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Even now, months after the last remnants of the Last Blight had been cleared from Minrathous, there was just something about the city that made Lucanis' skin crawl. The ambient itch of magic in the air was less intense in Dock Town's crawling streets, though the constant damp of more or less light rainfall was little better.
The remnants of Blight and blood magic had Spite on edge, too, the Veil thin enough in places to taunt him with the smell of home without ever being able to reach it.
Once, Lucanis had haunted this city like a ghost, always on the hunt for his next target and determined to leave no trace but for the bodies he had been contracted for. These days, he was much less concerned with moving unseen, not when he had friends in places high and low and the hunt for Venatori had been declared official state business.
Not today though. Today, he was here on a personal — and much more pleasant — errant.
"No Rook today?" Neve regarded him curiously as he stepped through her door. His note had merely stated that he needed her help to locate a vendor for bespelled jewellery.
"No. The entire point of this endeavour is to surprise her."
Hence the vague note, and the arrangement with Bellara to invite Ceres over to Arlathan. He had no doubt that she would find some artefact or other to keep both of them busy.
Meanwhile, Lucanis had done his best to dress inconspicuously as to not attract unwanted attention — he had made a name for himself in these streets — but even without his ostentatious Crow leathers, the impeccable tailoring of his coat would stand out in the alleys of Dock Town. Fortunately, the people of Dock Town usually didn't give a rat's ass about the origin of people meaning to leave coin in their pockets.
"Hmm … looking for a ring?" Neve needled, watching the faint blush creeping up his tanned skin.
"No, that won't be necessary." His eyes flickered to the side as hers narrowed, then widened.
"You already have one, don't you?"
A small smile played around the corner of his mouth, even as he ducked his head. "Perhaps."
"Sneaky," she smirked. "How long?"
Lucanis cleared his throat. "A while."
No sense. Buying one. If you won't. Us it! Spite complained to his ears alone.
I will, Lucanis argued, in time.
"Let me guess: You've been carrying your grandmother's ring just in case ever since we all got back from saving the world?"
"No. That thing is cursed. I had one made." He'd waited all of a week after the defeat of Elgar'nan, anxious to have that taken care of before his duties as First Talon swallowed him whole.
"That's sweet. Can I see?"
Lucanis raised a brow.
"Come on, like you'd leave that thing lying around anywhere she might find it?"
He sighed, digging his hand into a pocket to retrieve a small velvet satchel. The ring that tumbled out of it was a slender golden band bearing a single polished stone the same colour as Ceres' eyes.
"Very pretty," Neve asserted when he held it out for her inspection. "Were you planning to actually use it anytime soon? Because if you're waiting for the perfect moment, we might all die from old age before you find it."
Lucanis scowled, carefully putting the ring back where it belonged. "I'm not waiting for the perfect moment — just for the right one. I just … wanted to give her time to make up her mind first, you know? She's not always happy with my work — or my grandmother. I didn't want her to agree to anything before she knew what she was getting into."
Neve stared at him for a moment before shaking her head with a soft huff. "Lucanis … Rook waited months for you to get your act together — did you really think she'd be deterred by some minor challenge like that?"
"I dare you to call my grandmother a 'minor challenge' where she can hear you," he retorted dryly, earning himself a snort. The "I just want her to be sure" followed much more quietly
"Alright. Just don't wait too long, will you?" Neve sighed. "Some of us have money riding on this."
Lucanis blinked. He … probably should have expected this. "… Some of us?"
At the back of his mind, Spite started to snicker.
There was absolutely no remorse in the lazy smile spreading slowly across Neve's face. "No comment. So. What ware we looking for, if not for a way to propose to your love?"
Lucanis' quiet huff wasn't quite a laugh, but close enough. "I am looking for a pair of sending stones. For Satinalia," he explained. "I'd prefer to have ones in the form of earrings, but I can work with pendants, too.
Neve nodded thoughtfully. "I think I might have someone. You still get antsy when you're apart for more than a few hours, don't you?"
Rook should be. With Us!
Yes, but she can't always.
