The demon would not break him. He'd been trapped in his prison for days at least, denied both lyrium and food and haunted with images of her. It would come to him in her form, her beautiful lips parted, eyes half-closed with want as she leaned against the barrier, looking up at him in a way he knew his – no, the real Solona never would. It showed him her, spread before him, begging for his touch, moaning his name in truly obscene ways. Those illusions were easiest to break. He had never wanted her like that, save for his greatest moments of weakness.
Sometimes it would show him visions of a life they could never have, and those were so much worse. He'd wake up in a small home, and they'd have children and a mabari, or else he'd be in the First Enchanter's office, except in the visions it was hers, and as First Enchanter and Knight-Commander there was no one to reprimand them for their relationship.
Slowly, he started to hate her. Even if Amell wasn't responsible for the demon, it was what she could become, what she might have already become, if she was even still alive. It laughed at him, and he hated it and her even more. He was an idiot, being infatuated with a mage, of all things, and his weakness was costing him now. But he could repent. He could be strong, now, to make up for his sins.
She appeared before him once more, but this vision was nothing like the others. Her robes were torn, but not in the scandalous ways the demon had presented her. There were spots where they were burned, too, and some of her hair had been signed. The still-new robes she earned through her Harrowing were bloody, and he was unsure if the blood was hers or another's. Her eyes, though, lit up as she saw him, and she rushed to his prison, hands pressed against the barrier of light.
"Cullen," the demon said, breathless from exertion and seemingly exhausted. So it decided a new tactic was in order, then. No matter. He would not be swayed.
"Leave, demon," he spat, unnerved at the look of hurt on her face. It was getting better at impersonating her, making him feel guilty for wishing to drive it away. Perhaps it had realized the libidinous displays would go nowhere with him; this vision, he could tell, would be his hardest to resist.
"What? Cullen, it's me," it said, hint of desperation in her voice making him clench his fists. "It's Solona. I came to save you-"
His laugh was harsh, and the demon recoiled.
"You think to tempt me this way, demon?" He demanded, her hurt and confusion fueling his anger. "She is at the bottom of the tower, with the surviving mages, or she is dead. She could not climb this far alone."
The look of absolute outrage on her face was almost enough to convince him it truly was Amell.
"Couldn't climb this far alone?" she said, voice shaking with fury. He'd never seen her so angry before. "I never even made it to the bottom of the tower, I hid, like a Maker-forsaken coward, and once the screaming stopped I remembered you were on duty up here, so I came to find you! I fought through abominations, I even killed a blood mage to find you, and now you think I'm a demon? Maker, Cullen, did you not think I'd have some motivation in trying to make sure you were safe!"
It was too convincing an act. Cullen closed his eyes and fell to his knees, beginning the Chant. She smacked the light barrier, hard, but he didn't look up.
"Look at me!" she commanded, voice edged with tears as she kicked the wall. "Cullen, I swear to the Maker, I risked my life to come find you, if you don't come with me –"
"Leave me be," he begged, not looking up at her. "It… It is too much like her. You could not break me before –"
He stopped himself; her face flushed and her jaw dropped as she stared down at him.
"You…" she exhaled, staring at him in shock, "The demons were tempting you with… me?"
"Don't play a fool," he implored as his voice cracked with emotion. "She is the only thing I've ever coveted, the only one you could – could…"
Shakily, her hand covered her mouth, her fingertips pressed against the light barrier. "Cullen…" she whispered, pressing closer to the light barrier. "I'm so sorry… I… I hadn't realized…" Eyes shut, she took a steadying breath and pulled herself together. "It – it doesn't matter now," she said, sounding as though she wished to convinced herself as much as him. "I need to free you. I won't be able to make it back down on my own. I should be able to figure out how to break the-"
"What is this?" a voice asked from behind. Solona turned, back pressed against the barrier. The desire demon – Cullen supposed the one who'd been tormenting him – surveyed the two of them, lazily running a hand up her side. "So, you've come to free him?"
"S-stay back," she said, but her voice was filled with terror.
The demon laughed. "Poor little girl…. I know what you seek."
"S-stop!" she exclaimed, pressing further against the barrier. Cullen watched, hopelessly, as the demon took on his form.
"You want your freedom," the demon purred with his voice, slowly approaching her, "And you want me."
"No," she said, clutching her staff tightly. The demon laughed, leaning one hand above her head against the barrier. Slowly he traced her jaw with his other hand, laughing as she flinched away.
"No?" he asked, and Cullen felt a flash of hatred for this monster, wearing his face. "I know you've thought about it, love. Thought about asking Anders to help you escape, to bring me with you. We could run away together, go somewhere far off, like the Anderfels."
"Stop," she said, breath coming quickly, fear making her voice quiver.
"We could have children," Not-him told her, and Cullen felt as though he'd been punched. "The Chantry wouldn't take them from us."
Roughly, she shoved him away, and he began to laugh.
"Do you intend to fight me?" he taunted her.
"Yes," she replied, and the demon laughed harder.
"You and I both know you'll die," he said, smiling. "Why not live? I'll give you the life you want. It would be easy, to have the two of you escape now. I won't even ask to take you for another ten years, mageling."
"Solona," Cullen said, voice low and desperate, hatred cast aside at the thought that she was going to be killed in front of him. She turned to him, face bone white and eyes terrified, "Free me, I'll help you fight it –"
The demon moved with shocking alacrity, hand closed around Solona's throat in an instant.
"We can't have that, can we?" it asked, back to its female form. The mage struggled, but the demon was clearly stronger. Cullen hit the light barrier, desperately calling upon every templar power he had to try to end it. "I suppose I could give you one last chance," the demon said, squeezing her neck one last time before dropping her. "Would you like your freedom, to live your life with this templar?"
Solona's response was a stonefist to the demon's middle. She cast Winter's Grasp and then a glpyh of paralysis, and Cullen could feel the shift from mana to lifeforce he'd felt at the first blood mage attack.
Abomination, was his first thought, but then he realized that she wasn't slicing her wrists open, she was overexerting herself, and she was going to die because she had nothing left in her and she hadn't been smart enough to leave.
Solona finished finished the demon before it had a chance to free itself from her glyph. He watched as she fell to the floor, her breathing shallow and her eyes shut.
"Amell?" he asked, pounding against the light barrier. Her eyes flicked open and she stared at him, still unable to move. "Amell!"
Cullen watched her eyes slip shut once more, feeling panic rise up inside him.