She came to him in his dreams that night. Her hair flowing around her shoulders like a turbulent river of red waves. Her shirt was open like when he had found her on the Imperial Highway. Only this time she was not gravely wounded but whole and perfect. There were no brutal bite marks on her breasts. She met his eyes directly, her hesitation and shyness were gone. He wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. He knew then that she did not know how to kiss. He would show her. He placed his lips softly on hers. He probed her lips gently with his tongue and his teeth pulled on her lower lip. She relaxed her mouth beneath his and sighed. His mouth found her neck and explored this sensitive area. She made little sounds in her throat and her hands traveled to weave behind his neck and head. He knew he was awakening her to feelings she had never experienced. His tongue traced the shell-like outline of her ear...
"My lord!", there was a banging on his chamber door. He woke abruptly from the dream feeling like he had just been dropped into a snow bank. He had allow a moment to settle himself before answering the door. The captain of the guard was there.
"What is it?" he asked the captain.
"You should come see for yourself," the captain said.
Teagan grabbed a dressing gown and wrapped it around himself and followed the captain to the basement. He gasped at the bloody sight before him. The prisoner and a guard lay dead.
"What happened here?" Teagan asked.
"My lord, it seems as though the prisoner tried to escape and she and the guard killed one another during the attempt." He bent over the corpses, trying to read whatever he could from the bodies.
Teagan shook his head, sighing. "So much for questioning her." He stared at the scene for a moment and shrugged. "See that the guard's family is notified and make sure he gets an honorable funeral." He nudged the woman's body with a toe. "Leave her in a field somewhere for the scavengers. She deserves nothing else."
The captain nodded and Teagan trudged back upstairs.
He tried to recapture his dream but he dreamed of nothing else that he recalled the next day.
That evening Teagan lit the pyre that consumed the remains of his brother. He said his own private prayer for Eamon and promised him he would look after his Arling and Ferelden as he would have. He also swore that he would find who was ultimately responsible for his death and bring them to justice. Teagan's eyes found Isolde. She was heavily veiled and leaned on a servant for support as she watched her husband's corpse disappear in the flames. He found Sorcha watching from the crowd. Her face was solemn and revealed little except for the crease between her eyebrows. After Mother Hannah spoke and Teagan gave a short speech the nobles returned to the castle for a feast in his honor.
They shared their memories of Arl Eamon and toasted his memory as they feasted. Teagan had to be helped to his room afterward, he had tried a little too hard to keep up with the toasts. Sorcha retired early and read a little further into the novel she had started. Isolde played her part well despite enjoying being the center of attention. Eventually she also had to be helped to her rooms.
The castle slept in the next day. Later in the day the guests began to leave and by evening things had returned, more or less to normal.
Isolde wrote a letter to Sorcha's father.
...Sorcha unfortunately does not truly seem to desire to be my lady-in-waiting. I had very high hopes for her, but unfortunately this does not seem to interest her. She can, of course, stay with us as long as she likes. She seems to truly take an interest in our horses and I'm sure she would be welcomed as an additional hand to our stable master...
She thought this would do the trick. Sorcha's parents were well-to-do and would never wish for their daughter to be a stable hand. They would make sure she left as soon as possible and probably arrange to marry her to some old man. She gloated, basking in the imminent removal of another obstacle. She hoped it would be this easy. Otherwise she might need to resort to other methods. She sent her message off. Perhaps in as little as three days the girl would be packing.
She lifted the box containing the candle down from her dresser and sniffed it, whiffing the sweet musky scent and wondering how the candle would work. Today might be a little soon yet. Perhaps tomorrow evening. Her spirits were lifting and it was becoming more difficult to remember to be a grieving widow when it seemed like her dreams were about to come true.
Two days after the funeral Teagan asked Sorcha to go hunting with him. Her face lit up. She grabbed her bow and got the horses ready to go. They left early in the morning. There was a little misty fog but that was normal for the time of year. It would certainly burn off in a few hours and the day would be a warm one, by Ferelden standards. They went back to the deer trail where she had shot the stag. By the time they got there the sun was shining.
The place they had used as cover was just as he remembered it. The sun highlighting the foliage, turning the leaves into brightly shimmering green gems. The sun that did manage to filter through lit her hair on fire in patches. This was the spot where he pictured her as a dryad. He dismounted and helped her off her own horse. She looked at him with a puzzled expression. One of them should be scouting for a deer to flush down this path. He lead her down the path, to a place he thought she had never seen. It was a large pond.
"I used to come here with Eamon when I was young," he pointed out the spot where they liked to fish.
She smiled at him. They went to the flat boulder that was fully exposed to the sun.
Teagan sat down and took off his boots, he rolled up his pant legs. He sat on the edge of the flat rock, he feet and legs dangling into the cold water. Sorcha followed suit and sat next to him. He looked at her as she stared out over the water.
"Have you ever fished?" he asked.
"No," she shook her head, "I'd like to though. Is it fun?"
Teagan shrugged, "It can be, if you have a lot of patience or good company."
