Cullen

After Mahariel and Ashe left, Alistair had to order his guards to fix the mess with the man bleeding on the floor, the one Ashe had put her knife in. Jake Hewlender. Cullen didn't know what he'd tried to do to Ashe, but since she had stabbed him in his fucking groin, it wasn't hard for him to guess. That fucker. If the guards weren't hauling him away to a healer right that second, Cullen would have killed him. He would wake him up, make him confess and then gut him like an animal for touching his girl. His stupid arguments and intrigues with Alistair and Mahariel felt like background noise now. Cullen would make Ashe his, the desire was even stronger now. He could protect her better if he had an excuse to be near her all the time. He would kill anyone who tried anything with her. He was almost shaking with fury. Fade, he would kill anyone who even fucking looked at her funny.

After Alistair was satisfied that everything was handled discreetly, he had to return to the party. Cullen, however, had no such plans. As soon as everyone else had left, he headed the other way. He'd find out where Mahariel had taken Ashe, and then he would make his next move.

Ashe

Ashe barely had time to register what was happening before she ended up in her own guest quarters. With Mahariel, of all people. Mahariel, who pressed Ashe for every detail of how she'd stabbed Lord Hewlender and what he'd said to her before. The Hero of Ferelden's eyes were alight in a way Ashe hadn't seen before, as she told her everything that had happened.

They finally sat down in a couple of loungers in front of the fire in Ashe's room.

"You must forgive my prying, Inquisitor. It's just, I haven't killed a man in weeks, and I'm starving for some action. That you did in that particular creep of a man is an added bonus." Mahariel smiled wickedly and Ashe smiled back, all the while thinking that she ought to be on her guard if this woman was as crazy as she sounded. Mahariel fixed something with the sleeve of her dress and then looked up at Ashe through her long, black lashes.

"Now, Inquisitor, don't think me insane for saying such things. I'm no murderer. But I can't deny that I relish the adrenaline that spikes through your body when you end such a miserable existance as his. I'm sure you know what I mean."

Ashe tried to keep her expression neutral. Although she did actually agree, she didn't know if she should be impressed or terrified of Mahariel. There was just no way to tell.

Yet.

Cullen

He waited for hours outside Ashe's quarters. He heard laughter emerging through the door occasionally, but couldn't hear anything else. He was beyond bored, but Cullen was a patient man. Finally, the door opened and Mahariel stumbled out of it, shutting it clumsily behind her.

Is she drunk?

But as soon as she'd shut it, she straightened her back and turned around, not missing a step until she saw Cullen leaning against the wall. She stopped and looked at him, a small smile at the corner of her mouth.

"Cullen," she said, voice smooth as honey.

Cullen bowed his head slightly in greeting. "Mahariel. So, are you going to tell me why you're trying to get my Inquisitor drunk?"

Mahariel stepped closer to him, close enough that he'd only have to raise his hand the slightest bit and he would touch her face. Her golden waves of hair settled over her shoulders as she stilled.

"I've done no such thing. And by the way," she said as she turned and walked away from him, "you can thank me later."

Cullen watched her disappear around the corner, perplexed, before he knocked on Ashe's door. He heard a ruckus from the other side before the handle turned. Ashe opened and looked at him, her eyes slightly glazed over.

How drunk is she?

"Cullen." His name fell over her lips like a moan and he found himself suddenly not so concerned about how drunk she was when his eyes took all of her in. She wasn't in her dress anymore. In fact, it seemed she had nothing on but a sheet draped around herself. The light from the fire danced across the naked skin of her shoulders and the bare leg that peeked out through the sheet.

She looked like a goddess.

Before his mind forgot all else, he frowned. "Do you think this is an appropriate way to open the door, Ashe? It could have been anyone out here."

She didn't respond or scoff at him like he expected, she simply backed slowly into the room. He followed and shut the door behind him, never taking his eyes off her.

"I'm sorry, Cullen," she said. "I was a bad girl. But this... this is only for you."

And then she let the sheet drop. Cullen watched as if paralyzed at the fabric pooling around her feet before his eyes slowly rose, drinking in every inch of her. He'd dreamed of this moment so many times, but nothing his mind had conjured could compare to this. Nothing.

Cullen heard a pained, strangled noise and realized that it came from his own throat. Ashe remained still, her arms at her side, watching him watch her. Maker, her hips, her breasts, her stomach, even lower... The only reason Cullen hadn't moved yet was because he couldn't decide which part of her to claim first. But then Ashe decided for him.

"Take all of me, Cullen."

He was on her before she had time to blink. He kissed her ferociously, making her whimper and press herself into him the moment their lips connected. He felt her naked body underneath his hands and his own blood felt like all the fires in Thedas coursed through it. He lost his mind. Her hands were equally eager on him and he groaned when she found her way down to his pants, stroking his painfully hard cock outside the fabric. They stumbled back towards the bed and he pushed her against one of the bedposts, his tongue plundering her mouth, desperate to taste her as much as possible.

Her fingers found their way inside his shirt and he helped her rip it off.

"Shit!" He hissed with pleasure when her nails dug into his back and he parted her legs with his knee. He renewed his assault on her mouth and it almost brought him to his knees when she moaned into him. His hand dragged across her stomach down between her legs and his eyes shot open when he felt her buck against him while she licked his ear and whispered: "I'm so wet for you Cullen..."

His breathing was almost too ragged for him to speak, but he broke out of the haze as best he could, never stopping his hand moving between her legs. "Do you want me, Ashe? Do you want me to fuck you?" His voice was a husky mess.

"Ohh, Maker, yes Cullen! Please..." she whimpered again. "Do it. Fuck me."

He groaned loudly and started to unlace his breeches.

Finally, it's finally happening. She'll be mine.

"Wait," she said.

Cullen couldn't believe his ears. "What?" His eyes snapped up to her face but his irritation vanished when he saw the worried look on her face. She was staring at the door, straining to hear something.

"I'm serious, Cullen. Can you hear that?"

He turned around and watched the door and listened. She was right, he could hear some sort of commotion outside.

"Is... Cullen, is someone screaming?"

He immediately ran over to the door and locked it. "Ashe, get dressed, quickly," he said as he searched for his shirt and pulled it over his head again. "Where are your weapons? I don't have my sword with me."

She'd already pulled a robe around herself and was kneeling at the side of the bed. She reached in under it and pulled out a large canvas that was wrapped around several swords. She tossed one to Cullen and took one for herself just before there was a loud bang on the door. Ashe hurried to Cullen's side, and as much as he wished that she would stay back and out of harm's way, he knew it was pointless to ask her.

Both Cullen and Ashe readied their swords before Cullen called out: "Who's there?"

A frantic woman's voice answered: "She's dead! She's... dead!"

He watched from the tower down through the windows of the other side of the palace. He had a perfect view from here. He could see a servant rushing up to her quarters and after a few seconds, she emerged with that damned Commander at her side. His blood boiled at the thought of what he'd been doing to her in there, but it didn't matter now. He looked down at his hands, which were sticky and full of blood, before he looked up again and his eyes caught sight of her once more.

One day, I will find you. And I'll finally know what I've been searching for.

That's what he'd heard her say, all those years ago.

He mumbled quietly to himself, never taking his eyes off her: "One day, you will see me. Like no other's looked upon this face before."

Then he stepped into the shadows, before the chaos that was sure to erupt at any moment would make slipping away impossible.