Author's Note: Was prompted for me forever ago for all of my OTPs to have weddings (Hawke/Merrill, Amell/Leliana, Trevelyan/Josephine). I did the other two as soon as the prompt came, but took a break and never got back to it till now. Sorry about that.
Also, I feel the need to credit my buddy Arzir with helping me on this. He basically wrote all of Cantis' speech to Josie, and helped me with a whole lot of this. Thank you!
If you wish to prompt me with anything, please feel free to leave a review, send me a PM, or search for greyassassin24 on Tumblr and click on the prompts tab.
"Josephine."
The words interrupted the utter silence of the darkness on a cold Skyhold night. Cantis had dragged Josephine off to bed early, away from the work that she spent entirely too much time working on, so that they could come and snuggle together under a small mountain of blankets. Cantis didn't enjoy sex, and Josephine found herself admitting to a very low libido, so they spent almost every night curled up to one another instead, without physical or emotional boundaries.
"Amore?" Josephine mumbled, prying her eyes open and meeting those dark grey depths of her one and only, who was gently caressing her side with his hands that were so amazingly soft, even after heaving his hand and a half blade around so many wars.
"I meant to ask," His voice was a soft murmur, reverent and quiet as he held the single most perfect woman in the whole of the world in his arms. "How busy are you going to be tomorrow?"
"I don't know." Josephine rolled over and onto her back from her side, laying on his chest, feeling the powerful heaving of his chest, strong but gentle arms enveloping her. "But I doubt no matter what I said, it would not deter you from attempting to steal me away."
Cantis gave a low, hearty chuckle, lifting a hand to touch Josephine's cheek. "No. No, it wouldn't." He leaned his head down, kissing her on the forehead. She gave a happy murmur, snuggling further into his embrace. "Do try not to get yourself embroiled in anything too serious, dear, because I'm going to take you for myself come dinner time."
Josephine giggled, reaching her arms over her head and touching his chest gently. "You know," She teased. "You do occasionally have to share me with the rest of the world."
"I know..." He complained with a laugh in his voice. "But I've a meeting in Val Royeaux tomorrow, and I thought a nice dinner in the gardens would be a nice way to wash the politics off." It was a lie, but a necessary one, and one that she wouldn't be lesser for. And he would indeed be in the capital tomorrow, but on business concerning her instead of nobility.
"You are meeting with nobility?" Josephine asked, raising an eyebrow at that. "Why didn't I hear about it?"
"I..." He swallowed, mind racing for an excuse around that. "Well, erm… it's just that… Sera has asked me to help her with her 'friends', and I have a feeling that what we're doing… isn't perfectly legal, is all."
"Oh." said Josephine, wrinkling her nose at that. "Well… do try not to get into too much trouble, would you?"
"I'll try." He laughed, relieved that Josephine had bought it. He had considered saying he was meeting with one of Varric's people, who was the Inquisition's temporary spymaster now that Leliana was the Divine of the Chantry, but Josephine knew too many of the agents from the Orlesian's work. "So how about it? For once I'm even telling you in advance so I don't just rip you out of another meeting."
"Oh, alright." Josephine giggle rolled over and kissing him gently. "You know that I can't refuse you, my dearest lord. You just stay safe, I'll make sure no one interrupts us after dinner."
"Good." He smiled, placing a hand over her heart and feeling the strong heartbeat that brought her life, and it excited him, to feel her life beating in his hands. Glancing down at her, his eyes shone with happiness, seeing her beautiful, restful face, with her eyes wonderfully fluttered shut as she lay in his arms, utterly trusting.
In that moment, he wondered how in the world he deserved such a gentle, loving woman in his life. What great deed he could have accomplished to have her be his. She was everything he had ever imagined a perfect woman to be: optimistic, compassionate, caring, intelligent and sweet. So very sweet. And, perhaps above all else, she refused to give in to the world's darkness. He had tried to resist his feelings, at first, knowing that the Inquisition was more important than any feelings he had towards her, but he had soon found himself in love with an intensity that it surprised even him.
And tomorrow, he would ask her to be his forever.
The next day, as evening set, Cantis returned from the capital. Sera had the most smug look on her face, having been dragged with him to keep the façade up. To keep her silence, he'd bought her anything she asked for, and so the two of them came back carrying two hats filled with apples, a shirt with a terrifying caricature of a goat on it, and a debt note promising a pair of Cullen's small clothes. He mournfully regretted not saying he was going with Varric, or Hawke, or practically anyone else in the whole of Skyhold.
