The three Wardens stepped in Riordans's room. He was standing with his back faced towards them.
"There you are, I'm going to be blunt with you, have you ever wondered why the Grey Wardens are needed to kill the archdemon?"
There was a moment of silence,
Diana's heart pounded, she wasn't going to like this conversation, that's for sure. She had never wondered or bothered to think why they were needed for the death of an Old God., but she bet that it did not involve puppies or sunshine.
Riordan faced them, with a very grim voice:
"Any other may kill an archdemon, but if it isn't a Grey Warden that does the final blow it will all be for nothing."
"meaning what exactly?" She looked at Alistair, so serious. He usually made silly jokes at grave times like this.
"The darkspawn is a soulless empty vessel, the soul of the demon would linger in it only making that darkspawn a deadly foe, while the Grey Warden is not, when we kill the archdemon the soul perish with us....so does the Grey Warden."
"Meaning the Grey Warden that kills the archdemon dies?" Diana asked.
"Yes, and it is the only way to end the Blight."
Another moment of silence, thoughts flashing through their minds.
"Then i will deliver the blow myself to that piece of shit!" She finally said.
Her brethren looked at her.
"It warms my heart to see such courage, but do not hurry wasting your life. If possible I will do it. I'm the senior warden and it is my duty. But if I fail, the deed falls upon you to finish it"
"so no pressure at all?" Diana said while nervously laughing
"For all that it is worth I'm sorry, i suggest you try to get some sleep, we have a long journey ahead of us" Riordan opened the door. They all nodded and went outside, in front of her room. Alistair hurried back to his room, leaving the two Wardens alone.
Loghain cleared his throat.
"You keep surprising me Warden. I thought the minute he said that the one that kills the archdemon dies, you would not hesitate to say that it should be me."
"Why should I? I don't own your life, Loghain."
"No, but you said I could redeem myself by becoming a Warden. I do not regret what I did at Ostagar, I thought I did was for the best. I just didn't see the tides turning on me. Sacrificing myself by killing the archdemon would be a sufficient redemption, wouldn't you say?"
"It would, but you heard Riordan, if he could, he will do it, and then, assuming we don't die fighting the darkspawn, we will live."
"Do you really think it will be so simple as that?"
Diana sighed, "No I do not. But let's not speculate to much on this. I just know we can't let Alistair sacrifice himself, he's the new king, and with no one to succeed him, there will another civil war, choosing one a new one. Believe me. Also he did kinda resign the Grey Warden post when I chose you to live" Now she suddenly regret killing Anora, if they would die, she could have easily taken over the throne, and people would have cheered.
Loghain nodded, "Well, I will see you in the morning Warden. Hopefully fate will be gracious with us."
"Good night." When he walked away, Diana whispered, "brother."
Diana was walking to his room. Now when she knew what was at stake, she let go of her pride and stubbornness. She knocked on his door, felt a sting of nausea.
Alistair opened the door,
"Why am I not surprised you are here." he quirked his mouth.
At least he didn't sound mad, that's a start.
"Did you want something?" He asked.
"I just wanted to say I'm sorry. For what happened in Denerim." She said looking at him. He let her in the room, and closed the door behind him.
"Why? You meant every word of it." He said, trying to hide his discontempt.
"Well, yes I did. But I should have done it more smoothly."
He laughed,
"Diana, even if you wanted to, you wouldn't be able to do it. You are a fire head. One of the most amazing women I ever met."
"You don't seem that mad." She said, with curiosity – she didn't understand it.
"Don't worry. I am still very angry with the choice you made. But after what Riordan said I haven't been able to feel mad."
"I will never forgive you for letting him live, but I will not either be acting like a child about this. In the spur of the moment in Denerim, I had to let it out."
"I think you have valid reasons, they weren't just about him."
"True."
"Alistair," she said taking his hand, and looked into his eyes.
"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry for everything. I was a selfish ass, I fooled you and then I betrayed you by taking in Loghain. I don't regret making him a Warden but I don't want to lose your friendship. After what Riordan said, I can't depart from here, without talking with you."
He sighed, and gently stroke her cheek.
