“Illegitimate son of a royal,” Reeve corrected easily. “Beyond your reasonable distrust of the things around you, I see no personality traits to lend bastard. Of course I may not be meant as a pure insult in you world. But one must take the positives with the negatives...”

Reeve considers for a moment before rising to join Alistair a touch closer to the fire.

“What I see here is a noble man willing to sacrifice himself for the common good, to do what is right no matter the darkness of his past, who crawled from a low place and by choosing to do so elevated himself to the laudable title of a hero. You remind me a bit of a friend of mine. And I will tell you what I told him. Remember the pain of the past, so that it may guide you on the path to building a better future. So not, though, let it place blinders on you so that by inaction you allow greater evil to unfold.”

Yes, a bit like Vincent Indeed. And he didn’t even know about the whole monster blood thing.