The Rogue's Conquest
Chapter Ten
"You. Ma'am, stay right where you are!
"Are you joking?" Marian grumbled. "You want me to halt right here, straddling this wall? She continued, figuring they wouldn't actually shoot her, at least not yet. "Just perched up here, like this cold stone's a prized show horse? Alright if that's how you wish it serha… HIGH HO SILVER AND AWAY!" She bellowed at the top of her lungs, digging her heels into the wall, urging it to move. Stop this Marian! Her sane mind pleaded, but she couldn't, she was too tired and too unhappy to care that she mocked Templars.
The soldier's mouth hung open, his eyes wide, unsure of what to make of her display and as a Corporal, too young to know what to do about her. "Are you alone then?" He demanded sharply.
Jerking her head over her right shoulder she scanned the bare fields behind her, sweeping her arm around in a grand gesture. "Do you see anyone else?"
"We take no chances, ma'am," he retorted, with more force than she thought the young man capable of. "Rebels are not to be trusted." He continued, but motioned the two men beside him to lower their bows.
"Oh by the God's," Marian scoffed, letting herself float to the ground. "Who says I'm a rebel hmm?" Furiously, she planted her hands on her hips, pinning the men with malice in her eyes. "Is it tattooed across my forehead in bold lettering? Where is my staff? My bow and daggers? Or is it your almighty prig, of a Divine's orders, to accuse an unarmed woman of being dangerous to the Chantry?
"My orders are to trust no one from Kirkwall, man nor woman." He answered gruffly He might still shoot you Hawke! "I'm to take you to the camp for questioning.
"I'm not going to your camp serha. I have a business to tend to and as it is I'm already late. I've done nothing wrong and feel no need to submit to your false accusations." Letting her refusal wash over her Templar accusers, Marian turned taking a step toward the road that marked just how close she'd come to being home. Immediately the hissing of the bows behind her sounded. Nocked at me…BEAUTY! She froze, sighing. Persuading men, young and old into doing as she wished, was a necessary skill of a tavern keep and Viscountess. A skill that had served her well the past nine years, only ever failing her with the Arishok, and now apparently the young Knight-Corporal. "Surely you can let me pass Corporal," she cooed, her voice sweeter than honey. "A gentleman of your experience can surely see that I-"
"I'll be hearing none of your rebel trickery, ma'am."
BALLS! This day was simply just not working in her favor. "Good thing I have no trickery to offer. Truly what use could I be to you in your camp? I don't have answers to your questions. So unless you need to be taught how to cheat at Wicked Grace, or chug Dwarven Ale… Ohhhh wait," Marian hissed in a breath, feigning innocence. "You can't drink ale, right?" She continued to mock. "I really don't see how I'd be of service to you then." Instead of winning his favor, her speech only seemed to disgust him further, his eyes turning dark with hatred and mouth curling into a cruel grin. Way to win him over Hawke.
"Oh, Aye, all you rebel's are the same, all so harmless. So it wasn't you or your kind that killed my mates in Tevinter?" She shook her head hard, feeling the heat of his accusations punch her in the gut; absolutely appalled he'd have the nerve to compare her to Tevinter's tyranny.
"I'm sorry for your friends," she began sincerely. "But I can't be accused of-"
"Orders are orders, ma'am," he barked. "You're coming with us." Double balls!
The camp he spoke so highly of was nothing more than a flag of the flaming swords and tents surrounding it. Dozen's of men were gathered around a fire with their hands outstretched to catch the warmth, it's flames nearly kissing the sky. No wonder, she groaned. The soldiers had pulled down a rail fence, which had been there as long as she could remember to build the outraged fire.
"We found her running across the field to the north sir," Marian heard the Corporal say, as he pushed her into the ring of firelight. "She resisted sir."
Marian glared daggers through the young Corporal." I wished only to return to my home before nightfall and this senseless swine," she growled jabbing her index finger into the man's plated chest. "Prevented me from doing so. I'd hardly call that resisting, and it-"
"Search her basket." Ordered the Sergeant ignoring her completely.
"Hey you bloody bastard that's mine," Marian shrieked indignantly. "You have no right!"
