When Fate Summons (a Dragon Age fanfiction)

Don't Be Cruel

When the door closed behind Teagan, Dorothea turned to Alistair, her fists clenched at her sides. "If you think you can talk me out of your hair, the way you did the others, you can think again," she said threateningly.

He sank into the Grand Cleric's chair. "Pretty interesting that you're still taking that tone with me. Look around you, Dorothea. You've got no support left."

"I don't need support! I'm the Queen!"

"Yes, you're the Queen. And you gave birth to the heir to the throne. No one's forgotten that. I haven't forgotten that, which is why you're standing there and not being hauled off to Fort Drakon in chains."

Dorothea's mouth popped open in outrage.

Alistair leaned forward, his face set sternly. "You conspired to depose the King. That, my Queen, is treason. And the punishment for treason ..." He let the words hang in the air unsaid.

Her face paled slightly, and she took a small step backward. "You wouldn't."

"Perhaps I wouldn't. But I could. I would be completely within my rights." He stood up, his fists planted on the desk. "And don't think I haven't thought about it! It's not just my rule and my life that you placed in jeopardy. You jeopardized my son, my daughter, and our country's foremost hero."

"Hero," Dorothea scoffed. "Your whore! Your ugly dwarf whore!"

She'd never seen his eyes so black, and there was pure rage in the look he gave her. "Call her that again and I will kill you myself," he said. His voice betrayed the tight control he held himself in, and Dorothea backed up more. For the first time, she saw the powerful warrior in him, and it frightened her. Alistair closed his eyes, flexing his hands and taking deep breaths. When he was calm again, he looked at her. There was sorrow in his eyes and regret in his voice when he spoke again. "You have no call to think of her that way. You have no idea what she sacrificed to give you the marriage you deserved."

"The marriage I deserved?" Dorothea couldn't believe what she was hearing, and her outrage overcame her fear. "I deserved a husband who dreamed of his dwarf lover while he was in bed with me, who ran off to be with her, not even bothering to hide it? You made me the laughingstock of Ferelden!"

"You made yourself the laughingstock," Alistair snapped. "With your jealousy and insecurity. I was faithful to you from the day I agreed to marry you until ... well, until just a few days ago."

"You expect me to believe that?"

"When have I ever lied to you?" He leaned forward, his eyes holding hers intently. "I have been honest with you from the start, and you have always insisted on believing there was more that I wasn't telling you. For the last time, Dorothea, there wasn't. I was completely faithful to you during our marriage. But somewhere along after Duncan was born, you stopped treating me as a husband. You decided you didn't want to try for another child, you decided you didn't want to share my bed, and what we had stopped being a marriage." He took a deep breath. "You don't love me now, if you ever did—you don't even like me. And I'm tired of taking the brunt of your anger and disappointment."

"So what, then?"

Alistair shrugged. "As you know, I have a shortened life span due to being a Grey Warden. I'm going to spend the time I have left with the woman I love."

"Good luck with that. Or have you forgotten that we are still married?"

"Not for long. Make no mistake, Dorothea, our marriage will be annulled. And quickly, too. You were never fit to be Queen of Ferelden—I shouldn't have chosen you."