11. Chapter Eleven

Chapter Eleven

Evengi

T o say that I'm confused is an understatement. I came here to free the restless spirits of the ghosts and perhaps hunt down a necromancer, not kiss someone's fiancé. Let alone Brom's .

My mother always used to say that we're more connected here in Ruskhazar than we realize and that this strife between Lowlanders, Highlanders, and Elves is ridiculous. But I'll admit that even I never thought I'd wind up finding my old friend Brom all these years later, let alone for us to both get involved with the same woman.

Natasya is a lot of trouble, especially for being just a merchant's daughter. How did she manage to get not one, but two lords, caught up in her snare.

How come I can't seem to stop thinking about that accursed kiss? It never should have happened, and yet, I can't help but be left wishing that I could recreate it. At least once more.

I pinch my nose and groan as the dim light of dawn flickers through the shuttered windows of my inn room. I'm behaving quite poorly for a man who has dedicated his life to the goddess Neltruna.

It's true her priests are not like most other priests; we don't worship in temples or preach of the gods power to the masses. No, we serve the goddess of darkness and monsters, and as such, it is our duty to display power over darkness and the monsters. Especially monsters, as many were created in defiance to Neltruna by her daughter Mavka, the demigoddess of night who wished to usurp her mother's domain.

The dragons were born of her daughter Mavka and the demigod Zudhac, the great and first dragon. Likewise, vampires were Mavka's cursed followers.

And my own specialty in monster hunting, ghosts, are a defiance against Neltruna's husband Thyre, who is supposed to be the guardian of the dead. These restless spirits have slipped past his grasp and choose to remain in Ruskhazar for whatever reason rather than go to Skyhold and enter into their eternal rest.

Many ghosts die violently and seek vengeance or are lost and confused not even having realized that they died or how. It's my duty to find them and convince them to enter Skyhold, either by avenging their violent deaths or by helping them to find clarity in their clouded confusion.

It's a sacred purpose that I have come to embrace since the gods chose to spare my life from that accident at the academy all those years ago.

On the bright side, the fewer ghosts there are, the less of a headache I have.

For instance, I have a pounding headache right now, and I blame half of it on the ghosts hissing and moaning all around me, the rest of the headache I attribute to Natasya and her kiss.

Someone pounds on the door, and I flinch, reaching up to rub at my forehead. I get to my feet wincing as they pound again, then a third time. I swing the door open, glaring. "What?" I demand.

Outside I find the older woman who I spoke to when I rented the room in this inn. She is ringing her hands as she stands next to a very bedraggled looking Natasya.

Fair Natasya's curly flame-colored hair hangs in her face, and her cloak is half hanging off her shoulders. The bottom of her skirts are stained brown from mud. But the thing that draws my attention the most is that she appears to be even angrier than I feel.

I feel my eyebrows rise to my hairline as she shakes a fist full of paper in my face. "What have you done to Brom?" she demands.

I'm so distracted by the fist being waved around in my face that it takes me a second too long to process her words.

"Brom?" I ask glancing from her to the innkeeper. "What's wrong with Brom?"

"That's Lord Bones to you," the innkeeper says with a huff. "And to think I gave you my best room, you person snatching fiend."

I fold my arms. "With all due respect, it was your only room." The best thing that settles for an inn in this small of a town is the backroom of the run-down tavern that had a few pieces of furniture thrown in.

The "innkeeper" narrows her eyes at me, but I turn my attention to Natasya. "Now what is it that you're trying to accuse me of?" I ask.

Natasya narrows her eyes, fire sparking through them as she regards me. "Brom is missing, not that I need to tell you that since you're the reason for it."

"That's a lofty accusation, especially since I know you have no proof," I growl, but even as I say it my heart drops in my chest. What does she mean that Brom is missing? Missing how? Since when?

I'm struggling to maintain my composure when Natasya thrusts the crumbled-up note in my face.

I open the note, my eyes skimming over the hastily scrawled penmanship. Finally, I look up at Natasya. "I don't know the nature of this note, I don't even know that it isn't a forgery to make me look bad, but I assure you I had nothing to do with Brom's disappearance. From the look of this note, it seems as though you would have been the only one to know where Brom was heading."

Natasya's mouth drops open. "Do you dare accuse me of my own fiancé's disappearance?"

"I'm simply pointing out the obvious," I say as I sweep my cloak over my shoulders. "But I intend to get to the bottom of this disappearance. You had best hope that I don't actually find cause to accuse you when I do."

I grab my bag, still packed up neat and tidy and toss the tavernkeeper a coin. "You can have your room back," I say, and then I nod to both the women and stride out of the room.

Something dark is afoot at Sunder Hollow and I intend to get to the bottom of it, and if I can happen to save one of my oldest acquaintances in the process, then the so much for it.

I know exactly where to start my search for answers because there is far more to Brom's bright eyed betrothed than meets the eye.