Chp. 4: Needing More
The Herald was heading to the library, carrying a stack of leather bound books, shipped in from Orlais. There were any number of people who could bring the books to the library, servants, errand boys, but instead he carried them himself, ignoring the odd stares.
Valissia was in the library, probably buried in more books. She was driving him crazy, turning red any time he looked at her, subtly flirting with him, only to back off and hide. He could not take anymore, and the books merely gave him an excuse. Quietly, he slipped into the library, catching the door with his booted foot, lest it slam shut, giving him away. At the voices coming from the seats by the window, his ears perked up, and he set the books down, before following the voices.
"He is driving me insane Talise." Valissia sighed, tossing the quill pen she was writing with down and rubbing at her eyes in frustration.
Talise did not bother to look up from the book she was reading, a dark brow lifted in question at her friend's words, "How?"
"He makes my skin tingle. Everything gets warm and prickly feeling when I'm around him." Valissia's voice was plaintive, confused, even as Talise's merry laughter floated in the breeze.
"So act on it." Sighing, Talise set the book to one side, marking her place in it. She sat sideways in the chair, her back against one arm, her legs dangling over the opposite one. Her position had earned her several disgruntled looks, and she had ignored them all, absorbed in the book.
"I have no idea if he feels the same way. This is probably just some one-sided crush." Valissa shook her head, before dropping her chin onto one of her palms, her work ignored for the moment.
"He does." Talise grinned from her spot across the table, "I'm fairly certain he is stripping you naked every time he looks at you."
Christopher nodded in agreement, Valissia wore some of the most alluring robes and dresses, held in place by tiny silken ties, one set revealed over half of her smooth back. He had been unable to concentrate on anything but her smooth skin the day she had worn it.
"Talise!" the mage fairly shrieked in response, her cheeks glowing brightly. She took a deep breath, calming herself, and then smirked back at the assassin, "So tell me, do you get all warm and prickly when you look at Commander Rutherford?"
Talise's bright gaze narrowed at Valissia, and she balled up a spare piece of paper, throwing it towards the mage half-heartedly, "I'm not answering that."
"So that's a yes?" Valissia smirked at her, gesturing across the table, "Your cheeks are turning pink."
"That's a… that is none of your business." Talise paused, crumbling another piece of paper and tossing it aimlessly off the desk, "He told me I could see him any time I wanted to."
"How exactly is that a problem?" Valissia leaned forward, propping her chin on her hand, her storm cloud gaze locked onto Talise.
"I want to see him all the time. I know I must go out and work, I know there are jobs that need doing. I know I should be giving everything to the Inquisition." Talise turned in the chair, slouching and stretching her booted feet out, a frown marring her features.
Nodding in agreement, Valissia set about organizing her notes, stacking several pages together carefully, "And you do."
"But I don't want to. I want to sit in his office and read books." Try as she might, Talise cannot keep the plaintive, almost pouting tone from her voice, and she sighs, stretching further in the chair until she can prop her head on the back of it, her gaze searching the ceiling.
"And see the man naked." Valissia smirked at Talise over the table,
Talise does not move, does not flinch at her friend's words, but her cheeks darken further, "I never said anything about seeing him naked."
Christopher grinned at Talise's words, making a mental note to push Cullen further towards her later on, and leaned further around the bookcase. Talise's head tilted slightly for a moment, proof she had heard him, or felt his presence, she was uncanny in her ability to sense someone sneaking up on her, but Valissia had missed the movement, as she stared down at her notes.
"I can't concentrate Talise. I want more. I've been locked up in towers and libraries with books and tomes and dust and too much parchment, covered in ink. I miss Jordan, I always will. But I feel…." Valissia lifted her hands, waving them in the air as she spoke.
The Herald sucked in a breath, listening to the mage speak, his fingers curling tightly over the shelf he leaned around.
"You feel?" Talise sat up in her chair, leaning forward and propping her arms on the table, her eyes focused and intent on Valissa, watching her face as she spoke.
The mage sighed, picking at a small tear in one of the pages of her notes, her fingers worrying the tear until it started to lengthen across the corner of the page, "Like my life is wasting away. Finding better ways to heal people would bring so much good to the world. But if this is all I do, I can't help but think my life would be empty. Somehow."
"Why do you think I asked the Inquisitor to judge me? I have known nothing but death and destruction for years." Talise's dark hair shifts about her face as she nods in agreement, meeting Valissia's gaze with a compassionate look in her own eyes.
