Arianna was looking at jewellery in the marketplace in Markarth when the courier approached her, smiling brightly.

"I have a message for you."

Arianna scowled. There were few people who would send her a missive in this way and none of them were people she particularly wanted to hear from.

"Ah, here we are," the man continued, oblivious to her reluctance. "From Jarl Ulfric himself. You have powerful friends." The neatly folded note was sealed with wax and imprinted with the Stormcloak insignia. "Got to run."

Arianna sighed as she carefully broke the seal and unfolded the message. It was written in Ulfric's untidy scrawl and was brief to the point of being insulting.

'Dragonborn, come to Windhelm at once.'

Her mouth tightened in a hard line as she closed her eyes briefly and took a deep cleansing breath to try and quell the anger that surged through her. How dare he.

"Argis!" Arianna yelled as soon as she closed the heavy iron door to Vlindrel hall behind her. He appeared in the hallway almost at once, his face settling into a frown as he took in her expression.

"What is it?"

Now that she was fully recovered from the poisoned arrow, they had been making plans to go to Riften to see the priest and had decided on getting the carriage to Whiterun and trekking through the mountains from there. At no time had Windhelm been on the list of places they would visit.

Arianna handed him the note. "I've been summoned," she said, shortly.

Argis's forehead creased into a frown. "What does he want?"

"Your guess is as good as mine." It was months since their last somewhat tempestuous meeting.

Argis shrugged and moved closer to her, encircling her body with strong arms. "We can get the carriage to Windhelm in the morning and just go south to Riften from there," he said. His lips touched her forehead briefly. "Hot springs," he murmured and smiled against her skin as she relaxed in his arms and tilted her face upwards so his lips could find hers.

Arianna felt her annoyance melt, chased away by the sweet intensity of his mouth and his tongue lightly playing over hers. One hand rubbed comforting circles on her back, the other wound into her hair as the kiss grew steadily more urgent and Argis gently guided her backwards until her back met the rough stonework. His hand moved to her waist, stroked up over her ribs and settled below her breast, his thumb tracing the soft swell through the thin bodice of her dress and finding her nipple which instantly hardened under his touch and drew lines of desire and need down her body to her loins. She groaned into his mouth as his body stiffened, his hand instantly dropping away as he pulled back.

"I'm sorry," he said, breathing hard. "I got carried away."

"You could just carry me into the bedroom," Arianna suggested, archly. Her whole body was inflamed by his touch, demanding that something more happened.

Argis looked at her for a long moment, clearly torn between desire and his own self-imposed abstinence and then shook his head. "I think that would get us into trouble."

"Argis, we are promised." She tried not to let any hint of a whine enter her voice.

"Promised not wed." He released her almost abruptly. "Come on. We're going to need warmer gear if we're going to Windhelm."

Arianna sighed in defeat and followed him into the house.

Setting off from Markarth at first light meant a late-night arrival in Windhelm so it was the following morning when, with a heavy heart, Arianna presented herself, fully armed and armoured, at the Palace of Kings.

Ulfric was sprawled in his throne. His eyes raked over her as she bowed slightly.

"My Jarl," she murmured.

"Dragonborn. You finally made it," Ulfric drawled, his eyes flicking to Argis who stood behind her.

"I received your message the day before yesterday. I don't think I could have got here any quicker." Her voice was like acid and she felt a small jolt of pleasure at the anger that flared briefly in his eyes.

"Still so insolent," Ulfric said, silkily. He rose to his feet, gesturing to one of the smaller, more private rooms off the main hall. "Come. I wish to speak with you. Your man can wait here and break fast if he hasn't already."

Arianna stiffened at hearing Argis being referred to so dismissively.

"Thank you, my lord." Argis's response was smooth and untroubled and a balm to her temper.

Arianna followed Ulfric into the antechamber, frowning slightly when he pushed the door shut behind them.

"What do you want, Ulfric?" she snapped, ignoring his gestured invitation to sit.

"Is that any way to address your King?" he asked softly, circling behind her on silent feet.

Arianna resisted the urge to spin around and punch him. She suspected that would be going too far.

