It had been hours since the Inquisitor had arrived back home at Skyhold, and Cullen had finally been summoned to one of their meetings. Usually, the inquisitor liked to get these meetings out of the way first and then take her time to relax.

Then again, he was sure that she had gotten a run for her coin in the Emerald Graves. The place was chocked full of giants, and they are not easy opponents, especially with several in one area.

Night was quickly approaching by the time a page had delivered the message to meet in the war room, and Cullen's heart, as per usual, fluttered in his chest at the thought of being in the same room as the inquisitor. Of course, that feeling had become somewhat worsened as of late. Before he'd left his tower he made sure to tuck the recently arrived picture into the pocket inside his armor.

As he came to the door leading into the war room he paused, took a deep breath, ran his hand through his hair, shifted his armor a bit, and finally stepped through the massive doors.

He was met immediately by the sight of the inquisitor's backside, as she was leaning over the war map. He tried not to stare, which was a rather difficult task but one he felt he carried out as well as could be expected of him.

Cullen quickly took his place behind the war table between Leliana and Josephine, and was greeted with Leliana's teasing. "Thank you for finally joining us, Commander," Leliana smirked, "I do hope taming your hair did not give you too much trouble." Beside him Josephine giggled lightly as she tried to focus on her clipboard.

He caught sight of the inquisitor smirking and heard her give a small huff of a laugh. Cullen sighed and decided to face the remark with a serious tone, if only to get them all back on subject faster, "No, it didn't. The Venatori encroaching on our territories in the Emerald Graves." Cullen turned toward the inquisitor, "I recommend you make a trip there soon, morale is low there and could be vastly improved by your presence, however brief it may be."

The inquisitor's eyes dulled a bit; sometimes she tired of having to constantly travel from one place to another. There was just no comfortable way to ride a horse for a long period of time. She had recently taken up laying back against her horse's back, but the saddle often made her back ache.

"I have some unfinished business in the Graves, I'll make sure to make that my next stop." She said, holding Cullen's gaze. His eyes were dark, as if he were thinking of something else.

It wasn't hard for her to guess exactly what he was thinking. She smiled and finally let go of his gaze, though his lingered on her and lowered to her chest briefly before he cleared his throat and straightened himself.

None of this escaped Leliana's notice, nor did it escape Josephine's. "At any rate, we have a few urgent matters that need your attention regarding our supporters among the nobility." Josephine said, trying to string the conversation along.

The inquisitor practically rolled her eyes, "Are those people ever happy? Must I constantly babysit them?"

Cullen smirked, "It appears so."

Josephine, ignoring those comments, continued on, "Let's see, the first five are marriage proposals," Cullen stiffened and looked over to Josephine's clipboard as she ruffled through the papers, "the next one is a complaint from Lady Marie Lezante of Orlais that you haven't attended one of her salons yet."

"She's angry that I'm out saving Thedas instead of attending a party?" the inquisitor asked.

Josephine shrugged, "She is one of our strongest and most influential supporters," she began.

"It would do us well to keep on her good side." Leliana chimed in, "Her parties are well attended by many noble families, and it does us good if she is speaking well of us."

"Please tell me you're not suggesting I attend another Orlesian party." The inquisitor said desperately.

"We are." Josephine and Leliana said in unison.

Cullen was still reeling from the marriage proposals. His eyes were glued onto the first page of Josephine's clipboard as he tried to make out the cursive words.

"My Dear Inquisitor," the letter began, "I do hope this letter finds you well, you may not remember me, I attended the negotiations at the Winter Palace. We spoke only briefly, though I couldn't help but have my eyes glued to you all evening. Your beauty surpasses everything I have heard. I would like to propose a union between the two of us, I believe we both have much to gain from such a marriage.."

Cullen scoffed in disgust. His face reddened when he realized that all three women had ceased their conversation to stare at him. He tried to play it off as him just clearing his throat.

"Right, well, if I must. Please just don't make me wear the military uniform, I look dreadful in it." Josephine smiled.

"We shall have a tailor make anything you wish." The inquisitor sighed.

"Right, anything else?" she asked, looking around at her advisors.

"Oh I have several missions that need your approval." Leliana said, her hands folded behind her back.

"And I have reports from our territories you should hear." Cullen added, finally able to focus himself a bit, though the proposals still lingered in his mind.

"Alright then, let's hear it." The inquisitor said.

When everything had been attended to, Josephine spoke, "That is everything for this evening, inquisitor."

Cullen's heartbeat sped up and he rubbed the back of his neck nervously. "Actually, I-uh, have one more thing to speak to you about, inquisitor, though it requires discretion." He finished, nodding to Josephine and Leliana, who smiled at him in an evil fashion before they both nodded.

