"You look to be in better spirits," Adeline greets me in the hall the next morning, a basket of laundered sheets on her hip and a scowl on her face. I feel myself wince visibly. I had managed to avoid her for most of the day, but in the narrow space of the servant's passage running into someone becomes an inevitability. I rightfully imagined she would have ill feelings towards me for my behavior the weeks prior, but for many reasons, I simply couldn't string together an apology I felt was sufficient to broker forgiveness.

"I am, yes. Thank you." I replied dumbly. "Only just started to feel like myself again." I realize rather slowly that her scowl isn't as malicious as I first perceived. She seems more disappointed than bitter. "I know I didn't- well, I shouldn't have-"

"Stow it, Colette." She cuts me off with a raised hand. "I know that you had a rough go, and that's alright, we all have valleys and peaks in our lives. But I'm your friend, at least I think I am, and I know that you don't always tell me what you really think or how you really feel, and I try not to pry." We scurry down the stairs to make room for someone carrying a large and soot-filled broom up to the great hall. "But, I can't say it doesn't hurt me deeply that you take the news of my engagement hard enough to not eat or sleep properly for weeks, weeks, Colette. When I left the Rest that night I thought all was well and the very next day you won't speak to me or anyone and wild horses can't pull you out from under the dark cloud you carried. Worse yet you won't tell me. You're supposed to talk to your friends, and you shut me and the others out like we didn't matter."

"I know," I admit. "I don't have an excuse for it, I should have relied on the support of my friends to help me through, and I'm sorry. But, Adeline, you've everything all wrong. I'm not at all angry over your engagement, I trust that you know what's best for you and I want to be there for it. It's just- I messed something up, and it was a good thing, and I thought it was over for good and I just didn't know what to do with all the guilt."

Adeline regards me thoughtfully, she's giving me the same look she gives strangers when she's weighing the quality of their character; her brows are furrowed and eyes sharp over her pursed lips. "You were trying to heal what was hurt without bleeding on those who didn't cut you." She announced.

I nodded, understanding that I took the responsibility to keep my emotions from darkening the days of my friends perhaps too seriously. "I can't speak for the others but I myself don't mind helping you with these things. Just swear that you won't do that again. Things seem far worse when you're alone, I promise you."

"I swear." She gave me a skeptical look and demanded insurance by raising her free hand and wiggling her little finger at me. Amused, I wrapped my own little finger around hers and we sealed the vow with a squeeze of our pinkies. "Good." She said, her sour mood lifting almost instantly. "As penance, you must go back to the storehouse and get another crate of potatoes for the kitchen. That elf friend of the Inquisitor switched the salt and the sugar and ruined the whole batch of shepherd's pies for this evening's meal. Donatien is on the warpath and is waiting on you."

I make my disappointment known with a sigh and groan. I had only just returned from delivering a heavy crate of potatoes to the kitchen. "If my apology wasn't good enough would you have not told me that he needed more supplies?" Adeline shrugged innocently. "I think it would have affected my memory only somewhat."

Returning to the kitchen it was discovered that Sera had not only tampered with the salt and sugar, but had added plaster to the flour, and put vinegar in the milk, leaving the kitchen with an abundant supply of both buttermilk and scrambling cooks. Skyhold had a lot of mouths to feed and time to form a new dinner plan wasn't a luxury they had. Head cook Donatien's face looked red as a beet when I brought the new potatoes to him. "Took you long enough!" He sputtered. The vein in his forehead throbbed threateningly at me. "And it might not have been for any good!" One of the other cooks frantically gestured for me to flee the room while I had a chance and as Donatien turned his back to assess the produce I wasted no time and seized the opportunity for escape immediately. I began to strongly suspect a number of mouths would go hungry in Skyhold tonight. Sure I could do no further harm, nor lend any more help to the state of affairs in the fortress, I retired for the day early and treated myself to a particularly long soak and thorough scrub.

