Affair in Amaranthine

(What is it about these men whose names start with "A"? Elissa manages to nail every one of them. Anyway, that said, this is a fun little one-shot story about Anders and Elissa. Yes, she has an affair with him. Yes, Alistair later finds out. His only disappointment is that he wasn't there to watch. Anyway, there's sex. And humor. Oh, and Anders! )

Amaranthine. It was both a city and a fortress and an Arling and amongst the most important pieces of land in Ferelden. Since having granted the Grey Wardens guardianship of it, Elissa had found herself in a difficult position. She was Warden Commander and the closest thing to an Arlessa the region had. Currying favor among nobles had never been her thing but she was good at politics. To boot, she was a noble and the Banns listened to her. Some didn't like her but that was politics. You can never make everyone happy so you strive to make the ones who were already happy happier still. It was a delicate balancing act to maintain peace. She loved it but mostly, she missed her husband.

Barely two months had passed after her wedding him before Amaranthine's Seneschal, Varrel, sent desperate word about strange events in region. Alistair had already declared her Warden Commander of Ferelden and now he had sent her to Amaranthine as its champion. It was too soon after the wedding. Too soon. How she had wept after leaving him but eventually, she somehow survived and even managed to thrive as she investigated the strange events.

To help her, she now had five more Grey Wardens. Her first conscripts consisted of a man named Nathaniel, who had once considered killing her( because she had killed his father, Rendon Howe) and a mage named Anders. This man was a confusing fellow who seemed determined to be made Tranquil by pissing off the Chantry and the Templars in general. Even making him one of the Greys didn't stop his would-be captors from making several (thwarted) attempts to corral him. She felt for him and even learned to treasure his wit-laden conversations. It was almost as good as having her husband around.

That was a dangerous slope, she realized as she drew closer to the mage. So she carefully formed a friendship with him that she was certain would remain platonic. However, she should have added, "platonic while sober" to that thought.

One night, in the Crown and Lion where the companions were staying as they investigated the strange happenings plaguing the region, Elissa sat across from Anders at a small table drinking wine and laughing. It was late and there was only Oghren, drunk and lying sprawled out on his back upon a bench, along with them in the common room. Periodically, the tavern wench would check on them, mostly to bring them a new carafe of wine. They had plowed through three already and it was safe to say that Elissa was happily drunk. Grey Wardens are known for their constitution and stamina and the Warden Commander was no exception.

Anders laughed a moment later and said something hysterical that brought tears to Elissa's eyes and wine spilling down her chin. He laughed again and pointed at her. "Y-you dribbled!" he snorted.

"I what? I dribbled? Is that even a word?" Elissa giggled back at him. He really was handsome with his long blond hair barely held at the nape of his neck. It was unruly around his face and he needed to shave. He usually had a shadow of light-brownish-blond along his chin and cheeks but tonight, the whiskers seemed longer. She found him mesmerizing. Sexy. Delicious.

He pushed away from the table and rose. Anders walked around the table where she sat and dropped down into a crouch beside her. "Here. Let me wipe that away for you." He pulled her napkin from her lap and started to dab at the wine but changed his mind. "That wine was expensive…!" he said as he licked it off her chin.

Startled, she almost flinched away but the warm wetness of his lips and tongue was seductive to her sex-deprived desires. He was slowly working his way up her chin and suddenly, his mouth covered hers. The kiss was deep, sexual and impassioned. Neither had been with a lover since they met and Elissa had had every intention of not bedding anyone other than her husband ever again. But then there was Anders and this kiss and his arms around her. She was responding with more lust than she expected to and found herself unwillingly giving in. Well, she amended; it was very willing but not desired. Surely she had expected to remain a good wife and do the right thing by telling him "no" firmly.

It was on the tip of her tongue, if only she could remove her tongue from his mouth to tell him how she felt. When she could finally speak, she opened her mouth to say, "Anders, this kiss is wrong… I'm married to the King!" but what actually came out was, "Maker's breath, Anders! That kiss was…do it again!" And he did. A moment later, he was straddling her chair, practically sitting in her lap as his mouth practically devoured her face in long, we kisses. Then his hands reached out and involuntarily grabbed her large breasts.

Because they were in the Inn and not "working", she wore a simple blouse, loose and breezy, tucked into the sash at her hips and black leather breeches. It was easy for Anders to pull aside the sides of the shirt, revealing the heaving mounds of creamy flesh topped with large, pert nipples. Her areolas were dark and puckered around the base of each erect red berry. He leaned forward and sucked one into his mouth. Elissa tilted back her head and sighed with contentment.

That is, until she felt the firm tap on her shoulder. "Ahem. You might wanna take that upstairs, you know?" the tavern wench grumbled as she gazed angrily at Anders. Elissa's eyes darted from his guilty expression to the girl's face and she widened her eyes.

