I dodged another blast of magic and grit my teeth. I had known walking into this that it was a trap, but I was hoping I hadn't made a mistake in choosing to step into it.

"You walk in here with a gift you don't even understand and seek to demand answers from me?! You're nothing but a mistake! The Elder One will be overjoyed when I bring you to him," Alexius blathered.

The mage clasped his hand around the amulet hanging from his neck and threw out his other hand. A jumbling of green light gathered at Alexius's palms, but before he could cast his full spell, Dorian launched a blast of magic at him.

Shit, we were still too close.

"Lavellan!" my party members shouted before a green light blinded me entirely.

When the light receded, I was standing ankle deep in water in a dungeon beside Dorian–the mage I had just met–and we were alone. Save for the two guards who we startled with our presence.

"Blood of the Elder One!" one of the guards cursed.

"What the…where are we?" I hissed to Dorian as I sunk my blade in the neck of one of the guards.

Dorian grabbed the other guard and used his staff to shock the man in the neck until his entire body convulsed.

"More like…when are we. That wasn't ordinary magic Alexius was tampering with. He'd been opening a rift in time."

I pressed a hand to my temple as if that could stave off the raging headache that was forming. "That doesn't make sense."

"It does if Alexius was distracted and used his time magic instead of killing us."

I took a survey of our surroundings–we needed to get back to the throne room and stop Alexius. No matter what time period we were in.

I backed away from the massive chunk of red lyrium growing out of the wall. My skin prickled with the energy waving off of the crystal. "I don't remember this part of the castle."

"We need to find out what's going on," Dorian insisted, ignoring my remark.

I splayed out my hands as if directing him to take a look at where we were and reminded him, "We are in a prison cell."

Dorian scoffed and rolled his eyes. "Don't tell me you don't know how to pick a lock."

"That is hurtful that you would assume I can do that just because I'm an elf."

"Can you?"

I paused before answering, "Yes, but it's still hurtful."

"Just pick the damn lock and get us out of here."

"Bossy," I muttered as I knelt in the water and made quick work of the mechanism on the door. It was rusted over pretty badly and broke apart in my hand as it unlocked.

I dropped the pieces and stood back up. With a wave of my hand, I indicated for Dorian to walk through the cell first. "Your majesty."

"Don't be cheeky," Dorian chided.

We were only a few steps out of our own cell when a soft voice called, "Hello?"

I jogged over to a cell adjacent to us and slid to an abrupt stop as my heart skipped painfully in my chest. Fiona was slumped against the wall, her lower body morphing with the red lyrium jutting out of her cell. She turned her head to look at me, pain evident in every move she made.

"A-are you alright?" I asked.

"You…died?" Fiona said, as if each word pained her. Her voice was warbly and echoey as if...as if she were possessed.

"I assure you, we did not," Dorian supplied. "Can you tell us what's happening here?"

"It's been…over a year since…anyone has heard from you."

"What is going on, Fiona," I tried softly.

"The Elder One…opened the Breach…and killed the Empress. Demons…swarmed the land…we were no match…" Fiona explained in her halting voice. "You must…stop this…"

"How can we?" I asked, directing my question to Dorian.

"It's...Well, it's possible that I can direct us back to the moment Alexius opened the time rift using his amulet."

Hope blossomed in my chest. "Then we need to do that."

"Or I could turn us into paste."

Just as quickly, that hope died.

I groaned and dipped my head. "Dorian…we need to do something."

Fiona interrupted by adding, "There are other prisoners….your spymaster…is here."

"Leliana?" I stepped toward the bars of her cell, careful to avoid the red lyrium.

"Go now…stop this…"

"We will try everything we can," I assured.

As Dorian and I turned on our heels, I whispered lowly, "Can we do nothing for her?"

"She's being fed off of by that red lyrium. There's nothing more we can do except make sure this doesn't happen in the first place. She said there's other prisoners, we should check the cells before going to confront Alexius."

I bowed my head and bit my lip. With one last look over my shoulder at Fiona, I followed Dorian out of the room of cells into a hallway.

Up ahead, a red glow marked a doorway.

"More red lyrium," I whispered.

"Be alert," Dorian cautioned.

