Afterwards, I couldn't have said exactly how it happened.

One moment I was sitting with mi amore, and his companions – dare I call them my friends? – laughing at his red face and enjoying his discomfort at being flirted with so brashly, and the next, I was following the pirate queen's shapely behind up the stairs and into the room I shared with my stunning Warden.

Sure, the bar fight that stumbling incompetent accidentally started was part of it, as was the crafty mind of mia sorella, who rescued the Chantry-raised prude from Isabela's advances at my Warden's expense, but truly, they hadn't done it on purpose. In fact, if either of them figured out the result, I was sure they would both spontaneously combust from acute embarrassment. No, I couldn't blame either of them, if I was being honest.

That left me with Isabela, or Aedan himself, to blame. And as beautiful and seductive as Isabela is, my Warden had never shown signs of being weak towards the manipulation of a beautiful woman.

No, really, I could only blame Aedan, I eventually decided, as I sat on an uncomfortable chair in the corner of my inn room and watched someone else share the bed with my lover.

I wasn't jealous, for a certainty; I regularly shared lovers with others, my usual pairings being the definition of an 'open relationship'. Only once in the past had I been this emotionally involved with someone else, and I never had difficulty sharing Rinna with Taliesen. In many ways, in fact, sharing made it better – there was nothing more exquisite than watching your lover being driven completely senseless with pleasure.

But somehow, despite that, this wasn't working out the way I'd imagined. My Warden was lying on our bed, tongue tangling with Isabela's while she carded her fingers through his hair. Both of them were half-undressed, offering tantalising glimpses of soft, bronze skin pressing up against the hard, pale lines of my lover, and I could barely restrain myself from walking out of the room.

I forced myself to be still, furiously trying to convince myself that Aedan didn't care for me less because he received pleasure from someone else, but for the first time since I was a young Crow in training, I couldn't help feeling ... insecure.

Aedan had managed to finish undressing the both of them while I was preoccupied with my own issues, and Isabela was on her back underneath the nobleman, legs spread, quim glistening, guiding Aedan's hard length towards her core with a hungry, feral expression I could completely sympathise with. My lover was inexperienced, when we'd met, but he was gorgeous, well-endowed, and insatiable. Even I could barely keep up with him. I knew exactly how Isabela felt.

It didn't stop the frisson of unease racing down my spine as I watched him slowly, so slowly, drive himself into her welcoming depths.

On one hand, I could appreciate the beauty of the two bodies, flexing in tandem, the contrast of dark and pale, lean and curvy, and it made my mouth go dry to watch them.

On the other, I wanted nothing more than to rip my lover out of that scheming pirate's arms and really show him what sex could be like. Not that I hadn't shown him before, of course, several times in fact, but I felt an unwelcome, uncomfortable sense of possession I'd never experienced before as I heard him groan and Isabela chuckle in delight as he filled her completely.

The two of them were immediately lost in a tangle of grasping limbs and erotic sounds, and despite my worries, I felt myself harden at the image; I wanted to be pleased that at least little Zev knew what was what in this erotic scenario, but couldn't help but feel just a bit betrayed. Never-the-less, my breeches were becoming highly uncomfortable, and I unlaced them and pulled off my shirt, affecting nonchalance in case either of the current lovers happened to be looking.

Neither was, as evidenced by the gasping and moaning I could hear; suddenly Isabela shouted, her body stiffening, and I recognised the familiar signs of the pirate's crashing orgasm. Oblivious, lost in his own pleasure, Aedan just kept going, drawing her orgasm out, and leaving her a quivering, whimpering mess as her pleasure started ramping up again.

Isabela was brought to one tremendous orgasm after another, Aedan's Grey Warden stamina overwhelming even her endurance, and before long she lay, almost insensate, below him, shivering and moaning as he just kept going.

I was startled to glance away from where their bodies connected to see my Warden, face contorted with lust and pleasure, looking at me intensely as he pumped into the overwhelmed woman below him. He gasped, then reached one hand out towards me, almost looking desperate, though for what I wasn't sure.

"Zev," he panted, eyes glazed and hips never stilling, "please, I need you. I can't ... please, Zev."

I was confused for the briefest of moments, before understanding struck, and I almost crowed in satisfaction. The poor innocent, never having been all that curious about women before tonight, needed me to achieve his peak.

I stood and strode confidently across the room, my hard cock peeking through my unlaced trousers, my bronze chest on display, and I could see Aedan's dark eyes turn black with desire as he licked his lips. I crawled up beside the rutting couple on the bed, smirking, teasing him by slowly inserting first one, then two of my fingers into my own wanton mouth and trailing my tongue over them while he groaned; when I pulled the moist digits from my mouth, he reached up and grabbed a handful of my hair, dragging me in for a deep, intense kiss.

I love having my hair pulled, and Aedan knew that; I moaned as my hips bucked against the bed, swallowing his plaintive whine as our tongues clashed inside my mouth.

I could feel him quivering through that contact, and stroked my hand down the smooth plane of his back, feeling the muscles flex and strain underneath his velvety skin, finally reaching his round, delectable ass. He shifted, lifting Isabela's thighs further up his hips, spreading his legs eagerly, giving me room to work, and I took instant advantage, delving my damp fingers down to tease around his pucker.