A shorter chapter before what should be a meaty chapter coming next. Please read and review!
A Mining Town Inn
Arnbjorn woke in the night finding Nessa splayed across him; her head tucked into his shoulder, left arm thrown over his body. Her leg tangled with his. They'd fallen asleep so early that he now found himself wide-awake. His mind flashed to the love making a few hours ago. There were so many things tidbit didn't know about making love with a man. He found himself looking forward to teaching her.
Carefully moving her limbs out of his way, trying not to disturb her, he got up to empty his bladder. When he came back to the bed he found her lying, like a starfish, limbs spread to the four corners.
"Bed pig," he said, chuckling softly at her. He sat down beside her and drew his hand from her knee to her thigh, stopping just short of the pale hair that hid her sex. The last embers of the fire flickered casting a ruby glow over her. He felt himself stir at the sight of her. Bending over her, he kissed her belly and ran his hand over her mound. She moved in her sleep and made a quiet sigh, but didn't awaken. He trailed kisses up her torso to her breasts, kissing the tops of each one, then to her neck. She finally awoke when he puffed his hot breath into her ear.
She made a querulous noise and lifted her head to look at him with sleepy confusion. Finally recognition came to her. "Arnbjorn." Her head flopped back down to the pillow. "Is it time to go already?"
"Not yet, bit," he spoke softly, his lips next to her ear. "I just woke up hungry and found my prey in bed with me. Very convenient."
Nessa woke up a little more as his mustache tickled against her ear and then his tongue traced the whorls. The sensation sent a delicious shiver through her and her knees suddenly felt weak. "You're a nice woof though."
He withdrew from her ear and laughed darkly. "Oh no, morsel, I'm not a nice woof at all." He snarled playfully and threw himself on her, nipping her neck, her earlobes, and then down to her collarbone and breasts.
Nessa, coming fully awake, shrieked with laughter. She tried to push Arnbjorn away but he caught her hands and pinned them above her head with one hand. "You're a delicious little rabbit, a little too lean, but a good snack for a woof." He sucked on a nipple, and nibbled gently when it hardened into a knot. She squirmed under him, her laughter turning to moans. His leg worked against her sex as he nibbled and bit her. He didn't need his nose to tell him she was aroused, he could feel her dampness against him.
"Bit." He pulled her leg up and she curled it around his waist. "I want you." He positioned himself, waiting for the word from her.
Nessa looked at him, poised above her, ready to take her. His eyes glowed intensely in the light of the embers. She showed none of the ambivalence she'd had earlier. "Do it, Arnbjorn," she said.
He thrust into her and she rose to meet him. This time he sensed no hesitation, she was as eager as him. He pulled her legs up and found her astonishingly flexible. As he thrust into her, he leaned forward and they kissed. Their tongues twined together in a savage dance. Stopping abruptly he wrapped his arms around her and rolled them both over. "Ride me, morsel."
That look of astonishment passed across Nessa's face again and Arnbjorn nearly laughed. "That's it, sit up," he encouraged her.
She began to move, slowly at first and then she began to get the hang of it. Her hips began to do a sort of roll. Then he thrust up under her. This was hitting all the right spots for her and she shut her eyes and moaned.
Arnbjorn's free hand teased her and she fell forward, trapping his hand between them. A few more thrusts and sliding his fingers against her and she buried her face into his shoulder and cried out softly.
"Stay with me, Nessa, we're not done yet," he said as he continued to thrust under her. He rolled them to their sides and found another position. Adjusting her legs, he resumed thrusting. Shortly, her eyes were starting to glaze over again and she started to swear softly. "Not yet, Nessa. Hold on a bit longer."
Panting, she nodded focusing on him, her eyes meeting his. He held her gaze with his own fierce look. "Gods. I can't Arnbjorn."
"Yes, now, sweetling," he hissed at her, feeling his own release upon him. "Gods!" He gave a last thrust and felt himself spilling into her.
"Arn!" She bit his shoulder, trying not to yell and shook in his arms. The intensity of her climax surprised her. Not since Astrid…
They both slumped back down to the bed and looked at one another. Nessa smiled first, and then Arnbjorn did. "I think this partnership will work out, woof."
Chuckling, Arnbjorn pulled her to him and kissed her. "I think so, too." He held her for a few moments and stroked her hair. "Let's go back to sleep, morsel. Don't hog the bed this time."
"I don't hog the bed," she said and punched him softly in the arm.
"Do too."
"Do not."
"Shush, bit. Go to sleep."
"Don't shush me!"
Arnbjorn chuckled and pulled her to him kissing her one last time and he kept hold of her until he heard her breath came slowly and regularly. Astrid seemed very far away.
