Chapter Text
“I’m sorry,” Solas whispered as the mark sparked to life again. “We are almost out of time.”
On his knees, Aiden worked past the pain to glare up at the elf. “You’re sorry! SORRY!” He never harbored so much hatred in his life then he did for thing standing in front of him. “We aren’t even people to you! We are nothing.”
Solas looked away sadden by his choice of words. “Not at first, this is true. You showed me that I was wrong.”
“Yet, you’re still going to destroy us, this world, for yours.”
“I take no joy in what I must do.”
“Is that supposed to make everything better? You fucking bastard.” Aiden tried to stand only for his legs to give out. The pain was too much. “I should have killed you that day I met you on the mountain.”
Solas knelt beside the rogue. “Perhaps you should’ve.”
“Please,” Aiden couldn’t stop the plea from leaving his throat. “Your magic created the anchor. You must have a way to stop it.”
“I wish I could, but some things are even beyond my capabilities. All I can do is give you time.”
“Time for what?”
“For your companions to stop it from consuming you. I’ve contained it, but it will spread before too long.” Reaching out, Solas waved his hand over Aiden’s to calm the sparking. “I’m sorry. It’s all I can do.”
Crying out in despair, Aiden bowed his head too enthralled by the magic engulfing his limb to watch Solas’ departure. The elf didn’t deserve another moment of his rapidly fleeting time. Oh, Maker. Tears rolled down his scarred face. This was it. There would be no miracle to save him this time around.
“Aiden.” Shield and sword clattering to the ground, Cassandra dropped herself beside her husband. She barely had time to prepare herself to catch him when he collapsed.
“I-I… Solas.” His vision began to gray. He frantically blinked, trying to will it away. “All of this was Solas’ doing. Going back to the explosion at the Conclave.”
Cullen, having caught up to Cassandra with the others in tow, took in his friend’s twisted features. “Solas?”
“Yes. Listen because I don’t have the time to repeat myself.” Aiden found the strength to speak. He had to tell them. To prepare them so they could hunt the damn elf and foil his world-altering plan.
Cassandra touched her gloved hand to his cheek when he fumbled for words. She bit back a cry of pain. Through the leather, the mark pulsed and burned hotter than fire. The sensation was agony. Maker only knew how it felt for Aiden. “Stay with me.”
“Believe me, Seeker. That’s my fondest wish,” Aiden whispered gritting through the pain. “He went through the Eluvian. You have to go after him.”
“We’ll find him,” Bull softly assured. “Don’t you worry, Boss.”
“Aiden!” Panic broke out the moment his eyes start to sag. “Focus on me.”
“Hard,” He grunted. “Fuck it hurts.”
Tears burned as they gathered in the corner of her eyes. “I’m right here, my love. Concentrate on my voice.” Not an easy boon, she knew, but Cassandra had to try. “He couldn’t stop it?”
Aiden shook his head, sweat pouring off his pale face like rain. “He could only contain it. He-He…” He bit his bottom lip so hard he drew blood and still the cry tore violently from his throat. Through all the pain and screaming in his head, Aiden tried comprehending Solas’s words. A single thought managed to bloom through all the chaos. “Cut it off?”
Cassandra jerked back. “What?”
He glanced at his arm to see the mark sparkling just below his elbow. “Cut. It. Off." He grounded out the words between clenched teeth. “He-Solas said he could only contain it for a short period of time. If you cut it off it won’t spread.”
“Boss?”
“Fucking cut it off,” Aiden cried out as another flare wracked his system. “I don’t want to die. Please, you have to do it.”
Cassandra looked down at him in horror. “Aiden I can’t-.”
“I’d do it for you,” Aiden shouted. “Please, Cass. It’s the only way. Please, I don’t want to leave you. Not now, not ever.”
Cassandra set her jaw knowing that he was right. If she were in this position, Aiden would do whatever had to be done to save her life. As gently as she could, Cassandra laid him flat on his back. “Dorian, I need you to heat my blade.”
Dorian looked at the offending object. “You can’t be serious.”
“if this will save him, then yes I am.” Cassandra stripped herself of her leather sword belt remembering how Aiden put it between her teeth that day in Crestwood. “Cullen, I need you to start tripping strips of cloth from your cloak. I need another belt.”
Since Bull’s was far too large, Cullen slid his off. “What for?”
“A tourniquet.”
