In the depth of the night, in another room that was given to the vampire duke, he stood frozen in the center of the chamber, unable to move. His eyes stared sightlessly at the flickering candle in the room that illuminated the space. He had meant to open his mind link and leave his connection with Rav in case of any emergency, especially with Angel, but he had not intended to listen to the grief in the man’s mind and heart, nor to his words.
Rav had a son? He had lost his family in that attack on Raventown? The attack on the village...
Every muscle in Rohan’s body stilled, and he staggered to sit on the chair in front of the fireplace before his legs gave way. His fingers threaded into his hair and dragged down his face.
That attack... had it killed his son and family?
How had he not known?
Rohan felt a deep remorse consume him for the very first time in his life. He had never thought something he had done a long time ago would come back at him like this. If Belle and their son had never been in his life, he wouldn’t have felt terrible for what he had done then, he wouldn’t have been this bothered by the realization that hit him.
He had never tried to put himself in another person’s shoes, but he did just that now. Someone had lost a wife and a son because of that attack, an innocent boy...
Many years ago, he had sent those rogues to that village out of fun. He had caused the attack on that little village.
He had done it to find amusement in people’s pain and to watch them suffer. It was his doing. But he had never thought of them as anything but food; that was what every human had been to him then, and he had liked to disrupt their peace at any given opportunity he had.
He had carefully made the plan to terrorize a human town, and Raventown had been the closest to Nightbrook. That day, the late king had punished him for something, leaving him in pain and deeply hurt. He had felt the urge to inflict pain on another person to feel better, he had wanted so badly to watch others suffer like he had.
That was how the idea had come into his head.
Even after knowing Rav came from that town after saving him years ago, Rohan had not bothered to tell him or cared about who he had lost, because to him, people didn’t mean anything, everyone could die for all he cared. He had not asked which family members he lost and had naturally assumed he was some nobody in that village who didn’t want to die.
Rav had accepted his fate so fast and pledged his loyalty to Rohan that one wouldn’t think he had lost people dear to him.
Now, to hear he had a family and a son he seemed to love with all his heart, Rohan’s own heart constricted. He fisted his hand and began to strike it against his chest to get rid of the feeling of regret.
What had he done?
He could never imagine losing Angel or Belle, never. The thought was unthinkable to him. But he had made Rav lose everything because he had been looking for momentary amusement. He recalled once when Rav had asked,
"My Lord, what were you doing in Raventown that time we were under attack by the rogues?"
Rohan had shrugged and remarked uninterestedly, "Just passing by."
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