Sorry for the long wait guys! Last and final chapter should be out tomorrow, I hope. I'll try my best!
"Why are we here again, Hawke?" Aveline whispered quietly to Hawke, both women sitting on some fancy velvet sofa, completely bored out of their brains as Merrill, Isabella and Bianca cooed over the rails of the many different brides' dresses, each of them varying from simple, to over-the-top Orlesian frilly gowns. Poor Merrill looked startled as Isabella piled dress after dress into her awaiting arms.
"Let me see; we're surrounded by dresses, the décor in this place is all fancy and floral, and we're being served tea and cake. We must be in a Hightown bridal boutique…place…whatever," Hawke rolled her eyes.
Ever since last night, Isabella and Zevran had been persuading Carver to allow them both to organise the bachelor and bachelorette parties, which resulted in them succeeding, and now the women were out wedding dress shopping for Merrill and then it was to the Blooming Rose at night-time. The men on the other hand, were spending the day at the Hanged Man getting as drunk as they can, and playing Wicked Grace most likely.
Merrill was finally in one of the changing rooms, with Isabella in there with her in case Merrill needed 'assistance'. Bianca joined the other two bored women at the seating area.
"You two look like you'd rather be out killing bandits, or even dragons," Bianca spoke in hushed tones, so Merrill would not hear.
"I will gladly take on a high dragon, or two, than go dress shopping," Aveline replied bluntly.
"But you wore a dress for your wedding to Donnic though," Hawke pointed out.
"That was only because it was to my own wedding. Personally I would have still been in my guard captain armour."
"That doesn't surprise me one bit, Aveline," Bianca chuckled.
Suddenly, the curtain of the dressing room was pushed open and all three of the women's jaws dropped: Merrill was wearing a floor length, simple white dress that was sleeveless. The white silk clung to the elf's figure perfectly, showing her small curves in all the right places. Merrill giggled and spun around in a circle; the dress flared out slightly and revealed the v-cut shape in the back of the dress which stopped just past her shoulder-blades. The only 'fancy' flare to the dress was the intricate, small white roses that were sewn along the neck line and the v-cut in the back.
"Merrill, you look beautiful! Carver is one lucky son-of-a-bitch," Bianca gasped.
"You really think so? This dress is perfect but I really think Carver needs to-"
"Merrill we've been through this before; Carver must not see you in your dress before the wedding, it brings bad luck," Isabella sighed.
"But what if he doesn't like it? Does it make my bum look big, Isabella? Oh I hope not, I really wouldn't want to ruin my own wedding. What about the veil? Do I need a veil? Oh there's so much to do in so little time…I'm hopeless at this," Merrill rambled, pouting.
Hawke chuckled at Merrill's rambling before standing up and putting an arm around the Dalish mage.
"Don't worry Merrill; Carver loves you more than anything in the world. Even if you turned up in a sack, he would still love you."
"Thankyou Hawke, that's very kind of you to say," Merrill smiled and quickly hugged Hawke, before going back into the changing room to change.
Isabella went over to the tailor to 'pay' for the wedding dress as the others made their way out of the shop, both Hawke and Aveline mentally praising the Maker from saving them from the frills and lace of wedding dresses.
"So what now?" Merrill asked naïvely; Hawke just chuckled mischievously, Isabella soon joined in as the pair linked arms with the elf.
"Now we prepare for tonight," Isabella smirked.
"What's happening tonight?" Aveline crossed her arms, a stern look on her face.
Hawke rolled her eyes as Isabella answered; "Let's just say I have a little…performance to attend to at the Blooming Rose later, and everyone is invited."
"I will not step foot into that place!" Aveline snapped, narrowing her eyes at the grinning Hawke and Isabella.
"Oh come on Aveline, live a little. Besides, Donnic will be there tonight as well," Bianca chuckled as she saw the guard captain grow redder with anger, and embarrassment.
"Fine…But only because Donnic will be there."
"That's my girl!"
"Shut up whore."
As night fell upon the city of Kirkwall, the group of men made their way to the Red Lantern Disctrict in Hightown, all dressed in something apart from their usual armour, apart from Varric and Fenris of course.
"Come on Junior, you need to have some fun before you end up being tied down, and what better place than the Rose!" Varric tried to reassure a very angry Carver.
"Once you've had a few drinks, you'll soon release that tenseness in your muscles, or I could find you someone who could relieve them for you?" Zevran winked at the grey warden.
"Will you two just shut up? I'd rather stay at the Hanged Man!" Carver snapped.
"But we have a surprise planned for you…" Varric wiggled his eyebrows suggestively.
Carver sighed heavily, "Fine…But Merrill does not hear about this."
"Nor Hawke."
"Or Aveline."
Both Varric and Zevran laughed heartily in unison as they all made their way to the whorehouse.
Suddenly, Sebastian pulled Fenris to the back of the group.
"Are you alright my brother? You seem a little tense," Sebastian asked Fenris quietly, who in return just sighed heavily.
"Hawke misses the abomination, it's obvious that she does."
"Fenris…Hawke loves you, she would never even dream of searching for Anders. Just let this go for tonight and enjoy the…hospitality of the place."