Admittedly, my desire to read more of The Master's Kiss muted any fear of the foreman's reprimand. Skin dewey from the bath and hair painstakingly washed and plaited, I entered the Herald's Rest to find it uncharacteristically quiet. Cabot was, of course, at his usual post behind the bar, but the tavern itself was nearly empty. Even Krem was absent from his chair and Maryden plucked at her strings with a bored expression. Approaching the stairs, I became fearful that I had arrived too early, that Iron Bull wouldn't yet have time for me. Relief must have been evident on my face when I found him lounging in his usual seat with an amused glint in his eye.

I realize quickly that this is the first time I've come to Iron Bull for explicit purposes of my own volition. It occurs to me that I may seem over-eager. "Hello," I start awkwardly.

He doesn't seem to have expected me so soon. Iron Bull returns the greeting. "Hello there," I think my smile seems more giddy than friendly, I try to show some discipline.

"I realize it's a few hours earlier than dinner time. I hope you won't mind, I was hoping that I might have some extra time to read before our appointment." He seems interested in my choice of words, but not put off by my unexpected appearance.

"My time right now isn't just my own, I have some important things to handle, but if you can keep yourself entertained and mind your manners until dinner, then I don't mind letting you have some reading time." The letter in his large hand is folded carefully and tucked into his pocket as he rises and leads the way up the stairs.

I was shocked to see the state of the room when Iron Bull admitted me. Most of the nearly spent candles had been replaced, providing a more steady illumination to the room. The wreckage of the ruined ceiling had been swept away and removed, along with the impressive collection of empty bottles and the large bed that had been haphazardly skewed was now centered and flush against the wall. "You've been busy today," I comment as he shuts the door behind me. "I hope you don't feel as though you have to do it to impress me." He rewards me with a snort of laughter and seats himself at his desk. "I don't usually go to the trouble. But the way I figure it, I won't be doing a very good job teaching you if you're stumbling over splintered wood or breaking your arm tripping on whiskey bottles."

I grant him that. "I don't think it's something that would endear you greatly to me." His tone reflects his current good humor as he tells me, "I'm glad you approve. If you want to do your reading I'd suggest you get started." Iron Bull gestures with one hand towards the book, now resting on a newly erected shelf. As I carry it across the room to the bed, I hear the shuffle of paper and know that his attention is diverted and per our agreement, out of my reach. I settle onto the bed, laying on my stomach in a patch of sunlight that pleasantly warms my back, and immerse myself in Lapis' tale again.

I hardly notice the movement of the sun off my back, over the bed, across the floor, and onto the opposite wall. I don't even register the number of pages I'm flying through as I read through paragraphs detailing instruments, toys, and even the inventive ways Master Aulf employs common objects to explore and, at times, press the limits of Lapis' boundaries. In one instance Master Aulf pours a careful measurement of pure alcohol onto Lapis' bare navel and sets it aflame to create intense sensations, and suddenly I realize how hard my eyes are straining to read the next word on the page. Pulling myself back to reality, I see that the light of the sun was dying and Iron Bull had already abandoned his chair to begin lighting the candles in the room.

"I hadn't realized it was-" A knock at one of the doors cuts me off and without waiting for an invitation, an Inquisition agent walks into the room in full uniform. "Ser, Sister Leliana asked that I collect your debriefed reports urgently." The slender woman announced, sounding slightly nervous. Iron Bull tilts his horned head towards the desk as he lights a candle on the shelf. "Over there, they're all marked and ready for her." He says in a deadpan. I don't think he appreciates the intrusion, even if nothing improper was happening at the time. The agent collects the stack, salutes, and leaves in a hurry.

"She's walked in on me doing worse," Iron Bull answers my thoughts as soon as the door swings shut behind her. "I think seeing someone lying on my bed and only reading may have been a shock." The implications are both amusing and thought-provoking. I lift myself off the bed to sit on my knees and put a slip of paper in the book to mark my place before closing it.

"Have you taught other people about all this since you joined the Inquisition?" He gives me the undecipherable look I've come to know means he's reading me.

