#threads (jasper)

"I'm sorry, I just can't get over this. You're a spy — A Qunari spy — and you just...admit it aloud."

Jasper really couldn't fathom it. He understood honesty, to a degree, but when your job was to spy on someone...surely that was detrimental to your job not beneficial. Leliana didn't go around announcing that she was spying on everyone in Haven and beyond probably including himself. She just...did it.

There were other things he was curious about but that probably was after a few more mugs of ale from the bar and more time to suss out this absolute mountain of a man.

But no doubt he'd get there at some stage.

It wasn't every day that the King of Ferelden happened to drop by. Jasper wasn't really very surprised to see him again. After all, Skyhold was still within the border of Ferelden so he was sitting in a keep that he had claimed but rightfully belonged to the crown. Maybe Josephine had specifically invited him hoping to smooth down tensions, especially since their first meeting and the last time he'd spoken to Alistair Theirin could charitably be described as "getting off on the wrong foot".

He'd learned his lesson there. Josephine was the one who did the majority of the talking and he simply sat in his seat, nodded when appropriate, and offered up only neutral comments. The last thing he wanted was for the Inquisition to be forced to find yet another new base when there were still wounded and traumatised people within the safety of Skyhold's walls. They'd lost enough people on that brutal march from Haven and Jasper wasn't sure he'd ever forget it.

But when a king makes himself scarce and no one can seem to find him, Jasper was compelled to go looking. Apparently no one had thought to check some of the smaller courtyards, possibly out of fear of tumbling masonry that still had to be properly fixed.

"Well I think Lady Montilyet is going to keep finding new grey hairs the longer she goes without seeing you at the table." Jasper offered up. An exaggeration but the peace between them was a tenative thing and perhaps a small joke would help lighten the mood, leaning against the wall a careful distance away from the other man.

His eyes swung to the child in question. Jasper wondered if Leliana knew one of her beloved nugs was being chased around by an excitable prince, wheeking in indignation at the whole affair. From a corner he also noticed a mabari hound watching the child and occassionally its gaze sliding over to where Alistair and Jasper stood. He felt a threat from the animal: no sudden moves.

He hadn't realised he had been staring at Dorian until he felt a heavy slap on his back that nearly knocked him forwards into the campfire. Bull's laugh was deep and also knowing and Jasper glared at him once he'd scrambled back into an upright position. "Go get 'em, Boss." and meanwhile Sera audibly gagged. As if the mere thought of a man was enough to make her want to lose the dinner they'd just eaten.

Seemingly with that blessing, he waited a few moments more before he got up, stretched, and made a lame excuse that he was tired. It was a lie and everyone knew it. Jasper was definitely not going to be going to his own tent. His and Dorian's tents weren't so far apart so when he turned in that direction he could almost pretend that everyone bought that hook, line, and sinker.

But it was in fact Dorian's tent Jasper slid into. His stealthy entrance was completely foiled when he almost choked at the sight which greeted him.

His lone hand trailed down her back, following the nubs of her spine through his own clothes. If he had both his hands he would have trailed her into his lap where she belonged. With only the one he made do with simply enjoying the feeling of her as the kiss deepened.

They'd been here before. He blamed his own lack of self-control when it came to Cassandra. He needed her lips on his, their bodies pressed against each other, the sweet sounds she made when the passion took over. Only every time he had stopped himself. The voices in his head becoming too loud and insistant until he pulled away and tried to reign himself in.

Even now he felt the urge to break the kiss and come up with some excuse to leave. He couldn't use a shower as an excuse — though he was becoming very acquainted with cold showers to calm himself down — his hair was still damp from the one he'd taken before bed.

And the last time he'd done that he'd had his furious twin sister storm into his bathroom and give him a verbal bollocking.

Jasper broke the kiss only to breathe. He felt himself panting like he had just finished an intense training session. Was he really that out of practice? Maybe he was just needy. He accused Cassandra of that enough but he knew he was just as bad especially when it came to her.

"I need—" he started and then stopped himself.

