It was a freakishly hot day outside. Autumn had already set in but apparently, summer decided to visit one last time. Cullen had groaned in displeasure when Dorian had insisted on dragging them out into the garden along with a heap of books to study. All the other people who were working on his problem were seated inside the cool, stone walls, but not them – of course not.

He was sitting down on the steps to the gazebo-like stone structure in the corner of the garden, several pieces of his armor discarded on the ground. It was simply too hot to wear, and Skyhold was a virtual fortress these days, even more so than before Turner had showed up. Trev had bumped up security to an almost ridiculous level, one even Cullen had deemed a little unnessecary, but today he was grateful for it. He could relax even without the shielding metal on his body.

He held a book in one hand and wiped the sweat off his brow with the other. He looked up when he heard a light snoring sound coming from the bench Dorian was sitting in. The Tevinter was half-sitting, half-lying on it. Cullen chuckled to himself. He didn't even feel irritated, the man was up half the nights pouring over ancient texts, all to help him. He would let him have his five minutes of sleep in peace now.

Cullen looked up when he heard heated voices at the other side of the garden. There were a few other people about but they were all chatting peacefully. This was not so peaceful.

Shit.

It was Trev. She was standing face to face with the girl he'd kissed when he was out of his mind.

Shitshitshit.

He couldn't decide if it was best to intervene or to stay exactly where he was.

He strained his ears but could only hear parts of the conversation.

"...lying!...knew it was me...desperate old woman!"

Cullen's eyes widened when he heard the younger girl utter those careless words. Was she mad? Not a soul in Skyhold would say something so disrespectful to the Inquisitor. If not because of personal adoration – which most felt – then out of respect. Everyone had seen countless times what Trev did to her enemies. And old? Trev was but weeks past her twentyfourth birthday.

All those thoughts ran through Cullen's head as he watched nervously for Trev's reaction. To his surprise, his love laughed in the girl's face and leaned in to whisper something in her ear, still smiling. When she was done, she turned on her heel and walked towards Cullen and the girl was left standing, fuming, her hands balled to fists by her side. She looked like a spoiled little brat and Cullen felt sick that he'd actually touched her, his fault or not. He was even more shocked when he thought he could actually hear her yell "Bitch!" after Trev, but she didn't even flinch and just kept on walking until she reached him, smile widening as their eyes met. The girl stormed out through one of the doors and calm once again settled over the garden.

"Hello, my love." Trev sat down beside him on the steps and kissed his lips lightly, as if nothing had happened.

"Ehm, hi... was what that all about?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing you need to worry about. It's funny, really."

Cullen looked at her skeptically. "Really?"

"If you insist, I'll tell you." She sported an amused expression now. "I got word this morning that a girl named Rebecca wished to see me. Or, as my rather perplexed messenger told me, demanded to see me. So I took a walk with her and you just witnessed the end of that walk. She'll be on her way home now, with or without the guards escorting her, depending on her behaviour."

"What in Thedas did she want to speak to you about?"

Trev giggled, clearly very amused now. "She demanded that I should immediately stop meddling in your relationship. Said I ruined your happiness with her."

Cullen couldn't believe what he was hearing. "What?" His expression must have been incredulous because she laughed when she looked at him.

"I'm telling the truth, I swear! She claimed she was in love with you and you with her."

"Wow... now I actually feel kind of bad for her. Poor girl."

Trev jokingly slapped his shoulder. "Don't. I had her looked up before I met her. From what we can gather, she's been sent here by her father to gain any sort of influence in the Inquisition. When you approached her, she probably saw a golden opportunity. When you didn't even remember her after, she probably freaked out and demanded to see me in a fit of madness. Could you imagine any other reason? The things she said to me! Maker, if I had been in a foul mood, I could have thrown her in the dungeon or worse. No one besides you and our friends knows that I would never do such a thing, she didn't know that. Stupid girl."

Cullen breathed a sigh of relief. "And you... you're not angry with me?"

"Fade, no! Cullen, I know it wasn't your fault. And by the Maker, even if I would have doubted it, I'm more than certain now. I've never heard a more obnoxious Orlesian accent in my entire life!" She laughed again, a carefree, wonderful sound that Cullen hadn't heard from her in ages. He smiled at her.

"You're right about that. Never could stand the sound of Orlesians," he said and laughed with her.

Trev leaned in and lowered her voice to a whisper. "Are you sure?" Her voice was thick with an astoundingly accurate Orlesian accent. "I could make all your dreamz come true..."

Cullen laughed harder, relieved by her humourous new take on things and amused by this newfound impersonation skill.

"If you're trying to turn me on, Trev, you're failing miserably," he said, his mouth pulled up into a crooked grin.

"Oh?" She'd switched back to her normal voice. "Well, I can rectify that."

"Really?" he asked, amused.

"Watch me." She dragged him up to his feet and pulled him with her behind a nearby tree. "I think a little motivation is in order."

"Motivation?" he asked, confused and excited now.

"Yes. Motivation for you to solve this whole mess so we can be alone again. I'm going to tell you..." Her lips dragged across the sweat-soaked skin of his neck and he shivered in pleasure. "... what I'm going to do to you when we can finally be alone again."

The air felt even hotter now, heat blasting him both from the outside and the inside.

His breath hitched as he felt her lips, wet after her tongue had licked them, against his ear. His eyes widened until they felt like they were going to burst out of his head as she whispered things to him, things that even after all that they had done together in the bedroom, made his cheek go madly red. He swallowed hard as she continued, her hand dragging across his chest and down to the lining of his breeches. He felt her fingers slip inside, slick with sweat, and he gripped her arms as she whispered unspeakable things in his ear, driving him absolutely mad with desire. He desperately wanted her hand to go lower, but then she stopped and stepped back, smiling at him. She knew exactly what she did to him and she started to walk away.

"You better wake up our friend and get to work, love. You know what's waiting for you when you do," she called back over her shoulder, drawing curious glances from people scattered throughout the garden.

Cullen stared after her until she disappeared into the keep. Another one of Dorian's snores shook him out of his reverie and he hurried over to his sleeping friend and grabbed his shoulder to shake him awake.

"Wha-what, where's the fire?" the mage mumbled, still drowsy with sleep.

"You need to wake up. We're getting out of this blasted sun and into the library where we can study harder, and we're bringing Dagna, the mages, the scholars, every soul we can think of that can help. We're solving this shit right now, no rest until we do. Come on."

Dorian looked astonished as Cullen actually grabbed his hand hand dragged him with him.