Chapter 6

(:.:)

For days now, I have been following Anne's shadow. Wherever she goes, I go. I follow every footstep she takes, from the moment she rises up from bed, until the moment she retreats herself back into her chamber. Nonetheless, we avoid each other as much as possible. Or rather, she avoids me as much as possible. Even Yvette and Freya are hardly allowed to remain here, because Anne sent them away as soon as possible.

At first, she would speak to me for either a request or for merely small talk. However, for the last couple of days Anne merely looks at me briefly before ignoring me completely. Instead of telling me where she is going, she just disappears from my sight and runs to whatever place she needs to go. When I tried to confront her, telling her that her behaviour is childish and extremely annoying, she brushes me off with a hand gesture.

Anger goes through my veins when she did that. Not because it was rude or offensive, -I am used to that-, but because it bitterly reminds me that right now I am nothing more than a servant and that she is my master. I had angrily snorted at her, before walking away, jeering at her with the words 'that her noble bloodline would be pleased to see her now'. I part of my mind had expected I comment back from her, just like Hawke did when I would scorn at her, but nothing came. Instead, when I looked over my shoulder at her, Anne would undisturbedly continue with reading a letter behind her desk. To my biggest shame and embarrassment I was left there alone, moping and brooding like a child.

The second time I wanted to confront her was when she was about to retrieve herself back into bed. I just got back from the kitchen to eat something and had remained there with the cooks and servants. I had stormed into her chamber without thinking straight, because I did try a cup of Ferelden wine, on the insistent of a very drunk cook. The alcohol had gone straight into my head after one glass. As I had walked back towards Anne's room, I immediately noticed that see was gone. I thought that she had probably drifted off somewhere, but I wanted to be sure that I was alone. So, I didn't expect her into her room when. When I walked inside I pushed the door open, a little bit too forceful. Instead of seeing an empty bed, I saw a naked back of a woman, with long strands of hair covering it. In merely her petticoat, Anne stood there frozen; just like me. Her eyes, widened in shock and perhaps in humiliation, looked at me while waiting for me to say something. My mouth had gone dry when I saw how her arms tried to cover her nakedness from my eyes. I mumbled an apologize, before sauntering out of the room again. I didn't sleep that night and Anne never spoke of that incident either.

It was around that time that she started to disappear from her quarters without a word. While reading different letters, her face grows into a concerned scowl and she even starts to bite down on her thumb while continue reading. Though I didn't ask her anything, I could tell that something was wrong with her. When she once again went out without saying anything, I was left alone. Without a second thought I went through her papers on her desk. Many letter contained reports over the alienage, invitations of nobility and requests from the common people. One letter, in a red envelope did attract my attention. Though I can't read quickly, I did manage to figure out that this letter had openly threatened Anne. My eyes tried to figure out the words as quickly as possible and I read that the person who wrote this letter was warning her that she should not attend any feast. If she would do so, it would 'cost her dearly'. Inside the envelope I found a ripped off play card of a heart queen, with her head gone.

I decided that there was no way for me to win when I would confront her. Unlike Hawke, Anne has an even higher wall around herself. She doesn't have the same temper nor the irascibility, so she will never speak any words out of anger or frustration towards me. She would merely look at me with a dull uninterested expression on her face. However, I did feel concerned for her, as the threat did look serious. I know this, so I follow her in the shadows where she can't see me. I do realise that I need her more than she needs me and I need her alive.

My eyes follow her whenever she meets someone, either a noble or a commoner and I can hear their soft spoken conversations. Sometimes she would get letters from them, other times she would give a small pouch of money from them.

Now however, Anne is getting outside of the palace through the backdoor, while wearing a blue cape. The hood covers her face from the world, as she leaves as quietly as possible. I manage to follow her with silent footsteps as she walks up the stairs underneath the palace's port. Unlike most days, her dress isn't as fancy but I rather dull brown one without any pearls or other ornaments. If I didn't knew better, I would believe that she is a mere servant from the palace.

As the sun hangs low into the sky, she walks through the streets of Denerim without ever being spotted by anyone. She doesn't look like to notice me, though I did cover up my white hair with a hood as well. She walks with a quick and hurriedly pace, until she reaches the Alienage. Without being questioned, she goes up the stairs and disappears from my sight for a brief moment. I quickly go up as well and I can just catch her disappearing into an alley at her right side.

