The title of this story is based of a snippet of dialogue that occurs after the events at Adamant:

Dorian, "I'm trying to wrap my head around the idea that someone walked into the Fade again."

Vivienne, "We should count ourselves fortunate no cataclysm was unleashed."

Dorian, "So far as we know."

Vivienne, "What are you suggesting, my dear? An invisible cataclysm lurking amongst us?"

Dorian, "We don't know what happened to Corypheus and his lot. Even he doesn't seem to. Not.. clearly. I'm SAYING we should be careful what we assume, when it comes to such matters."

The story begins just after the Winter Ball at Halamshiral, and involves the romance between Habrynn Adaar and The Iron Bull, as well as a new series of events that parallel part of Dragon Age Inquisition.

Some parts of this story depict sexual acts, but I hope in a tastefully vague way. If you're not okay with that, then at least you were forewarned.

Please review! This is my first time ever posting to this site. I've written and drawn other stories, but this sort of blindsided me from nowhere. I'm just hoping others enjoy the story as I try to spin it out of my head.

LASTLY! I do not own Dragon Age or the characters, nor do I receive compensation for this work.

Habrynn Adaar thumbed the page again. It was so small. Such a short list, but it weighed on her. She stared at it as she mindlessly opened the first door, and the second, and wound around the banister overlooking the broken secondary hall below her quarters.

She continued to stare at it, as if fixing each name to memory would undo the impossible decision she had already made. Cullen's unwavering words echoed back to her.

"Can't we split the unit? Surely, we can still follow, AND save them-"

"No." He had cut her off, "No. EVERYONE would die, then. You have to make the decision."

She wanted to shout that perhaps he could make the decision. or any of the other advisors that gathered around the war table with years more experience and training than her. But that faithful gaze they fixed on her answered, as it always did. Then, she became logical, as she often did when backed into a corner. She knew what she had done.

And now she was walking into her quarters, still memorizing the small list of names, as she had been as she paced the gardens, and the causeways, and all the way up to the top floor late in the day, as the sun was beginning to set.

A quiet squeak of distressed wood caught her attention, dispelling the fog in her mind. She turned to see The Iron Bull sitting smugly on her bed.

"So, listen," He said, "I've caught the hints, I get what you're saying… You want to ride the bull."

After all the help she'd given him, all the sly remarks and the encouragement in both directions, it didn't feel like a surprise at all. More of a 'finally'. After he'd practically ignored her at the Winter Ball, she was starting to wonder if she just wasn't his type.

"Can't' say I blame you," He pondered aloud, "but I'm not sure you know what you're asking. Not sure if you're ready for it."

Habrynn tapped the note board against her chin and just grinned. All that guilt was forgotten for a moment. She crooned, "Oh, I'm ready for it."

"See, you say that, but you really don't know what that means." He continued to press.

"So why don't you show me?" Habrynn joked.

After he dominantly raised her arms over her head, and pinned her hands with just one of his own, he smirked, "Last Chance."

Her breath caught in her throat as the board clattered to the ground, the sound disappearing into the deafening pounding of her blood in her ears. She searched his face for a moment, and heard herself whisper, "Please, won't you-" But the words could hardly escape her throat. It was so tight, as if she was a breath away from crying.

"Hmm?" He grunted.

She licked her lips, and smiled, trying to focus on him instead. "A little slower, and a lot harder."

He only replied with an affirming smile before lowering his grip to sweep her towards the banister. He pressed his giant hands into the sides of her hips, pushing her weight into the hard square edge of the rail behind her as he finally looked at her from head to toe with a hungry gaze she had never seen him turn towards her.

The full extent of his self control was suddenly crystal clear to her. As terrifying as that realization was, she didn't have long to ponder it.

"Do you have another one of those silly suits of yours?"

"What? Yes, one more-ah!" She squeaked as he put two fingers to her collar and then snapped the row of toggles open with one pass. Cut glass baubles and bits of brass clinked against the ground as he yanked the jacket open. She let out a sharp gasp as he tugged the inner corsetry down and then cracked the small closing pins with one tug of both hands.

"I expect these cinches on a serving girl, not the Inquisitor," He rumbled.

