The Heart of a Dragon (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

Touch

After the Iron Bull had gone up to bed, Ren made the rounds some more at the party, but slowly edged her way through the crowd toward the front door as she did so. Eventually she faked a yawn, told Ser Morris the quartermaster that she was still exhausted from the Fade, and slipped out into the night. She took a few moments in the courtyard to enjoy the quiet night air and look up at the stars, which seemed so bright and clear here in Skyhold.

Then she slipped into the shadows and quietly climbed the stairs to the battlements, making her way through the ruined room at the top of the tavern, where she hastily unlaced her boots and took them off, and then down into the upper floors of the tavern. It was silent up here, most of the occupants still downstairs partying, and there was no one to see her pad down the hallway and slip into the Iron Bull's room.

She closed the door behind her and leaned back against it. "Hey."

"Hey." The Iron Bull looked as uncomfortable as she'd ever seen him, standing there with his hands in front of him as though he didn't know what to do with them.

"This is a change of pace." Ren looked around the room. "It's cleaner than the tent was."

He grinned suddenly. "What do you think I've been doing the last ten minutes? Just ... don't look under the bed."

Ren chuckled. "Deal." She watched him for a moment, waiting for him to speak, but it was clear he wasn't going to. "So ... what did you have in mind?"

"I ..." He groaned. "Oh, fuck. This really should be easier. Look, in the Fade ... that was ... I was easy pickings for that fucking demon, and ..."

"No, you weren't. You were caught off guard—" Ren said, but he cut her off, his eye narrowing.

"Don't talk down to me," he snapped. "I was listening to voices in my head, and I turned on the—the person I was supposed to be protecting. What I did to you, shaking you like that, that was over the line."

"Fine, have it that way if you want. But you came out of it, and I would never have let that demon take you. That's my part of this deal—you watch my back, and I watch your brain." She smiled at him.

"Still ..." The Iron Bull took a breath, calming himself down. Getting pissed off at her was not the way this was supposed to go, even if it was easier than what he had intended to do. "Still," he said again, more firmly, "you saved my life. In more ways than one. And ... I owe you."

Ren's smile stretched into a grin, and a suggestive one at that. "I like the sound of that. What did you have in mind?"

This time, he was able to return the smile, sure now that he could go through with it. "Actually, I was more interested in what you have in mind. Out here, you're the boss, remember?"

Her eyebrows flew up. "You mean it?"

He nodded. "Whatever you want."

"Anything?"

Something in the enthusiasm in her tone—while it was gratifying—made him nervous. "I ... think so?" He cleared his throat. "If you need a few minutes to think about it—"

"No. I know what I want." She pushed herself off the door, grabbing the nearest chair and shoving it under the doorknob, to make doubly sure they couldn't be interrupted. "And I intend to take my time about it."

The Iron Bull was already breathing hard just watching her—there was something different about her, more feline, more in control, more ... sexy. Damn, she was beautiful.