All Roads Lead To You (A Skyrim Romance Mod fanfic)

Chapter Fifty-Nine

It's been such a struggle to get any writing done this year. I've been working six days a week at my job and things have just been way too busy. I've been thinking a lot about this story in the past few months and I really want to make time to work on it. Unfortunately, I can't promise that my updates will be timely and for that, I'm very sorry. If anyone is still interested in reading, I'll be doing my best to update this as often as I can. Chapters might be sporadic for a while, but I'm not giving up until this story is finished! Thank you to everybody who commented, favorited, and followed. I appreciate you all so much!

        Later that evening, after a sparse meal of bread and baked potatoes, Aruna and Bishop retired to their room. Aruna sat on the edge of the bed and pulled off her boots as Bishop ignited a fire in the hearth. She set her boots aside and gazed at the intricate pattern in the woven rug between her feet, thinking. Somehow, she would find a way to get Sophia to her family safely, track down this Astrid woman, and get to Skyhaven Temple all within a reasonable time. She could always make up a story to explain her delay; she hated lying to Bishop, but she was truly afraid for him. The Dark Brotherhood was not like the Thieves Guild, which operated with at least some measure of honor. The Brotherhood was ruthless and without mercy, even for their own, apparently. They wouldn't think twice about killing Bishop if he got in their way. She couldn't even count on them keeping him alive to procure her cooperation...they just couldn't be trusted. She hoped that if she killed Astrid they would leave her alone, but she knew better.

       One thing at a time. First, find Astrid. Second, get answers. Third, find a way to eliminate the Brotherhood once and for all. They threatened far more people than just her and Bishop. She'd be doing Skyrim a favor.

         Part of her felt like a hypocrite for planning the eradication of the Brotherhood. After all, if she hadn't made her own attempt at taking a life when she was a child, they never would have come after her in the first place. She wondered how different her life would have been if she had never raised that dagger against Morand Falvenix. Would she have stayed at the farm? Married some boy her parents approved of and had children? Had a little house in the Imperial City? Would she have ever found her way back to Skyrim, her birthplace? Would she ever have known she was the Dragonborn? And what of Bishop? Would they ever have met, had she not put a dagger through the heart of a man all those years ago?

      Aruna shuddered at the memory. Even after all this time, and all the blood on her hands since, that first kill still made her feel cold and empty inside. It also still filled her with fear. A deep fear, which she'd never given voice to. That fear was bolstered by the way the Listener had doggedly tracked her all these years. The way that woman seemed to understand something about Aruna that Aruna herself denied even existed. And Aruna hated the Listener all the more for it.

      Bishop, satisfied with the size of the flames in the fireplace, stood up. Aruna watched as he tugged off his shirt and tossed it onto a chair. The orange glow from the fireplace outlined his smooth muscles and made his tan skin glow. He stretched and rubbed the back of his neck wearily. She felt a nearly overwhelming urge to go to him and run her hands over the bare skin of his back. To kiss him when he turned around before he could say a word. Undress him and pull him into bed. She wanted to be closer to him, as close as she could be. She wanted him more than she'd ever wanted any other man in her life.

      Instead, she slipped out of her leather pants and climbed into bed. There would be time, she told herself. They would make the time.

      A few minutes later, Bishop stretched out on the bed beside her. He wordlessly reached for her and she gladly moved into his space, resting her head on his chest as he wrapped an arm around her. She closed her eyes and let herself relax in his arms. They lay like that for a time, listening to the fire crackle and snap in the hearth, to the faint voices down in the tavern, to the wind blowing outside.