Chapter LXXVII – Preparations

Bishop and Aeyrin spent the next two days in blissful idleness.

Their stay in Solitude had been surprisingly calm – no assassins, no looming imminent dangers, no dragons. Aside from their adventure in the catacombs, they haven't even seen any combat. It was quite relaxing for a change.

They probably should have been more on edge in the large city. It was not as if the Brotherhood couldn't strike there. They were obviously determined to drag Bishop somewhere for some reason. They still didn't really know what the Brotherhood wanted from him. Why would they want to still recruit someone who had given them so much trouble? Did they have to force all of their members to join this way?

Despite the looming concerns, however, Aeyrin and Bishop did everything to distract themselves and to actually enjoy their time in Solitude just like they had planned. And for now, they have been quite successful. But that could change any minute.

Especially since the day of the ball had come.

Neither of them was very excited about that prospect. And Aeyrin was even less excited since she had spent some time with that Gisli woman. But they hoped that they could just pass the time there together, distracting each other from the snooping and snobby nobles. Azshan would get his wish and arrive with Aeyrin at his side and hopefully that would be enough for him.

He had already sent them instructions for the day – he asked to meet at that Radiant Raiment store again only two hours after noon. That could mean only one thing – the preparations were going to take way too long. The ball would start in the evening for sure.

Aeyrin already knew what it could all entail. It took so long last time and it would surely be even worse now with the tailored dress. She had heard about people being sawn into a dress before. Was that a real thing? Was someone going to do that to her?

Bishop decided to go with her to the meeting. He could just pick up his clothes right then and there, hopefully, and then meet up with Aeyrin once she was done with the preparations. It took so long last time – there was no reason for him to wait around the shop for her again when he could be doing anything else.

She would have to suffer through that torment alone anyway. She knew what she was getting into when she had agreed to accompany Azshan.

When they made their way to the shop once more, Azshan and Gisli were already waiting there again. Gisli looked as excited about their presence as ever and Aeyrin could already tell that this was going to be torture. She was undoubtedly going to be going through the preparations alongside that woman too.

Or maybe this part would be done separately? She could only hope.

"Hey, there you are," Azshan beamed at them when they approached. "Excited for tonight?"

"No," Bishop rolled his eyes without hesitation while Aeyrin just shrugged nervously. Why pretend? Azshan knew from the start that they weren't exactly thrilled about the ball.

Azshan's response was a brief hearty chuckle before he gave them a reassuring smile. "Don't worry. It's gonna be fun, I'm sure of it."

Bishop only rolled his eyes again while Aeyrin nodded at Azshan with a wry smile. She wasn't so sure about that, but at least Bishop was going. She just hoped that Azshan wouldn't actually want to parade her around the nobles.

"We're here really early," she gave him an uncomfortable look a second later. Were the preparations really going to take this long?

"Of course. There's a lot to do," Azshan smirked. "It's gonna take some time, but it's gonna be worth it."

"Can I just get my clothes already?" Bishop sighed. He felt kind of bad for Aeyrin being stuck in those preparations for the whole day, but it looked like there was no getting out of it.

"Not yet," Azshan shook his head. "Clothes are one of the last things on the schedule. Don't worry. We'll get to it."

Well, it didn't matter to him when he got the clothes. It was not like he was going to dress into some fancy frock right now anyway. Those clothes were always so uncomfortable. The less time he spent in them, the better.

"Fine. I'll come by later," he nodded before he turned to Aeyrin with a hint of a malicious smirk on his face. "Have 'fun', sweetness." He bent down to give her a brief kiss before he would leave. She was practically staring daggers at him, but he couldn't blame her. He wouldn't want to be stuck in there either.

"What? Where do you think you're going?" Azshan raised his brow at him. "I just said that it's gonna take time."

"So? Why do I need to be there? I'll just get my clothes later," Bishop scowled. He did not like what Azshan was implying. He got that the women were supposed to do some shit with their hair and some makeup and stuff that took time, but what would he be there for?

"Are you serious?" Azshan chuckled. "You don't just throw expensive clothes on and be done with it."

Bishop's scowl didn't waver for a second while Aeyrin couldn't help but snicker as subtly as she could. He was getting cocky about going his own way while she had to suffer through this process. Now he was going to have to suffer through one of his own. She couldn't really imagine Bishop letting anyone hover around him and mess with his hair and Gods knew what else. She already knew that he was going to be difficult about this.

