His heart aches for her, for the pain she was experiencing, the loss—so much so that he forgets about the anguish he feels for Leliana who has turned to the coast, to her sister, for comfort. So much so that is is able to forget the white hot rage that boils in his chest at the thought of Dovev, at the destruction that he had wrought and the way he had simply turned his cheek to it all. Instead, Magnus’ world focuses in on the small girl pressed to his chest, her sightless eyes searching for truth, for the despair write on her face.
She reaches forward, tries to comfort him (him) and his lips quirk in the corner, his own velvet lips reaching down to brush against her forehead in a paternal manner. “I would like to think that.” Because if Cerva had sent her daughter to him, perhaps forgiveness had blossomed in final hours, perhaps she had been able to bridge the gap to forgive his sins. “I wouldn’t deserve that from your mother, but I would like to think that she wanted us to meet, Atrani.” He was no stranger to receiving gifts he did not deserve.
He shook his head lightly at her dismissal, his voice hushed but filled with warmth, with honesty. “She should have been my responsibility, but she would never have been a burden.” His charges never were. “It would have been an incredible honor to have helped her, to have looked after her.” Again his lips brush kindly against her poll, ruffling her forelock just slightly. “In the same way that it will be an honor to look after you, Atrani.” Because in those moments, Magnus had adopted her into his heart, folding her into himself as he had his own children. “I would love it very much if you made Tephra your home.”
out of the blue out into the loneliest place that you'll ever know
I carried the world just as far as I could but the damage had taken its toll
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