Chapter Text
"You wished to talk." Caterina looked up from the letter she'd been writing.
Viago nodded. "It's about Cyn."
Decades of dealing with the Crows and two grandsons had taught Caterina never to let her face display emotions it shouldn't. To never show anything that might give others something to pin her down with.
Indicating the chair on the other side of her desk, she waited for Viago to sit and clear his throat a few times. Then watched as he started fussing with his glove.
She had an inkling what this was about but waited for him to confirm her suspicion.
"I caught Lucanis sneaking from Cyn's room the other day," he finally said. By his tone, it was clear that he didn't think the two of them had been playing cards.
She had a few conversations with Illario about sleeping around where he shouldn't, but never with Lucanis. He had never shown any interest that she had noticed. If he truly had been with the girl in the way Viago implied, then she doubted it was for the same shallow reasons as his cousin.
"You think they have become involved with each other," she stated calmly.
"I do." He sat straighter as if preparing himself for a debate. "And I want it to stop."
Inside, Caterina smiled; she could feel it tug on her lips, and was glad that age and years of hardship had formed deep grooves around her mouth. They hid those tiny twitches perfectly.
"Why?"
Viago sputtered. "Because she is my sister."
It was his strongest and weakest argument. One so easily disassembled.
"She is a grown woman," Caterina replied calmly. "One who knows her mind."
"She is a bad influence on Lucanis. Aren't you worried?"
"No."
She saw no reason to be. Lucanis had changed; that much was true, but just as much as any man would who found himself in love. The question was, how strong was their bond?
"So you won't stop sending them out together?" Viago asked. "You want me to just turn a blind eye to what they are doing? She is-"
"Your sister, I know." She didn't tell him she was well aware there was indeed shared blood between the siblings, not just ties to the House. "And Lucanis is my grandson."
Viago drew in a hissing breath but knew better than to argue against her point. He wouldn't dare challenge Lucanis, no matter how much his involvement with Cyn might rankle him. But just to be sure.
"We will let this play out," Caterina commanded. "This could be over in a month if we don't make them fight for it. Those kinds of job infatuations are a straw fire. Burning hot, but very fast."
Viago mulled this over in his head, but the firm set of his mouth told her he was still not satisfied. "And what if it's not?"
Caterina raised her brow. "Then I will have Lucanis end it." It was only half a lie.
Viago clearly wasn't satisfied, but he nodded, wisely not pushing for more. "Thank you for your time."
She watched him leave. Only when the door shut firmly behind him - a sign just how vexed he was - did she allow the smile that lingered on her teeth to show.
Men were so predictable - Lucanis, Viago, her own husband all those years ago. Always fretting about things that might resolve themselves or could be easily solved if one only stopped and used their head.
She had no doubt that if Lucanis truly cared for that girl, he would move heaven and earth to make it work. He needed a wife. Someone strong to stand beside him and carry on the Dellamorte line when she handed him the title of First Talon. Not yet, if the years were kind to her. But she wasn't a fool.
Everyone died. And with the time she had left, Caterina would ensure that whoever Lucanis chose was worthy of his hand.
The girl, Cyn, was chaos incarnate. Someone flaunting the rules just because she could. Not insane as rumors claimed. Caterina had seen a sharp wit in the girl's eyes, defiance too, and a lot of anger. It could be a flaw if she continued to let it rule her, but a strong asset if she mastered it. Made her uncalculable for her enemies.
Lucanis was more like Caterina herself - he knew the rules, could abide by them. But he lacked something, she couldn't point out. Maybe something - as annoying as it was to admit it - Caterina herself did not possess.
Together, they might correct what the other was missing and stand strong when Caterina was no longer there.
For now, she would watch.
And decide if the girl was worth keeping.
Lucanis read the same sentence for the third time, and still, his mind didn't process any of the words. Shutting the book with a defeated huff, he closed his eyes and wondered what else he could do to distract himself.
He knew Viago had demanded to speak to Caterina this morning, two days after Lucanis had sneaked out of Cyn's room.
Viago had been livid, and no reassurance that Lucanis hadn't planned for it or that he hadn't seduced Cyn into something she didn't want had calmed him. And even a solemn promise not to break her heart, because for him this wasn't just a one-night fling, made no difference.
And now he had to wait and see what would happen.
He had sent a note to Cyn yesterday, just a few lines that he wasn't staying away by choice. There had been no reply.
Did she not get his letter? Was she angry with him? Or had Viago sent her away?
Groaning, he ran his hands over his face and raked them through his hair. He hated not knowing.
A knock on his door made him jump to his feet. The book hit the floor, but Lucanis was already reaching for the doorknob. Now he might get some answers.
Then he hesitated.
His grandmother never knocked.
Viago was unlikely to come to his room. The knock hadn't sounded angry enough for it to be the other man.
A servant, maybe? To summon him to Caterina's study. Or Illario?
The knock came again, louder this time.
