Breaking the Divide (remastered) - Cullen Rutherford

Chapter 14: Truth is not a Pleasant Thing

Kaitlyn gripped her book as the color drained from her knuckles. Frost spread across the ornate cover until the Tale of the Champion was little more than a brick of ice. Anger seeped into her bones and burned through her veins until her entire being ached to scream and tear.

Mages cannot be treated like people. They are not like you and me. They are weapons.

Templars have dominance over mages by divine right.

Mages cannot be our friends. They must always be watched.

I'll always worry about you.

Of course the bastard would worry. After all, she might turn into a monster at any given moment and he'd have to be there to protect the innocent nobility from the evil mage. With a growl, she let go of the book, not wanting to do any more damage to Varric's gift.

"The nerve of him!" She got on her feet, the ache in her side barely making her twinge as she stormed about the room, the lantern flickering whenever she passed. "We have to get the templars! We have to get the templars! Urgh! And to think that he—that I—" She let out another scream of frustration.

Mage. Monster. You deserve to be locked up. You deserve to be punished for what you are.

She slammed her hand against the latch of the door. The metal let out a low groan before it shattered under her touch, falling to the ground in frozen chunks. She took a deep breath, trying to control the rage as it spread through her, consuming her from the inside.

This man who hated mages, who had watched them be tormented but had done nothing, who believed that they were not even human, who 'understood' the desire to make all mages Tranquil—this man was supposed to be her Commander? Someone she was supposed to trust and rely on?

Kaitlyn ran up the stairs, taking them two at a time. Night had settled in while she'd read, leaving only a handful of guards in her path. None approached her.

"Varric!"

The dwarf started in his chair where he'd been writing. His fingers were blotted with black ink and he had spectacles perched on the tip of his nose. He took them off as she grew closer and tucked them away in one of his pockets.

"I take it you've finished the book?"

Kaitlyn pounded a fist onto the table—harder than she'd intended—and the wood cracked down the center. She sighed, stowing her apology to Josephine away for later. Varric settled down into his chair, his face devoid of his emotion, eyes studying her warily when she turned on him.

"I did finish it," she snarled through her teeth. She forced herself back a step. Her anger was not at him. Nor was the sense of loss that was creeping along behind it. Cullen had almost... she couldn't believe she'd fallen for his ploy. The trustworthy templar who believed in protecting mages. She should've known better. "And I need to know exactly what happened in Kirkwall with the Commander."

"Why?"

She frowned at how calm he remained, as though she had asked whether or not it would rain tomorrow. "Because if I'm going to discuss—" She emphasized the word mostly for herself. It would do no good if the Inquisitor killed her Commander on the same day that she'd been placed into power. "—things with him, then I should know the truth first."

"And whose truth do you want?" Varric tilted his head to the side, expression unchanged. "If you're asking if he really said those things, then yes, he said them. He said a lot more than that too—some worse, some a lot better. But you need to understand that I first met Curly years ago. Years.He said those things, yes, but he's not that same person anymore."