“Are we really going to do this?” Bull asked. The Qunari looked positively green at the idea.
Cassandra quickly wrapped the commander’s belt right above Aiden’s elbow. “If it’s going to save his life, then yes.” She yanked it tight drawing a whimper from her husband. She was trying to will herself to remain level-headed. If she couldn’t then her ability to help him would be lost. Hands shaking like a leaf, Cassandra pulled the leather until it was near its breaking point before tying it off. “It will stunt the bleeding. Hopefully, the hot blade will do most of the cauterizing that we need. If not, Dorian be ready.”
“Oh shit, Oh shit,” Dorian whispered over and over against as he used his magic to turn the steel blade red hot.
Cole appeared beside the writhing Inquisitor. “I will try to help.”
“Hurry,” Aiden cried balling his fist as if he could contain the raw power by sheer willpower. “I can feel it starting to break loose.”
“Bull, hold his feet down. Cullen, take his shoulder.” Cassandra laid down the strips of cloth that the Commander made beside Aiden’s left side, readying herself to spring into action the moment the deed was done. She held up her belt. “Bite down.”
Tears ran down his pale face. “Thank you, Seeker,” He whispered before clenching the leather between his teeth. After giving her one last look, Aiden closed his eyes and let his head loll to the right.
Cullen stopped Cassandra from taking the sword. “Let me.” He knew for a fact that Cassandra couldn’t live with herself if she delivered the blow herself as it would cause her husband incredible pain.
Cassandra didn’t argue. She pressed down hard on the rogue’s shoulders while Bull pinned Aiden’s lower half with his massive body. Cole sat on his knees, his head bent as if he was whispering to the Inquisitor. The moment Cullen pulled Aiden’s left arm out and lifted the glowing hot sword, she looked away, unable to witness to the carnage they were about to inflict on her husband. Maker, let this work. “I love you.”
The sound the followed was something that none of them were likely to forget any time soon.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Leliana heard the crackle of the Eluvian, drawing her attention away from the scroll she was reading. First to come through was Cole, then Bull. The expression on the Qunari’s face caused the Devine’s breath to hitch.
“Andraste, no,” She whispered.
Next came Dorian looking just as grim making the Ambassador hold her breath. The mirror crackled before spitting out Cullen and Cassandra barring the weight of the limp Inquisitor.
Varric roared, “No!”
“We need a healer!” Cassandra cried out making no attempt to keep her voice even. “And a place no one will think to look in.” Maker forbid anyone from the blasted council see Aiden in such a condition. They would twist and use it to slander his name even further.
Leliana saw the bloody bandages wrapped around what was left of Aiden’s left arm. Even with the tourniquet, blood dripped at an alarming rate. “Follow me. Varric, fetch my personal physician. He can be found near the throne room.” With Bull pulling up the rear, Leliana wasted no time hitting a panel to a hidden passage and plunging inside with torch in hand. “What happened?”
“Solas,” Bull spat out the elf’s name. “The bastard was responsible for all of it.”
“For the Qunari invasion?” Leliana asked taking a right.
“And the conclave, the breach, all of it.” Cullen grounded out between clenched teeth as he hiked up Aiden to get a better grip. The blood coating the both of them made such a task difficult. “That’s all we know at the moment. I’m sure Aiden can tell us more when he comes to.”
If he comes to. Cassandra couldn’t stop the thought from entering her mind and taking root. There was no guarantee even with the limb removed that they stopped the mark from consuming the Inquisitor. Right now, Cassandra concentrated putting one foot in front of the other while holding onto her husband for dear life. She feared the moment she let go he would turn into ash like the limb did the moment it was severed from Aiden’s body. “How much further, Leliana?”
“Nearly there.” Leliana hit another switch. The darkness was now filled with the light streaming in from the small chambers. “We are well hidden here.”
“And where is here?” Cullen asked as he worked with the Seeker to lay the unconscious man on the large bed. He carefully pulled him closer to the left side and instructed Bull to grab the pillows on the couch to help prop the bleeding limb.
“A secret chamber that only two people in all of Thedas know about. I will go meet Varric and bring the healer.”
Dorian pulled his satchel over his head and began to rummage through the vials inside. They didn’t have the time to administer any before having to act. How Aiden survived the pain was a wonder in Dorian’s eyes. “We are going to need to redress the wound.” He placed several vials on the table beside the bed. “It seems like we didn’t cauterize it completely. If we don’t do something soon, he will bleed out.”
