Zevran was angry enough to spit. Elissa was sure of it. His face still held the scowl it had when he had arrived at the keep and her familiarity with her elven friend picked up a restlessness that the casual observer might not have noticed.
"This is outrageous," he announced. Elissa blinked in surprise.
"I admit, the situation is bad," she said, "but outrageous? We expected that something would happen, even prepared for what we thought was a distant possibility of Delilah-"
"Look at the scroll." Zevran's face darkened a little more. "That is what outrages me, my friend."
In all the confusion, Elissa had forgotten about the scroll. It had already been opened, but she noticed the seal with a raised eyebrow. That's the Cousland seal. The seal was rough around the edges, but it was definitely the family coat-of-arms. She quickly unrolled the scroll and looked at the signature first. "That's my name at the bottom but it's not my handwriting," she murmured, frowning in consternation. She started at the top of the missive. This is dated from a week ago.
As she read through the scroll, she felt increasingly colder. By the end, her anger had nearly matched Zevran's. "You know I didn't do this." She handed the scroll back to Zevran. "I would never do something like this. I fight my own battles and I have no issues with Delilah."
"What?" Nathaniel snatched the scroll from Zevran and opened it. "What's going on?" He started to read it as Zevran nodded at Elissa.
"I know you wouldn't. That entire scroll is a forgery." Zevran gave the offending parchment a dirty look before continuing. "Do you remember the scrolls you saw when we were in Denerim?"
"I do. Wait ..." she thought back to the Crow contracts their group had helped fulfill during the blight. "None of them were signed!"
"That is correct, my dear." Zevran turned to face her. "This document is a forgery of a master-client contract. The entire situation has nothing to do with the Crows, in fact." He began to count off the inconsistencies, punctuating each one with an angry poke of index finger to palm. "A signed copy would never go out of the guild master or an intelligent client's hands. No guild master would send twenty men out to do the job that one apprentice could easily handle. No crow apprentice, for that matter, would be careless enough to cause that much public bloodshed. Those clumsy oafs were little more than drunken idiots. And to leave so much evidence behind ..." Zevran's eyes flashed. "The entire situation is an insult of the highest order."
"So, wait. Am I hearing this correctly?" Eric looked utterly confused. "Someone sent out a large group of people and tried to pass them off as Antivan Crows?" He shook his head. "And they went after Nathaniel's sister?"
"Yes." Erlina was angry too. "One of the fools had that contract with him. He was one of the ones who came into Lady Delilah's house. I think that they were going to use the contract to make it look like Elissa had ordered the killing." In her upset, her Orlesian accent was stronger than usual and it took a minute for the rest of the group to catch on to what she said. When they did, it was as if the entire room had darkened under the weight of a stormcloud. We can't lose control of ourselves. Not right now. Elissa cleared her throat to get everyone's attention before the shouting started.
"So a large group of men, some dressed as Amaranthine guards, attacked and killed Albert and tried to assassinate Delilah as well. It also looked like they were planning to plant this false contract somewhere in the house?" Both Zevran and Erlina nodded their heads. "Were they trying to start a riot?"
Anders' eyes grew wide. "Of course," he said, his voice unsteady. "Make a big distraction, then in the confusion …." His look grew distressed. "That's horrible!"
"And afterward, when the guards were cleaning up, they could find the evidence," Nathaniel sneered as he rolled up the scroll and tossed it across the room onto the desk. He continued glaring at the scroll as he continued. "It has got to be Vaughan again. He would have no problem dragging innocent people into his plans. Do we have proof yet?"
"Not yet. But we will." Zevran's voice rang with conviction. "It is harder to infiltrate his estate than most others. I am trying not to put females and elves there, but he does not hire many men. I have one person there at present." He smiled then, his face twisting horribly. "She has … unusual tastes, and so she volunteered for the position."
Elissa shuddered. "If she hasn't already become so, she will be one of Vaughan's favorite servants soon." Eric and Anders paled at the observation and Nathaniel's face darkened further.
"Yes, the slimy bastard has already noticed her." Zevran nodded. "I want more people there to find information while she keeps him distracted, however, and that is proving difficult." His brow furrowed and he started to pace. "I find it concerning that we know he is behind all this, yet he has left no proof for us to come after him yet. And believe me when I say I know it is him."
Ragnar had been sitting quietly up to this point, but now decided to join in. "It's a warning." He shrugged. "Jarvia did it to scare merchants."
