Ashe

She'd been such an idiot, hanging on to Cullen, letting him fool her into thinking that he loved her, instead of focusing on the fact that a king was courting her.

A king, for Andraste's sake.

She deserved to be called a stupid little girl by Cullen, because that was what she had been acting like.

But the fade could take that man. She should have listened to Alistair, or even to Hawke. He'd told her that Cullen had slept with the whole damned village in Emprise du Lion, and that was definitely after he started expressing an interest in her. Had she listened? No, because she knew she had no right to decide what he could and could not do. But she should have seen it as a sign of trouble. Trouble was all he'd gotten her, while she had treated Alistair – who had always supported her no matter how much she had hurt him – like he was on some sort of waiting list.

So when she stepped into the royal quarters that evening, she was highly determined to make it up to him. And when Ashe Trevelyan was determined, nothing would make her budge.

She could see how his eyes widened when she dropped her dress to the floor in one, fluid motion and revealed her gift to him.

She prayed to the Maker that he would like it. If he didn't, she would work around it, but she hoped that he would. Just the thought of it made her wet between her legs.

Alistair

Ashe was standing there right in front of him, her black dress dropped to the floor, wearing nothing but a collar and a long, leather leash. She had the end of the leash in her hand and played with it between her fingers. He was completely frozen in place by the sight, gripping the chair in front of him so hard that wood started to creak and groan beneath his fingertips.

She sauntered over to him and stopped only a breath away from him.

"I've been a bad, little girl, Alistair, and I know it. Please, punish me to your heart's content, wipe me clean of all my sins and we can start over."

He hesitated. His body screamed and cursed him for not springing into action, but he didn't want her to think that he desired for her to actually be punished for anything.

"Please, do this for me, for us. I promise it will feel good. And then, if you'll have me, I'm yours and only yours, Ali." She bit her lip and held out the hand holding the leash to him. His heart was racing for more reasons than he could count, but the sound of her nickname for him leaving her lips and the way her eyes darkened and burned when she motioned for him to take the leash did him in. He grabbed not only the leather but her whole hand with it and yanked her to him.

"So you like this, then?" he murmured and caressed her cheek with the end of the leather strap.

"Maker, yes."

"The Maker? I hope he's not watching," Alistair whispered in her ear and felt her shiver when his breath touched her skin, "because if he is, he'll likely condemn us both for what we're about to do."

If Ashe wanted wicked things done to her, then wicked, wicked things he would deliver.

"Kneel," he commanded and she dropped to the floor without a moment's hesitation. "Are you hungry? Do you want to be fed?"

She licked her lips and looked up at him through her dark lashes. "I'm fucking starving," she said and smiled at him like a desire demon who'd just found its new prey. Alistair imagined his own expression mirrored hers, judging from the look of pure excitement that lit up on her face when she looked him in the eyes.

He pulled on the strings to his breeches and freed his painfully hard erection from them. "So help yourself, and if you're a good little girl, I might just push it all the way down your hungry, little throat," he said and yanked the leash hard, forcing her forward. She was quicker than him, though, because she already had her mouth open and her tongue out and he almost fell backward when her wet, warm mouth enveloped his hard cock. He groaned as she licked the head before she started pushing him into her mouth. Not even ten seconds passed before she took him so far down her throat that he just stared in wonder as she let him fuck her mouth like an animal. No matter how hard he yanked at her collar, or how harshly he pulled at her hair, did she stop to take a breather. If anything, the harder he treated her the more she rubbed herself against him and moaned against his cock.

"Fucking fade, you feel so good," he hissed as she sucked on him and ran her tongue up the back of his length inside her mouth. He looked down on her, her crimson hair falling over her shoulders, her breasts bouncing up and down as she worked on him, wetness smeared on the inside of her thighs – he couldn't take the sight much longer, he needed to fuck the shit out of the goddess before him, he needed to make her squirm and quiver and shout his name as she came, over and over again.

He pushed her head away and pulled her up on her feet using the leash. "I know you're a bad girl," he said and bit her shoulder lightly, making her moan and press her legs together, "but now you're going to be good for me and do exactly as I say, won't you?"

She nodded eagerly. "Anything as long as you fuck me," she pleaded.

He shoved his hand down between her legs and ran his finger along her wet slit. "Are you sure about that? Have you heard of Grey Warden stamina? I might break you before I'm finished with you," he whispered and pushed a finger into her.

He could feel her clench around him and his cock screamed for him to shove himself into the tight, warm wetness of her cunt.

"I want you to break me," she said and smiled at him.

Maker, help me, he thought as he looked at her. She was pure sin, and he'd never been happier in his life.

He kissed her fiercely then, before biting her bottom lip so hard he could taste blood. She only moaned louder and he pushed her down against a table, stomach first, her ass grinding against him as he positioned himself between her legs.

"Andraste, fuck, oh-oh... Fuck!" Her moans came out like strangled whispers as he slid into her. He pulled all the way out and, now coated in her wetness, pushed himself in again, harder this time. He thanked the Maker for his Grey Warden stamina, or he wouldn't have lasted more than ten seconds, the feel of her was far too intense. But he did have the advantage of the inhumanly long endurance, and he just knew he was in for hours of pure, sinful bliss.

He slammed himself into her over and over, the sound she made music to his ears while he grabbed her hips so hard it was sure to leave bruises, which only made her buck even more wildly beneath him.

She begged him to fuck her even harder, to ravage her, ruin her. When the table broke underneath them, Ashe just laughed delightfully and dragged him with her to a divan that was set against the wall by the fire.

