Author note: gift piece written for bramblefae based on her Cousland, Dailisa

The day had been a long one. Nathaniel sighed as he walked back into his room at the Vigil and shut the heavy wooden door behind him. The bath he requested before disappearing into the kitchen to grab a quick bite awaited him, wisps of steam filling the air above the stone tub in a welcoming spiral. The meat pie he devoured in the kitchen sated one appetite; another was still very much left unsatisfied and would remain so.

Dailisa was in Denerim.

The Warden-Commander dominated his thoughts. He loved her and he believed, in her way, she loved him. Yet, she was not at Vigil's Keep. She was there with him. The jealousy crept in, unwelcomed and undeserved. His rights or the felt wrongness of his circumstance did not matter. The boundaries of their relationship were set quite clearly and there were lines he could not cross no matter the desire or emotion.

Finger and thumb pressed against the bridge of his nose as he walked further into the room and toward his armor stand. His bow set aside, he began to strip away his hunting leathers. The leather coat and doublet removed first; he followed with his boots and pants next.

Not even the day's hunt, usually a relaxing activity that cleared his mind and brought him peace, was able to free him from his mental chains. She was part of him and not so easily shed like his leathers.

Bow retrieved, he walked toward one of the few items from his youth that still remained in the room after the Grey Wardens and Dailisa took over the arling and Vigil's Keep - his weapon's stand. Carefully, he placed his family bow atop the stand. Long fingers drug along the curve of the bow in memory. She had found the bow in the bowels of the Vigil in the Howe family vault. His father had never thought to share the secrets of the vault with him. He was not the worthy son.

Dailisa had thought him worthy. With the gift, his hatred of her lessened and something else began to take root; something he knew he should not want but did beyond reason.

He walked toward the tub and sank into the heated water. A breath taken in, he immersed the whole of himself within the heated depths and let the heat near overwhelm before he resurfaced. A hand rose, scrubbing against now wet locks as he let out a long sigh. His head leaned back, resting against the curved stone of the tub's outer edge.

Heat begot thoughts of heat. The glide of her tongue, the press of her lips, the gentle but firm grasp of her hand… He let out a staggered breath, feeling the beginnings of an erection. His hand slipped beneath the water to touch the tip of him. Finger and thumb rolled along the head as his eyes closed and he allowed himself to be lost within his thoughts rather than fight their persistence.

The warmth of the water was the heat of her mouth. The glide of his fingers, moving in slow strokes from tip to base, the caress of her hand. He thought of the way she looked, straddling him. He thought the feel of her fingers running along the lean mass of muscle upon his chest. He thought about the everything and not at all about the nothing and their agreement.

The pressure built within his core, increasing with each pump of his hand along his length. His legs bent at the knee, feet pressing against the bottom of the tub. A raspy moan passed over his lips as he felt those last few moments before the end. A rush of sensation overwhelmed spreading from his center to the tip of his limbs as his release came. His entire body tightened, breath held in with each spasm only to be let go a moment later until the last pulse of his orgasm.

He sat there in the water for a pause, taking a moment to catch his breath before he pushed his palms against the tub's edge and left his bath. He would not leave Vigil's Keep without orders but he sincerely hoped those orders came soon.