Teagan was still staring at her. She wanted to leave, her cheeks were getting hot. Finally she looked at him. His eyes were so warm and brown. She thought about the book she was reading and suddenly realized why her cheeks were hot. I want him to kiss me?
He finally leaned closer and his hand smoothed away a stray lock. Maker, what if he kisses me? She was going to panic any moment and run away. His hand went behind her head and he put his lips on hers. She didn't know what to do. The novel suggested that kisses involved bruising of lips, biting, conquering tongues and much heaving of bosoms. But this was nothing like that. It made her toes tingle though; maybe that was the very cold water, or a curious fish nibbling on her feet.
He pulled back from her and looked at her face. There was the panic again, he had frightened her. "I'm sorry, Sorcha. I just... have been wanting to do that for a long time."
She shook her head, "No, it's all right Teagan. I just... I don't know...", she shifted uncomfortably on the rock, "I mean, no one has ever...not like that."
"Kissed you?" Teagan asked.
She stared at her feet in the water and shook her head.
He smiled at her. "Did you mind?" he asked.
She shook her head and ventured a glance at him. "No, it was... nice."
Teagan chuckled silently. "Nice isn't exactly the word I hoped you would use."
She sighed with her frustration at trying to find the words.
"Can I try again and see if I can do better than 'nice' this time?" he asked.
She nodded. She furrowed her brow, concentrating and looked at him.
Teagan shook his head. "I can't kiss you."
She looked at him in surprise. "Why not?"
He laughed, "Because you are thinking about it too hard." He poked her in the ribs with a finger. "You're always so serious."
She laughed and caught his hand in her own. "Don't! That tickles."
"That's the point." He put his hand on her waist and probed for her ticklish spot. She squirmed away from him, laughing wildly. He kept pursuing her with his tickling fingers until she finally ran out of rock and she teetered on the edge. Another attack sent her over the edge, but not before she grabbed his arm and pulled him in. It wasn't deep but they were both drenched up to their waists.
"Cold!" she sputtered.
He yanked her close to him and wrapped his arms around her. This time the kiss was intense. His mouth found hers again, this time she relaxed into his arms and her mouth was softer. He nibbled gently on her lip and she sighed. His tongue traced the outline of her lower lip. She kissed back. She mimicked him, tugging on his lip with her teeth and tracing his mouth with her tongue.
He pulled away. "See, is that so hard?" He helped her out of the pond and they went back to the rock to sit in the sun. He pulled her close wrapping his arms around her to warm her up.
"Very nice," she said, her smile was mischievous.
Teagan huffed indignantly, "Very nice?" He shook his head. "Your standards are impossibly high, my lady."
She laughed. "Or my vocabulary for this is extremely limited."
Teagan looked at her, his brown eyes glowing. "Then it seems we should expand your vocabulary." He tipped her face up and this time gave her a kiss from right off the pages of "The Rose of Orlais". She gasped with the sensations. Then his mouth went to her neck and she felt his mouth and teeth exploring, they discovered sensations she had no idea a simple neck could be capable of producing. She couldn't help the moan that escaped her. She wondered how this attention to her neck could be causing the tingling feelings just below her belly. Then he turned her head to the side and started kissing her ear.
"Oh!" she gasped.
"Very nice?" he asked, he breath was warm and moist next to her ear.
"Um hm," it seemed her vocabulary was shrinking instead of growing.
When he started to trace the whorls or her ear with his tongue it shrunk even further to sighs and moans. Then it stopped. She looked into his face wondering why.
He smiled at her. "You don't look like you want to run away any more."
She shook her head. "I guess I don't." She put her hand in his hair feeling its softness and she pulled his face down to hers and this time she kissed him. She was catching on. She took in the sensations of her hand on his face against the stubble of his beard. Her mouth explored his jaw, right where it met his neck. She inhaled his scent and tasted the salt on his skin. She bit him gently and felt him respond with a gasp. She was eager to continue exploring but he broke away from her.
"Did I do something wrong?" she asked.
Teagan laughed, "Oh no, absolutely not."
"I don't understand," she said.
Teagan flushed this time. "I just don't want to take advantage of you, Sorcha, and if you continue to do that I'm not sure I could help myself." He pulled her close to him and kissed her forehead.
She wasn't entirely sure what he meant, but she was sure she didn't want it to stop.
"Next time we come here we should bring fishing poles," he suggested.
She nodded, "I would like to try that. I'm not sure my patience is adequate but the company would be good." She smiled.
"Perhaps we should try to find something to shoot so we don't go back to the castle empty handed. People would think we were poor hunters if we do," he stood up and offered her a hand. She took it. He crushed her to him for one more kiss before letting her go regretfully.
They spent a couple of hours hunting and bagged a couple of pheasants and two ducks. Sorcha was sad to see their time together ending. Before they reached the castle he drew his horse close to hers and kissed her again. "Very nice?" he asked her again. She grinned at him. "Very, very nice."
She went back to her room, smiling like a fool and realized that "The Rose of Orlais" made a lot more sense now.
Note: I so badly wanted to write, "He awoke to a terrific banging" in that second paragraph but I thought someone might take it the wrong way. :)