broached the subject carefully, knowing she was prodding into a sensitive territory.

"No… well… not entirely. It was… complicated…" he sighed, turning his eyes back to her in a while, giving her a surprisingly pleading look.

"Princess…"

"Alright… I'm sorry… whenever you'd like to…" she gave him an understanding smile, gently placing herself closer to him, snuggling his form lightly as they walked.

"I know… thanks," he smiled, draping his arm over her and pulling her close.

They arrived into the city exhausted, heading straight for Breezehome.

Lydia was still awake, greeting them excitedly. She was even willing to make them dinner, while they told her about the adventures they got into since they left.

Bishop even excitedly spun a tale about how Aeyrin was trapped at a ball with an evil paladin and how he heroically rescued her from dying of boredom.

Lydia wasn't buying any of it, but she was rather amused by his storytelling. She did ask Aeyrin for the real version of events afterwards, but the talk of the social struggles and politics obviously bored her.

They spent the night at the house, too tired to engage in any more… excitement, luckily for Aeyrin's sensibilities with Lydia so close.

In the morning, they realized that they didn't really have any money left from their time in Solitude since they hurried towards the meadery on their way back, sadly unencumbered by loot as a result. They needed to earn some funds for supplies. Lydia offered to give them money, but Aeyrin promptly refused. The woman just started to earn some of her own, and she was not going to take any from her.

Aeyrin decided to go see if she could perform at The Bannered Mare that night, earning at least some coin. They could visit the Companions the day after for some jobs and… maybe to feast with them for the night. The celebrations at Jorrvaskr were always so lively and they had so much free food and drink. It would be wasteful to pass that up…

They spent the rest of the day before nightfall with Lydia.

Bishop did the cooking for all of them with her help, trying to better his skills again for when they finally got to spend some quality time in the wilderness again.

Evening came soon enough and they headed into the inn to get some coin in their pockets at last.

The tavern was very lively that night.

Hulda was rather excited by the prospect of someone else than Mikael entertaining them tonight and the bard hastily excused himself anyways when he saw Bishop.

It elicited an annoyingly self-pleased smirk from him.

Aeyrin agreed to play for at least two hours in exchange for quite a commission. It would definitely be enough for some supplies and then they could pick up some more jobs from the Companions.

Bishop sat himself at their usual table, hiding from the crowd somewhat in the corner while she settled by the bar with her lute, the patrons gathering around her eagerly already.

He wondered if they were curious to hear the Dragonborn sing, or whether they were just relieved to have a change from Mikael. His wailing was awful.

It's been some time since he's heard her sing. With all the commotion in Solitude, she never actually got to it and resorted to selling her trinkets instead. Besides, there were different bards singing at the Skeever every night, with the college being so close. Corpulus would hardly be as eager for the change as Hulda was.

He found himself even excited to hear her performance. Her songs were definitely a breath of fresh air from the repetitive Nordic ballads and her voice… damn… the only time her voice was even more beautiful was when she was moaning under him.

She started to sing a song about a ship lost at sea. She probably collected it in Anvil. She told him once about spending four days on a small docked ship there with a crew of only three sisters, listening to their songs and drinking the nights away.

He smiled to himself, watching her get lost in the music. It was weird that she didn't mind being the center of attention when she performed, since it made her so anxious otherwise. Not that he minded. She was so gorgeous when she was this confident and self-assured. Then again, she looked fucking gorgeous when she was bashful or anxious too.

He watched her intently throughout her performance when a loud slam of the inn door made his eyes dart briefly towards the entrance before returning to Aeyrin.

Wait… did he just see…?

He looked again as inconspicuously as he could.

Fuck, it was her!

Fuck, fuck, fuck!

He turned his chair slightly, making sure that it wasn't pointed right towards Aeyrin, his eyes lowered on his tankard, his expression bored and disinterested.

Alright, calm down. You knew this could happen eventually. Just act like you didn't see her.

He kept staring into his tankard stubbornly, hoping she would just leave without noticing him. She was likely just looking for someone. Like she always was. Then again, that meant that she would scour the room. She would definitely notice him.

He draped his hand over his forehead slowly, pretending to look tired in order to hide himself some more. It was likely pointless.

"Well… look who's here…"

The grating voice made him pretend to snap from his boredom and raise his brows at her in surprise. He needed to act casual. And more importantly, he needed to act like he was there alone.

"The fuck are you doing here, flea?" he snapped, his brows furrowing deeply.

