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She could smell the corruption in the very air. Corypheus' blighted form was everywhere - even the very sky was stained with red.
Corpses littered the ground, as far as she could see. Above, the Rift had all but torn the sky apart. The faces of the dead stared back up at her with their whitened eyes, wordlessly accusing her of failing the one mission fate had granted her. Some of the faces were of those she had called friends and companions.
The first to fall was Sera. She had panicked, firing off all her arrows until she was left defenseless against a Despair demon's scythe. It was only known to be Sera by the bloody plaidweave on her legs.
Solas took a demon's attack for the Inquisitor, and it went through his chest. His eyes still stared at the sky, still full of despair.
Varric was ambushed by the abomination formerly known as Vivienne; he was only recognizable by the crossbow he was clutching, finger still fixed on the trigger. Bianca's payload had embedded itself in Vivienne's eye socket.
Blackwall had been finished off in a long, bloody battle with a twisted hybrid of Templar and red lyrium. The Templar's sword had found its way into his belly, but he managed to break the Templar's neck before he perished.
Dorian exhausted his mana trying to fight off a pride demon, but failed. Before it could possess him, he fell on his own staff.
The Iron Bull and Cassandra had fallen very close to each other, and between them was an oversized hat and a bloody dagger. The other dagger was still embedded between the Qunari's vertebrae.
The Inquisitor's mouth became bitterly dry at the sight, and her face soaked in equally bitter tears. Her heart felt as though it would crush itself from within under the weight of her grief and guilt. The hands that could not save them curled into tight, stone-like fists. The knees that held up what was left of her gave way, and she sank to the ground with her anguish pouring into the sky in a wail.
"Yes, Herald..." hissed a familiar voice that curdled her blood.
She turned her head, but did not look up at the figure standing above her.
Corypheus only dealt a slap of his hand to her face, casting her back against the dirt. "This is how you should die. Alone. Helpless. In the throes of your despair." That same hand came down to take the mage by her Anchored wrist and hoist her up, like he did before at the battle of Haven. "Take it in, Asaaranda Adaar. Let these last visions haunt your thoughts as my dragon devours you alive."
She said nothing in her own defense. There was nothing she could say. She had failed all of them.
It only took a fling of Corypheus' wrist to send her flying toward the Archdemon's jaws.
* * * * *
There was a loud slam.
She awoke to find herself still entangled in fine Rivaini cotton sheets. Her hair hung in disheveled white tendrils around her horns, pulled out of its usual knot. There was something decidedly heavy pinning the sheets down. She followed the weight with her eyes, raising her head to find a wide horned visage in her blurring view.
"Bull...?" she asked aloud, still barely able to form a coherent thought.
"Hey," a familiar voice rumbled back as his weight shifted from leaning over her. "It's alright now, kadan." he informed her, surprisingly gentle concern in his otherwise gruff voice. "You're safe. Promise." A large grey hand came to rest on her shoulder, offering a comforting rub with the meat of his thumb.
The Inquisitor found herself embarrassingly lost for words. As much as these nightmares tormented her, she had grown more than ill of them. It was still a bruise to her pride for Bull to see her in such a vulnerable state. Reflexively, she had tried to steel herself the moment she saw him, but that hand of his had a way of breaking right through that steel.
"You don't have to talk about it," he reassured her, scooting closer and resting his other hand on her back. "Just know that whatever it is that's giving you trouble in there, all you need to do is say the word and I will march right in there and kick its ass." Before she could respond, he subtly squeezed her shoulder to keep her attention. "And if I'm dead in there already, I will get right back up on my feet, and then march right in there and kick its ass. Harder this time, because now I'm really pissed off."
Just listening to the mercenary voice his challenge to what she knew was Corypheus was enough to bring a rare hidden smile to her face. The embrace he offered brought some tangible reality to his promise to ensure her safety. She was well aware that the Qunari kept love and sex divided, but there was something in Iron Bull's presence she craved more deeply than what he had offered. She buried her face into the cleft of his chest, hugging him around his heavy girth until her hands tugged at the skin of his back.
Those powerful arms at last completed a circle around Asaaranda, and he rested his chin between her horns, as if to shelter her from the storm in her mind. "C'mere, I gotcha." One hand was left to rub her back, spreading the warmth and strength of his touch to more of her sense. His next few breaths came out with deep, rumbling sighs, some ending in little growls. "Mmm...You need something nicer to dream about, I think." The patterns of his thoughts led him to a grin that bared his fangs, and he lowered his head onto her shoulder so his lips rested right next to her ear. "Like me slamming you up against a wall..." he let the tender threat roll out from deep in his chest to ensnare her vivid imagination. "...Stripping you bare until nothing is left to hide you from my eye."
The blood rushed to the surface of her cheeks, staining them a deep burgundy. Just the sound of his husky breaths had raised the hairs on the back of his neck. Now, with this teasing of words alone, he had blurred her eyes with interest. Ordinarily, she would challenge him, but she still had not regained much of her stamina or ability to focus. To answer his offer with approval with what abilities she did have, she lifted a hand to cup the edge of his jaw. "Go on," she requested, her voice still croaking from fatigue.
That grin of his was now wide enough to bare all his teeth. "Then...I have my way with you. You probably saw that coming...but you have no idea how." His eye, ears, and senses were all tuned on her body, to measure her reactions to his promises. "Oh, you can guess... but you'd never be able to...and you know I'd never tell. Not until I actually decide you deserve to know. And..." He took that opportunity to leave his mark on her neck with a slow snarl against her skin. "Actions speak louder than words," he vibrated, his teeth still gently gripping her.
Asa found herself unable to bite back a rather sharp gasp. It was his voice just as much, if not more than, the bite that made her heart race. There was certain desire burning under her skin, but she was still barely able to hold her head up. "B-Bull, I--"
That bite dissolved into much less rough strokes of his lips against the new dark spot. "...Tired, kadan?" he asked, his voice losing some of its gruffness. With his arms still around her, he leaned back toward the head of the bed.
She offered no resistance to the idea of lying down again. "...Yeah," she confessed, rolling onto her side and letting her head fall against the middle of his chest. "Besides...listening to you talk about it just gets my blood flowing."
