"Why are you grinning like that?"

"Just watching the coil tighten, Choir Boy. At some point you won't be able to just look at her."

"I'm not looking at her."

"Uh huh."

The mage chipped in. "Lying is a sin, Sebastian. You of all people."

His teeth gritted. "Maker's breath, I am not! Hawke is my friend and nothing more. I swore an oath to take no bride other than Andraste, and I would keep my word!"

"So you keep reminding us. Who are you kidding, man! We've seen this for years now."

"Enough, Varric!" The prince took off, picking up the pace as the dwarf chuckled. Anders shook his head and stared out into the sea below them as they kept trudging through the sand. When the pair finally caught up to Hawke, she was sorting through Tavarin Hall's merchandise and Sebastian had perched himself at the far end of the clearing with his back to them, fervently not looking at her while she shopped.

But when she cooed over a pair of boots and bent down to try them on, Anders and Varric watched Sebastian steal a glance out of his peripheral vision, his mouth parting slightly as her leather skirts revealed the back of her thighs. Varric smirked as he watched the prince turn to glare at Anders, who was unabashedly enjoying the same view.

"That's it, off with your shirt."

"How in the blighted Void did you do that? That's four in a row now!" Hawke flung her cards across the table and lifted the garment up over her head. It was the wrong night to forego the breast band.

"I still think the deck's stacked against me. Merrill hasn't even lost her scarf yet and I know I'm the better player."

"Oh, maybe it's just a stroke of bad luck," Isabella mused as she twirled the thin shirt in the air. A knock came at the door to Varric's suite. "Speaking of stroking, and luck-"

"The Chantry would thank you for the medical supplies you donated, Isa-" Hawke whirled her head around to find Sebastian fiercely clutching the doorknob, bright blue eyes wide and fixed on her bare back and shoulders. "Oh, Maker," his eyes squinted shut as he spun around to face the wall. "I-shouldn't of come, I'll see you later." And the door slammed behind him.

Varric muttered under his breath and handed a sovereign over to Isabella, who was glowing with pride. "Not even over the threshold. Dammit, Rivaini."

Hawke's luck suddenly returned in the next rounds, and she managed to get back all her clothes and daggers.

Warm lips nibbled at his earlobe before trailing down the side of his neck and onto the top of his shoulder. Goosebumps followed their path down his drawing arm to his calloused fingers and back up to his chest, and a small nibble on his pectoral made him gasp in delight.

He brought his hands up to run through her short black hair and eased her face up to see her green eyes smoulder at him for a moment before she returned to her task. He purred lightly as he felt her tongue swirl around his navel and then her nose was buried in the copper curls right above his swelling pride. He would not, could not stop her-he yearned to feel her wet mouth around him, anticipating the hot, wet fire that would engulf him and swallow him. And when she did, all he could say was her name.

"Marian."

Bolting upright, Sebastian woke with a start and coughed on what felt like a long moan. He forced his eyes to focus, and once he established that he was still in his own bed in the Chantry dormitory, the tension in his shoulders eased a little.

But then he shivered from a breeze, and groaned as he realized he was sweating and his hand was wrapped around the base of a painfully strong erection.

Not again.

He threw himself back into the bedding and tried to ignore his aroused state, but no sooner did he close his eyes did he see her there and feel her small hand over his, eager to claim his pleasure. Sebastian buried his face into the crook of his other arm, ashamed of what was to follow. In his mind's eye she watched him, helped him stroke himself to completion and moaned his name when he ascended, and licked him clean.

He strained to stay awake, afraid to dream of her again.

Groaning in irritation, Sebastian tore the ruined parchment in half and crumpled the evidence of his mistake before throwing it to the other side of the room. Just as he was about to hurl the other piece, the door opened and the Grand Cleric of the Chantry of Kirkwall instinctively held her hands up-in surrender or to catch the ball, he wasn't sure.

He had to be a frightening sight, he thought. The lack of sleep was taking its toll on his face and his temper, and now he couldn't even copy a page from a manuscript. "Forgive me, your Grace. I did not mean to alarm you." He sat up as straight as he could, and fought to calm himself.

"Sebastian, my child. Something vexes you. Something very grave." Elthina gently stepped towards him. Her soft gray eyes seemed to bore through him, and then he was slumped over the desk again, his face buried in his hands. He did not know he was shaking until her gentle hand smoothed over his hair. She searched for the right verse.

"Though all before me is shadow, yet shall the Maker be my guide. I shall not be left to wander the drifting roads of the Beyond. For there is no darkness in the Maker's Light and nothing that He has wrought shall be lost." Her voice was soothing, and Sebastian breathed deeply, taking solace in her recitation.

"Do you want to talk about it?" He was still focused on his breathing, but Elthina took his lack of immediate response as an affirmative. "I could hear your penance once the penitent go home."

Sebastian looked up at her and slowly nodded, his brow crinkled in pain and hope. He would have a few hours to compose his thoughts.

"You look troubled, Sebastian."

"Am I so easy to read these days, Fenris? I cannot tell you how many times people tell me this." And now he heard it from his closest friend.

"Then maybe you should heed them."

Instinctively, Sebastian ran a hand through his hair as he sighed at the elf, whose white bangs always fell to hide some of his green eyes. Her eyes are greener, even more than the grass in Starkhaven.

"I think you're right." He nodded politely to a pair of city guards as they patrolled past the Lowtown alley. "Elthina's offered to hear my confession this evening. I should have asked for it sooner. Perhaps you should-"

"Take care of yourself first, friend. Try to convert me later. And after you've gotten some sleep," Fenris smirked. He knew him too well sometimes.

"... Aye."

From a distance, the Chantry bell tolled, marking the hour. Sebastian took a deep breath and headed back to Hightown, walking right past the door and the two rogues behind it. When they heard his Starkhaven brogue, they held their breath and listened, watching for Fenris and him to pass.

"Ooh, Varric," Isabella purred, "let's do something fun."