Chapter 7 - By Royal Command

They took Velanna to the chapel, putting her on a bier next to Morena's. Loghain couldn't quite suppress a shudder at the sight of the two shrouded bodies. He wasn't a superstitious man by nature, but for a moment, he had a vision of the chapel filling up with bodies, one after the other. We need to find this killer.

Velanna's body was so stiff from the cold they had problems arranging her in a dignified posture, and Nathaniel frowned. "She must have been out there for most of the night. I wonder when she died. Anders?"

The mage shrugged. "I'd say, shortly after midnight. It's hard to say in this weather, of course, but that's consistent with the state the body is in. And I doubt she'd have gone out later at night in this cold."

"Well, that effectively clears at least one person from any suspicion," Nathaniel pointed out. "Alistair," he elaborated when the others looked at him questioningly. "If I'm not mistaken, he was locked up overnight, wasn't he, Mistress Woolsey?"

The treasurer looked up from Velanna's face that she had been trying to clean. "That is correct. And, if I may add, it also removes any suspicion from Oghren. He was so drunk that I decided to sit with him for a while last night, in order to make sure he wouldn't suffocate in his sleep. When I left at two in the morning, he was still fast asleep."

"Of course, you don't know if the same person killed both of them." Zevran's voice rang from the back of the room, the volume magnified by the chapel's vaulted ceiling. "It's a reasonable assumption, of course, but we can't be sure."

The assassin walked up to the bier, studying Velanna's body with a detached professional interest. "A very different method of killing, yes? Poor Velanna. She wouldn't have appreciated being so disfigured. Poison is so much more... elegant, don't you think?"

Nathaniel threw him a dark look. "I don't think Velanna would have appreciated being poisoned either. Listen, Zevran, that kind of talk may be acceptable among assassins, but here..."

The assassin bowed with a flourish. "Of course, Warden. My apologies. Still, it's a valid point, don't you agree?"


Walking back to his room, Loghain felt almost overwhelmed by the thoughts swirling in his head. So many leads and not one were taking them anywhere.

They'd had a confession of sorts from Alistair, but he'd never taken that seriously in the first place. As for the others... Anyone could have pushed Velanna down - she was a slight woman and it wouldn't have taken much strength. And the poison used to kill Morena... He paused for a moment. Who could have taken the poison from Anders' room?

Anders had mentioned that he usually locked the door when he went out, out of habit, because he kept his lyrium potions there. But there were probably a number of keys to every room in the Keep. The servants would have to be able to get in to clean and to stoke the fires. Besides, it was a simple enough lock. Any rogue worth his salt would be able to pick it. He mentally ticked the names off on his fingers. Sigrun. Zevran. Heck, Nathaniel could have done it. Loghain sighed as he let himself into his sitting room and walked over to the fireplace.

"My lord?" He looked up to see Ser Cauthrien stand in the doorway. Her dark eyes were focussed on him with her usual intense expression. "Could I have a moment of your time?"

Loghain felt a brief rush of pride and affection at the sight of her in her uniform as Commander of the Queen's Guard. Cauthrien had been his special protégé, and he was glad Morena had spared her life during the Blight Year. He'd always admired the young woman's single-minded determination and valued her absolute loyalty to himself. A loyalty that had now been transferred to his daughter, the Queen.

"That is a title I no longer have any claim to," he grunted, hiding his emotions behind formalities.

She blushed. "My apologies, Commander. I... have a letter for you from her Majesty, the Queen. She asked me to give it to you in private."

His eyebrows went up. "A message for me? Anora couldn't even be sure I'd be here."

Cauthrien nodded. "She told me to hold on to it and only to hand it to you if... Anyway, this is it." She held out a folded and sealed bit of parchment to him.

As soon as he took it, she turned on her heel and was gone before he could ask further questions. With a frown, he broke the seal. To his surprise the letter was written in a cipher Anora and he had successfully used back in the Blight days. It took him a few minutes to get the hang of it again, but after that, he was able to work it out quickly with the help of a quill and a second sheet of parchment. As soon as he had made sense of the words, he sat back in his chair, a heavy feeling spreading in his stomach. His eyes wandered back to what he'd written out.

I heard you might be back from Orlais already, and I had to warn you, Father. Morena is a danger to us all. Despite all the boons I've granted her, she won't stop pestering me about mages' rights. For every freedom I give them, she demands another one. I dare not refuse her - she knows too much, and she's made it very clear she intends to use that knowledge if I don't cooperate. But I simply can't give in any more, not without endangering my position. I've taken steps to get rid of her. If all goes well, she'll be gone by the time you read this. I hope you can avoid being caught up in this.

Anora

Loghain was still staring at the sheet of parchment, his hand shaking uncontrollably, when there was a brief knock on the door. Nathaniel walked in without waiting for an answer.

Without thinking, Loghain crumpled up the two pieces of parchment and slung them into the fire. It was a purely instinctual reaction.

Nathaniel's eyes followed his movement, widening in wary surprise. "What-"

"A family matter." Loghain knew he sounded irritable, and he probably looked guilty as sin. Damn. Why did he have to walk in at precisely this moment? He needed to talk to the assassin. Soon. But first, he needed time to think.


Thank you so much, zevgirl! So good to have your critical eye for this.