Chapter XXXV – A Black-Briar's Lament

"Wow. This is perfect."

Bishop raised his brow at the paper with the contractor and workers' names. It was exactly what he needed. Now he could find these people easily – much easier than if he had to go through all workers in the city outlined in the files that Raven had procured. He could find out where the contractor lived or stayed, he could go through their records, or eavesdrop on conversations between the workers when they talked shop. There were a lot of options. He had gotten plenty of invisibility potions for his mission from Karliah, which was kind of surprising – they were usually supposed to take care of their own supplies on their missions. Sometimes they didn't even get paid for them. What was even more shocking was the amount of money that Aeyrin had received for the house. But then again, it wasn't really Aeyrin's to keep. Karliah just wanted it for an eventual foothold in the city – a safehouse or a smuggler access route maybe. Aeyrin was basically just an errand girl who bought that house in her name.

Somehow, all this was starting to feel a little less like cooperation and little more like subordination.

Maybe Bishop and Aeyrin had caused this subtle shift themselves. Maybe after they've both kept clinging to their missions as a distraction during their time apart, Karliah just got too used to giving them orders. But… she still asked. They could still refuse her, and it was not like Bishop would complain about reward money or mission supplies. Maybe that was all because Karliah had been getting more and more influential as Mercer's stranglehold on the underground began waning. With more influence, came more money.

Or maybe she was just more and more careful as they have been finally approaching their goal. That was certainly a possibility.

There was no need to think too much about this. They all still had the same goal in this endeavor.

"So he just gave this to you?" Bishop raised his brow at Aeyrin. Even if it was something as ridiculously banal as giving her contact information for the contractor, it still seemed doubtful that a Black-Briar wouldn't ask for anything in return. Then again, Bishop didn't actually know any of them. All he knew were rumors and tall tales. Besides, it was really just some stupid harmless contact and Aeyrin could probably just bat her eyelashes at most men and she'd get anything for free if she wanted.

"Yeah. He said that he was grateful for the caravans. He even bought me this… drink. It was so fancy and sweet. Like something you'd by in the Imperial City," Aeyrin beamed at him in excitement.

"Heh. Yeah, Talen-Jei's drinks are kinda famous here. Never had one. They're fucking expensive," Bishop grumbled a little in response. No matter how good a drink was, it was never worth so many drakes.

"But after that, he offered to get me a discount from the contractor if I do a favor for him," Aeyrin pointed out as they approached one of the more private spots by the railing above the canal, hiding from the crowds at the markets.

Ah… there it is.

"Sweetness, you do know that we're not actually commissioning the work, right? There's no reason to waste any money on that, so you don't really need a discount," Bishop smirked.

"I know. But wouldn't it be weird to refuse?" she gave him a challenging look.

That was actually a good point. Even if they wouldn't have that work done, they still needed to act as if they intended to.

"Yeah… you're right. So what's the favor?" he scowled. It was definitely going to be something stupid and dangerous like it always was. Some dungeon and some shitty long lost heirloom without a doubt.

"It's no big deal. You remember Lynly from Ivarstead?"

Bishop only nodded in response.

"He just wants me to deliver a letter to her," Aeyrin nodded with a reassuring smile. It was a simple task, as long as she avoided the vicinity of Lost Knife.

"There's a mailbox right there," Bishop scoffed as he pointed behind his shoulder haphazardly. Why would anyone need her specifically to deliver a fucking letter?

"Yeah… he said that he was in love with her and that his family was making trouble for them. Lynly apparently doesn't want to come between him and the family so he asked me to convince her too. He thinks I'll be convincing for some reason," she chuckled slightly, but she wasn't really worried about it. Talking to Lynly didn't seem daunting in the slightest and Sibbi seemed confident that the letter alone would actually convince her.

"Hmmm… weird. But whatever, I guess. So you want us to go to Ivarstead today?" he scowled again. He was kind of looking forward to spending the night with her at the Bee and Barb, but it was not like that was so important.