"What? That's exactly what I'm gonna do. What else is there? It's just a stupid ball," Bishop growled at Azshan.

"Look, we need to get going," Azshan sighed. "It's fine. It's just the regular preparations. It's not like they're going to peel your face off or something," he chuckled.

"Yes, those procedures take much more time than we have with you all constantly yapping away," Gisli scoffed at them in annoyance.

Aeyrin instantly cringed at the sentence. It wasn't as much the woman's attitude as it was the implication of the… face peeling? Was that something that was actually done? She couldn't even imagine what it was. Well, she hoped so anyway. Because the thing that she was imagining was really bad.

"Right. No dawdling," Azshan grinned. "Let's go already."

…

They were led into the familiar store, but this time, they continued into the corridors and up the stairs to the second floor. Just as the last time, when they entered one of the rooms there, furnished with a couple of washbasins, vanities, mirrors and closets, Azshan and one of the Altmer women dragged Bishop into a second almost identical room, leaving Aeyrin alone with Gisli.

She couldn't have been thrilled about that for sure. She had complained about that woman to Bishop plenty enough after the fitting. And he couldn't blame her. Spending any time with that sour face must have been trying. At least Azshan was kind of tolerable.

But this was definitely going to be a pain in the ass, no matter who with.

Bishop and Azshan were ushered by Endarie into two chairs in front of some vanities and told to wait again. It was weird. Everything about these fucking preparations was weird. Why did it take so long to just get some clothes and shit? Why did everything have to be such a mind-numbingly tiresome process? Was this what nobles did all the time? Just spend their days waiting here and there for someone to fuss over them? It was so stupid.

But at least this time they weren't left waiting for long. Endarie came back soon enough with more wine and treats – apparently that couldn't be omitted from the process. And a minute later, she began bringing things over from the cupboards to place them on the vanities. So many vials and small bottles of some lotions probably and stuff like that.

Who needed all this crap? What was it all even for?

When Endarie was done placing all the items on the vanities, she promptly took one of the bottles that had something weird and brown inside and opened it, dripping a few dubious-looking globs of the substance inside on her hand.

Before Bishop managed to identify the strange mixture, which looked kind of like mud but somehow more dirty, she slapped her coated hand against Azshan's cheek and started to slather that thing on his face.

"What the fuck is that?!" Bishop's eyes went wide at that. Was having some weird shit on your face some kind of insane fashion trend now?

Azshan only snickered at him in amusement while Endarie rolled her eyes before answering: "It's a muck mask, sir. It's good for the skin."

"You're going to wear that shit on your face?" Bishop gaped at Azshan. Even if Endarie was right, who in their right mind would do that?

Azshan instantly burst out laughing at that before Endarie cupped his face in her hands to steady him. If he went on like that he would shake that shit off his face in no time.

"I am going to wash it off after a while, of course," Endarie sighed in exasperation.

She was going to wash that off? What the fuck was the point then? Nobles did such weird shit for no reason.

Bishop watched with her plaster the muck on Azshan's face with a palpably disturbed look on his own. Azshan seemed pretty content with letting her do that. How was this something that anyone would ever enjoy?

"You actually pay for this crap?" Bishop smirked at him. He wondered just how much having shit slathered on your face would cost.

"'S good f'r you," Azshan mumbled the words a little as he tried not to move his face too much. By then, almost his entire mug was covered with that stuff.

"Is it?" Bishop scoffed. He seriously doubted that. It was probably just a trick to get more money out of the naïve nobles and fops. But if it worked… it was pretty clever of Endarie.

When she was done, much to Bishop's horror, she focused his attention on him and moved to approach with one of her hands still filthy and the vial in her other one.

"No! You are not putting that shit on me," he scrunched up his face. Azshan could eat up this crap about it being 'good for you' as much as he liked, but Bishop wasn't buying it. And he was not going to let them do whatever they wanted with him just because it was paid for by Azshan.

"You sure?" Azshan's face jerked a bit as if he wanted to look at Bishop, but he stopped himself soon enough to protect his weird mask.

"Yes, I'm fucking sure. Get away from me with that stuff," Bishop growled at Endarie.

She merely gave him another exasperated sigh before she placed the vial down and headed towards one of the washbasins to clean her hand.

Good, Bishop was worried that they would make more of a hassle about this. Though Endarie looked at him even more unpleasantly now.