Don't show any panic, just keep calm. Fuck…

"Aaaww… I was hoping for a much warmer welcome. Didn't you miss me?" Neeshka snickered at him, sitting in the empty chair right beside him, her short leather armor-dress barely reaching the lower part of her thighs as she crossed her legs languidly, leaning forward with a sly wink and pointedly exposed cleavage.

He wondered what Aeyrin was thinking. He couldn't look at her. Not when Neeshka could see. He needed to wait for an opportunity and then signal her to stay away. He would explain later.

Fuck… how was he ever going to explain?

"So… where have you been hiding?" Neeshka smiled at him sultrily, one outstretched finger running over his bicep in circular motion.

He flinched his arm away from her, giving her a deep scowl.

"Far from your crazy ass," he scoffed derisively, pointedly not looking at her.

"Don't be like that! You used to love my ass," she smirked, leaning even closer to him.

He rolled his eyes. He could still get rid of her before Aeyrin finished her performance. There was still some time for that.

"What do you want from me, flea? I doubt you were here looking for me," he scoffed again, folding his arms across his chest stubbornly.

"No. But I already found my target," she inclined her head back towards the bar, her eyes never leaving him though. "Now I have the rest of the night free! What to do, what to do…" she chuckled.

Wait, did she mean her target's at the bar?!

Fuck! No… it couldn't be Aeyrin. He didn't know about her, right? Unless he just wanted the Dragonborn found… Fuck! He needed to find out more.

"What poor fucker's on your list tonight?" he smirked at her derisively, doing his best to seem hardly interested.

"Pffft. Some whore… who cares?! I was in a mood for some fun now," she waved her hand dismissively, placing it on his thigh right after, another lascivious smile spreading across her lips.

"You're looking for whores now? Can't say I'm surprised… he's always been shit of getting women himself," he pried again, still trying to seem casual.

"Ugh… this again. You were always prissy about this shit. I couldn't care less what he wants with the sand-slut. I just know what I want…" she purred at him, but luckily he finally got his answer. She must have been there for the server then. There were no other Redguard women at the inn that evening.

But what would he want with a barmaid?

It didn't matter, the important thing was, she wasn't there for Aeyrin.

"No. Get lost, flea. I've had enough of you for a lifetime," he snarled, turning his head from her pointedly.

"Aaaww, don't be like that! We used to have sooo much fun together," she scooted her chair closer to him, leaning forward a little more. He could have sworn he heard Aeyrin's breath catch in her throat between the words of her song. Fuck… he needed to end this fast. If only it were anyone else…

Neeshka was too fucking unpredictable...

Aeyrin finished one of her songs, the exited clapping and cheers drowning out every other noise in the room. Neeshka raised herself from the chair slightly and leaned her head towards his ear, her breasts pressing against his collar and shoulder as she whispered in a sultry tone: "What's the holdup? Let's get out of here already…"

He barely even heard her, his eyes finally free to look at Aeyrin without her noticing.

The look she was giving him…

There was hurt and confusion in her eyes, she raised his brows at him, desperate for an explanation.

He shook his head at her lightly, careful not to alert Neeshka to their communication. He creased his brows deeply, mouthing the words as clearly as he could manage: 'You don't know me.'

Aeyrin's look got even more confused, now laced with worry, but she turned back to the crowd instead, picking up her lute again to start up another tune.

Good. Now to get rid of the annoying flea…

"Well?!" Neeshka fell back into the chair, looking at him expectantly.

"'Well' what?" he furrowed his brows, still somewhat ignoring her presence so close to him.

"Are we gonna fuck or what?!" she almost yelled that for the whole room to hear.

"Fuck no! Get off me already, flea," he growled as she kept her hand on his thigh, flinching away from her proximity.

Neeshka's eyes gleamed with the familiar fire. Her hand returned to his thigh and she sunk her claws in, digging her nails into his skin fiercely, her head leaning close to him again.

"Are you fucking some cheap whore again? Because you know I don't let that get in my way…" she narrowed her eyes threateningly, studying his face carefully, trying to discern his thoutghs.

"I'm not fucking anyone, I'm just done with you and with him. The further away from me you all are, the better," he sighed in exasperation, his arms still folded across his chest stubbornly.

Neeshka raised her brow at him, and for some reason, she gave him a pleased smirk. She withdrew from him, sitting back in the chair and scooting it away from him, looking over the room instead.

That was… surprisingly… easy…

It made him nervous…

Her eyes darted everywhere over the room, her smile getting more and more disturbing.