Aiden stirred, his painful moaning filling the small room.
Cassandra snatched up a vial. “Open your mouth, my love,” She softly coxed uncorking it with her teeth. “I’m going to give you something for the pain.”
His eye lids flickered.
“Come on, Trevelyan.” Choking back a sob, Cassandra carefully slid into the bed, propping up his head on her lap. The painful noise he made only added to the weight resting on her damaged heart. Dipping her pinky into the vial, she ran the coated digit over his dry lips. Cassandra watched his nostrils flare and watched the moment Aiden knew just what potion she was trying to get him to take.
“No,” Aiden crocked trying to move away, but not having the energy too. “Cass… No.” He made a vow to himself before they set through the Eluvian the last time, that no matter what he faced, no matter how bad the pain got, he would see the end sober.
Cassandra cupped his bearded cheek in a firm grip, keeping him in place. “I know what I’m asking of you, my love. You’re going to die if you don’t take this.” She held the vial to his mouth. In her desperation, Cassandra couldn’t’ allow herself to dwell on what she was asking him to do. It would be one more thing to haunt her in the days to come. “Please. I can’t lose you. Not now.”
Weak, Aiden opened his mouth and tilted his head back. His stomach rolled in violent protest the moment the liquid hit his tongue. He had to battle his natural instincts to spit it right back out. Instead, he guzzled it down. The pain was like nothing he’d ever felt before. It was all consuming and draining what little life he had left. He could find some solace in the fact that he couldn’t feel the ancient magic burning in his veins. “I don’t feel it.”
Cassandra took another healing draft from Dorian. “I know. Here, take some more.”
“I can’t feel it, Cassandra,” Aiden whispered before taking another dose. He could tell that the meaning of his words was lost on not only the Seeker, but everyone as they clambered about barking orders at one another. Tears welled up again when he felt someone tug at the bandages covering the stub that what was left of his arm. Darkness was threatening to take him again. Aiden fought it tooth and nail, terrified it was death calling him. Amid all the chaos, a hand, so light that Aiden barely registered it, touched his chest. It wasn’t familiar, but instead of panicking, Aiden relaxed beneath it.
Cole.
The spirit was helping soothe him without saying a word giving him the strength he needed to snag his fingers of his right hand in Cassandra’s breast plate to draw her attention back to him. Dark eyes, filled with pain and sorrow, stared down at him. Aiden forced himself to project his voice. “It’s gone. I can’t feel it anymore.”
Her eyes rounded as Cassandra finally understood what he was saying. Crying out to the Maker and his bride, she pressed her lips to his clammy brow.
And wrapped in the warmth of her embrace and the loving sensation of her kiss, Aiden let the darkness claim him.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Hours later, Cassandra sat at Aiden’s bedside drained emotionally and physically. The others tried to get her to change out of her battle tarnished and blood-spattered armor, but she refused. Or rather, she didn’t have the strength to do anything other than watch the rise and fall of Aiden’s bare chest. The mark may be severed, however, the effects of it still lingered in the green tint of his veins. They didn’t glow as brightly as before assuring Cassandra that no more magic churned inside him. Cassandra mindlessly wondered if the tint would eventually fade. Maker knew that he carried enough scars, that he didn’t need the added weight of carrying around a reminder of the ancient magic that nearly cost him his life.
“Pain, stinging, aching, it’s not there anymore.” Cole’s soft voice filled the silence lingering in the room. “Pain. So much. Not whole anymore. Not worthy.”
“Cole.” Cassandra’s voice cracked from the cast number of tears she had shed.
The spirt appeared in the chair across the room. His head was titled so the large brim of his hat was out of his eyes. “It burns, but it’s not there. It feels like a whisper now. A faded memory.” Cole paused for a moment, his pale gaze shifting to the Seeker. “He worries you won’t accept him.”
“That’s absurd,” Cassandra blurted out more towards Aiden then Cole. She knew that Aiden constantly worried about such things, especially since the mark had such a visible trait. “He’s my heart. I couldn’t possibly live without him.”
“And you’re his,” Cole replied a small smile crossing his face. “You’re his strength. His purpose. He’s afraid now he won’t have one. Without or the world. He’s broken again.”
Carefully, Cassandra touched a hand to his chest fining the skin feverish. The healer told them to expect it along without physical reactions as Aiden’s mind processed his missing limb. “He was never broken.” She would gladly spend the rest of her life reminding him of that if that’s what it took.
