Solas took her offered hand and let her lead him.

Varania was surprised to find that he was trembling, just a little, barely noticeable if she hadn't been so focused on the sensation of his fingers sliding between hers. Even that simple motion was erotic, a promise of things to come.

She'd be a liar if she said she hadn't dreamt about this moment. She woke from dreams more than once, grateful that he hadn't found her in the Fade again since that first time. If he'd found those dreams, ones where she was entangled in his sinewy limbs and woke with a throbbing between her legs?

But he was here now, warm and alive in the real world with this steel blue eyes his eyes dark and conflicted. She watched him struggle with himself. She struggled with herself too, with her mad desire and counterpointed it with his obvious distress.

She stopped, still paces away from the bed. "Am I pressuring you?"

He blinked at her. Smiled. Made a little noise. "No, you aren't. I think I'm pressuring myself." He took her other hand and this time he did kiss the tips of her fingers. "I had long since decided that physical pleasures were not going to be part of my life again." He chuckled darkly. "Not that my body and I haven't disagreed about this."

Varania tried unsuccessfully not to smirk. "I don't even know how to respond to that."

Solas looked amused. He let go of her hands and tipped up her her chin so he could look at her. He cocked his head. She loved it when he did that.

"You don't have to say anything." He prevented her attempt at a reply with a kiss. She loved how soft his lips were, how warm his skin always was. "This is what you want?" he whispered against her mouth.

"Yes," she replied, entwining her arms around him. One hand was on the back of his neck, fingertips at the base of his skull. Her fingers moved up the back of his head, grazing along the sensitive skin of his scalp. He made a noise that was only slightly too dignified to be called a whimper.

"If you only knew what that does to me," he muttered. Varania tilted her head back.

"I have a pretty good idea." She wasn't sure if it was normal to grin this much when contemplating sex, but it felt right even so.

When he smiled this time, the corners of his eyes crinkled. He kissed the tip of her upturned chin. "I'm beginning to think..." He kissed the corner of her mouth and slid his lips along her skin to her cheek until his breath ghosted the shell of her ear. "...that you are exactly what I need, despite everything." He kissed her earlobe and nuzzled along her ear to the tip.

Varania didn't know what everything was, but she was vividly interested in being what he needed. She wanted him so desperately; she'd known both love and lust before, but never both at once. It was overwhelming. If she could give him only a fraction of what he made her feel, she would be content.

"I hope so," she said. Taking what self control she had left, she pulled away from him and took his face between her hands. She knew he was struggling with him and his feelings as much as she was; even now she could feel the tension in his body. She wanted to made sure that he was here for all the right reasons.

There was last important thing she hadn't told him.

"Solas, vhenan," she said, suddenly serious. "I love you." His expression softened at her admission. Varania ran her thumb along the ridge of his cheekbones and he closed his eyes and leaned into her hand. When he opened them again, she continued. "I want you to be with me, however you can be. I don't want you to regret anything."

"I regret a lot of things." His reply was quick and he mirrored her, hand coming up to cradle her face. "Whatever happens, I won't let this be one of them."

Her hesitation was gone at that. He said he was ready. He said this was what he wanted and she trusted him. Maybe that was crazy, but she trusted him. She kissed him this time, or so she thought. It was hard to tell. All at once it was a flurry of action. Her tongue was in his mouth and his hands found their way under the hem of her tunic. He pushed her away just long enough to yank it over her head. The top clasp tore and she heard it and so did he, but his only reply was a sardonic raised eyebrow before he flung the tunic off into a corner. She wore nothing underneath. He seemed to approve of that development, his eyes roaming over her pale pink skin.

She let his enthusiasm wash over her, fingers finding their way to his belt and unfastening the buckle, letting the leather slither to the floor. She slipped her hands into the short sides of his sweater, his skin underneath so warm. Her hands skidded up to his ribs. He squirmed a little. Varania felt a wicked grin grab the corner of her mouth.

"Are you ticklish?"