He sets the last candle down and returns to his desk. "No, I haven't. I've used elements of bondage during sex, but never anything instructive. It's been more of an amusement than a lifestyle with the people here."

"You don't think it's something that could be casual for me." I notice too late how it sounds more like a statement than a question.

"I think giving you enough education to experience the D/s dynamic casually would be a waste, and I think you would suffer in the long term without it." He pours something into a large flagon and takes a drink from it. "Some people live this life every minute of every day, for some, it begins and ends at the threshold of their bedroom. Where you fall on that spectrum is completely up to you."

I hum in thought. "Lapis mentions craving it, control I mean. She talks about thinking of Master Aulf at all hours when she's apart from him and doesn't feel any ease outside his presence without some sort of obstacle or order introduced in her daily life. In my current chapter, she wears a chain about her waist with his initials engraved into a tag. I'm not sure that's the sort of person I am."

He laughs, only lightly. "I know Lapis. She's a good person, but she was a little obsessive when she was first introduced to the lifestyle. She evens out the further you go. She goes on to caution against diving in the same unrestrained enthusiasm she had in the first chapters."

I recognize that he's right. I put myself so easily inside Lapis' perspective that imagining the risk she put herself in, thinking about the other way things could have turned out if Master Aulf wasn't such a good man, is frightening. She was just as much a neophyte to this world as I am, and she put all of her trust in a near stranger. I worry about what would have happened if I didn't have an outside perspective to point out the cautionary elements of the tale. "I suppose it could have gone badly if she had fallen for the wrong Dominant. Really badly."

He nods. "It can. And for some people it really does. This is something you've got to do your homework in. Jumping in feet first without a guide is often a recipe for disaster."

There's a thought that cheers me up. "But I've got you."

"You've got me," He agrees. "Now let's talk about what happened. Before."

I feel a pout make itself known in the slump of my shoulders. "What would you like to know?"

"I'm not interested in why you didn't come. You don't pull a no-show without some good reason so the details there don't matter. I want to know why you ran from me."

"I didn't run!" I snap. He looks surprised for a second then annoyed.

"Watch your tone." He warns. "You may not have literally run from me, but you did avoid me like I had the blight. That's the important part we have to talk about."

I shrug, not entirely willing to relive the incident. I was much happier pretending it was dead and buried in the past where it belonged. "I don't know." I can tell he's becoming more antagonized by my attitude, but I'm struggling to see the value in digging it up. "I suppose I felt guilty for getting distracted and missing our arranged time. Maybe," I gave an ill-tempered sigh. "Maybe I didn't want to hear anything you would have to say about it, or maybe I got scared of what you would say about it and would rather disappear and avoid you than be told what I already knew."

I can tell from the more gentle tone he's adopted that he's trying to help me reach a conclusion. There's a point and he's leading me to it. "What was it that you knew I would say or do?"

I cross my arms over my chest to avoid throwing my hands in the air like an antagonized child. "I don't know."

"That's exactly right: You didn't know. You avoided me and put yourself through hell for it. I may be tough but I'm fair. Getting distracted from your friend's good news isn't something I punish. But refusing to communicate with me? I come down hard on that."

I'm becoming used to Iron Bull being right at this point. "You're going to punish me, then?"

He shakes his great-horned head. "Nah. I'm not one of those gotcha Doms. I've told you what needs to change and it's up to you to abide by it. But it'll happen at some point. If you're in my care for the duration of your education as a sub it'll be my job to discourage bad behavior and reward the good. But it's something I want you to think about. Failing to communicate your needs or your troubles sets me up for failure. You trust me enough to spank you and get you off. Talking shouldn't be a huge leap for you."

I feel heat flood my face and I hate it. He is thoroughly delighted by it. "Your face turned that same color earlier while you were reading. What was it that did it?"

