Afterword - Book 4 - Chapter 51 (Patreon)

Chapter 51: Minor Interlude – Sentinel Night – Defining a Legacy

(Original Chapter Title: Interlude – Night – Unwanted Problems)

DUN DUN DUUUUUUUUUUUUUHN!

I had exactly two readers (vocally) call the twist at the end of this chapter ahead of time. Ranthia's fear of Night wasn't born out of paranoia over the feeding habits of vampires—it was the fear of a victim. She might not have remembered him, yet some subconscious scar she could never begin to describe remained.

There was a time that the Paladin would have been named here, but even by the time the OG draft reached this chapter, I'd abandoned that. Ranthia lost her curiosity about her past a long time ago, and frankly, Blind Chaos isn't the Paladin's story. Night has no way to know this, of course; he managed to connect the dots and found himself wary of the picture they formed. And Night tends to be somewhat conservative (not talking politics here, I'm talking personal outlook). My take on him as a character is that he prefers to remain endlessly wary of possible threats and he's often skeptical about change, at least until he sees it proven time and time again. Ranthia might not be the Paladin, but he can still see enough of the Paladin in her that he's unable to separate them.

I've mentioned before that I culled more than one of Night's interludes throughout my edits of the OG draft into the first four books. In a lot of ways, exploring Night's paranoia about Ranthia felt premature. The story is hers, not his. And getting into his distrust explained things that Ranthia never had any way to explain. I make the exception here, where their paths part ways. At this point, I'm comfortable with providing clarity and insight to the readers, because it no longer affects events chapter-to-chapter.

Even from an early planning stage, I'd known Night would see through Ranthia's deception. She was careful. She was clever. But Night is a being that has existed for over four thousand, nine hundred years. He has the Skills, the stats, and the intelligence to see through most cleverness. And I never found any compelling reason to believe that Ranthia would best him. Still, she made her attempt, and I got to pick it apart while crafting his point of view. The only thing I 'cheated' with was the backpack, because I wanted some undeniable bit of proof. Having Night make his conclusion through conjecture would be entirely unsatisfying.

But just like many readers on Royal Road called, Night plays along with her deception.

After all, he was unable to control Ranthia. But, in her absence, he controls her legacy. And it's a useful enough tool for his purposes.