"I'll only be gone for a few days. I'm sure you can find something to keep you busy in the meantime."
The Dragonborn's words weren't meant to be condescending, but they rubbed Aela the wrong way regardless. She was fuming as the tall brown elf led her to the bar sandwiched between the cistern wall and a handful of tables: what passed for a tavern down here, apparently. Aela kept her hands fisted at her sides, loath to touch any surface lest it taint her with its filth. They were in a sewer, for Hircine's sake! How was it acceptable to serve food and drink down here?
Ugh, the things she did for her companion. She'd follow the Dragonborn anywhere, but she still had no idea why he insisted she wait here while he ran his silly missions for the Thieves' Guild. Why couldn't she stay at the perfectly good inn just outside? Why couldn't she associate with Mjoll, the city's self-proclaimed protector, rather than a bunch of literal sewer rats?
Something about attracting attention and better safe than sorry. She would never understand the way the stealthy archer's mind worked, but apparently she was going soft, so after a rather half-assed argument she'd agreed to his terms.
Aela followed along reluctantly as Kial brought her to the rear of the tavern space, where a slim blonde Imperial woman leaned against the stones. He extended his hand to the stranger in greeting. "This is Vex, the Thieves Guild's most talented infiltrator," he told Aela as they clasped arms. Then he sent the huntress a teasing smile over his shoulder. "Maybe she'd like to teach you a few of her dark arts to pass the time."
Aela's frown did not falter. "I wouldn't dream of dirtying my hands so," she retorted, crossing her arms standoffishly. There was only so far she was willing to go for the Dragonborn, Harbinger or not. Making nice with criminals was beyond that boundary.
"You were the one who wanted to travel with me," Kial reminded her.
A hundred snappish retorts leapt to her tongue, all along the lines of, yes, but not here! but she did not get the chance to say them.
"A temperament to match that fiery hair of hers, is that it?" Vex's mocking reply cut in first. The Imperial pushed away from the wall and approached Aela with slow, calculated steps, like she was the huntress in this situation.
Aela was more than happy to prove her wrong. "Stay on your side of the sewer, thief," she growled, hand twitching toward her dagger.
"She bites!" Vex exclaimed, unruffled by the threat. She lifted a brow and adopted an insufferable smirk as she looked Aela up and down. "Just remember, down here, it's pointless to lock your doors."
Aela snarled and grasped the hilt of her dagger. She would have lunged for the little shit's throat and wiped that stupid expression off her face for good, but Kial clamped a hand down on her wrist. Her fury cooled at the touch, if only slightly.
"Please at least try to get along," he said in that stupid, smooth voice he always used to mediate disputes. Aela chafed under the patronizing words, but she pried her fingers away from her dagger hilt regardless. She never could resist that amber stare for long.
You're going soft, Vilkas's voice in her mind reminded her again. She shoved it away.
Vex was watching their interaction with a slaughterfish smile. "I suppose I could teach her a thing or two in my downtime," she virtually purred, raking her gaze over the huntress with a new sort of sin in her eyes.
Aela wanted to tear her throat out.
...
"I don't like her," Aela declared for what felt like the hundredth time.
Kial sighed wearily, for what also felt like the hundredth time. "At least try to be civil, Aela," he implored her. His pack, quiver and cloak were already thrown over his shoulders in preparation for travel. He had waited until the last minute to bid her farewell, probably in an attempt to avoid an argument exactly like this one. Aela was not exactly pleased with the decision.
"Are you sure I can't accompany you?" the huntress pressed. Kial wasn't even gone yet and she was concerned what might happen in her absence. She'd been the only thing between him and death plenty of times before.
"You've made it abundantly clear that you don't want to be involved in thieves' errands," he reminded, as if she might have forgotten.
Aela bristled. What she'd meant was that neither of them should get involved in thieves' errands, and he knew that full well. "So you'll just leave me here with that tramp Vex and fuck off by yourself to get killed?" she snapped.
"I'm not trying to punish you, Aela, I'm trying to protect you." A muscle in Kial's jaw twitched.
Aela didn't remember asking. This was a conversation about his safety, not hers. "I don't need your protection," she retorted. "You are my Harbinger and I'm sworn to protect you. I didn't want to get involved with this slippery sewer-rat bullshit in the first place, but now that we're here, you might as well bring me along."
"You're right," said Kial, but somehow Aela doubted he was agreeing with her. "I am your Harbinger. And as Harbinger, I have the authority to tell you to stay here."
Aela felt the embers of rage stirring in her gut. That was not how the role of Harbinger worked, and both of them knew it. Kial was pulling rank on her for the sole purpose of making her angry, and by Hircine, it was working.
Fine. If he wanted to go risk his neck without her, she would let him. That's all she ever did for him anyway: bend to his will. He was the Dragonborn; the Harbinger; Akatosh's favorite fucking plaything. Who was she to stand in the way of a demigod?
