Riften always looked better at night, the darkness softened endemic decay to a romanticised ideal especially with one of the moons hanging low in the sky over the temple of Mara.

Arianna stopped outside the temple, breathing hard from sprinting through the town from the stables and was about to push the wide double doors open when momentum from inside sent them crashing open, bouncing back off the stonework. Argis, his face set in furious lines, strode through them. He paled when he saw her standing outside.

"Get away from me," he snarled, his good eye brimming with pain and embarrassment.

"Argis..."

"No!"

Arianna watched as her former betrothed, his shoulders rigid with betrayal, stalked along the wooden boardwalk towards the gate and disappear through them into the night.

It was late, maybe three hours until dawn. Arianna's shoulders sagged as she debated what to do. It was likely he was heading back to her house in Markarth, the house he was sworn to protect. It was a long and dangerous trek through Skyrims wilds. If anything happened to him, she would never forgive herself.

Coming to a decision, she made her way quickly to her little house on the lake. Ignoring the obvious question on Iona's face, she went down the steps into the cellar and stripped off her still damp dress and boots. She hastily donned her skin-tight leather armour, strapped her bow onto her back and swallowed down a potion to accelerate and aid her body healing. She would follow Argis, she decided. Maybe once he calmed down a bit, they could have a proper conversation. Maybe after she told him what happened, he might still want to marry her.

She left the city, bearing left just outside the gates and across the farmstead there moving at top speed until she saw Argis's dark form ahead of her, his sword in his hand, slashing at undergrowth as he walked slowly passed. She hung back, not wanting him to know that she was following, her heart aching for his obvious pain.

As he made it onto the path that ran alongside the lake, she heard howling and three wolves, snapping and snarling, surrounded him. She watched him dispatch them easily with a barely controlled, savage grace before he began walking again.

As Arianna tailed him, the sky began to lighten, imperceptibly at first until the sun began to rise in the sky behind her with the promise of a beautiful day.

They were approaching Faldur's Tooth, a run-down fort on the northern side of the lake that was usually home to a large group of bandits who preyed on the travellers and merchants that used the path. She hurried to catch up a little, drawing her bow and dropping into sneak as Argis drew level with the rusty iron gates. There was a ferocious howling, two pit-wolves surged from the fort and arrows began to rain down from overhead.

Arianna silently picked her way along the waters edge until she was level with Argis; none of the bandits had seen her, intent as they were on bringing Argis down. She took a deep breath and drew the bowstring, the wood cool against her cheek as she aimed at the archer furthest away, high on the ramparts. With a whisper, the arrow honed in, felling him before he knew what happened.

A savage looking Orc burst from the gates to engage Argis hand to hand, Argis raised his shield against the war axe swinging at him, blocked and bashed him back causing him to stagger. Arianna released another arrow, hitting the Orc squarely in the throat. She smiled in satisfaction as he crumpled with a wet gurgling sound. Argis swung round, searching the shoreline but he couldn't see her. She was virtually invisible unless she moved. She let another arrow fly at a silhouette that had appeared atop the fort, felling him too.

Argis abandoned his search for her and ran into the fort, drawing his own bow as he went and screaming obscenities at the top of his voice.

"Idiot," Arianna muttered to herself, abandoning her stealth tactic and following. "Could you not have just let it lie?"

Inside the over-grown courtyard, Argis was under pressure from another three men. His back was to the wall as he was forced to parry and defend. Arianna took out one of the bandits with another well-placed arrow before they saw her and one peeled off, racing across the uneven ground, swinging a massive battle axe in one large paw.

"Arianna!" Argis bellowed but the axe was too slow. She was no longer standing in the same place so it bounced harmlessly on the ground as its wielder folded, her poisoned dagger stuck deep in his kidneys. The momentary distraction cost Argis a hefty blow to the ribs and he collapsed to his knees, gasping in pain, his arm wrapped tightly about his body.

Arianna moved swiftly in front of him, cutting off the last bandits killing blow. She wasn't a swords-woman, she much preferred distance between herself and her foes but she was almost inhumanly quick and had weapons in her arsenal that were as deadly as they were unique amongst humans.

"Fus Ro Dah!"

The shout drove the remaining man backwards; he tripped over a rock and went sprawling onto the ground. She was on him in an instant, her dagger slashing across his throat with a smooth, economical movement, neatly avoiding the blood that gushed from the wound. She wiped her blade on the dying man's filthy jerkin, sheathed it and turned to Argis who was still kneeling, panting in pain. Her hand glowed with a pulsing, golden light which she pumped into his body until he lurched to his feet, swaying unsteadily. He glared at her for a long, drawn out moment and pushed past her back towards the gate.

"Argis," she yelled.

"There's nothing to talk about."

Arianna caught up with him outside the fort and grabbed his arm. "Argis, wait."

He angrily shook her off. "I did wait," he snarled. "I waited all day and you didn't show up so I guess that told me." He continued along the path hugging the walls of the derelict stone fort.

Arianna stared after him not recognising this furious, hurt man. "Argis. Hold. Damn it!" she shouted, her tone more forceful and angry that she had intended.

He stopped abruptly, his shoulders pulling back and his spine ramrod straight as he waited for her to catch up.

"Yes, my Thane?" he asked as she drew level with him. The three words dripped with his pain and disappointment. He didn't look at her, his eyes remained fixed on some distant point.

Arianna moved in front of him and looked up into his face. "I didn't follow you all the way out here and save your ass on a whim, you know. Can we at least talk about this?"

