The Drow Queen of Glaley [Very NSFW]

[Zevran]

"You have naught to apologize for," Zevran says firmly, though there's a note of frustration and weariness present as well.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I wish she was less mistrustful of you. She doesn't trust any males. She used to be better about that."

[Zevran]

"Iron Bull?" Zevran asks quietly after a moment.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"Must be, but I don't know what happened between the two of them. She was convinced he was up to no good before we left."

[Zevran]

"Hmm? Oh, I had suspected that she, unable to admit grief and such, had decided his self-sacrifice was a form of betrayal. Similar to how many find it easier to be anger than sad, hurt or ashamed," Zevran explains with a shrug.

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I think it started before then. It only got this bad after so perhaps that plays into it."

[Zevran]

Zevran hums thoughtfully, then offers less certainly, "perhaps do to the blackmail or threat the Bitch's Shitstain was holding over him? If she felt he could not be trusted because he might succumb to that pressure?

[Coquette Blacquin]

She looks at him blankly. "Perhaps? It's never come up before..."

[Zevran]

Zevran smiles a touch shyly, a faintly regretful look in his eyes. "I spent a great deal of effort and time, especially at the start, on trying to understand every possible motive and influence on the both of you," he explains. Because he hadn't trusted either of them a lick, he doesn't say out loud, because he had been look for the trap, the hidden barb or cost.

[Coquette Blacquin]

Cindy understands him nevertheless, smiling sadly. "I am not surprised. Did you... figure out what hold she had on him? It seemed to be something more specific than a death threat."

[Zevran]

Alas the male merikos shakes his head. "Well, not for sure and not from his mouth. Whatever it was, it had been long in place, so much he did not really think of it directly often, if you follow my meaning. But... I disagree, perhaps, with your assessment in a way; I think it was a death threat, simply not one against him. Whenever the three of you where in the same room, he focused his attention on her, yes, but it was only service on the surface. He treated her like a predator that had found his den. She was threatening you in same one to hold him, but I do not know if that was all or even most of it. And this is all conjecture, albeit conjecture I have some moderately firm confidence in."

[Coquette Blacquin]

"... you think she... was threatening to kill me?" asks Cindy, her voice small. "To punish Iron Bull?"

[Zevran]

"Not kill, I don't think-- she thought herself your owner after all, and that would punish her as well. But..." His smile twists, turning a bitter, knowing grimace of shared pain. "There is much else she could do to hurt you-- and this him-- that she would in fact enjoy. Did she not do much the same to you, for him?"

[Coquette Blacquin]

"I wish he'd talked to me about it. She was going to hurt me regardless. I wish he hadn't let her... well, what's done is done."

[Zevran]

Nodding somberly, Zevran climbs onto the bed with Coquette between him and Claudia. "She seems... spent," he observes with a faint chuckle, one only partly forced, "shall I take over? Cuddle and care, if naught else?"