"Well… I was thinking that you'd… do things on your end while I make the trip. The sooner we get the information the better, right? And it's better than just waiting for you while I have nothing to do here. Who knows how long you're gonna need to take?" she gave him a wry smile. She didn't really feel like sitting in the tavern alone all the time and people might ask her about Bishop's lack of presence if she would. And since she still promised to stay in the populated areas of the city, there was not much of Riften left to explore.

Bishop's brows creased as he pondered on what she had suggested. She was kind of right, it would be much more efficient that way. He still hated having her go off alone, especially since they've barely started to travel together again, but he had to deal with this. He couldn't go on being so overprotective and overbearing again, or they might end up just where they have after Falkreath.

"Fair point. You can take Karnwyr, at least. It's not like I'll be paying much attention to him here and he always prefers the forests," he smiled at her. He was allowed at least this little reassurance, wasn't he? Besides, it was true, Karnwyr would be happy about this too.

"Sure. I'm probably gonna go now. If I do, I could be in Ivarstead by nightfall and be back after lunch tomorrow. In the meantime, you stay here and… make sure that the house is taken care of properly?" she winked at him when she thought of a decent excuse for him staying. Anuriel had said that it would take some time for the house to be furnished and worked on a bit and it would be only natural for someone to stay around and make sure that everything was to their liking, right? As it stood now, the small house right above the canal was not in the best of shapes.

"Hmph. Fine," Bishop grumbled. No fun night at the inn then. "Just make sure to avoid…"

"I know," she interrupted him promptly. As if she needed to be told twice after the last ambush near Lost Knife.

"Don't worry. We'll be back here in no time."

…

Bishop tapped his fingers impatiently while he waited for the contractor to appear.

The contact list said that the man usually conducted his meetings at the Bunkhouse, so Bishop decided to start there and question him about the security upgrades they were going to 'buy' for the new house. Hopefully he could gouge some information about Mercer's mansion that way. And if not, at least he could see the contractor and eventually follow him to his house. He probably had one, unlike his workers who were without a doubt staying at the Bunkhouse for the nights.

Bishop didn't really like this place. The booze was too watered down and the servers… well the 'servers' were too pushy and overeager, always hovering around and throwing him suggestive looks. He rarely found it tempting without the preamble for some reason. There was no chance of being rejected, no effort involved. It was… boring. And kind of annoying. This was not a place to drink alone in peace.

At the very least, Haelga didn't seem to be there. He wasn't sure if she remembered him, but he suspected that she had been harassed for protection money from many more members of the Guild. Alright, so maybe not all of the other members asking her for gold broke some fucking priceless statuette of hers and threatened her with a shard from it pressed to her throat. It wasn't like Bishop wanted to do that though. That was what Mercer expected of him. At least… Bishop had assumed as much back then. Getting away from Thorn's 'teachings' was not easy. He didn't remember Mercer ordering him to do that, he just remembered him wanting Bishop to 'get shit done no matter what'. What else could that mean? That was the kind of thing that it meant in Thorn's gangs.

Fuck, why was he thinking about this shit? He was just glad that Haelga wasn't here. It was better if she didn't see him in case something clicked and she decided to throw him out.

"Can I get you something else?" the young serving girl approached him with a bright warm smile as she leaned on the table with her arms pressing her breasts a bit tighter together in her revealing dress. He hadn't even finished his drink.

"No," Bishop rolled his eyes. Hopefully she would stop bothering him once the contractor finally joined him. Being there alone was not exactly the best option if he wanted to be left alone.

The girl pondered for a while, before the eager smile graced her face again. "Oh. Would you like me to rather call my friend over?" she pointed towards the other server in the room – a young Breton man.

"Also no," Bishop rolled his eyes at her in annoyance once more. He was really glad that Karliah's original plan fell through when he got back together with Aeyrin and that he didn't have to actually drag information from the servers here in their private rooms. They probably knew a lot, sharing their beds with the workers – for actual sleeping and the other stuff too. But Bishop would much rather trail someone in the night than this. That was more Raven's area – Bishop wasn't a very good spy. He never knew how to talk to people to get them to reveal their secrets. He was probably not gonna be very successful in that regard with this contractor either, but that didn't matter. He just needed to find him, make sure that it was him, and then possibly follow him to his house.