"Have you forgotten your oath to serve me?" he continued, his mouth too close to her ear.

"I did my part," she answered, stiffly.

"So you did, but I had hoped that you would remain in Windhelm. The house set aside for you remains empty and you haven't been seen in months. What have you been doing, Dragonborn?"

She hated that silky tone, the forced reasonableness that she had come to recognise as a prelude to him asking for something outrageous. "Putting down the Forsworn," she answered, shortly.

"And living exclusively in Markarth which is about as far from here as you could get."

'Here', Arianna noted. Not 'Me'. "I'm sure that my king has noticed the complete absence of Forsworn in Eastmarch." She couldn't keep the acid out of her tone.

His hands settled heavily on her shoulders and spun her roughly around to face him. "Do you have to be such a bitch?" he asked, harshly.

"What do you want?" She repeated, refusing to use an honorific or be cowed by him. It was a surprise when one hand lifted and backhanded her hard across the face, his heavy ring cutting into her flesh, and sending her sprawling to the floor. She could feel blood trickling down her cheek.

"You will show me some respect," he hissed, his eyes flashing dangerously. "Or I will beat you black and blue."

Arianna stared up at him, letting her disdain mould her features. "What do you want, my Jarl?" Her voice was quiet, and as hard as nails.

He reached down and pulled her roughly to her feet. "There's a dragon at Bonestrewn Crest. It's been flying too close to the city. I want you to kill it."

Her temper flared. "You dragged me all the way here to do something that your own men could do? I'm not your puppet, Ulfric, but as I'm on my way to Riften to get married, I'll kill your stupid dragon as it's pretty much on the way," she yelled.

"Married?" he roared. "Who exactly are you marrying?"

"That is none of your concern," she answered, shortly, cursing herself for letting that particular piece of information slip.

"You will return here when the dragon is dead."

"No, I will not." His hand rose. "If you hit me again, I swear you will regret it."

"Threats against your king, Dragonborn?" His voice was soft, deadly, his eyes lit with fury. "I could have you arrested."

Arianna took a deep breath. "I think we're done here. I will kill your dragon." She tried to side step him but he mirrored her, placing himself squarely in front of the closed door.

"And you will return here."

"Fine. Whatever." He had always been mercurial and unpredictable towards her and Arianna just wanted to be away from him. Her cheek throbbed painfully and was stiff with blood.

"You're lying."

"Ulfric, what do you want? I mean really want and don't give me some bullshit about dragons."

"An alliance," he said, softly.

Arianna frowned at him, not understanding. "We are allies," she said. "Of a sort."

"Think about it. The high king of Skyrim and the Dragonborn. We would make a formidable couple."

Arianna's mouth fell open. "You are joking."

His face darkened but whatever he was about to say was cut off by a sudden, urgent knocking on the door.

"My Jarl?"

Arianna recognised Galmar's voice and heaved a sigh of relief as Ulfric turned and opened the door to admit the grizzled, old general. She took advantage of the moment to slip past them both back into the Great Hall.

Arianna laid her hand lightly on Argis's shoulder. "Come on," she said, quietly. " We need to get out of here."

Argis stood up and carefully extricated himself from the bench. As he turned to look at her, his smile faltered and his face set into tight lines of fury. "What happened to your cheek?" he grated, his fists clenching at his sides.

"Not here. We need to leave. Now."

"I'll..." He made a small movement in the direction of the passage.

"Argis!" Arianna caught his arm. "Let it lie. We need to go."

She was relieved when he followed her out of the palace, picking a fight with Ulfric wouldn't have done either of them any favours.

They were well on the way to Bonestrewn Crest before Arianna slowed enough for Argis to catch up to her.

"Are you going to tell me what happened?" he demanded before she could say anything.

"Ulfric and I had a disagreement." She smiled a brief, bitter smile. "We've always rubbed each other up the wrong way."

His hand gently cupped her face, turning it towards the sun so he could examine the wound. She winced as his fingertips carefully pressed along her cheekbone. "It's not broken," he murmured. "You have quite the bruise though." He dropped his pack and bent to rummage through it until he found a salve and piece of clean cloth and then straightened,

Arianna held perfectly still as he wiped the dried blood from her face and applied a liberal amount of ointment to the bruised cut. "Why did he hit you?" he asked, anger threading into his voice.

