Sunlight shone whitely along the parchment-pale ridge of his shoulder and turned his eyelashes into needles of thin-spun gold. In sleep, his face lost its usual worried expression, though the care-lines remained. Marian had come in to rouse him so he could accompany her to the Viscount's Keep but she changed her mind as soon as she saw him. Blissful sleep was not something Anders often enjoyed. She tip-toed across the room to draw the curtains more closely. He would have forgotten about her plans to visit Aveline anyway.
"Mrgh..." he mumbled as the shadows crossed his face, but he did not wake. Marian was grateful. He had stayed late at the clinic, only coming home as the first birds began to chirp. He needed more sleep. A soft tap on the door startled them both.
"Master Varric is here to see you," Bodahn's obsequious voice informed her through the closed door at the same time as Anders's anguished "NO!" belied the dreamless rest she had assumed that he was having.
Ignoring Bodahn, she went to Anders. He had thrown himself across her side of the bed and was digging frantically through the bedding as if she were lost in it somewhere.
"I'm here, love," she reassured him, sitting down on the edge of the bed. He threw his arms around her waist and pulled her down on top of him.
"Thank the Maker!" he groaned, clinging to her.
"Where else would I be?" she teased, blushing to think that she had considered leaving him to his own devices for the afternoon not a moment before. She swatted him gently as his panic subsided and his embrace became more amorous. His breath was hot on her neck as he nuzzled her.
"I'd rather you were here!" he purred, wrestling her onto her back and thrusting his torso between her knees. His tackle would probably have been more effective had she not been fully dressed, but there was no mistaking his enthusiasm.
"Andraste's ass, I didn't need to see that!" Varric protested from the doorway.
Marian scrambled for a blanket to throw over Anders's naked backside but the bedding was too tangled in their limbs. She only managed to elbow Anders in the ear.
"Don't you knock?" Anders complained, tugging on the blanket with no more success.
"I'll just wait in the hall," Varric offered.
"Well, that was awkward," Anders grumbled as soon as the door closed behind the retreating dwarf.
"Just think how epic your butt will be once Varric gets done with his embellishment." Now that they were alone again, Marian could only laugh at Anders's embarrassment. And really, they had only themselves to blame. Bodahn had announced their guest. It was not Varric's fault that she allowed the distraction of Anders's kisses at that particular moment.
"It's not my butt I'm worried about," Anders sighed.
"'I'm telling you, Rivaini, it was this big'?" Marian growled in imitation of Varric's joking banter.
"Well, she has had hundreds of those in her hands, too, I suppose," he said, smiling. That smile made it all worthwhile. How seldom she saw it, especially now.
"Poor Varric," Marian chuckled, struggling out from under Anders to try to find him something to wear. "He'll be scarred for life."
"Oh, that makes me feel much better," Anders replied sarcastically, swinging his legs over the side of the bed. "You're up early."
"It isn't early," she reminded him as she picked through the clothing Anders had flung around the room. "I was going to go see Aveline, remember?"
"Why?" Anders asked, his face darkening. Marian had hoped that his love for her might soften his animosity toward her friend Aveline, but it had not happened yet. It probably never would, but she had to hope.
"She's my friend," Marian replied patiently. "And the walk would do you good. You're looking peaky. Too much Darktown chokedamp, I think."
Anders harumphed something that might have been consent and started poking through clothing himself. He picked up a shirt, sniffed it, made a face, and tossed it in a corner. "Have you seen my clean shirt?"
"If you would pick a spot to throw your dirty clothes instead of walking through the house like a slow-moving textile explosion, Bodahn would have an easier time telling the clean from the dirty."
"He has a sense of smell, doesn't he?" Anders said, refusing to take the bait. He knew that his habit of shedding clothing all the way to the bedroom annoyed her but he could not seem to break himself of the habit. Even after he absentmindedly took his shirt off in front of her mother.
"Would you put one of your socks up to your nose without knowing how clean it was?" she countered.
"Good point," he conceded. "Can I wear this again, do you think?"
"You'll have to," Marian sighed, wondering for at least the twentieth time how her lover had managed to dress himself in the three years between his arrival in Kirkwall and his move to Hightown. "I'll have Sandal collect whatever you aren't wearing and send it to the laundry."
By the time Anders was washed and dressed, Isabela had arrived. She and Varric were surreptitiously reading her mail and gossiping. Both burst out laughing upon seeing Anders.
"We were just talking about you!" Isabela chortled.
"You should have seen it, Rivaini," Varric grinned. "White as a maiden's bosom! And bald as the Vicount's skull, I'm telling you."
"I've seen it," Isabela quipped.
"Maker's breath, Rivaini, is there anyone you haven't slept with?"
"Hawke, unfortunately," Isabela pouted.
"She's taken," Anders protested with endearing jealousy.
"I know," she sighed with mock regret. "You could share, but no! You keep her all for yourself. We'll just have to talk about your ass some more, I guess. Did it glisten, Varric?"
"Like two moons on the horizon."
"I like glisteny," Isabela smiled wickedly.
Marian turned abruptly and walked over to the window, her fists clenched. Anders was as devoted a lover as she could wish, but it was hard not to resent the carefree... whatever it was... that he had shared with Isabela that night in Denerim. Isabela knew Anders before he came to Kirkwall. She knew him... before. She had been with him when he was happy and uninhibited. He would never be like that again. He was passionate enough in his way, and he tried earnestly to please her, but Marian knew he was holding back. He would never titillate her with electricity the way he had once pleasured Isabela. Since his... accident... with Ella, he had been afraid to use his powers for anything that was not an absolute necessity. But it went deeper than that. He could never completely relax, and that was never more obvious than when they made love. Still, Marian could not hate Isabela for her long-past romp with Anders. What they shared was lust. What Marian and Anders shared was love, and Marian would not trade that for all the toe-curling in Thedas. Besides, living with Justice had taught Anders worlds about control.
A scruffy cheek against her neck brought her back to the present.
"Come on, love," Anders said gently. "Let's go see Aveline."
He always knew.