And he didn't even want her anyway.
Without another word, Aela turned and stalked away. The start of a protest behind her was too little, too late.
...
"In a bad mood, huntress?"
Aela raised her glowering brows just enough to register who was speaking to her.
Vex. She should have recognized the saucy, grating voice sooner, but alcohol had numbed her usually sharp senses. Aela warned the thief away with a glare and buried her head behind her tankard again.
Vex did not leave. Aela could still feel her gaze boring into her like a malignant disease. She debated standing up and making the woman fuck off, but Vex was hardly worth it. Aela focused instead on trying to glare holes in the side of her tankard.
The table lurched out from underneath her without warning.
Aela flailed wildly before realizing that it was not the table that had moved, but her chair, and Vex was the one who'd wrenched it off balance.
The huntress tried to steady her racing heart as Vex leaned casually over her tilted form, her hand on the chairback the only thing keeping her from crashing to the floor. As usual, her pride overwhelmed her caution. "Get away from me, sewer rat," she snarled, face burning with a mixture of anger and embarrassment.
Vex shrugged and lifted her hand off the chair obligingly.
Aela yelped as she tipped toward empty air. Reflexes alone let her catch herself on the table edge and slam the chair back down on all fours.
In an instant she was on her feet, towering over Vex in all her drunken fury. Aela was several inches taller, but Vex's smug expression would have convinced anyone otherwise. She didn't lose her smirk even when Aela's dagger flashed out of its sheath and bridged the distance between them.
"I'll run you through, you piece of shit," Aela hissed, pressing the tip of the blade against Vex's abdomen just shy of breaking skin. Her head was spinning from drink and bloodlust.
Against all odds, Vex leaned in instead of away, her lip curled in satisfaction. "I don't think Kial would like that very much," she said. "In fact, he told me to try and make peace with you while he was gone. Get to be friends, or something." The wicked look in her eyes told Aela that she didn't mean to heed his words any more than the huntress did. Vex made a slight motion that drew Aela's gaze downward, and her eyes fell on a second dagger, cold against her own body.
Shit, Aela thought numbly. She was supposed to be the huntress here. She was supposed to be the stronger one, the cleverer one, the quicker one. Now she only looked like a fool.
She schooled her expression into a scowl and met Vex's eye again. "Funny he didn't stick around to do any of the work himself," she said.
"Such is a man's nature," replied Vex smoothly. She wet her lips, and the motion made Aela's attention flicker down for an instant. It was then that she registered with a jolt that they were nose to nose; far too close for comfort.
She didn't pull away. To do so would be to admit defeat.
The grin that spread across Vex's face made her feel like she'd lost somehow, anyway. "So, what do you say?" the thief said, withdrawing her dagger and offering her empty hand instead. "Friends?"
Aela stared her down. The thief had lowered her weapon, while Aela's was still pressed into her skin. She could end this now with a flick of her wrist; the barest of efforts. She could slaughter Vex on her own turf and leave her body for the rats to find. How upset would Kial be, really?
Did she even care what he thought?
She tightened her grip on her dagger. It would be so easy. She would be rid of this annoyance forever, and the only enemies she'd gain were lowlifes and criminals.
Her gaze still locked with Vex's as it was, Alea saw the exact moment that the thief's confidence began to waver. In its place, she saw fear.
Good.
Feeling as though she'd won back some ground, Aela let her dagger fall to her side. She gave Vex a tight, humorless smile.
Then she walked away without so much as a glance at the proffered hand of truce.
...
Waiting for endless hours to slip by in a literal den of thieves was hell.
Aela didn't know what to do with herself. She'd drunk enough ale at the shitty tavern to put their stock at risk. She'd practiced her archery alongside some nervous-looking prick whom she didn't care to ask for a name. She'd paced the cistern paths, learning their layout in case she ever had to make a quick escape. She even picked up a book, once, but the lantern light was so low it hurt her eyes to read. She was stewing in her skin.
And it had only been a day.
With every passing moment, her ire at the Dragonborn grew. So did her certainty that she should have just stayed in Whiterun instead of ever agreeing to follow him anywhere. She'd been so enthusiastic back then, what amounted to only a few short months ago. She'd been relieved to appoint a new Harbinger to fill Kodlak's boots, and the Dragonborn besides. Kial was virtually a messiah to the Nordic people. How was she supposed to tell him no?
Since then, she'd realized that Kial was just a man. A man who got hurt, made mistakes, and dabbled in Skyrim's criminal underbelly, apparently.
A man who left his Shield-Sister behind in a sewer so she didn't risk blowing his cover on his silly extra-legal escapades.
Needless to say, Aela was angry.
That was why—or, at least, partially why—she was spoiling for a fight the next time she entered the cistern proper and laid eyes on Vex. The sight of the obnoxious Imperial stoked the flames in her to roaring.