The former Ben-Hassrath chuffed, letting his hand slide down to pat her backside. "Alright, then. Rain check it is. You need all the rest you can get." The same hand wandered up to the small of her back, subtly coaxing her to turn so her body lay flush with his. Once she had done so, he let his arms come down around her and his chin rest, once again, between her horns. "I'm not gonna let you deal with that Corypheus asshole alone, reality or no," he reassured her, offering tender rubs to her lower stomach with one hand while the other sought out hers to hold. "No matter what happens, anyone who wants to fuck with you's gonna have to come through the Bull first, you got that?" A firm squeeze with both arms would hopefully drive his point home.
When she felt his hand travel down her arm, she grabbed at it immediately and let herself sink into his heat. His words, though, only brought her mind back to the sight of him dying in the future she had been fighting so hard to avoid. Her other hand cupped his, and she turned her face to bury it in his chest. Words were failing her again.
Another sigh rolled out of him from deep within his belly. As much as he wanted to help, her nightmares were no less than vexing; he didn't even remotely understand what it was like, and seeing the way they made her suffer only drove splinters into his heart and mind. "Listen to me, kadan, and listen good." he commanded with all the authority of a mercenary captain, but with his voice much softer than he'd have used in battle. "You are a strong woman. You've got the strength of heart and mind I'd expect from a Tamassran. Even with your magic, even with that weird-ass Anchor thing on your hand..." Cautiously, he stroked the back of her Anchor hand with his thumb. "You've still got your shit together. Then you throw in all the shit you've been through..." He had gone back to folding his arms over her and letting his chin slide down into the crook of her neck. "You went to the damn Fade, came back, and lived to tell the tale. You went to the future. Came back again." He kept his voice low, but his enthusiasm roared deep under it. "You faced the granddaddy of all Darkspawn and you not only survived that shit, you became ten times more badass in the space of a couple of weeks. You got yourself a damn fortress, soldiers, scouts, mages, piles of coin big enough to build an exact scale duplicate of Skyhold including the furniture, and the support of half of Thedas at your back."
With the hand missing two fingers, he took her chin and turned it so he could look her in the eye. "You are a force to be reckoned with, kadan. Do not doubt that for one damn second." A sudden idea sparked in his head enough to make his remaining eye light up. "...Hey, think about this. As scared of Corypheus as you are, he's that much more scared of you."
"...How do you figure?" asked the Inquisitor, up until then having been content to listen to his admiration and let him try his hand at driving away her inner demons.
He touched his lips to her neck, taking a moment to offer an affectionate nibble as he let his spy's instincts work. "Otherwise, he never would've given you a second thought. He wouldn't have personally come to Haven just to get rid of you. You are a threat to him. As long as you're alive, he's gotta watch his back, and he knows it. You've got something that rocks his world. The stronger you get, the more scared he gets. You gotta bring that right up to his front door. Show him nobody fucks with our Inquisitor." That wide, wicked smile of his appeared again, and he dropped his voice to a low purr from the gut. "Except me, of course."
A smile finally cracked through Asa's exhaustion. "I hope you're right." Turning her head just a bit allowed her to press her ear to the mercenary's broad chest. The heavy beats of his heart reverberated through her, grounding her senses in the places where they came together. She let out a relieved sigh against his neck.
He let a strong grey arm drape over her back, the tips of his remaining fingers trailing through short white hair. "I wouldn't have said it if I wasn't sure." The same hand made its way down to the curve of her waist, and he rested his chin against the crown of her head. "Don't you dare try to deal with this shit alone, though. That's too much to expect for anyone. This ideal Inquisitor you want to be so bad...she doesn't exist anywhere but inside your own head. To everyone else, you are the Inquisitor. You're already the one they need," he continued to reassure her, stopping every so often to let her take in his words. "You never went into this for power or glory, for one thing. You don't abuse the power you do have, beyond the usual perks of nicer threads, better food and the really good booze. You don't let it get to your head, and you're always doing shit to help out the little guy." He offered a tender slap to her backside, curling his fingers around its thickness. "You're damn scary when you have to be...but you're also one of the kindest people I've ever met."
Asaaranda found herself unable to fight back the tears that were forming at his words. She could only mutter his name under her breath, warming his shoulder with it.
Once he felt the wetness on his neck, he tightened his upper arms around her back. "Those people think you're sent by their Maker. They think you're the hottest shit since the Vints barbecued Andraste a thousand years ago." A touch of her cheek let him turn her gaze back up toward his. "They believe in you. And for what it's worth, kadan...so do I." He placed his forehead up against hers, staring into her eye. "I don't just mean the Inquisitor, either. I mean you. Asaaranda. The thunderstorm. The badass..." He punctuated his words with rhythmic, firm pats to her thigh. "Brave...brilliant...beautiful woman I know you are." With a playful sort of roughness, he rolled the both of them over and lifted himself up on a knee over the top of her, letting the weight of his belly bear down against hers. "And you better hope you know you are...or else you might be up for some..." His voice dropped into a sensual growl. "...Reeducation."
The rush of emotion and sense brought a flush to the Inquisitor's cheeks. Already, her imagination was thrashing at its bridle to run wild with what such a threat would entail. At the same time, though, his admiration of her only made her further desire his closeness. She tucked a hand in against his chest, under the pretense of pushing him away - her true intention was to place herself closer to his heart. "...You really think you can do that?" she asked, managing a cheeky smirk. "I don't go down easy, you know that."
He responded with a predatory grin that bared his canines. "Who said you're the one going down?" A primal rumble underscored his words as he lowered his lips to rest against her neck. "Trust me, kadan, I know. These skills haven't gone anywhere...I just don't have any rules left to tell me how to use them." He went silent long enough to leave a deep purple mark there, dragging his teeth lightly against her skin. "Mmh...and don't worry about how tired you are. By the time I'm done with you, you're gonna be out like a light." He did not wait for her to give her approval before going on, but remained on alert for her refusal every second. While she was pinned under his weight, he tore open her robes with an impatient grunt.
For all her earlier sass, Asa's vocabulary had already been reduced to little more than wordless noises. "B-bull..." she murmured, on reflex, going to reach for him.