"Quiet you slattern, we have every right," roared the Sergeant impatiently, "in the name of the Divine and for the safety of her loyal subjects."
"You act as if we're at war serha. Is this not supposed to be only an 'inquiry'?" She demanded bitterly.
"Aye ma'am it is. We're inquiring what's inside your basket." He mocked, sarcasm dripping from every word.
"Then tell me Sergeant, is my butter and eggs so important you waste my time and yours?" She lunged for the basket, but before she could take it back, another Templar seized her arm, roughly pulling her aside. Marian struggled hard to free herself, being subdued further by the Sergeant's heavy plated foot on the hem of her cloak, jerking the ties tight across her throat, making her stumble backwards clumsily.
Jeering laughter circled the campfire; so loud the Sergeant was forced to yell over it. "Such bold talk will not gain you happiness here you little whore. If you've nothing to hide, then you've nothing to fret over."
Ferocious fury rocked her, instantly stirring the protective dark wolf from his deep slumber. No not here! Marian pleaded, squeezing her eyes shut to shield her swirling blue orbs. If she shifted here, in the middle of the Templar camp it would be a massacre. The guardian wolf could take down nearly two-dozen of these men and women before Marian's magic was silenced, and once it was she'd be executed for being a blood mage. If that happened the city would burn, her grand ashes soaked in innocent blood. If these men slaughtered Marian, it would be a clear declaration of war.
By the Gods, thinking was becoming impossible, her animal senses sharpening. She could hear small animals scattering in the forest a quarter mile away, could feel the wolf brushing against her insides, and though it appalled her, Marian could even smell a soured, milk scent, wafting from the Sergeant's embarrassing case of Chlamydia. Hmm someone's been a naughty Templar. Marian chortled silently, the dark wolf howling his appreciation for her smug contemplation.7-7-7
"Let the woman go, Sergeant, Bondy." Said Sebastian quietly, from the height of his horse's back. "Let her go now." Every Templar's face whipped around to look at him. By the firelight Sebastian saw surprise, guilt, disappointment, fear and resentment as they all jumped to attention, and he felt his own anger rise in response. He'd been a soldier himself too long to expect more from his men than was reasonable, but the Divine's orders regarding civilians, no matter what their sympathies, was clear as day. They were to be treated with the utmost respect. What would have happened to this poor woman, if he and Keran had not been drawn from the road, by the light of their fire?
"She was acting suspicious sir," whined Bondy defensively. "That and talking treason sir. I thought she might be smuggling lyrium in her basket."
Sebastian let a moment pass, his gaze stony. "And what Sergeant, was she in fact carrying?"
"Butter and eggs Knight-Commander Vael," seethed the woman, pushing her way into the ring of firelight. "And I'm certain, not even you sir, can find any sin or danger in that.
Only years of practice kept Sebastian's face impassive when he realized whom the woman was. Knight-Corporal Keran wasn't so trained.
"Mistress Hawke, ma'am. What in the Black Divine-?"
"Have respect for the Lady's sensibilities, Keran." Said Sebastian interrupting him. "Mistress Hawke, ma'am. I never would have expected to find you here."
"I might well say the same to you Knight-Commander," she growled raising her chin a fraction higher. While most woman would have been wailing in fear, or weeping with gratitude, Mistress, Marian Hawke only seemed furious. "You see Knight-Commander, unlike you and your pack of wild dogs. I actually have reason to be crossing the Arainai field."
"Please Lady Hawke, tell me what that reason might be?" He asked coolly, staring down at her upturned face. "Where, were you going at this hour with your butter and eggs?"
"I wasn't going I was coming." She said rubbing her arm where one of his men had held it. With a frown he wondered if the man had hurt her. Despite all her bravado Marian Hawke wasn't a large woman, her body crafted incredibly, delicately. "I spent the day healing at the house of a friend whose wife and daughter are ill with the taint. The eggs and butter; were given as a small token of his thanks for my magic that was all.
"Impossible!" Bondy spat. "The taint ain't curable and hasn't been in this land since the blight, nearly eleven years ago." Against his brash words though, Sergeant Bondy joined the rest of the Templars in taking a good healthy step away from the little mage for good measure. Sebastian couldn't blame them, a mage powerful enough to treat blight sickness, or the blight sickness itself, were the last things an army of Templars wanted to deal with. And Marian Hawke would know that well.