Argis didn't answer, his mouth fixed into a hard, tight line that was ill suited to his full lips.

"Don't do this," she whispered. She reached out to lay a gentle hand on his arm and felt his muscles tense under her palm as a slight shiver ran through his body and she remembered the first time she felt his body react to her touch. "Give me another chance," she whispered, not knowing what else to say.

"Another chance to leave me at the altar," he questioned, nastily. He slammed his fist against the ancient stonework releasing a small puff of dust.

"Argis, I'm sorry. Do you really think that I would have followed you all the way out here if-" She trailed off and closed her eyes against the sudden prickle of tears. She would not cry.

"If what?" His voice was softer and she felt the warmth of his body as he moved closer to her. She opened her eyes to find him blurry and indistinct in front of her as a tear trickled down her face. His big hand gently cupped her cheek, his thumb chasing the tear, and he looked searchingly into her face. "If what, Ari?" he repeated as his hand fell away.

"If I didn't want to be married to you," she whispered gazing back at the face she loved, complete with the vivid scars that ran from his eyebrow, down his cheek to finish on the bow of his full lips. It was a sabre-cat had marked him years before and taken his eye into the bargain. Her beautiful man: he could appear gruff and taciturn but he was capable of huge acts of kindness. Under the abrupt manner, he was gentle, generous with a sly humour and he often warmed her heart and made her smile with his almost child-like wonder at the beauty of the savage world they lived in.

He looked at her for a long time and a little of the angry tension began to ease from his body. "You humiliated me." He sounded broken.

"I didn't mean to. Do you want me to get on my knees?"

The tiniest hint of a naughty smirk briefly flickered across his mouth. The smirk that told her that, for an instant, he was thinking filthy thoughts. "Depends what you do when you're down there." He groaned at the thought and pushed her roughly back against the wall, one hand sliding around the nape of her neck and into her hair as his lips found hers and he kissed her fiercely, his chest pressing against hers, keeping her immobile against the unyielding stonework as his tongue plundered her mouth.

Arianna wound slender arms around his neck and returned his kiss just as fiercely, holding him tight until he drew back, his breathing harsh and uneven.

"Gods woman," he muttered as he released her and took a step back. "A fresh start then." Arianna sagged in relief. "You had better stay in line," he added as if the offer was something he couldn't help but was still against his better judgement.

"Thank you." She reached out and stroked his unmarked cheek with her fingers. "Will you come back to Riften with me?"

"Aye."

They began to walk back along the shoreline of the lake in what was a rare bright and sunny morning. Arianna felt herself start to slowly unwind though she knew that there was another storm to come.

"Why didn't you show up? Second thoughts?" Argis asked, breaking the silence and sounding like he was trying to protect his heart.

"No,"

He glanced at her as her cheeks suffused with angry colour. "Then what?"

"I was arrested," Arianna muttered, not wanting to tell him about Ulfric. The eyebrow above his good eye rose sceptically. She took a deep breath and tried to explain. "I was going to the stables to ask Hofgrir if he wanted to come to the wedding and be a witness. There was a bunch of Stormcloaks waiting for me outside the gates. They took me to Windhelm and threw me in a cell."

"Windhelm," he echoed, incredulously. "Wait. Does this have something to do with Ulfric?"

Arianna nodded miserably. "Yes," she admitted, staring down at the ground.

Argis stopped abruptly and moved in front of her, his fingers lifted her chin so he could look properly into her face and his eyes narrowed as he saw the new bruises, fury flaring on his features. "What does he want with you, Ari?" His voice was gentle though and she wanted him to hold her more than anything in the world as her eyes filled with tears again.

"An alliance," she whispered. "The kind that wouldn't work too well if I was married to somebody else." She seemed to have no control over her tears and they spilled from her eyes, tracked rapidly down her cheeks and dripped from her jaw to fall in tiny splatters in the dust at her feet.

Argis sucked in a deep breath and shook his head. "I'm stealing the high king's would be wife."

"No," Arianna cried, swallowing down the huge lump that had formed in her throat at his words. "He's trying to steal your would be wife."

"You'd be queen."

"I don't want to be queen. I don't want to be anywhere near a man I despise and who thinks that beating the hell out me is a good way to make me obedient." She took a deep, shuddering breath, terrified that even now she could lose him. "Ulfric doesn't want me, he wants the Dragonborn. I don't want him, I want you." She started to sob and whirled blindly away from him. To be stopped by his gentle hands on her shoulders, turning her and enfolding her into his arms, his lips soft against her hair.

"Hush love. Don't cry," he murmured as she clung to him, her body shaking uncontrollably in his embrace. "Tell me what happened. How do you come to be here now?"

"I escaped," she gulped. "I had help. I think there were quite a few guards that didn't agree with Ulfric locking up the Dragonborn for no reason. I swam across the river and got the carriage back to Riften. I had literally just got back when..." her voice broke as his fingers lifted her chin and he looked down into her tear-soaked face. "I wanted to be in time. I thought I would be. I would never have hurt you like that if it had been in my power to-"

He silenced her with his mouth on hers, his soft lips brushing lightly across hers in an echo of the first kiss they had shared except this time, his tongue licked the tears from her lips before pushing gently into her mouth. "He'll not have you, love," he said as he drew back and his voice was like steel. "Not if you don't want him. When we get back we'll go straight to the Temple and then I don't let you out of my sight."

She hated that he sounded so wary on what should have been a happy day for them both and she hated Ulfric. "Whatever you want," she agreed.