At this, Elissa's eyes widened. "That son of a bitch wants us to know he's after us," she breathed. "He knows that as long as it's his word against ours he'll be safe."
"And if we let the Dark Wolf or the Crows … handle this … for us, then he no doubt has plans in place to implicate you directly, my dear," Zevran murmured to Elissa. "Or Nathaniel."
Elissa remembered the contract. "Zev, he's somehow made a false signet ring." She went to the desk and picked up the scroll. She looked at the seal on it again. "Yes, the edges are too rough. Somehow he made a copy of the Cousland seal." She looked up at Nathaniel, suddenly distressed. "How many signet rings did your family have?"
"Just the one." Nathaniel raised his hand to show the ring on his pinky, flashing in the lamplight. "Father never trusted anyone else to have one."
Elissa was never more glad that she remembered to retrieve the ring when she killed Rendon. But … "If he found anything with the Howe seal on it, there might be a copy of that too. We'll have to watch for that." She sighed. "Word hasn't gotten out about the extent of my troubles with Fergus. This contract was dated a week ago and I no longer have a signet ring. That is the sole defense I would have had if this had been discovered by anyone else."
Zevran nodded. "I understand." He looked thoughtful, then his face cleared. "I believe I can find help. May I borrow that contract?" Elissa nodded and handed it to him. "I think there is a certain merchant in Denerim who would be very interested in its contents." Zevran smiled for the first time that day, a wicked glint entering his eyes.
Elissa couldn't help herself; she laughed. "Ignacio is bound to be twice as angry as you are about Vaughan's attempt to associate that mess with the Crows. We can't hire him for this, though; I'm sure Vaughan has false evidence somewhere safe."
"I do not plan to hire him, my dear," Zevran grinned, his carefree demeanor resurfacing. Elissa realized she had missed seeing it. "But, as any master of his art would do, he would want to ensure that his reputation remains at its usual high standards. I am certain that once he is made aware of this stain upon his honor that he would want to rectify it on his own." His grin turned wolfish. "I know that is what I would do under the circumstances. Perhaps he would be willing to lend me one of his sneakier men to assist us."
"That sounds good, Zev. Maker watch over you." Zevran bowed and left the room. She muttered, almost to herself, "One of these days you'll be able to stay with us."
"What now, Elissa? We gotta do something." Oghren never was one to sit patiently. "I don't wanna be caught with my pants down." Then he laughed, his signature leer choosing to show itself at that moment. "Well, I wouldn't mind being caught with my pants down, but not by that blighter."
"There's not a lot we can do until we can learn of his plans." Elissa frowned. "But ..." the thought made her smile a little, "the fact that we've thwarted him twice now, and cost him a lot of money in the process, is bound to infuriate him. I suggest we continue on as is and maintain our guard. We'll protect Delilah and Samuel here better than in the city, and Zev's already got people in Cousland Castle to keep watch over Fergus. The less obvious we are, the better."
"He'll think that we don't see him as a threat and he'll get angry," Eric noted.
"Exactly. And when he gets angry, he'll make a mistake." Elissa nodded, then sighed. "I don't like being on the defensive any more than you do, Oghren, but until we have something we can work with ..." She shrugged. "As soon as we have some usable information we'll plan what to do. In the meantime, we'll have to see what happens."
Oghren muttered to himself and opened his flask, and even Ragnar allowed a brief expression of unease at Elissa's statement. Erlina excused herself, saying she needed to check on Delilah and the baby, and with that the other Wardens started to leave as well. Nathaniel stalked off without saying a word.
Do I follow him? Would he want that? Elissa stood, undecided. He'll either go to the training grounds or his room. OUR room. She was going to have to get used to thinking that way. Considering everything else they were dealing with, it was a nice problem to have. She waited a few minutes, then decided she would look for Nathaniel in his (their, she reminded herself) room first. She walked into the hall and made her way toward the living quarters.
She opened the door, but she felt resistance. Slowly and carefully, she forced the door open so she could look inside. It's a mess! She was so shocked she nearly let the door fall closed. Did someone sneak in and rummage through our things?
She gingerly pushed the door open enough to slip through. Once inside, she looked at the chaos. Books were strewn about the room and Nathaniel's odds and ends were also missing from their shelves. From the looks of the smashed piles on the edges of the room, Elissa guessed that they had been thrown at the walls. Papers were scattered as if a windstorm had swept through, and the bed was upended, leaning haphazardly on its side with the mattress laying on the floor. Surprisingly, Elissa's things looked untouched.
