Chapter 97: *Bad Acting

We left a camp with the Dalish and Circle emissaries just south of Denerim; Dariel stayed with them, having barely spoken to any of us since we'd returned from Orzammar. I gathered he was to become Keeper Lanaya's First, and it seemed he'd already found himself a mate, based on the single tent shared between him and Mithra. We arranged runners to come to the gates of Denerim daily at noon, where we could meet with them if we needed to each day.

The rest of the trip to Denerim was uneventful. Before we were visible from the gates, we stopped to pull ourselves together. Theron dismounted, donning an old, dented full helm, and Alistair took his place on the horse, beside Teagan; I wondered if he'd take after his father and fall off, but it didn't happen. Theron walked at his side as a bodyguard. Blake walked with me near the front with the Grey Wardens.

I had decided that Alistair and I should pretend not to be together while in Denerim – I wanted Theron to see the full depth that Anora was willing to sink to in order to keep her throne, and part of that was Alistair seeming to be 'available.' I knew it was a good idea, despite Alistair's misgivings, but turning to wave at him one last time before walking through the gates, I was starting to doubt the wisdom of the idea. We'd been separated by a few hundred feet for less than an hour, and I already missed him. He'd tried changing my mind with puppy eyes; I'd promised to try to sneak into his room later.

The gates into Denerim were actually manned, for a change; Aedan recognised some of the guards as being Kylon's new recruits. They winked at Aedan and let us pass, saluting Teagan and Alistair –those they assumed to be nobility – formally. One of them broke off from the gate to walk beside Aedan, ostensibly 'escorting' us to Eamon's estate. He seemed to be giving Aedan a report of what had been going on; I looked forward to hearing it later.

Gorim took his leave, promising to come to Eamon's estate after checking in on his wife at their little house in the Market District. I rather hoped the reunion would go well and we wouldn't see him for a few days.

Eamon's estate was one of the few buildings that was the same size in real life as it was in the game. There weren't even close to enough bedrooms for everyone, so while Teagan, Aedan, and Alistair got rooms of their own, the rest of the men were put up in the barracks with Eamon's soldiers. The women ended up sharing guest rooms – I shared with Solona, while Leli shared with Wynne. Morrigan preferred to spend her nights as a bird, outside, alone. It amused me to think of Theron in the Barracks, while Alistair slept in a lavish guest room, but surprisingly, Theron appeared to be the less uncomfortable of the two at the arrangement.

Isolde immediately swept off to the room she shared with Eamon, Connor and his entourage following behind; I hoped I'd seen the last of her for a while. Eamon had implied he planned to put them both on a boat to the Free Marches within the week; I'd have thought he was trying to allow Connor to escape, but he'd apparently made a deal with the mage and templar who had been teaching Connor to accompany them.

We weren't greeted by Loghain, Howe, and Cauthrien upon arrival; I learned why later when we met for supper and Aedan told everyone what the guard had reported to him.

"Loghain's holed up in the Palace; no one's so much as seen him in weeks. After we left, there was some rioting, even amongst the nobles; Loghain pulled back to the Palace and Howe to his estate. They didn't have enough men even to hold the noble's district; Leonas Bryland and Alfstanna Eremon have openly declared against Loghain, and nobles are flocking to their banner."

Aedan turned to Eamon. "That should make it easier on us, then. Have you been in contact with either of them?"

"I sent messengers, but have not received responses yet. Not that I expected to – the messengers would have gone to Waking Sea and South Reach first. I told them I was coming to Denerim; I imagine they'd wait to talk here."

Aedan hummed in thought. "Well, from what I hear, neither Loghain nor Howe will be travelling much without a legion of soldiers. We need to talk to Alfstanna and Leonas."

"I expect we will get a different opportunity soon," I reminded everyone. We decided to give it a day or two, and then move forward if nothing presented itself.

I snuck into Alistair's room the first night in the estate; fortunately, my room was right across the hall, and I was able to watch through my own open door until I had an opportunity to get in unseen. Solona laughed at me and pulled our door shut behind me.

I got there before Alistair had managed to untangle himself from Eamon, so I spent a few minutes unpacking his things. A servant had turned his bed down, so when I ran out of things to do, I stripped and climbed into his bed naked, falling asleep almost instantly.