~o~o~o~
Sanctuary
Sanctuary felt cold and hollow. There was none of the usual hustle and bustle about the place. Arnbjorn's last training dummy was still a splintered mess, but stood as a forlorn tribute to his ferocity. She went to the room he'd moved into. She sat at the side of his bed and picked up his pillow, inhaling his scent. Smelling it was almost an admission that she missed him. Then she went to Nessa's room and looked at some of the things she kept in her dresser. There wasn't much to see. A few ribbons, a hair comb, a pretty green stone, and a sea shell. Almost everything she owned was still at the thieves' guild in Riften. What little she had now was acquired since they'd stolen her from the midst of the thieves. She picked up a ribbon and ran it through her fingers.
She felt a moment of sentimentality over the short time she and Nessa had been lovers. It wasn't the first time Astrid had broken someone's heart when it was time to move on. It was different this time. She hadn't been bored with her. Her husband was right; she couldn't control her blood lust. It was too tempting to drink, and once she started…
Putting down the ribbon abruptly, she chided herself. This is nonsense. She'd been focusing on the needs of the Brotherhood. If business continued, they might even think about expanding. Perhaps they could reclaim some of the abandoned sanctuaries.
Astrid strode through the nearly deserted sanctuary to her office and went to work. Or she tried to. She couldn't focus. She threw down her quill and armed herself with her blades and walked up the long hallway to the door. It rolled open for her.
This night was pleasant. It never got too cold in the south, not that the cold affected her. She headed to Falkreath. She walked nearly soundlessly through the streets of the small hold. At one of the nicer homes she quietly picked the lock on a door and slipped inside. The beating of hearts lured her upstairs where she found a man and a woman in bed, both fast asleep. She bent over the woman and whispered "sleep". The woman wouldn't awaken when she sank her fangs into her neck.
She drank deeply, being careful not to make noise that might awaken the man. The blood soothed her restlessness but fed her cruelty. There had been a string of deaths in Falkreath of late. Never did she question why she did it, but in the morning this man would awaken to find his love gone and a pale, bloodless husk lying beside him. Love is unfair. She straightened up from the dead woman and wiped her lips on the back of her gloved hand. Get used to it.
It was tempting to seek out more sleeping couples, but she was risking too much. They were beginning to speak of vampires around town and looking for someone to blame for the deaths. They'd probably find some eccentric hermit to blame for it, burn him in the town square, and then she'd stop and let them think they'd found the culprit.
Astrid returned to the sanctuary, her restlessness cured for the moment.
Solitude
"It's time to move on," the guard grabbed Brynjolf by the collar and thrust him to the entrance of the hold. "The Jarl doesn't want to get any more complaints about your nostrums."
By Mara's tits another one going sour! "Good sir, I'll make you a special deal of Barenziah's Love Elixir, guaranteed to warm even the coldest hearted lass. Or even put the saber cat back into your trousers."
It was the wrong thing to say to the wrong guard. "Get your skinny ass out of here before I haul you before Legate Rikke and let the Imperials sort you out. I tried your damn elixir and it doesn't work!"
"Ah, sir, my sympathies. Were you very careful to follow the instructions? It's a touchy thing… Oof!" Brynjolf was forcibly expelled from the gate and his sack was thrown after him. He cringed as he heard bottles of elixir breaking as it hit the ground. "Well, Delvin, I'm beginning to believe you might be right," he muttered to himself. "I had to sell a bottle of Barenziah's to an off-duty guard with a limp pickle." He shouldered his pack, not minding that it was leaking Barenziah's. He could brew another batch at the next hold. He shouldered his way through the crowds coming and going into Solitude and stopped for a moment, he turned abruptly trying to get another look at the woman he caught out of the corner of his eye. Pale hair, braids, and a blue ribbon. Nessa? It was too late; she'd disappeared into the crowd entering Solitude. "Now I'm seeing things," he muttered.
The open road called. He wasn't doing much better in the other holds than he had been in Riften, but there was always another village, another city, another rube with more money than brains. He couldn't stay angry for too long. The weather was uncommonly nice and he thought his luck was due to change.
~o~o~o~
Two days out from the cozy inn at the mining town, Nessa and Arnbjorn finally made it to Solitude. They'd turned Shadowmere loose well away from the hold, not wanting his oddness noted.
"Go to Solitude, boy," Arnbjorn said, stroking the horse's forehead. He trusted the horse would understand and obey. Shadowmere pulled away and made his way into the trees bordering the road. Arnbjorn turned to Nessa and with a gesture of his head, they resumed their trek to Solitude. Their arms bumped from time to time, an indication of how much closer they walked to one another.
"Are you nervous, bit?" Arnbjorn asked.
"A little." Truthfully, her stomach was rolling. Killing Valentius was easy, she just had to play a part and Arnbjorn did the rest. This time it would be mostly up to her.
