Hawke

"Greyer, we might have a problem."

Hawke stopped hitting the training dummy with the bladed end of his staff when he heard Mahariel's voice from behind him. He wiped the sweat off his brow and turned around. She was a vision in her leather armor and flowing, blond hair, but his eyes were drawn to her hands. They were covered in blood.

"Oh dear, I asked you to question Anders, not kill him," he said, his tone light, but his smile died on his lips when he saw Mahariel's serious expression remain.

"I didn't kill him. But I'm afraid someone else did."

Hawke blinked, confused. "Anders is dead? But... he was so well guarded! How could anyone get to him?"

"Guards are no problem for the Arl of Amaranthine, or in other words: my husband."

Hawke looked at Mahariel with wide eyes. "Cullen killed him?"

"Seems like it, yes."

2 days later

Mahariel had left in the quiet of the night. Hawke was sad to see her go but he understood. She wanted to help Alistair, who was apparently already starting to hear his Calling. He was a little surprised that Mahariel had confided this in him, but they were friends and he supposed she wanted to explain why she left her new husband all alone in charge of her arling. He swore to her that he would tell no one. Even though he had little hope of her actually succeding, he hoped for her sake that she would. That would mean she would be free of the taint as well. Hawke didn't want her to die any more than he did his other friends.

After she left, he went straight to Mahariel and Cullen's living quarters. He'd put off confronting Cullen about Anders since he knew Mahariel was incredibly short on time and had to spend every second she had left preparing her husband on how to run the arling in her absence. But now she was gone and he wanted answers.

"What the fuck where you thinking?" Hawke asked and shook his head. Cullen was standing in front of him, looking not the least bit sorry.

"I didn't plan for it to happen, but when I saw him, I just – I just couldn't allow him to breathe a second longer, not the same air that Ashe is breathing."

Hawke sighed. "You know Ashe is going to be livid about this, don't you? He wasn't yours to kill. You're not the one he held captive and raped." Cullen flinched at the mention of the abuse, but Hawke couldn't care less about how Cullen felt. It was Ashe's place to feel enraged, her Maker damned right to be the one who finally killed Anders, if that was what she ended up deciding that she wanted to do. But now Cullen had robbed her of that too.

"I don't even get it," Hawke continued. "Why do you keep doing this? Acting like you're her personal protector, when so many of your actions speak of the opposite? How could you up and leave her, leave your position as Commander, without so much as a goodbye to her?"

Cullen threw his hands out in front of him. "What did you expect me to do? Stay there and watch as the Inquisition crumbled into nothing? As Ashe went off to Denerim? I would have had nothing left. No position, nothing to fight for, not even... I couldn't bear the thought of being left behind as she went off and married that bastard."

Hawke narrowed his eyes at the other man. "What are you on about, man? The Inquisition 'crumbling into nothing'?"

Cullen scoffed. "Don't pretend like she hasn't ever mentioned it to you."

"This is the first I've heard about it," Hawke said, and saw the anger in Cullen's face slowly be replaced by doubt. "And what's this you're babbling about her marrying someone?"

Cullen looked stunned and it took him a few moments to find the ability to speak. "You mean, what, th-that you haven't heard?"

"Maker, what's the matter with you man? Heard what?" Hawke wondered if the man was on the verge of having some sort of seizure. He'd never ever heard Cullen stutter before.

"That Ashe is marrying Alistair? He... sent her a letter of proposal. You must know, you were there... You came here straight from Skyhold, did you not? So you must have been there when Ashe was there, right up until the point where she traveled to Denerim?"

"Yes, I did come here from Skyhold, and I was with Ashe the whole time after you left. And I don't know what you're talking about. There was no letter of proposal from Alistair. Are you mad? Like he would ever ask her over a letter, and like she would ever accept something so cheap." Hawke shook his head again, certain that someone had tricked Cullen into believing all of this nonsense, but it was no one's fault but Cullen's own that he'd actually fallen for it. "Honestly man, how could you ever think such a thing was true?"

But Cullen didn't respond. He was gripping the desk behind him for support, his face as white as a ghost's.

When he finally did speak, it was barely more than a whisper. "What have I done?"