I woke when a cold draft hit me, opening my eyes to see Alistair in nothing but his loose linen pyjama bottoms, staring at my naked form with darkening eyes. He stripped out of the pants frantically, crawling into the bed and pulling the covers up over us both. He kissed me, initially soft and sweet, but quickly deepening. His tongue swept into my mouth aggressively, and I gasped.

"Just what do you think you're doing, serrah?"

He snorted, weaving his fingers into my hair to tilt my head and attack my neck. "Well, since someone obviously bought me such a beautiful gift, I couldn't possibly turn it down..." He nipped my neck, making me squirm.

"Oh you think I'm some sort of possession to be bought, do you?" I gasped again as he nibbled the opposite side of my neck.

"Well, you must be – what else would you be doing in my bed, naked?"

Then his head disappeared under the blanket, and I felt him slide downwards pressing kisses to my neck, then my collarbones, then finally taking a nipple into his warm mouth. I groaned, biting my lip to stifle any noise, pulling him closer and arching into him. I could feel I was already wet and needy, but he took his time, teasing me with his stubble, little sucks and nibbles inflaming my skin, driving me mad.

He was kneeling between my thighs, his leg pressing up against me, and I tried to grind down against him, wanting more stimulation. I could feel his breath ghost across my abdomen as he chuckled and moved his leg away; I whined, stuffing the side of my hand in my mouth – my lip was starting to bleed, and I still needed to avoid the noise I knew I'd be making in a moment.

Not shouting his name when I felt his tongue tease at my lower lips took every ounce of willpower I had; not murdering him when he refused to do more than tantalise was even worse. He lapped at the moisture, not enough pressure to even dip into my slit, and I bucked, unsuccessfully. A few more moments and I reached down, grabbing a handful of short hair and tugging.

I got one merciful swipe of his tongue over my firm little nub, and then he stopped. Just stopped. I almost cried in frustration. He slid back up beside me, stroking my belly in soothing motions while I panted.

"Dare I ask what I'm being punished for?" I asked, voice hoarse with restrained lust.

"For insisting we pretend not to be married. For making us sleep apart."

I opened one eye to glance at him, trying to evaluate the seriousness of his complaint. His expression was a mask that I couldn't read, and I grunted and rolled to face him. "Alistair-"

"Don't you 'Alistair' me." He exaggerated the last syllable of his name like I did, not saying 'Alister' like most Fereldans. "You say it's necessary, but I'm going to lose my mind, having to pretend to be a king, to act like I want this ... and now I don't even have you with me."

"You listen to me, husband. It doesn't matter whether I am holding your hand, whether I'm ten feet away or a thousand, I am always with you. Always." I slid on top of him, wrapping my arms around his shoulders and pressing my face into his neck, desperately trying to assuage my feelings of guilt. "I love you, Alistair Theirin."

He sighed and pulled me closer, the calluses on his hands making me shiver as they stroked my back. "I know. I love you too. I just hate this, after everything..."

I kissed him then, twining my tongue around his, letting him taste the blood on my lower lip. He groaned and squeezed me tighter, one hand sliding down to cup my ass, the other holding my head, massaging my scalp lightly.

"Let me make it up to you," I whispered, spreading my legs to straddle his hips, sliding back and sitting up until I had him sheathed snugly inside me. I put his hands on my hips, encouraging him to set the tempo by lifting and plunging me back down, while I gave him a little show, cupping my breasts, tweaking the nipples. He groaned, voice thick, and it was so sexy I shuddered. Soon I was rocking frantically, one finger rubbing my clit, my head thrown back in ecstasy. I'd stopped worrying about being quiet, and my gasps echoed slightly in the large room. I'll just have to hope this room is mostly sound-proof.

My orgasm crashed over me unexpectedly, the frantic pace he set combined with the pent-up frustration of him teasing me earlier combining to undo me, and I collapsed against his chest with a sob. He let me lay there, stroking my hair as I recovered, and then I found myself being rolled over onto my back. He was still hard, still buried inside me, and I gasped in surprise.

"I'm not done with you yet, little minx," he whispered as he began thrusting into me, slowly, grinding against me with every stroke.