Aiden stirred under her touch. “Cass?”
“Right here.” She slid her hand up to cup his bearded cheek. “I’m right here.”
“Thirsty.”
Before Cassandra could blink, she found a cup of water in her hand. “Here.” Cassandra moved to lift his head to help him drink. Her heart broke when instinctively he reached for it with his left arm only to falter in realization. She fought when he tried to turn away. “Drink, Trevelyan.”
Fighting a fresh batch of tears, Aiden slowly drank the water hating that his body wished it was something else. “Thank you,” He softly whispered closing his eyes since Cassandra wouldn’t allow him to look away. The last thing he wanted to see was pity and disgust in the eyes he loved so much.
“Aiden-.”
“Don’t,” He hissed cutting her off. “Leave me.”
“No.”
“Please, Cassandra,” He pleaded in the same manner he did all those years ago in the cell below the chantry as he starved his body of the drugs that had been his life line. He wanted to die then just like he did now. Maybe it would’ve been better if Solas consume him.
“Open your eyes.” Shifting on the bed, she knelt and took his face firmly between her hands. “Aiden.”
“Cassandra…” Tears leaked into Aiden’s voice.
Cassandra pressed her brow to his. “Open your eyes for me, my love.” She felt him trembling, could hear the sob hitches of breath that were his suppressed sobs. “My Trevelyan. “My life.”
His heavy lids opened, and the tears flowed freely. He should be happy that he was a live and part of him was, he truly was happy to be breathing, but his mind was struggling to process yet another life change for him. The last five years had thrown him so many. And Cassandra had been through them all, Aiden’s mind kindly reminded. “Even if I’m broken?”
“Never, ever say such a thing, Aiden Trevelyan.” Cassandra eased back to meet his watery gaze. “You are the strongest person I’ve ever met in my life.”
“But how can I care for you properly? I can’t even hold you!”
“I love you.”
“But-.”
“But nothing, Aiden. I love you. You are my life. My heart. The very breath in my body. You are my soul. Nothing will ever change that.” Cassandra watched him struggle under the weight of her words. Watched him try to dislodge them before they could take root in his mind. Wanting to cement them there, she slammed her mouth against his. There was a moment of hesitation and a moment of fighting before he surrendered to both her taste and words. A sop caught in her throat the moment he gently laid his right hand against her face. Such a simple gesture that carried incredible weight.
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
“Can’t this wait?” Cassandra snapped from her spot next to Aiden on the bed. The Ambassador blinked at her tone. “It’s been only two days.”
“I know that, but the Council will not wait for forever, Cassandra,” Josephine softly argued shifting uncomfortably when she noted that everyone in the room held the same opinion that the Seeker expressed.
Aiden glanced at the clean bandage wrapped around the stump of his left arm. Thanks to the physicians, surgeons, healers, potions, and magic, Aiden’s wound was sealed. The skin looked like it was recovering from a massive burn and for something that wasn’t there, it hurt like nothing he’d ever felt before. Phantom feeling. That’s why Dorian called it in the mist of one of his feverish bouts. People would go their whole lives without a limb but have moments of time where they could still feel it. Being an archer, Aiden figured he’d have that sensation constantly for quite some time. “They have chopping at the bits from the moment we arrived. They have their minds made up.” Aiden forced himself to look up. He did his best to ignore the pity etched into Josephine’s brow. Thankfully, Cullen and Bull seemed adapt at masking their emotions. With Dorian and Varric, it took effort, but they usually schooled their features quick enough before it made Aiden too uncomfortable.
“You saved Thedas from Corypheus,” Josephine reminded as if somehow, he had forgotten. “Your words carry more weight than you know.”
“We,” Aiden empathized. “We saved Thedas. I only had the glowing hand. Well-.” He cast a glance down words making the room filled with tension. “What I mean is I don’t think it matters who goes and speaks to those pricks.”
Bull’s lips curved upward. “Let me have a crack at ‘em, boss! I’m sure my big ass hammer can knock some sense into them.”
“We’re trying to prevent a war. Not be the cause of a new one.” Josephine snapped.
“Come on, Charming.” Varric sat atop a table Aiden was pretty sure cost a couple hundred sovereigns with his boots banging against its legs. “Why not grace them with that pretty mug of yours? I mean how could they ever be afraid of you in the first place. I mean you’re ‘armless!”
