I am going to write a brief passage between spoilers; please read it, and answer this question: who in this scenario is evil?
After you've had a few days to discuss and decide, I'll expand the passage by one stage, and I will ask you the same question.
Ready?
Interested?
Here we go.
VIEW CONTENT:
Baron Malvoro looked at the man lying sprawled on the floor of his wife's private chamber, his blood ruining its subtle arabesques. Then he turned to his bride, his black eyes meeting her crimson eyes. She trembled when their gazes met, then trembled even more strongly at the cold smile that creased his lips. Behind red velvet and ivory skin, her heart thundered.
"Remember, my lady," he said, the voice that could declaim spells with authority or hide in silence now purring as though he were a great cat. "We employ people to deal with such nuisances as these."
He walked over to the bedside table and took up one of the bells she had never touched; an iron bell with a single ring of gold. One shake of it brought two men running, men wearing the livery of the House Malvoro, but clearly not butlers or footmen. They looked more like retired soldiers, judging by the scars on their hands and their faces.
"M'Lud?" one of them rumbled.
"Take this one out back," Baron Malvoro said, with a casual gesture at the man on the carpet. "Beat him to within an inch of his life; strip him; roll him through the pigpen a few times. Then put him in the coal-cart and dump him somewhere in the alleys east of the river for the human vermin to find."
"s'Foul weather out, M'Lud," the man said, tugging his forelock. "Cold as a witch's womb. 'E might not make it there alive if we drub 'im."
"Then dump him in the woods, for the wolves to find," the Baron replied, shrugging. "I'm not picky."
The man on the carpet opened his mouth to speak, only for it to be filled with a heavy boot and his teeth to go flying. While he was still gagging with pain, the two servants grabbed him by the ankles and hauled him out of the Lady Malvoro's bedchamber. As his screams faded into the distance, the Baron glided over to his lady, pausing only to kick an errant tooth from his path, and pressed a kiss on her unresisting hand.
"Come to my chamber, my love," the Baron murmured in her ear. "You should not be alone on such a cold night."
"Remember, my lady," he said, the voice that could declaim spells with authority or hide in silence now purring as though he were a great cat. "We employ people to deal with such nuisances as these."
He walked over to the bedside table and took up one of the bells she had never touched; an iron bell with a single ring of gold. One shake of it brought two men running, men wearing the livery of the House Malvoro, but clearly not butlers or footmen. They looked more like retired soldiers, judging by the scars on their hands and their faces.
"M'Lud?" one of them rumbled.
"Take this one out back," Baron Malvoro said, with a casual gesture at the man on the carpet. "Beat him to within an inch of his life; strip him; roll him through the pigpen a few times. Then put him in the coal-cart and dump him somewhere in the alleys east of the river for the human vermin to find."
"s'Foul weather out, M'Lud," the man said, tugging his forelock. "Cold as a witch's womb. 'E might not make it there alive if we drub 'im."
"Then dump him in the woods, for the wolves to find," the Baron replied, shrugging. "I'm not picky."
The man on the carpet opened his mouth to speak, only for it to be filled with a heavy boot and his teeth to go flying. While he was still gagging with pain, the two servants grabbed him by the ankles and hauled him out of the Lady Malvoro's bedchamber. As his screams faded into the distance, the Baron glided over to his lady, pausing only to kick an errant tooth from his path, and pressed a kiss on her unresisting hand.
"Come to my chamber, my love," the Baron murmured in her ear. "You should not be alone on such a cold night."