With quick footsteps I follow behind her, hearing the fluttering sounds of her dress's skirt. I am not sure if she has noticed me, because she is starting to walk faster. While I narrow my eyes and try to reach out to her without calling Anne's name, she suddenly halts her movements completely. Now I am pretty sure she has noticed me, but she doesn't turn around to face me. With only a good meter between us, I stand there still without either speaking or even breathing. Without ever looking back at me, she starts to walk again, much to my surprise. She didn't notice me after all? Strange.

This doesn't feel good at all. Something is wrong and we need to get out of here as soon as possible. This time, I want to call out for her, but before the word is out of my mouth, I see a pair of arms emerging from the darkness. Both me and Anne look horrified at the person who had hid himself into the shadow of the dark alley. Anne lets out a yelp when she is pulled and pushed against the wall.

I immediately react when I see the person, - a man with poor clothes and a thick beard on his face -, holding her trapped in his arms around her small waist and throat. He turns around to me with a bewildered glance in his eyes, as if he himself is in a state of panic. I immediately rush towards them, but I halt my movements when I see the small dagger that the man holds against her throat. The hood on Anne's head has fallen off, revealing her face which is looking slightly terrified and fierce at the same time.

"Hold it right there!" The man yells with a slightly high-pitched voice. I am not sure if the man is talking to me or Anne, though I am convinced that he himself doesn't know it either.

I narrow my eyes at him, as Anne is struggling against the man's hold. I can hear the raged sounds of rapid breathing from the man's mouth and I slowly try to approach them. The man points the dagger towards me, instead of Anne's throat.

"Let her go, human." I say, without my eyes ever leaving the man's face. My hood is still covers my face.

"You have to leave!" The man exclaims in a quick spoken sentence. He looks around him. "I have to take her!"

"Are you the one who wrote those threats?" I ask slowly.

He nods hastily. "Yes. B-but only on behest of someone else!"

Someone else? The man doesn't look like someone who is smart enough to write a letter, let alone plan a kidnapping. It doesn't surprise me that he is doing that, but why would someone go after Anne?

"I know who framed you." Anne speaks with a firm voice. She keeps her eyes at me as she continues speaking. "It was Bann Esmerelle Prolow, wasn't it?"

The man wails when Anne says that name. "Lord Jonaley came to my house! H-he threatened me that he would rape and kill my wife and children if I wouldn't help them! He would do that if I didn't kill you!"

"I know what kind of man he is and for who he works." Anne speaks in a slow, calm voice.

"I-I am so sorry, my Lady!" The man continues with wailing, while placing the dagger back at her throat. A small trail of flood goes down over her skin towards her chest, and her face scorns slightly at the pain. "I don't want to kill you, but if I don't do this they will destroy my family!"

"Let me help you." Anne says, while carefully placing a hand on the man's hand. He only puts more pressure on the dagger and I can see that the slowly swallows nervously. "Please,-"

"Anne!" I call out, while trying to get closer, but she holds up her hand and halts my movement.

"Please, let me help you." She says. The man shakes his head in denial and confused, but Anne continues pressuring him. "I can move your family into a safer part of Ferelden and provide your family with everything you need. But you have to trust me."

"But my family-"

"Will be well provided by me, if you accept my hand." She tightens her fingers carefully around the man's wrist. "Please, trust me. I will never bring any harm to you, your wife or any of your children, but this… is not the answer to your problems."

With a concerned scowl on his face, I see how he slowly releases Anne. She quickly steps out of his hold on her and I am able to catch her before her knees fall down on the ground. I can feel her trembling hands holding my shoulders. She looks over her shoulder at the man, who now is shuddering. He loses the grip on his dagger and the knife falls down on the ground with a hollow sound. I can hear the soft mutters of him, mumbling what he should do now.

Whispering to Anne that we need to get out of here, I suddenly hear rustling noises behind us. The man gasps at the sight and I can hear a familiar click behind me. With rapid speed, I cover up Anne by pushing her against the wall and shielding her with my entire body. She yells out a 'No!' as the arrow barely avoids us, but hits the man right into his chest. From my the corner of my eyes, I can see the marksman with a crossbow. He needs to reload it before he can shoot another one. Without a sword or any other weapon than my hands, I rush towards him.

The marksman lets out a startled sound when I grab him by his throat and stabs my arm with an arrow. I let out a grunt when the pain shoots through my body, but before he can get the upper hand, I use my marking to crush the man's throat entirely. Hearing the gagging sound and tasting blood against my mouth, the body falls down into the dirt. Dead.

I turn back to Anne, who had crawled towards the other dying man. She knees before him and supports his head on her lap. Her hands hold his hand, while looking at the face of someone who had just tried to kill her. I slowly approach them, while looking around us to see if anyone else is trying to harm us.

