17

Isabela didn't pick the lock on Hawke's door like usual, opting to knock instead. Bodahn answered the door, and Isabela brushed past him.

"Mistress Isabela, where are you going? I must announce your arrival to Lady Hawke!" the dwarf called after her as she climbed the stairs, two at a time.

She burst through Hawke's bedroom door, and found the mage lying on her bed. Her eyes were slightly puffy. Isabela told herself that Hawke had been sleeping, but really, she knew the truth. "Hawke. I need to explain…"

Hawke sat up and shook her head. "Please, please don't. I really don't want to know."

Isabela knelt in front of Hawke, trying to make eye contact. "The other night, with the wine, and the gift, and the sex, it confused me."

Hawke grimaced. "Maker, you drive me insane. Being with you... I feel like I'm trying to catch a shooting star. Every time I think I've got it, I look down, and I realise it's not a star that I've caught, but a hot coal that's burning my sodding hands off."

Isabela touched Hawke's knee, but had her hand brushed off immediately. "Hawke... I thought you understood what was going on between us. I am no shooting star. I'm just... me. The other night was... very kind of you, but unnecessary."

Hawke sighed sadly. "I was just trying to be nice. I thought you'd like it. If I'd realised you would run off and fuck someone else because of it, I would've enchanted the locks and gone to sleep. Don't worry, I will never repeat this mistake again."

It had taken her half a day and a bottle of rum, but Isabela had realised that she really didn't want to lose what she had with Hawke. However, she couldn't afford to get in any deeper either, so her next words needed to be chosen carefully. "I did like it. It was the nicest thing anyone's ever done for me. It just… isn't what I'm looking for from you. You know I need my freedom."

Hawke exhaled in frustration and ran her hand through her hair. "You are free, Isabela. I am not your husband. I don't want to own you and keep you as a pet. I wish you'd stop punishing me for the way that bastard treated you."

"This wasn't a punishment, Hawke, it was sex. It just… happened."

Hawke's face became overcome by bitterness. "You're right, it wasn't a punishment. This is who you are, and I let myself forget that fact. You've promised me nothing, and I jumped to a silly assumption all on my own. I just thought that after all this time, maybe… I was enough. I thought that you were happy. Ah, forget it. I don't want to talk anymore. Leave me be."

Isabela ignored the dismissal, for the first time, in a long time, being concerned with somebody else's feelings. "You do make me happy, Hawke. This wasn't about you. What do you want me to say? That I won't do it again? I can't promise that. I won't promise it. You told me you wouldn't tie me down."

Hawke snorted. "Ha, tie you down, that's a laugh. I imagine it would take some sort of physical restraint to stop you from bedding everyone you've ever met. Showing me the respect of discretion might have been nice, I would've thought I'd at least earned that much." She threw a withering look at the bruise on Isabela's neck.

Isabela bit her lower lip, hurt by the mage's tone. She leaned forwards to kiss Hawke, but the mage put a firm hand in the middle of Isabela's chest, preventing her from moving any closer. "I don't know if I can do this anymore. I want you to leave, Isabela. I'll come by when I'm ready to talk."

It had been a torturous fortnight. Hawke hadn't come by, and Isabela was starting to doubt that Hawke was ever going to come by. Maybe a clean break would be for the best. Isabela felt herself developing continuously deeper feelings for Hawke. The fact that she had any feelings for the girl at all was a problem in itself.

Isabela was in bed, somewhere close to sleep, when she heard a knock on her door. She had developed a reputation over her years at The Hanged Man, and it wasn't unheard of for a lonely sailor or soldier to come and try their luck. She decided not to answer the door. She wasn't in the mood.

The light knocking continued, until she'd had enough. "Whoever you are, and whatever you've heard, you're knocking at the wrong door!"

"It's me…" a familiar voice said quietly.

Isabela unbolted the door, and had barely opened it when a figure came rushing in, pressing their lips to hers hungrily and pushing her down on the bed. Her corset was completely undone and her undergarments had made it down to her knees before she finally got a breath. "Can you at least shut the door first, Hawke?"

Hawke shot a bolt of wind from her hand, and the door slammed shut.

"Learned a new trick, I see?" Isabela asked as Hawke kissed her way down the pirate's neck.

"Mmmhmm" was Hawke's only reply as her mouth found Isabela's breast, her tongue caressing a nipple.

Isabela lost her train of thought as Hawke moved her talented mouth down the pirate's body, catching the undergarments in her teeth and dragging them the rest of the way down the pirate's toned, tanned calves.

"Hawke... Are you sure this is what you want? After what you said the other night..."

"Stop speaking…" Hawke whispered as she ran her tongue up Isabela's thigh.

Isabela squirmed with delight as her knees got thrown over Hawke's shoulders and the mage's soft mouth moved between her legs. A moment later, Isabela's taut abdomen tensed as she propped herself up on her elbows. She looked down at Hawke to see what the new sensation was, and the mage was watching for her reaction.

"What are you doing down there?" she asked between deep breaths.

Hawke paused for a moment. "Do you like it?"

Isabela nodded vigorously. "Do you want me to... stop?" Hawke asked slyly.

"No! Don't stop!" Isabela commanded, pushing Hawke's face back down.

Hawke continued on, and Isabela had to hold herself back from exploding prematurely like an undersexed adolescent. After a few minutes though, she could take no more, moaning Hawke's name loudly as she clamped her muscular thighs down. Hawke gave her a hard smack on the arse, signalling for Isabela to release her.

Hawke looked up, red in the face and breathless from her near suffocation, but pleased with herself, nonetheless.

"What was that?" Isabela asked as her body was still being wracked by the aftershocks.

Hawke laughed and sat up. "I was making my tongue vibrate with static electricity. Was it good?"

Isabela arched her back as another wave took her. "Maker, yes. I wish I was a mage sometimes, just to pay you back."

Hawke scoffed. "You don't have the subtlety to be a mage. You'd go around giving magical blowjobs to most of Kirkwall and then complain when you got sent to the Gallows." She stood and headed for the door.

"That's not fair, I'll have you know I can be very subtle. Where are you even going? We're not done. You haven't had your turn yet."

Hawke shook her head. "I'm not going to have a turn. That's your late name-day present. I thought you might appreciate this one. Sex seems to be the only language you know how to speak."

Isabela reached out. "Hold on, you don't get to just hand out an orgasm like that and then run away. You know I'm all about equal opportunity, and a one-sided duel is not my style. Come back to bed, Hawke."

"I'll see you around, Isabela" Hawke said as she opened the door and closed it shut quickly behind her, leaving Isabela exhausted, aroused, and possibly even more confused than before.