I’d Give Up The World For You - Chapter 248

Roselia didn’t know what else to say at this point. She loved her dad deeply—he was her hero—but she had hurt him. Bad.

He sat on the swing with a cocktail of emotions she couldn’t fully identify swirling around under the surface. He didn’t yell. He didn’t punish her for what she had done. He was simply miserable having his greatest pain dredged up again.

She couldn’t really blame him for what he did. The prequel went into his motivations on a much deeper level than the first book had. She knew exactly why he did all of those things.

Rukelion Blaze was a man who loved deeply. His love for his family and his country had been what led him to hurt those involved in their slaughter. His love for his wife made him give all of that up and travel to another world where he had to start over from scratch. His love for his children made him choose gentleness instead of destruction.

Roselia finally understood what he had been trying to say earlier. He hadn’t taught her everything he knew about magic because he never wanted any of his kids to have to use it. He wanted better for them than what he had.

“You aren’t a villain, Dad,” she said firmly as she wiped away her tears. He blinked at her in surprise and she continued. “You aren’t. No matter what happened before, you’re a good person and you’ve made choices to prove that since coming here. I’m sorry for sticking my nose where it didn’t belong but it doesn’t change the fact that I love you and you’ll always be a hero to me.”

Rukelion stood and she was afraid he had gotten upset and decided to leave but instead he pulled her to her feet and crushed her in a hug. “Thanks, Rosie.”

Those two words were choked with emotion and she was relieved. It didn’t seem like he was mad at her anymore. Her dad was one of her best friends so seeing him upset was distressing.

Roselia felt a few droplets of water hit the top of her head. Was he crying? It didn’t seem like it by the time he pulled away.

“Come on,” he said as he mussed her hair. “Let’s go inside.”

The entire family ended up playing a game right after they did and he seemed to be his usual self. She was relieved. She hadn’t messed up too badly after all. Her dad still loved her even though she had brought up old wounds.

She meant what she said earlier. She didn’t care what he might have done in the past when he wasn’t much older than her and lost his way for a while because he didn’t know how else to deal with losing his family. He was better now. He had found his way and wasn’t the same miserable person he had been in the prequel.

Roselia was proud to have someone like him as her dad. He had fought his demons and won. That wasn’t anything to be ashamed of.

===

Rukelion had always worried about his past coming back to haunt him. The books still existed out in the world but he had thought he was safe until Roselia tearfully told him she read them trying to find out more about fire magic.

That was just like her. Daisy said she acted more like Ira all the time. She had an uncurable desire to know everything like her former foster son did.

She knew how to handle things like that better than he did. He was willing to bet she figured out what was going on with their daughter first but that didn’t matter right now. Keeping his cool did.

He was furious and suddenly flooded with a hundred memories he would rather forget as soon as he realized Roselia knew almost all of his sins. The fury was overshadowed only by shame. He had never wanted any of his children to know about that part of his past.

Rukelion told them about Katalya and certain fond memories he had with Daisy on the farm, at the house in the officers’ row, or back in Cincinnati but he really didn’t talk about his past all that much. It was too dangerous.

For every good memory he had before his children came along there were ten more bad ones. Memories he wished he could scrub from his brain permanently.

Roselia wanted answers? He wasn’t going to give them to her!

Then panic struck him. What if she went to Juliet? Her biased opinion would make things even worse. He had to tell her at least enough to prevent that from happening. He could do that while leaving most of the details out.

So he did but very reluctantly. He had to explain himself as best he could without seeming like a monster the way he no doubt had in that blasted prequel. He was barely able to get the words out but he did it. Control. He had to stay in control so his daughter wouldn’t hate him.

As he was internally screaming, his daughter said something he didn’t expect. “You aren’t a villain, Dad. You aren’t. No matter what happened before, you’re a good person and you’ve made choices to prove that since coming here. I’m sorry for sticking my nose where it didn’t belong but it doesn’t change the fact that I love you and you’ll always be a hero to me.”

Most of that sounded exactly like the sort of things Daisy said when she was trying to get him to feel better about himself. Had she told Roselia what to say?

No. Because his wife never used the word ‘hero’ and she did. She had come up with that on her own. He could see her remorse and love for him as she looked up when he went to hug her.

A hero, huh? He had heard that plenty of times but always knew it wasn’t true. War hero Leo May had been a title he needed in order to accomplish his goals. He never did anything that wouldn’t benefit him on his road of revenge.

Rukelion had known he was no hero. He hadn’t thought he was a villain either until Juliet came along and slapped that label on him.

It had tortured him all these years. Because she thought of him as a villain she had taken everything from him a second time. He managed to get what mattered most back—his family—but he lost his world, his identity, and everything he worked for in the process.

No one had called him a hero since before he took over Mirea. That hadn’t bothered him. He knew he didn’t have a hero’s destiny. He wasn’t supposed to live in the light after being forged in darkness but he clawed his way there anyway.

He never expected to be a hero. That title belonged to people far better than him.

What was a hero but someone who was meant to vanquish villains? That wasn’t him and never could be.

As a war hero he was the one who took out all of the “bad guys” and allowed people to come home safely. In the original cursed book Ira and his friends did the exact same thing except Rukelion was the one who needed to be taken out so other people could live on.

Hero. The word kept rattling around in his head until he got the chance to talk about it with the only person who might understand after everyone else was asleep. His wife, who knew the worst of him intimately and still loved him.

“Daisy, what is a hero if not someone who fights villains?” Rukelion asked once they were in bed.

She rolled over to face him in the darkness. “Someone admired for outstanding achievements or qualities. Why do you ask?”

“Rosie called me a hero earlier and I don’t get it.”

Daisy had a smile in her voice when she responded. “What’s not to get? You’re a wonderful father. A lot of kids think of their parents as their heroes. That’s a pretty normal thing to do.”

“But she knows what I did. You knew about it, didn’t you?” Rukelion asked without a hint of accusation in his voice.

He wasn’t mad at his wife. She had probably handled the situation as best she could considering how ridiculous it was. He knew she would never speak badly of him in front of the kids because she was a firm believer that children shouldn’t be aware of adult fights after the childhood she had. He was inclined to agree.

“I knew something was bothering her but I wasn’t expecting it to be that. I shouldn’t have been too surprised though. I’ve been expecting something like this to happen sooner or later. Since it happened once it might happen again but at least we know how to handle it now,” Daisy said rationally.

“Rosie doesn’t think any less of you. She told me so herself. Her biggest concern was feeling guilty that she violated your privacy. That shows how much she cares about you.. The other kids love you just as much so I don’t think you have anything to worry about.”