And then, quietly, he understood. Eyes that black, unlike anything else in this world, were the eyes of judgment.
They were the eyes of the night, asking him of his sins and declaring his punishment.
He had given in to his own emotions, abandoned his son, left him in loneliness, and ruled over him only with the power of a parent. Only now did he realize how unforgivable that cruelty had been.
He had done nothing a parent should do. All he had demanded was duty—the duty to serve as the heir, the eldest son. Never once had he offered even a single kind word. All he had given were harsh commands and cold discipline.
Had he ever seen his son's smile? Had he ever held that child in his arms when he was still too young to even sit on his own?
When he searched his memory, all that surfaced were lonely expressions, or the frightened face of a small child. And at some point, those looks had turned into a mask of emptiness, stripped of all emotion.
Of course Dominic had cast him aside.