Lucanis grimaced, crossing his arms. "I know it's irrational, and it's been months, but after losing her to Solas' Fade prison … It's not that I need to know where she is at all times; I do trust her to take care of herself. I just thought it would be nice if we could still talk." Rook had killed a god, after all, and convinced another to use his own life-force to stabilize the Veil; he'd even watched her do it. Unfortunately, not every blade coming for your throat was as plainly telegraphed as that, and he couldn't help but worry sometimes. Not that he would tell Neve, because that particular discussion would be sure to get back to Ceres, who would give him an earful about his hypocrisy.
"No, I get it. And I know she worries when you're out on a job without her, too." Not that Rook would talk about that much, but she wandered over to Minrathous almost every time Lucanis was working in the field without her.
Neve fell quiet for a moment, taking the time to really look at him. There were still circles under his eyes, but they were no comparison to the dark canyons that had graced his face while the lot of them were still hunting the gods. He'd put on a little weight, too, something he'd never properly managed when they had spent their days running all over Thedas. Being First Talon seemed to suit him, despite his initial misgivings — or maybe it was just living with Rook.
It felt good to see her friends doing well. They'd earned it, all of them.
"I think she'll like it," she added with a smile. "Come on, we don't want to wait for my contact to close up for the day. And maybe we can stop by Hal's on the way back — your treat."
He laughed. "It would be my pleasure."
Lucanis didn't manage to make it home before Ceres often, and while the simple act of being welcomed by her smile had become a cherished ritual, he didn't mind a few moments of privacy today. Being alone made it much easier to slip his Satinalia gift into the tip of his least favourite pair of boots, where she would be unlikely to stumble upon it by accident.
He hadn't been able to acquire a suitable pair of earrings, because the spellwork required to allow him to activate his own copy necessitated a little more material to work with, but the pendants were nice, too. Easier to slip under his armour, anyway.
Actually living in a space had a tendency to accumulate a certain amount of clutter — not something he'd had a lot of trouble with before, but then he'd never really spent a lot of time in one place, and never with company (discounting Illario, who did like to leave a mess behind). Living with Ceres was different, and while she tried to contain the kind of chaos she naturally attracted, having a little quiet time to clean up didn't hurt.
It really wasn't that bad though, leaving him plenty of time to start dinner. Bellara had promised to send her home before nightfall, after all.
Bellara being Bellara, it didn't come as a surprise that it was past dusk when he finally heard Ceres's footfalls creaking up the stairs; she never tried to be silent, fully aware that he would not only hear her anyway, but that people sneaking around put him on edge.
"Welcome home," he called out when she opened the door, casting a smile over his shoulder as he gave the paella one last stir before filling their plates.
"Hey," Ceres replied from the hallway, toeing off her boots. "Did you know that inert power crystals absolutely can blow up in your face if you charge them with the wrong kind of energy?"
There was a smudge of soot at the edge of her jaw and the tip of her ear and the faint smell of something burnt clinging to her hair when she came over to press a kiss to his cheek.
"Heavens, that smells divine," she added with a glance at the pan, then leaned in again to sniff at his neck. "You've been to Minrathous without me!"
"What? How did you …?"
"You smell of Hal's fish; don't think you can hide that with your paella."
Lucanis lips twitched. Of course she'd recognize that smell; he really should have thought of that, but then, it was difficult to pry Neve from her favourite fried food. "I had some business to attend to and ended up having lunch with Neve."
He lifted a hand to rub at the soot on Ceres' jaw. "Now, why did you explode power crystals with Bellara?"
"I swear I tried to wash my face before I went home," she grinned. "Remember how they don't often use most of the fun artefacts over in Arlathan because they haven't figured out yet how to properly recharge the power crystals? Bellara wanted to test some things, and I have greater elemental flexibility than her. Turns out they prefer unflavoured magic, but they will take some lightning. Won't hold it for very long, but everything else makes them go boom."
"When you say fun artefacts, do you mean the ones that separate people into their component parts or the ones that drop rocks from the sky every 30 minutes?"
Ceres rolled her eyes and went to set the table. "The ones not permanently locked in the vault."
"I think I still like it better when you don't help Bellara with her experiments."
