Interim

She knew the assassin was purposefully dawdling. He could be there in seconds if he really wanted to, or so he claimed. Naishe was pacing her room impatiently when at last she heard a quiet knock on the door.

Zevran had barely closed the door when Naishe was on him. She clawed at his armour with ferocity. The fact that he'd bothered to wear it at all irritated her. He should know it would merely be another barrier between her and what she wanted. Selfish really. His knives clattered to the floor and his chest leathers soon followed suit. Her intensity was infectious.

The shirtless Zevran lifted her off the ground, allowing her to wrap her legs around his waist and kiss him hungrily. He tangled one still gauntleted hand in her hair and squeezed her ass with the other. Their kisses were hard and fast as ever, their tongues fighting to dominate the other. He carried her to her bed and dropped her onto it. Naishe made to pull him down with her, but he remained standing.

"Happy to see me?" he unbuckled his belt and let it slide onto the floor.

"You have no idea." She was giving him the pouty, heavily-lidded fuck-me look that made him hard. Her eyes dipped down to his breeches.

Zevran smiled. "And what is it you want?"

Amber eyes returned to his, "I want you to fuck me, Zevran."

I want you to fuck me until I forget all this.

It had been two months since Clarissa's departure. Naishe's devastation had turned to anger. Anger had turned to a numb indifference. Now, she suffered through the monotony of each day.

The assassin's breaths were already heavy. He made a low guttural growl in assent and undid the buttons of his breeches. His manhood sprung out. Naishe began to pull the ends of her dress up her thigh but Zevran shook his head. He yanked her up by the shoulder, and pulled her head towards his legs. She didn't need telling twice. Naishe took Zevran in her mouth. She licked the base of his cock and moved her tongue up and down his shaft. The sucking was fast and sloppy. Naishe wasted no time building up a steady rhythm. She wanted to drive him into a frenzy. It worked.

Zevran closed his eyes and let out a prolonged "Fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuck." He pulled her bobbing head closer towards him until she could hardly breathe. Her teeth brushed against his shaft and he groaned again. He felt electric. His heartbeat was pounding in his eardrums. The only things heard from the bedroom were the sounds of Naishe's sucking and Zevran's ecstatic moans.

She felt his body tense and jerk as he came. In her. On her. Messy and loud. The way she liked it. Naishe leant back against the bed after he had finished, wiping her mouth with the back of her hand. Zevran's eyes were still closed and he was panting.

"Does this mean I'm going to have to do myself as well?"

Zevran shot her a dark animalistic look. He was drained, for now.

Naishe shrugged. She knew how to play this game. She let a hand drift slowly down her chest, over her breasts, along her abdomen and finally rest between her legs. She was wet already. Seeing him like this only made her wetter. She started rubbing herself gently. Zevran's gaze was locked on her.

After a minute, her breaths became short and laboured. Her fingers disappeared inside herself. She murmured Zevran's name with closed eyes. When she opened them, he was hard again. He shot her a dark feral look.

"You're mine."

His body was instantly against hers, warm and hard. His kisses sent a charge through her like her nerves were exposed. Naishe dragged her tongue along his tattoos, tasting the tang of sweat. When his hands reached her breasts, they became possessive and rough. He was completely unyielding, and it was driving her crazy. She dug her nails into his toned back and took his earlobe in her teeth, eliciting a loud groan of approval.

They wanted to take each other apart. Even when he'd torn the clothes from her, he seemed unsatisfied. He wanted to strip her to the bone. Their kisses were so hard they left each other's mouths raw. Naishe couldn't get enough. She wanted it rougher. Harder.

Zevran turned her around to face the bed. Naishe obligingly got onto her hands and knees, aching for him. She gasped when he thrust into her, unravelling completely. He gripped her hips and she felt his stomach tighten against her back. Naishe felt her hands and knees going numb as he fucked her. They were coming apart inside. A crescendo of grunts echoed from Zevran as he thrust into her, harder and harder. Her fingers clawed at the sheets, her body utterly helpless. She felt his teeth on her shoulder. One of his hands groped at her breast, then travelled down to her thighs. He plunged his fingers inside of Naishe and pulled her against him even more, fucking her deeper and deeper, almost until it hurt. The intensity was so fierce she was barely aware of anything anymore. She was full to her core. Her whimpers spurred Zevran on.

"Fuck me Zevran. Maker, fuck me. Please. Please." A string of Rivaini profanities escaped her mouth, but Naishe barely realised. Her tense numb body slapped against his. Thy felt each other's sweat. Each other's want. "Please don't stop."