But whatever price he paid, it was worth it. Because he had everything he would need for tonight. And Josie would never ask Sera what they had done.
He found Josephine at her usual desk, with two surprising visitors across from her: Leliana, wearing her Divine robes with the exception of that hideous hat, and her wife, the Hero of Ferelden, Marilina Amell.
"Amore!" Josephine smiled when she saw him, motioning him over. Leliana and Mara looked over as well, smiling at their old friend, pulling their chairs aside a little to allow him one beside. "Guess who stopped by for a surprise visit!"
"I see them." smiled Cantis, growing wider when Leliana gave him a knowing wink that Josephine couldn't see. "It's lovely to see you two ladies. Now that you're Divine, we never get drinks together anymore."
Leliana laughed. "I don't recall us ever getting drinks together, Inquisitor."
"I drank in your honour." He laughed. "So, anything particular bring you two up here? Or did you come all this way just to say hello?"
"Oh, you know us." Mara smiled at him with those perfect white teeth of hers. "We tend to just up and leave when the world needs us most."
They all laughed at that, remembering the Warden's absence during the actions of the Inquisition whole she searched to cure the Calling that plagued her. Now it was something that could be laughed at instead of feared, and that was wonderful.
"I swear the Grand Clerics would take my head for the last writ I passed." said Leliana. "I spent the last two days trying to convince them of why the canticle of Shartan should be in the Chant once more. I thought it best we come up here, with our friends, while they simmer over it."
"I see." He nodded with a smile, knowing that to be a half truth at the best. "Good luck. I much prefer your Chantry over the old."
After a moment of silence, Josephine spoke again. "My lord, while you're here, I should tell you: Lady Hawke and her wife, Merrill, came to Skyhold as well while you were gone." Cantis raised an eyebrow in faux surprise. "Said they were exploring the Dales this morning and thought they would stop by. Last I heard, the Iron Bull challenged her to a fight to, I quote 'See if he could have fucked an Arishok'."
He chuckled. "That does sound like him, alright. Let's just hope they don't rip each other to shreds." He quirked his head at her. "So, are we still on for tonight?"
Josephine giggled. "Of course, my love. I told you I wouldn't schedule anything in front of you."
"Ooh." teased Leliana, glancing girlish eyes over to her own lover. "I think we know what that means."
"Oh, do be quiet." chastised Josephine. "It's nothing like that. We just agreed to set aside some time after dinner for one another after so much work."
"I think we of all people could understand that." said Mara, elbowing Leliana in the ribs at that, remembering their days of the Blight. "Now, speaking of dinner, I am starving."
Dinner was absolutely lovely. Cantis had the cooks make an extra special meal for them, and it included all of her favourite foods: braided bread with garlic and chives inside, crostata with holly berries mixed in, filleted salmon, all alongside chocolate fondue with strawberries and tiramisù cake.
"My lord," Josephine whispered playfully into his ear as they brought out the deserts. "You are simply intent on absolutely destroying my figure, aren't you?"
"You are beautiful." He insisted, touching a hand to her thighs that had grown significantly ever since they had become a couple, having him spoil her rotten with food and gifts. "And you always will be, tesoro mio."
She giggled at his awful accent with the Antivan words of love on his lips. "You are a man after my own heart."
"And here I thought I had already won that in a duel." He smiled, moving his hand to hold hers gently in a loving gesture.
"That you did." She squeezed his hand, heart swelling with love and adoration. "But it seems you just love chasing it." With that, she leaned up and kissed him gently, warm heat jumping from her lips to his, met with cheers from those around them at the table.
That was, perhaps, the thing that she loved most about her Inquisitor: he accepted her, faults and all. All of her life she had been told that she wasn't enough: that she wasn't beautiful enough, that she wasn't distant enough, that she wasn't direct enough. That she was flawed. But he had told her once that love wasn't getting someone to change to be what you wanted. It was about recognizing that someone was so perfect in your eyes that you can't be parted, that they are a part of you, your heart. If you had to change them to love them, then you loved the idea behind the person, not the person themself.
And with that, Josephine ate as much of the mouth watering desserts as she pleased, knowing she wouldn't be judged, at least by anyone who mattered.
When she was full at last, Josephine relaxed back into her chair, eyes fluttering shut, groaning under the weight but giving the most priceless smile, relieved and blissful. These foods reminded her of home, and he knew just how much she adored them. And she gave a contented giggle when she felt his hand reach over to gently pat her full belly.