The girl turned on her heel with a dejected expression on her face, but the smile returned only a few seconds later as she headed over to another table with two half-drunk Dunmer leering at her.

Finally, after a couple of more minutes, the contractor appeared by Bishop's table. He had just come from upstairs in a very disheveled state – it wasn't hard to tell why the man was spending most of his time here. It certainly wasn't for the drinks or for conversation with his workers. One of the servers emerged from the stairs only a few seconds after the contractor and he promptly grabbed his apron to get back to the other part of his job.

The contractor, a middle-aged Orc, sat down opposite to Bishop and snapped his fingers at the young man who had just gotten back to his shift serving the drinks. It barely took a few seconds before a tankard of mead was placed in front of the man.

"Ogllak Borul," he outstretched his hand towards Bishop until they shook in greeting. "You asked for me?"

"Yeah. I hear you do good security work, traps and locks and such. My…" he paused before he mentioned Aeyrin. There was that weird stray thought, just like back at the market. He really needed to snap out of it. He still didn't really know what to call her though. "My… companion just bought a house here and we want to get some security upgrades in it. You know… just in case. You never know in Riften," he smirked.

The Orc perked up instantly. "Your companion? That wouldn't be the Dragonborn, now, would it? I heard that she's been named thane for some assistance to the Jarl."

That was fast. It only happened a few hours ago.

"She must be pretty well off…" the Orc trailed off with a somewhat greedy expression on his face.

"We want the best and Sibbi Black-Briar referred us to you. But… you don't mind that I won't take his word alone for it, right?" Bishop gave Ogllak a suspicious look. "So, what kind of upgrades do you do?"

"Of course me and my boys are the best!" the Orc scoffed. "We do the work for all the richest folks around here. Every single mansion you find in the city, we outfitted with our standard locks and security. And some have even paid extra for… special protection."

"What kind of 'special protection'?" Bishop raised his brow at him.

"Well… take our last mansion. That was a lot of innovative stuff. Tell, me, how would you get into a mansion. Imagine you're a thief. How do you get in to rob the place?" the Orc smirked confidently.

Mansions? All of their gardens were close to the city wall. Riften had no ramparts, just watchtowers, so there were no patrols on the walls. They were easily scalable. A simple grappling hook would get him into a window or onto the roof. There he could find the best access point with the myriad of windows, balconies and chimneys at his disposal.

But he couldn't really say that, could he? That was too much information and forethought for someone who didn't even live in the city yet and who definitely wasn't a thief.

"Garden, back door?" Bishop shrugged.

"Hah! You'd be dead already, my friend!" Lethal traps? Interesting. "Good thing you're making an honest living. A lot of wannabe thieves end up that way going against our security. Back door is always the first place they go, and we always secure it with several traps at once. Only the owner knows how to pass them safely."

Only the owner… and you.

"The sewer then," Bishop smirked. Not a lot of people secured their sewer access, but since this guy was boasting so much, Bishop suspected that he might have.

"Ha! We block access as a security measure. There's a lever-based blockade that can only be operated from the inside of the houses. So, if you try to get in that way, you end up trapped in sewage with nothing but a thick plate of metal above you," the Orc smirked smugly.

Interesting.

Bishop was likely right about upper floors access being the only way in. Those could have been trapped or blocked off too, but doing that to a chimney was usually too impractical, and the same went for the windows. Maybe on the first floor, so that anyone couldn't get in, but on the second one it was usually not worth the hassle of having to disarm deadly traps every time one wanted to let in some air.

"So… you block off all access?" Bishop gave him a challenging look.

"Of course. We want our clients to be safe. Which one of the houses did you say you bought?" the Orc pondered.

