The wind stirred the ruins.
Skyhold had gone still, but only on the surface.
Beneath the silence, power simmered.
Liam stood alone at the central dais, the last echoes of the Sub-Core's activation still humming under his boots. The relic pulsed faintly now, claimed… but not quiet. It was syncing. Learning. Wanting.
He could feel it.
Not just the system... but the bonds it amplified.
Behind him, the sound of boots scuffing ancient stone announced her before she spoke.
Kaelyn.
She emerged from the far archway, blades holstered, eyes sharp. Her white scarf fluttered around her neck, and her steps were silent until the last two. A predator choosing to be heard.
"You didn't call," she said. "But I came anyway."
Liam didn't move. "I never had to."
She circled him slowly. "Skyhold smells like ambition. Like secrets that want blood before they whisper."
"And you?"
"I came for neither." Her gaze locked on his. "I came because you're mine."
Before he could answer, she was in front of him, fingers brushing the edge of his jaw. "You've been giving too much of yourself to the others lately. I'm not jealous. But I remember your promise."
His hand caught hers, holding it there. "Then let's remind each other."
Her eyes darkened, but she didn't lean in. Not yet.
Instead, she smirked and walked past him.
"You'll earn me again tonight, Overlord."
---
They weren't alone for long.
Another presence entered the chamber, this one heavier, footsteps deliberate and loud.
Vexa.
The berserker.
She carried the scent of battle and fury, still armored from a patrol, her great axe slung across her back. Her chest rose and fell like she'd run the whole zone.
"Next time," she growled, "try calling me when the relic starts glowing instead of when it's done."
Liam arched a brow. "You would've tried to punch the core open."
"I still might." Her lips curled into a grin. "Unless you distract me."
He crossed toward her without hesitation.
Vexa didn't flinch, but her shoulders straightened as he approached, posture tightening with anticipation. She liked this part... the tension before the clash, the nearness without surrender.
He stopped an inch away.
"I'll distract you later," he said, voice low. "Right now, I need your strength. I need you watching the west ridge."
"Always watching." She leaned close enough for her breath to tickle his throat. "But don't make me wait long. You know I get restless."
Then she was gone, a storm wrapped in muscle and leather, vanishing into the shadows of Skyhold's outer corridor.
---
From above, a gust of wind spiraled into the room.
Sylvara landed in a crouch at the far ledge, her lightning-furred cloak crackling faintly as she rose.
The Huntress was always poised. Always still… until she wasn't.
Her eyes met his from across the room.
"You've stirred something in the ruins," she said, tone half-wary, half-reverent. "The storms are shifting."
Liam nodded. "Markus ran. But something worse is coming."
Sylvara tilted her head. "Then I'll run ahead of it."
She approached in quiet, graceful steps, like wind disguised as flesh. "But I want something first."
He didn't move, just waited.
She circled him once, her tail brushing his side like a whisper. Then she stopped behind him and murmured close to his ear.
"I want to hear you say you need me."
He turned, caught her wrist. Held it.
"I need you," he said, voice like thunder restrained. "More than I know how to say."
Sylvara smiled faintly, the edge of her control cracking.
Then she vanished into the upper shadows again, like a huntress returned to the wild.
---
By the time he turned back toward the core chamber, another presence had arrived.
Sarya.
She leaned against a crumbled pillar, arms crossed, her trapfield gear half-disassembled, amber eyes watching him through loose strands of hair.
"Do you even remember what I sound like?" she asked, voice flat.
"I remember the first thing you said to me," Liam replied. "Right before you tried to drop a rooftop on my head."
She shrugged. "Seemed reasonable."
He moved toward her. Slowly.
"You've gotten quiet."
"You've gotten loud," she said. "With the others. I figured you didn't need me."
He stopped in front of her, inches away. "I do."
Her breath caught.
He placed his hand on the wall beside her head, leaning in. "Every trap I avoid, every ambush I sense before it triggers... that's because of you. Don't think for a second you've been replaced."
She didn't kiss him.
She didn't touch him.
But her hand found his briefly, fingers curling before she stepped away.
"I'll be in the east wing," she muttered. "Tripwire grid's unstable. Someone's gotta keep the relic from biting back."
And then she was gone.
---
Only one remained.
She didn't announce herself.
She never did.
The Ice Queen simply was.
She stood near the sub-core dais, one hand resting on the stone as if she could quiet it with touch alone. Her silver hair flowed around her shoulders, the cold always coiling close to her skin.
Liam approached carefully.
"You stayed behind."
She didn't look at him.
"I watched them," she said. "Each one came to you, seeking attention. Affection. Place."
He said nothing.
Her eyes turned to him, glacial and deep.
"But I do not come to you to be chosen. I come because I already am."
Then she stepped close... closer than any of the others had dared. Her lips brushed his cheek, not in softness, but in claim.
"You awakened Skyhold. But you haven't awakened me. Not truly."
He reached for her, but she was already walking away.
Leaving frost behind.
Leaving heat in her absence.
---
> [System Update]
Bond Pulse: Reinforced
Wife Presence Cycle: Rotational Sync Adjusted
Current Loyalty Trend: Stable (93%)
Emotional Pressure: High
Recommendation: Harem Resync Required Within 24 Hours
---
Liam exhaled.
Each bond had touched him.
But none had sated him.
The system wanted dominance.
The wives wanted time.
And the world outside Skyhold…
Wanted war.