Today, a relatively recent piece from the Emmrook collection, Lynesse’s series. I have absolutely loved writing Manfred, the spirit of curiosity bound to a skeletal body and adopted as student and manservant of the necromancer Emmrich. He learns more all the time! And Lynesse, who is acutely sensitive to cruelty, finds none in him. They’re good for each other.
This series, the bard and former sex worker Lynesse and the educated and more than a little macabre Emmrich, was a fun story to weave around Veilguard’s actual plot. They don’t always understand each other, not at first. But they’re going into this with good intentions and a hefty helping of attraction. There have been worse successful relationships.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/62369263
Excerpt:
Sound crashed behind him. Only one person could be coming to disturb him now, let alone carrying things. “Manfred!” Emmrich took the effort to suspend the spell before he turned. There was always a risk he would lose the body’s animation, but the noise was too much to ignore. There Manfred was, standing still, arms rigid at his sides, while a goblet and an assortment of food tumbled and rolled off the fallen tray. “Manfred, what’s the matter? That’s two trays in just a few hours.” He really wasn’t sure how much time had passed. “Did the reinforcement to your radius not resolve your grip?”
“No,” Manfred said distinctly. His green artificial eyes glittered in the candlelight. “Need fix.”
“I can’t do that until this questioning is over. I’m running out of time.” If he left the body now, even his power wouldn’t maintain the connection. “Please pick up the tray. Bring it here.”
“N-n, n-nnn—” Manfred stooped and put the dishes back on the tray and brought them over. “Hss.”
Emmrich considered what food hadn’t fallen off the tray, but there was too much else going on. “You’re speechless,” he said, more perturbed by this than by anything before.
“Ss-sss,” Manfred said stiffly, and rounded on his well-worn heel, and scuttled out.
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