"I didn't. They called it Honeyside or some such. It's right next door," Bishop shrugged.

"Of course. Your house is much smaller than the mansions, but the first thing to do would be to secure the back door and possibly put one or two traps on the porch. You would, of course, always need to disarm them to walk through, but isn't that worth it for some safety?" the Orc chuckled. That sounded tedious. In Bishop's experience, most people didn't do this. Not the traps, maybe secure locks and the blockading mechanisms? If the contractor did shit like that, there must have been something really important in Mercer's house. But the Orc just kept blabbing about how he would turn Honeyside into a deathtrap. That wasn't helpful to him. He needed to know the exact traps and mechanisms used in Mercer's house specifically, but that was impossible to learn through conversation.

"So, wait," Bishop interrupted the Orc. "I get it, you block off access. What if, by some fucking miracle, someone does get in? What then?"

"I assure you, that will not happen," the Orc smirked.

"Right. But if it does?" Bishop raised his brow.

"Well, we can certainly put in some more security measures inside the house. This is usually done only on the areas where one would keep their valuables, not on the living areas. One of the mansions we did recently had a whole basement level secured by our traps."

He was likely talking about Mercer again. Bishop could not imagine anyone else being this paranoid, although who knew in this city, with the Guild right below everyone's feet?

"With your house, I would think that the best place to store valuables would be…" the Orc started talking about Honeyside again. It wasn't what Bishop needed to hear. He would likely get more if he found out where the man lived and looked at his records.

Well now he just needed to make the Orc stop blathering.

…

Night was slowly approaching as Aeyrin and Karnwyr walked the road to Ivarstead.

Karnwyr seemed a little confused why Bishop wasn't with them, but he adjusted quickly. Mostly he seemed ecstatic about being able to run around the Rift forest instead of being cooped up in the city. Come to think of it, maybe it would have been safer to leave him in the forests altogether. Bishop seemed overly confident about Mercer's inability to act in Riften, but that bastard could have had Karnwyr captured anytime, couldn't he? He would have blackmailed them with the wolf's life or… he would just have him killed out of spite. Bishop was too confident in Karliah and their whole plan. It was so unlike him, but it was understandable. He was so preoccupied with seeing the light at the end, that he didn't pay attention to the darkness they were in now.

It was a strange feeling for Aeyrin, being the rational and skeptical one for a change, while he stayed in his hopeful ignorance, but, at least one of them was able to think straight. Hopefully Bishop would be careful during his investigation. Brynjolf said it himself, Mercer was far from helpless.

But she was at least determined to leave Karnwyr in the woods before she returned to Riften. It was the safer bet. And he would get more time to hunt too. The trip to Ivarstead would be a short one. She'd go to the inn, give the message to Lynly and go straight to bed so that she could head out back as early as possible.

The letter… Aeyrin had been thinking about it more and more during her journey.

Was it really right to keep Lynly in the dark about who sent it? After all, it was her decision. And maybe Sibbi would eventually resent her if he left his family for her. Maybe she had a point. Aeyrin certainly would have thought in the same way if she were in Lynly's place.

The idea that love was more important was beautiful, but… it was not always true. Love didn't erase problems. Even though she'd never stopped loving Bishop when they were apart, it didn't magically fix everything that was wrong. She needed to work through the issues before she could even think about being with him more permanently.

And in the same way, love wouldn't fix the problems with Sibbi's family.

Maybe it would be best if she talked to Lynly and tried to encourage her to see Sibbi. They could come up with a plan to approach Maven and sway her or something like that. Surely there was a better way. And if not, then it would be Lynly's choice.

Then again, the gesture from Sibbi was quite sweet.

Oh well, it was probably best to wait and see how things would actually develop when she approached Lynly… or… Svidi.

…

Bishop let out a barely subdued sigh of frustration.

