Evengi bows his head. “You forget, I see the dead.”
“Is his ghost here?” I demand, turning in a circle. “Brom are you here?”
“He is and he isn’t,” Evengi says. “He is still in the spirit realm, someplace I can see into. But he has not crossed over fully into Ruskhazar. If he were to do so, then you could see him as well.”
“And what is stopping him from coming here?” I demand as I twist my fingers around themselves.
“He isn’t sure if he wants to reveal himself to a necromancer, or to the woman who lied to him for his whole engagement.” Evengi tilts his head but then scowls. “I’m not sharing that part.”
“What part?” I demand.
“That you didn’t even wait until my body was cold before you were kissing another man,” Brom says stepping forward as if he was coming from another room. His appearance is blurred and distorted as if I am looking at a reflection of him on the water. Likewise, if I focus on the tree behind him then I can see straight through him.
But still, it is Brom all the same, his straight hair tumbles down around his shoulders. He’s dressed in the same clothes he wore to the party.
Evengi raises his hand to pinch the bridge of his nose. “I do apologize for that, Brom.”
Brom holds up his hand, cutting him off. “I don’t blame you, Ivan. It’s her, she’s always had a mesmerizing way about her. A way of controlling the living as well as the dead.”
I fold my arms. “I think this is hardly fair. I only kissed him to keep Evengi from discovering my secret.”
“You did such a good job at that,” Evengi replies his tone tinted with sarcasm.
I whip my head to him, narrowing my eyes. “And who is Ivan?”
“We are getting off topic,” Evengi says ignoring me. “You mentioned our lives being in danger.”
“They may very well be over for all I know,” Brom says with a sigh. “I do not know if you have the power to save yourselves, but I had to at least try to warn you before you shared my fate. I haven’t the time to pass my message through Ivan, even if he had proved a reliable messenger.”
“I’m not a messenger, I’m a priest.” Evengi folds his arms like a petulant child.
I tilt my head as I study Brom. “How did you die?”
He grimaces as he reaches for his neck. “Please know that this is a very uncomfortable topic for me to discuss.”
“Believe it or not, you aren’t the first ghost I’ve spoken to,” Evengi says as he steps toward Brom. “Talking about their deaths has helped many of them come to terms with their sudden and violent demises. And in turn they were able to find peace in Skyhold.”
Brom shakes his head, a small smile pulling at his lips. “Peace doesn’t seem like an option right now. I’d just settle for others not sharing my fate. Even if those others happen to be my traitorous former fiancée and my old friend who kissed her.”
Evengi grimaces and I pull my lip between my teeth. I decide to focus on the former part of his statement. “Who did this to you, Brom?”
“Necromancers,” he replies, his tone dripping with disgust. “At first when I realized that you were a necromancer yourself, I had to follow you for a while to make certain that you weren’t in league with them. But it seems that you are not connected to them despite sharing the same terrible dark arts.”
“I am my own agent,” I say. “And I serve my own ends.”
“If you aren’t careful, you will serve the necromancers’ ends.”
“How so?” Evengi asks, taking another step forward. He raises his hand as if to protect me but then thinks better of it and drops it back down to his side.
Brom shakes his head, raising his hand to his forehead. “I don’t know how the spirits you help can find peace reliving their darkest moment.”
“How is Natasya involved?” Evengi demands stepping forward.
Brom looks up, his eyes although transparent and seemingly fading away before my eyes are awash in anguish. “The necromancers that killed me are not alive.”
I draw in a sharp breath, whipping my head toward the graveyard. “Heretic’s Rest.”
He gives a solemn nod. “Indeed, they are the very same monsters that my ancestor Borus the Conjurer fought all those hundreds of years ago.”
