It’s so fluffy!!! One adorably cute puppy in the arms of a very happy Fereldan coming up!! @dadrunkwriting Fluffy fluff fluff ahead!
Rubbing the bridge of his nose, Cullen sighed heavily. it had been an intensive few days setting about the delegates for both the Fereldan and Orelsian nobles arriving for Josephine’s little soiree. This was the twelfth revision of the list and he’d made it a personal quest to vet each name out personally. Flopping down in his chair he leaned his head back over the neck rest. Closing his eyes for a brief moment he was trying to force the ache from between his eyes.
“Commander!” Diana’s voice rang out and he instantly snapped forward in response. “Yes, what is it?” He rolled his neck and let the soft popping sooth him. “Come to the courtyard, it’s an emergency!” There was a shrillness to her voice he wasn’t used to and half in a blind panic he raced from his seat and out the door.
His feet barely hit the steps as he raced down the side of the battlements, “Inquisitor, what…”
“Arf!”
In her hands sat the smallest creature he’d ever laid eyes on, but one he knew well. “That’s…. That’s a….”
“Mabari. I’ve always heard such incredible things about them. Their breeder informed me that they don’t imprint until they reach maturity. Would you care to hold this little one?” Diana held out the tiny pup, her lips curled up in a mischievous grin. When Cullen didn’t move she slowly took his hand, opened his palm and laid the little beast inside. It barely fit in the palm of his hand and his heart melted, “hello there little one.” He smiled, carefully stroking it’s head with his finger. “He can’t be older than couple weeks. Who…”
“Leliana thought about looking into a few Mabari to shore up the defenses. Something about their unshakable loyalty to their companion and their intelligence. She mentioned the Hero of Fereldan had one and how she used to bathe it.” Diana licked her bottom lip into her mouth and grinned as Cullen began toying with the small pup, letting him nip and chew upon his gloved finger.
“Excellent plan. I approve.” He wiggled his finger watching the small face as he tried to nip the moving target. “Good boy. You’re a quick learner.”
“Wonderful news Commander,” Diana practically squealed the next line, “then you are in charge of dealing with it.” Even though she’d said the words, Cullen hadn’t heard them. His complete focus was the little ruddy face staring up at him with the most keen eyes. “You will be such a good soldier one day.” At his words the pup seemed to perk up, trying his best to sit in a straight pose.
Diana sighed, watching the man she loved turned into a puddle of adorable mush over the tiny creature. Standing a few minutes more she wanted to lock the memory in before hard times came interrupting them again.
I wanted to celebrate the start of fall with some Cullen and Inquisitor
sexy times. Told in a rare for me first person POV, the Inquisitor and
Cullen take a small holiday to a cabin out in the woods. When he comes
in from a long day tending to the woods, he sweeps his love into his
arms and carts her off to bed.
Motes of dust struck the golden light streaking through autumnal leaves. I watched each one’s sparkling fall as they came to rest upon the log pile beside the door. My focus should have been upon the book in my fingers, my body stretched across a divan to get into the perfect reading position. A cup of cinnamon tea cooled behind my head, masked by the leather throw pillow. While the creeping chill of oncoming winter circled the floorboards of the cabin, I ignored it. The cashmere sweater snuggling against my skin and piling at my wrists was certainly helping.
Licking my thumb, I moved to turn the page before realizing I once again failed to read it. Maker take me, but this cursed tome was dense. Squaring my shoulders, I prepared to dive in deep when the heavenly scent of the forest wafted on the breeze. An earthy but sweet musk, it sang of summer’s overgrowth entering its next stage of slumber. Ripping through the senescence of the rust-colored sky came the piquant acrid smoke of leaves burning to ash.
He’d been at it most of the morning, dressed in his thick cotton shirt to stave off the early dew. I gulped at the thought of Cullen having to break open the buttons in the autumn sun to reveal his white undershirt clinging to the hard-wrought sweat drenching his muscles. No doubt some would scoff at the Commander of the Inquisition breaking his back to try and tame the excess foliage, but Cullen seemed content.