He had managed to get out of the conversation with the Orc contractor and follow him stealthily to a small hover by the canal. When the Orc left for another round of fun at the Bunkhouse a few hours later, Bishop broke into that place. For someone dealing with security, the man had little of it himself. But, then again, there weren't even any valuables in there. It was funny how poorly a man who was hired by rich nobles was doing. He likely worked for someone who procured his contracts. Maybe even Maven? Surely she'd have some workers like this at hand. She may have let Mercer use these people back when they were still cooperating – the dates of when the work was done would suggest as much.

In the small hovel, Bishop found the man's records and he was able to take the blueprints for Mercer's mansion. There were red Xs on the blueprints – undoubtedly the locations of the security mechanism, but there was no indication of the exact nature of the measures. It was still something.

He also found an invoice, detailing payments for each separate room. This, at least, would tell them how secure the individual rooms were, based on the price, but again, nothing too specific unfortunately. There was one note that caught his attention on the invoice though. There was an entry for what was called a 'safe room'. It was in the basement, where most of those red Xs were, and furthermore, there was a small note on the invoice below the entry:

Paid extra to destroy the key.

Well… that was a hitch. Bishop had no doubt that the 'safe' was exactly where those plans that they needed were. And without a key even existing, there would be only one way to get in. The one way that no one but Mercer had – the Skeleton Key.

Hopefully, Karliah would come up with some alternative.

It did not change the fact that Bishop didn't have as much information as he'd hoped about the security measures, and there was not much else to do but to eavesdrop on the workers. It was a slim lead at best but it wasn't as if he had anything better to do with Aeyrin gone.

So he followed two of the Orc's workers around the city covertly, listening in. They had talked shop at times, but he got nothing specific out of that.

Eventually, he ended up scaling the city wall to follow them as they walked through the pathway by the mansions' gardens. It was already dark so hiding on the wall was too easy. There was no light that could illuminate him so high above his targets and the quiet of the night made it easy to overhear their conversation. If only they were saying something useful.

As he shifted on the wall and crawled further north for a while, following along the workers, he noticed two other figures down below. They left the garden of the Black-Briar mansion and leaned on the stone wall surrounding it. Both those men have been murmuring something unintelligible in the garden, but once they spotted the workers, they stopped, waiting for them to pass.

Hmm… they have definitely been discussing something secret.

Bishop got curious instantly. One of the men was dressed in fine frocks and the other one was in a guard uniform. It was clear that the fancy one was a Black-Briar, although from his vantage point, Bishop couldn't tell which one. It hardly mattered though, learning any of their secrets was a good idea. The workers didn't have much to offer anyway and it was more tempting to get some opportune leverage on one of the Black-Briars. One never knew when that could come in handy. Maybe he would even learn something useful about Maven, maybe how to gain her favor. Karliah needed her and her money.

Bishop pricked up his ears and waited for the workers to disappear as well before the two men by the garden started talking once more.

…

Lynly finally got a second to sit down with Aeyrin.

Vilemyr Inn was surprisingly bustling that night – it looked like a large group of pilgrims had made it into Ivarstead. That left Aeyrin little opportunity to talk to Lynly, but after a while, Wilhelm agreed to take over serving the pilgrims for some time so that they could deal with their business.

"Finally. Tonight has been crazy," Lynly chuckled as she slumped down into the chair beside Aeyrin. "It's good to see you again, even so soon."

Aeyrin and Bishop had been in Ivarstead only a day or so ago, true, right before they set off to Riften.

"I actually came to see you. I have something for you that I was asked to deliver," Aeyrin smiled at her kindly, but suddenly, Lynly's eyes went wide in horror. That was an odd reaction.

"You… deliver… I… Listen to me, please, please, listen," Lynly's eyes suddenly filled with tears and she gave her a desperate pleading look. "I know that you're a good person… I'm sure he spun a tale, I'm sure he lied to you. I didn't do anything wrong, I swear, please you have to believe me!"

"What? Lynly, what are you talking about? What's going on?" Aeyrin gaped at her in shock. That was a very strange reaction for a simple mention of a delivery.