A large, muscular arm instantly pinned down her wrists above her head. "Uh-uh, kadan," he rumbled, a wicked twinkle in his remaining eye. "We still have rules here...just the ones I set." He took her chin in his other hand, taking her chin and making her look him in the eye. "Rule number one..." he started with a deep purr as he took a roll of silk braided rope from behind the mattress on her side. "I decide when you get to use your hands." Before she had the chance to resist, he lashed her wrists to the nearby bedpost with coils firm enough to hold her, but not strong enough to harm her. "Rule number two..." With a breathy growl, he offered a light bite to the skin of her breast, sucking it until it bruised and vibrating pleasure through his lips. "There is no rule number two. Just lay back and enjoy the ride." Just to add to his display of dominance, he took a moment to pin her down under his weight as he had done before, this time resting his forehead against hers and closing the distance between their breaths.
It was rare that he kissed her like this - lips in full contact with hers, teeth gripping tenderly at her lower, a quiet growl of passion stirring at the back of his throat. Even when their sizes were so close, he had a way of virtually enveloping her in his presence. Already, her arms wanted to embrace him - it was only then she remembered she was still tied. Her bosom rose and fell more rapidly than before, and she gave as much of herself to him as he allowed in that instant. His size trapped a layer of heat between them, most of it bearing down on her together with the noises he was making and making her let out heavy, short sighs as if she were traveling through a Par Vollen rain forest.
He let out another slow grumble, this one a bit more bestial, as he pulled his lips away from hers and went back to her neck, there to leave a deep purple mark, a reminder of his presence. "Kadan..." he whispered, the word bubbling up from deep in his gut to slip, smooth as silk, into her ear as he pinned her down with both arms, fingers pressed against her shoulders until the skin turned marble white. "I'm about to make some changes to that big vocabulary of yours. When I'm done with you, you're only gonna know two words..." His lips spread wide into a wicked, almost predatory, grin as he gazed right into her eye. "Yes, and Please." Before she could respond, he went in for a rough, biting kiss to her throat, through which he let a vibration pass from deep in his chest so it could be felt inside her.
On reflex, tears streamed from her eyes - not from pain, but from glazing over with the headiness of sense and nightmare-induced exhaustion. Her tired limbs merely wanted to lay there and rest, but the humors in her blood were starting to stir into fire. She let out a softly vocal sigh, swallowing against his lips and attempting to take a breath.
The instant he felt her want for air, he pulled away and flashed her a teasing smirk. "Mmm...out of breath already, kadan?" He let out a low chuckle, adjusting her position so she could look down at herself. "How about I help you with that?" He delivered a sudden, firm, but careful bite to the skin of her breast.
A gasp made Asa's chest swell, and colors danced in her vision. Her fingers writhed and twisted against her bindings, and she couldn't help but let out a low moan. "Ow..." she whined, against the ache of the fresh bite.
Bull couldn't help but crack a smile at the sound, though it was surprisingly soft. With a deep, hearty chuckle, he offered a more tender nibble to a spot nearby, pressing his teeth into but not breaking the skin. "What's the matter, kadan? A little...bite..." His canines were at last allowed to gently pierce her flesh. but not enough to actually make her bleed. "Nngh...too much for you?"
The shock of pain made the Inquisitor let out a mild yelp, her eyes screwing shut and filling with tears. The adrenaline rush that followed, however, sent a heady shiver up her spine that made her eyes roll back and a sigh bubble out from her lips. She opened her eyes completely, staring down at him and twisting her wrists in the bindings as the marked one began to glow. "...Are you kidding?" she asked, a curl in her lips. "I've gone up against dragons, demons, and Void knows what else. You really think a little nibbling is too much for me?"
He responded with another, louder laugh as he kissed the bitten spot. "Mmm, that's what I thought." Moving on to the spot just below her breasts, he dragged his tongue along the inner edge of her rib cage as his hands took over her breasts and squeezed them against one another, savoring their suppleness and warmth. "You know, long time ago, I said you had fantastic tits." To further zero his point, he took a nipple into his mouth and sucked it stiff, with a rather animalistic grunt of satisfaction. "I meant every word," he growled into her chest as he moved over to the other nipple, leaving the one that he had sucked with a purple ring around it.
His work on her breasts brought forth a series of soft sighs and sharp gasps as her senses wound up to their peak. A brief spasm took her over from head to toe, and she let out an involuntary moan. His voice alone had a part in it, with the way it rolled up from his heavy gut like the thunder she named herself after. Appropriate, considering that what he did to her body was nothing less than electrifying.
"Ooh," he purred into her breast, letting it fall free from his lips. "You look like you've been hit by lightning, kadan." It seemed deliberate, the way he slowed his speech and let it carry up through his chest before finally forming it into words. "Fortunately for you, I strike way more than just twice." He gave another one of those deep, booming laughs as he gave her breasts one final squeeze before he moved on to her stomach.
Asa had gone completely silent, and her gaze became fixed, as if hypnotized, by Bull's voice and visage. She barely remembered to blink, now that endorphins were pumping through her blood. All she desired to do now was lie there while he did his best work on her, stirring every muscle and nerve in her body to that one final moment of total sensory bliss.
He began with a stroke of the tip of his tongue down from her rib cage, over the soft swell of her belly, a gesture he repeated on the other side. "Nngh," he growled in relish, "I can taste your excitement, Asaaranda." Very rarely did he say her full name, but when he did, he said it with a perfect rolling timbre that rumbled out from his chest. "...And it is delicious." To make his point even clearer, he gripped a section of flesh in his teeth and left another violet mark there. Even as he was pleasuring her, though, he kept his senses tuned sharply to her body's signals - her eyes were glassing over and her heart was throbbing.
"...Kadan," he whispered, much more gently than the voice he used to dominate her, "...Number?" he asked, pulling up and watching her. The number he referred to was between one and five, an indicator of Asa's relative feeling of safety and desire.
His call for her status made her blink away the dryness in her eyes, and a hard shiver sent audible chills through her body. "Huh?...oh. Uh..." It took a moment to reel her mind back into coherence - quite reluctantly, as she had just started to drift into her pleasure space. "..Four," she finally uttered, drawing in a breath to sink back into the sea of her senses. This time, she let her eyes close completely and focused only on the tactile stimulation he provided.
Bull acknowledged her response with a throaty chuckle. "Good to hear. Now..." He let every syllable rise up from his chest and pour out in a whisper against her neck. "Where did I leave off?" he asked, letting his eye rove over her naked form. "Oh. Right." Before going on, he took her chin in his hand and made her look him in the eye. "I am going to make you come so hard and so many times that you won't even remember your own name, let alone that dream. You will writhe and scream until you are breathless and every muscle aches with lust."