We climbed the steps as quietly as possible and found ourselves in another room full of cells. Sconces on the wall held unlit torches, but there was just enough light in the room to make out some shapes from the glow of the red lyrium. I heard muttering from the cell floor to our right.

"Leliana?" I whispered?

No reply came.I knelt at the door, checking who was inside before I began unlocking it.

"Shit, it's Cassandra," I cursed, quickly working my own brand of magic on the lock.

"I failed. I failed everyone," Cassandra murmured over and over again.

She looked like she might be hurt. I threw open her door and reached out a hand. "Can you stand?"

"We saw you die," Cassandra muttered.

"We can't explain this to everyone we meet," Dorian hissed.

"It was his time magic, wasn't it?" said a voice in the cell directly behind us.

My heart froze in my chest as I turned to take in Solas's appearance. A red glow bathed him in shimmering light. There were veins of glowing red breaking up those freckles of his. He was standing in his cell, but it was the weakest I had ever seen him. His cheeks were gaunt and his limbs looked gangly where they were once lithe. Cassandra timidly took my hand and my heart cracked. Our brave warrior was also weaker than I had ever seen.

"A year of torture will change anyone," Solas answered, as if reading my thoughts.

My mouth was suddenly dry and I had to swallow before I could speak again. When I did, my voice was low, "We need to find Leliana."

I helped Cassandra to her feet and then moved to Solas's lock. I knelt and started to work through the motions. My hands trembled, however. It was the slightest motion, but Solas caught it. He knelt down across from me and slipped his fingers through his bars. His long fingers curled around mine with an assuring squeeze.

I looked up at that moment and met his gaze.

"I'm so sorry this happened," I whispered.

"It was not your fault," Solas said with barely contained sorrow.

I flexed my fingers in his grasp and began my work again until the lock clicked open. I opened his door and turned to Dorian. I thought tears would fall, but instead my brows pulled together in an angry frown.

"I want that amulet. Now,' I demanded.

"Right, right. Don't get all twisted up. We are going," Dorian admonished as he helped Cassandra out of the room.

I held out a hand to Solas. "Do you need help?"

"I can walk, thank you."

I curled my fingers inward and pulled my arm back. "Right. Let's go."

Alexius fell at my feet and I had the overwhelming urge to plunge my dagger straight into his heart. I withheld that compunction though–we needed answers. Instead, I hauled the man up by his jacket and hissed, "Tell me what the Elder One is."

"He will be a god."

"But what is he? A mage? A demon?"

"He is beyond your comprehension."

I growled with displeasure and felt like shaking the mage until an answer fell out.

"Reinforcements!" Leliana shouted.

"What?" Dorian hissed. "I need at least an hour to get this amulet to do what I want precisely."

"You have as long as I can give you," Leliana snapped, drawing an arrow from her quiver.

"Hurry! We will hold them off!" Cassandra shouted, her usual commanding tone back if even just for a moment.

Cassandra and Leliana moved through the door and sealed it behind them. Beside me, Dorian frantically worked to pluck the magic he needed from Alexius's amulet and Solas curled his fingers tighter around his staff. I dropped Alexius and drew my daggers, my heart hammering away in my chest as the seconds ticked by painfully.

"Your attempts are futile!" Alexius shouted.

Annoyed, I kicked the side of his face to shut him up.

The doors before us trembled before being thrust open. Leliana and Cassandra were struggling; it was obvious they were outnumbered.

"Time to move," Dorian shouted as a green rift opened.

"Wait," I breathed, my eyes locked on my companions.

I watched as a knife was thrust through Cassandra's chest and a demon slashed Leliana across the face. Despite that, the pair still fought. Now tears pricked my eyes.

"We can't leave them," I whispered hoarsely.

"We have to go now!" Dorian exclaimed as I moved toward my failing companions.

I was too distracted. I didn't notice the demon creeping closer. Before I could blink, a pair of hands wrapped around my waist. The sounds of flesh being torn filled my ears and my widened eyes lifted to meet Solas's. His body stood between me and the demon. When I reached up trembling hands to touch his back, they came away wet.

A garbled cry started in my throat, but before I could scream, Solas brought his lips to mine.