"You," she called out, voice echoing around the cavernous space. When Vex didn't turn, either out of spite or unawareness, Aela ground her teeth and forced out, "Vex."
The Imperial turned her head, and her expression told Aela that it had definitely been spite. Her eyes flashed in the lantern light like a hawk's as the huntress approached. "Something I can do for you, milady?" she lilted mockingly.
Aela marched right up into her personal space. "Spar with me," she said.
Vex's smirk faltered. "What?"
"A bout. Right now. You do know how to use that dagger of yours, don't you?"
Vex's spine went stiff, and Aela felt some satisfaction at having struck a nerve. "Of course I do," the thief snapped, all pretense falling away.
"Then show me."
"Fine." Vex's jaw hardened, and it gave her an almost courageous look. She might have made a decent Companion, in a different life. "But not here. Meet me in the practice room."
Aela had expected as much, though a melee in the middle of the Thieves Guild's common area would have been much more exciting. "Very well," she clipped, trying to stifle the anticipation welling up inside her. It would do her good to get her blood flowing, finally.
…
"Is that the best you've got, huntress?" Vex taunted breathlessly as she danced out of the way of Aela's dagger for the umpteenth time.
Aela snarled. The first few times she'd missed, she grudgingly acknowledged that Vex had genuinely outplayed her, but now it was just her anger making her sloppy. At times like these, Aela resented her beast blood. There was a difference between ferocity and recklessness, and she was crossing that line entirely too often lately. She couldn't help it, though; Vex was just so infuriating!
As if she could hear her thoughts, Vex grinned, all teeth and torrid eyes. "You're not going easy on me, are you?" she purred, ducking under another wild swing and repaying Aela with a cut to her leg. She was sporting several such wounds now, shallow incisions that stung like hell and only served to intensify her rage.
Real weapons, Aela had insisted. None of that milkdrinker bullshit. Of course, she hadn't planned on being the one who got sliced to ribbons. But Vex was quick and Aela was off her game.
That didn't mean she'd lost just yet.
At the next opening in Vex's defense, the huntress made a feral noise and lunged. Vex evaded her dagger once again, but this time the dagger was only a distraction.
Aela barrelled bodily into the thief, trapping Vex's dagger uselessly between them as they crashed to the ground. Vex landed on her back and the impact sent all the air whooshing out of her. Aela relished the sound of her choking and wheezing for breath as she settled her weight over the thief's hips.
"Nothing to say now, thief?" she hissed through her teeth as she pinned Vex's dagger hand to the ground. The Imperial resisted, but Aela was strong, and now she had the advantage.
She twisted Vex's wrist until she dropped her dagger with a hoarse cry. That left Aela as the only one armed, and she took great satisfaction in leveling her own dagger at the hollow of the thief's throat. She was tempted to draw blood, just a little, but held back. She'd already made her point.
"Yield," she commanded, letting the steel rest cold against Vex's skin.
The Imperial hadn't yet regained her voice, but she shook her head, teeth bared.
For an instant, Aela could only stare. She had already lost! Why in Hircine's name would she refuse to yield? Then her confusion hardened into anger. Fine, she decided. If Vex would not give up of her own volition, Aela would gladly make her.
She raised her fist and struck the thief across the face.
Vex's head whipped to the side, blood streaking from her nose. The sound of her breathing, rough and ragged, was the loudest thing in the room. She bucked beneath Aela's weight, trying to throw her off, but the huntress was planted firmly. A pitiful groan escaped her throat.
The sound made Aela wonder how often Vex lost. She had a pretty good idea that the answer was never. That made her victory all the more sweet.
She raised her bloodied fist again.
"Yield."
For the second time, Vex shook her head, and Aela hit her. A cut appeared on the thief's cheek this time. Much more of this, and she would look just as worse for wear as Aela. The huntress could feel blood sliding down her limbs even now. She hoped it made her look terrifying.
She released Vex's wrist to grip her jaw hard enough to hurt. "Yield," she said a third time, forcing the thief to stare her straight in the eye.
Vex's throat jumped in a swallow. There was blood seeping between her teeth and a desperate look in her eyes. Aela had never seen it there before, but it made her feel…powerful. Hungry. She much preferred it to being the butt of every one of the thief's jokes.
Vex lurched suddenly, and Aela's dagger disappeared from her hand. It hit the floor a stretch away. Aela made the mistake of glancing after it.
In an instant she was unseated and Vex was trying to reverse their positions, but Aela was not going to let her win that easily. She caught the thief's arms as she tried to pin her down and heaved her off. Vex's fists pummeled her as they rolled over and over, tussling on the floor like a couple of territorial beasts. Aela supposed that was not so far off from the truth.
A pained cry escaped her as Vex's fingers found her hair and yanked. Aela's face hit the ground, and for a second she saw stars. Vex's weight started to settle on her shoulders as she lay disadvantaged, but she quickly bucked it off. They tangled again, all hard knuckles and sharp nails and angry, breathless sounds.
