It was only after the dreams had woken me, screaming, for the third night straight this week, that Elissa ventured to say something.

And by "dreams", I mean heart-stoppingly, sweat-burstingly, scream inducingly terrifying nightmares. I may have mentioned the screams though.

"Ali," Elissa murmured, wrapping me in her arms as I shuddered with the residue of the nightmare. "Shhhhhh..." She made wordless noises of comfort as she stroked my back. I didn't even realise I was crying until she drew back and wiped my face with her small, warm hand. I grabbed it and kissed it, tasting my tears on her skin.

"They're getting worse, aren't they?"

I nodded, not trusting my voice just yet. She sighed, and held me tighter, her fingers digging into the muscles of my back.

"I'm sorry," I began, but she tossed her head, flicking hair into my face, and cut me off.

"Don't be silly, Alistair. It's not like it's your fault."

I loudly spat out strands of her hair and smiled as she made a tiny noise of disgust. Always the lady, my Elissa, despite all we'd been through. I blamed her upbringing, personally.

I snuggled more into her and laid my head on her chest, listening to her heart beating under my ear. She shifted a hand to my head and started playing with my hair. I murmured approval as she lightly scratched my scalp.

"I can hear them, you know," she said quietly. "When you're dreaming. I hear them calling to you. I can feel them calling you. And I can feel you, as well. Holding yourself back. But I know you want to go…"

"Not as much as I want to stay with you," I replied. She tightened her arms about me, temporarily stopping playing with my hair. I pouted, the effect entirely wasted since I was facing into her chest. It was a good pout, too.

"Besides," I added, "the darkspawn have nothing on my lying in bed with my lovely wife. Even if there is screaming involved." I raised my head and looked at her, wiggling my eyebrows lasciviously. "Especially if there's screaming involved."

Elissa snorted and pulled hard on my hair, stretching my neck back almost uncomfortably. She looked up at me, her face half hidden in shadows, pale skin glowing warmly by the light of the banked fire. I swallowed, and she raised an eyebrow.

"Don't… change… the subject," she said, punctuated with tiny but sharp jerks to my head.

"Ow!"

"Serves you right."

I pouted again, only this time in full view, and watched as she softened, smirking to myself. She could never resist my pout.

"Insufferable bastard," she muttered, pulling me back down and kissing me, lips warm and soft.

"Stuck-up bitch," I breathed, and shifted in closer, trailing my lips along her cheek to her earlobe. Her breath caught as I gently nipped, and her fingers flexed, cat-like, as I sucked her lobe into my mouth.

"You're changing the subject," she whispered, throatily.

"Mmmm," I agreed, and flicked my tongue into her ear, smiling as she tensed. One hand slid down the back of my neck, holding me in place, while the other traced its way slowly down my spine.

"Mmmm," I said again, as she started to play with the drawstring of my sleep pants. I moved a hand up, cupping her breast through her thin shift, the pad of my thumb brushing ever so softly over her nipple, which hardened in response.

She made a soft noise at the back of her throat and arched her back slightly, pressing into me, lifting one thigh to rub against mine until I obligingly shifted my legs for her.

I breathed into her ear as her thigh pressed up against me, delicious sensations traveling from the base of my cock into my belly. She smiled and rubbed herself against me and I knew she could feel me hardening and lengthening along her thigh.

I bit on her lobe, harder, and she hissed. "Minx," I growled, as her questing fingers at my waistband changed to nails, scratching up my back. In retaliation I pinched her nipple, pulling it until her eyes closed and a whimper escaped her lips. Then I nudged aside her thigh and rolled on top of her, trapping her hands as she grasped at me, grinding my hips into hers.

My Elissa was never one who was content to lie back and take what was given, however, so she arched her back, stretching up towards me. I gasped as her erect nipples brushed against my bare chest, and she grinned in response. She looked adorable, and sexy, and all of a sudden I tightened with need for her. I swooped down and kissed her, our lips locking, my tongue flicking out and meeting hers and delving inside her warm, wet mouth.

She twisted her hips and enfolded me in her legs, locking me against her. I could feel her heat as she blatantly rubbed herself against me and I wanted to lose myself within it… to let her body stifle the pulsing of the Calling inside me, to drown myself in her flesh so I wouldn't have to feel that awful tug.

Her clever hands had pulled my sleep pants down. I could feel the chill night air drifting over my exposed backside as I kicked them the rest of the way off. I pulled back and knelt between her legs. Running my hands up the inside of her thighs, I smiled as her eyes half closed and her lips parted. I slid my hands up her abdomen, still taut and firm, and lifted her shift up over her breasts. She pulled it the rest of the way off, shuddering as I caressed the undersides of her breasts. I leant forward, the head of my cock lightly brushing over the curls covering her sex, and flicked my tongue over a nipple.

I've always loved Elissa's responsiveness. She arched her back and moaned "Oh yes," as I suckled her, her hips unconsciously striving towards me as her hands ran up my back. I slid my other hand over her hips, skimming her belly before resting my palm on her sex and grinding it against her. She writhed underneath me, eyes closed and mouth open, panting.

I slowly slipped a finger into her soft, hot folds and moaned at her wetness. I had to taste her again, so I captured her mouth with my own. Her lips were warm but her tongue was cool when it met mine. She kissed me desperately as my questing finger found her nub and brushed over it before settling into a soft circular rhythm.

Her nails scratched down my back and she started thrusting against my hand, my finger pressing harder as her hips bucked. She broke away from my kiss and panted, "Alistair, please!"