Oh well, it was not as if he cared about that. He just wanted to get this shit over with.

…

Aeyrin watched Taarie work with a little bit of fascination.

She had never seen anything like this. Even back at the temple the healers didn't even have half as many salves and poultices as this woman was using. All those lotions and masks. Aeyrin was pretty sure that none of this did anything at all. She wasn't very good at alchemy, but she did know which ingredients were generally used in healing techniques. So when the woman kept claiming that some of these things would 'rejuvenate' the skin, she had her doubts.

Then again, none of it sounded harmful. That would hardly be profitable for the woman. And nobody mentioned anything about 'peeling someone's face off' anymore, so it was probably fine to let Taarie do her thing. It was uncomfortable, sometimes unpleasant, but Aeyrin felt even more uncomfortable refusing. The room was already tense with Gisli constantly throwing grouchy looks at her. She didn't want to make a scene or listen to more scoffs. It was a small price to pay.

It was just for today. After the ball was over with, she wouldn't have to think about judgmental nobles again.

She should really concentrate on something else. She should think about something to look forward to.

Like what would happen right after the ball. She was pretty sure that whatever she was going to be dressed in now, Bishop won't be able to keep himself from tearing it off her the first chance he got. The last 'afterparty' was certainly memorable.

She could instantly feel blush spreading on her cheeks at the recollections. That probably wasn't the best thing to reminisce about right there and then.

Fortunately, Taarie interrupted that line of thought soon enough as she unraveled the new ribbon from Aeyrin's hair and raked her hand through her strands briefly.

"Who did this to your hair, dear?" she scowled while Aeyrin saw her in the mirror, staring intently at the ends of her hair.

"What?" It took a while for Aeyrin to understand what the Altmer meant. She probably hadn't cut her hair very straight. Not that she ever had. She knew that rich people cared about things like that – there was a place specifically established for the purposes of getting one's hair cut straight in the Imperial City. But it certainly didn't matter to her in the least. "Oh…" she sighed. She was already bracing herself for the derisive scoffs. "It… got burned in battle. I had to cut it off."

Surprisingly enough, Taarie didn't even give her a strange look. In fact, there was a small unexpected smile on her face. That was refreshing. No chastising about 'looking like a vagrant' or anything like that?

Gisli, on the other hand, did not disappoint with her pointed scoff of derision and prompt roll of her eyes. That woman was more and more annoying by the second.

"Don't worry, we'll fix that up a bit," Taarie's smile turned reassuring as she raked her hand through Aeyrin's hair again. She looked so stern. Who knew that she could actually be nice?

"If I were you, I'd be more concerned about that thing," Gisli smirked meanly and gestured towards the side of Aeyrin's face. It took her a while before she realized that Taarie had uncovered her mangled ear. She had gotten much more used to it lately, but this still stung. "There's no fixing that."

Aeyrin's hand quickly shut upwards and she fluffed her hair back to hide the ear as fast as she could. She didn't know why it bothered her. It shouldn't have. Not from some noble hag that she didn't even care about at all. She really cared about two things. Whether it still made her remember Thorn and whether it put Bishop off. Most of the times the answer to these was 'no'. So why did it still make the back of her neck burn and a knot to form in her throat? She couldn't help herself.

Her face burned and she shrunk in her chair without a word. It was best not to say anything, right? What would she even say? It wasn't as if that horrible woman wasn't right.

"It won't be nearly as difficult to 'fix' as the thing I am most concerned about," Taarie scowled at Gisli before the uncomfortable silence got unbearable. "I'm worried that I won't be able to get most of that makeup off your face so that I can actually use something more presentable on you, lady Gisli. Did you use some kind of barbarian war paint for it?" Her smile turned incredibly smug within a minute and she punctuated her point with a scoff.

Both Aeyrin's and Gisli's eyes widened at her words. Gisli went almost slack-jawed. And Aeyrin really didn't expect the Altmer to talk to the noblewoman this way.

"Excuse me? This is how you talk to your customers, lady Taarie?" Gisli scoffed when she riled herself from her shock.

"Sir Azshan is our customer, lady Gisli. You are his guest, as is the lady Dragonborn. You haven't been an actual paying customer for almost a year now, if I recall correctly," Taarie smirked at her again.

