He frowned.
Was that snow in her hair? What the hell? She's on a damn beach.
"Let me help you," she whispered, her breath cold against his neck. There was such a deep ache in her voice when she added please that he had to pull back and study her a little. Did she care this much for him? Of course, he cared about her, she was his. But he hadn't expected for her to give much of a damn about him, especially when it seemed he'd basically abandoned her. He hadn't even left his own daughter for her to decide she didn't want anything to do with him.
She wanted to help him how, though?
It was like the heat was sucked out of the air around them, and he pressed in closer to her, wary of a threat. His eyes scanned their surroundings until he saw a glow and turned his attention to it. The ice in her hair was magic?
"Briella?"
His breath lodged in his throat, a violent chill flowing through his body. He tensed, grunting against it. Goddamn, was he about to have a literally frozen heart? Beneath his face mask, his expression was pinched and tight, steeling himself for all the cold pouring through his limbs, freezing up his chest so he couldn't breathe. He couldn't even push his baby away to get her to safety. He was helpless.
A soft gasp passed his lips in a foggy breath as the chill stopped pushing and only settled deep inside him, his body shivering. Beneath the numb, he was healed. Or as healed as he would ever be. His skin had pulled closer to the bones thrusting out of him, much as they did when Leliana was near. His nose had stopped bleeding, and he couldn't feel the coughs hanging in his throat ready to force their way out.
"I don't want to leave you, I don't want to-"
She went a little limp, leaning against him, and he forgot all about the cold. He held her, checking her over quickly and putting together that this was her doing. She was a healer. A damn cold one, but a healer.
"Nobody told me magic was so hard to do."
He nuzzled her, humming softly in comfort and firmly ignoring her wish to return to that frozen hell if anything happened to her. His eyes hardened, his muscles tense. "Nothing will happen to you. You're mine," he swore roughly, quiet as he tugged her in close and pressed her small body against him heedless of his unforgiving armor.
With his legs folding, he coaxed her down to the ground with him, curling around her and brushing a warm breath over her jaw. "Stay with me," he whispered, kissing a light trail beside her throat and down her neck before nuzzling into her silvery winter hair. "Rest now, baby. I'll keep you warm." And safe.
we're slaves to any semblance of touch
Lord, we should quit but we love it too much