If he wanted her breathless, he didn't have far to go. The moment he touched her chin, her breath froze solid in her throat. Her eyes widened and wandered back to focus on his, but that canine-baring grin of his caught her gaze and kept it. In that moment, she could empathize with a halla making eye contact with a hunting drake moments before the scaled lizard pounced. Grey knuckles turned white as her fists tightened and wrists pressed against one another. The thunder of her heart was tangible in her head, and the brief moment she squinted her eyes made flashes of light dance behind the lids. A recognizable heat traveled down from her chest into the storm brewing in her belly, from which trickled the first drops of a carnal rain.
Pale eyebrows knitted together with impatient thirst, and the muscles of her arms swelled and tensed. "...Stop talking about what you're going to do to me and just do it, would you?" she protested; she knew full well he would almost certainly deny her, but she never had much ability to resist her own instincts.
That smile of his broke into a full bout of deep laughter. At last, he was pushing her limits. That defiant Vashoth saarebas would be surrendering to his will soon enough. When at last he regained his breath, he leaned in to rest his forehead against hers so she had no choice but to look in his eye. Once he had her full attention, he made a lurid display of licking his lips. "Mmm...soon, kadan...very soon." With that, he latched his teeth onto her neck, sinking the sharper tips in until they broke soft silver skin. Satisfied with his work, he ran his tongue over the shallow wounds. "I want to taste a little more of you, first."
She wasn't surprised by his response, but it did not stop her from whining against his sampling of her flesh. "...You bastard," she hissed as the muscles of her thighs pressed against one another for want of relief. With her wrists trussed together, though, there was little she could do except wait for his whim. Weariness had also begun to set in on her tolerance. "...I'm getting tired," she complained, "You ought to hurry up before I fall asleep."
It was cute, he thought, the way she thought she was making a threat. "Kadan," he purred, his voice taking a steely edge as his hands traveled down over her breasts, giving them a little squeeze as they came down to fit into the curve of her waist. "I was a Ben-Hassrath. I know how to keep someone just on the edge of consciousness for days." There was a mild growl underscoring those words - it wasn't something he was terribly proud of, in truth. "If I wanted to, I could make you beg for me to let you rest." Before he could worry her enough to ruin their mood, he applied a dissonantly soft kiss to the soft spot below her rib cage. "But that's not what we're trying to do here," he explained, letting the harshness leave his tone for a moment. "You /need/ rest, and I intend to give it to you. But..." He paused, resting his chin against her belly and looking up toward her with mischief gleaming in his eye. "...We've got some unfinished business to attend to."
"Yeah, yeah," the Inquisitor rumbled, her voice carrying a fatigued, yet playful, fry. "Are you gonna do your job, or am I gonna have to come up there and make you?" Hearing her own voice in such a state, though, made her heart skip beats hard enough to arouse her senses and banish her weariness for a time. All the better for her, anyhow; her need for him mounted with every heaving breath.
Now we're talking, Bull thought. Her new challenge only tempted him to push her patience to its absolute final strand. A deep, devilish laugh rolled out from his belly, ending with a hum of pleasure. He loved when his partners began to make demands - it meant it wouldn't be long at all before he had them begging. Softly, he clicked his tongue in mock pity. "Oooh, kadan..." he teased, "You have no idea what I have in store for you. You'll be remembering this night for a good long time," he said as he leaned over her enough to block out the light from the stars outside. His hands left her skin for a moment, and he pressed them into the bed at her sides to keep himself in position. This posture had another purpose, though: He was making a point of not allowing himself to touch her, instead leaving her to want for that sensual contact. He would be so close, enough for her to feel his heavy breath and body heat, enough to smell his potent musk, enough to hear his heart pumping out a primal beat, but he would not let her have that which she desired most. Not yet.
Asa's next breath burrowed its way into her breast and curled up there until it grew hot. She could no longer even so much as blink, he had her so transfixed. Her eyes glazed over in the cool, dry air, blurring her vision until he became a great grey shadow. The mana crackling beneath her skin shot up to the decorative copper caps on the tips of her horns, creating a brief arc of electricity. Remembering this talent of hers brought a much-needed burst of defiance, and she raised an eyebrow at his taunts. "...You do know I can still electrocute you with a thought, right?" A writhe of her wrists beckoned his attention to them. "Just because you've got me tied up like this doesn't mean I can't make you do what I want." To drive her point home, she channeled a mild shock right to the base of his spine and willed it to travel up every bone.
His thick back muscles tightened in time with the current, causing him to let out a louder groan that ended in a heady, shuddering sigh. It took a significant amount of his strength to keep from losing his balance and falling on top of her. With a smaller partner, he might have had cause to worry, but the Vashoth woman's size meant at worst, she would have the wind knocked out of her and, perhaps, her arms tugged until they ached. When his head finally stopped spinning, he drew in a grounding breath and took note of the way his heart now throbbed wildly. Something else, it seemed, was also quite noticeably throbbing. The mild rush of pain quickly faded out into a rush of adrenaline that ended in a virile grunt and a shake of his head like the beast he had named himself after. "Hnngh, that might just get me going even more." He bore down on her just enough for his erection to press through his pants against her stomach. "See what you did to me?" he asked, with a transparently mock tone of coyness. "We're gonna have to do something about this, aren't we?" His canines gleamed as he bore them at her, determined to drag out her torment until she could stand no more.
The Vashoth's gut clamped around her heart as she felt the hard bulge rubbing against the soft flesh below her navel. His size never failed to marvel her - already, she remembered the feeling of having him inside her. He would start slowly, parting her lips and entering her, thrusting deeper and deeper until he reached her full depth. Then, he'd drag her by her legs to the edge of the bed, where he'd force them apart and make her lie back while he pumped his hips against hers, filling her full of his girth. As he reached the peak of excitement, he would make his enjoyment quite well-known with feral noises and filthy words before releasing it all with a roar of victory. He was going to ravish her. He was going to have his way with her, and she knew it. Any fatigue that had been there before had been flushed away by her sharpened senses and the gnawing anticipation.