Aeyrin raised her brows at the mirror. It sounded like Gisli was down on her luck in the nobility circles, but Aeyrin didn't care about that in the slightest. What was interesting was the fact that Azshan was paying for all of this. It must have been insanely expensive. Just how much did the paladins actually get paid? Casavir had explained that the Order could afford much with the donations from the nobles, but she still thought that most of that went to the church. Spending money for four tailored outfits and all these… procedures – that must have cost so much. How was he able to afford it for just some appearance at the ball?

"I would advise you to watch what you say, lady Taarie," Gisli scowled fiercely. "Soon I won't be only a 'guest' to anyone and I will think hard whether I will ever want to be a customer here again."

Taarie didn't retort this time, but she did roll her eyes into the mirror at Gisli's words.

There was another moment of uncomfortable silence before the Altmer focused on Aeyrin again and shot a reassuring smile at her reflection.

"You are going to look marvelous, dear," she nodded resolutely, as if she was trying to dispel Aeyrin's worries like that. It was really refreshing to not be constantly berated about her looks and behavior in this place. She had expected the Altmer to be just like the last woman who had prepared her for the ball. Or just like Gisli.

Maybe she could actually for once get through this without coming out riddled with nothing but insecurities.

…

They've been there for at least an hour now. Maybe even more. Time was funny when Bishop was this bored.

It was always the same. Endarie picked up more of her strange mixtures and slathered them onto Azshan. Bishop had given up on asking what they were after the second one. He didn't really care. He refused them all adamantly.

So, just as he had predicted, this was completely pointless. He was just sitting there, waiting, while Azshan let the woman apply some shit to his face and then waiting again until it 'took effect' so that it could be washed off. This was a fucking racket.

And he was bored out of his skull.

Most of the time, Azshan couldn't even talk properly. And Endarie was just throwing him disgruntled looks. He couldn't imagine a worse way to spend the time.

And how fucking longer would this take? How many of those bottles was she going to open and plaster on his face?

After a long while, Endarie finally started to move most of the vials to the side of the vanity and, judging from the fact that she didn't open another one, she was finally done with them. Bishop was only dreading what would come next.

And he was right to be worried. She went back to one of the cupboards and promptly returned with another flask and a shaving blade in her hand.

Seriously?

This time, she didn't approach Azshan but looked pointedly at Bishop. She likely wanted to get the rejection out of the way first.

"No fucking way," Bishop growled. He really didn't even need to think about this one. Not that he needed to think about any of the rejections before.

"Come on! You can't have a problem with this," Azshan shook his head at him, but there was still a highly amused grin on his face.

"I would have shaved myself if I wanted to. Not that I do," Bishop scowled. "And nobody comes anywhere near my neck with a fucking blade." He was not an idiot. One could never be too careful about shit like this. For all he knew, this Endarie could have been another one of those insane assassins. He could never be sure of that – they could be anywhere. And even if she wasn't, he would never let anyone he didn't fully trust near him with anything sharp. He would never expose himself like that.

The nobles were really stupid if they did this voluntarily. One of these days, there was going to be someone grooming them who got tired of their shit and just slit their throat to shut them up.

"She's not going to slit your throat with it," Azshan chuckled at him heartily.

"How the fuck would you know?" Bishop growled in response. Endarie instantly let out an indignant scoff, but what did he care? His concerns were still valid.

"You are really paranoid," Azshan only shook his head in response with that amused smile still on his face.

Was he? Just paranoid?

Well, maybe he was. But he would definitely rather be paranoid than wrong about trusting someone. Besides, he didn't want to get shaved anyway so there was no point in thinking about that. And Aeyrin always loved his stubble. He couldn't do that to her.

"Fine. Look like a vagrant. I don't care," Endarie scoffed at him before she approached Azshan with the blade.

"Me neither," Bishop rolled his eyes. He didn't want to do any of this shit. Fuck, why didn't they refuse going to that stupid ball?

He really just wanted to get this over with.

…

Aeyrin still couldn't stop staring at the dress in the mirror while Taarie continued to fuss with it.

She was already dressed in it and now the Altmer was just making some finishing touches – it mostly consisted of incessant scrutiny and a lot of touching of the fabric on Aeyrin's skin. She didn't shy away as much as she normally would though. She was still busy looking at the dress in the mirror.

She had never worn anything so beautiful. She loved the dress last year and she loved how her clothes and her armor looked too, but… this was something else.

