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When it came to finding spare moments in which to sneak away from the job, there was no good time for it as far as Damertes was concerned. There were only slightly less awful times than others. When those times included a visit from the Imperial Divine, it meant empty halls and vacant rooms, and nobody around to care about what he was doing or with whom, and even Damertes couldn’t deny it was about as ideal as there ever was. Regardless of the danger, the ‘with whom’ was the important part in this equation, of course, though he might never have said as much and not in so many words. It was a risk he was willing to take; he was just pleased that for once the risk wasn’t so very great.He wondered if the same was true for Cad and decided that was a foolish question to ask himself as he stepped into a room so far off the beaten path that Damertes wasn’t sure he’d easily find his way back to the civilized center of the Circle.“I cannot believe you’d miss a chance to see the Imperial Divine himse…” Damertes quickly and efficiently cut himself off while his heart threatened to hammer a hole through his chest wall. “And you are not Ca—Enchanter Leocadius. My apologies.” The man before him wore unfamiliar garb, far from fashionable by Tevinter’s ever evolving standards even this far from the capital. In fact, the distance seemed to make them all a little more aware of the most flattering cuts, the newest in techniques to temper metal to its highest shine. Damertes didn’t much care for the shifts and minutiae of silk and wool and steel, but he cared that others cared and kept apprised as best he could. A magicless third son in a prominent family needed every advantage he could get.“If it’s any consolation,” the man said, blond-going-gray, accent harsh and, ugh, Ferelden, “the Imperial Divine will be much more interested in who doesn’t want to meet him than anyone who does.” There was no doubt now of who this was: the Divine’s pet Templar from the south.And something more if the rumors were true.Damertes swallowed. Those rumors hit a bit closer to the truth than he was entirely comfortable with. As much as he might have wanted to, he couldn’t disdain this man for those rumors. It would have been dishonest. Besides, he couldn’t lie and say the thought of the Divine himself carrying on with a male lover—and a powerless Templar at that with little in the way of important personal connections—was not a hopeful one to him when it was.A foolish one, too. But that wasn’t new. Cad always did accuse him of foolishness.Damertes forced himself to dredge up the man’s name from the recesses of his mind, for form’s sake if for no other reason. It wouldn’t do for word to get back to his family—or to Cad—that he’d slighted the Divine’s most important ‘adviser.’ “Ser Rutherford. I didn’t realize.”He offered a bow and winced, head down, uncertain of what passed for polite among Andrastians. And then he winced again for caring about what was considered polite among Andrastians at all.Rutherford’s features froze in a flinch before his gaze quickly flitted to a ring on his pinkie that he worried with his thumb. “My name is Cullen.” The lines around his eyes tightened and he pushed himself to his feet from the plush velvet chair that Damertes had dragged in here months ago during another moment when he had more time and opportunity than sense and a hope that he and Cad would one day have the chance to use it. “Just Cullen. And I’ve clearly intruded on your private space.” A tiny, wistful smile flitted across his mouth, complicated by pain as he glanced around the impossibly small room. It was a nice, almost boyish smile, only made more compelling by the bitter twist to it. Damertes could see how someone would fall for a smile like that even if there was no other advantage in it. “I should be the one apologizing.”Great. This was going well. “No, no. I’m the one intruding. We didn’t realize—” Damn it all, but Cad was the smooth talker in their relationship. If what they had could be considered a relationship. It mostly consisted of stolen moments and clandestine trysts in shadowed corners, half as fulfilling as they were terrifying. Or exciting, as Cad might have said, though he had the greater prestige to lose if he was found in a dalliance and with someone as disadvantageous to him as Damertes. He couldn’t even give Cad an heir, not that he particularly wanted to, and wouldn’t have been able to guarantee one touched by the Old Gods’ graces even if he could. “You must have wanted privacy if you found this spot.”He wasn’t actually fishing for information, but from the disbelieving arch of Cullen’s eyebrow, he could see how it might look that way. Everyone in Tevinter sought an upper hand against everyone else. It was practically the national pastime, next to profligate murder and disingenuous ass kissing.“You could say that,” Cullen replied finally, both an answer and the opposite at the same time. Stretching, he groaned slightly and pressed his hand to his shoulder, working his arm back and forth a few times. Worry clouded his gaze, a worry Damertes recognized all too well. “I’ve tarried too long as it is.”