I lay in bed, drifting in the place between awake and asleep, and let the magic of the fade dance between my fingers. I am content in this moment, my body still drowsy with sleep, the feel of Iron Bull's muscled body flush against my back. His breaths are even and he hasn't moved his hand from my waist to my breast yet, so I can assume he's still asleep.

I smile. I wonder what my clan would think of their First falling in love with a Qunari. Not that it matters what they'd think. I am Bull's and he is mine. His Kadan to my Vhenan. And these mornings we have together before the rest of the world intrudes are my favorite part of the day.

"Lady Lavellan," calls Josephine, opening the door as she knocks on it, "are you awake?"

I take the energy I've been playing with in my hand and throw it at the door, shutting it again before she can step through.

Josephine lets out a sigh and I hear her footsteps retreating. "I'll take that as a yes."

Iron Bull chuckles, making the bed shake. "Nia, was that really necessary?"

I press back into him, eliminating any space that might have been between us. "Of course it was. Ever since that day on the ramparts Josephine has been trying to get a better look at what you keep in your trousers."

"Well, if she's really that curious," he says thoughtfully. I turn to glare at him and he chuckles. "I'm just kidding, Kadan. I'm in a committed relationship. No one for me but you." He takes my face in his hand and I lean into it.

The size difference might intimidate some- after all, his hand is the size of my head- but I've never feared Iron Bull. Not even when he ties me up. Especially not when he ties me up. Speaking of which...

"Well, now that we're both awake..." I trail off meaningfully.

He grins at me. "A woman after my own heart." Bull rolls my body beneath his, stretching my arms above my head towards our headboard and the ropes he keeps tied there. "Now, what do you say if you want me to stop?" he asks as he methodically ties the knots around my wrists.

I roll my eyes. In all our time together I've never used my watch word, yet he makes me say it every time before sex. "Katoh," I tell him, sounding bored.

"That's my girl," he says, pressing a kiss to my neck before double checking the ropes. They need to be tight enough to restrict my movement, but not uncomfortable, be able to be quickly released by Bull if I say Katoh, but strong enough that I can't struggle out of them in a moment of passion.

I pull against them when he's done, testing them myself. We don't use them all the time, but when we do I like to know they're secure. "You're going to have to try a lot harder if you want me to say that word for real."

Half his mouth turns up in a smug grin. "Good to know." He starts to suck on my ear and I moan.

I never thought I was the type to enjoy being tied up, but I was wrong. Bull told me at the beginning of all this that he'd never cause me pain without my permission, and while we've flirted with that line a time or two I prefer to keep it to biting and the like.

What it's really about, he told me, is control. Outside our room I'm in charge, I make all the decisions for the Inquisition and all it's members. I'm constantly in control. Here I'm not. I give that control to Bull, and it turned out to be just what I needed. Just like he said it would.

"I love it when we use the ropes," Bull growls against my skin, making his way down to my chest. "It pushes your tits up in the hottest way."

I arch my back, hoping it makes them look more tempting, trying to get him to touch them. "Like this?"

"Kadan," he warns.

"What?" I ask, going for innocent.

He's not buying it. "You are not in control here." In retribution he bypasses my breasts entirely and goes straight for my stomach, nipping at my hip as he passes it. He runs a hand down my side, sliding it beneath me and resting it on my ass.

His touch is warming me, bit by bit, from the inside out. He takes both his hands and runs them down the outside of each leg, then back up the inside, stopping less than an inch from my center. I let my body relax and enjoy the feel of his rough hands mapping it.

Bull notices the moment the tension leaves my body, when I give myself over to him, and nods approvingly. "Much better Kadan."

The endearment makes me smile. Kadan. My heart.

He rewards my show of trust by placing his hand firmly over my center, briefly dipping his finger inside me. I shiver.

"Cold, Aniah?" he asks teasingly. I shake my head emphatically. If he stops what he's doing to go find more blankets I think I'll die. He rolls his finger back and forth along my slit teasingly, barely touching me. "If you're sure, Kadan. I wouldn't want you to be uncomfortable." How he can manage to keep his tone of voice normal I'll never know, but the proof that he's not unaffected is pressing into my leg.

"I'm very comfortable," I say, aiming for the same tone of voice as he used and missing.

"I don't believe you," he says, shifting himself down the bed. "Let's see if a change in position helps."

He drapes my legs over his horns, opening me wide, and brings his mouth to my opening. He holds there for a minute, his warm breath making me squirm, before dragging his rough Qunari tongue from bottom to top.

I let out a moan and I can hear the smirk in his voice when he speaks. "Seems like you're already primed, Nia. You might even be wet enough to take me right now."

Despite his words he returns to what he was doing, alternating between long licks and short thrusts of his tongue. One of his hands snakes towards my breast, rolling the flesh before giving the nipple a sharp pinch. Bull is the master of this. He brings me to the brink several times but never lets me go over it.

"Dammit Bull!" I yell after he brings me back down for the fourth time, but he just laughs. If it was really too much for me, if I really didn't like it, we both know all I'd have to say is Katoh.

The fifth time he winds me up, when I finally think he's going to take me over the edge, there's another knock at the door. The curses that come pouring out of my mouth would put Sera to shame. When it's apparent I'm not going to be speaking nicely anytime soon, Iron Bull addresses the door.

He lifts his head from between my legs and calls, "This had better be important, otherwise Aniah's going to kill you."

I hear an embarrassed Cullen clear his throat. "Yes, well, that's why they sent me. They were hoping I could nullify her magic long enough to get a message through. There's a problem with one of our prisoners. Apparently the Orlesian nobility believe they have the right to free him. They're in the courtyard, demanding his release."

Bull pauses for a moment. "How much time can you buy us, Cullen?"

He seems flustered. "Uh... maybe 15 minutes?"

"Good," says Bull, turning his attention back to me. "We'll see you then." He kisses his way up my chest to my throat, leaving a noticeable love bite in a conspicuous spot. "I can't let you out of here after teasing you like that," he tells me, positioning his body over mine. "You'd be so on edge you'd use a fireball to take care of the problem."

He fits himself to me and starts to push in. No matter how well prepared I am it's always a stretch, Bull being huge everywhere, his shaft no exception. Sera asked me once how I could still walk afterwards. I laughed and told her creative stretches.

Bull's fully in me now and he holds himself still, his breathing slightly unsteady. "You doing okay, Kadan?"

I clench and release my muscles around him. "What do you think?"

He quirks a smile. "I think you should hold on tight, we don't have much time." He pulls almost completely out until only the tip remains and then slams back home. My back arches up off the bed. "You might have to make do with only one orgasm this morning."

He moves his hips in a figure 8, grinding his pubic bone against my clit. My breathing speeds up and I feel that rush of energy you get right before you come. He rolls his body over mine, moving in and out, in and out, until I crest and I'm screaming his name so loud the Orlesians can probably hear it in the courtyard.

He smirks at me as I start to come down. "Okay, maybe two." He uses his thumb to circle my clit and changes his thrust, going harder and faster until I'm pulling at the ropes with vigor and his head is thrown back on a silent scream. We tumble over the edge together and float back down to earth, neither of us eager to leave our shared embrace.

Bull undoes the knots with a quick flick and gives me one last kiss before sitting up on the side of the bed. He looks me over hungrily. "Meet me back here after lunch?" he asks with one brow raised.

I grin at him. "You bet your ass."