I fold my legs. “The dead don’t unsettle me. It’s the living I find unpredictable.”
She turns without another word and strides to the other side of the tomb. She won’t go far though, she can’t if she wants to keep her control over these skeletons. It’s well enough, if she is here with me, I know that the people of Sunder Hollow are safe from her.
I turn, studying the hand gripping my arm. I yank on it to see if her will has broken in concentration at all, but it remains firm. I let out a sigh and rest my head back against the wall.
I wish I’d paid more attention during my time at the academy. Having a spell or two at the ready would be extremely useful at this moment.
But no, all I managed to do was pick up a little bit of runework and nearly get myself killed.
Something flickers out of the corner of my eye, and I turn to see a man standing there, staring down at me.
I start slightly, relaxing as I realize it’s just a ghost. He’s the first ghost to appear to me since coming to Sunder Hollow. It’s a bearded man with deeply tanned skin and scruff along his jaw line.
“I see you’ve met my daughter,” the ghost says as lowers down to sit next to me. He gestures to Natasya who is saying something to the skeleton.
“I do apologize for my part in kidnapping you. As you can see, my actions are not my own.”
“Wait,” I say in a low tone as my eyes lock on the skeleton. “That’s you?”
The ghost purses his lips in displeasure. “Indeed, she insists on parading around my bones in this manner. My spirit cannot find rest with her flaunting my remains in such a disrespectful manner.”
“Have you considered telling her that?” I ask as I watch her rub her finger across the grooves in the skeleton’s skull as if cleaning out some dirt. It’s obvious she has some sort of sick affection towards those bones. Perhaps if she knew how it tormented her father, she would stop.
“I’d never give her the satisfaction of appearing to her.” He shakes his head with a grumble. “It’s bad enough I had to tolerate her while I was living, but dead as well.”
“What do you mean?” I ask, barely remembering to keep my tone low. “Don’t you love your daughter?”
“Gods,” the ghost says with a chuckle. “Of course not! She got my wife killed, and if that wasn’t enough, she found a way to get me killed as well. Should have just left her to starve as a baby, her and that worthless sister of hers.”
I whip my head to him, my eyes widening.
“I can’t do anything as a spirit, of course, but now that you’re here. Now that you can see and hear me…” the ghost trails off grinning widely revealing a few rotten teeth. “Well, now you can remedy that mistake. You can kill my daughter so that I can get my eternal rest at long last.”
Chapter Fifteen
Natasya
Ipause, glancing up at Evengi. He is staring at something in the empty space of the tomb to his right. I don’t know what he thinks he sees, but there is a look of mounting horror on his face.
I push to my feet, dusting off my skirts and stride toward him. “What are you looking at?”
Evengi startles, turning to me as if he forgot I was there. It’s a little insulting actually. I’m holding him here with the bones of long dead necromancers the least he can do is not forget my presence.
“How long do you think you can keep these skeletons reanimated?” he demands instead as he turns the full force ofthose piercing blue eyes to me. “Maybe a few hours? A day? You’ll have to sleep eventually.”
“Don’t you worry, Mr. Ichabod, I’m not in any danger of tiring out.”
“Three skeletons are relatively impressive,” he says although he doesn’t sound impressed.
I bend over, bracing my hand on my knees. “I can do better,” I whisper. “Oh, I’ve been reanimating my Papa since I was a child. It’s quite literally child’s play to me.” I rest my hand on the skeleton’s shoulder, leaning toward it. “After all these years it’s nice to keep close to my father, don’t you think?”
Evengi turns to that area next to him again and raises his eyebrow as if he is listening to something. He shakes his head with a snort. “You disgust me,” he mutters.
I straighten. “Well, that’s hardly fair. I’m actually a fairly nice person. I’m polite and unlike you I actually mind my own business. I only brought you here because you forced my hand.”
Evengi turns back to me and gives his head a small shake. “Oh, I didn’t actually mean you.”
I pull up, glancing around in confusion. “And who exactly were you speaking to then? My father?”
