It was as if the kiss was simply forgotten by her as the door shut and the dull glow of a far off torch surrounded them. He could see the way her hands tightened into excited balls, and how her step started to bounce as she immediately started down the passage, her expression one of eager curiosity.
Watching her for a moment, he waited until she was nearly to a split in the passage before he spoke, his voice echoing strangely off the rock walls. "Do you even know where you're going?"
Lyna paused and looked back at him before letting out a laugh. "Good point. I got distracted." She stepped to the side, her back pressing lightly against the wall, and motioned for him to precede her. "After you."
He didn't bother meeting her smile, instead simply walking past her. He could hear her moving to follow, her steps erratic, and he imagined her pausing every few steps to take a quick and closer look at some piece of mold, or spider web, or torch.
"As smart as you are, Warden-"
"Lyna," she interrupted, and he mentally reminded himself that he needed to not use her title.
"As smart as you are, I don't think even you will be able to memorize the way through the tunnels right away. This should be no problem though, seeing as there will always be someone with you when you are coming and going."
"Someone with me? Why?"
He could practically feel her staring at his back, could picture her brows lowering over her eyes and her mouth setting in a mutinous line. She was ready to argue but he didn't want to give her the satisfaction of trying to change his mind so he stopped and turned back to her instead.
"Think about it. You were the one who said you couldn't be known as the warden, yes? So that means you would be a stranger to me, to the whole group. What level of fool would I be if I let you have free run right away?"
He watched her think about it for a few seconds before starting to walk again, knowing she would answer eventually.
"Fine," she finally replied, her voice still annoyed, "So I have to have a keeper. You can at least tell me what it is exactly you all are doing. If nothing else I'm good enough to act like I don't know."
Reaching a long straightway, Zevran turned so he could walk backwards and talk, an easy smile tilting his lips. "What else? We are doing what we are good at. Some killing, some saving-"
"Saving?"
"If it can have a price put on it, mi bella, we can do it, so we kill, we save, we trade, and we find, among other things. But more than money it ruffles feathers, causes problems, puts a kink in the works."
She studied him as they continued walking, her hands folding lightly over her chest. "And what's the point of doing that?"
His smile widened and he turned back around to walk normally. "What's the point of anything I do? Care to take a guess?"
"Attention." He heard the laughter laced through her answer and turned down the final passageway.
"And plenty of it. From the right people of course."
"And who are the right people?"
He glanced back long enough to send her a wink and drew to a stop outside of a wooden door that divided the passage. "Ah, now isn't that always the question."
She was quiet as he fished out a key and set in into the lock. She stayed that way as he opened it and they stepped through into a short hall that ended at the opposite side in a stone door. She didn't speak again till he had locked the wooden door back, and when she did her voice was soft.
"Is this how it's going to be then?"
He looked back up at her as he put the key back into a pouch, his smile still easy. "What do you mean?"
"You're going to be charming and clever and never actually tell me anything."
He felt his expression falter as he made himself lean against the wall with his shoulder, his arms coming up in a mimic of hers. "What exactly do you want me to tell you?"
Lyna dropped her arms and took a step away from him to lean against the opposite wall.
"The truth. Something that doesn't involve some joke or cryptic response that I only half understand." She looked away a moment and he was left to stare at the curving point of her ear and the way some of her sandy blonde hair had come out of her tie to fall around it. "I just wonder how long it's going to be until…"
She trailed off and looked back at him again with a shrug.
He wanted to laugh, wanted to bury his face in his hands and simply give over to the sheer ridiculousness of the whole situation of her being here and thinking to ask that. Instead, he straightened off the wall.
"Until what, Lyna? Until we can talk like we used to?" Zevran shook his head and started walking towards the stone door, not caring if she followed or not. "Until you can know all my secrets and plans? I thought you stopped caring about that when you decided to go to Vigil's Keep."
"You know why I had to go to Amaranthine, Zevran. The Grey Wardens-"
He laughed, the harsh sound of it grating at his throat even as it echoed around them. He didn't want to do this now, didn't want to do it at all, but he couldn't stand to listen to her talk about why she had to do what she did.
"I don't care about the Grey Wardens, Lyna." The words were bitter, emotion leaking through them despite his promise to himself that he wouldn't show any. He turned to look back at her, all traces of humor draining away as he glanced over her far too placating expression. "I don't care about why you had to go and lead them. All I know is that when push came to shove you decided it was more important than I was, than what was happening to me was."
"That's not true, I told you-"
It seemed it was his turn to do all the cutting off because he held up a hand to stop her words.
"Yes, you told me exactly what was going to happen. Exactly what you were going to do. You didn't even ask if I was alright with it. You decided it was before you even walked into the room that night. So no, I'm not making that mistake again. I'm not telling you how important something is, or why I need to do it because I don't want to deal with putting more trust into you than you are willing to live up to."
"Zevran."
He shook his head and went to unlock the stone door, the metal key grating loudly in the lock. "I'll take your help because it was offered, but this isn't like before. We aren't what we were, and you are crazier than I ever realized if you think we are."
"I'm not going anywhere, Zevran. I'm doing what I want to this time, which is being here, with you."
He didn't want her honesty. Didn't want the words that would have made thousands of differences half a year ago but now simply made his hand clench, too tight, around the key he held. So he forced himself to smile, his working smile, his charming smile, and used the tone that meant everything was fine even as she frowned at him. "We shall see, yes?"