Nathaniel was sitting, sprawled in one of the chairs, slouching with his head in his hand. He looked like he had just collapsed there. Elissa made her way to him, pushing debris out of her way with her feet, and knelt in front of him. "Nathaniel! Are you all right? What happened here?" She leaned forward against the chair, her waist between his knees, and put her hands on his thighs. "Did someone break in?"
"No. No, this was me." Nathaniel moved his hand away from his face. Elissa didn't think she had ever seen him so tired. "I'm better now. I was … in a bit of a temper." He looked around the room, then shook his head. "Apparently I needed to work off some energy. I'll clean it up."
Bad day, indeed. Elissa was glad that nobody had ransacked their room, but she was concerned about Nathaniel's state of mind if he was willing to destroy his own things. She studied his face as he stared off into the room, his expression now vacant. He looked like he couldn't even muster the energy to be angry any more. He must have really needed to let it go. I just hope that it worked. I know of one way to find out if it did … Elissa pushed herself up to a standing position, then perched herself on Nathaniel's knees. He put his hands on her hips to help steady her as he watched her, one eyebrow raised in curiosity. "The next time you need to work off some energy, you should let me help." Elissa grinned wickedly at Nathaniel as his expression changed, slowly, from exhausted to interested.
"I'll have to remember that," he murmured as he drew Elissa closer, shifting forward in the chair. She wound a hand into his hair, massaging his neck at the base of his skull, and he groaned as he pulled her lips to his. The battle for dominance started almost immediately, and Elissa's eyes fell closed without her permission as Nathaniel moaned softly and started trailing kisses down her neck.
She wasn't prepared for when Nathaniel stood and she nearly fell backward as he suddenly lunged from the chair. He pulled her to him, steadying her just enough to stand on her own before letting go and grabbing the hem of the tunic she wore. He yanked it over her head and threw it off to the side, the cloth still sailing as they took turns with the straps of his armor, trying to get him out of it as soon as possible.
It must have only taken a minute to get their clothing off, but Elissa was very relieved to be free of the obstruction. Finally! Nathaniel must have thought so too, because he sighed in relief at exactly the same time she did. She looked up to see Nathaniel wearing a smirk that she was certain matched hers, and then he tilted her head a little more and captured her lips again, aggressively causing her to forget why they were smiling in the first place. He lifted her up, holding her in place while her legs wrapped around his hips. She could feel him walking …
...Until, suddenly, they were falling. Her head and back made contact with something soft just as she heard a soft "oof" and Nathaniel landed on top of her. Thankfully, he braced himself with his arms so that he didn't crush her with his weight. Puzzled and distracted, she blinked. Why is the world sideways? She looked up at Nathaniel, who looked at her with the corners of his mouth twitching. "I tripped," he explained. The twitch turned into a smile. "This room is a mess." She looked to the side and realized they had fallen on the mattress that was upside-down on the floor, then up to Nathaniel again. She felt her own mouth twitching briefly before both of them started to laugh.
Just as their laughter turned to quiet chuckles, Nathaniel stroked Elissa's hair and his eyes grew soft. He opened his mouth and took in a breath to speak, only Elissa heard Eric's voice saying, "Nathaniel, do you – MAKER'S BREATH!" Then the door to the room slammed. Elissa started laughing again. Between giggles, she managed to get out, "Forgot … door … open ..." at which point, Nathaniel laid his head down on Elissa's shoulder and started laughing again too.
After they both calmed down again, Nathaniel propped himself up on his elbows while still lying on top of Elissa. "Bad day," he said, setting them both off again.
It took a few minutes for them to stop laughing, especially since one or the other would say something that was really meant to be serious, but somehow sounded wrong when it came out. Like when Elissa pointed out that poor Eric must have been surprised by stating that he probably had never seen naked people before, or when Nathaniel meant to comment how he was glad that he didn't hurt Elissa in the fall, but instead said, "We're lucky I didn't impale you when I tripped." They were both too tired and had been through too much that day to be rational. Finally (finally!) they quieted and Nathaniel rolled over to his back, freeing Elissa, and then they both sat up.
"I have a feeling we might as well get dressed," he said, and stood, holding out a hand to help Elissa stand as well. He gathered her in close and kissed her once, soundly, before reluctantly letting go of her and looking around for his clothes. "I think that someone is telling me to clean my room."
Elissa chuckled as she spotted her smallclothes over by the chair. "I'll help. Do you want to rearrange the furniture while we're at it?"