CaffeinatedRogue

She didn’t speak when he stepped up beside her, amber eyes curiously studying the prophet in all of her glory, crowned in sunlight and surrounded by blooms.

Leda tucked a strand of hair behind a pointed ear, glancing at him out of the corner of her eye, a playful tilt to her full lips. “Isn’t it bad luck to see the bride before the wedding?”

A responding smile came immediately to his face. Because bad luck or no, it was worth it to see Leda standing in the Thedosian sun, flowers strewn through her hair, each braid as intricate as the last, waves of copper reaching her waist. Elias had to stop himself from reaching out and running his fingers through them, knowing he’d ruin her hair before they even made it to the chapel. 

“Bad luck for whom? Me?” Slipping his hands around her waist, his fingers twisted into the ivory fabric bunched at her hips, and he counted each bead and ribbon by touch alone. “I’ll take whatever bad luck the Maker decides I deserve if it means I spend the rest of my life with you.”

Leda laughed breathlessly, turning in his arms so she faced him fully, eyes shining in the afternoon sun, like flawless amber in the palms of his hands. “You don’t have woo me anymore, Eli.”

Elias brushed a hand upwards, over her bodice where more of the beading and ribbons were stitched in, across her collarbone where a dainty pendant sat between her breasts, before he gently gripped the point of her chin, his thumb brushing softly against the skin there.

“I’ll never stop trying to woo you. Not when you deserve more.” 

Leda let out a happy sigh as Elias leaned forward, lips pressing to her forehead in a kiss, soft and sweet. In a few short hours, she’d be his wife, though the Chantry ceremony meant little when they’d already been to hell and back for each other. Nothing formed a bond as deep and as binding as fighting beside one another, keeping each other safe and whole, keeping hope alive even amidst the horrors of the darkspawn army.

There were days when he missed traveling across Ferelden, trudging through mud and rain, sitting around a campfire with friends, sleeping under the stars with Leda in his arms. They were safer now, the blight quelled and the darkspawn ran back underground, and there were less meetings with the nobility, less training sessions with warden recruits, less responsibilities to attend to on a daily basis.

But no matter what came in the future: more blights, more kings, more battles… he would do it at Leda’s side.

She wrapped her fingers around his hand, waiting for him to pull back from the kiss so their eyes could meet again. A smile spread across her face, a smirk that spelled trouble for him just as much as it spoke volumes of her affection for him.

“I have more, Eli. I have you.”

Leda shifted forward, pressing her face into his shirt as she hugged him, her body fitting perfectly against his as they stood among the gardens, among the sun shining and the birds singing, the promise of forever closer with every minute passed. Elias counted this moment among the best days. Because everything was better with Leda.