The dress was light grey and woven with a myriad of vertical silver threads of various lengths. It almost looked like subtle shimmering rain contained on the fabric of the gown. It glinted with each movement and blended beautifully into a shiny grey color when she was still. The hems were lined with black silk bands with another one around her waist, ending in a fluffy black bow in the back.

The cut was much more daring than she had expected. It wasn't exactly indecent, but judging from all the corsets and stockings and Gods-knew-what-else the noblewomen usually wore, she definitely expected something that would… cover more. Her cleavage wasn't very deep, but it definitely showed off her curves. More revealing was her open back, cut almost all the way to the ribbon around her waist and holding the strapless dress on her torso only by thin silvery strings. There was also a slit in the skirt by her right leg, going all the way up to her upper thigh. The skirt was fortunately tight enough that it didn't expose anything more than the side of her leg, but it was still more revealing than she would have thought. Now she understood what Taarie had been mumbling about not putting the slit on her left leg where Aeyrin's scars were.

To Aeyrin's relief, however, she wasn't made to wear any stockings or corsets to hide some imperfections on her skin or figure. Taarie seemed satisfied with her as she was. It was very encouraging. This time she didn't actually feel self-conscious about herself. She only felt nervous about entering that den of nobles again, but those worries could wait. Right now she was concentrated on how she looked. And she couldn't stop thinking about Bishop's reaction.

She didn't even get told to remove her necklaces. She did remove the amulet of Stendarr on her own volition, even though she felt a bit bad about doing that out of vanity alone. It did clash with the dress a bit. But Bishop's ring around her neck looked perfect with that outfit. And she got some beautiful silver bracelets and clip-on earrings to complement the whole thing and her neat updo as well.

She had to wear high heels again, of course, but she would survive that for the night. She was counting on it anyway. She just dreaded the looks and scoffs from Gisli when she would inevitably start wobbling when she walked. But it was best not to think about that now.

Aeyrin brushed the intentionally loose hair from her neat updo behind her ear, decorated prominently not only with the long silver earring dangling from her lobe, but also by another one, a beautiful ornament clipped to the edge of the mangled ear. Aeyrin wasn't sure if it was supposed to divert attention from the missing tip or to draw it, but she had decided not to think about that too much. The ornament was pretty – that was the right thing to focus on.

"You really made this in just a few days?" Aeyrin gaped at Taarie incredulously. She had no idea how long it could take to sew such a thing. It certainly sounded impressive.

"Yes. This and a couple of more dresses. For those who could afford our services," Taarie nodded at her with a proud smile on her face.

"Don't sound so impressed," Gisli scoffed before Aeyrin could react. "They don't sew the dresses alone. They have underlings." She was still standing in the middle of the room undressed to her underclothes. Although now she was wearing a thin skirt below her corset as well, likely to wear under the actual dress. Why? It didn't make sense.

Aeyrin thought about what Gisli had just said. Well… that made sense. Still, they had to make up how all those dresses would look like, right? That was impressive on its own. Especially when they turned out this beautiful.

"Me and my sister design the clothes and help our seamstresses with the more difficult parts of the sewing," Taarie let out an exasperated sigh as she was forced to explain.

"I've never even seen anything so beautiful," Aeyrin smiled back at her. Hopefully that would reassure her how much her work meant – help or no help. Gisli's scoff echoed through the room again, but those were starting to carry less and less weight with each one.

"This was my favorite one to design in years," Taarie gave Aeyrin a fond smile in return.

That was strange. Surely this shop had hundreds of dresses to make throughout the year. Why was hers special? It suddenly made Aeyrin bashful.

"Really? F-for me? Why?" she gave Taarie an uncertain expression. She really hoped that it was not another attempt to pander to the Dragonborn.

"Every year, every single woman that comes here demands a dress that would look fashionable that year. They all follow the same trends, the same designs. I never get to be creative. And I never get to work around an actual body, as opposed to corset molds." Taarie rolled her eyes at Gisli pointedly. "The bards from the College are a welcome reprieve, when they can afford our services. They appreciate creativity. But they never ask for evening gowns."

That was kind of sad. This shop was undoubtedly very highly esteemed – the Altmer sisters were so successful. Yet they would probably be happier if they were designing in a smaller city, making things to their liking.

"That's a shame when you can come up with something like this," Aeyrin sighed.