Zevran's body felt like an exposed nerve. His eyes were fixed on the woman in front of him. She was utterly vulnerable. Completely in his control. When at last his came again, one arm was around Naishe's waist, the other around her neck. His sweat-slicked chest rose and fell with heavy gasps against her.

Eventually, they collapsed against the bed. Naishe hadn't come, but she didn't care. She'd got what she wanted.

They basked in the afterglow for a while, but Naishe's thoughts soon moved elsewhere. Her eyes moved to the sunlight streaming through her windows.

Zevran could sense a change in Naishe's mood. "Is everything alright?"

Naishe was silent for a while. Eventually…"Yes. No. I don't know."

The elf's face betrayed the faintest hint of concern.

"Do you ever…Do you think it's possible to miss something you've never had?"

"Certainly," Zevran remarked. "Not a day goes by that I don't regret bedding that handsome Ferelden prince. We exchanged pleasantries whilst his guardsmen arrested me."

Naishe was still looking out the window.

"You meant something else."

Naishe made a non-committal noise. "I just…is this it? Is this all I'm going to have to look forward to for the rest of my life?"

"Mmm…yes. Stroke my ego some more."

"Zev."

"Apologies." He sat up. "You are not enjoying your life in Antiva?"

The Rivaini sighed. "I don't know what it is…I have everything I could possibly want. I'll never need to beg or bargain or steal anything. Most people would kill for a life like this."

"You don't like having everything served up on a silver platter?"

Naishe shrugged. "It's more than that. I don't feel like I'm living. Just existing. These moments-" she gestured to him, "-are the only time I feel alive."

"Well, if it's a case of living," Zevran's hand brushed up her spine, "I can go all night…"

Naishe shook her head and he let the hand drop. She smiled a little. "Would you believe me if I said I was bored?"

"Having everything you could ever want must be so tiresome."

"I'm serious. I have free reign as long as I stay inside the house, or at least until one of his guests needs 'entertaining'. And I can't set foot outside without babysitters. Ugh. I hate being at his beck and call like this. I can't make any decisions around here. I can't even go with him on trips. At least I could go where I wanted in Rivain. My mother never cared. I could be gone for days and she wouldn't look for me."

"Is that what you'd like? To return to Rivain?"

Naishe wasn't so sure. "Maybe. I don't know. Mother wouldn't exactly be waiting for me." The idea of returning to the Qunari-infested peninsula grew less attractive by the second. Llomerryn had always been fun though. A thought occurred to her. "Do you get to travel much?"

"Me? Well, only if the job requires it. Not much time for free-lancing. Why do you-?" he twigged what she was getting at. "No."

"Oh come on."

"Not happening."

"I'd make a great assassin."

"You have a face that is difficult to refuse, but alas, it cannot be."

Naishe shoved him lightly. "I already know a bit of fighting and you know I'm a fast learner."

Zevran grimaced. "Antivan Crows are trained from the age of five. They'd never consider someone so…mature starting from scratch. I'm sorry."

The Rivaini slumped her shoulders, visions of Naishe the Antivan Crow disappearing from her mind. "Balls."

"I'm sure, with enough persuasion, your husband would agree to take you on his trips so you can see the world. He is a very rich man."

Naishe snorted. "He isn't my husband, he's my owner. Luis wouldn't know autonomy if it hit him in the face."

"Someone's got a problem with authority."

"Zev."

A cat-like grin adorned his face, but he said nothing.

"A little freedom. That's all I want."

"Just a little?" This all sounded far too familiar. As Naishe had probably guessed, she wasn't the first wife of Lord Mali-Kricco. Zevran had encountered the previous bride in passing. Similar to Naishe in appearance and she'd also shared her disinterest in the life of leisure Luis was offering. Zevran didn't know what happened to her, but knew better than to ask.

Naishe shrugged again. "If you don't like the story, rip out the pages and write it yourself. That's what my mother used to say."

"Wise woman."

"Not wise enough." Naishe used her fingers to mimic horns on either side of her head.

Zevran let the conversation drop. He didn't have many words of comfort to offer her.

Eventually, a smile returned to Naishe's face. It didn't quite reach her eyes, but the elf didn't push it. "Me, me, me. You must be terribly bored. Tell me how things have been going for you, Zev."

"Where to even begin?" He lay back against the sheets, eyes on her. "I have this terrible pain in my body."

"Is that right?"

"Perhaps you could help me with it."

"Here?"

"Not quite."

"Here?"

"A little lower."

"How about…"

"Ooooo…"