NOTES: I've decided to take this out of Melt because it's developing to be much bigger story than I anticipated. If you are reading this for the first time, I hope you enjoy my take on Anora's past. I welcome reviews, I find them so encouraging and motivating. If you've read this in Melt I will post all subsequent chapters here so anything from Chapter 5 will go here and I'll leave a nice note in Melt to direct everyone to here before I remove it from Melt altogether.

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Rekindled - FCousland/Anora

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Part 1

Vivid azure eyes peered into her soul and a cheeky smile spread across those lips just before they bit teasingly on her shoulder. Tender kisses followed on her skin driving the aching sting away.

"Hmm… so why don't you just tell him?" Smooth light fingers caressed her face as a warm body pushed up against her back. She closed her eyes feeling her desire quicken once more. The young woman behind her chuckled at the sound of an unbidden moan that escaped her lips. Elissa Cousland. If there was ever another woman that was as infuriating and as sexy at the same time in the world there would be two of her.

"I can't just tell him." She rolled over to face her lover with an annoyed glare. Elissa smiled, amused at her display of meagre power, quickly banishing the expression from her face. "Oh? Practicing your royal glare are we Your Majesty?"

"Don't call me that!" Anora gave the younger woman solid thump against her toned shoulder earning herself a sudden claiming kiss while strong hands grasped her wrists tightly. Elissa chuckled again, looking down at her playfully while she bucked beneath those strong legs that have pinned her.

"I can tell him if you want." Elissa was slightly breathless as Anora continued to wriggle beneath her.

"No you can't!" Anora was shocked at the thought. "Not everyone's father is as open minded or accepting as yours." Anora stilled her struggles, inviting the young noble's body to melt against her. She closed her eyes savouring the gentleness that had replaced Elissa's dominating grasps. Softly lips trailed down her neck to her collar bone, teasing her with tongue and just a little bit of teeth. Just as the kisses head down her cleavage and across to one erect nipple they stopped.

"But Cailan is so… Cailan!" Anora's eyes snapped open at the mention of the Prince's name. She looked up at her lover curiously.

"I thought you liked him." The Prince had spent a lot of summers at the Cousland House and so had she. They had all practically grown into their adolescence together which would have been one of the reasons the King had agreed to the engagement. Being closely knitted with the Couslands had practically assured that she would be marrying one of the Cousland boys. That the King had suggested his son somewhat exceeded her father's expectations. Her tryst with the youngest Cousland had started off as just innocent curiosity but now a year later it had become a full blown highly sexual affair.

"I do." Elissa's voice interrupted her musing. "But don't you want someone… I don't know. More exciting?" Elissa looked down at her, her brow creasing slightly. Anora smiled gently touching her lover's face.

"Someone like you perhaps?" She arched a brow, her eyes challenging the noble on top of her. Elissa smiled cheekily before diving down to nip at her breast gently.

"Well yes, someone like me." The young woman met her eyes cockily. "Someone that knows how to make you moan and scream out her name while she takes you." Anora gasped audibly as she felt a strong thigh press up against the softness between her legs. "Someone that makes you laugh… challenges you… makes your heart beat faster when they kiss you." Gently Elissa pushed against her, making her body shudder with excitement. "Someone you constantly think about without really knowing it." Slowly their rhythm built, pushing her body toward that familiar point of release that made her heart hammer and her body shudder right before they collapsed in a tangled, sweaty, boneless heap.

Anora gripped her lover's waist hard as her body arched up against her. "Hmm! Elissa!" She shut her eyes as her lips parted with a long moan. Her impending bliss tightly coiled in her body just waiting a little more before crashing right through her. "Ah… OH Elissa!" Small waves of pleasure followed the big one that turned her in a wet quivering mess.

"Hmm…" She felt Elissa smile against her neck. "Someone exactly like me."

After a moment of recovery Anora found her voice again. "Are you saying that THE GREAT Elissa Cousland, ever flirtatious, ever bedding every woman that kisses her back, ever the wild, free spirit that refuses to be tied down… is actually suggesting I marry her instead of the Prince?"

A hot mouth claimed hers hungrily before letting her get a much needed breath in. "And what if I am?" Elissa looked down at her, watching avidly for her reaction. They stared at each other for a long moment, toying with very idea. Their eyes twinkled before they both suddenly burst into a hysterical fit of laughter.

Elissa sighed as their laughter subsided. "Oh, you know me much too well my darling." Anora smiled rolling the young woman on to her back as she hitched her warm body on top of hers.