The tip of his tongue appeared between his teeth. "Maybe."

"Oh, well, this is important information." She wriggled her fingers and he clamped his arm over them.

"Oh no you don't." He grabbed her hand and pulled off the tunic himself. The jawbone he wore got tangled up with it and both clattered to the floor. Solas looked at the jawbone for a split second before making some internal decision and shaking his head. He turned back to her, taking her hands before they could find his ribs again.

He took a step like he was stalking her and she let him lead her through the short space to the bed. Solas had his hands on her waist and directed her to sit. His thumbs made a little circle on her hips before swiftly unlacing her pants. He didn't say anything, just untied them and boosted her hips up to pull them off, underthings and all.

Normally, Varania was cold. Tevinter was warm after all, and Skyhold was most certainly not. But right now, she was surprised steam wasn't rising off her skin. She was feverish.

"Now," he said, taking her hands again, he tucked her fingers into the waist of his pants. "Let's find something else to occupy these fingers."

That was about the last thing she expected would ever come out of his mouth. He seemed so controlled more of the time, though she knew there was passion underneath. It was just exciting to see it exposed in something other than anger. She curled her fingers around the fabric and tugged, pulling him a little closer.

Carefully, with deft fingers the laces came undone. Her heart flipped over in her chest watching him watch her with such intense focus. Varania was at a loss for words, her heart flipping in her chest. She looked down at her fingers, focusing there instead.

This was so unlike all the experiences she'd had before. Sex was a tool, something to get what you wanted. She had lovers of other slaves, so the master could watch. In her short years of freedom, she would trade sex for what she needed to stay alive. Even among the Dalish, she took a lover of a widowed man hoping that would make them accept her more.

Her fingers stilled; She was suddenly cold.

Solas stopped dead. "Ma vhenan?"

Butterflies fluttered in her chest. Varania looked up at him, wondering what he saw. Solas frowned, concern washing across his face. He knelt down in front of her instead, taking her face between his warm palm.

"If you have changed your mind, please tell me."

She grabbed at his shoulders. "No, that's not it, not at all. I'm just...this is new."

He raised an eyebrow.

"Not that new," she tried to smile at him though it felt flat. "I have just always...separated feelings and sex." She gave up and frowned. "I'm not sure how to feel both at once."

"You don't have to do this," he said. "Not for me."

She felt him pulling away, so she cut him off. "No, I want to. I want to be with you because I love you. I'm just...I think I'm afraid I'll do something wrong."

He pulled her close but didn't speak. Varania reveled in the heat of his body, feeling warm again. She laid her head on his shoulder. Solas kissed her temple and she felt him smile against her. He still said nothing.

She wondered what he was thinking. It was impossible to know.

"Solas." His name was hardly more than a breath as she melted against him, suddenly again aware that her clothes were strewn all over the floor. Even just this, skin touching skin, felt more intimate than anything she's experienced before. It was this she was truly frightened of, this emotional nakedness.

"Ma enansal," Solas's voice took on a soft lilt when he spoke elvhen. "Ma nuvenin hamin bellanaris sahlin."

She only partially understood the words, but the meaning was still clear. Even if she'd known none of the words, the affection and the heartache was like music in the timber of his voice. Whatever else, at this moment, they felt the same. Unlike the ancients the Dalish taught her about, she was mortal and her time was finite and being deeply in this moment was the only eternity she would ever really know. The realization washed over her like warm water.

Varania slid out of his embrace just enough to move them further on to the bed, reaching for him. Solas followed, quickly shedding the last of his clothes as he came to her. They kissed again, softly but with increasing fervor. He buried his hands in the waves of her red hair. She ran one hand along his back, the other on his head so against her fingers could toy with the tip of his ear.

With a little growl, he shifted his weight and flipped her on top of him. She straddled his narrow hips, and in this position there was no denying his arousal or hers. She needn't have worried that her heart would get in the way.