"A day ago you told me that you were going to Riften! And then you come here with a 'delivery', just after I get a message that he's out of prison?! Whatever he told you, he's lying! Please, don't hurt me!" Lynly hugged her arms over her body and let out a shuddery breath as she tried to blink back her tears. She had obviously been on edge for a while now and it seemed to have just… bubbled up on the surface.

"'Hurt you'?" Aeyrin still stared at her slack-jawed. None of this made any sense, but she was surely talking about Sibbi – the mention of the prison made it all too clear. "Lynly, Sibbi just sent me to give you his letter. To convince you to meet with him so that you two can work things out."

"Oh, he wants to 'work things out' alright. I'm sure everything will work out nicely for him once I'm dead!" Lynly's tears ran down her cheeks freely now.

'Dead'?

"He didn't… I… You know what, why don't you tell me what happened between you? Why do you think that he wants you dead?" Aeyrin let out a sigh. Maybe she was too naïve to believe Sibbi's sob story.

"I… Sibbi and I… we were together… two years ago. He was so sweet and charming and… well… rich," Lynly scoffed at herself, as if she had just realized what a mistake it was to consider it a desirable quality. "He was a man who could do whatever he wanted and get away with it. And he did. Often. Whatever he wanted… whoever he wanted. One day, I got fed up with it. I didn't want to be just one of his toys and I wanted someone I'd actually be enough for. But… Sibbi always got what he wanted. And he couldn't stand something being taken away. He beat me and threatened me so that I wouldn't leave him. But… my brother found out when he saw me and… he wanted to teach Sibbi not to mess with me," Lynly shook her head regretfully. It was obvious that this did not end well.

"Well… my brother was killed… and I ran. I changed my name and hoped that Sibbi would just be satisfied with his revenge after taking my brother's life. He was, I think… his bruised ego was consoled for a time. But… see, I have a friend in Riften who still keeps me up to date, in case I need to run away again. She told me a month ago that my brother's remains were found and that Sibbi hasn't actually been very careful about erasing any trails. Nobody convicted him, but the rumors spread. Maven wants to be feared but most of all, she wants to be known as a sensible businesswoman. She doesn't kill people that can be of use to her. When the rumors spread that her son went off the chain, killing someone out of revenge or something similarly petty… it sent the wrong message. So Maven had him imprisoned herself to gain back goodwill and to punish him. And… a few hours ago, a letter from my friend arrived, saying that he was out. And now you come from Riften with a 'delivery' and I… I…" Lynly shook her head desperately.

"Oh Gods… that bastard! He tricked me!" Aeyrin gasped at her. "Lynly, I… I am so sorry. He gave me some sob story, about how you two were being kept apart by Maven, how he wanted you back…"

"Ah… I assumed he went the other way… made up something awful about me so that you'd kill me… but… I guess it doesn't matter. May I?" Lynly pointed to the letter that Aeyrin had been clutching in her hand the entire time. She broke the seal and read through the words before she let out a derisive scoff as she handed the letter back to Aeyrin.

.

Svidi,

Sibbi knows where you are. You need to leave. I will help you, but you must not let anyone know where you are going. I sent the letter with the Dragonborn so that nobody can stand a chance of ambushing her and getting away with the letter and learning of this. Act normal, is if nothing is happening and meet me by the large cavern on the isle in Lake Geir near the bridge to Ivarstead on the 10th of Hearthfire. Say nothing to anyone, including the Dragonborn. I will get you out of Skyrim safely, I promise. I have a plan.

A friend

.

"The funny thing is… I would have probably believed that letter, were it not for my friend and for the fact that you delivered it, since I knew you had just been in Riften," Lynly scoffed.

This was definitely proof enough that Lynly was the one telling the truth.

"Does he?" Lynly's eyes glittered sadly when she looked up at Aeyrin again.

"'Does he' what?"

"Know where I am."