"Of course, Commander." Leliana spoke as she and Josephine shared a mischievous glance and left the room, their arms linked together.

The inquisitor held his gaze for along moment, her face showed none of the excitement that lingered just beneath the surface. She would make him make the first move. She would spare him no suffering. "Commander," she said in a slow, delicious tone.

He looked her over, unable to find the words to say. The mere sight of her always sent a fire through his veins, but now it was worse than ever. "I've thought about what we discussed the last time we spoke." Her face was blank; she obviously wasn't going to make this easy for him.

"Refresh my memory, Commander? I can't seem to recall what you're talking about." Curse her.

Something in Cullen turned on, and he no longer cared for his pride, all he cared about was finally getting what he wanted so badly for so long: her.

"You asked me to pick out my favorite image of you from the ones that you saw." He reached into the chest pocket of his armor and pulled out a page folded in half. Keeping it folded, he slid the page across to her.

Her eyes looked down at the page and then back up at him with a darkened look in them, though her lips held a smirk. When she looked back down at the page, her slender hand reached down and picked it up.

He began walking around the table as she carefully unfolded the page and looked down at the image before her. Before she knew it, he was behind her, grabbing her waist and pushing her flush against him.

His hands wound down over the tops of her thighs before he once again grabbed at her hips and turned her around so fast that she was dizzy and unsteady on her feet for a few moments. Luckily, Cullen was pepared.

He quickly reached down just under her ass and lifted her until she was sitting on the war table, her legs wide open, allowing him to move right in between them and stare down at her. He had no idea where this all was coming from, but from the flush that was coming to her cheeks, he was more than happy to continue.

The page slipped from her hands and fell back onto the map beneath her as Cullen stared intently into her eyes. He leaned over her, placing his hands on either side of her legs. He slowly leaned forward, yet showed no interest in a kiss.

Instinctively, she leaned all the way back until she was lying down against the table, with his predatory gaze above her. She'd heard troops call him a lion before, but she had never been fully convinced until this moment. Her voice was absent, and she was fully at this lion's mercy.

Her hands lay at her side, as paralyzed as the rest of her. He reached up and brushed a piece of her hair out of her face ever so gently. She could feel her wetness pool between her legs as well as the aching throb that lingered there. She thought she felt his hardness against her, though that could have just been his armor.

His face moved towards her neck, and she closed her eyes, waiting for the contact of his lips to her neck. Instead, he spoke: "Tomorrow night, meet me there."

And with that simple phrase, he stepped back from the table. Her eyes opened wide and she leaned up onto her elbows to see him taking a few steps backwards, taking one final look at her form, vulnerable and ready for him, willing for him, before he turned and left the room, leaving her alone and wanting.

She sat there in amazement for a few seconds; she didn't think he had whatever that was in him. She had to give him credit. He'd turned this around on her in expert fashion. In a mere two minutes he'd seized control over this little game of hers and made her powerless.

She made plans to seize back that power tomorrow night. She pushed herself off the table, making a note of the warmth lingering between her legs as she turned and snatched the page off of the war table, giving it one final look before she tucked it into her shirt and into her bindings, making sure there was no chance of it slipping out.

The next day the inquisitor decided that she would do her very best not to think about Cullen, for if she did, she would get nothing done and would instead spend all day doing nothing but playing that…interaction…over and over again in her head.

So, to combat this, she decided that it was time for some physical training. It would feel nice to work out all her frustration, both from the stress that comes with being the inquisitor as well her sexual frustration from last night.

And so, when she woke up, she changed into her tight fitting physical training clothes. They were virtually the same as her casual clothes that she wore around Skyhold except the fabric was much light and more flexible, that and the color was much more flattering to her skin tone and body.

The shirt was sleeveless to allow her the full and unrestricted use of her arms, and the boots were much more lightweight, allowing her to move more quickly than her usual garb.

After she had changed she grabbed an apple from the kitchen and ate it on her way out of the main hall. As she descended the staircase out of the hall she took a deep breath, the air was crisp and fresh. There was just a faint chill on the breeze, the perfect weather for physical training.

At the start of this all she wasn't in nearly as fit as now. She couldn't run for half a mile before she was down and out. Now she could go for what felt like forever.

She stopped in the main courtyard where the training arena was. In the mornings it was almost always empty, as it was now. She stepped inside as she finished her apple. Placing the core down by the gate of the arena, she walked to the center took a deep breath before she began doing simple stretches.

She sat on the ground and reached for her toes, stretching out her legs effectively. She did each leg one by one and made sure they were loose. After that she lay on the ground stomach down and arched her back towards her feet, at the same time, she stretched her legs toward her head and barely touched her hair.

