Authors note: Sorry for the short chapter guys, i have an assignment due in a couple days which is taking up most of my time. But fear not, i should have a new one up pretty soon ;)
But it was only when Riordan revealed to them both how an arch demon was truly slain did he finally understand her courage. Instead of crying, or gasping or denying, she merely closed her eyes for a moment then answered him, stating that she would take the final blow.
When they were alone he protested, he was a general who had lived his life. who had done such terrible things for which he needed to atone. But she had shaken her head slowly, told him that he had only done what he thought was right, that she would take that final blow herself. Not because she wanted to be a hero. But because she couldn't ask someone else to die for her. but he knew she was frightened. He could feel it exuding from her skin, see it in the tense set of her shoulders and the haunted depths of her eyes.
So when she crept back into his room later that night he listened with an astonished ear. A deal made with the marsh witch could spare the grey wardens their deaths. They could both live. it could save her life and yet she did not command it, she merely asked. And he had accepted, he had already taken enough from her. and this, this was a small enough thing. even if it did make his skin crawl to let that witch touch him.
As he lay in his bed after completing the ritual, he wonders if she will ever forgive him for what he has done. If he will ever forgive himself for destroying her life the way he had.
She is a constant surprise to him, so when she turned up at his door the next morning and hugged him, he shouldn't have been startled. But he was. she held him tightly, light armour pressed against his heavier plate, her red hair a startling contrast to the silver of his chest, she thanked him. he held her back, hands awkwardly resting on the small of her back, the smell of soap and vanilla invading his senses.