This chapter was a bloody nightmare to figure out….
Go to Roikstead and speak to the merchant's wife at the Frostfruit Inn. You will know her when you see her….
The Night Mother's words repeated over and over as a knot twisted in the Listener's gut. He will know her when he sees her…. He had a feeling of who the contract was, but he hoped it wasn't true. Arriving at the quiet town just after sundown, the Listener dismounted the black and red-eyed horse. He went to the inn and found a woman with long, brunette hair with a blue cloak over her shoulders, sitting at a table in the back. Taking a breath, the assassin approached her. "Lucia?"
The young woman turned her head and stood up. Her hazel eyes shot up. "Father!" She threw her arms around him.
Before they were able to attract attention, he led her out of the inn. He lowered the black hood from his head and cupped his daughter's face as her eyes shimmered with tears. "What happened, hm? Why did you preform the Black Sacrament?"
"It's…it's Styrr." She bowed her head. "He hurts me, Papa."
"Oh?" His voice was dangerously low.
"I don't know what else to do." She buried her face in her hands, sobbing.
Ryvren held his daughter, who was now 22, close as if she was still just a child. "He laid a hand on you?" He was going to kill the man, but his daughter needed him at the moment.
She nodded, sniffling. "M-many times."
"Anything else I should know about?" He could see the life leaving his former son-in-law's already.
"He calls me a whore. He claims I'm sleeping with someone else, but I'm not." She inhaled. "He follows me when I go to shops. I'm never out of his sight. I managed to sneak out and came here. I preformed the Sacrament when I arrived. I wasn't sure if I should've sent a private contract through Nazir, but I needed you as quickly as possible."
He calmly inhaled, placing his hands on her shoulders. "Stay here tonight, then in the morning, I want you to go straight to Whiterun, okay? Do you have the key?"
She nodded, wiping her eyes.
"Make yourself at home and I will be there as soon as I am done, okay?"
She nodded, looking up at him. "Shouldn't…I pay you?"
"My daughter's safety is the payment. If I had known that you were suffering, I would have killed him much sooner. Do you need coin?"
Lucia shook her head. "No." She looked away. "Are you…mad at me?"
Ryvren blinked. "What? Mad that you hired me to kill your abusive husband?"
She bowed her head.
"Lucia," he gently said. "Contract or not, I would I have done so either way. The only reason I wouldn't kill him is if you begged me not to. Don't feel guilty that you hired me, daughter– feel sympathy that your husband's father-in-law is a professional killer."
She snorted a chuckle, then slowly frowned. "I wanted what you and Mama had…." A tear slid down her cheek.
"Lucia." He gently took her chin, making her look him in the eye. "You will. Just not with him." He softly smiled. "Your mother's previous lover was a bandit leader, so what does that tell you?"
"That a bloodthirsty assassin is the one for me?" She smiled.
He inhaled. "Let's keep assassins out of the family for now, okay? Your brother is not an assassin, so that's all I ask. I don't need a son-in-law being one." He chuckled.
She softly laughed, then looked at him as if a child fearing being in trouble. "So…you're not disappointed or upset?"
He inhaled. "Lucia. If the abuse went on or got worse, I'd be more upset if he killed you." He embraced her. "Your father's going take care of this. Do not feel guilty. You didn't kill him. You told me that he was hurting you and I took care of it."
"But–"
He looked her in the eye. "Contract…or not."
Lucia slightly nodded and hugged him. "I love you, Papa."
He held her. "I love you, too. I'm going to stay here tonight, then I'll take off when you do."
"Okay."
"Did you rent a room?"
"I did." She smiled. "You were going to offer, weren't you?"
He snorted at the ridiculous question. "Of course. Don't seem surprised."
"You're a good father, you know that?"
"I try, Lucia. I try."
I try.
The metal door was thrown open and the dunmer unsheathed the twin ebony swords. "Thornson!" He slammed the door closed. "Come out, you fucking bastard!"
A young man with long, blond hair hurried out from the back with eyes wide, then stopped in his tracks. "What the– Ryvren?"
Dressed in a brown tunic, Ryvren Darven approached his son-in-law without blinking with strands of black hair in his crimson eyes. "You hurt my daughter? Call her degrading names?"
Styrr staggered back. "I-I don't knw what you mean! I–" His back hit a stoned wall. "Sh-she mad me to do it!"
Ryvren slashed the right sword, but the boy ducked and jumped away.
"Are you drunk!" Styrr screamed, eyes wild in fear. "What's wrong with you?"
"I haven't had a drink in thirteen years." He stared the man in the eye. "I am the Listener of the Dark Brotherhood, however, I'm off duty at the moment."
The man became white as a corpse. "What?" His voice was barely a whisper. "You? You are the Listener? I-I-I heard of you! The things they say about you! Oh, gods! And she didn't tell me?"
"Why would she?" His voice was dangerously monotone. "Because she's your wife and she's meant to tell you everything or if you'd knew, you wouldn't have hit her, hm?"
"You murder people! I'm sure you lashed out–"
Ryvren stormed to him and it put the tip of the sword to his throat without breaking eye contact. "I'd rather slit my own throat than to lay a hand on my wife."
He began to shake with his hands in the air. "Please. Ryvren. Have mercy. I'll treat Lucia better. I promise. I love her. I really do! I-I'll change–"
"Bullshit." He kicked the man in the gut.
The young man fell to his knees, coughing, but the Dunmer made him raise his head with the swords crossed with his neck between the blades. Tears welled in his eyes. "For Divines' sake, have mercy! Please!"
"I love when they beg," he emotionlessly commented, then decapitated the young man's head from his shoulders. He brought the swords to his side and watched the man's head roll as his body fell forward. Whipping the swords on the corpse's clothes, he sheathed them, and then walked out of the house to the beautiful city of Markarth.
I hope you enjoyed! Keep an eye out for The Skyrim Chronicles: Falling into the Void to follow Killian Mallory's story!