"No," he admits quietly. "No one will find that overly suspect, for reasons you've just laid out. We have a personal connection, and to get you out, I told them that they'd pushed you too far."

Hissrad is good, and everyone in the Ben-Hassrath knows it. Why wouldn't he take a former lover in hand, coax him to relax, to trust, as he had once before? Who here knows Dorian better than he does? Regardless of what is actually happening, it is a belief Bull is willing to let breathe. It might keep Dorian safe.

Bull has had his time to panic in the days Dorian was out of his mind. Now, all he can see are ways forward, are ways to survive.

"You and Vivienne, in fact, have been very instrumental in organizing the first possible alliance between Orlais and the Imperium. It it is still on shaky ground... and now the Qunari have you."