"Indeed," Taarie nodded. "People get dreadfully boring when they try to fit in. The unconventional becomes endearing quickly." She smiled warmly and brushed Aeyrin's loose lock behind her cut off ear pointedly before she returned to fussing over the dress. "And Sir Azshan instructed me to create something eye-catching for you."

Aeyrin couldn't help but smile in return, even though Gisli was just staring daggers at them. Who cared about that woman anyway? She had no doubts that Azshan just wanted attention on her to make sure that everyone knew whom he had brought to the ball, but still… she couldn't argue with the results.

"You should take off your undergarments," Taarie suddenly noted with an idle tone in her voice.

Aeyrin's brows shot up instantly. That was certainly unexpected just then, but then she recalled that the last time she went to the ball she got some new ones too – even though nobody could see that. Well… Bishop did, but that wasn't the point.

"Oh. You have some new ones for me?" Aeyrin asked before she committed to doing anything. It was free. Technically. She chose not to think too much about all the things that Azshan was paying for by now.

"No, I mean remove them," Taarie shook her head. "The dress is tight around your hips, the hems underneath are visible. It mars the perfection."

Aeyrin's face turned bright red while Gisli let out an incredulous scoff. Did Taarie really just tell her to go completely naked under the dress? Aeyrin instantly looked down on the slit on her leg and she began twisting on the spot. Well… granted, it wasn't going to be noticeable in any way. But it still seemed a little too daring for something so trivial as some creases from the seams below.

Gods, Bishop would just love that.

No, she shouldn't think about that. She would be nervous and uncomfortable all night, right? It was a bad idea. What if she fell on her heels and the dress rode up her hips? That would be mortifying.

Although it was too tight around her hips to ride up like that.

No, she really shouldn't. Why would she even want to?

She shook her head a little in response and Taarie instantly threw her a disappointed look.

Dammit, that made Aeyrin feel guilty. The woman just wanted to perfect every little detail of her favorite creation. And it was definitely 'unconventional'. And maybe kind of… exciting? She couldn't help it. She felt much more reassured and invigorated today than she had a year ago. She wasn't sure if it was Taarie's attitude, the dress, or just the fact that she knew that the ball wouldn't just be fraught with awkwardness and unpleasantness when Bishop would be there with her. He could always distract her from anything that bothered her.

And she really wanted to do this just to spite Gisli's sour face. That woman looked so horrified at the impertinence of this all.

"Fine," Aeyrin murmured curtly almost silently.

The smile on Taarie's face and the scowl on Gisli's almost made the embarrassment of the moment worth it.

…

Bishop tugged on the collar of his new shirt with an uncomfortable groan.

It was too tight. Why the fuck were all these noble clothes so tight? He quickly started to tangle with the strings near the neck to open the collar up a bit more. At least that would make it less suffocating.

He was dressed in a black tight shirt, grey leather trousers and a grey vest with silver hems and details. He had to admit that it didn't look as bad as he had feared. He was worried that it was going to be some over the top shit plastered with colors and embroideries, like Azshan's red and gold doublet was. Fortunately his clothes were much simpler and darker. Endarie mentioned that Azshan had given her a general idea for the design. Bishop was just grateful that he didn't think it would be funny to have Bishop dressed in something ridiculous.

Well… it was still ridiculous, just a little less than he had originally thought.

Fortunately he was all done now. He had adamantly refused anything that Endarie had done – all those weird masks and shit, the shaving, and he definitely refused her messing with his hair. She had already resigned herself to that fact. She didn't even try to convince him, but Azshan was continuously more and more amused by Bishop's behavior.

Whatever. He was just glad that this shit was done. It must have been dusk already now. The light coming through the window was a telling pinkish hue.

Endarie was still messing with Azshan's outfit, but Bishop didn't want to linger there any longer. Hopefully Aeyrin was done by now.

Without a word, he left the room and headed back into the other one.

He vaguely registered Endarie calling out to him, but he ignored her adamantly. He just wanted to be out of there. He entered the first room, only to find Gisli and the other Altmer woman there. Gisli instantly yelped in shock. She was only halfway dressed in her red gown and she promptly covered her chest with her hands.

What the fuck was she even covering? She was stuffed in some corset. It was not as if there was anything to be seen. And it was not as if Bishop would care even if there was. Aeyrin wasn't in the room, thank the fucking Gods. She must have been finished already.