Not that she'd give in without a fight. A bit of squirming allowed her to work her legs out from under him, and she lifted them to his sides and pressed her thighs against the meat of his waist.
"Whoa-ho-ho-ho!" Before she could hold on to him, he rolled out of her grip and grabbed her knees, pinning them open. Some artful positioning of his arms let him hold her legs apart with his elbows while he squeezed her thighs, appreciating their thickness and strength. "Someone's getting impatient." There was that teasing tone of his again, and he softly clicked his tongue. "That's just too bad, Kadan. I'm gonna have to teach you a few lessons tonight, at this rate." Dipping down to the side of the bed, he retrieved a pair of Asa's own belts. "First...lets make sure you don't try that again." Bending her legs up, he folded each one at the knee and laced them in that position, each with a single belt pulled snug but not tight enough to injure her. With his hands now free, he used them to pin her bound wrists to the wall behind her. "A dangerous girl like you ought to be kept under control. I swear, I can't even give you an inch, can I?"
The speed and force with which he subdued her left Asa sweating and breathless. Her thigh and calf muscles pressed against one another as the strips of dragon leather held her fast. With her wrists and legs now securely tied down, she was all but completely at the Bull's mercy. All, that is, except for her tongue. "You could try giving me twelve," she taunted, in the hope that she would get lucky and be able to goad him into satisfying her.
Dangerous, he called her. Saarebas. A word that, out of any other mouth, would chill her blood. But he was the one who said it. He, who was just as dangerous. He, declared Tal-Vashoth for choosing his family over his entire world. He, who even believed himself to be doomed to go mad.
They were both dangerous. They were both perfect for each other. In her own way, she had won a small but decisive victory against the Qun - the agent they had sent to spy on her now belonged to her. More importantly, she belonged to him.
Bull let out a full, sinister belly laugh as his thumbs traced the waistband of his pants. "Ooh, that's not a bad idea." He began to pull the cloth away from his skin, slowly folding it down and sliding it down his thighs. At last, he revealed his swollen shaft and gripped it from the base, directing it at her. "You must really want this..." With a pace calculated to drive Asa wild with anticipation, he slid his hand from the base of his cock to the head, but only once - he dare not let himself show weaknesses she could exploit. "I bet you want it inside you, don't you? No...you need it," he growled, the muscles of his stomach tightening and tensing against his arousal.
Asa gulped loud enough for him to hear as she imagined that hardness making its way into her core. Every throb of his heart would be felt inside her, the two of them united in a perfect storm. Without another word, she gazed up at him and gave a single, submissive nod.
"Mmm...good, you're finally learning." He took her head in his hands as if it was his property and rewarded her with a peck between the horns. "It's time for your next test." With slow, precise movements so as not to hurt her, he began to move the bound Inquisitor down to the floor, positioning her so she was on her knees.
Just from the positioning, she could tell he was not going to deliver what she ached most for. No, he was going to use her first, make her earn that great prize. Another, louder gulp gripped her throat as she prepared to venerate him. A channeled wisp of mana filled her mouth, and she swallowed it down to numb and relax her muscles so she could receive him to her depth. Once she was ready, she gave him, and the implement of her destruction, a thirsty gaze as she let her dark lips fall open.
The look Bull gave her was nearly fond. For her to surrender herself to him in such complete trust filled him with pride in both of them. He sat before her on the edge of the bed, leading her by the laces on her arms until her head was between his legs. Though he was quite eager, he did not rush her - he knew there was more of him she wanted to experience first. "That's it, my little spark..." he gave a gentle praise, offering a stroke of her hair before cradling her head with the same hand. "Just take your time." This tenderness was nearly a breath of fresh air to him, after all this time spent as a mighty, destructive force. Somewhere at the end of all of this, Asa would be well past the point of staying awake. She would curl up close to him, taking in his body heat and using his massive arms for protection as she slipped away into sleep. He had already decided he would stay there all night. That would have to come later, though; now, they were quite preoccupied.
Her senses now bathed in the intense odor of his virility. It beckoned her deeper into the space between his immensely strong thighs. She was hesitant to begin servicing him right off; she wanted to take in every vapor of his being, to truly appreciate the fact that he was there, that he was so great in might, size and presence, and that they belonged to each other. Her hands, still bound in front of her, yearned to roam the expanse of his legs, to feel their thickness and sinew. As she cast her eyes up, she was met with the sight of his thick belly mere inches from her face. This was entrancing in and of itself - she was face to face with the source of his power. Pounds of meat and pints of drink were converted here into the raw force that shielded her on the battlefield, cleaved through their enemies, and held her close at night. That same massive, heaving gut was also often his method of pinning her down underneath him. Every time he did so, she was able to feel his deep, rumbling breaths passing in and out of his mighty lungs, and the slow, rhythmic thumping of his heart. She had spent many nights curled up against those sounds, letting them lull her into slumber.
The Bull himself was quite a sight to behold from this angle. He now towered over her such that she felt tiny and vulnerable by comparison, yet she did not fear him as some other in such a position might have. His thighs alone were large enough to shield her on every side, and his stomach loomed over her, as if demanding her attention. And how she wanted to give it. Were her hands unbound, she would gladly run them over the dome of fat and muscle and flesh, savoring every inch of what he allowed her to touch. She would kiss a line from his heart right down to his hard cock, whispering admirations of all she surveyed.
But she was tied fast, prevented from doing much except kneeling there and looking up at him, completely unable to even raise herself enough to touch her lips to that bulk of his weight. She was so close, though, close enough to rest her forehead against the swell of his belly if she strained against the belts around her legs. She only attempted to do so once, before sinking down into submission once more, firmly burying her face in the crop of dark hairs before it.
He noted her silence and the growing tension of his arousal, still yet unaddressed. Fortunately for both of them, he was quite patient. "...You're awfully quiet down there, precious." Fingertips wrapped around one of her horns, and he gave it a gentle massage with their pads, near the root. "You know I can't last forever."
The trussed Inquisitor gave a silent nod, face still firmly planted in his coarse nether hairs. When she lifted her head and opened her eyes, she found herself once again staring at his silver shaft. It seemed to stare back at her, demanding to be relieved of its need. She could hold out on him, but his experience was such that he would barely be breaking a sweat before she started begging. Her own desires were beginning to run over, causing a hot prickle in her lower lips that made her shift and squirm in search of relief. "B-bull--!" she spat through gritted teeth, fruitlessly rocking back and forth on her tied legs.