She then placed her feet against the ground, kept her hand on the ground, and pushed her butt towards the sky, intending to stretch out her back as well as her backside.

She could hear the birds chirping all around her as well as the breeze rustling through the trees from the garden. She breathed in deeply, taking in the peace of a morning at Skyhold. She rarely had such peaceful awakenings.

She decided that she should start simple; 50 push-ups. She raised herself onto her hands and then dipped herself towards the ground. One by one she racked up the number, finding satisfaction in the intense burn that filled her muscles.

It took what felt like forever to reach 50 and by the time she did, her arms were on fire. Before the inquisition she could barely do 10 consecutively.

She flipped over onto her back and began doing crunches; she thought that another 50 would do nicely, though by 30 her core was screaming at her to stop. She sighed, some things she hadn't quite mastered yet.

She had laid back against the ground and was staring up at the sky, breathing heavily as she wiped the sweat from her forehead. "He watches, wanting, burning, needing." The inquisitor sat up and caught sight of Cole perched on top of the gate, looking down at her.

"Oh, hi Cole." She said, deciding she'd had enough of a break. Now it was time for something more difficult; holding a handstand for as long as possible. She leaned down and laid her hands against the ground again with her ass in the air. With intense focus, she slowly lifted her legs up from the ground, putting her weight on her arms. In a few moments, she had her legs straight up in the air.

"He longs for the night, for her in the night, for him in her." Cole went on. The inquisitor paid him no mind, Cole was always saying crazy things, and this was no different.

She decided to challenge herself; she lifted her left arm from the ground, leaving only her right arm to hold her. She shifted her legs slightly apart in order to maintain balance. Sweat slowly dripped down her forehead and landed on the ground beneath her.

"Maker's breath but he wants her now." The inquisitor froze in place.

"Cole? Who are you talking about?" she managed to ask, though her body was on fire with effort.

"The man with the golden mane." The inquisitor slowly lowered her legs back down, as smoothly as her shaky muscles could manage. She stood and approached Cole. She had the strongest urge to turn and look at Cullen's tower, but she knew she would see him there, she could suddenly sense his eyes on her.

And she wanted to draw this out, to get some payback for last night.

She saw that some recruits that were not on duty had gathered in the courtyard. They were clearly watching her with hungry eyes, but they were far back enough so that it wasn't obvious and couldn't be proven. They had gathered in a circle so as to make it seem that they were simply talking to one another.

She smirked; this was how she would get back at him. She turned back to Cole, "Cole, I want you tell me everything the man with the golden mane thinks."

Cole just nodded. The inquisitor decided it was definitely time for some more stretches. She nonchalantly turned so that her ass was facing the recruits and her face was facing Cullen's tower. She caught sight of him in her peripheral vision, but made sure not to make it obvious that she knew he was there.

Then she spread her legs apart and leaned down toward her left leg. She heard the recruits inhale sharply and she smiled to herself. It wouldn't be long now till Cullen took notice….

She switched to her right, and let herself linger for a few moments too long. After that, she reached down to the ground between her legs.

"Fire in his veins, red in his face, stone in his gut."

Bingo.

The inquisitor stood from her stretching and then stretched her arms, holding each across her chest for longer than necessary, waiting for the delicious moment that she knew was going to follow.

As if on cue, Cullen emerged from the top of the stairs leading to the lower courtyard. His eyes were set on the recruits, and he once again was set into his lion-like state. "Recruits!" he roared out as he crossed the courtyard. The inquisitor turned, pretending to not know what was happening, "If you all are so interested in exercise this morning why don't you take a run?"

Inwardly, the inquisitor laughed as the recruits groaned and got into two lines and took off towards the gate to go on their run. After he saw them off, Cullen crossed the courtyard to the inquisitor. "Infuriating, damning, impossible, mine. Maker's breath, she is mine."

A shiver ran through her body at the thought of being claimed by him.

As he approached, she tried to crack her back, if only to give her something to do.

"Inquisitor," he said calmly, he'd regained himself in the walk over, though his eyes were dark and wanting, "Cole." He greeted calmly.

Cole nodded faintly, and the Inquisitor tried to remain stoic, "Your troops giving you trouble?"

She almost heard him growl, "More than just my troops, I fear." His voice was rough, and it drew her back to last night.

"Wetness between my legs, his heat all around me, pushing me back against the table, the little pieces prickling my back-"

"Thank you, Cole, that will be all." The inquisitor smiled widely.

She heard the Commander laugh darkly as he turned away from the practice arena and headed back towards his tower. Before he left he gave her one last look over, taking her in. "Mine." Cole said one last time as Cullen turned away and left.

She felt even more frustrated now. Maybe she should go for a run, too.