I grinned and knelt back, removing my finger, which made her moan. I sucked her juices from me and watched as she watched me tasting her, her eyes glittering in the firelight. Then I lifted her legs and placed them on my shoulders, running my hands over the skin of her calves and kissing the insides of her knees. I leant forward and positioned myself against her, lightly rubbing myself against her folds. She moaned again as I started to press into her, my eyes closing as I slipped in, feeling her incredible heat and slickness, feeling my own loss of control at the sensations.

Much as I wanted to last, to make her writhe for hours underneath me, I just didn't have it in me tonight. The beat of my Calling drove me, its vicious twisting setting a hectic pace which I yearned to dissolve in the depths of my beloved's body. I drove myself into her as hard and deep as I could, withdrew, and buried myself again. Elissa, sweet girl, met my hips, bucking underneath me, fingers digging into my shoulders.

Frantic heat built, flesh slapping and harsh breathing and guttural moans, and I screwed my eyes shut as my back arched and I spent myself inside her, soon, too soon: almost exquisite relief as the thundering in my blood was drowned out by the release and I collapsed, shuddering, on top of her. Elissa shifted and wrapped her legs and arms around me, holding me tight, as I panted into the hollow of her neck. She stroked my back and I felt an overwhelming surge of something even deeper than love for her.

I pressed my lips to her neck and tasted her sweat. "Thank you," I whispered hoarsely.

She squeezed me tighter, but didn't say anything.

Eventually, though, we cooled and I shivered as the cold air licked my spine. Slowly and regretfully I slid out of and off my wife and reached for the blankets to cover us. I tucked myself into her side, holding her. I sighed. The Calling was muted but I was merely tired, not exhausted.

Elissa cleared her throat. "So. When shall we leave?"

I stiffened. "What do you mean, we? It's my Calling, not yours."

"I'm not letting you go on your own, Alistair," she replied. I could hear the smile in her voice, sad, but distinct. "Not to the Deep Roads, not to die by yourself."

"But you hate the Deep Roads!" I protested.

She shrugged. "Yes, I know. I don't fancy going there to die. Never did. But Alistair," and she shifted and placed her hand on my face, turning me to look at her, "you're not going there to die without me."

I studied her face, her eyes catching the reflections of the firelight. Maker's breath. She was serious!

"Elissa…" I began, but she cut me off, placing a finger across my lips.

"No, Alistair. Hear me out." I kissed her finger and nodded.

She sighed. "If you are having your Calling, then mine can't be far behind. It makes no sense to deprive Ferelden of her King, leaving her Queen behind to rule, only to have her Queen do the same thing herself, at some point thereafter. We know this is going to happen and it will be easier if we make it clean and precise, rather than dragging it out. I can't even begin to imagine the repercussions if we have two separate abdications as opposed to one clean break. Besides, this way we get to choose our successors and have them installed and working before we go."

I grimaced. She had a point. Damn Cousland logic.

"Quite aside from which," Elissa added, smiling a little, "someone needs to look after you. You're absolutely hopeless at organising so much as a picnic, let alone an expedition to the Deep Roads when you know you won't be returning. You'd get lost after the first day and end up in Par Vollen wondering why the Qunari were looking at you funny."

I snorted. "Woman, you come dangerously close to treason for besmirching your king. I should have you beheaded. Spanked, at the very least."

Elissa laughed, a clear, untroubled sound. It lifted my spirits to hear it. She squeezed me and I held her tight. Then she continued, her voice low. "The most important reason, though, is because you're my husband. And I love you. And I made you a promise, all those years ago, and I'm not going to go back on it now."

She paused, clearly considering her words. "Do you remember, when we were on the road, and Wynne had issues with us… being together?"

I nodded.

"I had a… chat… with her at one point. I was quite ready to tell her off for being an interfering old biddy."

I smiled. I could quite imagine that. Elissa, when roused, was most fiery.

"Well, she took it back. She said we seemed to be handling it. But she warned…" She closed her eyes. "She warned that death or duty may part us. Duty… has never parted us. I've never let it. I'll be damned to the Black City itself if I let death part us, either."

She looked at me, quite seriously, her face carefully controlled but her eyes shining in the firelight, shining too brightly. As I watched, tears welled and trickled down her cheek into the pillow, leaving a trail that faintly glowed in the reflection from the fire. "Together, always, we promised. Do you remember?" she said huskily. "Always, Alistair." Her voice rose, anguished. "Always!"

I blinked and felt the damning prickle of tears in my own eyes. "Oh, Lissa," I whispered, and crushed her to my chest. I felt her sob, once, shoulders jerking beneath my arms, and then we were crying together.

Some uncounted time later, our eyes were red and sore but dry. Elissa had the hiccups, which amused me no end. I got up and poured us a tumbler of watered wine, taking a sip and bringing it back to the bed and holding it to her lips. She drank obediently. A rogue hiccup made her teeth click against the metal rim of the tumbler and I snickered. She rolled her eyes at me and took the tumbler, finishing the rest of the wine and putting the cup down on a night stand. She sighed and pressed her fingertips to her eyes. I knew exactly how she felt: my own were hot and sandy feeling.

I took her hands in mine and leant in and kissed her closed eyelids, left and then right, and knelt in front of her. Clasping her hands to my chest I looked up at her face, clearly illumined, firelight and shadows hiding the advances of the years. She looked down at me and I wondered what she saw; her face was so blank, so unemotional.

I sighed. "Very well. If we're going to do this thing, we're going to do it right."

A swift look of relief passed over her face followed by a settling of sadness. She nodded once, shortly. "We can plan it in the morning, then. Which it will be soon. Do you think you can sleep, love?"

I shrugged. "I can try."

She leaned forward and kissed me, her lips dry. She rested her forehead against mine, our breaths intermingling for long moments.

"I love you Ali."

"And I love you, Lissa. Always."