***
I exited the bathroom, happy to be in dry clothes and off of the cold, sopping floor. I glanced over my shoulder, catching sight of him hopping across the floor, attempting to gracefully slide on his dragon skin boots. The smile on my face grew wider.
He caught up to me at the door that led to the corridor, and I snaked my arm around his before he had time to argue with me. Awkwardly, he allowed the display of affection to last, staying silent as we walked down the stairs.
"Would you mind putting on something more comfortable and less filthy? It seems a shame to scour you so and then wrap you in another animal," I mentioned as smoothly as possible, running my fingers up and down his arm.
"All of this comfortable living has made you soft. The Grey Warden that I knew wore the same clothes day in and day out and slept on dirt," he spat, and I expected to see the claws spring out of his gloves.
"It's your choice; it was just a suggestion. We're going by my bedroom, so if you change your mind on the way to the dining hall, well, it's still a possibility," I responded gently, letting my arm fall from his. I kept silent, suddenly feeling morose.
We neared my quarters, and I was taken aback by someone sitting by my door, leaning against the wall. "Artemis?" I inquired, rousing the visitor from some early stage of sleep.
"First Enchanter!" he spouted, scrambling to his feet. "Ser, I, uh, I missed our meeting earlier." The words fountained so quickly from his mouth, it took me a moment to understand what he was trying to tell me.
"Meeting?" I asked myself more than him, wondering.
"With the templars and priests. It was to be as soon as you arrived back to us from Amaranthine, but the others and I were kept out late due to some maleficar roaming about near the mountains. I'm dreadfully sorry." His fingers twiddled from nervousness far more than the situation called for.
"Oh, oh, yes, I remember now. Well, no harm done. I'd forgotten also. We can do it tomorrow," I added with the full intention of moving on, readying my feet to continue.
"Ser," he called out.
"Yes?"
"It's been chaos without you. I'm relieved to see you home safely," he spoke softly, pouring his heart into the soft words.
Before I could answer, I noticed his eyes flicker to Zevran for the first time. Had he just then realized we hadn't been alone?
"So, what I'd heard is true. You've returned with your blight companion. Pleasure." His posture stiffened to suit the plate armor that adorned him.
"Yes, this is Zevran," I answered, putting my hand on the other elf's back. "Word travels quickly in this place. It never ceases to amaze."
"So, Arty is it?" Zevran interjected, ignoring me entirely. "The First Enchanter has yet to mention you. In fact, he was just on his way to the dining hall, I believe. Perhaps you and I can get to know each other until he returns."
"It's Artemis, actually," he added far too late. He was already caught up in the cruel rapids that were Zevran's manipulative abilities. "But I think that I shoul--"
"Nonsense! I have yet to properly meet anyone. Come inside and help me choose something to wear. We'll think of something to discuss," he went on, twisting the knob of the door to allow himself inside.
Artemis looked back at me with a helpless look on his face, seeming to ask me to save him with his eyes.
"Better do as he says," I sighed. "I'll make it quick."
Shockingly, jealousy didn't overtake me. In fact, a sense of pride filled that space. Another man waiting for me had spurred Zevran into a state of protectiveness, though I was sure that I was the only one who would have been able to tell that.
I held the silver tray of food in my hands, gripping it so tight that my bones could have easily punctured the skin. What I was afraid of was the sight I would see upon returning to my bedroom. My fear wasn't what he would do but rather what he would say in my absence.
I knocked on my own bedroom door, feeling rather foolish at the thought of it. "Come in!" I heard Zevran reply as if the quarters were his own. With a deep breath, I did so.
"Is this how you wear this frilly thing?" he asked me, holding his hair up and out of the way. The templar's fingers fumbled, trying to fasten an intricate belt around Zevran's waist. He looked positively mortified, shaking from the experience of being alone with him.
"Well, sort of," I snorted, laughing under my breath at the sight of luxurious, emerald velvet draped over his arms and shoulders, covering him from shoulder to heel. His messy, damp hair and facial tattoos seemed so funny next to the out of character outfit. I set the tray down on the bed and returned my attention to them. "How did I know that I would be the one fixing this mess?" I kindly shooed Artemis away, replacing his hands with my own.
"Ah, that is much better. The metal of that armor is oh so icy against my skin," he whispered loudly, leaning back into me as I pulled and tied at different sections of the robes to put them in their proper places. "So rough! He was at least very gentle with me--much more of a gentleman than you."
"First Enchanter, I think I should go," Artemis more demanded than informed. "Once again, I'm glad that you've returned," he hesitantly restated, doing all he could to keep himself from immediately bolting to the door.
"Thank you, young man, for helping me get dressed," Zevran added flirtatiously. "'tis an experience I shall not soon forget."
Unsurprisingly, Artemis didn't turn around to respond, shutting the door behind him without looking back. With the click of the lock, he burst into uproarious laughter, squirming beneath my efforts to dress him.
I locked him in my arms, refusing to let him go. "You know," I told him sternly, pretending to scold him. "What you're wearing is my best dressing gown. It's probably worth more than many of the lives you've taken."
"Well, I do have good taste in beauty," he told me, bringing the blush to my cheeks. I kissed the back of his neck, drawing goose bumps to his skin.
"You didn't do anything to him while I was gone, did you?" I inquired suddenly.
"I am innocent; all I did was talk to him."