"I am so sorry… m'lady. " The man mutters in a weak voice. "Please forgive me…"

"It's alright." Anne whispers back in a regrettable voice. She tightens her fingers in comfort. "What is your wife's name?"

"Anette… The woman who sells… pots and cans…" He responds while coughing up some blood.

"And what's your name?"

"Robert. S-she calls me Robby… s-says it doesn't suit me…"

She nods slowly. "I'll make sure that no harm will befall on your family. I promise."

The man, whose name is Robert, mutters out a word of gratitude. He looks in Anne's eyes with a terrified gaze. "I'm scared…"

"That's alright… I'll stay with you until the very end." She says in comfort, while blood slips down on her dress. I can hear the hollow sound of his last breath leaving his mouth. Anne closes his eyes with her hand. "May Andraste accept you in her loving embrace…"

She carefully places the man's head back on the ground while she sighs. She looks at me with an empty gaze. "This is was not supposed to happen."

I can't bring myself to say anything and only offer her a hand when she wants to stand up. I can hear stumbling footsteps into our direction, which brings my guard up. "We have to go."

I drag her with me and rush out of the corridor as quickly as I can when I hear the footsteps following us. Anne is barely able to keep up with me. When manage to reach the exit of the alienage with questioning gazes following us. I run with Anne's hand in my towards another alley and hide her in the shadow with my cape and body cover her completely. I can see the group of heavily armoured men rushing out of the alienage and particular jumping off the stairs. They push and pull anyone out of their way and search the area off, looking into any alley and dark corridor.

When some of the men comes closer to us, I bring my face closer to hers, trying to cover up Anne as good as possible. She brings her eyebrows together in distress, but I hum to her that she should trust me now. My nose slightly brushes against hers, while bringing up her hood over her head. I hold her hand when she reaches out to mine and I can feel the trembling fingers. Our faces are impossible close to each other and I can't help but to rub my nose against hers; otherwise I would feel her lips against mine. Each time I do that, I can her soft gasps and my mouth becomes dry when I hear the sound of both hers and the stamping of noises of metal coming closer to us. When I hold her even closer to me by wrapping my other arm around her waist, she makes a startled sound.

I suss her with a calming voice and continue to look at her. I don't dare to look the other way, when I can hear some of the men who are looking for us passing us by. When I can feel that someone is staring at us, I slowly turn my head towards right. A young man in shiny armour and a sword around his waist, is probably not even sixteen years old and he stares at us as if it's the most interesting thing he has seen today. Anne covers up her face by looking at the other way, while I place my hand flatly against the wall next to her head.

"Do you mind?" I growl out. The boy snaps out of his fascination and blinks clumsily before apologizing. He moves on and leaves us alone. With a relieved sigh, I get off Anne and can't help but to miss the warmth of her body.

Anne, whose face normally looks collected, has a bright flush on her cheeks. I tell myself that it is probably because of all the anxiety and chaos that just has happened. She moves slowly from the wall towards the exit of the alley and emerges from the chaos. Without saying a word, who manage to get back to the palace.

(:.:)

I have some bandages in my room. When I got out my room, I see Anne sitting in only a chemise before the fire place. She had placed a kittle of water on the fire and had taken a copper basin where she putted the hot water in. When I come closer to her, as I only have my tunic on instead of my armour, she looks at me as I sit down next to her. I reach out for the rag and want to place it on the cut on her throat, but she stops me by placing a hand on the wound.

"Your wound is more serious." She says and places my hand on my own wounded arm. Though I frown at her, I do as I say and clean up my wounds. She leans against the couch and sighs heavily. "This was not supposed to happen."

"I hope indeed that this mess wasn't your intention." I sneer sarcastic at her, while wrapping the bandage around my arm. I hiss at the pain from both wound as from the markings. "What were you thinking anyway? Facing them alone like a silly girl."

Instead of getting a sneer back, I can see how her face hangs low in shame. She can't bring herself to say anything, or so it seems because of the silence between us. Cleaning up the rag from the blood and replacing the dirty water with freshly new, hot water, I start cleaning up the cut around her neck. It isn't too deep or serious, but it needs to be cleaned. This time, she doesn't stop me.

"Back in Tevinter-," She starts slowly. "- you would protect me as well. And I abandoned you in that horrible place."

I frown at her words, as I would never thought that she would ever talk about Tevinter. In fact, it always looked as if she is trying to forget that time and almost pretended that it never happened to her.

"It was not like you could help me back then." I say, while carefully whipping the wound clean. "I wasn't ready to escape back then. I had to do it alone."