"Hmm?" he teases with a gentle rumble, nearly gloating in his complete subjugation of the mighty Inquisitor. "Getting impatient, are we?" With both hands, he guided her head into just the right spot, offering strokes of her hair as praise for her compliance. "You know you can earn all you want...you just have to do what you're told." With that, he wrapped a hand firmly around his swollen dick, directing it toward her lips. "I'm sure you know exactly what to do."
"Y-yes, ser," she answered, without hesitation. Lifting her bound hands, she cradled his cock with care and took it into her mouth. First, she began a careful stroking of the head with only the tip of her tongue, gradually leading it into taking him further in until he reached the back of her throat.
He let out a mild growl of pleasure, tousling her hair with his fingertips. "Mmm...good girl." As the warmth of her breath spilled over his flesh, he sighed contentment and gave her hair a light tug.
It took all her force of will to keep from gritting her teeth in reflex. Once she felt safe again, she began to slowly and rhythmically pleasure him with her mouth. In, out, in, out, each time letting his tip press against her palate. He tasted just as desirable as he smelled.
The Bull groaned deeper and longer, and was forced to brace himself from falling back with his hands against the bed. "Nnnngh...yes...that's it...that's right." He had intended to spend this session indulging her to exhaustion, but he had needs of his own, and she seemed more than eager to meet them.
His approval was all the encouragement she needed. The next time she took his length past her lips, she sucked in a breath through her nose and let her throat open to take him deeper than before. Despite her eyes tearing up and her mouth beginning to water, she would not be satisfied until he was, and she let him know this with a low moan against him.
The sudden tightness around his head was a pleasant surprise indeed. "Ooh! Now that I like." A familiar, rolling heat had already built in the depths of his gut, ready to release with just a bit more of Asa's work. "You've got me so close to coming I could literally count down the seconds." His belly visibly tensed and he pressed teeth into his lip as he forced himself to show just a bit more restraint.
She responded with a teasing "mmm" as she worked him deeper still, deadening her throat muscles with magic. Her mouth still watered, and she gave a mild tremble. The reflexes she had tried to stave off still affected her stomach, causing it to tense.
This sight gave him cause for concern, and he immediately leaned forward, lightly pushing her back. "Don't push yourself, kadan," he advised with that tender voice he only used for her. To further hold her attention, he squeezed her shoulders. "I like it...but I don't want you to hurt yourself for me, you understand?"
A sigh of relief spilled from her chest as she released his cock from her throat. His concern for her safety and his strong grip on her brought her even more comfort in his presence. For a moment, her thoughts flashed forward to the inevitable aftermath, where she would be loosed from her bonds and held in his powerful arms. Without removing her lips from him, she gave a brief, appreciative nod. To show her gratitude, she pushed her tongue out along the underside of his head, cradling it in the wet heat as she feathered the tip against the fold of skin beneath.
The pleasure this brought from him made him claw the bedsheets into his fists and his thighs tense around Asa's head and shoulders. A low groan rose up from his gut, and he let his eye roll back as the sound reached the back of his throat. "Fuck, Asa...I don't know where you learned that, but--"
She didn't even give him a chance to finish his sentence before she directed all her attention to that one particular sweet spot under his head. Stroking and prodding, pressing and sucking. The sensitive tip of her tongue could feel the pulsing of his veins under his skin. All the while, she was giving him the most gloating look - even tied up like this, she still had power over him. At last drawing her tongue back in past her lip, she wrapped her lips just behind his head and pulled her tongue further back with a firm suck.
He was forced to arch his back and squeeze his shoulderblades together to keep from falling back. His belly tightened enough to make his abdominal muscles visible through thick, scarred skin. His heated grunts and sighs built up to a roar of orgasmic release, just as he caught that glint in the Vashoth's eye. She clearly knew exactly what she did to him. As he spilled his white-hot seed into her throat, he finally gave in to his natural reflexes and fell back against the bed with a force enough to shake it. A few slow seconds later, he gave a husky, warm chuckle as he allowed himself to sink into the mattress and bask in his own afterglow. "Damn...heh..." he said with a few gasps for breath as his eye squinted shut against the stars he was seeing. "You better swallow all that," he commanded, only half-serious. "I'll be disappointed if you don't, after this little stunt of yours."
Having to swallow his cum was not a great price to pay; it was only further proof to her of just what she could do to him with her mouth alone. A slow gulp drew the salty fluid down her throat until she was quite literally full with his essence. It carried a certain warmth with it, even as it settled in her still-nervous stomach. At last, she released his cock from her mouth and sighed dreamily, letting her head gently fall against his inner thigh. Now that he was a relaxed lump, his thighs were much softer, like a warm, heavy pillow to cradle her tired thoughts.
Bull was not too relaxed to notice this, and was able to lift himself enough to look back at her. "...You...are uncontrollable," he growled a tease as he leaned down to pull her back up on the bed. "I swear, I've got you tied up all-fours and you still manage to get the jump on me." Not that it was a complaint, though - he certainly did enjoy himself.
Uncontrollable. Just being called such, and by him, nonetheless, filled her with a sort of defiant pride. It was exactly what she was trying to achieve from the beginning, just by taking the name she did. In all fairness, though, he could have kept control of her had he not surrendered that little bit of it, and she was not shy about pointing this out. "You didn't have to put your cock in my mouth, though. You do that, and it doesn't matter if you have me hog-tied. I've got you right where I want you."
Now that he understood her rationale, he let out a full, booming laugh. "Oh, kadan...oh man, that's a good one!" His fit of laughter made him nearly double over from lack of breath. "That's so cute, how you're trying to make it look like you won." Briefly, he broke his role to pull her into a tight, compressing hug. "This just means you'll have to wait just a bit longer before I deliver on my end."
She wanted to have a moment's repose with him, but it would be interrupted by a sharp pain running down her leg. "T-two," she spat, hoping to alert him to her condition.
Any mirth the Bull had was dropped in the course of acknowledging her need. Anything below three required immediate attention. "Talk to me, Asa," he said, being sure to use her name to show his sincerity as he let her out of his grasp.
"M-my legs..." she said, shifting her hips to draw his attention. "Bad pain. I think...you got the belts too tight."