"Come with me." He whispered in her ear, and she shivered before nodding emphatically, opening her eyes as she was taken by the hand. She knew everyone was watching them skulk off together, but with a heart full on love for this man who took such care of her, who touched and held her with such reverence, as if unsure of his right to, she couldn't find a reason to care. Everyone knew that they were together, and she knew that none of them judged them for it. Not as if it mattered.
She soon found herself in their familiar gazebo out in the Skyhold gardens, her favourite spot in the whole of the castle, their spot, before he turned and grabbed her around the waist, kissing her hungrily. She returned it readily, the kiss passionate, hot, full of want. Her body responded instantly, giving a tremble under the touch of his lips. Her hand moved to his chest as she leaned in closer to him, unable to help herself for the moan that escaped her lips into his. She could hear his heart race as his hand moved to the back of her neck pulling me deep into his arms as if trying to squeeze the both of them into a single being. Lips melting, tongues discovering, loving each other.
Cantis pulled back for just a moment, whispering in her ear as his hands went up, to the ties in her hair. "May I…?"
Josephine nodded emphatically, and then her hair fell, tumbling down past her shoulders and into her eyes. He smiled, lifting a finger to push it aside, and she shivered when she saw the adoration in his stone grey eyes, the silliest smile on his lips.
"If this as what you wanted, my lord," She smiled, more than a little breathless. "Perhaps we should have taken to our room instead."
It excited him to hear her call it their room, making his heart beat and heat lick at his neck, encouraging him for what was coming. "This isn't all I wanted." He touched her cheek gingerly, making her gasp a little. "But it was definitely on the list."
Then he leaned in, kissing her once on either cheek, whispering in what little Antivan that he knew for his Josephine, before their lips met once more, her leg curling up in that adorable way that it did when they kissed. Or hugged. Or cuddled. The way it did when they were intimate in general.
But at last he pulled back reluctantly, much to her disapproval even though she understood that he had to breathe eventually. As he did, he looked at her with such love that it made her tremble and giggle, certain her knees would give out and betray her to the floor if he weren't holding her.
"You are beautiful." He whispered, and tears pricked at the side of her eyes in happiness. Before him, no one had ever called her beautiful except her parents. He looked up to the sunset behind them, orange and fiery as it went behind the purple mountains. The moon was rising, and the sun's light would be gone at any moment. Almost perfect. "Listen, I'm going to say a whole lot of things, and I want you just to listen. Don't say anything until I'm done, okay sweetie?" Josephine nodded understandingly, and listened. She was glad to listen no matter what they were talking about. It was probably his voice she first fell in love with. Quietly spoken. Reserved. Kind and considerate. She could listen for hours and hours to him talking about something as boring as battle formations. And in something as romantic as this place...
"Josephine… when I first saw you, I couldn't look away. I wished with all my heart you would be mine. Your sensuous red lips. Your exquisite smile that made my heart soar to the heavens. Everything about you, from your accent to the way you moved to what you said… It was perfect, you were perfect, you are perfect." He laid a hand on her cheek. "But I would look away when your eyes would meet mine, afraid that my heart would melt under your gaze, that I would simply stop breathing for having seen perfection. I never want to return to those lonely, distant days when I still haven't met you. If I were to live like that knowing you as I have now, I would be miserable, life would be insufferable. I was a child when I met you, in so many ways, and now you've made me a better man for having known you. It still amazes me how you continue to have that effect on me, to make my heart race every time you're near, every time you smile, to make me feel like I would simply stop breathing every time we kiss."
He took a deep, shuttering breath as she looked at him with wonder and amazement at how beautiful his words were, at how he made her feel so beautiful. "My love may be flawed, but that's because it's mine. I love you so, so much. I'm not a religious man, but I've been praying to have you by my side. Its your name that I whisper each night. It's you that's in my dreams when I sleep. Whatever created you in such beauty be my witness, but I know that I'm meant to be yours. My love may be flawed but that's because it's mine, and when I'm with you, you make me perfect, because I am yours. My heart aches when you're in pain, I live to make sure that you are comfortable, that you are taken care of, and I long to listen to your troubles, and I will never, ever leave you. That is a promise, Josephine. Even if I'll have to face every dragon, demon and everything else the Fade would throw at me, as long as I have you waiting for me... I can promise you that I can, and will, return to you."
