Chapter Text
"I knew a girl named Persephone once." Bull murmured, peering at the letter in Dorian's hand.
"I know you used to be a spy, but could you not read my letters? Also, Persephone is a Tevinter name. You take much time to get to know your enemies?"
"Evidently." Bull smirked and kissed the top of Dorian's head. "And she was a kid. Six years old. It was in Seheron . She came barging into the inn where my team and I were staying. Said she'd had enough, and she wanted to join the Qun . We explained what that meant, but she insisted. Said that her mother and the man she worked for were evil, and she didn't want to be. She was with us for three months. She became our mascot. Our pet Vint . She was a sweet little thing. We loved her. Some of them... Love is different for Qunari . There's no concept of your own children or parental love. But we knew that what we felt for her was something damn close. Some of my team talked about how under the Qun she would be Saarebas and treated as such. I fought them pretty hard on that. Said that I would be her handler. Her Arvaarad . Keep her in control. Keep her safe. She called me her Monster."
Dorian was staring at him with an odd look on his face. "What happened?"
Bull sighed. He hated thinking about it. His losses. His failure.
"Her mother found us. Killed my men. I tried to stop her. I remember... I had the girl on my back. She was shouting... Something at her mother. There was fire everywhere. Demons. All I could think was... I had to protect this kid. Next thing I know, I'm waking up in a pile of rubble surrounded by dead bodies. She was gone. Her mother took her back. I was... The next day... I woke up and couldn't think of a damn reason to keep doing my job . Turned myself into the reeducators . Tried to forget. But I think about her sometimes. What kind of person she'd become. If she's happy. if she ever managed to get aw ay from her mother."
Dorian chuckled softly. "Was this all about roughly ten years ago?"
"What? Yeah."
"And the girl... Black hair? Big g rey eyes? Dark skin covered in freckles ?"
" Wha - How?"
"She's a wonderful person. Kind and clever. And her mother died about seven years later. Three... Almost four years ago now."
"How do you know all this?"
Dorian held up the letter. "Same Persephone." Dorian sighed and shook his head. "I suppose it's time for me to tell a story of my own." He set down the letter and settled back in his seat, his eyes far away. "When I was sixteen, my parents discovered my... Predilections. They were displeased, t o say the least. In the end... We came to a... I agreed to try. There was a girl. Only a year older than me. And we... After a bit of brandy and a considerable amount of magic, I was able to... Well. She got pregnant. The baby was technically a bastard, and therefore has her mother's family name and I was only allowed to see her three or four times a year. Five if I was lucky. On one such occasion, she runs up to me and tells me she ran away and tried to join the Qun . Her mother must have been afraid that she'd try again and succeed, because she bullied another child out of me."
"How'd she manage that?"
"I'd rather not get into it. Her name is Artemis. She's ten. Persephone just turned seventeen. That's what this was about." He gestured to the letter. "She was telling me about her birthday. Quite the party." He took a long sip of wine and looked back up at Bull. "She's happy. Safe."
"That's..." Bull grabbed the bottle of wine and took a swig.
"Yeah." Dorian chuckled. "Even after their mother died, I couldn't get custody. They lived with her parents until Persephone was able to inherit her mother's holdings as well as her patron's. The man died three years after her and had no family. Everything he had went to his apprentice. Or rather, her children. Persephone took it all. Moved back into his mansion and took custody of her sister."
"Damn."
"That's my girl." Dorian refilled his glass and handed the bottle back to Bull. "A few months later, she became a magist er. Not the youngest ever, but the youngest at the moment. Fifteen and full of ideas. But she's clever. She's playing them for all they're worth. Pretending to be one of them. It's brilliant. My father writes once a week with tales of her."
"You two a re good, then?"
"We're civil. He's a magister as well, so they work together, and he keeps an eye on her. My parents have the girls over for dinner once a month."
"And the little one? What is she like?"
"Oh, she's a sweetheart. Full of energy. Talented. Just turned ten this past spring."
"Did you get to see more of them once they got out on their own?"
"Yes. A bit. Persephone worked with Alexius, so she would come over fairly often. We write to each other almost every day." Dorian traced his fingers over his daughter's signature in front of him. "When I left Tevinter ... It was one of the hardest things I've ever done."
"You did what was right. I'm sure they're proud of you."
"Persephone was the one who convinced me to leave. She's working her own plan back home.Getting in good with the higher ups.Half the information we've received on the Venatori has come from her. There are bad people in Tevinter . Evil twisted blood mages who would see the world burn. And they all love, trust, or respect her."
Bull let out a low whistle. "She would've been wasted in Pa r Vollen ."
"Ah yes. I explained to her what a Saarebas was when she told me about all that. She swore up and down that her monster would never have let that happen." Dorian's smile faltered. "She thinks you're dead. She thinks Ha driana killed you along with the others. Would you like me to inform her otherwise? She already knows about who you are to the Inquisition. Who you are to me."
"Of course. And... I'd love to hear from her."
Dorian smiled again and kissed Bull's cheek. "Isn't it funny? You were all set to pr actically adopt her, and then years later, ended up with her father."
Bull chuckled and pulled Dorian into his lap.
"Must be destiny."