A dead silence filled the room before Aiden erupted in laughing. This was what he wanted. Normalcy and not everyone walking on egg shells around him. “Right you are, Varric.” He nudged Cassandra with his good arm. The Seeker’s lips were pulled tight and her face passive. Clearly, she was struggling to keep her laughter contained. “Now, that was funny.”
“I admit it was clever.” Cassandra shot Varric a look that seemingly appeared to be heated, but behind it there was a sense of gratitude.
“Might need to hunt up some clothes.” Aiden glanced down at the linen pants and a tunic that had seen better days covered his body. “Think I might give our ambassador a heart attack if I address the council dressed like this.”
“We’ll see you in there,” Cullen stated giving the cue to everyone to vacate the room to leave Aiden and Cassandra alone.
Cassandra shifted in the bed, reaching to skim the tips of her fingers over his chapped lips. “You sure you want to do this?”
He playfully nipped at her fingers. “I want this blasted ordeal over and done with. I want to get as far away from this place as I can.”
Cassandra understood that need as being in the city always took its toll on her husband. Now that he had the potions back in his system, she was worried about what would transpire if they lingered any longer. In the course of the last two days, he had consumed at least four if not five potions to keep the pain at a manageable level. So, she shared her husband’s want to leave this place in order to move on with their lives. The road wasn’t going to be an easy one. “Have you changed your mind on what you’re going to tell them?”
“No. I don’t think some will be happy, but I feel that it’s the best and most logical solution. Do you not agree?”
“I told you long ago, I will back you in your choices.”
“That doesn’t answer my question.”
“I agree with you. It’s time to put the Inquisition to rest.”
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Close to an hour later, Cassandra, dressed in her own formal wear, slipped into the hidden chambers to find Aiden struggling with the buttons of his dress shirt. A task he struggled with two hands thanks to the uneven healing of having his fingers broken multiple times. Stepping up to him, Cassandra playfully slapped his hand away and took over. She noted the blush dusting his still pale face and did her best to chase away his embarrassment with a smile. “Now that the Inquisition is disbanding I need to work on the wife skills that I lack.”
Aiden let out a small laugh and felt a small bit of the tension easing from his taunt shoulders. He was sure he wouldn’t fully relax until they were back at Skyhold. Or maybe not, he silently mused watching Cassandra thread button after button. He would have to go through everyone’s gawking again like after returning from the Arbor Wilds where the green tint of his veins couldn’t be hidden any longer. In fact, Aiden had the rest of his life to look forward to of awkward stares and looks of pity. Even though since they cut off the offending limb to cut off the anchor and the bright pulsating light of green was slowly dimming, Aiden knew that the whole one arm bit would attract unwanted attention.
He cleared his throat to make sure his voice didn’t betray him and bring to the surface the many emotions churning inside him. “I told you once and I’ll say it again, there is nothing sexier than watching you fight. Need I remind you the numerous times I stole you away after watching you spar?” Aiden watched arousal flash across her face and found himself smiling fully for the first time in days. “I don’t think we ever made it up to our bed chambers.”
Her eyes shined with amusement and a hint of need. “We were nearly caught a time or two. Well, according to Leliana, her scouts had written about a particular afternoon not long after we settled in Skyhold.”
If smiling felt great, laughing felt marvelous. “Aye, I bet she has quite a few reports of about us then.”
“It was her job to know the ins and outs of the Keep.” Finished with the buttons of his silk shirt, Cassandra turned to the red coat with golden trim. “She claimed her favorite was the night when the tavern open.”
“Where once again we couldn’t wait for somewhere private before we started ripping each other’s clothes off.”
“I remind you that it was you that did the ripping?”
“I beg to differ.” Aiden realized that Cassandra was trying to distract him with this mindless chatter to stop his anxiety from spiking about putting on the blasted coat. Thankfully, whomever brought the shirt took care to cut the left sleeve short, so it wasn’t like a punch in the gut when he put it on and see half of the fabric hanging uselessly past the stump of where his arm now ended. “You were the one who literally jumped me.”
“I don’t recall doing such a thing,” Cassandra stated as innocently as she could. “Turn around.”
Sinking his teeth into his bottom lip, Aiden complied and allowed Cassandra to slide his good arm through the arm of the jacket. He tried to ignore not only the pain, but the humiliation of shifting his left arm into the fabric.