Everything went still when Aela got her hand around Vex's throat. She could feel the thief's pulse racing beneath her thumb as they rolled to a halt, Aela crouched on top again, Vex's legs locked around her waist. She probably could have thrown her off, but both of them knew Aela was more likely to break her neck than let that happen. The thief's hands settled helplessly, one on Aela's wrist and the other on her thigh. Her fingers slipped in blood.
"Yield," Aela said a final time, voice deadly soft.
She could feel Vex swallow hard, and the awareness sent a jolt of euphoria through her. If she had felt powerful before, now she was transcendent. Vex's blood, her breath, her life was entirely under her control. The beast in her was slavering for the kill.
"I yield," Vex finally said on a strangled breath.
Something about those words—or maybe the way she said them—collided with Aela's bloodlust and knocked it off course, just a little, until the heat in her veins was suddenly careening toward something else entirely.
She took in Vex's dilated eyes and the hand on her thigh and the way she was straddling the thief to the ground and all at once, she understood. And she did not like it.
She jerked her hand away from Vex's throat as if her skin burned. "Good," she forced out, and was disturbed to hear her voice shake. She disentangled herself and rose to her feet. "Then all is as it should be."
Except that it wasn't. Some new feeling was gnawing at Aela's insides, and she was helpless to stop it no matter how much she wanted to tear it to shreds. She turned her face away so Vex could not see her flush.
What in Hircine's name… she swore, feeling the knot in her chest wind tighter, tighter. Not for the first time, she resented her beast blood.
There was the scuff of leather on stone, and then Vex was standing beside her. The thief's hand landed unexpectedly on her arm, and Aela almost shoved it away but didn't. Heat seemed to bloom from the point of contact.
She forced herself to turn, and silver eyes met hazel with an electric jolt.
Vex wet her lips and Aela wanted to turn inside out at the way her eyes were drawn to the motion. "Next time, we're going to try something I'm good at," the thief said, and it was almost a joke except for the way her voice rasped in her throat and her eyes held Aela's rawly like she'd just realized something, too.
Aela was helpless to do anything but nod.
...
"Enough. You lose your touch when you get frustrated," Vex reproached, and Aela hated that she was right. "Let me show you." She reached for the pick and torque, but the huntress snatched them out of the way, fuming.
"I'm a grown woman. I can do it myself," she growled out. She'd been crouching in front of this same damn lock on the same damn chest for more than an hour. Her fingers were aching from the unfamiliar task of manipulating delicate tools, but she was not about to give up while Vex was watching. After what Vex had said after their bout, she felt like she had something to prove.
"You'll never learn if you won't let me teach you." Vex put her hands on her hips and stood over Aela disapprovingly until the huntress finally swallowed her pride and held out the tools.
Vex shook her head, making no move to take them. "Put your hands back where they were," she said instead.
As much as it rankled to let Vex order her around, Aela felt a little bad about the cuts still healing on the thief's face. She reasoned that it wouldn't be the worst thing to cooperate for once, so she inserted the tools into the lock again without protest.
"Good. Now," Vex crouched down close to her and enclosed Aela's hands in her own.
Aela jumped at the contact. "Get your—"
"Start off gentle," Vex cut her off, applying light pressure to guide Aela's hands around the tools. Her voice was close to the huntress's ear. "Find the spot where there's not so much resistance." Her long, pale fingers eased the lockpick into the correct position.
Aela squirmed under her touch. A few days ago she would have chalked it up to disgust, but since their bout, she knew better. "I already—"
Vex shushed her softly, breath warm and distracting against her neck. "Once you've got a good idea of where the weakness is, you exploit it." She began to rotate the lockpick under Aela's fingers. To her horror, Aela's hands began trembling slightly beneath the thief's expert touch. "Keep your touch light. Manipulate it in the right direction." Vex's lips were practically on Aela's skin.
Aela couldn't focus. She moved the pick too quickly, and it lost its hold on the tumblers within the lock and snapped. "Damn!" she swore.
"Try again," said Vex, handing her another pick. "It doesn't always yield right away."
Aela took a deep breath and returned her attention to the lock, beating away thoughts of double meanings and inconvenient innuendos. This time she moved a bit more surely. She wasn't sure she needed Vex's guidance any longer, but the thief kept her cool hands about Aela's anyway.
"Find the weak spot. Right there, you've got it," Vex affirmed. Her voice was low and silky. Aela felt heat rise in her cheeks as the thief continued, body pressed right against hers, "Work it this way. Coax it. Gently."
Aela swallowed hard.
"A little further."
She heard Vex's lips part in anticipation. She wondered if the thief's heart was stumbling as much as hers, or if she had created this tension entirely on purpose. In any case, Aela could barely keep her hands steady enough to make the final turn of the pick that clicked the lock free.