Two hours later, the divan too was broken in half, as well as an entire bookshelf with its contents now scattered across the floor. A desk was turned over and two more chairs were left in shambles. It looked like a war zone, but neither of them could care less about that as Alistair was fucking Ashe against the wall, her legs hugging his hips tightly while he rubbed her clit as she surrendered in a quivering mess to yet another orgasm. Feeling her clench around his cock while she moaned his name was finally nudging him toward his own end.

"Fuck, fuck, fuck," he hissed between his teeth as she became even tighter around him after her orgasm. "Shit, I'm so close, so fucking close, Andraste..."

"Put me down and fuck my mouth, please, please Alistair," she begged. "I want to taste it, I want you to feed me your cum," she said and licked his neck.

He groaned, still not quite believing that this was actually happening, or that she wanted to do such filthy things with him. But he didn't need to be told twice and he dropped her down to the floor where she knelt in front of him and started to jerk him off into her open mouth, sticking her tongue out to lick the tip of his cock before she started to suck on him so expertly that he saw stars. He knotted his fingers through her hair with one hand, urging her to go faster, while bracing himself against the wall behind her with his other hand.

"I can't... Oh, Maker, fuck... Ashe, it feels so good, don't stop, just a little more..."

"Give it to me, Ali, please, I want it so bad," she said and jerked him off again. "Feed it to me, I want to taste all of you, every single fucking drop."

He cursed and yelled out her name as he came, spurt after spurt of cum filling up her mouth. His vision blackened and he only managed to focus on her long enough to see her swallow eagerly, trying to catch every last drop of him, just like she said. He panted violently and when he managed to open his eyes again and look at her, she licked up a few escaped drops from the corner of her mouth and looked very pleased.

"You can't be real, Ashe, this is just a dream, yes?" he mumbled and pulled her up to him. He hugged her tightly to him and snapped the bindings to her collar open, letting it fall to the floor. She laughed as he swept her up into his arms and carried her over to his bedroom.

"It's not a dream, Ali. But it felt like you were one. You weren't kidding about that Grey Warden thing, huh? Guess that makes me one very lucky girl."

He smiled, his heart swelling when he saw how happy she looked. Everything he'd done to get her here was worth it. Now his only focus would be to keep her this happy, so that she would hopefully agree to marry him when he asked. It was all he could wish for.

Cullen

"What had you expected, Cullen? You knew she had already said yes, surely you understand that they need to make an announcement soon? Before all the rumors start flying."

He didn't respond as Mahariel finished her sentence, but remained in silence in his saddle, his horse trotting down the road beside Mahariel on her own horse.

While she was right, he hadn't expected Ashe to come to Denerim so soon. He'd hoped that he wouldn't have to see her again, at least until his feelings for her would have had time to grow cold. As of now, they absolutely hadn't, no matter how hard he tried to let go.

He sighed and wondered for the hundredth time that day how his life had become such a mess again. He'd left Skyhold a happy man, so sure that Ashe was finally coming to a decision and that he was the one she was choosing. A hope that was crushed mere days after arriving in the capital. He'd met with Mahariel at her estate, just as she'd asked of him in her letter. She'd explained the situation and he'd respectfully declined to help her. She had asked too much of him. Mahariel had told him that she understood and invited him to stay for a few days, telling him he might as well stick around to spend some time with his old friend since he'd come all that way.

The day before he intended to go back to Skyhold, Mahariel returned from a meeting in the palace with a peculiar expression on her face. She asked him to reconsider his decision and before Cullen had time to protest, she told him of the news. She might as well have punched him in the gut.

Alistair had apparently grown tired of waiting and sent a raven with a letter of proposal to Ashe, an offer to make her his queen and shower her with all the love and riches she could ever want. Ashe had responded, and accepted. Mahariel had also told Cullen that she knew that Alistair had spoken to Ashe some time ago about possibly needing to step down as Inquisitor and disbanding the Inquisition as a whole, because he knew voices were being raised on the subject now that the Breach was sealed. And what would she do then?

Ashe had never shared such a concern with Cullen, but if she felt that the wind was blowing that way, Cullen supposed that it wasn't entirely unbelievable that she would make new arrangements for herself. He wasn't sure which alternative was worse – Ashe being that desperate for power, or if she was actually in love with Alistair.

No, he was sure which was worse. The first one he could deal with, understand even. He would actually prefer a position of wealth and power himself, after all the shit life had thrown at him. They would have prospered together, he and Ashe, with or without the Inquisition, he was sure of it.

But if she truly loved that fucking bastard... what could he do?

Angry and desperate, he had looked at Mahariel and found his answer. He would need a new job if the Inquisition were soon to disband, anyway, so accepting the position as Mahariel's steward in Amaranthine while she went on another search for a cure to the taint, seemed like the logical thing to do. But what had come over him when he'd asked her to marry him, he still couldn't find the answer to. He'd told her that it was because it would be easier for her people to accept her husband as ruler, but he knew that wasn't the whole truth. Maybe he'd just wanted to get back at Ashe, still hoping that she had some feelings left for him and that his moving on would sting just a little bit, at least. Mahariel had seemed hesitant at first, but after returning from yet another meeting in the palace, she agreed. Cullen was actually a bit surprised that Alistair had agreed, as well. He knew that the man hated him just as much as Cullen hated him back, and he wouldn't have put it past him to view Mahariel as his property. But he must have thought it was a good idea, somehow. It wasn't long before Mahariel insisted they get married right away, all the better to move up their travel plans to an earlier date, according to her.

So here he was, on the road to Amaranthine, married to Mahariel, who wouldn't even be around once she left him in charge of her arling. All so that she could save Alistair from his Calling. The same bastard who'd stolen Ashe from him. Ashe, who he loved so much it hurt, even though she had finally decided to betray him for good by marrying another man. He wished that he could hate her. But he knew in his heart that he never would.