The kiss was chaste and quick, but it stunned me still the same.

"Go," Solas urged before shoving me backward into Dorian's arms.

"Solas!" I shrieked as the demon's claws pierced through his stomach. Blood dribbled down his chin, but he was smiling.

Dorian wrapped his arms around my middle and hauled me through the tear in time, with my companions' names on my lips.

Light overwhelmed us again and my senses were dulled as we passed through time itself. I dropped to my knees when the world became solid again. Almost immediately, hands were on me, pulling me back up.

Cassandra and Solas were on either side of me, clear concern etched on their faces.

They didn't understand what I had just seen. They couldn't. And I didn't know how to explain it to them.

As if sensing his defeat, Alexius fell to the ground at my feet. I had another sudden urge to kick him again. When Felix knelt by his father with such tender love in his eyes though, my anger died.

"You don't understand," Alexius cried. "Felix, you'll die."

"Everyone dies," Solas murmured at my side.

"Templars, Mages, Venatori. They're all giving me a headache" I muttered under my breath as I chucked another snowball at the tree.

"Are you…brooding?" came Solas's voice.

"No!" I answered too quickly.

Solas chuckled, his knuckle at his lips. Suddenly, my face was aflame as I remembered what those lips felt like against my own. I turned away, resisting the urge to bury my face in the snow.

I wasn't so much as embarrassed by a little kiss. But I was supremely embarrassed to admit that that kiss had unlocked something inside of me. Something simple yet hidden. Something I hadn't even noticed with all the Breach nonsense swarming my thoughts.

I was attracted to the mage before me.

Attraction was fickle. Sure, he was cute when he spoke about the Fade and his freckles were so adorable I wanted to kiss them. But this man was an apostate with a shady backstory. Falling into any kind of infatuation with him had "bad idea" written all over it.

"I thought you did well with the mages," Solas said as he moved to sit beside me.

"I like when you praise me." The words were out before I could stop them. It was meant to be a jest, but felt all too close to the truth for my liking.

Solas did a little cough-laugh. "Yes, well. If you keep doing things as you have been, I see many reasons to praise you."

"What do you mean?"

"Come now. You haven't noticed?"

"Noticed what? I pissed off half of the team with my mage decision and I keep fainting when I seal too many rifts. From where I'm standing, I seem like more of a hindrance than someone to be praised."

"Are those doubts, dear lathallen?" Solas said with a light, mocking tone.

"Everyone has doubts."

"Then allow me to assuage you of some of those doubts. Yes, not everyone will agree with the choices you make. But you made them. An elf stood up and made such a grand display of power and now the Inquisition has to back that decision or risk looking incompetent."

"I know not everyone will agree with me," I tried. "But it still seems like someone else should be making these decisions. Like Cassandra."

"Cassandra is a wonderful warrior, but she is not the leader the Inquisition needs,"

I scoffed. "And you think I am?"

Solas shrugged. "Maybe. I can think of no one more suited to the situation than you."

Snow dropped from a tree branch with a soft plop. I pushed my hair behind my ear and tried to smile and make a joke, but it just wasn't in me. Instead I asked, "Give me one reason why you think I can handle such a monumental task?"

His answer was quick. "Because you care. You care about every agent and non-agent alike that you come across. Like how you helped that farmer who thought his ram held mystical advice. Or when you made us go out of our way to gather blankets we found in that mage hideout and haul them back to the West Road. You're kind and powerful, yet not arrogant or prideful."

I hadn't noticed he'd been paying so much attention. It was making the alarm bells in my head difficult to ignore. "You pay that much attention to me?"

"Why would I not? I'm still trying to figure you out completely."

"And what do you see?" I was moments away from losing my composure and planting a kiss on every inch of his face.

"I see a good woman just trying to do what she thinks is best."

My mouth was dry. "There are many people like that in the world."

"Not like you," came his soft reply.

I couldn't help myself–I leaned in.

"There you are!" Dorian shouted.

I jolted away quickly as if I'd been caught red-handed. Solas merely chuckled lowly. "See you soon, Lavellan. It seems you are needed elsewhere."

Curses. What was I going to do?