Vex turned to her, a smirk curling her lips. "You're in."
Aela could tell that she was fully aware of the effect she was having. The thief watched her with heavy-lidded eyes, hovering near her mouth temptingly as she let her long hands glide down Aela's arms. Aela struggled to breathe. Half of her wanted to shove Vex away and run from the room, never to risk her presence again, but the other half was dangerously close to melting into the thief's touch and catching those accursed lips with her own. She already could not tear her gaze from them.
Then all of a sudden, Vex was standing and Aela was free of her grasp. The huntress sat down hard, cursing inwardly at her pounding heart and burning cheeks. Vex laughed lightly, almost victoriously. Another point to her side.
Aela cleared her throat, trying futilely to hide her embarrassment. For once she was less concerned with the score between them than the itching feeling pooling beneath her skin. Beast blood ran hot, and Vex had stoked the flames. That was why—the only reason why—Aela licked her lips and asked, a hoarse note in her voice, "Do you think we could do this again later?"
Vex's only answer was a knowing wink before she turned and slunk from the room.
...
Vex did not even try to disguise her intentions the next time she sought Aela out.
The only warning she got that the thief had entered the vault was a whisper of stirred air upon her cheek. It was the only reason she didn't jump out of her skin when a familiar slim hand lighted on her waist from behind.
"Hey, huntress," Vex breathed into her ear, and Aela very carefully did not react.
"Thief," she greeted in kind, turning around to face the other woman. She was pleased, as she always was, by her height advantage. It allowed her to look down her nose at Vex and pretend she wasn't flustered as she said, "Here to teach me something new?"
"That's the idea." Vex's hazel gaze was hungry as she passed it over Aela's face, lingering on her lips. She took a step forward, and Aela was startled into taking one back.
The huntress's heart stuttered as she realized the situation she'd gotten herself into. They were entirely alone in here. No one was around to rescue her—or interrupt. Aela hadn't quite determined which one she'd prefer. Vex was magnetic, of course, and since the debacle with the lockpicks, just being in her proximity made Aela antsy. At the same time, her desire was tempered by caution.
What would it mean for her to give in? What would it mean for her to get involved with the type of person she had always scorned? If she showed Vex her vulnerable parts, literally as well as metaphorically, who was to say she wouldn't just receive a dagger in the gut?
And what would Kial think? She was angry at him, sure, but she still cared. Perhaps more than was appropriate. And she knew that he cared, too, as poor as he was at showing it.
That thought gave her pause. Before Vex could back her into the wall, Aela halted her with a hand upon her shoulder. "Wait."
The thief blinked, eyes clearing slightly from the haze of intent. "What is it?" she wondered.
"I—I'm just—" What? What was her excuse? Obviously she wanted this woman physically, so what was holding her back? In the end, all she could spit out was, "I'm not sure about this." It was still the most honest thing she'd ever said to Vex without layers of insult and flirtation between.
As if sensing the significance of the moment, Vex's expression grew serious. She relaxed from her rather predatory stance, and suddenly she looked awfully fragile. "Is it Kial?" she asked, voice small.
Aela closed her eyes and sighed through her nose. Apparently even Vex, who'd known her for all of a week, was more observant of her relationships than she was. "Kial is my Harbinger, and my companion," she began, trying to convince herself as much as Vex. "We travel together, but we...we're not..." She faltered to a stop as the half-lie turned to ash on her tongue.
Vex crossed her arms and sighed too. "Listen, Aela," she said, "lawless thief that I may be, I won't steal somebody else's mark. So tell me now. Are you with Kial?"
Aela blinked helplessly at her, trying to wrap her head around this scrap of unlikely nobility from the thief. "I...I don't know."
"It's a yes or a no."
Aela could only search the Imperial's face desperately, feeling the seconds tick by and her window of opportunity rapidly slimming.
All she had to do was say no. No, Kial was not in the picture. No, no one was keeping Aela from succumbing to her lust. No, there were no consequences.
Was Vex worth that lie?
She took in the fall of the Imperial's pale hair, her intense brows over heavy-lidded eyes—those sultry, stilling, seductive eyes—her delicately curving lips, her golden-white skin.
Was Vex a gamble that would cost her everything?
She tried to keep her eyes away from the rest of the thief's supple body, or there would be no chance for her. Her eyes betrayed her. They slid down over Vex's inviting figure, and her heart picked up its pace. She was drowning. Vex was an irresistible current, and she was pulling Aela down into depths she could not return from. Her mind screamed against her, but everything else in Aela made her say, "No."
"Good."
