Leliana beseeched the two elves to stay in Denerim, but Eve refused. They camped instead just outside the city, after saying goodbye to the bard.

Something about Denerim had upset Eve, made her pale and silent, eyes haunted. Zevran watched her and wondered. It was not like her to keep secrets from him. It had always been Alistair she'd protected, not him.

When they went to assassinate the ambassador in Orzammar for the Crows, she had sent Alistair to shop for armor. When they returned to Denerim to receive their payment, she sent him into the city in search of cheese. When Arl Eamon had suggested putting the inexperienced Warden on the throne, she had gone instead to save Anora.

And when they were in Fort Drakkon, Alistair told him and the others, she went without a fight to be tortured, as long as they spared him.

Zevran, on the other hand, followed her everywhere. She never once left him in camp or sent him on an errand so he might not see the darker side of being a Warden. He'd thought this possessiveness, this protectiveness, meant she loved Alistair. And he was jealous.

He'd thought, when he slunk off to Antiva, she would naturally turn to Alistair, and comfort would turn to love. And perhaps she had. Sitting by the fire, across from her, the thought of the tall, broad shouldered Warden seemed intolerable. And before he could stop himself, he spoke.

"What did you do while I was in Antiva, dear Warden? Surely you have tales to tell."

"I killed darkspawn," she said.

"With Alistair by your side, of course," he said, a little bitterness in his tone.

"Of course."

"And in your bed?" He could not help the jealousy that chilled him even sitting so close to the fire.

"You don't trust me at all, do you?" she replied. Her tone was cold, sad.

"You have always been a sensible, pragmatic creature," he said. "Alistair can offer you much that I cannot. And you care for him. That has always been clear."

"I care for everyone who fought the blight by my side."

"But not how you cared for Alistair. You would have let the whole of Redcliffe perish while we journeyed to the Circle Tower, so that he would not have to see harm come to those he regarded as family."

"They did not perish," she said, but Zevran's remark stung nevertheless. He had never questioned her decisions before.

"You went to Amaranthine for Alistair." Ah, there was the heart of his anger. He had thought that betrayal buried, past, but here it was, making him want to hurt the Warden, see her weak, sorry.

"I went to Amaranthine for the Wardens," she said. She did not raise her voice, but her tone was steady and harsh in a way that belied the natural softness of her Dalish accent.

"And when you got there, and found yourself alone, and Alistair so caring and near?"

It would be a lie to say Eve had never thought of seeking comfort with Alistair. When Zevran left she was lost for a time, as she had been in the Deep Roads, always in darkness, always cold. She had fought the loss by training, embracing emptiness and sadness until she could turn it into cold thrusts of steel and the perfect evasive acrobatics of her body.

"Your bed was certainly never empty," she said. "Why should it matter if I slept with Alistair, or anyone?"

"I don't know," he said, entirely honest. Why should it matter indeed? He was not there, and he was certainly never alone in Antiva.

"Zevran," she said, "I never asked you to be faithful." Her tone was soft, gentle. "But I always thought you would be loyal."

"I will be," he said. "And for the little it's worth, I am sorry I left."

"I never slept with Alistair," she said. "Anyway, he met a lovely elven sorceress who reminded him very much of Morrigan, so much so that he had no eyes for me."

Zevran chuckled, remembering the hatred the witch and the templar harbored for each other.

"I have always wondered why it was you chose me. You could have had Alistair or any other number of handsome men at your disposal, and yet you chose very unwisely."

Eve let her eyes roam over that face, both familiar and exotic, the curves of his tattoos running down his cheeks like gentle brushstrokes, so unlike the intricate webbing that covered her own face. His eyes, golden and flickering with the firelight, met her own.

"You are the sun," she said to him. "You are light, and warmth, and when I am near you I am alive."

It was a fluid motion then, the graceful muscles of a cat stretching to lengths that seemed almost impossible, as Zevran crossed the distance between them in a single stride, knocking the warden to the ground beneath him. Her long hair spread in the dust, a few strands caught between them. The way he sprang at her was passion, but the way he tenderly brushed away those strands was love.

He sought her lips, then, and kissed them, and it was as though all the times he had been with her before were gone and she was as new as an unexplored forest, as mysterious and as compelling. He pulled at her armor with a desperate urgency, his usual aloof finesse gone. And, though he knew the fastenings of a suit of armor as well as his own body, his fingers stumbled and grasped.

She too was lost in him, the firelight behind him illuminating his hair, a halo around his head. She plunged delirious fingers into the golden waves, to pull him closer. He had never seemed more beautiful than he did now, eyes narrow with desire, as they covered her body in their burning gaze, and her flesh turned to fire where they touched.

She pulled away his armor and lay back on her elbows to regard him. He knelt over her, naked, with the firelight behind him, and she knew she was not wrong. He was indeed the sun, and her time in Amaranthine had been merely a long night, and now came the dawn, breaking like waves over her as his hands ran from thighs to breasts to flowing hair.

She was the one who pulled him down, who guided him to her secret warmth, and as sunlight warmed her with each kiss and caress, Zevran found her warm and tight around him, endlessly gentle and perfect. He was the dawn, and he was home.

Author's Note: This is all for now, though I might continue this story later. I hope you enjoyed it, and thank you to everyone who reviewed or added it to favorites!