Heartbreak is not a familiar concept to Cullen.
He's spent the majority of his time in one Circle or another, working complacently as a templar next to mages, perceived creatures with a strange and tenuous grasp on magic thought to be a threat. And once upon a time he, as a naive 18-year old, had thought these strange people could coexist peacefully with society. And believing that, he had become weak and fallen for a mage named Merle. He doesn't believe he'll ever quite forget the vividity of her crimson hair, or the sound of her laugh.
But Cullen was never heartbroken. Not over Merle. He held out hope for years, as she returned the sweet feelings and his judgement was always hopelessly muddled around her, and he had found himself stammering, stumbling over his words and blushing. Still, a hint of red clouds his cheeks at the faint memories of those lovelorn moments in the library. It was Uldred's rebellion of blood magic and vile curses that had snapped him to reality, taught him to never put his faith in a creature of magic again. And so Cullen had closed his heart and shut Merle out. Never again, he had thought, up until now. With Katria Levallen, all the strict rules he had imposed on himself and the heart of indifferent stone he had assumed were gone, cracked into nothing. This feeling that was evoked at the sound of her name, at the sight of a rarity of a smile quite frankly, frightened him. It hasn't been something he's felt since Merle. Katria is...different. And she's in love.
Not with him.
But with Blackwall.
He sits silently at a dining table, sitting directly across from Katria. He watches both her and Cole, a strange spirit in the form of a human that he suspects admires the elf as much as Cullen himself. Cole observes her in the corner of his eye, through his thin veil of white-blonde hair as diligently as the templar. She is kissing Blackwall, her onyx orbs hidden beneath fluttering eyelids as she gently cups his face. Blackwall's forlorn eyes stay open as though he's attempting to take in as much of her beauty as he can, and he reaches up to intertwine his fingers with hers. THe two are amongst the racous din of the Inquisition - Sera, Vivienne, Solas, Cole, Cassandra, Bull, Leliana, Varric, Alma and Alyssa - and yet they take no notice. All they see is the other.
Cullen watches Katria, watches as she opens her mouth just enough to give Blackwall a tease before chastely closing it, pulls away and kisses him in an unexpected place - beside the ear or on the curve of his neck before finding his mouth again. All four of their plates are untouched.
Blackwall seems to act as though these were his last moments with her. He drinks her essence in, holds her close, runs his free hand through her thick mass of obsidian hair.
Everything Cullen wants to do with Katria.
Heartbreak is now a familiar concept to Cullen.