In another place, Sebastian would have joined the rest in keeping a healthy distance from her… But in Kirkwall, any inhabitants who fell sick from the blight; were immediately taken into isolation per the Viscount's orders and made comfortable until they passed on. How careless of Marian to have forgotten her brother's law. How fortuitous that he himself had remembered. But what or who- did she hope to protect by lying?
"You'd be shocked Serha," she sneered, cutting into Sebastian's thoughts, her sharp words directed at Sergeant Bondy. "What good magic can do, when it's unleashed and given the proper respect to truly work."
"Magic is a curse you fool chit, nothing more!" Bondy snarled back, the muscle beneath his left eye twitching. Sebastian however decided to stay quiet, waiting for the inevitable to happen.
"A curse you say," she scoffed, tossing her hands on her hips. "Well, I do say my curse could clear up that burning, itch betwixt your thighs, as a bloody after thought. It's clear you serha weren't warned, that though pirates are fun for a tumble, that often, in the aftermath, they leave unwelcome surprises." Aye completely inevitable!
Sergeant, Bondy stumbled further away from her. His mouth gaped wide, while his peers surrounded him, all nearly exploding, with their failing attempts, to keep from laughing.
"Someone's been naughty," The little mage giggled, "Bet you wish the Divine let you bring a mage, or two with you eh?" She finished, a triumphant smile caressing her pretty face, while she hammered the final nails into Bondy's pine coffin.
Stifling his own laughter Sebastian looked with intrigue to her forgotten basket at Bondy's feet. "So which is it Sergeant, eggs and butter, as the lady says, or lyrium? Hurriedly Bondy collected himself, likely glad the attention had been taken off of him. He plunged his hands beneath the checkered cloth, rummaging through the straw.
"Be careful you ox," Marian snapped, when one of the eggs tumbled over the edge of the basket breaking on impact. Sebastian heard the Sergeant grouse under his breath, but he heeded her words, gently pulling out three more eggs, holding them up for Sebastian's inspection.
"Very well Sergeant Bondy, you were wise to be cautious." Amused, Sebastian kept his surprise to himself. After the taint story, he would have wagered five sovereigns on the lyrium. "Return the basket to the lady." Sebastian ordered, watching as she took the basket, her plump lips curling up into a celebratory smirk she didn't bother to hide. Her boastful swagger made Sebastian want to smile too. With her basket in hand, she marched out of the camp alone, into the dusk, her head still held high and her skirts sweeping like the Queen's across the snowy grass. The picture she painted did make him laugh this time. Misplaced and foolhardy as it was, how could he not admire such brazen confidence? "Mistress Hawke, ma'am." He called after her. "I didn't give you leave to go."
7-7-7
Marian sighed. She should have known it had all been too easy, and slowly she turned back to face him. "I didn't realize Knight-Commander Vael, that I needed your leave, for me to return to my home."
"Your home and my quarters ma'am. Come." He sat on his tall black stallion's back, looking so impervious and handsome as he beckoned her. "You'll be riding with me."
"Oh no…No, no. I don't wish to ride with you!" She protested, horrified by the intimacy double riding would call for. Maker the friction! The thought on it's own, had Marian clenching her thighs together. "Umm- that is you're too kind Knight-Commander, but I much prefer to walk for it's-" She hesitated, scanning twilight's, midnight sky and flexing her frozen fingertips. "For it's such a pleasant evening and we are so near town.
"It's an abominably wretched evening, ma'am," said Sebastian calling her out and guiding his horse toward her, "with a chill that cuts straight to the bone. Keran can finish here. You are my landlady and as such, I feel a certain responsibility to you. Now come."
