"I'm being hypocritical, I know-"

"No, love, you're not. I know what you mean." 

Karl sighs against Anders' temple, then pulls away. "Look at me, please."

Anders sits up a little, looking at Karl. 

Karl cups his face, stroking along a too-protruding cheekbone. "You stopped trying to escape the Circle after I told you I loved you. And then they brought me here."

"Karl, I-"

"Shh, love. Let me talk." 

Karl squeezes Anders' hand. "When I said that, I didn't know what I was taking from you. You remember what I was like, preaching patience. Thinking if we gave it enough time, they'd see reason eventually. You were right, in the end."

Anders stays quiet, but he begins to feel a sick sense of dread. 

"They took me from you, and now you just want something about our lives to be steady, for once. And while I will never forgive you for Justice, or for becoming a Grey Warden, you fool, I know what it takes to survive. I know that all the patience in the world can't force someone to think differently, when they've made up their mind. 

"I've made up my mind, Anders. Everything I do, I do to keep our family together. To keep us together."

Anders hides his face in Karl's shoulder, just breathing. Trying to reinforce for himself that they're safe, that the Templars aren't coming, that they never will-

"I wanted to come with you, but I don't...I don't see the Fade the way I used to," he admits, finally.

"What do you mean, love?"

"Justice, he- He takes over. Not as the angry, glowing version of me, but himself. If I went into the Fade with you, using that ritual, I'd- Well. It wouldn't be me."

Karl grips Anders' hands, panic bubbling in his stomach. "Anders, that sounds like...like Justice is taking you over. Entirely."

"Sometimes...I think he is."

Karl wishes fiercely, for a moment, that Justice were a physical being Karl could light on fire. 

"Then all the more reason to continue what Blaise and I are studying. To find out how Defiance and Raeli manage their balance. I am not losing you to him."

"You might not have a choice." Anders sounds...resigned. 

"No. You don't have a choice. Because even if I wasn't here, you think Cia or Ilska would let you go? Or your new friends, the Hawkes? Absolutely not. I just got you back, you're not slipping out of my grasp now."

Anders doesn't say, but he doesn't believe it. He doesn't want to fight or discuss anymore, so he just curls himself into Karl. 

"I love you," he murmurs. 

"I love you, too. So much." Karl cuddles him close. 

Eventually, he will usher Anders up and into their room for a proper sleep, for a little while, he just holds him.

Blaise will, part way through the night, look in on them.

Anders seems to be sleeping, however fitfully. 

Karl is curled protectively around him, but he looks up when he sees Blaise.

Blaise shrugs a little, gestures between the two of them, and then goes to leave.

Yeah, me too, Karl thinks, and curls back around Anders. 

Somewhat later, Cia knocks lightly on the wall. "Got breakfast for you."

Karl opens the door, smiling. "Morning, Cia," he whispers, before slinking out the door, shutting it behind him.