I am going to stop checking my mail. Elissa thought, glancing at the congratulatory memos from various foreign dignitaries and the interview requests from television networks and publications. She was lingering on the border of shoving the entire stack in the trash when her eyes caught sight of the one that did not look like the rest.
The envelope was a generic color of grey, the lettering on the address and return address was distinctive and relentlessly neat, and the postmark was Fereldan. A prison no less.
Anxious fingers flicked under the edge of the seal, carefully pealing it back to reveal a similarly listless grey stationary on which was written a letter she had never expected to get. After reading it a second time she pulled out her phone and sent a text to her fiancé:
Tell Varric you need some time off. I have to go back to Ferelden and I’d rather not go without you. Talk when you get home?
Three days past Elissa's return from Ferelden, a letter arrived from the penitentiary in Amaranthine. It was properly validated and had clearly been read by authorities before being allowed to leave the facility. It reads: "Miss Cousland. Word of your good health has long since reached my ears. If you have the time and the will, I would very much enjoy to see your livelihood for myself. The stamps and marks on this letter will tell you where to find me if you so desire. Waiting, Rendon."
(Content of Letter to accompany Along Came A Spider)
Grey eyes narrowed in suspicion from the dusk lengthened shadows at the edge of Rendon Howe's multi-car garage. His son, having recently arrived for an unannounced visit, watched as his former fiancé exited the front door on his father's arm. He brushed a quick kiss across her knuckles. A genuine smile crossed her face as she said something in response, grazing her dark lips against his father's cheek and pausing for a moment to wait as he opened the door to her car. When the car had vanished, Nathaniel finished his walk to the front steps.
"What's the matter, Nathaniel?" Rendon posited, turning his neutral expression in his son's direction long before any sign of his presence had been given. "Given up the ghost already? You seemed so intent to win Lady Cousland's affections when last we spoke. I doubt you'll be doing that by lurking in shadows."
"I won't be winning them at all." Nathaniel responded, carefully watching the other man for any sign of his intentions. "Elissa is engaged to be married to another man. Our course has been run."
Something moved behind the older man's eyes at the mention of Elissa's now fiancé, but it was cloaked almost immediately, leaving the younger scrambling to unravel what it was he had seen. There had always been rumors of his father's improper affection for Eleanor Cousland, Elissa's mother, but Nathaniel had never witnessed any evidence those rumors could be true. Truthfully, Nathaniel had never witnessed affection of any kind coming from Rendon Howe. He'd thought the man incapable of it.
Until today... And the appearance of what has certainly appeared to be genuine emotion left Nathaniel to wonder, why? His father did nothing without motive, that much he did not question.
"What are you plotting?"
"Don't be absurd." Rendon snorted, waving off the comment with the graceful flick of long, perfectly manicured fingers. He paused at the door, waiting for the man inside to open it. "The holiday season is difficult for those who have suffered great loss. I merely offered Miss Cousland an expertly prepared meal and the company of one who shares her sorrows should she decide to partake of it."
"She was here to mourn her parents?" Nathaniel looked suspicious. "With you?"
"And why not?" Rendon continued further into the estate. "They were my dearest and oldest friends. Not a day goes by that I don't find myself impacted by their loss."
"I'm sure." The tone of the younger Howe's voice made it obvious he did not believe that to be entirely true. "But there are more logical people for her to turn to were she in need of a shoulder to cry upon. Her fiancé? Her brother? Even her friends would have been more appropriate than you."
"Jealousy is an unattractive quality, Nathaniel. It makes you look weak. Petty." He passed by the room where several servants diligently worked to clean away the dishes from what appeared to be a near candle lit dinner for two. "If this is how you treated Miss Cousland then it is no wonder she neglected to return your affections."
The younger flinched at the insult, but did not take the bait. "You're deflecting. What are you hiding?"
The elder sighed, irritated and long-suffering. "Nothing. I simply cannot fathom how you expect I would know the whereabouts of all those people you rattled off. It's not as though I keep schedules for the whole of Kirkwall on hand for easy reference. I extended an invitation to dinner, and she accepted. If you wish to know the reasoning behind that I'd suggest you ask her, though I suspect if you were on speaking terms you'd have done so instead of hiding in the garage."
Nathaniel slowed to a stop, realization dawning on him the longer his father's explanations became. "They were true, weren't they?"
"You're becoming tiresome, boy. Whatever it is you're asking spit it out or move on."
"The rumors about your being in love with Eleanor Cousland. They're all true." It was no longer a question but a statement of fact, though his father did not acknowledge it or him any further before disappearing into his study.
"She's not her mother." Nathaniel mumbled almost as an afterthought before turning back toward the front door.
"No, she's not." Rendon replied to himself, smiling in the empty room. "She's better."