Wildly Marian shook her head, backing away, with the basket clutched in front of her like a broad sword. Why wasn't the hawk rising at Marian's desperate desire to flee? The dark wolf had instantly gone back into slumber when he had sensed Sebastian for reason's she hadn't wanted to analyze, she'd simply been thankful. But flying away right now would be bloody nice. Anytime you're ready hawk! "I told you, I do not wish it, and I- no!" Her angered wail of protest, died off as two Templars hoisted her onto Sebastian's horse, setting her in front of him. She gasped at the electric contact, trying to pull away from him, and tug her skirts back over her legs at the same time. She felt the big stallion shied nervously because of her scrambling, forcing her to grab a chunk of his mane to keep from being tossed over his sleek neck. The jolt gave her a dizzying view of the ground spinning far below her, and the grinning faces of the two soldiers that had tossed her on the stud, before she felt Sebastian's sure, steadying hand at her waist, drawing her back into the warmth of his chest.
"Easy now, I won't let you fall." Soothed Sebastian in a soft, low, purr to placid both she and the stallion, she was disconcerting. "Didn't I tell you I felt a certain responsibility for your well-being?"
By the Gods! Responsibility was one thing. Being pressed close to this man's chest, with her legs sprawled open over his thighs wantonly, was quite another. Instinctively Marian tried once again to edge away from him, but with his arm curled securely around her waist, her attempts only served to make her more painfully aware of his body against hers. In his pearl white uniform, he was so large and strong and warm and too totally male, beside him she felt vulnerable, small and seventeen all over again.
No, she thought bitterly. No! She'd sworn after Sebastian, Fenris and finally Anders, that never again would she let herself be hurt by any man. Especially not by the same man who had so carelessly destroyed her innocence, setting into motion the snowball effect that had shaped her life.
The basket with the eggs and butter was thrust up into her hand and she felt the hard muscles of Sebastian's thighs shift beneath her arse, as he urged the stud into a lazy walk.
Taking their leave from the camp, one of the soldiers nearest the fire said something Marian couldn't quite make out. But by the rumble of crude, male laughter that followed, she knew she would be hexing the man into falling in love with a cactus before the order left Kirkwall.
7-7-7
Sebastian felt how she stiffened against him, as they cut out across the empty field, toward the road. She was lighter than he'd expected, her body warm and soft beneath her wool cloak. So soft and warm, that he had to force his thoughts elsewhere abruptly, or risk shaming himself.
"You're not much for riding, are you Lady Hawke? He asked, letting his lips brush her ear, mimicking her own actions of two nights prior. Her hood had slipped back from her fiery, crimson curls, whipping them against his cheek in the wind. "But you can trust Adonis. I know he looks quite the brute, but he's the steadiest mount in all of Kirkwall, I'd wager my Templar status on it."
"Then you'd be quickly stripped of your brilliant armor serha. You've clearly never met Casey. That being said it's not your horse that I mistrust, Knight-Commander."
"Ah, the one conclusion you leave me is not very flattering."
"The truth often isn't." She twisted to face him, her eyes glowing their supernatural blue. "First I'm stopped from my business and accused of smuggling lyrium, LYRIUM! in my basket of all places.
"It was done by the rebel woman in Tevinter," said Sebastian sharply, but the little mage wasn't listening.
"Next, you order me thrown across your saddle and carried off quite against my will. Exactly, serha, like the arrogant, Maker loving, untrustworthy, bully that you unquestionably are!"
The sound deep in Sebastian's throat was more animal than man, a low rumbling title wave he couldn't hold back. "That Mistress Hawke is hardly the thanks that I expected."
"Thanks?" She fumed, eyebrows shooting skyward. In one swift motion he felt her rock forward, than pain exploded between his eyes, her elbow connecting with his nose, knocking him off Adonis' back. "Thanks you expected?" She snarled baring her teeth at him. He watched in awe as she brought his rearing horse into a steady walk. The big animal beneath her complying easily with her wishes, something he only ever did for Sebastian. Shaking himself of the admiration he felt for her, Sebastian stood, twisting his head here and there, to follow his commandeered horse, which circled him and the woman who held the reins. The look he gave her now beneath his helm, had reduced many soldiers to helpless quivering piles of goo.
"Aye, Lady Hawke, thanks! When Keran and I came upon you, you were a lone rebel woman surrounded by a group of rough, hostile men."
"Your men, Knight-Commander." She growled, punctuating her anger by launching a fireball at his feet. Still directing Adonis to circle him.
"I know that, Lady Hawke," he said, words clipped, "just as I know how sorely the frustration and fear and uncertainty of this blasted rebellion, can try even the best of them."
