It was late when we crept back into the inn, maybe past midnight. There were still a handful of others quietly trading conversation around the fireplace, but that was it.

  I noticed Delphine had vanished as well when Skadi dragged me inside the room.

  She wasted no time falling back on the fat bed and making a happy sound. "Worth a few more septims, isn't it?"

  I didn't mind having to snuggle up under a cloak with her, but the actual sleeping on the ground part of it? Yeah, I wasn't going to try and pretend that didn't that suck. Especially since a pebble kept finding its way under me somehow…

  "I didn't think a Nord would have such expensive tastes." It was almost uncanny how comfortable we were around one another now. Made it hard to remember that she was the very essence of a murderhobo, especially when she smiled at me like that.

  "We Nords can enjoy the finer things in life as well," she argued, another soft sigh leaving her lips as she tangled her fingers in the sheets. "Now be a man and undress me."

  I might have been tired and sore myself, but somehow I found the motivation to lend her a helping hand.

  Although now that I was taking my time, I couldn't help noticing some of her scars. They only supported her whole vibe though, and soon all that was adorning her was her scars and the woad.

  The way she proceeded to stretch out on the bed was obviously calculated, designed to draw me closer to her like a moth to a flame. Or more likely I was just being overly dramatic.

  "And how well did I do?" I finally asked.

  Skadi looked at her nails. "I'm still deciding."

  "Is this where you cruelly reveal I have to beat you first?" That's usually how it went.

  She snorted. "That would be the same as never." She said it so matter of fact, too.

  Hmph. "Pride goes before a fall," I told her. Intellectually, I knew that if it felt like a Herculean task now that it would be something of a comedy once she figured out how to shout someone into the stratosphere.

  Though the irreverent way she raised her brow told me that she probably didn't see humility as a virtue.

  "I think it's my turn to have a look at you," she said instead.

  The hungry way she was looking at me now… yeah, never had a girl look at me quite like that. I wasn't sure whether to put it down as her being a Nord or her being a dragon.

  Either way, I was going to fight fire with fire. "Come return the favor then."

  It didn't even get a blush from her as she quickly stood, stalking forward in all her glory.

  I didn't begrudge her lingering on my muscles as she went about it, but… hm. I really was more fit than I remembered, and it had only been a few days…

  I groaned suddenly as her hand found a good grip on a certain something. "I've half a thought to throw you on the bed and ride you until my hips give out," she husked. I didn't comment that my own hips would probably have turned to dust first. "And yet, you did impress me." Her eyes were somehow intense and playful at the same time." How do you want me?"

  How didn't I want her? Though I should be smart about this if I wanted to be able to stand tomorrow…

  "On your belly?"

  "You don't sound too sure," she teased, hand still toying with a part of me that was as hard as rebar now.

  "How else am I going to pull on your hair again?" Smooth.

  Her very blue eyes flashed, but she was true to her word, lying down on her belly, her strawberry blonde hair spreading out behind her.

  My fingers twitched nervously as I stared. I didn't want to fuck this up, but how much more of an invitation could she give me?

  I stirred myself closer, gently shifting her hair to the side to get a better look. Her body really was a work of art.

  I told her as much.

  "Trying to butter me up?" The smug way she said it told me she liked it.

  My eyes were dragged lower to two ivory cheeks, one of my hands making the journey south to sink into one of them. I could feel the muscle as she flexed instinctively, but there was still plenty of give. I could tell that much by giving them another swat, watching the wobble with a dumb smile.

  I could see her watching me out of the corner of her eyes as she hugged a pillow to herself.

  My everything was telling me to get on with it now, but I didn't want to rush when I didn't need to. I wanted to savor it, savor her. I'd been thinking about it since I first saw her.

  I saw goosebumps appear as I lightly trailed my fingers down across her cheeks and the back of her thighs. There was just so much of her.

  Skadi hummed under her breath as I spread her slightly, seeing the wetness there. She proceeded to shift her long legs apart as my hand finally cupped her pussy.

  I was going to see if I could make her cum her brains out.

  "Are you going to keep teasing me?" she huffed out. "Get that thing between your legs inside me."