"Oh… uh… yes. I'm sorry," Aeyrin shook her head regretfully. She had told Sibbi where Lynly was instantly, but how was she supposed to know? "Lynly, listen, I… I will make this right. I don't know how, but… I'm sure I can figure out how to make Sibbi leave you alone," she nodded at Lynly reassuringly. Maybe if she talked to Maven? She certainly seemed to disapprove of her son's plans. And Aeyrin was in her good graces now, right?

"But what if he comes for me?" Lynly placed her hand over her mouth and sobbed into it.

"He wanted to meet you in a secluded place. He obviously cannot kill you here. And… Maven can't know about this. It… can't be public. You should be safe here, just… make sure to stay surrounded by people when you can. I will go back to Riften right in the morning and I will figure something out, I promise."

She needed to help her.

This was her fault, even if she couldn't have known, she still put Lynly in danger.

She needed to make things right.

…

"Are they gone? Good. Anyway, as I was saying, I can't wait to finally get my hands on that whore and make her suffer. Can you believe that mother has actually cut me off because of that slut?!" the Black-Briar scoffed hatefully when he was certain that everyone else was out of earshot.

Idiot.

"My little dragon messenger better hurry. I need some good news already after the fucking month I've had," the man growled.

Ah! Sibbi.

Of course, he tricked Aeyrin, it was too much to hope that a spoiled noble brat would ever be honest and sincere. Tough luck, Sibbi. Whatever he wanted with Lynly, he would not get now. Bishop could just head over to Ivarstead right away and make sure that Lynly knew about whatever scheme there was. Good thing that those workers had been so boring that he decided to listen in on Sibbi instead. This was much more useful, even if it had nothing to do with Karliah's mission.

"What if she finds out, my lord? What if she tells your lady mother?" the guard noted with a worried tone in his voice.

"Not to worry, my good man. I'm sure that the Dragonborn will have much more important problems to deal with than some dead whore in a backwater village," Sibbi chuckled maliciously.

What the fuck was that supposed to mean? What more important problems? Bishop leaned in slightly, although he could hear them perfectly well – it was mostly instinct. Luckily he couldn't be seen up on that wall. He only had two invisibility potions left after following those useless workers all evening.

"My lord?" the house-guard asked Sibbi uncertainly. He sounded just as confused as Bishop by that proclamation.

"I just need her to confirm that she has delivered the letter. Then… then the real fun begins," Sibbi chuckled. "I almost didn't want to send her away, but she was the perfect opportunity to lure that whore Svidi out. She's so trustworthy – a fucking hero," he scoffed. "Well… not for long. I will not be dependent on my mother like this. I will not have her take everything away whenever I 'displease' her. No… I know of a perfect way to gain some contingency funds, just for me."

'Contingency funds'? Was he talking about…

"My lord, the bounty? But your lady mother has explicitly forbidden everyone from…" the guard scowled, but he was promptly interrupted by Sibbi again.

"She doesn't need to know, does she? And you won't tell her, will you?" Sibbi smirked, and there was a decidedly threatening undertone in his voice. Even when he trusted this man enough to divulge his plans to him, it looked like Sibbi still needed to resort to threats to reassure himself. "Why would you? When you know what I can do. You see, once our illustrious hero gets back and I'm sure that the whore will be at the meeting, I will call on some old… family acquaintances. I am sure that the Brotherhood will know how to deal with some upstart adventurer, despite that stupid dragon Voice or whatever shit that is."

Fuck… what?! The 'Brotherhood'?!

"But… my lord, I thought that you wanted the money. W-wouldn't their services be… expensive?" the guard stammered. It was obvious that the mention of the Brotherhood alone got him incredibly rattled. Bishop could hardly blame him though. He was feeling pretty rattled himself.

"Apparently, they owe my family a few favors for some funding. I will just collect on one of those, simple as that. Then I can get the money from that lowlife in the Ratway while my mother is none the wiser," Sibbi's pleased tone was seeping into his voice unnervingly.

"I… see, my… my lord. Very… very clever," the man was still obviously uncomfortable. Why did Sibbi even confide in this man? Maybe he just wanted to boast about his schemes. He sounded so fucking pleased with himself.