Valissia heaves a sigh, continuing to worry at the tear in the parchment in front of her, "I'm so sorry, prattling on about my own-"
"Shut up Valissia. You are allowed to talk about your troubles." She paused for a moment, flicking her blue gaze towards Christopher's hiding spot. Talise knew he was there, and continued to speak anyways, "So you think Christopher would change things?"
"Yes. No. I don't know. But I want to find out." Valissia sighed, putting the last of her notes into a tome, tucking them carefully in the back of the book.
Talise added the book she had been reading to the pile sitting on the desk in between the two friends, her fingers tracing designs over the cover for a moment, as if she was considering something, "So find out."
"When? How?" Valissia blinked stormy eyes across the table at her in obvious confusion.
"Now. When he walks over here." Decision made, Talise slides from her spot, her movements as smooth as silk, nodding to Christopher when he emerged from his hiding spot behind the bookshelf. Valissia sucked in a surprised breath, turning pink as she remembered their conversation, her blush darkening to red when she saw him staring at her. Talise was right, he wanted what she did, she saw it in his eyes, burning with need for her.
"I will take my leave. Christopher, I will have no problem killing the Herald of Andraste, should Valissia come to harm. That's my only warning" with a whisper of leather, and the barest hint of footsteps, Talise was gone.
Valissia could do nothing, she was rooted in her chair, her face half buried in her hands, staring up at Christopher from between the tips of her fingers. Her heart was hammering in her ears, making her light-headed, her skin prickled, he came to a stop beside the desk Valissia was sitting at, arms crossed over chest, muscles bulging beneath his shirt
"What exactly did Jordan mean to you?" he slowly leaned down, one hand propped on the desk, the other on an arm of the chair she sat in, until he was eye to eye with her.
"He…" she stammered for a moment, unsure of Christopher's questioning, "He was my friend. We grew up together."
"Nothing more?" his gaze was intense as he studied her, the line of his jaw clenching when he caught scent of her perfume.
"Nothing more?" she frowned, her auburn brows coming together briefly, before she blinked up at him, realization dawning across her features, "You're jealous!"
He nods tightly, leaning down, his fingers curling around the arm of her chair, "I do not wish to be a stand in for a man you cannot have."
"Jordan was a dear friend, someone I trusted and respected. But no, I did not love him. Not like that." Her fingers tuck strands of bright auburn hair back behind a shell-like ear, suddenly self-conscious that she had not pulled her hair up this morning, but had instead come straight to the library to study.
The words were scarcely past her lips before his were on them, his hands curling around her upper arms and hauling her from her chair. She let out a squeak of surprise, stiffening in his arms for a moment, and then the warmth spread through her, melting her against him. Christopher leaned back against the table as she relaxed, tugging her with him as he deepened the kiss, his tongue flicking over the seam of her lips, groaning as hers parted.
Her hands were restless, shifting from gripping the front of his shirt to curling around his shoulders, only to slide back down his chest. She was suddenly greedy feeling, like she had been drowing and could breathe again, her fingers curled into the fabric of his shirt, wrinkling it as she pulled. He was so strong, and she was so slight, the movement just brought her to him, and his hands gripped her waist, holding her still, as with a groan he broke the kiss, resting his forehead against hers for a moment as he gulped in a breath.
"Maker… Valissia, you have no idea what you're doing to me."
She dropped her head, hiding her burning cheeks, her entire face in a waterfall of red locks, her forehead nearly brushing his chest, "I imagine the same thing you're doing to me. I can feel my heatbeat in my toes."
He chuckled at her words, tugging her closer for a moment, his fingers sliding to her smooth jaw, and tilting it upwards towards him. She was blushing a deep rose, her skin warm against his fingers, the color bringing out the smattering of freckles across her nose and cheekbones, "You are so beautiful."
Just as she would lean up, to press her lips to his once more, the doors to the library swung open with a loud thump, and a young soldier stepped in, "Herald? There is news from…"
He paused, turning as bright red as Valissia was as he rounded a bookshelf, and found the Herald, with the mage in his arms, "My apologies. I can wait, I'll leave the report with Cullen and…"
"No, I'll see to it now", Christopher sighed, turning and leaning Valissia against the table, before letting her go, one hand trailing through her hair, "This is not over. I'll be back later."