  "Trust in the process," I told her. She then gasped as two of my fingers penetrated her, how hot and wet and tight she was already testing my patience.

  Though with her physique, I shouldn't be surprised that it would be a tight fit. She could crush a watermelon between her thighs as easy as she breathed.

  I found a nice rhythm quickly, a sloppy schlicking sound that was joined by her breathy gasps and groans. After that, I leveraged my other hand under her belly, my fingers tangling in her bush. Then I found her button and applied just the right amount of pressure.

  The way she somehow tightened up even more told me a few things, namely to keep going.

  Soon she started squirming, her legs thumping on the bed as she buried her face in her pillow, cheeks and neck flushed red. She was close.

  Finally, I heard the pillow she had been womanhandling tear slightly as she came, and a few colorful words followed as she rode it out. Getting a girl like her to fall apart was exactly as fun as I hoped.

  As her breathing settled, I pulled back my slick fingers. "I see you liked it."

  Skadi turned her head to the side again, her cheeks still flushed an attractive red. "I think you'll be doing that every night," she informed me.

  "Every night? A bit greedy, no?"

  "I deserve it," she argued.

  I couldn't help a chuckle at her ego.

  She stirred slightly as I straddled her hefty thighs, feeling something like a mountaineer. I was too pent up to tease her, so I just lined myself up with her pussy, feeling the slickness gracing the tip, and pushed.

  "Aghhh…" she breathed out. "Finally."

  I gathered her long hair together and gave it a tug just like I said I would, drawing a funny sound from her. Though maybe I should have waited as she tightened up so much that I got stuck at the halfway mark.

  When she relaxed, I wrapped my other arm around her belly for leverage and slammed my hips forward, quickly meeting her cheeks with a satisfying thwack.

  "Ooo…" She rolled her own hips slightly, her pussy trying to strangle the life right out of me.

  I would not be so easily beaten, so pushing my muscles to their limit, I started rocking myself in and out of her, those sloppy sounds making a comeback as I leveraged my hand under her toy with her button again.

  I loved the sounds that left her other lips just as much, all of them from the bottom of her throat. I made sure to give her makeshift ponytail a good pull every few strokes to encourage her, trying to lay claim to every part of her.

  That's around the time I noticed something stranger, my body churning and changing to fill more of her, or trying to.

  There was something holding it together, and maybe that was a good thing. Somehow I doubted she would appreciate me turning into Cthulhu on her mid act.

  When I felt her bringing her legs back together, I knew it was over. I was already on the brink, and her suddenly becoming even tighter…

  There was still a thought in the back of my head about the lack of protection, but she obviously knew that as well and still let me.

  "I feel it twitching," she groaned out, the pillow in her hands pulling apart at the seams.

  The giantess huffing and puffing under me wasn't wrong. At my limit, I buried myself inside her completely and probably made some very stupid sounds as I emptied my balls.

  Which was quite a bit, as she soon informed me.

  Seriously, even if this was a dream, why the fuck would I want to wake up now? This was so much more satisfying than the daily grind. I could stay like this forever, balls-deep in the perfect girl.

  "In the mornings also, I think," I heard her mumble as she squirmed underneath me.

  I sighed as I pulled out messily and fell on my back. She turned on her side to watch me, one of her hands going between her legs to take a peek at all the white I left in her.

  "It's a good thing I bought some herbs to deal with that as well," she continued. Her eyes caught on my deeply satisfied member. "Though I could still do with a ride."

  "You're insatiable," I accused.

  "I always had a healthy appetite." Her nails trailed down my belly. "You'll like it. I'll do all the work."

  My hand moved to heft one of her tits. "Drape them on my face. That might do the trick."

  I was half joking, but then she went and did just that, mounting me and dropping them on my face. Then she reverse motorboated me for good measure. Yeah, this was the life.

  It wasn't long until she had me standing at attention again, poking between her blonde curls.

  Skadi gave a happy hum when she noticed, retreating and lifting herself up using only her thighs. And then the drop. It was so sudden and hit with such meaty force that the bed creaked and a grunt was forced out of me.

  Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.

  She was fucking heavy. That wasn't me complaining either, but a statement of fact.

  I watched it all almost like a trainwreck as she dropped again and again and again, each time making the poor bed beneath us creak and groan louder than either of us. And then she sped up, intent on milking another load with her vice of a pussy.

  It was at the same time one of the hottest and scariest experiences of my life. I prayed for my hips.

  The inevitable inevitably happened, that being the bed's supports giving one final creaking groan before they collapsed, taking us both down with them. This girl…

  Still, she seemed happy despite the state of the bed, giggling like a schoolgirl again and leaning in to kiss me. She then decided I should be the big spoon tonight, wrapping my arm around her and nestling what was left of my masculine pride between her cheeks.

  It was nice, but if she really expected this morning and night, I was going to need more potions. Or maybe heading back to the Riverwood Trader and grabbing every bracelet they had.

  Exhausted, I slowly felt the Sandman's pull, but this time whatever delay or transition never happened.

  One moment I was contemplating the weakness of the flesh, and the next I had no flesh, all the tired satisfaction sucked out of me. There was only the tower.

  I wasn't really sure what to make of it all. Not clueless, I had even read something of a certain someone's LSD-fueled ramblings, and supposedly everything was actually a dream in a similar vein to the Blind Idiot God, Azathoth. Or in this case, the Godhead.

  If I took that at face value, I would be a dreamer in a dream… that was dreaming. Assuming this even counted as dreaming…

  Anyway, continuing with that thought, this was Oblivion, the rainbow all around the edges was Aetherius, and that shifting dragon vaguely around the center was probably Akatosh. It's the tower I was stumped on.

  There were towers that supposedly helped keep things stable on Mundus, but that was Mundus. Mundus being where I was currently in bed with a cleverly disguised dragon, which would make her related to Akatosh or a part of Akatosh or whatever.

  With no idea what the tower was doing, and even less idea about what I was doing here, I was stumped. There was also the whole giving a Daedric Prince the ick, conjuring a crime against nature, and the list went on.

  I was sure there was a fascinating explanation for all of it, but right now it was just a drag thinking myself in circles.

  I could go bug another Daedric Prince about it, maybe, but that might just come across as picking a fight with how unhinged most of them were…

  And so, having cleverly convinced myself into doing nothing, I waited to wake up next to Skadi again. I might still be figuring her out, but fighting, fooling around, banter, that all made sense to me.

  When it did happen, there again wasn't anything to mark the transition. Even more creepy was that I could still see the tower and hear the sound if I so much as thought about it. So I didn't.

  Instead I focused on not sneezing as her hair tickled my nose, not wanting to wake her up with how cutely she was snoring. It also let me just enjoy the atmosphere for a time, my fingers softly tickling her belly.

  That might have been what woke her up in the end, as she caught my hand and interlocked our fingers. It was pure bliss.

  Turning around after a time, the unhappy creaking must have reminded her what she did to Bed-kun. Left him in ruins.

  "We will make our escape early," she whispered. "A few septims extra for the bed should do it."

  "What, don't want to tell the story of Skadi, Breaker of Beds?" She certainly hadn't been shy about sharing more grisly stories earlier.

  "It's not a story worth telling if it wasn't done with intention!"

  I nodded sagely. "I see. You'll have to do it on purpose next time."

  She decided to shut me up with a kiss, but my work was already done. I watched her stand after, the sunlight streaming in from the window dancing across her form.

  She hummed as she looked herself over, and then she retrieved that bowl again from somewhere. She held it out to me. "Your monster made a mess."

  I gave a lazy smile from the bed. "You might pick up a bad habit if I keep doing it." The pout she gave me… well, I had to after that.

  As I went about applying the woad over the parts that seemed to have faded again, I couldn't help some curiosity.

  "How does it work?"

  A sly smile showed on her lips as she threw my words back at me. "A Nord never reveals her secrets." I tried a pout of my own, but she stood firm in its face. "Maybe I'll show you one day if you keep being such a good man."

  It was an acceptable consolation prize, I decided. The compliment was also appreciated.