"Don't make me knock another time, Luca." Cyn's voice.
He pulled the door open without another thought. And there she stood. All by herself. Looking like she always did - distractingly beautiful and slightly amused at some joke or other.
"Hi," he breathed, his hand reaching for the door frame to steady himself.
"Hi." She grinned, then gestured behind him. "Can I come in?"
Blinking once, twice, he gathered his scattered thoughts and stepped aside. "Of course, come in."
Cyn brushed past him. She was wearing a new perfume, he noticed. Or at least one she hadn't worn before. It made him want to pull her back and bury his nose in the crook of her neck.
"Not what I was expecting," she said as she turned and took in the whole room.
Remembering the still open door, he shut it quietly, then asked, "What did you expect?"
"I don't know. Something less…cozy." She ran her hand over the plush sofa by the fireside and picked up the book Lucanis had dropped so carelessly. She read a few lines, raised a brow at him, but made no further comment on the novel, just placed it on the armrest of the sofa. "Maybe bare walls, seats carved from hardwood, not so many cushions. More empty coffee mugs."
A soft laugh escaped his lips. "The servants just cleared the last stack of cups away."
They fell silent. Lucanis felt his stomach clench painfully. He knew this was a crucial moment, something that could either break what they had or confirm it. He just didn't know what Cyn wanted. She had told him after their night together that she wanted to do it again. Now he wished he had stayed. Wished he had let Viago wait outside for another hour while taking time to talk to her.
"Did you get my note?" He hoped she couldn't hear the desperate tone in his voice. It was blatantly obvious to him.
She nodded. "Though only as a quick whisper from a servant. I never saw it myself. What did it say?"
This was it. The moment of truth.
He stepped closer, unsure what to do with his hands. He lifted them as if to reach out to her, then dropped them again.
Cyn smiled and shook her head. "Still afraid, I might bite?"
That made him snort. "With you, biting is always a possibility." He took her hand, no hesitation this time. She squeezed his fingers gently. "My note just said that I wanted to come visit you, but I wasn't allowed. I didn't want to get you into more trouble than you most likely already were. And-"
He swallowed.
"And?" she asked, teasingly, and placed her free hand on his chest.
"And that I missed you."
Cyn lightly tugged on the chain dangling from his collar. "Have I not tormented you enough yet?"
"Apparently not."
"I take it then, that you didn't change your mind?" She looked up at him, lips curled into a smirk, but he knew her well enough now to notice a flicker of vulnerability in her eyes.
"No." He wanted to stop there, but he needed her to know that he'd let her go if she wanted him to. "Unless you have changed yours."
The seconds it took for her to form a reply were torture.
"I have not," she answered with a seriousness she rarely showed, then the familiar smirk was back. "But if you had, I just want you to know that I was fully prepared to tie you to your bed and take my time reminding you of-"
He cut her off with a kiss, smiling against her lips when she hit his chest once and without heat, then curled her fingers into his shirt and pulled him even closer.
"So, you didn't just desert me because my brother told you to?" she whispered, the playfulness in her voice betrayed by a light tremor.
Anger swelled in Lucanis' chest. This question hadn't come from nowhere. How many times had people been "encouraged" to disappear on her without a word?
"Never! Never like this," he promised. The words burned with an intensity that almost scared him. "If I were to leave you, I would have the decency to tell you. To your face. Even if I know Viago would try to kill me for it."
She pulled back a little, capturing his face with her hands. "Good. Same."
"Speaking of your brother, does Viago know you are here?"
"He does," she replied smugly, "And he isn't happy about it. So not happy. But your grandmother has work for us. And he didn't dare to tell her no."
Lucanis frowned. "Caterina told you first?"
"Jealous?"
He shook his head. "Just…surprised."
And suspicious. If Viago had already spoken to Caterina, she would have been aware of him and Cyn, yet she didn't separate them. Why?
His grandmother rarely did things without a reason.
"What is the job?" he asked before he could voice his suspicions out loud.
Still tightly wrapped in his arm, Cyn reached between them and fished a folded note from her pocket.
"Your grandmother just gave this to me. No explanation. Only four words." She paused, then, in a frightingly good imitation of his grandmother, said, "Talk to Lucanis. Dismissed."
He slowly unfolded the paper and stared at the words. A name. A place. And one line.
I was told you could help. Beside it, a crude drawing of a coat of arms.
Lucanis' eyes flicked to Cyn. "Do you know what this means?"
Her dark brows drew together, and she gave a half-shrug. "A plea for help and a Grey Warden sigil, isn't it?"
"Yes."
"I don't understand." She snatched the paper back, turning it around, as if the blank back of the letter might hold explanations that weren't there before. "Do they want us to fight darkspawn?"
Lucanis exhaled slowly. He had done these kinds of jobs before. But Cyn hadn't, and he wasn't sure how she would react once she knew what it entailed.
"No. Not at all."