At least until a crow flitted into the trees and seemed determined to harass him. I could hear the caws breaking from outside, and on occasion, Cullen shouting at the ‘Blighted thing’ to ‘shove off.’ Stretching my legs, the hem of the oversized sweater rose to display my lower thigh. Scandalous for the Inquisitor, but she was left behind at Skyhold. Hung up on the rack along with the armor bearing the eye. Here, it was simply me, a golden cabin creaking with fall’s perfect winds, and a man.
Also, a damn book I needed to finish. Digging deeper into the throng of gerunds and participles, I barely looked up at the whine of the screen door. It slammed back into place, trying to distract me, but nothing would. I was determined in my course. I would see this…
“What are you reading?”
Sigh. I wanted to be cross, but — slipping a finger between the pages — I glanced up and couldn’t be. His bullheaded yard work turned the golden lion of Skyhold dewey, the man nearly glistening head to toe. His sandy hair was adrift and mussed to one side, leaving my fingers aching to wrestle it back in place. The scruff that delighted damn near every woman who saw him was nearing a beard. While some would probably laugh at it, Cullen’s lighter hair leaning towards the splotchy look, I found myself enthralled with the barbaric feel of the fur scratching against my skin.
Here, in the woods, there was no political grandstanding, no ruffs, no corsets. Just a man, a woman, and no one around for miles to hear what that combination could get up to.
Cullen drew the back of his hand over his forehead, trying to wipe away the soot built up from the cremated leaves. It sort of worked, smearing off his face at least, and I had a better concept of what he’d look like as a brunette. Not my ideal. Those amber eyes that flickered through my mind like a candle in the dark honed in. He really wanted an answer.
They lay
in bed, both on the verge of sleep. Rayne lay on top of Cullen, their bodies
molded together, her head resting on his chest listening to the sound of his
heart beat while he gently brushed his fingers up and down her back.
She opened
her eyes pulling her mind from the welcoming grasp of the Fade and looked up
into Cullen’s face. The look of contentment and the smile made him look younger.
Her eyes followed the line of his lips and stopped at the scar the graced the
top.
“Where did
you get it?” She asked.
Cullen
hummed slowly in response. “Get what?” His voice heavy with sleep.
Rayne
reached forward and gently slid her fingers from the top of his lip going up.
“This.”
He blinked
rapidly trying to wake himself up and looked down at her hand. “You’ve never
asked about it before.” His words slightly muffled from her hand over his face.
She
shrugged. “I don’t really pay much attention to it. It’s just… part of you.”
She shrugged again and pulled her hand away putting it under her chin so she
wasn’t digging into his ribs. “You don’t have to tell me if you don’t want.”
Cullen
awkwardly cleared his throat. “There’s nothing to tell.”
She tilted
her head as she noted the slight reddening of the tips of his ears. A slow
smile came to her face. “Oh?”
He was now
refusing to meet her gaze, as if that would keep his ears from getting redder.
It wasn’t working. In fact, that blush was now spotting his cheeks.
“Oh, I
think there is.” Her voice teasing. “And now I need to know, if your blush is any indication.”
Cullen
covered his face with his arm and groaned. “Maker’s Breath, can we just forget
about this?”
Rayne gave
a dark chuckle. “No. I don’t think so.” When he still didn’t say anything she
kissed his bare chest. “Come now, Cullen. It can’t be as bad as you’re making it
out to be.” She gave another kiss.
He took a
deep breath and exhaled slowly, and then lowered his arm to look down at her. “You
really want to know?”
She nodded
and rested her chin back on him, waiting in anticipation.
“You have
to swear that you won’t laugh.”
Rayne
rolled her eyes, “I swear I won’t laugh.”