"But I fail to see-"
"Oh no Lady Hawke. You'll be hearing me out." Sebastian ordered so harshly she fell silent, bringing Adonis to a halt. "This day alone I've witnessed two of my best men arrested and charged with rape. If they are found guilty, they will be hung, their bodies refused a proper pyre and their souls denied a place at the Maker's side. As is the Divine's justice, and yet I didn't wish such a fate for those men we just left. Nor, Lady Hawke, did I wish it for you."
Her only response to his words was to pull up the cloak of her hood and shift in the saddle, so that he could get back on, her eyes glued to the road ahead. He hadn't expected her to thank him, not really, but he was surprised at how much he wished she had.
7-7-7
Her anger forgotten, Marian let the sickening truth of what Sebastian said replay again and again in her head. She knew his words were true, had read the missive from Carver. But even if she hadn't read it, didn't Orana, Anders and Rana warn her of the same danger? And still she'd been too selfishly, stubborn. Too prideful to listen. She'd heard enough in the tavern of the disgusting atrocities committed by both sides, to know the danger she'd courted. Sebastian had saved her, and for that he did deserve the thanks that stuck thick like molasses in her foolish throat. Worse was realizing how close she'd come to having Nova come home. With frightening ease Marian could imagine what those soldiers might have done to her beautiful, innocent daughter. Unless Sebastian had come to Nova's rescue, as well. No, not Sebastian, but Nova's father. Uncertain what to feel, what to think, she bowed her head, her chin touching the cold clasp of her cloak, her mind swirling deep in turmoil.
"Does your chest hurt you much serha?" She questioned, softly. When he didn't respond, instead tensing against her, she turned her face toward him. "I thought you'd stay in bed for at least a week." Thank the Gods you hadn't! She frowned at his chest, wishing she could see the bandage underneath his heavy armor. "I certainly wouldn't have believed you'd go bounding about on horseback, or nearly starting a bar brawl for that matter."
While she spoke, his expression remained guarded, impassive. Unsettling. Turning away, she sighed disappointed that this would forever be how they were to each other. Mage verse Templar, Woman verse Man. Always enemies because fate dictated it. What worried her though, was why that suddenly mattered?
"To be perfectly honest Lady Hawke," his voice licked into her thoughts, "my chest feels like Adonis here, sat on top of it. Only a flask filled by Keran with black coffee and a strong health potion has kept me from disgracing myself on a number of occasions. For example, when your brother decided he'd like me better if I didn't breath." Inclining her head to Sebastian once more, she squinted at his neck trying to see the bruises she knew Carver would have left; worrying her brother had hurt him.
"Carver is a good man Knight-Commander," Marian explained, unsure why she felt the need too divulge anything to him, "but no one came out of the blight unscathed, especially not Ferelden refugees like us, we're all each other has. Surely you can understand why a Templar Commander, asking after his mage sister, might rattle my dear brother's cage." Sebastian nodded without saying anything. His body relaxed beneath her though, his face softening back to its heart stopping allure. Gods the man was almost too beautiful.
Tapping her cheek she scrutinized his plated chest once more, trying to escape the enchanting hold he held over her. "I warned you of fever and infection from such a wound. If that happens, your Keran's coffee concoction won't be worth a damn serha. Instead of tromping around the Hanged man, asking fool questions, you should be resting. Healing potions are great, but they're not a complete solution."
"The pain is my penance, Lady Hawke," he replied, his face deadly serious, "To remind me not to ride out at night alone again, in a country where I make such a fine target." Cocking her head to the right, Marian measured him skeptically.
"Your penance is obviously serving you well, Knight-Commander. Or doesn't this darkness qualify as night?"
"Of course it does," he agreed. "But with you as my bodyguard, I feel thoroughly safe." This time she didn't smile. He meant to tease her, nothing more, but by doing so he'd unknowingly told the truth as well. The bow that had fired on him would remain silent as long as they were on the same horse. Gabriel Vael would have seen to that. She searched Sebastian's face willing him to understand all she couldn't say. Uncomfortably she shifted her weight across his thighs, freezing in place when a muffled groan escaped his lips. "You… you umm-" Sebastian rasped, the husky hitch of his voice, had her grinding her bottom into him hard with uncontrolled heat, until he gripped her hips firmly forcing her to still. "You-" he tried again clearing his throat. "What happened to you and your brother during the blight?"