"Tu na nuvenin emma'in ma?" he managed, his lips brushing against her cheek. This she understood. Do you want me? This question she could answer. In his passion, he seemed to forget how to speak anything but elvhen.

"Neran." Yes, please.

Solas shifted himself underneath her and she moved in response. With a few deft adjustments Varania felt him; insistent, urgent, demanding. She yielded. Poetic words flitted through her head, so different was this than just sex. This was more, it's motivations were different.

He was inside her and she was all around him. Closer and closer still.

"Elvarel," she whispered. More.

She moved against him with his encouragement and neither of them seemed capable of words. Varania lifted herself up to look at him, and he followed, half sitting up, his arms tight against her, their foreheads touching as she rocked against him. Her body responded to his so strongly. She felt him everywhere.

"Emma lath," Solas said. My love.

Varania repeated it. "Emma lath."

His eyes closed as she rocked against him, a muscle in his jaw pulsed. His fingers were gripped tight in her hair. She could feel growing pressure in him, held back, struggling. She moved, shocks of pleasure radiating through her.

So close.

She felt like floating, all her senses focused on just these sensations; the scent of his skin, his breath on hers, their bodies touching. Everything else was forgotten. Pleasure emanated out from the center of her body like a blush, a rush of hot blood under her skin, rushing over her belly, her breasts, up the back of her skull. Varania heard her own voice from far away. She cried out and Solas held her tight so she didn't fly apart as she rode out her climax against him.

Her breath came in ragged gasps and he stilled just long enough for her to regain her bearings, but then the rhythm changed. He changed. Solas rolled them over again, looking down at her. His eyes had a wicked, feral gleam.

He pulled back away from her, Varania's body protesting at the loss. Before she could even articulate her thought, he took charge again. He moved her like a doll until she was in front of him, on her knees but with her back pressed up against his chest. His breath brushed over her ear. One long arm was wrapped around her waist. His legs moved and adjusted her. She tilted her hips back.

Solas said nothing, just gripped her tighter, his other hand coming between them. He moved again and he was inside her with a maddening rush of pleasure. His body shuddered against her at the delicious friction. The tips of his fingers grazed up along the curve of her waist, her ribs, her small breasts. He made a deep, inarticulate sound.

They pitched forward, Solas catching himself on one hand, Varania bracing herself against the headboard. There were no more words, just primal noises. She heard a deep rumble from his chest and she felt his tongue sliding up along the back of her neck. He moved faster, harder, shaking them both. The sturdy bed groaned.

When she thought she could take no more, feeling herself responding to him yet again almost painfully, lungs grasping at air, he growled. She'd never heard such a sound from a man's throat. It was a wild sound. It was a purely bestial sound. Feral. She felt it as much as heard it as he throbbed and pulsed in her.

He collapsed, and they both tumbled into a mass of sweaty limbs and tangled bedclothes. Solas curled himself around her, almost protectively, raining kisses along her neck, her ears, in her hair.

"Emm'asha," Solas whispered. "Emma lath. Emm'arla."

Varania turned herself in his arms, to see his face. She saw the same overwhelming emotions she felt reflected there. Her eyes felt damp. She buried her face in his neck and let him hold her, holding him as the sun's last light disappeared behind the mountains.

"Ma emma vhenan'ara," she said, not even sure if he could hear her. She said them as much for herself as she said them for him. "Ma emma sa'lath."

Elvhen translations for this chapter; please note Dragon Age Elvhen is a cipher and hence really hard to made sense of and I'm not a linguist. This is from a wide variety of sources and some of my own attempts at cobbling words together. I am not claiming its canon or even correct. But you get the picture yes?

Ma enansal. Ma nuvenin hamin bellanaris sahlin = You are a gift, I want to stay in this moment forever.

Tu na nuvenin emma'in ma? = Do you want me inside you?

Neran = I like that

Elvarel = More

Emma lath = My love

Emm'asha, Emma lath, Emm'arla = My woman, my love, my home

Ma emma vhenan'ara = My heart's desire

Ma emma sa'lath = My one love