Faster than an assassin's stroke, Vex's lips were on hers. Aela made a slight noise in her throat, whether from surprise or satisfaction she didn't know. Vex's long fingers slid into the gaps on either side of Aela's armor, raising goosebumps on the bare skin. Aela's own hands went around to Vex's rear. The pressure of their bodies against each other made Aela's gut flip. Already she was confused, but now she could not pick a single coherent thought out of the storm of her mind. Her only awareness was of Vex—the full lips breaking down her barriers and pushing for more, the lithe body moving under her hands, the pale hair tickling her skin and making her shiver. In the moments that Vex relaxed her assault, Aela gasped for air until the thief moved in and claimed her lips again. Small steps backward soon brought Aela's back against the wall, and Vex used this opportunity to roll her hips into the huntress's, hands searching for the clasps to Aela's armor.
Aela realized what she was doing and groaned in protest, breaking away with effort. "Don't, Vex," she said shakily. She buried her hands in the thief's hair and eased her head back to kiss her neck instead. She felt Vex's throat hum with a noise of discontent.
"Why?" she mumbled, pulling back to look at Aela's face. "You said it wasn't—"
"No, Vex, trust me, it's not Kial." Aela bent her neck slightly to rest her forehead against the thief's. For once Vex's eyes were not manipulative and knowing; the heat in them was real. "It's—"
A heavy click signaled someone at the door. The thief and the huntress gasped. Vex jumped away, raking her hair into order. Aela fell in front of the nearest chest, scrabbling her lockpick out of her pocket.
When the door swung wide and Mercer Frey stepped into the opening, the women were wild-eyed and winded, but appeared to simply be working on Aela's lockpicking.
Mercer glanced between them suspiciously. He was no fool. Then he turned to Vex and said shortly, "Come with me."
Vex looked down at Aela hesitantly, but Mercer obviously meant now. He stood stone-still until Vex stepped away from her huntress, flashing an apology with her eyes, and followed him out.
In their absence, Aela fell back into the dirty stones with a sigh. She grasped her head with her hands. Her lips were still hot with the memory of Vex's touch and her body was throbbing.
What was she doing?
...
"What's your play, Vex?" demanded Mercer as soon as the door closed behind them. He brushed by her and crossed to stand behind his desk.
"Whatever do you mean?" Vex asked with feigned innocence.
"That girl," Mercer growled, leaning on his fists over his desk. "You're coddling her. With you, that can mean one of two things. Either you're grooming her for the Guild or you're trying to get into her bed. And she doesn't strike me as Guild material."
Vex's eyes went cold and she crossed her arms over her chest, a defensive gesture. "I'm simply babysitting her until Kial gets back," she insisted.
"You realize we want the Dragonborn on our side, right?" Mercer said through gritted teeth. "I won't let you and your games ruin that."
"She assured me that she and Kial are not an item," Vex told him.
"Of course she did; otherwise she'd lose your attention," Mercer grated out as if she were slow. Every time he and Vex spoke, she was reminded why she hated his guts so much. He added, just to add insult to injury, "A fool could see that those two are sweet on each other."
Vex slid her gaze away. She didn't want him to see how much his words hurt. "It's only a passing interest, Mercer," she assured quietly, reluctantly. "Nothing that will endanger our cause."
"I hope for your sake that you're telling the truth."
...
"Keerava, I need some advice," Aela said, feeling pitiful as the Argonian approached her table with a fresh tankard of mead.
Keerava set down Aela's cup and sank into the chair opposite her, rubbing her clawed hands together in anticipation. "It must be something urgent for you to come to Keerava, hmm? What questions do you have for this old barkeep today?"
Aela worked her jaw, formulating the right words to open their discussion. "You and Talen-Jei are married, is that right?"
"By Skyrim's standards we are not. But in Black Marsh we would be considered a pair, yes."
"So would you say you know a lot about—about people? About relationships?"
"I know enough." Keerava tilted her head appraisingly, her gold eyes flashing in the lantern light as if they could see straight to Aela's soul. Indeed, the next thing she asked was, "An interesting start to our conversation, hmm? Who is on your mind, young Huntress?"
"That's the problem, Keerava," Aela sighed, letting her forehead sink into her palm. "There's too much on my mind."
Keerava leaned forward on her claw, waiting for more.
Aela massaged her temples as if that might somehow rub her problems away. Now that she had the chance to actually voice her fears to someone, she hesitated. Would Keerava think her a fool? "First of all, it's about Vex," she finally managed.
Keerava hissed, recoiling, and Aela jumped at the sudden reaction. Perhaps she should have kept things to herself after all. "What is it?" she wondered, feeling dread settle in her gut like a stone.
Keerava's reptilian eyes burned with anger. "Vex," she spat, the name like venom on her forked tongue. "Many an unwary heart has fallen to that woman. If she is paying you attention, she wants nothing but your virtue and your gold. She will chew you up, spit you out when she's had her fun, and walk away without a backward glance. Stay away from her, young one."
Aela slouched in her seat, dismayed. She didn't want Keerava to be right. In the midst of all her confusion, there was a spark of something that she didn't want to extinguish just yet. "Do you think people can change?" she asked, already knowing the answer.
