He does not know what to think. The Rainlords have been wounded many times in the past, but the massacre of House Elroy is undoubtedly the greatest scar of his lifetime. The losses in his own family a mere seven years prior pale in comparison and only serve to deepen his sympathy for what the young Zeff and Joana are going through.
And he played a part in it.
The guilt twists his stomach into knots. The shame rips his heart in half. And he can do nothing to mend them. If he confesses his involvement, the other Rainlords will learn of Ibai’s existence. His family will fall to ruin. Parson Miles assures him of that. Only silence will protect his blood.
Years pass.
He observes with disgust and haunting dread as Parson is promoted to the rank of captain general. He is only glad that it means Parson will be leaving Sair.
A small measure of relief arrives when Cousin Melchor returns to Marshrock. After all this time, the man has finally achieved vengeance for their House.
He is fearful that Melchor will leave again--or worse, consider him a traitor for what he has done. But this is not a secret he can keep from the man. If he tried to, Melchor would never forgive him when he inevitably found out. So he explains everything.
And Cousin Melchor consoles him.
Of all the possible reactions, that was the last one he expected. It is enough to make him weep. He could not possibly be any more grateful for his cousin’s return than he is in this moment...
Ismael blinked slowly as his mind came back to the present. The memories still weighed on him, on his soul. They wanted him to quit, to surrender and just let whatever happens happen. It was so tempting.
‘I’m tired, too, you know.’
The reaper’s heavy tone pulled Ismael out of his daze.
‘Don’t act like you’re the only one,’ said Rholtam. ‘I’ve been right there with you the whole time. Your sorrow is my sorrow, Ismael. Your guilt is my guilt. And your worry--certainly, your worry is mine, too.’
Ismael only nodded.
‘But our feelings don’t matter now,’ said Rholtam. ‘It’s time to stop being indecisive. If you intend to surrender, you can’t put it off any longer.’
“Do you think surrendering would make a difference? Once they know the complete truth, do you think they would be merciful?”
‘It’s... possible, but...’
"...to surrender and just let whatever happens happen."
ReplyDeleteI think your verb tenses are confused here. "whatever would happen happen"? Or something?
I feel kind of bad for Ismael. But only kind of. He's made some pretty bad decisions.
Nah, that one's correct as is. "whatever would happen happen" would also be correct. Just two different ways of phrasing the same thing.
ReplyDeleteWhy bother preventing assassinations if you can just turn the victim into a servan
ReplyDeleteFrost, you are making it so easy to hate Ismael. Soooo easy.
ReplyDeleteI rather doubt that, given that the one person who might be inclined to be reasonable has more reason than anyone to see every aberration ever created and everyone who knows the process dead permanently. Honestly, I think that anyone who would allow their love of family to come before the wish to protect the innocent is a fool if not evil. When you consider that he has lead his family to ruin doing so he is definitely a fool.
ReplyDelete{It was so temping.}
ReplyDelete*Tempting
Fixed, thank you.
ReplyDeleteHis worries:
ReplyDeleteSon being exposed ->
Son being exposed + Guilt of Slaughter ->
Son being exposed + Guilt of Slaughter + Betrayal towards Rainlords ->
Son being exposed + Guilt of Slaughter + Betrayal towards Rainlords + Question of being Forgiven
= please, just stop. surrender before making things even more worse than you have already made it >.>
And no, I would not forgive a fool who betrayed their own blood (Rainlords bloodline), endangered another innocent person's child, just to "save" their own. If your child is the most important, have someone else become the head of the family and quietly leave with your son and wife. Others dont know you have one in the first place anyways.