"Excuse me?! How dare you?!" Gisli yelled at him, but he didn't even spare her a glance as he made his way through the room and headed towards the door leading to the stairs.

So fucking dramatic.

He shut the door behind him with a loud slam and rushed down the stairs. He could still hear some muffled commotion in the room at his back, but he couldn't care less.

He finally reached the ground floor and stepped back into the shop. His eyes instantly landed on what he was looking for.

Aeyrin was standing there in front of one of the mirrors with her back to him, looking at herself with a slight smile on her face. Her dress was all shiny and shimmery. It was hard not to keep staring at it. But it didn't take him that long before his attention moved to the much more attention-worthy parts. Like the exposed skin on her back and neck and the hints of her bare leg visible on the side of her skirt. She was blocking the view to the mirror so he couldn't really see everything, but he could already smell the subtle scent of mountain flowers.

She didn't turn around yet. She couldn't hear his steps after all. Fortunately nobody was trying to make him take off his rings. Not that he would.

She only noticed him when he approached and his reflection became visible in the mirror.

Aeyrin quickly tore her eyes away from herself and turned around to face him. He was practically in front of her already when she was done spinning herself around. He looked so handsome in those clothes. Black always suited him the best. There was something strangely alluring in seeing him in that outfit – it was without a doubt uncomfortable and annoying for him to go through these things, but he did that for her without even thinking.

Bishop's eyes roamed all over her form with a familiar smirk on his lips. He continued examining her with his gaze fully, but as he did, he had already reached out to her and snaked his hand around her waist. Before she could react, she was yanked closer and pulled against him in one swift motion.

"You look so fucking perfect, love," he almost growled the words at her in a low voice. Gods, just hearing that voice made her shiver. And only a second later, he leaned into her and pressed his lips against hers in an insistent kiss.

The moment got confusing for a brief while. Aeyrin couldn't concentrate on everything at once. It was hard to notice how she was forced to take a few steps backwards as he pushed himself onto her, since his tongue probing her mouth with insistence distracted her from anything going on around her. She could barely even feel herself press back against a wall as the feel of his form pinning her body overwhelmed her. His hands suddenly seemed to be everywhere. She always loved it when he got so uncontrollable in a matter of a second. She felt like her head was spinning.

Bishop's hands roamed over the fabric of her dress, exploring the hems around her back, running down her flanks, before he began to feel up the silk wrapping her hips tightly. His hands moved over to her buttocks, but in a few seconds, instead of the usual groping, his touch turned more hesitant and… curious. Now he was actually running his hands over her to feel every inch of her skin properly. She already knew what he was doing, that he was just trying to discern what she was actually wearing or not wearing.

"Please, don't say anything," she groaned as her face heated up with a fierce blush. He must have figured it out by now and she really didn't want to feel even more embarrassed about all this.

Surprisingly enough, Bishop complied. He didn't comment at all, but his head dipped into the crux of her neck and she could instantly feel the grin on his face against her skin. He started to plant small biting kisses on the side of her neck then, but the grin still wouldn't disappear.

No matter, she just wanted to concentrate on the feel of his stubble on her sensitive skin. Gods, how she loved that. And how his hands still kept rubbing the silky fabric against her bare skin underneath.

Did they really have to go to that ball? Couldn't they just skip to the best part, the afterparty, right now?

Aeyrin let out a small moan while Bishop's stubble scratched her neck. Only a second later she felt him shift and capture her in another deep kiss. Her hands gripped on the hems of his vest as if for dear life while he pressed her against the wall more and more.

"Hey!" a familiar amused voice interrupted them suddenly.

Bishop seemed really reluctant to part from her, but Aeyrin's face got instantly decorated by a deep crimson blush and she pushed him away from herself. Divines, she got so carried away.

"Don't ruin those clothes right away. They were expensive," Azshan smirked at them. He was already standing by the entrance to the shop part of the building with Gisli by his side. Both of them were wearing very ornate and fancy looking clothes, mostly in red and gold colors. Azshan looked like a proper Imperial paladin in his. And very handsome too. Gisli just looked like her regular sour self. No amount of fancy clothes could fix that. Although her makeup was much more subtle.

Aeyrin only nodded demurely and lowered her head while Bishop rolled his eyes at Azshan. He really seemed to be quite upset about the interruption just then.

"Well, what are we waiting for?" Azshan smirked again and inclined his head towards the door. "This is going to be fun."