I shuddered as my over-wrought nerves responded to his insistence, his assertiveness as arousing as I always found it; I looked up at his beautiful face, forehead pressed against mine, eyes closed in blissful concentration. "Once more for me, love; I want to hear you scream."

Entirely distracted by the fire crawling through my veins, I tried to demur, "I can't – no one can hear-"

He chuckled and picked up the pace, rubbing against my neck with his stubble. "Not my idea, remember? Personally, I don't care if everyone hears." He ground against me again and nipped the irritated skin of my neck with his sharp teeth. "Come for me, darlin'. One more time, I want to see you come apart at the seams." His Starkhaven accent was back, and I moaned as he continued to talk dirty in my ear.

His pace picked up again, and I couldn't take it anymore; I felt my pelvic muscles clamp down, and in a panic I bit into his shoulder to stop the wail from escaping my throat as I came. His rhythm suffered as he spilled himself inside me, letting out a muffled roar of completion, and then he collapsed on top of me heavily.

When he finally rolled off, I looked ruefully at his shoulder where I'd left visible tooth marks, though fortunately I hadn't drawn blood. I blushed and he smirked at me. His fingers brushed over my swollen lip, not bleeding anymore but still tender.

"We're going to need to get you a muzzle if we keep this up," he teased.

"Since when are you such a pervert?" I groused, trying unsuccessfully to hide a smile. I curled up languorously in his arms, listening to his hammering heartbeat slowly relent. "I don't want to be apart, you know that, right?"

"I know." He kissed my hair. "It was a good excuse to punish you, though. Seeing you like that – flushed and desperate..."

"I've created a monster," I sighed, and he laughed.

"Maybe tomorrow I'll set up our tent in here."

We shared grins, and fell asleep still smiling.

I woke to darkspawn nightmares, sitting straight up with a strangled gasp. Alistair was still sleeping, looking so vulnerable, so beautiful in the dim light. I pressed a kiss to his forehead before finding my clothes and dressing quietly.

I snuck across the hall in the early morning, before the servants were up for the day, cursing my stubborn need to show Anora off in the worst possible light. I stumbled into my own room to steal a few more minutes of sleep, as well as to mess up the bed so no one would notice I hadn't slept there. Solona was sleeping on her stomach, one arm falling off the edge of the bed, her mouth open and snoring softly; without waking her, I crawled onto the other side of the large bed and fell deeply asleep.

Aedan knocking on the door woke both Solona and I some time later; we dressed quickly and headed into the estate's dining room to find Duncan, Alistair, Zevran, and Aedan gathered before us with Teagan and Eamon. A quick glance around found a fully armoured, helmeted Theron 'guarding' the door. Alistair gave me a big smile that he hastily hid with a large mouthful of some sort of pastry. Aedan told Solona she was welcome to have breakfast in the barracks with the men, and she hurriedly excused herself to do so. There was a new face seated near Eamon, an elf who could only have been Erlina.

Her accent wasn't quite as irritating as Isolde, but her voice held none of Leli's sweet lilt either. She was a thin, nervous-looking woman who kept wringing her hands in an overly-dramatic display that left me comparing her to bad B-movie actors on Earth.

She was in the middle of a conversation with Aedan and Eamon, to which Duncan was simply listening, expression inscrutable. The discussion resumed where it left off as I sat down and began filling a plate. I half-listened, knowing what she was going to say, but realised that Aedan had totally ambushed her and left her reeling. I struggled not to laugh.

"Oh, but Warden, my Lady! She is in danger, and-"

"Yes, yes, she's been taken by Arl Howe, we know. What I'd like to know is what makes you think we have any interest in freeing her?" I saw Theron twitch, but fortunately he managed to keep his mouth shut.

"She is the Queen! You will need her support ... you will be held accountable if she comes to harm and you could-"

"What, you think the Landsmeet will hang us for not risking our lives to cross Howe? If you had any sense, you'd have gone to some of those other nobles and asked for help, and I'll bet they've said no. I'm not saying we won't rescue her, but you have to admit this is the most preposterous way of asking for a favour, especially one that isn't really beneficial to us in any way,"