Wasting no time for an explanation, Anders rose and swept Elissa into his strong arms and easily carried her up to her room. The Warden Commander got the best, that's for sure. She gave him the key. After unlocking it, he carefully carried her to the large bed at the back of the nicely-appointed suite. He sat down beside her and continued what he was doing downstairs.

The mage removed a breast and thumbed her hard nipple while his lips made short work of her mouth. He tasted like sweet red wine and the rich, creamy pasta with crab and capers he'd enjoyed for dinner. Then there was the scent of his skin. It was spicy, herbaceous and sweet at the same time. He smelled sexy to her and the promise of pleasure ensured she would not back down as he continued to caress her face with his lips and her breast with his hand. She felt guilty and yet, she desperately needed this.

Abruptly, he stopped and gazed into her eyes as he'd read her mind. "Before we, ah, go any further, I want to make sure I'm not screwing things up," he said. "I normally just do what I do and live with the consequences later. But I really respect you and you are sort of the queen and all. Is this going to be okay? Or should I stop?"

"Oh, you sweet, sweet man," she murmured as she caressed his cheek with her fingers. "I don't know if this is right or wrong. I dearly love my husband but…I really want you. I fully intended to stop this while we were still downstairs. Hm. Now I don't want to. If I ever did want to, actually… You are an amazing kisser. And this whole misadventure could become a much more pleasurable experience if we share a bed."

He grinned and threw her back against the bed before leaning over her and smothering her face and neck with a bounty of expert kisses. "Works for me!" he laughed. "You don't have to tell me 'yes' twice. I find you to be edible as sweet cherry pie," he laughed. For emphasis, he licked his lips and un-tucked Elissa's shirt, spreading it out and fully exposing both her breasts. Though gravity tugged them off to the sides slightly, her nipples stuck up from the center of each breast, defying nature. His hands carefully ran down the outside of each pearly mound and his lips brushed the pointed peaks teasingly, playfully. Elissa shivered. Outside of her husband, she had been with only one other man. This experience promised to be very interesting indeed.

Anders crawled over the bed and flopped down beside her, smirking. "I really just wanted to make certain the King wouldn't smack a shipping label on me and send me on a one-way journey to Tranquility. That would sort of suck, you know." She rose up on her hands and hovered over him, her mouth covering his. His robes were still on and they needed to go away. She started fondling the laces and soon, all the little closures that the mages never undid because they took so much time, she undid. Anders was impressed.

She opened his mage-robes wide and blinked down at the finely chiseled body beneath them. "Oh my!" she murmured as her fingers flowed across his pale skin, exploring him carefully. His nipples sprang to life at her touch and gooseflesh rippled across his skin, raising what hair was there. "I always thought mages were soft!"

Chuckling, Anders sat up on the bed and pulled his arms through the sleeves and discarded his outer clothing. He decided that he would let her deal with his small clothes, which were straining across his hard member. It was becoming uncomfortable. "This is the body of a man on the run. You run enough and eventually, there isn't a part of you that's soft…especially now…" He leaned back on his hands in a partial lying/sitting position, gazing at her as she caressed his skin with her hands and eyes.

Elissa blushed and tossed away her shirt. She slid up to him, pressed her breasts against his hard stomach as she propped herself up beside him. The young woman grinned up at him and waited for his lips to touch hers. He rewarded her patience by kissing her softly. She then placed her hands against his broad chest and pushed him back onto the bed. She slowly moved down his body and pulled away his boots, which were hardly boots at all but glorified fabric shoes. His socks soon followed. He was now naked, save the pathetic bit of black fabric that kept certain parts of him contained. One of those parts was eager to be freed and pushed uselessly against its restraining enclosure. When she gave an experimental touch to it, it moved.

Outside of a few bouts of heavy petting and a lot of intense make-out sessions involving lots of oral pleasure, Elissa had been with precious few men. Alistair was the man she gave her virginity to. The rest had to content themselves with her mouth and hands or her breasts. She knew what a cock was and how to pleasure it. She knew how to tease a man into a quivering puddle. But the reality that this man was going to do something to her that only her husband and just one other, had done thrilled her beyond measure. She slipped a finger through the tie on the side and with a deft play of her fingers, she loosened it and watched one side fall away. Anders gasped as his penis made a successful bid for freedom, springing out and hitting Elissa's chin as she released the second tie.

With his small clothes gone, the Warden Commander gripped his cock in her hands, marveling at the size of him. He wasn't as thick or as long as her husband but it was pleasingly shaped with a nice curve and a thick head. He wasn't circumcised and a tiny gold ball crowned the tip. He did have more than virtually any other man she'd played with, save her only other conquest. That man had had no equal.

She leaned forward and gave his cock an experimental lick, teasing it with her tongue and testing his reactions. Yes, she approved of the way he bunched up his hands into fists and closed his eyes. "Been a while, Anders?" she said playfully.