"Hmm?" Marian asked mystified by the heat of his body.
"You said no one came out of the blight unscathed. Lady Hawke the blight was nearly twelve years ago. What did a Templar do to you guys, that you both wear such deep lasting scars?"
As if someone dumped iced water over her, Marian's heated flame died with his inquiry, red, hot pain lancing through her, in its place. Dear Bethie. She could feel his eyes watching her, waiting for her to answer. How should she answer? She certainly couldn't tell him such personal pain, could she? Marian hadn't told anyone about Bethany, at least not about how she, Marian Hawke, had failed her baby sister. No, only Carver shared in that deep-set laceration, and both he and Marian dealt with it in their own way. Where Marian took it as another lash of the Gods viper wrath, Carver had become hard, and a wee bit of a tit, his temper legend in some circles.
"I had a younger sister." She blurted. So she was going to tell him then, awkward.
"You did?" Sebastian goaded.
"Aye." She whispered committing fully to her decision to tell him, because well why the hell not? "Bethany was her name. She and Carver were twins. We used to joke that Carver got all the brawn and Bethie all the brain." Marian laughed fondly, recalling the memories of Carver kicking both her and Beth in the shins, every time they jested him. "My parents died when I was fifteen. The Chantry had wanted to take us in, but Bethany and I would have been dragged off to separate circles and Carver would have been left. I couldn't break our family up. So we packed everything we could carry and left for Lothering, Redcliffe you liar! Well she wasn't going to help him unravel all her secrets!
"A lot of responsibility for a girl so young. Was the circle and Chantry really so bad of an idea?"
"Of course it was! By staying away from the Chantry we stayed free and together. Which was exactly, how my parents would have wanted it." Marian sighed, his absurd question reminding her who she was riding with. What excuse would he make for his Templar brother; perhaps this hadn't been the best idea.
"Lady Hawke," he murmured, "I'm sorry for the foot in mouth syndrome I seem to suffer from. I of all people know how important family is, though it took mine being taken abruptly from me, to understand what you seemed to know from birth. Please tell me!" The sincere, heart wrenching look he gave her, had Marian's mouth moving seemingly of it's own accord.
"When the blight hit I was eighteen, the twins fifteen and my husband perished in the chaos, leaving us to fend for ourselves. I had remembered my mother talking about her noble family; that they resided in Kirkwall and decided that anywhere outside of Ferelden would be better. On our way out of Lothering, we stumbled upon a Templar surrounded on all sides by darkspawn, twenty of em at least." Harrith you bloody bastard! The hurt she'd kept under lock, key and strong-armed guard, was rushing to the forefront whacking her in the face like a ton of bricks. "Carver and Bethany both wanted to leave him to the darkspawn, and that scared me. They were both so young, but they spat venom, hatred that I never wanted them to feel. So I chastised them for their hate. Said if we couldn't show mercy how could we expect him to, or anyone for that matter."
"Very wise words Lady Hawke. What we give-"
"Is what we get?" She growled. "It's a lie serha." Marian snapped pulling at the braid she'd been twisting in his handsome studs mane. "We launched everything we had on the darkspawn in defense of the trapped man. When the smoke cleared and dust settled all four of us rose like phoenix, from the ash." She paused choking on the nightmare that came next. An incurable wound that seeped poison into her soul. "The Templar thanked us. Told us we had to be blessed by Andraste herself, and when we turned from him, he embedded his long sword through Bethany's pure heart."
7-7-7
Coming to a halt in the Rose's stable yard, Sebastian couldn't help the gasp that left his lips. Her tragic tail tearing through him, as surely as, the arrow of nights past had. It made him uneasy that he'd do anything, to take the pain he felt thrum through her small frame. To Sebastian's horror he had nothing to say. What did one say to such tragedy? Nothing would ever be sufficient.
