A romantic and smutty one-shot taking place after a F!mage!Warden saves the Circle of Magi. R&Rs appreciated. Rated M for sex~
"Ser Cullen, I must speak with you in private."
The remaining mages and First Enchanter Irving had just been saved from the demons and blood mages that ravaged the circle, and their hero, the Grey Warden and former Circle mage, Solona Amell. They had thanked her profusely and promised her the Circle's aid against Loghain and the darkspawn invasion. She now glared at the humble templar, Cullen, with an emerald gaze so sharp, it could wound.
He had just angrily and profusely protested against keeping any of the circle mages alive. He insisted that they could be corrupted by dormant demons or blood-mages just lying in wait, but neither Greagoir or Solona saw wisdom in this, and ignored his pleas. The strong Grey Warden would not quickly forget his words.
Knight-Commander Greagoir opened his mouth to protest, perhaps say that a moment alone with the young templar would be against the rules, but he quickly shut his trap, realising that the mage was no longer a part of the Circle, and she was free to conduct her Grey Warden business.
Ser Cullen glared back with stern Amber eyes, but said nothing and followed as she walked out of the entryway and into the halls of the tower. They were silent for a long moment as they walked along the hallways next to the apprentice rooms as Solona chose her words carefully. She took a deep breath, and he saw her gaze soften before she spoke up in a tentative voice that caught him off guard.
"Are you... Are you alright?" she asked, not yet looking up at him.
He stopped walking and she stopped with him. Cullen had expected her to yell at him, curse him for trying to get her friends killed, but she was... genuinely concerned about him instead. He swallowed and kept a steady gaze on her.
"I am fine. I stayed strong against those damn blood mages," he said with a sneer.
Solona closed her eyes for a second, pushing a lock of hair behind her ear. She finally turned to look at him and he flinched at her expression. It was soft and tender, nothing like the one she had shown in the entry hall. Her green eyes scanned his face and she gently put a pale, slender hand on his breastplate.
"Answer me honestly, Cullen. You went through torture, saw your friends get ki-"
He shoved her hand away. "You needn't remind me!" he shouted and huffed at her. Solona bit her tongue.
"I just... I want you to know that I understand what you're going through right now and I'm-"
He interrupted her again. "You know what I'm going through, huh? You know what it's like to be tempted and tested every waking hour of the day, see your friends break, all while you are trapped?" Cullen realised what he had said a second too late.
Solona's eyes flared with rage but she tried to keep her voice low. "Yes, I do, in fact. It's called being a mage. Every night I am taunted by demons in the fade, and you know that I have been through the Harrowing, obviously. You were the one who would have had to strike me down, or have you forgotten already?"
"N-no, I haven't!" Cullen still had his voice raised but he was out of words. She made a point. Everything he had gone through was just a condensed version of her life in the Circle. He remember Uldred's conjurations of her, and how foolishly he believed them at first. The false Solona had wrapped her arms around him and told him that she loved him, only to be ripped away from him brutally, and this continued on repeat countlessly. He looked away from Solona's fiery stare and to the brick wall next to him.
"I am... sorry," he murmured, shutting his eyes. "It was horrible... and the visions Uldred conjured were so... real... so volatile." He leaned against the brick and tilted his head toward it, slamming his eyes harder shut in an attempt to block out the visions. Then, he felt a hand on his arm through his metal armor. His amber eyes slowly reopened to find Solona much closer to him than anticipated, and her hand on his arm comfortingly.
His heart fluttered. Despite everything he had too recently been through, and all of the horrors he saw, he was warmed by her presence, as he had always been. He had watched over her for so long, and she had always treated him so kindly. Warm smiles and small waves from across the library were all they were allowed, but he occasionally got to speak with her. He remembered back to the day she was taken away to become a Grey Warden, also the day after she had passed her Harrowing. Solona had approached him to say hello, and he was a stuttering fool as always.
She had said that she would love to get to know him better, but had a knowing glint in her eyes. It was like she could see right into him like Uldred had, and seen his desire for her, the ache he felt every time he saw her. He had panicked and run off with a lame excuse about "other duties."
But now, as they stood in the desolate, destroyed hallway, there was no easy way to run away from her, and he no longer felt physically capable. The dark bags under his eyes were testament to the sleepless torture he had endured. "Forgive me. You do not deserve my anger," he whispered.