"Not Vex," Keerava confirmed. Then the Argonian paused, tilting her head and drumming her claws on the table, and again Aela got the feeling that she knew what was coming next. "What about that young Kial, then? Your Dragonborn?"
"That's the other thing," Aela grumbled, slouching lower. "I care for Kial, but we're just traveling partners, nothing more. He certainly doesn't feel any special fondness for me." She scowled at her tankard, remembering the way they'd parted. Just the thought had frustration stirring in her gut all over again. "But why then do I feel so guilty about what happened with Vex?"
Keerava stiffened, yellow eyes alight again. "What happened with Vex?" she demanded. "You haven't already gambled away your soul to that devil, have you?"
"No, Keerava, we just—she just kissed me once," Aela sighed.
Keerava's eyes narrowed and she growled pensively, almost to herself, "She didn't go straight for the kill, then. A blessing or a curse?"
Aela spread her hands on the table, patience growing thin. "What is your conflict with Vex, may I ask?"
Keerava scowled. "She and Talen-Jei have history."
Aela tried not to let her surprise show. Not that interracial couples were unheard of, but—Vex and Talen-Jei?
Keerava read her shock anyway. "I told you," she hissed, "she takes whoever she can get her hands on."
Aela was silent, staring at the table. She didn't doubt that Keerava was telling the truth, but she was still loath to believe it. That raised all new questions in her mind: why did she find the news so hard to swallow? Why did she care about Vex and her habits? Just a few days ago, they despised each other.
Keerava cleared her throat to rouse the huntress from her funk. "So, Kial," she circled around again. "You say you're nothing more than partners?"
Aela nodded, not lifting her gaze.
"You are a fool, then."
Aela sharpened instantly. "Excuse me?" she snapped, bracing her fists on the table hard enough to rattle her tankard.
"Keerava speaks nothing but truth," the Argonian said, spreading her claws innocently. "Kial has something in his heart for you. If you do not see it, it is because you have closed your eyes to it."
Aela fumed, fists clenching. She was getting very tired of everybody telling her things about herself that apparently she didn't even know. Couldn't they just believe her when she said that she didn't have feelings for Kial? She was furious at him, for Hircine's sake! She was not some blushing maiden intent on fawning at his feet. "You must be mistaken," she grated out.
Keerava shrugged again, the knowing look in her eyes not fading. "You say your guilt is not because of Kial. Why is it, then?"
Aela ground her teeth in frustration. She was enough of a huntress to know when she was being backed into a corner, and she did not appreciate the feeling. "I told you, that's where I'm confused," she repeated.
"Is it because Vex is a woman?"
"No," Aela said instantly. She'd been with both men and women before, and the distinction was never a problem. If anything, being a woman made Vex more acceptable a partner. She was less likely to look at Aela with that infuriating sideways gaze that Kial liked to wear; the one that said I know better than you.
"Is it because she is a thief, and you value honor?" Keerava continued.
Aela narrowed her eyes. "Maybe."
Keerava chuckled. "The answer is no. The answer to all such questions is no, because the answer is Kial. Open your eyes, young huntress, and guard your heart from those who would exploit it. Keerava has no more words for you."
The Argonian stood quickly and swept away from Aela's table, leaving the Nord just as frustrated and confused as before, if not more so. Aela groaned and let her head thump against the tabletop. She was going to need another drink.
In the next moment, Aela realized why Keerava had vacated the table so abruptly.
A soft footstep sounded nearby, and Aela had one guess as to who it belonged to. She raised her head, trying not to look too eager as she turned toward the sound.
Vex's black leather armor caught the lantern light as she sauntered up. She reached Aela's table and leaned one hip against the edge. "This seat taken?" she practically purred, eyes glinting.
Aela shook her head, not trusting herself to speak. She couldn't help but glance over at Keerava, who now stood wiping out a tankard with furious strokes. There was a warning in the lizard woman's eyes.
Vex looked over her shoulder to follow Aela's gaze as she sat. When she noticed Keerava, she cracked an insufferable smile and signaled to her for a drink. Keerava visibly huffed in annoyance before she reached for the Black-Briar mead stacked beneath the counter.
When Vex turned back to Aela, her eyes were caramel in the warm light and had a knowing, worldly weight. The pressure made Aela feel uncomfortably warm. Keerava's words rang in her mind, and she wondered whether Vex looked at everyone that way, or only those she was trying to manipulate. Then she kicked herself for that bitter thought.
"You look troubled," Vex observed, accepting two tankards from Keerava as the barkeep swept by. She kept one and pushed the other toward Aela, who hadn't even finished her first.
"I…I am," Aela admitted, rotating the new tankard idly in her hands.
Vex eyed her with something close to concern. "What about, my dear?"