"Naturally," Sibbi smirked. "Now run along. I need to get going before the bardess at the Bee goes back to her room. That sand-slut better put out already. I have already invested enough of my energy into her, it's about fucking time I get something in return," he scoffed disdainfully and Bishop saw the guard retreat back into the garden of the Black-Briars' mansion and towards the back door.

Fuck, what now?

Sibbi was dangerous. Was he really going to contact the Dark Brotherhood to kill Aeyrin?! Wouldn't Maven find out? It sounded like he was on thin ice with her already – she could even disinherit him for something like that. But did it even fucking matter? Short-sighted or not, he was gonna try. He'd made that perfectly clear. They couldn't have the fucking Brotherhood after them! They couldn't protect themselves from fucking assassins, could they?

Bishop needed to do something. He needed to stop this!

Sibbi said that he would call on the Brotherhood when Aeyrin returned, but what if she didn't? Would he abandon this plan until he got his meeting with Lynly? That seemed unlikely. He would just get another errand-person to drag Lynly out of Ivarstead and he would likely call on the Brotherhood anyway- The simple solution of Aeyrin not returning to Riften would have been pointless.

No.

Something else needed to be done and quickly.

Sibbi was going against his family, against everyone. Nobody would enact his plan in his stead.

Sibbi just needed to die.

A familiar feeling washed over Bishop. It was just like that night in Whiterun – darkness, nobody in sight, nobody within earshot. And his target was right within his reach. Sibbi was slowly walking the empty path and he would turn towards the city streets any time now. It was now or never. This one moment – this perfect opportunity.

He had to take precautions.

Bishop gulped down the invisibility potion, just in case, and he was down on the ground within a second. He could not be heard – he still had that muffling ring from Delphine. It took only a second before he appeared behind Sibbi's back.

Lights out, in all three adjacent manors. This part of the path was dark – there were no torches and lanterns here and watchtowers were too far. No one was there.

Perfect.

Sibbi didn't make a sound. Bishop's hand muffled his mouth and the next thing he heard was the very familiar gurgle as the blood gushed over the black armor on his arm. It wouldn't even be visible this time – the dark leather would hide it all.

Bishop looked around once more for good measure, but no one was there. But then, he noticed something.

Something even more perfect.

He was standing with the limp bloody corpse right by the gate into Mercer's garden.

He didn't have to care about the blood on the path, he didn't have to worry about people finding the body – not if they found it in the right place.

Maven knew that Mercer was a vengeful bastard.

And she needed a little kick to lend Karliah a helping hand anyway.

He just needed to make it believable. He needed to bury the body. If he did it in his armor, just inside the garden, he could just take it off after and no one would be able to see any dirt and grime from the process. He already knew that there were no traps and no security measures in the garden, thanks to the blueprints he had stolen, and a guard was nowhere to be seen before from his vantage point on the wall. He would bury the body behind the walls of the garden quietly, carefully – it was dark enough, he just had to make sure that no one would hear him.

Everything would be fine.

He would head out of the city right after to catch Aeyrin on the way, to make sure to talk to her before she would have returned to Riften. There would be no more mistakes this time. He would tell her everything. She would understand. This was her life they were talking about and she wasn't stupid – she knew that they needed to do everything possible to keep the fucking Dark Brotherhood off their backs. That was one threat he knew nothing about. One threat he would never be confident in knowing how to defeat. They were legendary, the name spoken in hushed fearful whispers only. He didn't know how capable the assassins were, but going by the rumors alone, they were like armed shadows, striking without ever being seen. It was surely an exaggeration, but who in their right mind would rely on that? He knew what some people were capable of – what he was capable of. What the bandits and thieves could do. And yet the Brotherhood had always been spoken of in awe by all of them. He was not going to take a chance on this one. He was going to do everything to stop them from targeting Aeyrin.

This was the right thing to do, without a doubt. That Black-Briar fucker deserved nothing less. And neither did Mercer.

And besides, what was better than killing two birds with one stone?