Áine is a mage from Kinloch Tower. She was there during the blight and had Cullen as one of her acquaintances.
She fell in love with him but was too shy to say something about it. Nevertheless, he was in love with her friend Amell and didn't know sh...
Cullen had decided to go with Áine in this mission. Now he regrets the decision.
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Cullen was staring at Áine. His sword pierced through her body. He could feel her fingers on his and the warmth of her blood on his naked hand. Blood started dripping from her chin when she called his name.
He watched her fall to her knees and then give him a toothy smile.
"You did it. You finally killed me!" Her laughter was loud and high pitched. "Giving me a scar wasn't enough. I knew this was your deepest desire."
He thrust the sword deeper into her body until she stopped moving. He withdrew it and watched her body fall to the dirty ground.
He felt a hand on his shoulder turning him away from her, and that was when time slowed around him.
The villagers' screams or the sound of wood burning coming from the houses never reached his ears. The chilly touch of the first snowflakes on his skin was unfelt. He didn't see the gray smoke rising toward the sky. The smell of smoke filling his lungs was matched by the metallic one.
He didn't notice the sword falling off of his hand or the tears on his face. Gravity pulled him down, nailing his knees to the ground, and his fingers brushed the blood-stained earth.
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Leliana had assigned Áine and her brothers to this mission. Their goal was to find and kill the Therinfal Redoubt Demon. They had a lot of experience in tracking things down, so this would be nothing unusual. But this time, things weren't as they usually were, Cullen decided to join them, and her mind was working non-stop.
The trip there was more than pleasant. Everyone was getting along fine, and Cullen even let his guard down around her brothers. In one of the nights, Cullen, Finley, and the twins played some Wicked Grace rounds until she had to drag him to their tent. In the days he wasn't discussing battle tactics with Nevan, he was teaching the boy how to use a sword and a shield.
The nights were dedicated to her. For them.
After what had happened on their last morning in Skyhold, Cullen told her he thought they should slow things down. She asked if she had done something wrong, but he chuckled and assured her it had been more than he had wished and that he hoped he hadn't scared her, but he was afraid things would progress too quickly, and he wanted her to be sure she wanted that. She wanted him.
Áine opened her mouth to say that he was all she wanted, but she remembered the scars on her lower belly, and anxiety spoke higher.
Their evenings consisted of her reading cheesy novels with him and them laughing at the ridiculous clichés. Cullen telling her about his childhood memories or simply lying there, silently in each other's arms.
She once feared the silent moments between them, but not anymore. She knew the silence was another way of communicating. It meant they were comfortable enough with each other to speak through fingers, eyes, and lips.
