“You smuggled them out of the city and allowed them to elope?!”
Josephine, it turned out, could be fearsome when she tried. The target of her rage shrugged once more, feigning innocence, blinking at her with a blank expression. “I havent the faintest idea what you are referring to.”
“Don’t lie to me, Cullen!” She rounded on him, an accusing finger pointing. “I saw that report to the Inquisitor! Two extra soldiers after leaving the city?! Who would believe that!”
“Ah, that. Turns out we were wrong.” He plucked a steel figurine from the table turned in his fingers idly, and a smirk curled at the corner of his lips. “When recounted much later, we were once again on our expected roster. I’d blame the Lieutenant, if you ask me. The man can’t count for all the gold in Ferelden…”
“This is a nonsense! Inquisitor, the chance to gain important approval from both sides has been lost because our Commander involved himself and his troops where they were not needed!”
“Oh, you mean the young Lady who disappeared before her wedding?” Josephine rounded on him once more, but he cut off the inevitable rant. “ I heard she was sighted in the Free Marches, together with her lover. Moving into a little farmhouse in one of the villages, apparently very happy. Love’s young dream. I suppose things work themselves out in the end, don’t they?”
Josephine gave a disgusted snort, turning on her heel and storming from the war room, patience spent. Elicia watched her go, before sighing, joining Cullen at the table, gently nudging his side.
“You shouldn’t antagonise her. You know how she takes these things…” His chuckling did not cease, and she rolled her eyes. “The Free Marches, hm?”
“Yes.” Cullen glanced to her, before his eyes returned to watching the figurine in his hand. “Far enough away from the hysteria that will come when the wedding is one very important guest short. Close enough for us to keep a silent eye on them.”
Elicia snorted a laugh, her best facade falling to the inevitably infectious smugness of her companion. “You won’t be attending the wedding then, Commander?”
“Andraste preserve me, I cannot think of a worse way to spend precious free time. And an arranged marriage no less? What an awful predicament to place a young woman in. It is practically prehistoric. Even I can have a heart for nobility under those circumstances. The girl didn’t choose to be born into that. I would love to see the look on their noble faces when they realise they have lost the game…”
“So really, this was not having a heart for nobility at all. It was striking a blow against everything nobility stands for.”
He finally stopped spinning the piece, glancing to her, and the smirk that grew all but screamed of his confession. “Now, wouldn’t that be something?”
“It would be if it were entirely true, yes..” She moved to slide in front of him, leaning against the table as she did, a hand splaying across the cloth on his chest. “But I believe that is simply a convenient excuse, and you had much different reasons for your actions…”
He simply raised an eyebrow, face unchanged, but his hands found her hips, discarding the piece as they curled around to the small of her back, leaning down to her, lips tantalisingly close as he spoke, voice deep, smooth.
“A different reason, Inquisitor?”
“Indeed.” Her smirk remained, a teasing lilt in her voice. “My theory? I think you are much gentler than your fearless facade would say, Commander. Even perhaps partial to believing in a little love story from time to time. That you wanted to see this young couple’s romance blossom, away from the nonsense of politicking…”
The low chuckle that rumbled from his chest seemed to run through her, and she cupped his face in her hands, gently running her fingers across the rough stubble littering his cheeks as he spoke.
“For that poor boy to have to watch the woman he loves marry another man while he is powerless to stop it, and for she to be miserable…” His face softened, voice quietening, eyes singing with emotion. “Love is the Maker’s gift to us all, to love as Andraste loved him. Who are we to interfere with that?”
Elicia met his eyes once more, a smirk growing as a pink flush rose to his cheeks, thumbs tracing the crinkle under his eye. “To us all? Does that also include brooding ex-Templars who declare themselves unworthy of loving on a regular basis?” The pink on his cheeks quickly darkened, and she heard a muttered ’Maker’s breath, giggling as she tapped his cheek, continuing. “Because I believe so. And I am of the opinion that he too knows that, however far into his gentle soul it is hidden. That he knows that he is a good man, with a good heart, and that he is so loved.”
Cullen did not reply, but a deep sigh slipped for him, and a smile he could not hide spread across his face. He leant forward, pulling her hips to meet his and catching her lips for a deep, passionate kiss, one she was more than happy to enjoy, a hand sliding to twist between his blonde curls. They only broke apart, slowly, when the realisation of where they were pulled them from their embrace as the guard passed down the hall. They both adjusted their clothing, Cullen clearing his throat as they did.
“I shall ask you not to be repeating that little theory of yours, Inquisitor.” He glanced to the now empty doorway, before kissing her on the cheek and offering her a coy grin instead. “People shall start to think I have a heart.”
(I love Cullen’s option in Alliances: From the Heart. He is just too damn sweet ;____; my heart.)
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