"The damn suit doesn't look smooth enough withou it-ahh!" She stammered as he clenched the back of her head by her hair. He tugged until her eyes angled up to meet his.

"I. Don't. Give. A. Damn. About your clothes right now," He purred, and then his mouth met hers and it became a fight to see who could pull whose clothing off the fastest. It was hardly a contest. If she had felt a difference in size before, it was a hundred fold stronger here, with his strength turned on her instead of their enemy. Though she was Qunari, she'd always been the runt amidst her own kind, only ever feeling large and imposing when she stood next to the more common races of Thedas.

So many men before had handled her like she was an Ox made of Porcelain, or cringed at her advances like she might crush them. As The Iron Bull slammed her into the stone wall with at full force and hefted her hips up for better purchase between her legs, she let out a whimper of pleasure, and an then a lusty breath as he drove his fingers between her lips.

To say she was wet was an understatement. The moment she had seen him there on her bed, she had already felt the heat rising, and heard her heart pounding in her chest faster. He kneaded her labia back and forth, crushing into her, but moving slowly. It was agony, and it was amazing, and it was almost too much right away.

"I'm-" She breathed into his ear. He responded with bite on her collarbone that made her gasp, and her legs clench around his waist harder.

"Did I say you could, yet?" He crooned, and withdrew his hand and pressed hard into her mound, idly brushing over her public hair. He bit into the same spot below her neck again, just the tips of his teeth, and his exhales moistening her skin with each pant. He moved up her neck in quick succession, pinpricks of lightning leading up to her mouth. For a moment they kissed, grinding their tongues together, feeling the angle of each other's teeth.

He looked into her eyes as he placed one hand to the stone, and the other curled up under her asss and gripped her tight. He looked serious a moment, and then chuckled, "I do hope I'm not the first." As he rocked his hips into hers, feeling his cock dampening against the outside of her folds.

Habrynn bit her lip and shook her head,"Stop talking."

And he thrust into her, and she clenched her teeth. She didn't want to give him the satisfaction of knowing, but it had been a long time, and it did hurt. There was no gentleness in his rhythm, though. She was still thinking about the clenching pain between her legs as the first orgasm hit her, and she cried out, "Maker be damned!"

He slowed for a few thrusts, before gripping her jaw in his hand and grinning down at her. "So quick?" he gloated as he began to pick up pace again. "We have all night ahead of us…"

*,*,*

Habrynn cringed as she tried to sit up in bed. The glacial air attacked her sweat-drenched skin, and muscles no amount of fighting could train were crying out from over-use. Bull was getting dressed; a much shorter, simpler process than her normal dress uniform she was expected to parade around in during the day. Who thought it was a good idea to stud gems to the inside of the thighs of her pants, she would never know…

Bull grunted and leaned over to pick up something from the floor near the window where he had first questioned her. He flipped it back and forth, and then scrutinized it. Adarr's heart froze as she realized he was looking over the list she had been worrying over all day.

"Sister Paulette. Mortimer Farrell. Gadry Bronton…-" Iron Bull began to read it aloud, unknowingly reciting the names of the injured soldiers and Chantry sisters she had left to die, so they could pursue the Red Templars that would commit even worse crimes if allowed to escape. Euphoric endorphins dissolved in a flash, and her eyes welled up and burned. She had called off an alliance with the powerful Qun collective because she couldn't watch Bull sacrifice his dearest friends fall to the Venitori. And a mere day later she had sentenced dozens of innocents to die with a few cold words.

Iron Bull flicked the board to face her. "What's with the list, Boss?"

Habrynn glared out the window into the night sky. Rage and guilt burned in her stomach as she spat back at him," 'Boss'? Don't call me that. Not tonight."

He tossed the board on the bed, and sauntered down the stairs. Habrynn stayed fixed on the window opposite until she heard the door shut with a surprisingly delicate 'click'.

She yanked the furs and quilted covers over herself, and screamed into her pillow, suffocating the tears and sobs as best she could.

Bull glanced to the side as he closed the door. Their Spymaster was walking up the stairs holding a report. Lellianna's poker face was an equal for his. The two of them searched for a crack in the other's expression until Bull finally waved her away. "Not tonight." He smiled. "Let her rest."