DWC: Stay the night, please. Anyone you'd like! *smooch smooch*
Hey girl, I heard you like pain, so how about some quality pain?
@dadrunkwriting
Cullen X Red Lyrium GraceRed Lyrium AU
He watched the woman pace the cell in the depths of Skyhold. Back and forth, back and forth, the soft red light glimmering from the crystals that grew out of her breastplate and the shoulders of her cloak. She was muttering to herself, eyes darting wildly around the cell. Cullen shifted back onto his heels, sighing. She twisted quickly, hands still clasped together in front of her in large glowing manacles that flashed as her fingers twitched in rage.
“Would you like a chair?” he asked wryly. The woman spat on the floor, a little hiss sounding from where it hit.
“There are easier ways to keep a mage unarmed, knight-commander,” she growled. “It wouldn’t be the first time someone had tried.”
She shrugged her coat off of her arm, displaying a weathered, angry scar in the shape of a Chantry sun. Cullen looked at the ground.
“You’re enough of a danger without your magic, Lady Hunter.”
Cullen internally cringed as she lowered her head towards the floor, twisting it in the fashion of a viper as she stretched her neck. Her head snapped towards hand on the bars faster than he thought humanly possible.
“Dangerous? Little me?” She smiled at him, an eerie death like grin stretching her face. It crumpled into a pout as he backed away. “Still. It is nice to know that someone still knows about me. Such a shame.”
“Why would you join Corypheus?” Cullen asked, his tone harsher than he intended. The pout folded its way into a sneer.
“You’re assuming it was my choice at all.”
“But… this? It is a fate worse than death.”
She seemed to deflate, bringing her bound hands up to her mouth. “I died a long time ago.”
For a moment, she seemed far more human than the animalistic weapon they had imprisoned. It was as though she was letting herself crack open like a geode filled with red.
“Can I get you anything?” Cullen asked quietly. She looked up at him, brows crinkling.
“You can stay here for the night,” she answered simply, plopping down on the stone floor. “Though I wouldn’t say no to a pillow.”
“Why would I want to stay with you for the night?” Cullen laughed, the slight disgust he had for her warped form leaking into his words.
She looked back up to him from her place on the floor. “I could use the company. And who knows, you may learn something of use.” The implication was strong. Stay down near her for the night, learn about the enemy. Or learn nothing, and waste a night. She sensed his hesitance. “Think of this as my final confession, knight-commander. We both know what’s going to happen to me.”
“You think I would allow this–“
“Final act of grace?” the woman laughed. “Yes. I think you will. Because you are a good man, Knight-Commander.”
“I will see what I can do,” Cullen muttered, walking towards the exit. She tugged her way to press against the bars, shouting after him.
“Remember the Templar’s Grace, Commander! Remember me like I was in Kirkwall!”
Cullen froze, hand gripping the doorknob tight.
“What did you say?” he growled, not daring to look back at the woman who was gripping what little of the bars she could reach around the manacles.
“Stay with me and find out.”