"Aaww, are you worried I'm gonna tell Thorn I ran into you?" she smirked mockingly at him, poking his arm briefly.

"Tell him whatever the fuck you want. It's not like he cares where I go…" Bishop scoffed. Thorn never wanted to get him back, he never wanted to have him killed. He just wanted to torment him…

"True… he always says you're too much trouble to be worth shit. But he does care about who you're hanging around…" she gave him a disturbingly menacing wink.

He groaned in annoyance, gesturing at the otherwise empty table.

Neeshka smirked again, reclining in the chair and still looking over the tavern curiously.

There was a long moment of silence in which he prayed she would leave already, but she obviously had different plans.

It felt like she's been at his table for so long… Aeyrin's performance was almost over. Fuck he needed to end this somehow. Maybe he should just leave. She'd follow, but at least she'd be away from…

"That slut keeps looking at you when she thinks no one can see," she laughed, interrupting his thoughts and again inclining her head back towards the bar.

"What slut?" Bishop shrugged disinterestedly, taking a swig from his tankard.

"The tree-sap squawking by the bar. You don't know her?" she peered at him curiously, her eyes intently fastened on his.

He looked at Aeyrin briefly to appear to only just notice her.

"Never seen her," he shrugged feigning disinterest again, turning his attention back to his drink.

"Good. Then I'm sure you won't care if I mention her. She's just boss's type…" she laughed, making him almost spatter the drink as she got up from the table rapidly, turning on her heel and heading towards the exit.

What the fuck?! Since when did she report on some random girls in taverns?

She must have known…

Fuck!

He got up, following her, grabbing her by the arm just before she escaped the crowded tavern.

"Ow! What the fuck are you doing? I thought you didn't know the knife-eat slut," she smirked at him victoriously.

"Since when are you fucking targeting random strangers?" he growled at her, clutching her upper arm hard in his grip, making sure she didn't escape him.

He noticed Aeyrin ended her performance and now nervously talked to Hulda. He knew she was probably just hoping to leave, but now he and Neeshka were blocking the exit and he could feel her anxious eyes on them every now and then.

Fuck, sweetness, stop looking at me…

"Random? I don't think she's random at all…" Neeshka gave him a malicious smirk, stepping closer to him, purring in his ear. "Don't you remember Thorn's promise to you, Bishop? I'm only following orders…" the hand that wasn't trapped by him was placed on his chest, her fingers dancing over him teasingly.

It was pointless to fight her on this. Even if it weren't true, she got it into her head already…

"Let's… let's just get out of here…" he whispered to her, eliciting a pleased purr out of her again.

His eyes darted to Aeyrin briefly again… she was paying for something at the bar and then hurriedly leaving towards the rooms. She obviously couldn't stand to be there anymore and she didn't want to go past them. Well… at least it gave him some room to maneuver. His eyes returned to Neeshka, as he gave her an expectant look.

"Hmmmm…. so tempting…" she bit her lower lip, the bright red lipstick staining her tooth slightly. "But…" she poked her finger into his chest again, a mean smirk decorating her face. "I have duties to perform."

His brows shot up. Was she really going to go to Thorn? She didn't even know if…

Fuck!

She twisted herself from his grip, running out of the door before he managed to react.

He followed her immediately, rushing after her across the empty marketplace, lit up only by a few torches on the surrounding buildings.

He almost caught up with her…

Then she stopped suddenly, turning around, facing him.

The second he stopped in his tracks, only a hair's breadth away from her she hurled herself at him.

Her chapped lips captured his, her tongue thrusting into his mouth immediately as her hands grabbed at his hair aggressively.

Well… at least they were out of the tavern already…

He put his hands on her waist hesitantly, mulling over whether to pull away or to pretend that he didn't mind. What was the safest course of action to stop her from going back to Thorn?

The kiss just made him think of Aeyrin… how much softer her lips were, how different her passion and eagerness felt from this aggressive fight for dominance…

She didn't let up.

He got a sudden nauseous feeling in his gut.

Or was it guilt?

He tore himself away from her, the red lipstick staining his own lips as he looked at her, suddenly all too aware of their past, all too aware of what she was capable of.

"I knew you were lying! I saw two packs by your table, you ice-brain! And I saw her looking at you… I was wondering whether to have some fun myself… never cut off those knife ears before…" she laughed menacingly. "But I bet the boss will have some better ideas…"

Her malicious smirk was the last thing he saw as she turned on her heel and ran.

He had to stop her.