Adel slipped out of her tall leather boots with a drawn out sigh. She didn't know who Duke Prosper had to kill to get such marvelous footwear but she knew quite well whom she'd killed to get the same. Not that there hadn't been other extenuating circumstances. Frankly, though, she'd have done it just for these boots. They were that good- supple enough to make her own skin envious and yet marvelously durable. Their only fault was that she occasionally had to take them off.

Across the bedroom, Anders had already divested himself of his own boots and cloak. He seemed ready to get lost in thought, so Adel decided to divert him.

"So the King of Ferelden? I know I'm supposed to be something in this city but can't say I ever expected that."

Anders huffed out some small dismissive noise. He looked perfectly prepared to go on with his business, when he perked up slightly. He scratched absentmindedly at the stubble on his chin. "I've met him before. He was there when I got conscripted. Not bad, I suppose, for a former Templar. Held up my rights against the Chantry better than the Wardens did later on."

Adel hobbled over to him, one boot still on her foot. As she worked on removing it, she prodded Anders for more information. It was rare that he talked these days, let alone reminisced happily about the past. "Aren't you fancy. Met the king and the queen already then, haven't you?"

"Well, I didn't know Liadan was queen at the time. Not when I was conscripted anyway. I was a bit too overwhelmed thinking about how to keep from the Chantry's clutches and on my impending Wardenhood. Wait-" Anders twisted in his chair. "Why did you say queen like that?"

Adel pretended to be much more interested in removing her shining mail shirt. When she finished tugging it off, she carefully placed it alongside her boots. Only then did she look at Anders from the corner of her eye. "Hmm? Like what?"

"Like it was something you found Isabela writing in the margins of your diary."

"You know, you always go on about how wonderful she was. How she gave you a cat and saved you from Templars and had hair like spun copper, piled like a Maker given crown upon her noble head."

"I know for a fact that you got that last part from the tale that bard friend of hers wrote." Adel arched an eyebrow in a look that clearly said she now knew he'd read the book as well. He threw up his hands. "What do you want me to say? I admired her."

The corner of Adel's lips quirked up. "Oh yes, I'm sure you did. Admired her. From every angle."

Anders groaned and Adel laughed. She continued to laugh as he sank his scarlet face into his hands.

"She's a good woman and a dear friend. That's all I ever saw her as. Now Justice-" Adel's eyes widened and her laughter stopped. Anders clearly noticed because he paused a beat before he continued. She could have sworn she saw the tiniest glint of blue in his eyes. "-admired her, too."

"What?"

"So with me it's all giggles and teasing, but you get jealous with Justice?"

"Don't give me that. We both know I won you over practically from the moment I met you. But with Justice it was all, he doesn't approve or I'm a distraction. But with her, it's all hail the Queen."

Stripped of the final vestiges of her formal armor, Adel flopped heavily onto the bed. She stared stubbornly upward but could tell from the way the mattress sank that Anders had joined her.

"You are. Jealous, I mean. I suppose this would be a bad time to mention that she gave him a lyrium ring then. Oh, how it sang to him."

She grabbed a pillow and held it firmly over her face. She made a mental note for the future to keep conversation strictly on Templars and not their wives.