My dear. Aela actually flinched at the words. Kial never would have called her that. How could Keerava be so sure he had feelings for her? Why did everybody think that they ought to be together when they hardly even got along?
"Aela," Vex prompted softly when the huntress failed to respond. Had Vex ever said her name before? If so, never so tenderly.
Aela flicked her eyes up to Vex's again, feeling like she ought to crawl out of her own skin. Conflicting emotions warred within her chest, but she could not express them. Nords were not supposed to be emotional, nor flighty. What was wrong with her?
"I just…" She grimaced and debated how much to give away. Did she trust Keerava more than she trusted Vex? Would the thief treat her fears with sympathy, or use them to stab her in the back? She settled upon a vague, "Keerava and I had a conversation just now, is all. It's got me thinking."
"What about?" Vex said again, voice going low. She leaned over the table, holding Aela's gaze intently, and suddenly something in the air felt different.
Aela hesitated. Should she tell her? Keerava's warnings still rang in her ears, but Aela didn't want to listen. She was stuck in Vex's stare. She had to clear her throat before her voice would work. "You," she finally croaked.
"Funny. I just spoke with Mercer about you," Vex replied, unmoving, like a sabre cat just before the pounce.
Aela couldn't pull herself away from Vex's eyes. She wanted to stay in them. She wanted to drown in them. She wanted them. She wanted Vex. She swallowed hard. "What did he have to say?"
Vex wet her lips deliberately, drawing Aela's gaze to them. "Stay away from you."
"Funny," Aela rasped, "Keerava told me the same."
"Do you intend to listen?" Vex asked, words barely a breath.
Divines.
Aela was so close to losing control. Her heart was pounding and she could feel it pulsing all the way to her ears and fingers and toes and places she was too ashamed to admit. Hearing Keerava's warning had only made her want the thief more, and hearing how certain it was that Kial cared for her only made her doubt it more. She wasn't tied to the Dragonborn. As Harbinger, he could tell her what to do, but not what to feel. He did not own her.
And tender feelings or not, he was not here right now. He'd left her.
He'd left her in Vex's hands, and now she was wrapped around the thief's little finger. There were worse things, she supposed, looking at Vex's smirk that said she knew exactly what Aela was thinking. She could probably hear the huntress's heartbeat from where she sat.
"No," Aela finally said, voice rough and wrecked for the woman staring her down. "I don't think I do."
Vex's smile widened into something positively predatory. She pushed to her feet and stalked slowly round the table, bracing one hand against its surface to lean down toward Aela. "You're supposed to be the huntress here, darling," she reminded. She leaned down close enough that her breath brushed Aela's skin. "So why do you keep acting like my prey?"
Aela felt an indignant growl bubble up in her chest. "I am not—"
Vex jerked the huntress's head back by a fistful of her flaming hair, earning a startled gasp. As she leaned down to drag her lips over Aela's exposed neck, Vex chuckled, "Prove it, then."
The last remnants of Keerava's warning words turned to ash in Aela's mind. All she knew was burning, consuming lust and the adrenaline rush of a challenge—the thrill of the hunt. She was a huntress. She was the Huntress. And she was no one's prey.
She met Vex's heavy, darkened eyes with a smile that was almost a snarl. "If that's what you want," she said.
Then she surged to her feet, her chair protesting in her wake, and swept Vex off her feet in one swift motion. The thief gasped and instinctively wrapped her legs around Aela's waist, and the huntress found that she much preferred this dynamic to their previous one. She was a wolf; an apex predator. She belonged at the top of the food chain.
She leveled a feral grin at the woman in her arms, and Vex's wide eyes confirmed that now she was the one in charge.
Aela hefted the thief, securing her grip around slim, wiry thighs, and headed towards the stairs. She could virtually feel Keerava's disapproving gaze boring into her back, but she didn't care anymore. She was Aela the Huntress. She decided her own fate. She determined her own desires.
And right now, Vex was her only desire.
Aela began to mount the stairs toward the bedrooms above, the extra weight of her quarry hardly a strain. When inevitable wolf whistles piped up to follow their retreat, Vex didn't waste a moment in tearing Aela's dagger from its place on her hip and pointing it threateningly at the room. Apparently the people of Riften were aware of her skill with knives, because they fell instantly silent.
Aela chuckled and pressed her approving smile to Vex's throat, earning a pleasant shiver. "What a pair we make, hm?" she said against the thief's skin.
"You've got that right," Vex replied breathlessly. She leaned down to catch Aela's lips in a kiss before they'd even reached the landing, and Aela found that she didn't mind. She felt content here, tangled with Vex despite all warnings and odds. She felt powerful and certain and right. She felt free to lean into Vex without a care for what came before or after, and it made her blood sing.
It had taken her far too long to realize that it didn't matter what anyone said, or thought, or judged. Life was too short to let uncertainty weigh her down.
Aela was a wolf, and she was born to be free.
…