Page 137 of Whisper of Nightmares

“Hugr,” he breathes the word like a curse. Then he slams a fist against the stone wall, sending the framed art swinging.

“Do you know how to deal with them?”

Dagfinn gives a humorless laugh. “No. They are of the living world, not of Helheim.”

Sensing his missing her meaning, she tries again. “But do you know anything about the spirits in your home? Your mother said your father saw them too. I just assumed that meant you might have seen them before, or maybe you knew something about them.”

He looks up, eyes sharp.

“My father saw them?”

Euphemia nods, though cautiously. “According to your mother, they haunted him quite often.”

Pushing himself off the wall, Dagfinn marches down the hallway.

Euphemia chases after him. “Where are you going?”

“To find my father. I think he might be able to tell us about the hugr stealing my body.”

“Are you sure this will work?” Euphemia asks once they’re at Otho’s door.

Dagfinn shrugs. “Not really. But do you have any other ideas?”

“Completely at a loss.”

“Alright.”

Dagfinn barges into the room like he’s ready for a battle. Then again, Euphemia supposes if she had just been told something was inside her body without her permission making her do whatever it wanted, she would be aggressively seeking answers and a solution too.

They stand in the bedchamber, waiting.

And then Dagfinn’s father appears on the bed once more.

“My son, what are you doing here⁠—”

Dagfinn kneels beside the bed with alarming haste. “A hugr haunts our home, and you never told me?”

His father’s eyes widen with fear. “I hoped they would leave you alone since your hands are clean of the wrongdoings that harmed them.”

Dagfinn’s head momentarily falls forward. He sighs and speaks through exhaustion. “What wrongdoings did you do to them?”

“I didn’t do anything to them. It was my father who stole their lands.”

“Why would they torment you then if it was only Old Man Rayner who did them wrong?”

“A question I asked myself daily,” his dad says, though his eyes are starting to shift around the room.

“You’re lying,” Euphemia says, forgetting that Otho’s spirit cannot see nor hear her. She says to Dagfinn more firmly. “He’s lying.”

“I know,” Dagfinn says over his shoulder.

“What was that?” his father asks.

“I said I know you’re lying. I just don’t know why. You’re not the lord of Thorfell Manor anymore. I am. That is my inheritance now. My burden. My wrongs to make right.”

His dad blows through his lips. “Don’t bother. They’re all dead now.”

“Exactly. They’re dead and haunting my home. They’ve taken control of my body.”