Solona's hand trailed down his arm and grasped his gloved hand, lightly tugging him forward as she backed up. Cullen raised an eyebrow, yet only softly sighed as she pulled him into the apprentice quarters. She kept holding onto his hand as she sat down on one of the beds, this one hardly touched by the wreckage. Solona released his hand and patted the bed next to her. His voice caught in his throat and he was hoping he wasn't blushing. Surely she didn't mean anything romantic, but his mind drifted that direction anyway. She gave him a gentle smile and he complied, sitting, his clanking armor making a ruckus.
Solona's small giggle at the armor's stiff clatter and brought her knees up onto the bed so she could kneel slightly behind him. Cullen's breath hitched and he tensed as he felt her fingers brush against the back of his neck. He stared wide-eyed and the floor, suddenly very unsure of himself. He always was when he was around her. His forbidden infatuation with her had consistently caused him to feel insecure and pathetic. He heard one of the connecting buckles on his armor loosen and he whipped his neck to look at her, confused.
"W-what are you...?"
She put a hand against his cheek and forced his head forward again so she had a better angle on his buckles. "You need to relax, Cullen. You've been through a lot today," she reasoned quietly, her breath ghosting across his ear.
Cullen tried with sheer force of will to think about anything other than her in that moment. He tried not to enjoy the sensation of her nimble fingers undoing his latches. He tried not to think about how it would feel to undo her robes as well. Yet he was ultimately unsuccessful. He let his head and shoulders droop forward as helped Solona remove the last of his upper-body armor, leaving only his simple brown under-tunic over his toned torso. He thought she would be satisfied and go back to sitting next to him, but no. He gasped as he felt her warm, delicate palms and fingers start to caress his shoulders.
"S-S-Solona!" he protested and attempted to turn around, but froze as he felt her sweet breath on his neck and ear again.
Her voice was barely audible. "Is it true...? What you said before?"
Cullen swallowed hard. He couldn't be fully sure what he had said under duress when he was trapped in the barrier. He had spoken to the false Solona so often in those hours that he didn't know what he told the real one. "W-what do y-you mean?" he asked timidly. All the things he had said to some version of her races through his mind and chilled him to the bone. How many times had he confessed his infatuation with her?
Solona's hands slid down his back and wrapped around his abdomen. She leaned forward, pressing her shapely body against him while keeping her mouth next to his ear. It was the beginning of several fantasies of his that brought him nothing but shame. "What you said when I found you... In the tower..."
Cullen felt like he couldn't breathe. Her touch was so warm, and he could feel her breasts pressed against him through their thin layers of clothing.
"You said you've always desired me, Cullen." His blood froze and his breath rapidly increased with his heartbeat. Cullen felt like he had sinned already just by admitting his adoration. "Did you mean that?"
"I-I-I n-nev-never m-m-meant t-to..." He didn't even know how he wanted to end his hopeless excuse. Never meant to offend? Creep her out? Make her uncomfortable in any way? His breath hitched as he felt soft lips against his earlobe. She had kissed him. Lightly, like a butterfly, but it was enough to make him blush red. "Solona!" he gasped and turned his face and torso toward her but before he could say anything, her lips were on his.
His eyes flew wide open at the sensation and he pulled away to look at her with a shocked expression. Cullen wasn't sure what he was expecting, but it surely wasn't the sincerely caring, half-lidded look she was giving him. He felt his breath catch in his throat once more and he froze, unable to do anything but look into her eyes. Hesitantly, Solona leaned forward once more and gently pursed her lips against his. This time, he did not pull away, but instead felt himself lean into it.
His mind was so fuzzy with the feeling of her warm, plump lips that his body seemed to move on it's own. Cullen kissed her back, and suddenly his hands were on her hips and her body was even closer to his. Solona's lithe body, hidden by conservative mage robes, brushed against his torso as her hands slid up his arms and around his neck. Nothing felt real anymore as he wrapped his mind around what was happening. He had admitted his feelings for her, and here she was, showing her feelings for him.
He grazed his teeth across her bottom lip, causing her to gasp, and he pulled back less than an inch so he could look into her adoring eyes once more. Her perfectly pink lips her were parted and she let out a tiny whine as he pulled away, and the way she tugged on his collar to bring him back to her made his heart beat even faster. Cullen happily complied and fiercely crushed his lips to hers. Solona's arms wrapped tighter around his neck and her tongue swept across the templar's bottom lip. A groan escaped him and he tightened his grip on her, tilting his head so he could push his tongue between her lips and massage hers. Without breaking their kiss, he ran his hands ran down the length of her body, then back up to the clasp of her cloak. He fumbled with it for only a moment before sliding the thick fabric off of her pale, sleek shoulders. She had only her smallclothes on beneath it and his pants strained with the sight. Years of praying in the Chantry and reciting his vows to the Maker were meaningless now. He had the woman he had always desired next to him, wrapping herself around him and radiating passion for him and him alone.