There were tears in his eyes, rolling down his cheeks. She started to speak, but he let a finger over her lips, as he wasn't done saying what had to be said. "When I woke up in Haven, after the first time the Breach was closed, I was lost. How do you pick up the threads of an old life, torn to tatters? How was I supposed go on... when my life was blown to pieces in an explosion that tore the sky itself apart? But then I saw you, I saw your smile, and I knew. I didn't have to keep looking for what home was. I was home, in your smiles, in your eyes, in the way you giggle when I say the right thing. My love, you are my soul mate, my missing half. I know it. And I cannot always be torn in two. I want to be one and whole, and that means being with you. I need you, Josephine. If we are in a story, my story, your story, then I want us to be the ones together. Others will come and go in the telling, but I want our ending to be us walking into the sunset with our hands, and hearts, entwined."
With hands that could barely move when ordered, they were shaking so much, he pulled something from his pocket. The sun was almost gone. This was the point.
He held it up. It was a single, blue flower that was almost purple in it's depths, and it sparkled in the light. "I want you to have this." She took it with hands that shook as much as his. "It is called Moon's Blossom. It blooms whenever the moonlight touches it, and it never withers. I got it in Val Royeaux today, and I want you to put it on your desk so that when you stay up late at night doing your diplomatic work and I can't be there, that a part of me can still be by your side when you need me."
With shaking hands, she took it from him. It was utterly gorgeous, even closed, and it smelled amazing, like rain in the spring time, freshly fallen and simply sitting in her hands. She opened her mouth to thank him, but his fingers found her lips once more.
"Hold it in the moonlight."
She did as he ordered, just as the moonlight fell on them. When it felt the touch, the flower folded open slowly, falling out and into blooming.
And ontop of it, cradled in the petals, was a golden ring.
She looked at him, eyes shooting open, and he just smiled. "I think that the question is pretty obvious, but I'll say it anyway." Then he fell onto both knees, though if it was out of tradition or if they simply wouldn't hold him up any more, she couldn't tell.
"Josephine Cherette Montilyet, would you marry me?"
Josephine's jaw hung open, utterly shocked and stunned. She tried to speak, but her voice betrayed her, and only a shuttering gasp came to accompany the tears of joy on her cheeks.
And, on a balcony above them, all of Skyhold sat in bated breath. For the whole of his inner circle knew what he had planned to do, and had watched the whole of his speech. That was the real reason for Leliana, Mara, Hawke and Merrill's presence, and they watched now, waiting for her answer.
"Bet you ten royals she says yes." Varric said to Hawke quietly.
"I am not taking that bet." laughed Hawke, and both were shushed by Merrill, who was excitedly watching for the adorable pairing to commit.
"Yes! Yes, Yes! But can't get the words out." said Cole in that creepy tone he did whenever he saw into people's thoughts. "Oh no, he's staring. The words are there but why can't I say them? Maker, I might faint. I love him so much. Why can't I say it?"
"Way to just ruin the suspense." said Mara.
"That's alright, kid." Varric laughed. "I already rented the Villa for them."
"All of you!" Chastised Leliana. "Quiet!"
Josephine swallowed hard, and grasped his head in her hands, smiling widely as tears streamed down her face. "Sì!" She cried. "Sì, certo Cara Mia!"
He stood, grasping her in his arms and kissing her furiously, as if he had gone the whole of his life without air and was just taking his first breath with her. She had been in such shock that she hadn't realized she had stopped speaking in Ferelden, but he knew enough Antivan to know that she had said yes, and they were both crying in happiness as they clutched at one another, happier beyond their wildest dreams.
All above them shouted in delight, cheering them on as they embraced each other, no longer alone, and all were smiling widely except for Cassandra and Blackwall, who both had an unrequited interest in those who had just consummated, Cassandra for Cantis and Blackwall for Josephine. But they tried to be happy for their happiness, at the very least.
"Well then," Vivienne clapped for them, putting a hand on Cassandra and Sera's shoulders. "It seems we have to go shopping, my dears."
At that, Sera bolted, running back into the hallway behind them as fast as her feet would carry her. Cassandra looked to her, glanced once at Vivienne's smirking face, and followed suit, sprinting away.
"And we're," Bull said, throwing an arm around Cole, Blackwall, Varric, Cullen and Dorian. "Going to have the greatest Stag party in all of Thedas!"
"Stag party?" asked Cole. "I like Stags. They're pretty. They need to be in more stories."
"That's not quite what he means, kid."
Cullen tried to follow the women in their fleeing, but Bull's arms were long and he caught the poor commander around the arm, pulling him back.
"Not getting away that easily."
And in the gardens, Cantis finally released his new bride-to-be, looking at her with the greatest happiness she had ever seen in the whole of her life, happy to have found that good, sweet heart beneath his solemn face.
"I love you so much." He whispered, his normally stone cold grey eyes now soft as fog and sparkling like silver in the moonlight.
"I love you too, Amore. And do kiss me again."