"But, what if-" I interrupt her by placing my hand against her mouth.

"No more talking about that." I look into her face and I see the same flush on her skin as she had before.

She nods, but starts talking anyway when I wrap the bandage around her neck. "I know who did this, you know? What happened today."

"Hmm." I hum, without being surprised.

"Esmerelle Prolow, the Bann of Amaranthine City. She is the one who is doing this. She… was the one who sold me to Danarius when I was seventeen."

I still my hands for a brief moment, before continuing with the bandage. I do remember that she told me that back in Minrathous. "And she is still a Bann?"

"It's because she is very powerful and very rich even among the Banns. There was never hard evidence against her and no one of the nobility dares to go against her because of that. Especially not for me." She says. "You see, there is a small group in the nobility that hates elves, but more than that, they hate me."

"Why is that?" As my hands are moving over her skin softly and she shivers a bit when I do.

"Because I am half elven. The idea that I may have a chance of ascending the throne… disgusts them, I suppose." She places her hands on my knees and tightens her fingers at the fabric of my trouser. "But more importantly, they want me dead because of my mother."

I continue stroking her neck, shoulders and arms, until she gasps out loud. "Your mother?"

"Yes…" She says a bit breathlessly, while lowering her head. Her ears are slightly red and my hand can't stop itself from touching it. "In the Fifth Blight, she killed some of the nobility that stood up against my father's rule and she burned down the city of Amaranthine because of the taint that was spread in the city. To get revenge, they are trying to… to…"

She stops talking when I touch her waist with my hands and legs. She places her hands on my shoulder and slightly lean against me. "Trying to do… what?" I urge her to go on into a soft voice.

"To kill me." She gasps out. "They can't defeat my mother, so they try to kill me… Because I am the bastard of the Hero of Ferelden and the King..!"

She wraps her arms around me and holds me desperately, something that I never expected her to do so. I wrap my own arms around her back, even if every fibber in my body tells me not to do so. I hold her, while she is trying to get closer to me.

"I am sorry…" She cries out softly. I don't say anything. "But please keep touching me. It was the only thing that kept me sane when I was in Tevinter..!"

Her head leans on my shoulder, while she confesses that to me. I want to move my hands to so many places at the same time as I slowly explore her back, just like I did in Tevinter. She makes a soft sound between a gasp and a cry when my hand travels up her spine. "Is this… alright?"

She nods quickly, even if I can't see her face. She rubs her nose into my neck. "May I touch you too?"

She asks it shyly, as if we never have done this before. I've never forgotten the times when we would hold each other in a embrace, until the sun would rise up. I never had felt any form of disgust or distress when she touched me so long ago. Not like Danarius, or even Hawke. It is only Anne's hands that can do that to me. She holds me a give long slow strokes over my back as well; each time giving me a soft thrill through my body. It almost feels as if I am falling into a trance, when I suddenly feel the naked skin against my hand. Without really knowing, my hand had gone under the chemise she is wearing.

"Is this really the smart thing to do?" I ask a bit clumsy. I stop, but Anne protests at that.

"Don't stop, please." She mutters desperately. "I've always wanted you to do that."

When I touch her lower back, she arches it to get even more closer to me. I'll watch her carefully when her forehead bumps into mine. Her mouth comes dangerously closer to mine and my eyes are almost closed as I reveal in the warmth we share. I know what will happen next if I don't stop now. I know what the consequents will be if I continue. Flashes of the night that I spent with Hawke goes through my mind. I don't want that to happen again. I don't want to hurt Anne, as I've done to Hawke. I don't want to be hurt by Anne, as Hawke did to me.

I shake my head, while pushing Anne away from me. With a questioning look, she looks at me. I look in her eyes when I whisper that "I can't do it."

As she is at her most vulnerable moment, her eyes flashes from hurt and then freeze completely, drawing all of the emotion out of her face. She sighs slightly and then nods in an apparent understanding. Her hands are releasing my shoulders and she untangles herself from mine arms.

"No-," Her voice slightly trembles when she says that. She quickly stands up, stoking the chemise back into its place and walking away. I try to reach out for her hand, but she is quick enough to retreat it. "-I understand. How could I? Forgive me."

She looks a bit lost when she avoids my gaze, while staring into the fire. "Anne-,"

"Please, forget this day. This has never happened." She says as she interrupts me.

She walks towards her bedroom and quietly wishes me a good night before closing the door behind her. I am left alone as I stare at the place she just stood. Her scent, lily perfume, lingers around me. I softly say a curse under my breath, as my heart thunders in my chest.