I'm sure the color in my cheeks has deepened considerably. "It was a part where Lapis' endurance was tested. She was restrained in an odd position, where she couldn't see what Master Aulf was doing, and he used magic to produce heat and cold and even little sparks of electricity across her skin. She mentioned reaching release with him barely touching her."

A new sort of devious smile tugs at his lips. "Do you think you'd feel comfortable giving it a try for yourself?" My heart stutters at the thought, and he sees my trepidation. "This will be less of a test of your endurance and more an exercise in trust. We'll use the same safeword as before."

I want to say no, to tell him that I'm too intimidated to try it, but he's right. I have to put my trust in him if this will work, and with that thought, I nod my head. "I trust you. Let's try it."

I don't see where he finds the coil of bright red rope, but he's there beside the bed with it in hand. The book is set aside and with the motion of a finger, I'm bid to get off the bed. "Take your clothes off. All of them." His tone doesn't allow for argument or bargaining. I've told him that I trust him and he expects me to mean it. That doesn't mean my fingers don't stumble and falter while I undress. He isn't the first man to see me naked, but approval of what he sees is of vital importance to me. I'm nervous. When my body is bare he looks at me no differently than when I was dressed. When I turn around he's made something of a loop in the rope and pats the bed. "Sit down, facing me."

His work is slow and just as methodical as when he brushes my hair. The loop is passed carefully over my head and settles around my neck. The fabric is wonderfully soft as he wraps and knots it in an intricate pattern across my body. A neat and even row of diamonds is formed down the center of my torso. Iron Bull directs me to kneel in front of him and I almost giggle at being at eye level with him while on the bed. He seems happy with my amusement and passes two lengths of rope between my legs. I gasp as I feel the tighten snuggly into place, one length on either side of my nether lips. As he knots them snuggly, the light pressure pulls my lips apart and exposes my most intimate parts of myself to the open air.

In a few minutes, I'm directed to lie on my stomach, roll my shoulders back, and hold my arms as flat as I feel comfortable against my sides. Elaborate knots tie them securely in place and the effect of the restraint instantly arches my back and presses my naked breasts forward. My legs are gathered and folded in a sort of frog-like pose and, oddest of all, tied to the base of my braid. When Iron Bull finishes his work and flips me onto my back I'm rendered completely immobile. My legs are bent in a quite open position that is only comfortable when I crane my head all the way back and look straight up to allow them to have slack.

"This probably isn't exactly like what Lapis had," He says somewhere around me. I try to follow him with my eyes but this angle keeps him out of my field of vision. "but I think I've hit the same points. Are you comfortable?"

"Yes, in a way," I tell him. He chuckles. "Good. I don't want you to feel uncomfortable in ropes like this. You don't know it but you're indulging my favorite type of restraint. I'd like you to be as acclimated as you can be to it." It sends a thrill up my spine to know that I'm involved in something he personally enjoys. I wiggle slightly in my excitement.

"Easy there, you'll catch a cramp." I can hear the grin in his voice. "Skill in binding a submissive serves more purposes than I can count. It can be used as punishment, I could leave you here with no stimulation or distraction to think about what you did wrong. Or it could be used to provide you with more stimulation that you want, and you can't stop it." The thought makes me shiver. I can't see him, I can't predict what he's about to do and my body reflexively jumps when I feel his hand settle over my stomach. Forced to rely on touch alone, I gape at just how large it really is. His palm alone covers my belly and even the blunted fingers, amputated in battle, threaten to curl around the ribs of my waist.

I have no control here, and this is how he makes sure I know it. The cotton knots and loops holding me in place are only a formality. When I make the decision to submit to him it's his sheer size that he uses to do it. "Give me some deep, slow breaths," His voice pulls me out of my thoughts. There's some confusion, I can't imagine why he's asking me to breathe any certain way, but I do it anyway. The rope does nothing to restrict the deep rise and fall of my chest as I follow his instruction. "Very good," Iron Bull praises. His palm slides easily over the red diamonds lacing my body and he cups one of my breasts. The way he squeezes it between his fingers is gentle but firm. "Your little ass is pretty when its got my handprints all over it, but I'm very much a fan of these. I want you to start building a tolerance to me playing with them."