"Don't apologize for your feelings. I should have handled it better as well. With everything that happened I just stayed hopelessly naive. I'm happy you came here to say sorry, and I sincerely do wish you and Zevran will find happiness together."
Diana chuckled.
"No, you don't and there's no harm that you do not wish it either."
"Fine" He smiled at her.
"So, we could die tomorrow huh? Should have seen that one coming."
"Well you won't. You are no longer a Grey Warden, remember?"
"Psh, as I said, that was in the spur of the moment. Hello? Have you met me? Also if I actually wanted to give up being a Grey Warden, it will always remain in my blood, so I can't escape from it, not matter what I do."
"You're king now Alistair. We can't have you sacrificing yourself like a big fancy hero."
"But you can?" Being inches from her.
"Yes, I'm expendable, you're not!"
"To hell that you are expendable! You were the one leading us, actually giving us a fighting chance to defeat this before it would spread to other nations!"
"Exactly, I'm the leader!"
"What about Loghain? You recruited him to be of use. So let him be! Let him kill the god demon thingie!"
"thingie?" She chuckled.
"You know what I mean."
"Alistair, I can't ask the man to kill himself to save us so we don't have to do it. That's utterly selfish, and to many have died by my hand already."
Alistair took all the things that were on his desk and threw it on the ground. He let out an anger of frustration.
"Why do you have to be so stubborn?!"
"I was born such and learned my lessons well from my mother."
"I don't want you to die, Diana."
She looked at the man in front of her, the broken templar, soon to be king, her king. Diana thought she should be upset, feeling more betrayed by the Grey Warden's secrecy, but she didn't. She did not even feel nervous about maybe dying during the battle.
"I should let you go to sleep, your highness."
"Oh, don't call me that." He sighed.
"But yes, sleep does sound good. But spider senses tells me I won't be able to tonight. I wonder why that is?" he asked sarcastically.
Diana chuckled.
He hugged her tightly, with difficulty thanks to their armor.
"Thank you Alistair. I will see you tomorrow." She gave him an soft kiss on his cheek and left.
*^*
She opened the door to her room, only to find Morrigan standing close to the fireplace.
"Don't you have your own bedroom Morrigan?"
"I figured it is time we spoke."
"Urgh, more bad news?"
"That depends on how you will look at the situation." She glided towards Diana,
"I know what happens when the archdemon dies, I know a Grey Warden must be sacrificed."
"Reeeally, let me guess, your mother told you, or did you eavesdrop?"
"It was my mother in fact."
"Mhm ok then. So you know that one of us will be dead tomorrow, any other cheering news you want to rub in my face?"
Diana was angry, she just wanted to go to bed, wait for Zev to sneak in the room and be with her. He could always make her happy. She was angry at Morrigan, who seemed to only want to hurt her more.
Morrigan tried to keep her face neutral,
"I wanted to tell you, that 'tis does not need to be."
"Last time I checked it did!"
"Just listen to my proposal, hm?"
"Fine!"
Morrigan took a deep breath before continuing:
"What I propose is that you convince Alistair or Loghain to lay with me tonight. For a ritual. It will produce an child, the essence will be able to absorb the archdemon's soul when you kill it. At this early stage, it will remain unharmed and you will this is done of course, you will leave me alone, and we will part ways."
"Wha...what?! You want to get the archdemon soul into a baby?!"
"Some things are worth protecting in this world." Morrigan frowned.
Diana noticed her breath becoming faster and faster.
"So the child would become an old demon God?"
"it will have an soul of one, it will not however become an giant dragon."
"Why does that not make me feel better?" Diana said sarcastically.
"Why can't you ask them yourself?"
Morrigan started to laugh.
"Alistair hates me, surely you know this, and Loghain probably only listen to one person in the entire world, and that person would be you, since you're his fellow Warden."
"This is blood magic, Flemeth's, isn't it?"
"Yes, but it should not matter to you, should it?"
Diana started to pace across the room.
She can't do this. It didn't feel promising to kill an evil, but in the long run, she would create another, that would be more powerful then the big dragon, if Morrigan is the child's mother.