He had a plan for how tonight was going to go and this was not it. Jasper knew he needed to talk to Cassandra. He needed to tell her that he had feelings for her. Properly. Not done when he was half-dead and being wheeled into surgery and she probably thought whatever pain meds he'd been given had made him lose his mind. He'd planned to talk to her when it was just them, alone and in bed where he felt like maybe he could open up his heart to her and she might not run away.

And now his own sex drive had fucked that up too.

He hadn't known she was also on a contract and for the same target. It happened sometimes. Maybe two different people wanted the same person dead. Maybe one person wanted to make absolutely certain that the target died and wasn't shy about shelling out gold to multiple Crow houses. It was rare, but occassionally it meant that you had to keep your eye on two things at once: the target and any other Crow because only the successful party got the payment and the bragging rights.

Jasper had considered trying to seduce the target. Get him alone and naked then strike when he least suspected it. He could. He enjoyed those contracts enough that Maria usually shoved them off to him without thought. However, him walking down a tight alley with and only lightly guarded was too much of a good opening to waste.

And now neither of them would get the kill. Instead, he was oushed against a wall by Viago's fledgling. Jasper knew her, somewhat. He had seen her once or twice. Maybe exchanged a word with her. Now he'd ruined her contract. He knew Maria was somewhat obssessed with her and the rumour that she could apparently corpse whisper. A rival house with that kind of magic on their hands was too much for the head of House Trevelyan.

He grinned down at her, completely undaunted by her anger and the knife against his chest. It took a lot to stop himself from laughing outright at how she had to throw nearly all her body weight into pinning him and he still knew he could easily reverse their positions. Laughing at the woman threatening you would probably be a bridge too far and despite his cocky air, he didn't want to end up stabbed tonight. Stabbed and likely with a poisoned blade.

Cassandra's memories were still not fully intact. Jasper tried not to let that rankle him because it wasn't her fault. He was certain that whatever had caused it was not Cassandra's own doing and he suspected Orin and Saverok were the main culprits there.

Still, the closer they got to the Gate, the more certain Jasper was that her memories would return. The familiar surroundings would hopefully spark something. He couldn't push too hard, all he could do was try and guide her.

He did not conciously try to end up with her in his lap, waist deep in a spring. It just happened and he hadn't said no.

She was afraid she would hurt him? Jasper felt like laughing in the face of her very real fear. Cassandra wouldn't harm him. Even when she was under her father's thumb, his Chosen, she had never lifted a finger to him. The incubus didn't doubt that the urge was there, that Bhaal would very happily see his blood spilt and him being forced back to the Hells, but Cassandra had always managed to fight it.

But that had been then and this was now. This Cassandra was...different. She had new scars and new fears and alarming gaps in her memory that defied explanation. Something had happened to her and he suspected Orin was the cause but the exact whats and hows were still a mystery to him.

Maybe that was why he'd held back from revealing his true form. Jasper doubted anyone was suspicious that he wasn't the tiefling he presented himself as. Well...maybe the Sharran but if she kept that to herself. Lady of Secrets, indeed.

What he wanted to say was that he was so confident because he knew her. He knew she wouldn't hurt him. Maybe deep down she remembered that she loved him, he hoped that was true. Aloud, however, he only gave her a cocky smile and said:

"You just seem like someone it's smart to bet on. I feel much safer as your ally than anyone stupid enough to make an enemy of you. What's life without a bit of risk?"

He had to thank Maria for the villa by the sea she'd offered as her own wedding present. Two weeks of peace in the middle of the chaos that came with rebuilding a world. They both needed the time to focus on anything except what was needed of them as two saviours of the world.

And the fact that they were now officially married after a private ceremony in Nevarra’s Grand Necropolis only made it all the better.

“Well it looks like my wife has ideas.”

His wife. No matter how many times he thought it or said it aloud it always felt somewhat surreal. They'd been together so long without being married that Jasper didn't think it mattered anymore whether they were married or not. His opinion had changed dramatically now. He couldn't stop thinking about Cassandra, the woman he loved, was now his wife.