Her lithe little fingers slipped under his loose shirt and pulled it over his head, breaking their kiss for only a moment before their tongues were reunited. He felt himself quickly losing control over his actions and thoughts as his mind was filled his nothing but images of Solona writhing underneath him, cooing his name. His throbbing cock begged for any sort of friction and it was like Solona read his mind. He moaned into their lasting kiss as she ran her hand along his length through his pants. Solona quickly untied his trousers laces and put her hands on his shoulders, scooting backward so she could lay down on the small bed and take him with her.
Cullen was above her now and was quickly kicking off his pants and kissing her fiercely, running his hands along her flawless body and memorizing every inch. He never wanted this moment to end. Solona gasped as he kissed down her neck and toward her breasts, flicking his tongue over her pert pink nipples. He sucked lightly on them both before going back up to her neck and latching onto the sweet skin at her pulse point. He licked and sucked at it, making her hum happily. After he was satisfied with the clear, purple bruise he had left on her skin for everyone to see, he shifted his legs to be between hers and propped himself above her for a moment to take in the beautiful sight below him. He stared at her with such love and admiration in his eyes that Solona had to force herself to continue looking at him, blushing.
"Make, you are the most beautiful sight I've ever seen," he complimented and laid a sweet kiss on her lips.
She wiggled underneath him just slightly as she slowly removed her undergarments, tossing them carelessly to the side. "I want you, Cullen," she promised in a whisper, and his throbbing cock was captured by his hand. He looked at her with a nervous blush across his cheeks as she led his cock to her sweet, wet entrance. With her other hand, she brought him down closer to her and kissed him as he slowly entered her. They both gasped and moaned at the feeling and he stayed fully inside her for a moment to let her adjust.
She nodded slightly to him and he pulled out a little before sliding back in. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and groaned. This feeling was better than anything he had ever felt and he was proud to be a sinner at the moment. His motions got faster and more powerful, yet he tried to control himself. He wanted her to feel as much pleasure as possible even though he felt like he could explode any second. They were panting and she was moaning his name sweetly. He kissed at her neck and whispered how much he cared for her in her ear, making a smile spread across her face. His thrusting quickly got jerkier and he knew he couldn't hold on anymore, and just as he was about to finish, Solna suddenly tightened around him and she shouted his name loudly, digging her blunt nails into his back as she drenched his cock in her juices. That threw him far over the edge and he shot hard inside her, peaking with a large groan. He put in a few more slow, tired thrusts before kissing her and telling her she loved her. He slipped out of her hot sheath and rolled to his side with a huge smile.
Solona rolled with him and cuddled against his muscular frame. She looked at him so lovel through half-lidded eyes and pecked his nose, making him chuckle. "I love you, too, by the way," she said casually, propping her head up on her hand.
"Thank the Maker for that," the knight replied, lazily tracing circles on her hips. He thought for a moment, then said, "I know that... this... us... isn't going to be accepted, allowed, or easy but... if you'll have me, I would give up the Chantry and more for any time I get with you, Solona."
She gave him a bright smile and put her forehead to his, and a hand on his cheek, and that is when Cullen woke up.
He was in the circle tower's hallway with a sharp pain in his cheek and in his full armor, sitting against the wall. He blinked, incredibly confused and looked up to see a furious Solona with her hands on her hips and in her full mage wardrobe, her staff in a fist. He tried to speak but found that his mouth was dry and his brain felt scrambled.
"You done dreaming, ass?" she spat harshly and he flinched.
"W-what... what are you talking about...?" He then looked to the side and saw the dead body of a desire demon. Things still didn't make sense to him and Solona scoffed above him.
"It was left over and attacked, sent you off to desire-demon dream land, in case you are too thick to realize."
That's when Cullen's world felt like it shattered, and as he slowly stood up, eyes on anything but the mage girl, he felt a gaping hole in his heart that was far worse than the ache he had felt all these years. "Just a trick..." he muttered to himself. "Nothing but a trick..."