Flemeth told her of this ritual, and that bitch was an abomination. She wouldn't be surprised if Flemeth had plans for the child, passing her knowledge to Morrigan to get it done.
So that's why they got rescued from the tower of Ishal that night, for this purpose.
Her heart and mind told her this is a bad idea.
"No" She whispered, "I can't agree to this."
"Don't let your foolish pride get in your way, do you believe Alistair will do his duty as king and take the final blow? And if you do it he loses the woman he loves, how do you think he would feel about that? If you want another view on the matter, think of Zevran..."
"Zevran?"
"Yes, what do you think he would advise if he knew the life of his beloved was at risk?"
"He would understand!"
"Really? Love is one of those things that does not contain much logic in it, he wants you to live. If you would agree to this, he wouldn't lose you."
"That doesn't change a thing...I'm sorry Morrigan, but I won't, and Alistair certainly wouldn't either agree to this. I'm not gonna risk creating another evil by being a coward and cheat death. If i die I'll die as a Grey Warden!"
"Then you are a fool. I will not stand by watching you throw your life away!"
"I'm not throwing it away."
"As I said, I will not stand by."
Diana sighed, when she realized that Morrigan was gonna leave her.
"Don't go Morrigan."
" 'tis is not my doing, its yours..." The apostate mage stood next to her, Diana stubbornly looked in the fire
"Fare you well my friend." She said touching Diana's shoulder and shapeshifted into a bird and flew out the window in the hallway.
*^*
Did i do the right thing?
She wondered while she paced, she couldn't sleep. It was just to much to take in during one night. Her stomach pain didn't give in either. Who will die? What if they all died in the battle and couldn't reach the beast in time?
Her thoughts got interrupted by a knock on the door.
"Come in!"
The door opened, and she saw the blonde Antivan elf come in. He closed the door behind him.
She felt glad for the first time today.
"Hi Zev."
"you looked so troubled my emerald, such a unsuiting expression for a beautiful face."
He sat down on the edge of the bed, forcing her to stop her pacing and pulled her next to him. His hands above hers. She felt a tingle in her spine when he touched her.
"So why are you here, Zev?" She asked again, looking down on his hands
"Well you looked so unhappy when you were talking to the arl and I assumed your discussion with the Warden was finished and being such a caring friend and lover I am I wanted to check on you." He stroke gently with his free hand on her back.
This was probably going to be her last night being in a real bed. She wanted to take advantage of that with her love. This might be the last time, and she wouldn't give the dead rapists a chance to ruin it by interfering her mind.
"So what did he say?"
Would it be an wise idea to tell him, he had trusted her with his biggest secrets, including the loss of Rinna, why shouldn't she be able to do the same?
"He told us...why the Grey Wardens are needed."
"So what is the big Warden secret? Dance for the darkspawns, maybe sing a lullaby, no?" He shut up by Diana's glare.
"A Grey Warden needs to kill the archdemon, to end its life, and in process sacrificing your own life."
"I do not understand."
"If anybody else kills the demon, it will be for nothing." She paused for a moment, closed her eyes, "Since the Grey Warden bears the taint, its soul will perish when one of us kills it. That's the short version of the story."
"Meaning that one of you four will definitely die during the siege?"
"Yes."
Zevran stood up,
"Do not tell me you are actually thinking about killing yourself!"
"Ey, killing myself is suicide. Sacrificing for the greater good isn't."
"Does not matter!"
He started to pace, shaking his hands, not really knowing what to do of them. He tore down the bookcase close to him out of frustration.
"Zevran!"
"I will not let you die, not after...!"
She tried walking close to him, he kept shoving her away.
"You can't chose this. This is the one thing you are powerless in." Her voice almost crying by how he reacted.
"There are three more Wardens. Loghain was recruited for redemption, let him take the blow!"
"You said the exact same thing as Alistair did. I will not ask someone to sacrifice themselves. Alistair can't take the final blow, he is going to be king. Riordan said he is willing, but what if he dies during the battle? Then it is between me and Loghain."
He took her arms and pushed her against the wall, his face inches from hers.
"Zev, please..." Tears were running down her face.
"Do you have a death wish?"
"What?"
