What would RYLAN do if KERAM cheated?
See, this is funny because as soon as I had the other one, Igot to wondering the very same thing. And while Keram’s reaction depended onhow long they had been together, I don’t think Rylen’s would. He’s pretty clearcut about these things, and as we can all tell (Rylen knows too even if hepretends not to) that he has completely fallen for Keram. Yeah….I don’t thinkthat would fly with him.
Rylen shook as he blindly tried to get as far away from Keram’s room as possible. He should have fucking known. He should have seen it. He was right to be jealous of the mercenary after all.
He didn’t really know what the fuck had led him to Keram’s room. Maybe just to say hello? Spend time with her? How bloody foolish of him, that. Who in his right mind would spend time with the lass they couldn’t stop thinking about?
And that’s where he had found them.
Suddenly furious, Rylen swiped his fist at the wall as he passed which he instantly regretted. Swearing a long line of curses that could have made a sailor blush, he cradled his throbbing–and possibly bloody broken–hand close to his chest.
You fucking idiot, Rylen. You let yourself get sucked in and now…
He paused and took deep, rattling breaths. He felt more winded than he should have been. He felt like he had taken a kick to the chest. Neither of which he should have let happen. Rylen should never have followed her that night. He should have politely turned her down and retired to his own room. It would have saved him all this bloody trouble.
And then he wouldn’t have felt so stupid for believing he had a fighting chance.
Middle (I’ll make this post-pregnancy because otherwise…???):
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Rylen gaped at Keram. A withdrawal headache ripped his fucking skull apart, Lessa was sick with a cold and did nothing lately but scream. Between the two, he wanted nothing more than to beat his head against a wall until it either went away or he died. And now he felt like he could have happily thrown himself over the railing’s of Keram’s balcony.
“I changed my mind, Kadan,” Keram said, level as ever. She was unreadable, blatant. She was everything Rylen had started to believe he had gotten past during her pregnancy, but here she was, the ruthless Qunari yet again. She went to Lessa’s bassonette and picked up the shrieking babe. Rylen almost snarled at her to put his daughter down. He didn’t want something pure–even if she was snotty right now–to be defiled by Keram’s infidelity.
Rylen gnashed his teeth and bent almost double with the lances of agony that stabbed behind his eyes.
“You are unhappy, Rylen,” he heard Keram say over Lessa’s thick coughs. “We both know it–”
“I would have struggled through it all for you both!” Rylen cried, regaining enough control over his head to open a watering eye. “It would have been fucking worth it. Every Maker-damned second! Until you jumped ship early!”
Keram was silent for a while, regarding him. She couldn’t have been serious trying to make it out as if she was doing him any favors. Not when he was six months off lyrium and she had run around Thedas playing hero while he stayed in Skyhold and took care of Lessa.
It would seem she had been doing more than play hero, Rylen corrected bitterly.
“I am releasing you from your obligation,” she said quietly. “We no longer have to do this, Kadan. I think it will be better for us both. I have found another partner and now you can do the same. Go and be happy, Kadan.”
His lip trembled and Rylen just barely convinced himself it was because of the headache, and not the raw hole that he felt had just ripped through his chest. The pain, all the fucking pain, was driving him completely mad. His fingers fumbled at the heavy dragon’s tooth around his neck and when he grasped the cold, serrated edge, he yanked hard. As the cord snapped, a burst of pain shot through his hand. With everything in him threatening to split a part, he hardly gave a fuck about one more injury. “We could have been fucking happy.” He shoved the bloodied necklace into her free hand and reached for his baby.
“I hope you’re prepared to take Lessa out with you,” Rylen spat. “Because if you don’t, neither of us will be here when you get back.”
Rylen didn’t listen to a word Keram said. She could assure him as much as she wanted that it was behind her, that it was never serious, that it didn’t matter because she always came back home, but he would hear none of it. Blind rage and furious hurt raged inside him and closed up his throat until every breath was a choke. He couldn’t even stand to look at the damn woman. He shook off her hand and ignored her close footsteps as they stomped through the fields and into the house.
“Lessa! Aban!” he roared as soon as he flung the door open, “Pack your things!”
“Rylen!” Keram growled. “Stop this.” She grabbed him forcefully this time and spun him to face her. He tried to fight her off but her fingers dug too hard into his arm. His face twisted from the pain, but her refused to give her the satisfaction of a noise.
“Go pack, Lessa! Tell Aban. We’re going to your grandmother’s house for a while.”
“The hell you are,” Keram hissed.
“You’re not going to stop me, Keram,” Rylen shot back.
“Damn it, girls, do what I tell you!”
“You’re not running away. You’re not taking them–”
“Well I can’t stand to be near you another second!”
Keram sneered and he could feel the heat that radiated off her as her magic sprung up to match her feelings. Her hand on his arm was burning uncomfortably but Rylen would not squirm. Let her incinerate me, he thought. The girls would never fucking forgive her. She took deep breaths and somewhat disappointed, he felt the heat abate.
“So that is the way you want it then?” Keram breathed, no less angry, Rylen noted. “No discussion. No nothing. You are just going to leave with my children.”
“You clearly didn’t care too much about them, Keram! So, no, I don’t think there is anything to discuss, and there’s certainly nothing worth salvaging.”
She shook her head at him, and turned away. Rylen was pleased for a moment to see her face fall but when she spoke, voice thick with tears, he almost lost it himself. “Don’t go. That is unnecessary. You all have roots here; I am the one with nothing.”
With nothing else to do, Rylen followed his wife out the door and onto the open porch and watched her as she just…walked away. She made it look so fucking easy. She made everything look easy. He loved her for that. She was everything he had come to respect, everything he had ever wanted in a woman and a wife. Even now she still looked the part of the proud warrior he loved so fiercely. Her head was high. She strode purposefully out of their lives and Rylen couldn’t help but be swallowed with regret. What could he have done different? What had he done to drive her away? The hurt crippled him. He didn’t know, wouldn’t have thought her capable. He thought that she had loved him as much as he loved her. The betrayal of what she did ripped hole after hole in his chest until he could hardly stand anymore with the force of its weight. His agony and hurt roiled inside him until he was sick with it. It took all his energy from him, leeched all coherent thought.
Keram! He wanted to call, he wanted to run to her, he wanted to collapse to the ground and never move again.
He sagged against the porch railing and let the tears he had choked back fall. Rylen let the strangled sobs strain in his chest and tried his best to grieve for his lost life as quietly as he could.
He heard the door open behind him but he couldn’t even muster the will to compose himself. “Dad?” he heard Lessa ask.
She didn’t listen. The bloody girl never did. Rylen felt her arms wrap around him, the soft press of her hair against is cheek, her head resting carefully on his shoulder.
Then he felt the soft embrace on his other side, Aban mirroring her sister, burying her wet face into his neck. He heard his Firecracker sniffle and Rylen couldn’t stay quiet anymore.
Wow, these got away from me. I hope you’re happy Nonny! Because I am crying!