Fenris 'hmphed' at Sebastian before they entered the Blooming Rose, curious about what Varric and Zevran have in store for Carver tonight.
Operation 'Love-Junk' was in place: Isabella was in one of the rooms preparing for what she was about to do for her willing audience, whislt Hawke, Bianca and Merrill blended into the crowds, making sure the men did not see them on their way to their reserved table. Aveline had backed out just moments ago, not wanting to get involved in this little 'prank' that Hawke and Isabella had planned.
"Why are we doing all of this for again?" Merrill whispered in complete confusion to Hawke beside her, who just kept grinning as she sipped wine from the goblet, keeping an eye on Fenris as he sat beside Donnic, with his back to them.
"We're going to break Sebastian."
"Break him? But that would be almost impossible, unless we were an ogre who can snap people's spines in half and-"
"What Hawke means is that we're going to break his vows of chastity. Well, Isabella is anyway. We're just going to see if she can really do it. Zevran and Varric already know what's going to happen," Bianca explained, looking over at her lover and winking at him cheekily, receiving a mischevious grin in response from Varric.
"Oh I see…Then why are we here then? Surely Isabella can do this on her own."
"To enjoy the show Merrill, plus, it is much better than just sitting at my estate and discussing fighting strategies with Aveline, yes?" Hawke chuckled, her eyes drifting from the door to Isabella's room, then to the tipsy Fenris who was laughing at something that Donnic and Carver were discussing.
Suddenly, the hired band in the corner of the room started to play a slow, seductive tune and the room quietened down to see what in the Maker's name was going on.
Hawke grinned cheekily, "Showtime."
The three ladies moved themselves to be closer to the others discretely, making sure not to be spotted still.
Isabella appeared on the banister of the staircase, her usual bandana and golden jewllery gone and her usual outfit was replaced by a floor length black dress that had the same cut as her usual dress; a black garter was on her right leg as she seductively swaggered down the stairs, her eyes transfixed on the soon reddening Sebastian, but they soon went to each of the other men.
"What in the Maker's name is she doing?" Sebastian whispered to Fenris through gritted teeth to make sure it did not seem he was talking.
"I don't know, and I really do not want to find out," he whispered back as he finished his bottle of wine.
The Pirate Queen received wolf whistles and catcalls from the other patrons as she slowly made her way to the table where Carver, Donnic, Fenris, Sebastian, Varric and Zevran were lounged at on the sofas, each with a look of bemusement, but Sebastian's face was bright red as he fought the temptation this woman had been driving him insane over these past few years.
Isabella winked at Hawke before she stood on the table and started to dance seductively, her hips and behind moving in time with the music as she kept her eyes transfixed on Sebastian, a sultry smile on her face. She first turned to Zevran and Varric, blowing them a kiss as she twirled around, her hips still swaying in time with the music as smoothly stepped down from the table and stood in front of Carver, her behind facing him as she began to grind her hips.
Carver began to blush brightly and had no idea what to do, the other patrons in the Blooming Rose continued to catcall and wolf whistle at Isabella as she sauntered over to Fenris, running her fingertip against along the line of his ear, causing the elf to shudder before he re-gained his composure, not allowing Isabella to break him.
Sebastian adjusted himself in his seat, his pants were growing rather uncomfortable as his raging desire of lust was straining against them. He frowned in concentration as he attempted to reach out to the Maker to not allow him to get into this state, but the old Sebastian was slowly creeping into him, masking his eyes with passion and lust, his usual holy aura turned to one that would make every single lay sister faint with the obsenities that were appearing his head.
He had almost snapped by the time Isabella had appeared right in front of him, her lips inches away from his and booted-foot on the arm of the chair, exposing much of her thighs as she slowly turned around and swayed her hips in front of him, her behind almost within reach before she turned her face towards him and winked seductively as she made her way to Donnic.
The usually chaste prince was now gripping the arm of the chair so hard that his knuckles began to turn white, a feral look in his eyes. The rest of the men could not believe their eyes at the way Isabella had finally made Sebastian snap.
But just as Isabella was sliding her hand down Donnic's chest, a bellowing voice stopped the music.
"Hands off my husband, slattern!"
Aveline, in her usual guard captain armour was standing there, arms crossed and a look of death in her eyes. A very drunken Donnic started to try and explain his story but Aveline just grabbed the startled guard's arm as roars of laughter could be heard throughout the whorehouse as Aveline dragged her husband away, her face almost as red as her hair.
Suddenly, Sebastian's chair flew back as he swept Isabella off her feet and stormed up the stairs, the pair exchanging passionate, heated kisses as they made their journey to one of the rooms as the door slammed behind them.
The musicians continued their usual music as the crowd began to disperse, most of the drunken patrons being kicked out by the bouncers.
"Well, that was interesting. I guess we won't be seeing Sebastian for the rest of the night," Carver laughed heartily as he rose his tankard and toasted to friends, the future and unexpected encounters.
To the distance, Fenris swore he could hear her gentle laughter and smell her usual scent. His eyes scanned the room franticly before he just dismissed it and blamed the drink. But he was completely unaware that she had been watching this entire time, a huge grin on her face as she left with Merrill and Bianca, knowing that their entertainment for this evening had finished.