Idly I wonder how rough he could possibly be that I should train to handle his attention there, but the question is immediately dispelled as I feel something flat and cold press against each side of my erect nipple. My breath stutters as it closes and lightly pinches it in place. There's very little pressure and I easily resume the breathing exercise. He gives my remaining breast the same treatment and begins to massage my breasts. He pays attention to every inch of it and even tweaks my pinched nipples every so often. "Feeling good?" During his treatment, my eyes slid shut and my relaxed state makes me slow to respond.

"It's nice," I tell him.

"Arms and legs feeling alright?"

"Maybe getting a touch stiff, but I'm not uncomfortable."

He hums in response. "Your breathing has been good. Keep that going for me, and tell me if anything gets too intense."

"I will," I reassure him.

I feel him tweak and tug gently on the item pinching my nipple before adjusting something and slowly, cautiously, the sensation becomes more intense. He's being delicate, and I sense how frequently he's checking and gauging my expression as he increases the pressure. When he stops, the tension is not unbearable, but there is a certain intensity in the way I can feel it pushing blood out of the sensitive peak of my breast. With the other nipple equally pinched, I begin to feel the effects of his strange method. The mixture of numbness and almost pain form a potent mixture and it takes so little time for me to feel excitement and arousal build between my legs. I squirm slightly in a bid for friction of stimulation, but the rope bites into my thighs and keeps me still. "Are you ready for more?"

He doesn't wait for my answer and I know it's because he's read my body and feels certain of what I want next. He indulges me almost immediately. His hand cups my spread lower lips and the gasp that leaves me is almost too loud. "Tell me before you cum." He uses a more firm tone, and it's enough to get through the haze of my demanding arousal. "Okay," The moment the word leaves my lips, his thumb settles over and circles my exposed clit. The way he attacks my pleasure points is new. His hand rests over my mound to keep me still while he continues to thrum my clit, his other hand flicks and pulls at the devices on my nipples. He's forcing me to climb to release at a punishing pace.

The mewls, gasps, and whines he wrenches from me echo off the stone walls and I hear myself when I cry "I'm going to cum!" Suddenly everything stops. Without meaning to, I give a dissatisfied shout. "Wait, please," I start to beg and he hushes me softly. The only touch I receive from him is the gentle massage of my twitching thigh and calf muscles. I settle after a few minutes and in the same way he did before, Iron Bull attacks and stimulates my clitoris and my nipples. It takes half the time of the previous bout for me to confess my impending release and, mercifully, he doesn't pull his hand away from me. He keeps his breakneck pace and shoves me violently over the edge. I feel my limbs tremble, trapped in the ropes as my climax takes me. The sounds I make are choked and high-pitched and without warning, the devices on my nipples are removed in tandem.

I wring a deep gasp and release a scream as blood floods the delicate nerves of my nipples again. An intense rush of sensation joins the steady ebb and flow of my orgasm and the electricity of my release feels almost overwhelming. Even as his thumb works my throbbing pearl more slowly to ease me back down, I feel the walls of my quim still spasm and twitch. I realize that a stream of obscenities has fallen from my lips. My body still trembles when Iron Bull tugs the knots loose and sets me free of the ropes. My limbs ache and my neck protests as he carefully gathers me and sets me in his lap. My eyes are shut and I can't see that he's taken my place on the bed. I only hear the steady thump of his heart as he leans me against the solid wall of his chest.

He touches me softly as he massages the tension and soreness from my arms and I hum with pleasure when he soothes the tenderness in my breasts. Once I feel the throb subside, I finally look down at them and feel completely enchanted by the delightful shade of rosy pink they've turned under his attention. "Good?" He asks, nearly in a whisper. My voice is hoarse when I crane my twinging neck to look up at him and my smile is sleepy when I give him my answer. "More."