"No one knows of your wound, Knight-Commander. At least not from, my lips." She hummed quietly, changing the subject, saving him from himself. Before he could answer, she slid from Adonis with dignified grace, to the cobblestone path. Her robe and cloak, flowing behind her with the same graceful ease, her heeled boots clicking as she hurried across the stable yard, toward the Rose's back door.
"Lady Hawke!" He called after her, swinging himself from the saddle. He intended nothing but to say good evening, there was no sin in that. "Lady Hawke, ma'am."
He watched her back stiffen, her steps slowly hesitating. She paused then to his surprise she darted back to him. How many times tonight had he watched her turn from him only to come back each time?
"You were right to expect my thanks."
"No ma'am it was wrong of me-" She raised her index finger to her lips puckering the soft, pink pillows to shush him.
"Let me finish Knight-Commander. I am strong willed, as hard headed as the Qunari and most of the time overly prideful. These assets have served me well in life and in business, but sometimes they cloud my judgment." She paused licking her lips, cheeks a deep cherry red. "I am, without doubt serha, that you saved me from a world of misfortune tonight. So, though it's belated I give you my thanks now and beg your pardon for knocking you from your horse."
"I'd forgive any woman who elbowed me in the nose, if she could control Adonis half as well as you did Lady Hawke." said Sebastian with a smile.
"My given name serha; is Marian." She rasped breathlessly, her returned smile sudden, and fleeting nervously. "But my friends call me Mari." As she slipped away from him again, he realized two things, the first, that he had forgotten to wish her a good evening, the second, that he, Knight-Commander Sebastian Vael, of the Divine's Royal Elite Army, was standing with his helm in his hands, grinning like a fool boy who'd been kissed for the first time.
….
When the stable hand didn't come to greet him Sebastian set to work untacking Adonis, brushing the stud down, before leading him into his stall and latching the heavy oak door behind him. Sebastian settled himself on top of a bale of straw left across from his studs stall.
The sounds of the horses always calmed him, cleared his head and helped him think. He should have questioned Marian about what she was actually doing running around outside the city, duty had demanded it, but he couldn't bring himself too. He'd liked how open she was with him, how right they seemed on top of Adonis together and he hadn't wanted to ruin it by barking demands.
Glimpsing over toward Adonis once more, he was intrigued when the usually greedy brute dropped bites of his hay over the stall of the auburn mare's that resided next door. "So a red-headed temptress has you all twisted up too, eh old boy?" Sebastian questioned, Adonis ignoring him in return. " Don't be rude, at least tell me her name fella."
"Casey." The stable hand's voice cracked from behind him, startling Sebastian, nearly knocking him from the straw bale.
"What's her name?" Sebastian asked, eyeing the stable hand that was sleepily tucking his shirttails, into his breeches and pulling lengths of hay from his tussled choppy brown locks.
"Casey, serha. Your stud picks well too, she's the best bred mare I've ever seen."
"Lady Hawke's mare?" Sebastian breathed, more to himself than the younger man, his eyebrows arched towards the sky in surprise.
"Aye." The boy confirmed suspiciously. "How'd you know that, Templar?"
"It's simple, lad. Best bred mare, for Kirkwall's best bred Lady." Sebastian grumbled noting how the boy's cheeks turned a deep rose. Poor lad's just as enraptured as I am.
"D. D… Did you need something serha?" The boy stumbled nervously twisting his hands in his dirty shirt.
"Nay. If you don't mind, I'd just like to watch Adonis for awhile longer." With what sounded like a relieved sigh, the stable hand bowed his head, turning on his heel, quietly disappearing into the darkness of the barn.
Moving to Adonis Sebastian scrubbed his hand gently over the studs nose, moving down to the sleek, muscled expanse of the big stallions neck. "I fear we're both in for serious trouble old boy. These Hawke ladies seem to scorn us Vael men." As though to prove Sebastian wrong, the pretty mare raised her head to Adonis, grooming the stallions cheek, lulling the big beast to sleep with her tender ministrations. "Or… perhaps I should be taking instructions in charm from you old friend." Sebastian laughed, jovially at first, but quickly it turned to bitterness, as a tantalizing voice inside of him, rooted unsettling truths, deep into his psyche.
"War is dangerous Sebastian, but the greatest threat to you, here in Kirkwall, is the lithe, rebel mage with the supernatural eyes"!