He'd definitely ask Lace or perhaps Emmrich to keep her busy the next time he needed to buy gifts without her notice. While Bellara was brilliant, and obviously skilled at handling volatile ancient magics, Lucanis really wished she'd have more respect for things prone to explode in her face. Or Ceres', for that matter.
"Can't imagine why," she grinned back.
Lucanis loved sitting down to eat with her; loved watching her eyes close with bliss as she took the first bite, the way she'd relay the highlights of her day as they ate. Loved those insignificant little moments that had become a normal part of his day almost without notice. Loved how comfortable she had become with them, too, how much she seemed at home.
He loved her, period.
It wasn't until later, when they were taking care of the dishes side by side (she insisted taking over dish-washing duty, because he'd been cooking, and he refused to let her take care of the drying, too) that he realised that perhaps there was no right moment after all.
Perhaps they were all right, or none of them were. Perhaps it was only cowardice that stayed his hand. Because there had been several moments that felt almost perfect — like when she'd been patching him up at Caterina's birthday gala, or that time he arranged for a gondola date for them after the last of the Antaam had been driven out of Treviso, or even the morning after she had just moved in with him.
Less waiting. Just. Ask.!
Ay, patience!
He cast a glance to the side, just in time to notice Ceres blowing a flurry of suds in his direction.
"You were looking dreadfully serious," she said when he shook his head, mischief gleaming in the corner of her eye and the edge of her smile.
"Oh, is that how it is?"
Lucanis set the plate he'd been drying aside to snake a hand around her waist, dipping the other into the wash-basin to place a white cap of froth on the tip of her nose.
She giggled — actually giggled — and for what felt like the first time in a long time, Lucanis was absolutely certain. Not of what he wanted - he'd been certain of that since she came back to him - but that she might want it, too. He tipped forward to catch her laughter with his lips, and just for a little while, there was nothing but the thrill of her hands wrapping around his neck and the warmth of her chest pressed against his and the faint taste of soap on her tongue.
"Marry me," he murmured when he drew back, and she froze.
"What?"
"Marry me," he repeated, a little louder this time, leaning back just enough to really look at her.
Ceres stared, eyes wide and flickering between his, almost like she was searching for something or waiting for the other shoe to drop.
"I'm sorry, but it just sounded like you want to marry me," she croaked eventually, breaking a silence that was beginning to turn to nausea in his stomach.
"I do."
"I ... but … why?"
"Because I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. I want to build a future with you, one we can both be proud of, and I don't care how many arguments that takes. I want to wake up to the sight of your face until my eyes start to fail me and you have to stop me from yelling at the fledglings to get off my lawn.
I don't mind what we have now, and if you don't like the idea of a formal ceremony, I can live with that — but I want you to know that I have no intention of leaving you, ever. And if I'm being perfectly honest, I would kind of like to make that clear to anyone else, too."
She was still staring at him, and it was really starting to make him nervous. Maker's breath, she was even making Spite nervous.
"… Ceres?"
"Yes. That is, yes, I do want to marry you," she said, voice barely above a whisper. "I just didn't think that anyone would ever … you know. Want to be officially tied to me and my bullshit."
The weight dropping off his chest could have sunk a battleship, and he felt like he should be able to float even without Spite's assistance. Pulling her into a tight embrace felt only right to anchor both of them.
"Please — like my bullshit is any better than yours," he murmured into her hair, pressing a kiss to the side of her head, his eyes closed against the glow of Spite's spectral wings wrapping around both of them.
An Us. Instead of an I. Belonging, Spite whispered into his thoughts, for once content to let them have this moment. There would be plenty of time for questions later.
Ceres' laughter sounded almost like a sob as she pressed her face into the crook of his neck, and if they both trembled a little, there was no one but their demon there to see.
The ring he had purchased many weeks ago was still hidden in a pocket of his coat, but it could wait. It wasn't like he was planning to go anywhere, and they could probably both use the reminder that it had been more than a dream by morning.
"Just … do me one favour?" Lucanis murmured after a little while, still holding her close.
"Hm?" She didn't even lift her head, still reeling a little and content to be held.
"Don't tell Neve first; she'll be smug enough as it is."