At least you’re alive. His brain kindly reminded him.
Aiden eyed the potion that was sitting on the night stand and Cassandra conveniently hadn’t addressed. Aiden knew his wife already felt guilty enough for reintroducing it into his system again after nearly three years of not a single drop. The trauma of the last two days and the fact the last thing he should be doing is standing, let alone going to address the council, meant that he would have to take the potion or risked falling on his face in the middle of his appearance. Thinking about how the liquid would taste and the feel of it sliding down his throat had sweat beading on his brow. He was so lost in thought he didn’t realize that Cassandra had pinned the left sleeve of the jacket before taking his face in her hands. Instincts wanted him to fight, to reject her comfort and love. That would only cause her pain and that was the last thing he wanted to do.
“Nothing has changed, Trevelyan.”
A grumbling sound caught in his throat.
“Stop.”
“I can’t… I mean… Damn it.” Aiden gripped her wrist, tears swirling in his glowing blue eyes. “I’m not whole. How can I love you? Or even hold you?”
Cassandra moved forward so fast that it left Aiden no choice but to clench his arm around her or risked landing on his ass. Pressing her face into his neck, she wrapped her arms around his narrow waist. “I believe this is just fine, don’t you think?”
Letting out a huffing laugh, Aiden laid his cheek against her crown. “Maker, I love you.”
“And I you. Even when you’re being a stubborn ass.” Cassandra gave him a firm squeeze. “Adapting is going to be needed. I will be here for every moment of it. I know there will be times you shut me out because your entire life has changed once again, but know that I’m going to be hammering at those walls until you let me in.”
“Promise?”
“Always.”
0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
Aiden could hear Tegan and the others on the council arguing over something he couldn’t put much care into figuring out as he approached the grand door leading into the meeting room. He kicked in the door receiving a sideways looks from the Seeker. Aiden shrugged. “Hand is full,” He commented motioning to the large tome he was carrying under his right arm.
Cassandra made a small disgruntled noise. Well, their entrance attracted the attention he was striving for. The entire panel had stopped dead in their argument to watch them enter the room. The rest of their companions were formed to the left, standing together as a united front for them to join. As she followed Aiden, she cringed at the gasps and other sounds of astonishment at the Inquisitor’s state. The only reason there was an ounce of color in his face was because he took one of those blasted potions.
“Inquisitor,” Josephine softly greeted steeping slightly to the side to give him the floor.
Taking a small breath, Aiden held out the tome for the council. ““You all know what this is.” He turned, her gaze sweeping across the room. “A writ from the Divine Justinia authorizing the formation of the Inquisition. We pledged to close the breach, find those responsible, and restore order. With or without anyone’s approval.”
Standing beside him, Cassandra’s face was beaming with pride as he spoke.
Aiden turned back around to pin Teagan with her heated gaze. “It wasn’t a formally authorized treaty that save Ferelden’s people.” He looked to the Orlesian diplomat. “It wasn’t careful diplomacy that ended your inane civil war. IT was never about the organization. It was about the people doing what was necessary. What was right.”
Tegan opened his mouth as if he was going to interrupted, thought better of it and promptly shut it.
“We have fulfilled that pledge losing good people in the process. And now that the war is over, for most of us.” Aiden tried to keep his mind from shifting to Solas and his haunting words. If he were to bring that up right now, it would only incite further displeasure and argument from the panel. “It is time for our soldiers to sheathe their swords and go home.”
He looked to his companions standing there silently supporting him even if there was a hint of surprise on a face or two. Outside of Cullen and Cassandra, Aiden hadn’t consulted with them. If he so chose to, Aiden knew they would come back to the Inquisition full either as the Divine’s personal guard or to remain as a thriving organization despite Tegan’s objection. After nearly four years of fighting, Aiden was tired and wanted nothing but a simple life because in truth he never thought he’d get a chance at one. The others deserved to choose their own path from here. They had earned the right. “To all who served. Thank you. It’s been an honor.” No matter how much he longed to just drop the book and walk out, Aiden carefully handed it over to the Ambassador. “Effectively immediately, the Inquisition is hereby disbanded.”
Taking her by surprise, Aiden held out his hand for Cassandra. He smiled as she took it and together they left the meeting room uninterested in what the panel had to say. It was time to move on with their lives. Where ever it took them, he could find solace in the fact they would be together.