"I do. I have no delusions that you have ever wanted anything more than what we have now." She grasped Elissa's jaw and planted a searing kiss on her lips before looking down at those clear blue eyes. "I hope from now until the day comes when I'm finally married off, you will continue this entanglement of ours with as much enthusiasm as you can muster." Slowly her hand trailed down Elissa's abdomen before coming to rest between the young woman's legs. "I want to look back on these moments fondly when I'm heavily pregnant and waddling about the castle looking for salty pickles in the middle of the night." Her fingers worked young woman's body into a delicious frenzy, going round and round her sensitive nub while moans erupted from the woman's lips.

"I will your MAJESTY!" She pushed her finger into Elissa's waiting softness with a smile on her lips.

"I told you not to call me that." Faster and deeper she pushed, extremely pleased with the way Elissa bucked eagerly against her hand. "Not yet, anyway." Elissa's back arched off the bed as she quivered sharply with an explosion of pleasure.

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She stared at the mirror despondently as she dragged the brush through another section of her hair. It had been years since she last thought of that blissful summer she had spent in her lover's embrace. She wondered curiously at what would have brought such yearning on. The last few months had been trying. She worried about her father's steady decline into what seemed like madness. He had ordered Howe to lock her up, hold her prisoner so she didn't get in his way while he enacted atrocities against the country she had come to love as she ruled over its people. Her hand maiden and personal spy had all but confirmed that the Teyrn orchestrated the removal of her husband from his throne by abandoning him in a battle against the Darkspawn horde. Anora had had enough and now that she had been freed from her prison, she was taking back her Ferelden.

Regretfully she thought of the warrior she betrayed during her escape. Those piercing eyes seemed more annoyed than hurt when she peered at her brazenly from under that helmet and those luscious lips pursed into a smile as she shook her head in disbelief. Anora's heart had quickened when the Warden and her companion had kicked through the locked door that held her caged. It woke sudden feelings of desire long ignored in her duties as Queen. She will have to find a way to pardon her would be rescuers from the royal dungeon once all the excitement has died down. Reluctantly she put the warrior's eyes from her mind as she contemplated her next move.

The door of her chamber had opened letting light from the hall stream through. No one announced themselves and her breath quickened at the silent intruder that now had her cornered in her chambers. As calmly as she could, she feigned disinterest, continuing to brush her hair while her eyes darted about for any weapon she could use in her defence. She watched the figure closely from the sliver of his reflection on her mirror. He was in full plate armour that looked a little well used for any of Howe's lackies. She continued brushing her hair as the man just leant languidly against her only escape. He crossed his arms to his chest making him look quite imposing. Her eyes carefully travelled down his slender hips and along leather covered legs that he had crossed one in front of the other. Everything about him oozed confidence and patience. Her eyes were drawn suddenly by the small movement of his lips as he brazenly half smiled at her. Those lips. Anora felt her heart quicken both from desire and fear. This was no man. This was the warrior sent to free her. The one she had callously betrayed while she used her as a distraction to make her own discrete escape. She placed down her brush and nervously took up the hair needles that usually pinned up her hair.

"Ah ah!" The warrior tutted. How dare she! Anora thought to herself, for one moment refusing to abandon her royal demeanour. Her eyes narrowed meeting the woman's stare on the reflection before her. "Now is that any way to treat an old friend, Your Majesty?" Anora's blood boiled at the sound of her title insolently hurled at her. She turned around glaring daggers at the woman who was smiling at her with satisfaction. Those lips! That aggravatingly sexy smirk! Anora's heart thundered as her mind raced toward a near impossibility. She felt her grip on the needles loosen before she heard them ring against the floor at her feet. The warrior swaggered towards her confidently, her brow lifting under that hindering helm. If she was wrong then she was dead. Anora hoped fiercely that she was right. The warrior stopped her advance so close to her, blue eyes staring deep into her making her feel like that young woman again. Strong calloused hands cupped her cheeks. She was frozen with both fear and anticipation. She lowered her eyes briefly from those stunning blue pools to look down at soft luscious lips. They smiled again before they touched her lips in searing aching kiss. That taste! It brought it all back. Lying in a loft lined with hay starring up at the small sliver of sky, their hands constantly touching. Deep in the night when entangled limbs were caught by silken sheets in a quiet room of a castle. The dappled shade of a tree behind a beautiful face as she looked up at her lover while pleasure racked her body. That kiss, more artful now, less urgent but no less deeper than they used to be.

Their kiss broke, eventually. Anora took a quivering breath. "You're alive!"

"Anora." Her name, that no other could utter the same way. "I've missed you." Several soft kisses visited her face as she sat there in shock and awe.

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