The Blood Of The Wolf

Chapter Twenty Seven

"Looks like you've healed up nicely and i bet you're glad to be going home to that wolf of yours." Brynjolf smirked as they led their horses up the path to Whiterun. Brynjolf was heading down to check on a meadery near the town for Maven Blackbriar. Incriminating the previous owner was one of the things Maris had even done for Maven and the guild.
"Oh shut up Bryn!" Maris hissed.
"C'mon lass, it's quite obvious that your smitten with each other." Brynjolf stated.
"I don't know what you're talking about or where you got such idiotic notions." Maris snapped.
"If that had been any other person, you'd have drawn and quartered them just for stepping into Riften in a way you didn't like. Instead you grant him safe passage and to top it off, make him a safe mark." Brynjolf exclaimed. "You must see it!"
"Even if i were in love with that stupid mutt he wouldn't feel the same!" Maris yelled. "He's a companion, i'm an assassin. Those things don't exactly work well."
"Does that really matter? Does any difference really matter when you're in love with someone? Arn't I evidence that passions can be swayed in completely unexpected ways? I mean Nejir, he was the leader of our competitors for years, doesn't that mean I should hate him?"
Maris just grumbled and tethered shadowmere in the stables.
"You might be pleasantly surprised about how he feels towards you Maris. It's a pretty easy thing to see when you're on the outside looking in." Brynjolf added.
"Fine then, I'll admit it to him! I'll confess it only to prove that a companion can not fall in love with a monster!" Maris snarled.
" And I wish you the best of luck lass." Brynjolf smiled.

Maris stormed up the stairs to the mead hall, her black cloak flowing furiously behind her. Stupid Brynjolf always manipulating her. She knew he planned it and it annoyed her that she went along with it. Stupid her for believing a word that nightingale said and for still doing what he planned. Stupid Vilkas for making her fall in love with him. She shouldn't but she couldn't help it and that irritated her more then anything. She want in control if herself and that was a bad place for an assassin and a guild master to be. She swung the door to the mead hall wide... nothing could have prepared her for what she had seen. All of that anger and bravado had frozen and shattered, leaving her just completely shocked. She felt her heart break in two and the pain stab into her chest. Alaris wad lent against Vilkas, their lips together and him holding her tightly. At the sound of the door opening  they both looked up. Vilkas' eyes widened in surprise.
" Maris?..." He spluttered. He looked to Alaris them back to Maris but she had already disappeared.
"You really do have to ruin everything!" Vilkas growled at Alaris.
She simply smirked. " Ah, and my timing is always impeccable. Vilkas followed Maris out of jorvaskr but she was gone as if she had been carried away by the wind. He groaned and looked around. Where could she have gone? Suddenly a thought ran through his head and he new just were to go.

Maris pulled her knees up to her chest, keeping her hood down over her eyes to shield her from the burning sun. She was on a ledge of rock in the hills beside Whiterun. She didn't know what made her go there, it was just were she had ended up... and where someone unwanted had ended up as well. Maris heard footsteps and felt someone's presence behind her.
"Are you mad at me?" Vilkas asked. Maris didn't look.
"No." She said emotionless.
"Well i can explain..." Vilkas muttered.
"I already told you, I don't care. I just wish you would tell me these things." Maris said blankly.
"But it isn't like that." Vilkas growled.
"Why not, you make such a cute pair. Your perfect for each other." She muttered, almost roboticly.
"Because I'm not in love with her." Vilkas stated.
"Then why we're you kissing her then!" Maris yelled suddenly, turning to face him, her eyes angry and deep violate. The sudden burst of anger caused Vilkas' hair to stand on end.
"it's... complicated." He sighed.
"When is it not with you?" Maris hissed, turning back and crossing her arms.
"I didn't know it was Alaris! She was using Magic to make herself look like someone else!" Vilkas exclaimed.
"There is no spell like that. You can change hair and eyes and skin tones but you can't change body type of facial features!" She hissed.
"Well...." Vilkas spluttered. "She certainly used magic to look like someone else!"
"Do you even hear me at all... I don't care if you are in love with Alaris or not.  You may have thought it was someone else but you still never told me you were in love with anyone. I though we were friends... don't you trust me?" She asked.
"I will always trust you." Vilkas said sitting beside her.
" So who is it that you're so keen on that you were willing to kiss mu sister because they looked similar?" Maris asked.
"Just a girl, I don't know her name... its just someone that I've admired from afar for a very long time..." He muttered, knowing that if he came up with a name that Maris would find out that it want a real person. He was pretty sure she knew every one in skyrim and could find secrets and weaknesses for every single one.
"And how did you know I'd be up here, i didn't even know i was going to come up here." Maris said coldly.
"This is where you always used to go when your sad. I thought that this is just were you'd instinctively go, like why you had kept that book." Vilkas shrugged.
"Oh, so you know about that huh?" She mumbled.
Vilkas had forgotten that Maris didn't know that he had seen the book.  He mental scolded himself for being so careless.
"Honestly... It makes me feel allot better that you know so much about me... I've never had that with anyone... so... Thank you." She smiled
"What kind of shield brother would i be if if i didn't look out for my companions." Vilkas smirked. What would it take for him to actually admit to her that's he was in love with her... and that Alaris had actually made herself look like Maris... He knew there was something off about the kiss. It just didn't feel right... but his head was so numb that he couldn't even think about that at the time.