"Why does that not worry me less?" I asked, nibbling on his ear. "You don't have to be afraid of him, you know. He knows that I'm yours." I felt him stiffen at the sentence I whispered into his ear.
"If people know, why put me in a separate room?"
The realization to his cold attitude struck me. I was speechless for a moment, searching for the honest truth. "Because I figured that you'd want that," I answered with no lie to be found. "I didn't want to smother you and---" I paused, wary of my next words.
"---have me run off again," he finished, sounding dismal. I winced, unsure of how to respond. That was what I had been thinking subconsciously.
Instead of answering, I simply held him there in my arms, fighting back the tears that were swelling in my eyes.
"I didn't know that that was bothering you," I confessed. "If it makes a difference to you, will you stay together with me?"
"That sounds a bit more comfortable. This place is far too large and dreary. What if I had gotten frightened and rolled over to find no one sleeping next to me?" He smiled, trying to lighten the mood.
Somehow his lips sealed over mine; I hadn't even felt either of us move. It was strange to feel a kiss from him without a single bead of sexuality dripping from it. He removed himself from me as though he had noticed the same thing, striding over towards the bed.
"Oh, you know me so well," he said happily, lifting the plate with two, extra large slices of pie. He ignored the rest of the food I had brought him, barbarically shoving a piece into his mouth.
"Just don't get anything on my clothes," I asked nicely, plopping down on the other side of the bed, stretching.
"Oh, like you couldn't just wave your hands and make a stain disappear, First Enchanter," he teased, not stopping to swallow.
I laid there in silence, happily watching him eat. The quiet of the room eventually got to him, and he turned to look at me suspiciously. He said nothing, but innocently extended the plate of food to me.
"No, thank you," I told him, suddenly embarrassed that I had been caught staring at him. "You look like you need it." My eyes lingered on his waist, realizing how far up the notches I had had to go with the belts. It took some will power to keep from criticizing his lack of a proper diet. Nagging had never really worked with him.
Sleep was threatening me, and so I forced myself out of bed. I walked to the window, opening it and sitting down on the sill. I spent a lot of my free time there, gazing out at the expanse of forest where I occasionally wandered and even taught lessons---something that hadn't been allowed until my time over the Circle.
Before I entirely devoted my thoughts to the Circle, I heard the splashing of water and laughter of girls far below me. I peeked over the edge, curious.
It wasn't an unusual sight; I had seen the group of girls bathing in Lake Calenhad before, carrying on as though there wasn't a chance of someone seeing them. In the dim light, it was difficult to make out more than flashes of moonlight against bare legs and breasts. Some of them sounded familiar, but I couldn't place names to the disembodied voices.
Bittersweet memories distracted me as I watched them, clouding over the moment. I easily pictured my own, naked form, pressing some younger boy up against the rocks. Both of our bodies were being smacked up against it by relentless waves as we devoured one another's mouth.
It had been the night before my harrowing, and I had intended on making the best of what could have been my last few hours. The threat had spurred on my confessions of superficial attractions to him, and I was pleasantly surprised when he hadn't declined my invitation of misbehavior. We had barely begun to explore one another when a light shined upon us. He had dove under the water, while I foolishly stood in the spotlight, daring whoever had interrupted my moment of freedom. If it had been anyone other than First Enchanter Irving, I would have felt proud of my defiance. I could still recall the look of shock in his eyes, apparently just as disheartened that we had been who we were.
"Alprize, I hope my eyes are misleading me, but I daresay that they're not. Might I suggest that you get inside before the templars discover you and put you through the harrowing immediately?" he had warned, removing the light from my nakedness.
"Ser," I had simply answered, too overcome with embarrassment to relent in some way. My feelings for Irving had been too strong to do anything other than what he had wished. He could have punished me severely for leaving the Tower without permission but instead trusted me not to do it again. At the time, my heart sung at the realization. I seemed to live my life balancing on his every word.
In fact, I was the constant victim of ridicule for being something of his 'pet'. Jokes spread that if Irving threw himself off the Tower that I would too.
My devotion eventually got the better of me; no one would even talk to me, afraid that I would tell Irving every small, illegal thing they had done within the Tower walls. Nearly everyone but Jowan, in fact, and I had proven them right by rushing to Irving the second that he had confided in me.
It was my guilt over Jowan that had driven me to study blood magic and eventually embrace it as something not to be feared. In the end, my strength as a blood magus had helped me to defend my country and my friends, but I was still ashamed of it. I was an embarrassment to Jowan still.
The laughter and excited chatter of the girls in the lake no longer seemed pleasant, and some cruel part of me wanted to relive that memory through a First Enchanter's perspective. Deep down I wanted to punish them for the cruelty I had endured, but I resisted, shutting the window and pulling the curtain.
After the long duration of silence within my bedroom, I looked over to see Zevran sound asleep. He was still in my robes, and his empty tray laid on his stomach, heaving from his deep breaths. With his limbs in disarray over the entire bed, he simply slept, and I watched for a moment before extinguishing the light in the room.
I struggled within my own mind, swirling in guilt from so many of the things I had done in my life and from my unresolved problems both with Zevran and with myself. I held my head in my hands, allowing the tears to fall in the dark.
***
I have a thing for names from Greek myth, if you couldn't tell.
Also, as a side note---while writing these chapters I've found that listening to Iggy Pop and the Stooges is randomly a lot of fun, particularly off of his "Raw Power" album.
Once again, please review.