He frowned and took her back into his arms for a second longer. "Shit, I'm sorry...here, let me get those off you." Planting a comforting kiss between her horns, he unlaced the belts, first one, then the other, and tossed them out of the way as if they were a pair of venomous leather snakes. Once she was free, he carefully pulled her legs out straight, also one at a time. "There you go," he reassured her, his voice barely above a whisper as he began a firm massage of her knees. "You just stretch out and relax. I'll take care of this." He went on to squeezing and kneading her calves, rapidly rubbing them with his palms to get the blood flowing. "Gotta be careful with these legs," he quipped as he moved up to her thighs, rolling the heels of his hands against them. "They're too gorgeous to let anything happen to them." Soon, he found himself becoming more occupied with exploring her curves than easing her pain. "Besides..." It wasn't long at all before that guttural rumble of superiority returned. "You want me between them." His fingertips traveled over the tops of her thighs, sliding between them and parting her legs. "You want me inside you." With that, he climbed above her and rocked his hips against her belly, letting the weight of his own bear down on her. His breaths became deeper and louder, until each one was a growl of animal passion. "You want me to fuck you so hard and so deep you won't be able to think about anything else, let alone dream of it."
His touch was enough to bring her right back to a state of desiring him. The massage worked wonders on its own, making her soak herself with her own arousal. She mouthed his name, the only sound being a hot sigh.
And that was before he mounted her. It would be a moment or so before he was ready to fully penetrate her, but this act of rhythmically grinding against her just made her imaginings of it even more vivid. "Bull..." she said louder, attempting to lift her tied hands up to get them around his neck. His weight was enough to pin the rest of her down.
This was going far too well for him. He now had her crying his name and reaching for him in the burn of lust. He chuckled devilishly at her efforts before wrapping his hands around her wrists and squeezing them, forcefully slamming them down onto the pillow over her head. Slowly, he leaned down over her, close enough for her to feel his hot breath on her face. "How much do you want it, kadan?" he asked, the rocking of his hips becoming agonizingly slow and deliberate. "Mmm..." he gave a deep, wicked rumble, followed by quiet grunts with each strong hip thrust. "You don't have to answer...I can tell." He dipped his head lower, letting his lips brush against the point of her ear. Another, more seductive chuckle crackled out of the back of his throat. "...Ben-Hassrath, remember?"
She couldn't take it anymore. That husky whisper was just enough to light a fire deep inside her belly that made her buck against him. How she resented the fact she was bound now; she wanted to touch him all over, to feel his expanse over her, to dig her fingertips into the massive muscles of his back and rake her nails into his skin until he bled. Her teeth gnashed against one another, and she writhed beneath him in desperate thirst. "Come on, Bull..." she gave an impatient growl through clenched teeth, "Fuck me already!"
That demand only brought his blood to a harder rush, enough to make him let out one of those deep, rumbling hums of raw predation. It would only be a moment or so longer before he was ready. He could already feel the heat building right where he needed it to - but dragging Asa's torment out just a bit longer was too tempting to resist. He gave another, stronger thrust against her, letting her feel his physical power. "Not quite yet...you know I have to recharge."
"...Vashedan," Asa spat, her desire growing into frustration at being further denied. "Ben-Hassrath my ass...you're just a Ben-Asshole now." She gave him a forceful shove with her hip and knee.
Her indignant response amused him into genuine laughter she could feel through his belly. "Ah...good one, kadan. I'll have to use that one." To his even more pleasant surprise, that bout of humor was enough to get his blood pumping, and her continued struggle against him was the final push he needed. The moment he felt it coming on, he became still as a mountain and gazed down at her, baring his teeth in a grin of utter victory. "...Well, would you look at that." Just as he spoke, he gave her one last gentle nudge, letting her feel his newly-erect cock pressing against her.
She was so close now, she could almost taste it, as surely as the saline aftertaste still at the back of her throat. With her eyes growing wet with need, she lowered her hips and sighed into his neck, letting herself nearly go limp as she surrendered her body to him. "Bull..." His name came from her lips on a hot breath. "Please fuck me. I want it. I want you." The harshness from before was gone entirely, in favor of tender pleading.
This was what he was waiting for all along. Her pleas made him immediately throb with anticipation of his own success. Before he went on, he stopped to cradle her head with both hands and plant a soft kiss on her forehead. "You're such a good girl, my Asaaranda." There was a touch of sincerity in his words, going beyond even their roles. Rising up onto his knees, he grabbed hold of her legs and parted them with just enough force for her to feel his strength and positioned himself between them. "My perfect storm," he said to her as he shadowed over her once more, hands coming down to grip her forearms and hold them in place over her head. One hand came briefly away to slide his tip inside her. He found her to be hot, slick, and inviting as he passed the threshold of her lips. The wayward hand returned to its post, restraining the Vashoth's arms, and he gazed right into her eyes as he began to pump his length deeper into her with each successive thrust of his huge hips. The sounds he made were not unlike some large animal in the act of rutting. His lips traced a path from her jaw to her neck, and he gripped the skin there with his pointed teeth.
It was happening. It was finally happening. Sweat from their shared body heat now soaked her skin and his, and she could feel the places where they rubbed together and made even more heavy heat. Her eyes glassed over as she struggled to decide whether to keep them open to watch him, or close them and experience his power with all her other senses. The decision was snatched from her, though, as a thrust in just the right direction made her entire body seize up, her head loll back, and her eyes screw shut as a moan broke loose from her heaving chest. His size left a mild ache inside her, but it was barely noticeable through the pulsing of his cock as it reached the limits of her death. The movement of her head caused her neck to drag against his teeth, drawing blood and gentle pain. Before she could turn her head to muffle it, a louder cry burst from her throat.
He gently lapped up the blood before brushing his lips against the bite. The sounds of her pleasure and pain were music to his always-listening ears. He then took her into his massive arms, lifting her up off the bed and letting her tied arms hang behind her. Even with her larger size, he could easily support her in his arms without losing his rhythm. All his virile energy was now directed to his groin, which he drove into her with increasing strength and tempo. Her tightening walls brought a deep, fevered growl out of him. "Nnngh...fuck, Kadan..."