"You don't seem upset, sad or anything remotely close about the dying part!"
"What do you want me to do, Zev? Lie down on the ground, crying that I do not want to die? I can't stop now. I would be a bad leader if I did. I can't do anything about this, unless I actually agreed to Morrigan's propo..." She shut up, damn!
Think before you act woman!
"What proposal? His arms tightened, his angry eyes pierced Diana's sad ones.
"She offered a way out, with blood magic."
"let me guess. You declined?"
"She wanted me to convince Alistair or Loghain to sleep with her so she could have a child of the demon. I have a feeling I would regret that choice later on in life!"
She thought it was inescapable for the elf to look more angry. She was wrong.
"You...you are impossible!" He let go of her, turned his back towards her, walking away.
He sighed.
"Don't be mad at me Zev. Not now, I can't handle it." She touched his shoulders, he didn't move. She moved her hands over them, to his armored chest, holding him close to her.
"Get your armor off." She whispered in his ear.
"Tsk, tsk, what's this?"
"Make love to me, Zevran."
He faced her, "so first you make me mad, and now you're trying to make me forget all this by getting me in your bed?"
"Is it working?" She said with a coy smile.
He just smiled and kissed her, gripping his long fingers around her head, caressing her hair.
"You do know I will not forget this?"
"I don't care at the moment." she said, unbuckling her armor.
He helped taking it off, and got his own on the ground in the process.
The fire in Diana's body was awake and the passion was burning strongly, so she took hold of him and continued to kiss him, first on the lips and then down along his neck. He groaned and held her.
He kissed her with such intensity, pushing her against the wall.
She had her hands on his bare chest, feeling his muscles, puling him closer to her. His warm chest against hers felt so wonderful. He kissed her down the neck, having his hands on her hips. She felt her arousal rising by his hard kisses on her body, holding her firmly near him.
She was over him with kisses, and her hand moved down, tracing down his muscled body, caressing her hand over his crotch. He responded immediately by pushing her even closer to him, while he got hold of one of her breasts and massaged it. Diana let out a load moan.
Zevran took her in his arms, facing the bed, and pushed her down in it.
He was above Diana, panting heavily, he was moving down her chest, licking one of her breast and massaged the other while she moaned of pleasure and lust. He got her body to react wildly by his actions.
His dominance made her even more lecherous, and her hands gripped the linen of the bed. She saw the desire for her in his eyes, as he stroke slowly up along the Warden's inner-thigh, he smiled at her, and caressed her sex. His face moved up to my throat. The only thing that existed was his warm breath on her neck and his fingers sliding in her. Diana became overwhelmed with pleasure and was twitching under his body, that was holding her firmly in one place. She was getting close, not being able to control herself, she bit Zevran's shoulder and shuddered under his body.
He looked at her, with desire and pulled himself on top of her. He slid slowly into her, she put her legs around his back, and kissed him with more greed then before. He tasted like heaven. Zevran began to move in her and with each thrust, Diana moaned louder and louder. She dug her nails, scratching his back. He moaned close to her ear, making her shiver.
Zevran slid gently out of her, and turned Diana on her stomach, making her stand on all four. With a rough push, he was back in her. He had a hard, firm grip on her chest, and started to thrust harder and faster, as the assassin reached his climax, he collapsed upon her sweaty body.
He gently went out, "You, my Warden, are an amazing lover!", he panted in her ear and kissed her cheek. He tenderly kissed her neck and shoulders and Diana responded
"You are not so bad yourself." She grinned.
"I did mean what I said before, my emerald." He said, sounding serious.
"I know Zevran, let's not think about that. There is nothing we can do about it."
He sighed, "I suppose not."
He turned on his side, holding her body close to him, they were both very sweaty as their bodies embraced each others.
"Zev..."
"mm?"
"I just wanted to say...I lov.."
"Don't!"
She stared at him with a surprised look,
"Say that after the battle, my emerald." Stroking her cheek.
"I don't want you to pressure this because of what you have learned. I do not want to remember you saying this because of what might happen. I know what you feel, and I feel the same. Survive and let's say those words then, yes?"
Diana nodded.
They kissed and went to bed.
*^*