“I know it’s different in the south,” Damertes blurted out. And there he’d done it again. “The Templar Order. Circles.” He knew, too, that the Imperial Divine sought to change things here. Most considered it the end of the world—or as close as could be gotten without the actual destruction of said world—though some were receptive. Cad spoke about the potential curtailing of blood magic as advocated by the Imperial Divine like it was the most interesting development in Tevinter since the schism itself. Even though he dabbled from time to time, Cad was willing to toy with the thought. Nothing outrageous, nothing that was out of line. Who knew how he would feel if there was a chance that the Divine would accomplish his goal. “That Templars protected people.”Damertes liked the thought of being more than the weapon of his political betters, deployed for no better reason than it was expedient and he was trained to carry a sword. The other Templars whispered sometimes, some in disdain for the fearful southern children who wanted to shackle mages for no good reason. Some, with longing. To Damertes, this was just a job, his only option thanks to birth and circumstances, but one he might have enjoyed being proud of for any reason at all.Southern Templars could be proud, he thought. They got to taste real power, not like Damertes and his lot.Cullen snorted and, as he passed, clapped Damertes on the shoulder. “What’s your name?”He gave it, though it felt a bit like giving up a part of himself in the process. Cullen’s eyes were keen, saw a lot more than his backwater accent and fading, though still good, looks suggested.“Damertes,” he said, long suffering, “nothing is more complicated in the world than protecting people and nothing quite as likely to bend your morals.” His features took on a far-away, unhappy cast, like he was remembering memories that were better left forgotten. “Templars are only as good as their leaders allow them to be and they’re only as good as they want to be, but I fear—I suppose it doesn’t matter what I fear.” His features sharpened and his eyes found Damertes’s. “I suppose you know that feeling already.”Damertes swallowed and didn’t dare confirm with words or a nod that he did. Or that he had opinions on such things. It wasn’t his place to question the enchanters. His lot was to see their will done when a mage got out of line. If the Tevinter Imperium was to flourish, only the strongest and the smartest could advance.But that had been before the Imperial Divine took it in his head to enact reforms within the Circles. And at the behest of his pet, or so the gossip went, like he let regularly let himself be led around by the dick. But Damertes was good at reading others’ ambitions—it was the one thing he could say he was good at—and he saw nothing within Cullen that clamored for advancement. He saw in Cullen the opposite, in fact. If Cullen’s influence did have any bearing on the Divine’s decision, it was probably very much against his own wishes. He didn’t seem to think particularly highly of his counterparts in the south in any case.Cad would be here any moment, but part of Damertes was curious to follow Cullen back to the procession currently making its way through the Circle, the Divine touring the place, glad-handing with the First Enchanter and other influential mages who called this Circle their home. Damertes wasn’t sure how far he’d get just gracing them with his presence, few enough were interested in his ideas—perhaps there would be further negotiations behind closed doors—but he wished the Divine the best, if for no other reason than because he’d be curious to see what kind of upheaval his changes would wrought.This Circle, at least, could do with a shake up.“Would you like an escort back?” Damertes asked, fighting the urge to grimace. If Cad showed up and he wasn’t here, he might well assume Damertes had gone back to see the Imperial Divine and work his way there as well, spoiling their one chance in who knew how long to feel a modicum of safety.“That won’t be necessary,” Cullen said, distracted, perhaps by the sound of approaching footsteps. Cad’s, no doubt. They sounded like his anyway. And when Damertes turned to look, he did in fact see Cad rounding the corner, robes in disarray and a fantastic grin on his mouth, mischievous and secretive. So he must’ve gotten exactly what he wanted already and found time to come here, too. Lucky him.Things usually turned out that way for Cad. Damertes hated him and loved him for it.“Was that the Templar?” Cad asked as soon as Cullen disappeared down another hallway, well out of earshot. He sounded scandalized, jealous, like he wished he’d been here, too, when it was already obvious Cad had managed his audience with the Divine as well. Cad’s ambitions would consume the world if he didn’t one day control them. Eyes wide and guileless, Cad leaned close. “He’s handsome. What was he like? Is it true he’s the reason the Divine is agitating for reforms?”Damertes pursed his lips together, his thoughts swirling, an ache settling in his chest. It felt too much like gossiping to say anything, but he couldn’t offer Cad nothing either, not even if he wanted to. “I don’t know. He’s quiet.” Damertes knocked shoulders with Cad. “You wouldn’t know what that’s like.”Cad sniffed and lifted his chin, faux indignant and affectatiously imperious. “And you’d do well to pry a little more deeply when presented with the opportunity. What a waste.” Still, he stretched and laced his fingers behind his neck, supremely pleased with himself for his own advancements presumably. He darted looks both ways down the corridor and stole a quick, chaste kiss right there in the hall. “But that’s what I love you for, I suppose.”Demartes fought the blush that threatened to stain his cheeks a damning red. Cad shared his affection so easily, always had, and it still took Demartes by surprise.Tugging Cad toward their room, he bit back a smile and felt more hopeful than he had in a long, long time. There was perhaps no good reason for it, but with Cad in his arms and people like Cullen to support the Divine, he felt their chances were excellent that things wouldn’t stay the same and might end up better than when the Divine started.Damertes looked forward to it.But not as much as he looked forward to making Cad the one who blushed. That, at least, was a goal Damertes could accomplish all on his own, a little personal taste of hope right here in the middle of this prison of his country’s making.