Solas hadn't killed her; a surprising turn.
As they licked their wounds later, Cassandra and Marcus had gladly relinquished the tower to the chantry forces within the walls of Kirkwall. She stared now into the fire roiling warmth through their rooms at the Hanged Man. Marcus had gone to order supper, leaving Cassandra with her somber thoughts.
Mages were even now poring over the archives at the tower to discover what exactly Solas had stolen, and worry clamped her gut hard into a tight ball. Did he have all that he needed to destroy their world?
Her instincts said he didn't. He wasn't certain of his success.
The door clicked loudly, startling Cassandra and prompting her to stand to her feet. It was Marcus, dusty and bloody from the fight and probably the most beautiful thing she'd ever seen.
"I ordered supper and a bath." He carried bandages under one arm and a healing potion beneath the other. "Aveline sent word that the mages will be waiting tomorrow to reveal what they know by then. She thanks you for your assistance."
Cassandra rested a hand on her hip. "Assistance. I had him."
Marcus put the items on a table nearby. "Cassandra, I was there. He had us. That man is one bloody powerful mage or more than that. I had little effect on his spells."
"Yes, he is, and he has what he sought."
"And that is no fault of yours, Lady Seeker."
Cassandra cocked her head at her second. "We're alone and you call me Lady?"
Marcus approached her with the same caution he would use on a battlefield. "It seems appropriate at the moment, Lady Seeker. You take too much on yourself, including the mistakes of others. You assume they are all yours to correct."
She blinked at him as he closed on her. "Are you angry?"
"Not at you," he answered. This was a side of the man she'd never seen. "The Inquisitor's dead relationship endangers us all."
"That's unfair, Marcus. She… well, honestly, she was as much at the whim of fate as we all were. I was the first to trust an untested apostate, and I handed her over to him after she fell from the fade as easily as …" Cassandra stopped, unable to finish the thought. It seemed so callous to her now, so cold. Strange how she'd changed.
Marcus growled in frustration at her further acceptance of more blame and turned to stand at the mantle, holding on and watching the fire with all the focus he could muster. Cassandra took a position behind him, staring at his broad back until she could resist no longer, and then softly reached up to touch him.
"She will be forced to kill him." The statement fell flatly from her lips. It was a simple fact. "Now, that I know…. Marcus, I can't think of anything worse in all of this world, and I've fought countless demons. The Inquisitor will be forced to kill a man she loved. She has Jean now, but Solas will be an open wound for the rest of her life. I played my part in that."
Marcus stood statue-still before tilting his head slightly her way, but he didn't look her full in the face just yet. "What did you mean? Now, that you know?"
Reality dawned on her at that moment. She'd told him she loved him, something they hadn't discussed at all. She inhaled sharply and turned away from him to hide her alarm. Love and trust were not easy things for her. Why had she voiced that thought so openly?
"Cassandra?" He prompted her impatiently.
"I… shouldn't have said that."
"Why not?"
"It's too soon."
"For which one of us?" This time she heard an almost indulgent smile in his voice.
"Does it matter?" She shouted at him throwing her hands up and twirling away. She hated feeling like a child, and this infatuation she had with Marcus certainly made her feel that.
"It isn't too soon for me," he said softly. "I love you beyond reason."
"You do?" She heard the incredulous disbelief in her tone, knew he saw it in her face. This was not something she'd ever experienced before and it seemed unlikely. Grabbing her left hand, he tugged her closer and held her loosely in his arms.
"You doubt me?"
Ever the one to speak without a thought to consequences, she answered, "Entirely. It is impossible." She felt his withdrawal from her and quickly hurried to correct herself. "That's not what I mean… whatever it is you think I just said."
She hurried on," I'm not used to the words, Marcus. I don't know, but I don't think I ever expected them to be said to me. I am not a romantic heroine."
He studied her until she looked away from him and back to the fire. "No, you aren't," he agreed. "You're perfect." Confusion, disbelief, doubt; Cassandra felt the swirl of emotion like a rising storm in her chest.
She struggled for something to say, but a knock on the door stopped what would have probably been a disastrous reply. Marcus strolled to open the door cautiously.
"Seekers, we need to talk." Varric's wry, ironic smile suggested the conversation would be unpleasant. Behind the dwarf stood his good friend, and sometimes nemesis, Aveline Vallen.
Meeting Cassandra's eyes, she insisted, "It's important."
Marcus gestured for the two to enter. Varric doesn't sit or wait for anyone else to do so. "Cassandra, this is a mess."
"A bigger mess than a hole in the sky?" Because of course, it was.
"The mages finished their inventory of the vault Solus raided. The book you saw was a Tevinter tome, blood magic."
She shook her head. "Solus doesn't use blood magic." Even as she said the words, she thought about her encounter with him.
There are some things in this world I am loathed to destroy, Lady Cassandra. Surely you can believe at least that much good of me.
"Eliana." She said the Inquisitor's name. "He's trying to destroy the veil without hurting her."
Varric nods. "And he just got a whole lot closer to doing it. There's something in Tevinter that could help him, and the mages think they know where it is."
"He's headed to Tevinter?" Cassandra cursed inwardly her inability to end Solus where he stood this day. "We'll never be able to get there. It's too volatile. The diplomatic situation with Tevinter isn't going to allow a pursuit into their territory."
No one argued her point. "We must inform the Inquisitor."
Varric waved a hand. "Already sent a message."
Cassandra stood in shock a few moments, then remembered her newfound manners. "Thank you, Varric. Aveline. You've been most helpful throughout all of this."
Varric turned his skeptic's gaze on her, brilliant blue eyes radiating surprise. "You're welcome, Lady Seeker. It is still the Lady Seeker Cassandra? Not some evil twin bent on taking her place?"
She scoffed at his sarcasm. "I said thank you, Varric."
"I know," he replied. "It's making me nervous." Cassandra ignored the veiled insult. Marcus didn't seem inclined to.
"The Lady Seeker thanks you for your help, Viscount, so graciously given. Now, if you don't mind, we have a journey to prepare for in the morning." The man and the dwarf faced off in a silent war of wills, which Varric seemed to concede happily.
"I'll be seeing you around, Cassandra." As he moved to the door, she could swear she heard him mumble… interesting. "Meet you downstairs for a drink, Aveline."
Walking Aveline to the door seemed the polite way to handle the current awkward moment. With a sigh, the battle-worn soldier before her said quietly, "I wish you luck, Lady Seeker. It seems we shall all need our share, but you most of all, I think."
"Thank you, Guard-Captain." With an inclination of her head, Cassandra shut the door closing out the sounds of raucous patrons below.
"Cass?" Marcus seemed more uncertain than she'd ever known him to be. "What is it?"
Without turning around or removing her hand from the door where she'd rested it, she whispered, "I'm afraid. I'm actually terrified. The Fade is terrifying to
Marcus laid trembling hands on her shoulders as they stood quietly in the aftermath of these revelations. "The nightmares you have," he said seeming to confirm a suspicion.
Cassandra laughed stiffly at the thought. "I have faced down monsters of every kind, fought blight, demons, blood mages. I've never been more terrified of anything else. The Fade is a nightmare for me." She shuddered. "To think it could soon blanket the world…."
"It won't." His conviction rang in the room.
"It could." Marcus turned her in his arms and clutched her tight to his heart, and she let him hold her.
"We won't let it," he answered with more of that unshakable conviction. His lips rested on the top of her head as she burrowed closer to him, taking comfort where it was offered freely. Whatever else happened, she'd had this. It was the only thought that comforted at all.