"And that's one of the tamer ones," she added with a sly smile. "You haven't even seen the few scraps of things he leaves like breadcrumbs for Isabela."

With a quirk of her lips and a light nudge, she smiled as well. "I know he wasn't sending you off to die. You simply made it sound like he'd signed you away in good faith." Perhaps he did, in the end, but it didn't need to sound so dark.

"I'm not asking you to neglect your duty. I'd never ask that of you." Even if it would be terribly convenient if she could, that was something she would never stoop to. Just as she couldn't ask Anders to stop being a mage or doing what he thought was right, she couldn't ask Cullen to look the other way and allow worse things to happen. "But everything else is mine and I won't have you in danger." Anders wouldn't go so far, she knew, not when Cullen was doing what was right. But if things continued...she wouldn't be able to believe that for much longer.