Arnbjorn stared at her thinking. The thought of some old Imperial pawing at her, or worse, made the hair on the back of his neck prickle. There was no need for her to seduce the commander; they could work out something else. "You can get a job working in his household. You'll have ample opportunity to poison him."
She looked up at him in surprise. "I thought I was supposed to seduce him? You said that's what Astrid wanted."
He rubbed his beard. "It was just a suggestion. She won't care as long as it looks natural."
Taking a few paces, Nessa thought it over. "If he likes Nord girls it might be easiest to get into his bed. He might not need a servant. It seems like it'd go faster."
Arnbjorn knew she was talking sense, he just didn't like it. "It's not difficult to create a job opening in a man's household staff."
Nessa shrugged. "I don't want to have to kill more people than necessary."
He snorted with annoyed amusement. "I almost think you want to bed the old man."
She rounded on him, her brows drawn down in anger. "I don't! All right? I do not want to bed an old man." In fact, her stomach clenched at the thought. "But I trust Astrid, if she thought that was best. She said that would be where I would shine as an assassin. It's why she sent me, isn't it?"
Arnbjorn stopped walking suddenly and grabbed her by the upper arms. "Astrid isn't perfect, bit. She makes mistakes just like anyone else. You don't have follow her suggestion as if it were an order."
Nessa pulled her arms out of his grasp. The vehemence of his objection startled her. Did he think he owned her now? "This is my contract and I'll do what I think is best. All right?"
He drew a deep breath, collecting himself, and nodded. She was right. Sometimes his wolfish nature got the better of him. He had to let her fulfill the contract however she felt best. He was only here to assist.
As they drew closer to Solitude the road began to get more crowded. People were coming from outlying villages, some of them refugees from the civil war, others coming to do their marketing. Arnbjorn and Nessa were mindful that they needed to blend in. They stopped their arguing and exchanged pleasantries with the other travelers. Just as they reached the keep, there was something of a commotion. She couldn't see what it was through the crowd around the gate, so she ignored it.
"All right, bit. We need to split up," Arnbjorn said, taking her aside after they entered the city. "If you're going to seduce him you can't be seen with me. Get a room at the inn now. I'll get a room later. Pretend like you don't know me."
Nessa hadn't thought about that. She didn't like the idea of sleeping alone… not now.
The sudden cloud that came over her expression wasn't missed by Arnbjorn. "Get a room on the ground floor. It'll be easier to sneak in through a window." He pulled her to him and kissed her quickly on the forehead. "Go on, then. I'll see you around."
She nodded and with one last look at him turned to go to the Winking Skeever, the biggest and best inn in Solitude.
The innkeeper was a talkative Imperial and greeted Nessa warmly. He got her a bottom floor room, just as she requested, and immediately sent servants to fill a bath at her request. She unpacked her belongings while waiting for the bath to be filled. Her new blue dress that she bought in Whiterun was a wrinkled mess. She would have to find someone to press her clothes. At present she was dressed in trousers and a loose shirt belted at the waist. It was practical for traveling, but if she were looking to catch the eye of the commander it wouldn't do at all.
She mused over the list of things she needed like some better clothes. Arnbjorn said there was a clothing shop Astrid recommended. She might need a nice perfume, that couldn't hurt, new shoes, too.
Attracting the commander's attention was one thing, but having a plausible story was yet another. She went over a number of stories in her head and decided to settle upon being the daughter of a respected doctor in… Whiterun. She knew the doctor there and he did have a daughter, although she was a few years younger and as homely as mud fence. The girl was named Melia. At least her name was pretty.
Now why would she be in Solitude? Because… Nessa paced back and forth, looking for a reason. I'm enrolling in the Bard college! But what if he asks me to sing? Well, she'd think of some reason not to sing. Besides, not every bard had a pleasant voice. Some of them were just storytellers.
The servant finally departed and Nessa got took her bath. Afterward she went to the common room and ate. Arnbjorn was sitting in a corner nursing a tankard of mead. Catching his eye, she risked a shy, half smile and looked away. When she looked back he winked at her the side of his mouth raised just a bit. She had to look away or she would start laughing. Their furtive little flirtation made her wonder if it was too early to go to bed, but the sun had only just gone down. She was already looking forward to bedding him again. Looking at him from the corner of her eyes, she saw he was still watching her. She dragged her fingertip through the sauce on her plate and brought it to her mouth and carefully licked the sauce off. Convinced she had his attention, she slowly inserting the fingertip into her mouth, closed her eyes, and then withdrew it.
Arnbjorn watched the little display Nessa was putting on for his benefit. The girl was learning quickly. Between Astrid and him they had put an end to her innocence. Naiveté was another matter. Life had a way of stripping that away. He was beginning to envy her fingertip. He was about to make a discrete head gesture to suggest she might want to go to her room, when he noticed he wasn't the only one in the Winking Skeever watching her. The innkeeper's son had stopped sweeping the floor and was staring at her.
