Chapter Text
Crows did not marry for money. Well, certainly House Dellamorte did not. They married for one reason and one reason only. Power.
Caterina had power, but she did not have immortality. As a Crow, she had lived five times over what their average life expectancy was already and despite being unhappy about it, she knew the day would inevitably come where one of her grandsons would have to inherit the title of First Talon.
Her choice had been Lucanis, of course. Illario had talent with people and the ability to charm, but he lacked focus and was too prone to following his whims, or using his gifts to serve himself before his House. She also knew that their best hope of ridding Treviso of the Antaam would also be him. Illario would be more likely to try and ally himself with them.
Lucanis lacked charm but he knew his duty. He had proven his abilities and followed without question. She knew Illario wanted power and had been eyeing the seat for some time, waiting for an opportunity. She needed to make a show of faith towards him, so that the sting would be lessened.
And so, through a seemingly endless series of meetings and negotiations, she had secured a marriage for him. She of course knew he would have no intention of honouring it in any of the sentimental ways, but it would provide him with what he wanted: Power and Influence. Not perhaps the kind he wanted, but the kind that he would have to accept.
She looked over again at the portrait of the woman. Beautiful, yes but that was of little consequence. It would not have mattered if she was Andraste reborn, Illario would have found a fault with her.
“And you say she is on her way back to Treviso?” Caterina asks, her shrewd eyes looking at the woman before her. Rook’s mother nods. “Yes. She completed her contract last month. I expect her to return within the week.”
Rook De Riva. Caterina knew Rook was not her real name but it hardly mattered. De Riva was a bonus of course, any alliance that bound Viago in tighter was always worth looking at but the real draw card was Rook’s parentage. Wealth and nobility ran through her veins and that would be the true allure for Illario.
She produces the contracts and gestures to the elegant peacock quill. Together, the two women sign, seal and shake hands. It was done.
* * *
Illario is bored. Standing on the balcony with Lucanis, he stretches and yawns. “Cousin. You’re looking gloomier than usual. Was it because of that ribbon merchant? I don’t know why you got upset, she clearly liked me better” he flashes the grin that never fails to make his cousin grimace. He was such a stiff.
“We should be celebrating. You’re fresh back from Tevinter with another how many…three blood mages to add to your already impressive list? I would say stop showing off, but boasting about your prowess works a charm at the taverns. They buy me free drinks when they hear I am related to The Demon of Vyrantium” he laughs.
Lucanis says nothing, just continues to look over the balcony. The wind picks up and some of his hair catches in it, touselling it back over his shoulder. Illario had made fun of his beard when he had returned too, but Lucanis had not shaved it off. This irked him for some reason. He did not want to admit that it somewhat suited him. Then Lucanis frowns and squints. Something appears to have caught his eye and so Illario peers over to see what it is.
A large vessel is coming into dock. A merchant carrack, by the looks of it. It likely belonged to Valisti, although the flags were not there. After a while, passengers begin to depart and he spies a few that he vaguely recognises as other Crows. He sees nothing of real interest and yawns again.
“Come on cousin. Caterina asked us to meet her before dinner. I suspect she has finally decided who will be First Talon” he grins.
Lucanis finally moves his eyes away from the crowd below to look at him. His eyes are dark and frowning as per usual, but there is something else in there as well. Curiosity? Of course, he will want to know as well.
“I will meet you there,” he says. “I want to stop in at my weapons merchant first”
Illario rolls his eyes, bored once more. “I swear if you could, you would marry that man, and you would do nothing but talk steel and poke one another” Illario laughs, crudely.
Lucanis says nothing. He never rises to his barbs. He merely sighs patiently. “I will see you later cousin” and with a leap, he’s gone.
Illario looks back at the market. Perhaps the ribbon seller had a free hour…
* * *
Lucanis moves through the crowd like a ghost. He had long ago mastered the way of weaving into the flow. He keeps his hood up to obscure his face as he passes the markets, and Antaam patrols, making his way towards the docks instead.
He had seen someone depart the ship and managed to catch her face before she pulled her own hood up. He thinks he recognises her, but she is older now…they both are, actually. He hopes that it is her, at least.
In their last meeting there had been…something between them. It had been two contracts with targets at the same banquet. She had been posing as a courtesan, he as a waiter. When they had recognised that they were both Crows, they had come up with a quick and effective plan to remove both targets together. It had flowed like a dream. One of the jobs where everything went right, there was nothing to have to cover up or improvise. It had just been perfect.
She was deadly with her blade, he equally so. There had been a real mutual respect and appreciation for each other's talent and Lucanis had found himself smiling, which he rarely did. And she…she had looked at him like a person, not just some terrifying reputation of a man but for who he was on the inside. That feeling had stayed with him for a very long time. Years, actually.
When he learned she was a Crow in House de Riva, he had felt some disappointment. Viago was protective of his proteges, and given his own failed courting attempts years before that, he had dropped it - not considering it worth upsetting the Houses.
Now that he was older and had more sway…he thinks he could risk it.