Her fingers curled in against her palm, nails digging through a layer of skin. Every nerve of hers was flaring with ecstasy, and she was all too willing to give herself to it, and to him. There was no nightmare here, no Inquisition, no world demanding her constant attention. There were only hot waves of sensory rush passing through her, and his raw, unbridled strength surrounding her on all sides. "Harder...please..." she whined into his shoulder, burying her face into the meat there.
He responded to her request with a playful but utterly carnal growl. "Now that's exactly what I wanna hear." His words broke off into a hard grunt as he slammed her back down, squeezing her arms with his hands until the skin around his fingers whitened. "I've been going easy on you so far. Now..." He only finished the sentence with an ominous laugh before timing the movements of his hips with the pounding of his heart. A familiar tightness build up deep in his gut, and he squared his jaw against his urge to release everything he was holding in. It only made his thrusts faster and deeper.
The entire situation made time stand still. She was tied by her wrists, being held down and fucked by a giant of a man who made even her look and feel small. Her thighs squeezed around his waist, pressing against solid fat and muscle in the effort to hold on to him with all her strength. If he was going easy on her, what more could he have in store? The very idea made her twitch against him inside as he pressed into her depth, filling her to the brim.
The fire in his belly burned brighter still, his heart pounding and carrying its heat through his blood. His lips curled up from clenched teeth, and his hands moved from her arms to her shoulders, fingertips gripping until his nails left deep red crescents on her skin. With her held down in this position, he pressed the ball of one foot into the mattress to give himself leverage. He began what could only be called pounding into her now, with a force that made the bed quake and slam against the wall hard enough to scuff the floor.
She barely had time to prepare for this sensual assault. He bore down on her with all of his power, taking her as his ultimate prize. The scraping of his nails on her flesh brought a mild pain that made her spill a shuddering sigh through clenched teeth. A storm as mighty as her name stirred in the heated space between them, the first bolts of lightning threatening to burst from either one of them at any given moment. Her ears now rang with the rolling thunder of their joined heartbeats and the deep, rhythmic groans that rumbled out from his gut. She murmured his name again, her eyes clamping shut so she could sink blindly into his possession.
That last, soft whisper was just enough to push him over the edge. He couldn't let himself go just yet, though - it would be rude to finish before her. Of course, all that meant was that he had to make her finish faster. A minute adjustment of his position, and he swung the bulk of his mass into his hips and thighs, using them to gain momentum. The sounds he made grew louder and harsher, more sensual and more primal. "...Asa..." he hissed between thrusts, "Fuck, you feel good."
The first cry burst from her chest like a river through a failing dam. Her feet pointed and curled around his back, pressing against the stout wall of fat and muscle there. There was no time to catch her breath, so she was left in a state between moaning and gasping. Her immediate sense was no longer of her body, but of a swirling, churning cloud of perception that wandered through her nerves. Her vision soon filled with shimmering stars as a rippling pulse began below. The moans deepened in pitch, falling from her chest to her belly.
The accomplishment of his goal brought a triumphant, tooth-baring grin to the Bull's grey lips, seconds before coming inside her with a deep, loud sigh of contentment. He dropped off to Asa's side, taking her in an arm and rolling over with her.
"Hey," he said softly, immediately gathering her tied wrists into his hands and working the knots loose. "You doing okay?" he asked, taking her hands once they were loose.
The Inquisitor was barely able to do more than lie there as he freed her, her senses still stirred into a pleasant fog. "...Yeah," she barely said so much as hummed as she tucked her head in against his arm, seeking out the familiar sound of his heart.
He felt a spark of pride at the condition he had left her in. "Hah, good to hear." Rolling completely onto his back, he hugged her with enough strength to shorten her breath just a fraction before lying back and allowing her to rest against him. "C'mere," he invited, giving his chest a light pat.
She squirmed and flopped about a bit until she got into her desired position, with her head next to where his hand rested on his chest. She was still too dazed to form words, only lightly butting her head into his chest as a sign of affection.
A soft chuckle was his response as he petted her hair. "That's it, Kadan. You just rest. You've earned it." Now that he knew she was safe, Bull himself felt he could rest easy for the night. He hooked a thick arm around her waist, letting a big hand wander down to its favorite spot, squeezing her hip. "You know..." he mused, "You're cute like this." To make his point, he planted a kiss on the top of her head. "All spaced out, hair all messed up, your eyes all afog, and that little satisfied smile on your face."
His attention brought a warm blush to her face, and she gave him a gentle shove with her shoulder. "Bet you're proud of yourself for doing it to me." Her voice cracked with weary delight.
He answered her with a light smack of her bare buttock and a gloating laugh. "Heh...what's not to be proud of? I've got the fucking Inquisitor right where I want her." His hold of her, though, became more purely protective. "Right here..." The last of the tone he used for their escape slipped away, leaving only a low, affectionate rumble. "Next to me, where I can make absolutely sure nothing will happen to you." He crossed his arms around her in a tightly defensive gesture, tucking his chin between her horns to create a complete shell of protection. "Kadan..." he vibrated through both of them, "Ebasaam beres-taar. And that means I'm not gonna let you outta my sight." A large hand cupped her chin and made her look at him. "Got that?"
Asa gave a tired nod, giving in completely to his protection. As far as she knew, there was no safer place in Thedas.
He responded with a quick but firm peck to her lips. "Good." With that, he released her chin and let her curl up against him. "I want you to get some rest, now. You deserve it. Besides, we gotta head for Val Royeaux tomorrow, and I do not wanna see what'll happen if you try to deal with all those Orlesians without any sleep."
She rolled her head over so her ear was pressed against his heart and gave a loud, affirmative purr. "You might have to carry me there."
"Can do," he chuffed, giving a slow massage between her shoulderblades. It was an old technique his Tama used to help him sleep after his own nightmares.
An old technique, but an effective one. Asa found herself with a desire to do little but lie there, listening to the deep drum of his heart and absorbing his body heat. Soon, she gave heavy, weary sighs as she slipped out of consciousness.
Once he realized she was asleep, Bull reached down to pull a sheet over her shoulders. With several hours yet before the sun rose, he found himself also wanting for rest, especially after tonight's work. Pulling the sleeping Vashoth into one final, close embrace, he shut his eye and slowed his breathing as he let his head sink back onto the massive collection of pillows the Inquisitor had amassed for her own comfort. Admittedly, they did not serve him too badly either.
"...Night, Kadan."