  After we finished our respective morning rituals, we left the room, more than a few eyes turning in our direction. Skadi just drank it all in as she left some septims on the counter and sauntered outside.

  Then she paused, giving a shifty look around Riverwood. "Ralof had said…"

  Her eyes flickered to me expectantly until I pointed out the right home. "That one."

  "Yes, that one. It might be too late to break our fast with them, but it's not noon yet."

  And that was true enough as someone who could only be Ralof's sister greeted us at the door, and then Ralof himself, and soon enough it turned into a whole thing. While they already had breakfast, they still had some leftovers that we devoured.

  "Sleep well?" Ralof asked as he watched us.

  "Like a babe," she commented. The funny smile the Stormcloak was sporting at her words helped me notice that Skadi was positively glowing.

  Seeing it probably put an equally dumb smile on my lips as I scarfed down eggs and some kind of very funky cheese.

  Ralof soon dropped two pouches on the table that clinked with coins. "Your share."

  She quickly spirited hers away, happy as a bee, and I followed her example. There should be no shortage of ways to spend it when we got to Whiterun.

  "No Imperials have come by either," Ralof continued with a small frown. "There may not be anything of Helgen left…"

  That seemed to dim the good mood somewhat, but Skadi quickly rallied. "We've sent the dragons packing once before. We can do it again."

  He gave a soft sigh. "I hope you're right."

  I left them for a bit to collect my cloak from Camilla, which really helped complete the Conan the Barbarian vibe. And when we later all stood on the main road, I felt the wind washing over me without even a shiver. I had conquered Skyrim's weather like I had conquered a certain beauty.

  "Talos be with you," Ralof said as he looked somewhere over yonder.

  "You'll be cutting through the mountains?"

  "Aye. Quicker to Windhelm that way. Soon all of Skyrim will know what's happened."

  Skadi nodded. "Safe travels, Ralof."

  I said my farewells as well, and the last I saw of him was a smile.

  We soon continued down the road. With how heavy my pack was, I decided I would eat a few more books tonight. And yeah, eat, because I certainly wasn't reading them.

  Made me wonder what else I could eat. Actually, no, that's a slippery slope to go down.

  "Have any stories, Russ?"

  "Stories?" It's not like I'd been at the murderhobo thing long. "Well, maybe some from… from where I learned magic. It would probably bore you to tears."

  "I'll be the judge of that."

  I slowly went about telling her some (only slightly modified) stories from my college days. Maybe I wasn't half bad at it since she was actually smiling, and even making oohs and ahhs as I rambled.

  Then she launched into some more stories of her own, all of them the very essence of a murderhobo, but that was just how she was. After that we played a few word games, which again left me wondering what language we were actually speaking here. I didn't think it was English since when I tried to say some (very technical) words, it just came out a garbled mess.

  Unsurprisingly that question ended up in the growing pile of unanswered questions I had placed in the corner. It might turn into a mountain if I wasn't careful.

  I also quickly learned when we made camp that she was very serious about it being a nightly thing, even if the morning part had been an exaggeration. Being able to put myself back together with some shiny hands had probably saved me from the life of a cripple after a few days, but it hadn't been without cost. To the point where I was beginning to wonder if there was a way to speed up how much magicka I was able to replenish passively.

  While I didn't figure it out despite some time spent experimenting, I did figure out that much of the magicka I could grasp was going into giving me form and substance as a certain Daedric Prince had called it. It was why I was so quick to feel myself being hollowed out when I tried to use that magicka for anything else.

  More importantly, I had figured out how to conjure (or summon) a Flame Atronach around the same time. Well, not only a Flame Atronach, technically, but I knew my priorities. The sudden clusterfuck of a headache had been worth it.

  It was around the time that we rounded the river and turned west that Skadi had suddenly paused, and it wasn't hard to guess why. There were three figures on the road ahead of us, and the black robes two of them were rocking were a dead giveaway. The last was what looked like a tiny Argonian trailing after them in chains.

  "Thalmor," Skadi hissed.

  I could see it in her everything. She was going to pick a fight, and I was going along for the ride.