In Which Octavius Fails to Make Sense of Life

February 12, 1191

"Karlspan was here?"

Octavius cringed and nodded at once. He preferred not to discuss his good-for-nothing son-in-law with Renata--not because she didn't understand, but because she understood better than anyone. Her daughter Ramona had died in her last labor, leaving behind a broken shell of a man who couldn't be bothered with the child he blamed for her death. Ietrin may have even been worse than Karlspan, from what Octavius could tell. Karlspan had at least had the decency to leave Holladrin to loving relatives rather than neglect her in his own home until his brother intervened.

Now that Ietrin was dead and his daughters were thriving, there was no sense in making Renata live through that again. Not that life had much sense to it, the sick son of a bitch.

"Yes. Holladrin saw him for all of two minutes before he sent her off to fetch me, then he handed me a note from Oswald and left. Holladrin just ran off to her room after that; Prior's with her now." A sweet boy, like his father. Why the hell was Sparron gone while Karlspan was still around to break Holladrin's heart every couple of years?

"I just don't know how much more of this the poor girl can take. No one misses Pandora more than I do, but it's been eleven years and that useless ass still can't look his daughter in the eye. Her death wasn't anyone's fault; he should have figured that out by now."

"For what it's worth, I doubt Ietrin would have figured it out in twice that long. But perhaps it might be time to give Karlspan an ultimatum." Not something Octavius himself hadn't considered once or twice in the past few years. "Either start being a father, or make a clean break and let Holladrin heal."

"It's drastic--but at this point, I don't know if anything less than that would make a difference." Well, he did know. He knew it wouldn't. "Next time he shows up, I'll tell him just that."

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