EDIT: So sorry about the coding! I'm used to formatting for AoOO! Thank you for telling me! Expect more soon as an apology!
Cullen slumped up the many stairs to Sam's room, exhausted from filling out paperwork that Josephine demanded him to do in his office yet she insisted that he stay in her room. Something about having no roof over his head in a crumbling tower not being good for him? He digressed, he may have liked his room with his, limited amount of things, but he also liked his lover in his arms.
Cullen carefully pushed the heavy wooden door open and closed it behind him and tiptoed, as much as one could tiptoe in iron plates, to the edge of his lover's bed. He felt a smile creep up on him when he saw the serenity in his love's sleeping face, one of Varric's books resting on her chest. He removed his coat and began to undress himself. The fire in the room crackled as it was reduced to a small flame and a few burning embers, Cullen laid his armour on the chair carefully while he breathed out through chapped lips. He rubbed the back of his neck and blew out the candle on her bedside.
As he pulled the blankets back and began to nestle in beside the small dark haired elf. He took the book from her hand and placed it on the floor beside him, letting it drop with a thunk as he wrapped himself up in her arms.
"There you are." She smiled through hazy green eyes and pressed herself against his chest, he silently thanked Josephine for suggesting silk nightgowns. Yawning, he kissed the top of her hair and held her close to him as she drew circles in his back.
"Good night my darling." The elf in his arms snuggled closer into his warmth as the thick blanket slid away. Cullen tucked his chin into her short messy brown hair.
"Good night ma vhenan" Cullen's face warmed as the softness of her voice made him want to hold more and more of her. He closed his eyes and began to think of nothing but holding her.
As he held her in sleep he couldn't help but notice how perfectly his muscular arms fit around her thin waist. He smiled, for once he was able to think clearly and he felt he owed that to her. She gave him the strength he needed and with her to encourage him he felt as if he could fly. Listening to her breathe gently into his chest he felt the exhaustion of the day catch up with him and smiled himself to sleep.
"INQUISITOR! I JUST FOUND THE MOST AMAZING BOOK!" Cullen startled himself awake as his eyes darted open, Sam sat up straight away, knocking Cullen in the chin with her elbow. Dorian had slammed the heavy door leading into the room open, not only letting himself in, but also the cold that came from below.
"Oh ma vhenan! I am so sorry." Sam tentatively touched Cullen's hands over his jaw, he refused her touch, turning away from her and tried to get a hold of himself as his eyes begun to well up. Dorian lit the candle Cullen had just put out mere moments ago and sat beside the inquisitor as she made an attempt to comfort her lover.
"Dorian we were sleeping!" Sam laid her hand on Cullen's bare back as he shook in pain and embarrassment. Dorian laughed as leaned into the soft down pillows and silk sheets.
"Yes and I was reading as per the usual." Dorian removed his shoes and kicked them off of his feet and onto the floor, inserting his cold toes into the warmth Cullen and Sam had created. As his feet pressed against Sam's bare legs she shivered, but did not move away from him.
"When I found this, take a look Sam!" Dorian held the small leather bound book in front of Sam's face as he began to get cozy under the blankets and into the down pillows, settling in besides the inquisitor, sapping all of the heat from her. Cullen blinked the tears back and turned to see what it was Dorian had gotten so excited about, but his feathers were ruffled to see that Dorian had settled into bed. Sam rubbed the sleep from her eyes and took the book from her lap,
"An arcane warrior?" Dorian nodded as he leaned over towards her. "and an elf?" Dorian nestled deeper into the blankets.
"There's more, look for the author's name." Cullen laid his head on the inquisitor's shoulder, she placed a soft kiss on his head and turned the book over. "Do you see that?"
"This is the Hero of Ferelden's journal? How did you get this?!" The inquisitor nearly squealed with delight as she flipped through the pages. Dorian chuckled and leaned over onto arm as he yawned.
"I must admit, it seems to have fallen from our dear spy master's desk and onto my chair." Sam chuckled as she fell back onto the pile of pillows beneath her.
"Dorian, you did not!" Cullen chimed in as he leaned over Sam as she skimmed through the worn leather book.
"Commander I have no honest idea of what you are insinuating, but I did not such thing!" Dorian cocked an eyebrow as a smirk grew across his face. "My guess is that our dearest 'Hero Queen' left this out in the open and Leliana must have picked it up." Cullen's heart sank as he realized that he had indeed met the Queen once before, and that he was not of sound mind during their brief meeting.
"Uh dearest, may I take a look at that?" Cullen's fingers caressed the tips of the pages, but she brought it away from him.
"Dorian listen to this;
'Alistair and I had a most peculiar talk this evening about spreading cheese throughout Ferelden once he becomes king of all things. Subsequently, I am now writing this while he sleeps beside me snoring like Oghren after a feast of nug rump roast and ale. Maker I love this man! Not only does he love like a bear but he makes me feel like a port in a storm... He may be able to kill a darkspawn in one hit, but he is my delicate little prince.'
"Oh Creators! can you imagine what would happen if anyone else found this?" Dorian snored softly, nestled beside Sam underneath the pile of blankets, he rubbed his face into her side, his arm wrapped around her like a mabari with a bone.
Sam smiled as she yawned and kissed the top of his hair.
"Sweet dreams da'len." Dorian smiled slightly in his sleep, warm and comfortable beside his friend. The inquisitor blinked back sleep and rested her head on top of Dorian's.
Cullen sighed as he pulled the blankets back from his body. He shivered as his feet touched down on the cold stone floor and held his body as he went to close the heavy wood door.
Cullen tiptoed to the bedside and took the journal from the inquisitor's chest. He rubbed his thumb over the worn leather and began to skim the fading pages.
'Today was one of the hardest days of our journey thus far. I will never forget the look of that templar pleading with me to kill all of the mages in the tower. He was not hateful, there was no malice in his eyes, but he was scared. I could feel it in his voice. What they must have done to him… I do not wish to think what would turn a man from the maker in such a way. I only hope that Irving would get him the help he needs. And I pray every night that he may grow far from being malevolent.'
Cullen shifted his eyes from the sleeping forms of Dorian and Sam. He skimmed further into the journal, seeking to sate his curiosity.
'Morrigan presented a plan. Have my dearest lay with her in order to conceive a child. Doing so would spare him from death, or, as she herself put it, living a life without the woman he loves. Riordan said he would make the sacrifice, but if no warden dies, then who am I to say no? If the plan even works that is to say...'
Cullen felt as if he should not have read that. His face reddened and he swallowed hard and went to the fire, looking over the various pages of scandalous secrets able to bring down the kingdom, he tore them from the thinning leather and threw them in, adding another log of wood. He smiled softly.
Looking up from the now growing fire he left the leather bound book on a chair and approached the bed. He put out the candle beside Dorian, and sat beside Sam, twisting his body towards her as he gently pushed her hair behind her ear. Her breath moved Dorian's hair softly, he chuckled lightly to himself as he laid down beside Sam, exhausted and forlorn from the day's events.
He pulled the thick blankets up to his chin and buried his face into the inquisitor's soft brown hair. He kissed her hair and tenderly rested his hand on his lover's shoulder as he slept.