He studied
her a moment and then sighed again. “It was during Kirkwall’s restoration. I
hadn’t been getting a lot of sleep at the time, whether because of no time or
my mind wouldn’t calm down enough to fall asleep.”
Rayne had
been dealing with her own problems at that time, she never saw Kirkwall after
everything that happened. Between the Chantry’s destruction at the hands of an
apostate, the battle between mages and Templars at the Gallows and the few
remaining Qunari trying to take advantage of the upheaval it had to of been
utter chaos. She had heard of the riots and now thought that Cullen had received
the scar from that.
The pink
returned to Cullen’s cheeks, “I, uh… I was in my room trying to calm my mind by
polishing my shield. It almost worked; the action was making me drowsy.” He
cleared his throat. “I may have even fallen asleep for a short time… before one
of the Templars from Starkhaven burst into the room.”
He paused
and Rayne waited patiently trying to piece together the end of the story.
“I… may
have panicked… a little. I fumbled with my shield and brought it up a bit too
fast and hard…”
Rayne
blinked at him a moment. “Wait, are you telling me… you bashed your shield into
your face?”
The
diversion of his eyes was confirmation enough.
Then
something else came to her. “The Starkhaven Templar, it wouldn’t have happened
to be Captain Rylen, would it?”
Cullen
sighed as if in pain. “Yes.”
Rayne bit
her lip, trying to keep the smile from forming on her face. But she couldn’t
quite keep the shake from coming to her body.
His gaze
went back to her and glared. “I swore you wouldn’t laugh.”
“I’m not.”
But the lie wouldn’t stick, her voice laced with laughter.
His ears and
chest were scarlet with either embarrassment or indignation. Or perhaps both.
“I’m
sorry, Cullen.” She couldn’t contain it anymore and started laughing. “But of
all the things that ran through my head, you smashing your shield in your face
and gaining that scar was not one of
them.”
“Imagine
how I felt…” He grumbled.
With a
grin she asked, “Why didn’t you get a healer to repair it? It wouldn’t have
left a scar that way.”
He rubbed
his face trying to dispel his embarrassment. “I didn’t want to have to explain
how it happened.”
Rayne
snorted with laughter. “And Rylen?”
“It took a
bit for me to be able to look him in the eye again.”
She buried
her face in his chest to keep from bursting out in laughter by picturing poor
Cullen’s face red from the shield and embarrassment and bleeding.
Cullen humped in annoyance.
Rayne took
a deep breath burying any more laughter and looked up at him. He was no longer
red with humiliation but he was now sulking.
She tilted
her head and moved up to be eye level with him. “Well, I’ll have to thank Rylen
the next to I see him.”
Cullen
raised an eyebrow and looked at her in question.
She kissed
his scar. “It is rather sexy.”
He was trying
hard to stay upset with her, but the slight twitching at the corners of his
lips gave him away.
“We’ll
just say you got it fighting a bear.” She said with a small laugh and kissed
him.
I think I missed lots of Cullen thirst events lately, makes me so sad T^T So here I am trying to catch up with the thirst train. This one was inspired by @cullenvhenan ‘s post aaaageees ago. Can’t say no to Cullen wearing tight body hugging shirt 😉
An excerpt of self-indulgent smut before I focus solely on plot for 5-6 chapters:
“Cullen,” she said, somehow managing to both draw out the word and enunciate it perfectly.
That was when he realized he wasn’t listening anymore, had stopped his ministrations on her hand and was just holding it like a fool. Flushing with embarrassment, Cullen lifted his head. The automatic apology died on his lips when he found her evergreen eyes burning with something he’d only seen flashes of. Believing in that look was a terrible idea, but he couldn’t stop himself.
Evelyn leaned forward, and he let his eyes fall shut; shivered when lips gently brushed against his.
“Maker’s Breath, Evelyn,” he murmured, wrapping a hand around the back of her neck to keep her close. Cullen could feel her breath against his mouth. “What are you doing to me?”
Mayerine 