He spies her, standing in front of his favorite weapons merchant. He has to do a double take when he looks at Aurelio’s face. He’s smiling. More than smiling. He’s laughing! He looks…Maker was he blushing!?
His eyes move to her and suddenly he sees why. She is smiling and examining a blade, clearly complimenting his work. Mierda. He had never, not once managed to ever make Aurelio smile. Not even Illario could do it. He was a known curmudgeon but the best bladesmith in Treviso, possibly in all of Antiva.
Lucanis moves behind a shrub to overhear.
“Rook…it has been too long,” Aurelio says.
“I know. I am sorry Auri” she replies. Her voice ignites memories of their time together and he finds himself yearning to hear more. Also…Auri?? Unbelievable.
“I have a small gift for you,” he continued.
“You do? Please, you do not have to give me anything” she says and smiles again. Even at an angle he catches the beauty of it and then knows how Aurelio doesn’t stand a chance.
A small box is pressed into her hands. “Please. For you, my best customer” he says and Lucanis just about jumps out of the shrub right there and then to demand he take that back. He was his best customer!
He watches as her delicate hands move over the merchants and presses down in a firm gesture of thanks. “Then I will treasure it” she says before pulling back and placing the item in her bag. “I have to get going. Mother is expecting me” she sighs.
The merchant nods. “You come back tomorrow, alright? I will have your daggers ready then.”
“Thank you Aurelio. Please give my love to Elena” she says with a farewell wave and Lucanis has no idea who that is, because Aurelio never spoke of her personal life with him.
He’s still getting over this when he sees her slip into the crowd and has to move quickly not to lose her.
She rounds several groups of people, stalls, and through two alleys and Lucanis remains just out of sight. Then…she’s gone.
He’s about to double back when a hand shoves him hard into a dark corner and his blades are out and up. At the exact same time he feels sharp points pressing into his own neck.
“Why are you following me?” a cool voice speaks.
He can’t see her face because she’s behind him, but he knows it’s her.
Suddenly he realises his mind doesn’t have a good answer. Why was he following? He decides the truth is probably the best he has. Everything else feels hollow.
“To see you again,” he says slowly.
The blade moves away and he takes the chance to turn and look at her. Her features are even more stunning than he remembered. She’s grown too, her hair longer, and her lithe frame looks a little more muscular - some contracts would do that to you, depending on where you were working.
“Lucanis?” she asks, recognition sparking in her eyes and he nods. He opens his mouth to say her name in return but she cuts him off. “Rook. Call me Rook now” she says.
His brow furrows. “Why Rook?” he replies.
She smiles then and it’s breathtaking. “Ah, a nickname. Varric gave it to me. I’ve been working with him in Rivain” she responds, sliding her blades back into their sheaths. Lucanis does the same, frowning at mention of this ‘Varric’ and who he might be.
“Alright…Rook” he says, trying it out. Testing how it feels on his tongue. He doesn’t dislike it completely.
“How have you been?” she asks, her eyes lighting up with interest as they sweep down him. He looks away, feeling her eyes like a physical touch. One he didn’t expect to like so much.
Then she reaches up and touches his face, her fingers sliding over his beard. “I like this new look,” she says.
She only meant it as an innocent touch he knows, but she holds him motionless. He stares at her eyes, looking into their endless depths as he feels himself go completely still. The warmth of her fingers seeps into his skin and he has to hold himself from following her movements when she slides her hand away.
“Ah yes. I needed a disguise on my last contract. It came in handy, both for cover and for warmth. Winter in Tevinter is bitter, and my target fled into the mountains” he shakes his head.
She shakes hers too in sympathy. “Bastards. I hate it when they do that. Were they tipped off?” she asks.
Lucanis shrugs. “Not that I could tell. Some of them just have…a sixth sense for incoming assassination” he smiles then and she mirrors it at once.
“In another life, they would have made good assassins themselves” she jokes.
He nods, laughing with her.
“It suits you. You look good with it” she continues and Lucanis feels a warmth blossom in his chest at her words. Perhaps he would keep it, then. If she likes it.
Rook looks up. “Oh mierda. I’m late” she swears. He doesn’t want her to go but he nods, stepping back slightly to bow.
They both speak at the same time
“Rook I-”
“Would you-”
Then they smile again and look down. “You go,” she says.
“No, you first, I insist” he replies.
She laughs again and he can see pink on her cheeks. “Alright. Ah. I’m wondering if we could catch up properly? Over coffee?” she asks.
Lucanis blinks. “I…was going to ask the same thing” he says, a little stunned.
She smiles again and it almost blinds him. “Alright. Tomorrow? Cafe Pietra? Say…midday?”
He nods. “Alright. I will see you then.”
She nods and turns, vanishing into the crowd. It’s a long time before his heart stops racing. Even longer before he moves off again. It was only when he saw the sunset that he remembered he was due at Caterina’s.
Scaling a ladder, he makes his way across the rooftops, straight to the Villa with Rook’s smile blazing in his memory.