"It was the only response he could think of. Argis, listen, I don't want to talk about this now. Please let it go."

He nodded briefly but his face was still furious.

It turned out that luck was on their side as they approached the Giants' camp leading to the crest. The ground shook under their feet as they took in the sight of an enraged giant and dragon fighting each other.

"Well, that's something." Arianna said, drawing her bow. It only took a couple of careful arrows to aid the giants killing blows and the dragon died. "Let's not hang around. It'll be dark soon. We need to find somewhere safe for the night."

Whatever had been attached to the squat, stone tower had long since been claimed by the wilderness but the ground floor of the tower itself was dry though very dusty. Arianna wrinkled her nose, trying not to violently sneeze, as she moved silently up the winding stone staircase to check that the structure was as empty as it appeared.

Argis let his pack drop to the ground and looked about. "Anyone here?" he asked as she reappeared down the stairs.

Arianna breathed Aura Whisper but there were no humans in range. "A couple of wolves maybe."

"Okay. Let's eat and then I'll take first watch while you get some sleep."

Arianna frowned at him. Since they had become promised to one another, Argis had subtly changed. He had become more assertive, more protective, not overbearingly so but definitely more and since leaving Windhelm, he had been ruthlessly controlling a fury that she hadn't known he was capable of but she could see it on his face every time he looked at her and saw the vivid bloody bruise on her cheek.

Deciding that it wasn't worth cross words, she shrugged. "Alright." She sat down on one of the bedrolls, her arms loosely clasped about her knees, and watched Argis get the fire going and set up a cooking pot over the flames.

"That's going to need to cook a while," he said, settling the lid on the pot.

To her surprise, he sat behind her, his legs either side of hers, and wound muscular arms around her waist. She felt his breath on her hair and relaxed against the solid wall of muscle at her back. One arm disengaged from her waist and fingers brushed the hair from her neck so he could plant a line of gentle kisses on the smooth white skin. Kisses that seared through her body.

"You have the most beautiful neck," he murmured. "Are you going to tell me about Ulfric?"

Arianna's answer was to twist in his arms until she was facing him kneeling between his thighs. She captured his face in two hands and lightly brushed her mouth across his, the tip of her tongue tracing the full bow of his upper lip. She heard his breath hitch as one big hand slid up into her hair and the other settled in the small of her back and lips pressed firmly to hers, gently working until he could slip his tongue into her mouth and she moaned softly.

Argis lay back on the bedroll, drawing her with him so that she lay atop his body, their mouths still glued together.

It was some time before Arianna broke the kiss, her heart was pounding and he had ignited a slow, steady burn between her legs that was screaming for attention. She clasped her hands on his chest and rested her chin on them, looking into his face.

"I want you," she said, simply, and felt him tremble slightly beneath her, saw his features stain with a delicate flush.

"And I you. We'll be wed soon," he answered, a small smile curving his lips.

"Argis-"

"Ari, we've had this discussion. It means a lot to me to wait."

"But you're driving me crazy."

He chuckled, his hand applying gentle pressure on the back of her neck until their lips were almost touching. "And you think that I am made of stone?" he asked before closing the gap, his mouth capturing hers once more.

Arianna whimpered, half in protest, half in surrender as his intoxicating, persistent tongue pushed into her mouth, sweeping over hers and his fingers tightened in her hair.

They were both breathing heavily when they drew apart but if there were any changes in his body, it was impossible to tell through his armour. His face was soft as he carefully traced her lips with one fingertip.

Arianna opened her mouth and took his finger inside, sucking and swirling her tongue around it. She felt his hips involuntarily jerk upwards and heard his strangled, sucked in breath.

"Gods woman," he muttered, pulling his finger away. "You do make it hard for a man."

Arianna grinned. "I certainly hope so," she said, rolling off his body. "It wouldn't be fair if I was the only one going crazy."

Argis laughed weakly. "Fair point," he said, getting to his feet and returning to the fire to stir the contents of the pot. "This is nearly ready."