The mage didn't speak and impressed her by his speed as he jumped up and rolled her over onto her back, pinning her with his hands. "You've no idea. I've been undressing you since we partnered up and now I finally get to have you. Happy day for Anders!" He licked her lips, kissed her and then sucked each of her nipples until they were as hard as his cock. Anders worked his way down her body, licking and sucking her smooth, unblemished skin. Then he encountered the waist band of her pants along with her sash. The fabric she used as a belt slid through his hands as he untied it. He smirked and then retied it about her eyes.

He moved to the edge of the bed and undid the laces on her low breeches. Underneath, he wasn't surprised to find pale flesh and a dusting of red hairs crowning her pubis. "I like a woman who goes commando. Very nice. I thought about it once and even tried it back in the day but things tend to chafe when they are allowed to sway free. Especially under a robe."

Her boots and pants soon joined the growing pile of clothing at the foot of the bed. He then pushed her back, centering her so that her head was propped up on pillows and her legs were open wide and bent at the knees. He pushed against them, delighting in how wide he could make them. She was very flexible. In the meantime, he looked down at the slit that blossomed before him; a glistening rose with layers of pink and red flesh concealing a treasure trove of womanly secrets. He pointed his index finger and ran it through the slit to her anus and back up again. It came away wet. He licked it and put back against her, this time within the folds and found her vagina. He inserted the finger and discovered that she was tight. She was very tight.

Pressing her thighs apart, he opened her up further and placed his face into the magic crevasse between them. He peeled open the lips of her pussy and teased her clit until it was hard and engorged. He sucked on it and teased it with the tip of his tongue. Eventually, he inserted his fingers deeply into her vagina and found the spot opposite her clit where women's dreams were made true. She moaned and balled her fists as he diligently worked her into a frenzy. It didn't take long. Within a few moments, her thighs were around her neck and she was struggling not to scream her pleasure into the ceiling of her room. The sound was like a squeaking chorus of yelps and barks, the only sounds she allowed to escape. The woman was a screamer and Anders was disappointed they didn't have much privacy. He would have enjoyed hearing her cry out like she wanted to.

His face drenched in her fluids, he rushed up on top and pressed his cock deep inside her. Though exquisitely tight, she was slick with cum and he was able to drive his thick staff in and out with little effort. He sucked her firm breasts, licked her face and kissed her mouth with great pleasure. He came quickly, almost too quickly and lay atop her for a few moments without withdrawing his cock. After a few moments of holding her, he rolled her body so that she now lay atop him. He removed her blindfold and threw it aside so that she could watch him.

Elissa straddled his hips and straightened her back, rolling and grinding herself against him while giving him a fantastic view of her firm breasts. He gripped them in his hands and wiggled his fingers against her clitoris as she moved against him. He loved the way she looked, the way she arched her back so that her face disappeared behind her towering breasts. His fingers lightly stroked her nipples as he ran his hands up and down her finely muscled body. This was his fantasy woman right here. And she was probably every other man's fantasy woman as well. It helped that she was a firecracker, a vixen that loved and needed sex as much as any man. If Anders was going to be her victim of choice for her perverted desires, well, who was he to argue? He would just have to suffer through, he supposed.

He came more slowly this time and smiled as, once he was spent, she laid her body atop his. She crossed her arms upon his chest, propped her chin on her hands and smiled into his eyes. "Well… That was fun," she remarked. He laughed and touched her nose with his finger.

"Yeah, it was. So…are we going to continue this affair or is it a one-shot 'oh shit'?"

Elissa chuckled and pushed herself forward along his chest so that she could lay a long, passionate kiss on his mouth. "I would like to continue for now. If we begin to develop feelings other than friendship, however, it will need to end. I love my husband very much, too much to risk losing him. Understand?"

Anders nodded vigorously. "I certainly agree. Love always ruins the best sexual relationships anyway. So friends with benefits it is! I like that idea. I really like that idea. It brings new meaning to the phrase, 'you watch my back, I'll watch yours'. And what about our companions? Do we tell them?"

Languidly teasing his nipple with her fingertip as he held her against him, Elissa shrugged. "I would prefer we don't though I suspect they may find out on their own. Until they do, we rent separate rooms and share one for our pleasures when we want to and otherwise keep things apart. Besides, it gives us a place to retreat to if necessary." She laid her body beside him and they continued to talk softly as their hands lazily stroked one another.

It wasn't long before sleep claimed them.

The affair lasted the many months it took to secure Amaranthine's safety and with the Darkspawn defeated, Anders and Elissa parted ways as best friends. The passion between them never ignited anything more and it allowed them moments of peace when chaos threatened to consume them. Their companions did eventually discover their secret but were discreet and made light of it during moments of lighthearted drinking and laughing. Elissa would always be thankful to him for that time; it had made being apart from her husband bearable. It wasn't just sex she got out of it but warmth and compassion. He was a fantastic friend and always would be.

End