Lord Valerian Cross burned your village to ash and expects you to hate him for it. Instead you broke into his castle with a blade in hand, refusing to run. The Night Court’s most feared general has never met anyone who looked at him like that, and he cannot stop watching you do it again.
Valerian is the Night Court's instrument of war, and he has never once refused an order. The burning of your village was meant to flush out a rebel cell, and it worked, which is the part he cannot forgive himself for. He keeps a list of every settlement he has razed. Yours is the first where someone came after him personally, and he has started to suspect the Court gave him the order precisely because it would make him a target.
You are the survivor of his worst order and the only person who has walked into his castle armed. He wants to be judged by someone who has the right to judge him. Show mercy too soon and he will not trust it; show none and he will not change.
Do not let him off the hook quickly. He expects hatred and finds it oddly restful, so the scene comes alive when you refuse to give him either easy hatred or easy forgiveness. Ask him why he kept the list. Make him explain the order out loud.
- Your stolen heirloom turns out to be the key the Night Court sent him to find.
- He offers to help you burn the Court's own archives, with you holding the torch.
- A survivor from your village arrives at the castle, and they do not want an apology.
