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Bridget knocked on Josephine's door just at teatime.

"Ah, you always know just when to appear, my friend." Josephine gestured to the chair opposite hers and poured the fragrant tea into a delicate china cup. "I … understand you and Thom Rainier have—" She paused, searching for just the right word.

"We have." Bridget couldn't help her smile. "And there was something I wanted to talk about with you."

"I also had a question. The Grey Warden treaties—we used them because we believed that Bl—Rainier was a Warden, and now that he has been seen to be, well, not a Warden, I am receiving messages demanding reparations."

"Reparations? But we have the Wardens with us, now, what remains of them, at least. How does it matter on which Warden's behalf we used them?"

Josephine nodded, considering. "Cullen said much the same … although in less patient terms. Very well, I will inform my correspondents that we consider ourselves to still be connected with the Grey Wardens."

"Which we are. Josephine." Bridget shifted to the edge of her chair, leaning toward the ambassador. "This may be a more tricky issue."

"I do like a challenge. Is there something wrong?"

"No. Something is right—but complicated." Bridget's hand fell to her abdomen. "I am … going to have a baby."

Surprise and concern chased themselves across Josephine's face—but behind them was a bright smile. "That is wonderful news. Congratulations, my friend!"

"Thank you. I am—I am more excited than I should be, under the current circumstances."

"But of course you should be excited! That is delightful. We must plan you a shower at some point."

"But … shouldn't we try to hide it as long as possible? I'm a mage, I'm unwed, I'm actively out in the field fighting …"

Josephine nodded. "All of that is true, and we will want to time our annoucement very carefully—but let us not lose sight of the joy of the occasion. How far along are you?"

"Not very."

"So there is time for you to defeat Corypheus before the child impacts your movement significantly?"

Bridget smiled. "You say that as though it should be easy."

"Perhaps that is wishful thinking on my part. Have you given any thought to how you will arrange your quarters to have room for a nursery?"

She hadn't, and they spent a lovely hour talking about decorations and cribs and baby clothes. Bridget left her friend's office in a more positive state of mind than she'd experienced in a long time. The baby felt real now, and she felt more confident that everything would go well. But she also realized that she and Rainier had not yet touched on his relationship with the Wardens; she didn't know how much of what he had told her before was the truth.

Making her way down the stairs to the barn, where he was back to his carving, Bridget paused in the doorway to watch him. He was humming while he sanded his latest completed piece, a small lion, and she smiled to see how absorbed he was. "So, is this what you plan to do once we defeat Corypheus, become a toy-maker?"

He looked up, startled, and then relaxed, leaning back with a chuckle. "Possibly. It would be the most useful thing I had ever done with my life. Well, perhaps not most," he corrected himself. He put the lion down and came toward her, one hand settling warmly over her stomach. "You are astonishingly beautiful, have I told you that?"

"It bears repeating." How warm and right his arms felt around her. Bridget closed her eyes as he feathered kisses up her neck and across her cheek.

"What is your wish, my lady?" He murmured against her lips, and she opened her mouth, melting into his kiss.

Rainier pulled her farther into the barn, into a shadowy corner, pressing her against the wall as the kiss went on and on and his hands cupped her rear, pulling her firmly against him. Bridget moaned, aching for him. A vanishing part of her knew that she should pull away, but that part was silenced when his mouth left hers to explore her neck, wet hot kisses.

Bridget pushed at him. "Upstairs."

"Perhaps we should wait—"

"I can't wait." In the loft, she lay back on the bales of hay, frantically shoving her pants and smallclothes down, watching as Rainier stripped off his boots and pants and smalls as well. She moaned as he joined her, his strong fingers stroking between her legs. He growled deep in her throat when he found her wet and ready for him. "Hurry," she whispered, thrusting against his hand. "Oh, Maker, now, please."

Covering her mouth with his again, he filled her, again and again until the pleasure washed through them both.

Rainier reached for the blanket to pull over them, cradling her against his chest. "That was unexpected."

"It might surprise you to know that wasn't what I came down here for." Bridget rubbed her cheek against his jacket. "But I'm not complaining."

"Nor I." He kissed the top of her head. "What did you want to talk about?"

"The Wardens. Apparently Josephine is getting complaints that we used the Warden treaties on your behalf."

"Maker's blood. I'm sorry. I hadn't considered—"

"You shouldn't have. It's ridiculous. After Adamant, all the Grey Wardens in southern Thedas are with us. We had every right to use those treaties. But I did want to ask … well, we spoke about the Wardens before— I think I need to know how much of what you told me was made up."

His arms tightened around her, and for a moment she thought he would get up and leave rather than answer, but at last he said, "Very little. Blackwall had told me some things before my initiation, and I was afraid to be too creative in my answers, not knowing how much others within the Inquisition already knew. Leliana, for example, since she traveled with the Wardens during the Blight. According to Blackwall, it is a very secretive order—not even the most senior Wardens know everything there is to know."

"Why were you recruited?"

"Blackwall saw something in me during a bar fight—I taught some village militia a painful lesson about harassing the tavern girl. He never told me why that made me look like a good recruit. I still don't know."

Bridget thought she knew. There was an innate nobility in him that he never recognized, as well as his undeniable skill as a fighter. She reached up to kiss him softly. "At least now I know why you were never worried about the Calling."

"No. I have none of the Wardens' special abilities, but also none of the drawbacks. Still … I would have fought through the darkest pits of the Deep Roads, like any true Warden."

"The Wardens at Adamant listened to you," Bridget said thoughtfully. "They saw you as one of their own."

"Perhaps it takes an outsider to show how much of yourself you've lost. I never understood the reality of being a Grey Warden. I only saw the ideal. I suppose I reminded them of something they'd forgotten."

"And you tried to live up to it." She caressed his cheek. He caught her hand, kissing her fingers.

"They take all men, from the most noble to the most despicable, and make them equals. That is a high standard. I needed to believe something like that was possible." He kissed her again. "I found it here, with you. The Inquisition treats all the same."

Bridget wasn't as certain as he sounded, but it wasn't really the time to argue, not with his hands roaming over her back and down the backs of her legs, heating her from the inside all over again. "Thom." She pulled his mouth down to hers and arched up against him, inviting his hands to more intimate places.

Much remained to be done, and there was little time to lose, but this afternoon, here in the soft breeze that came in the haymow window, this was hers. And he was hers.