"Sorex," Arnbjorn waved the man over, "Can I buy you a drink?"
Sorex noted that Arnbjorn's table had a very good view of the attractive young woman. "Oh," he looked around for his father and noted he was busy with customers. "Yes. I could do with a little break." He smiled at the friendly Nord. "Arnbjorn isn't it?"
He went to the bar and brought back ale for himself and mead for the customer. "Here you go. This one's on the house." He pulled out the chair with the best view of the girl. "Say," he whispered conspiratorially, "did you see that beauty over there?"
"Hard to miss," Arnbjorn replied. "Thanks for the drink." He clinked his bottle against the Imperial's. "So I'm in town to see Commander Calvus Liore. Ever hear of him?"
"Sure, who hasn't? He used to be General Tullius' right hand man, until Legate Rikke took that spot." The innkeeper's son leaned in a little closer. "Some say Rikke and Tullius are… sparring partners, if you catch my drift. You didn't hear it from me, though."
"Course not." Arnbjorn sat back in his chair and drank slowly, waiting for the ale to loosen the other man's tongue. "What do you know of Liore? I've got business with him. I like to have every advantage."
"Of course. I hear his shipping business is doing well, other than that I haven't heard much." Sorex turned his attention back to Nessa. "Mara, I'd give a lot for that girl. Excuse me, friend, but I think I'll try my luck." He looked at the friendly Nord and noted something rather savage in his eyes.
Arnbjorn restrained the impulse to grab the man by his throat. "Of course. Good luck. Nord girls can be a bit chilly to you southerners."
"Can't blame a guy for trying," Sorex said smiling affably. "See you around, Arnbjorn."
Arnbjorn nodded at the man. He leaned back in his chair and watched Sorex approach Nessa. They conversed for a few moments, then he saw Nessa shake her head and Sorex looking abashed. The innkeeper's son left and resumed his job of sweeping the floor. Arnbjorn caught her eye and made an almost imperceptible gesture toward the stairs with his head.
Nessa picked up her bottle of ale and went to her room. She undressed, but for her smallclothes, and was unbraiding her hair when her door opened silently and then closed. She turned to greet Arnbjorn with a welcoming smile.
"You wanton minx," he growled. "Do you have any idea of what watching you suck on your finger was doing to me?"
"It made you hungry? That sauce was very tasty," she teased him. Nessa had intuited certain things about Arnbjorn and what he might desire. He'd certainly spent enough time with his nose buried between her legs, tonight she'd see if he would like that too. The thought was a little terrifying, but compelling.
"I was visualizing something other than a finger," he said. Grabbing her hips, he pulled her into him for a kiss. He growled with satisfaction as she rubbed against him. As her hand outlined his length against the front of his trousers, his growl became throatier. He lost his words altogether when she sank to her knees and unlaced him.
The evening, though early still, went by quickly and it was quite late when Nessa flopped to the bed, utterly worn out, thoroughly satisfied, and not a little sore. It was a pleasing sort of soreness, the kind that reminds you of why you're sore and that is a happy memory.
The accommodations were top-notch. The bed was soft and free of bugs. It wasn't long before Arnbjorn heard Nessa's sleeping breath next to him. These carefree days of travel and sex reminded him of Astrid when they'd first met, before she'd taken over leadership of the Brotherhood. Those had been heady days. Eventually the responsibilities and hard decisions of managing the brotherhood of assassins had taken a toll on both of them.
He watched a piece of Nessa's hair rising and falling in time with her breaths and moved it off her face. He tried to imagine what this trip would have been like with Astrid. She would have been focused on business and mulling over her cares. Oh, they would have had fun, too. But these two weeks spent with Nessa, teasing her, seducing her, now exploring her sexuality with her… he was almost glad that circumstances had forced this on them. He wrapped an arm protectively over her and settled in for a good rest.
~o~o~o~
Notes: Thank you steffiii07, TheOtherLachance, zevgirl, Biff McLaughlin, Carrp for the reviews. They really do help inspire the muse and motivate me to write. I always look forward to hearing from readers. In fact, TheOtherLachance asked for a peek into what Astrid was doing so I wrote that for her. Always open to suggestions from readers… not that I always follow them. No, Nessa won't be having puppies with Arnbjorn. LOL!
If you're one of the folks that followed me to Skyrim from Dragon Age, you might want to peek at "The Lost Chapters". I added a new Lucy chapter to it… on something of a dare. The Teyrn has already had his revenge.
I looked up Sorex, the innkeeper's son on the Skyrim wiki and… he's kind of cute! Apparently you can marry him, but right now Nessa only has eyes for Arnbjorn, and Astrid, of course.