REGRETS OF THE PAST PART 1 

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Christopher crossed his long legs to settle into the loveseat. His hand was caressing Rose's upper arm. The silk robe against her warm skin felt soft and sensual.

"I'm sure you have questions that need answers. Shall we begin?"

"There are many, and I'm not sure where to start. I guess the first thing I'd like to know; is how you are connected to Dante." Rose clutched the edge of the blanket, pulling it up to her chin. She waited for Christopher to start his tale.

"That is a good question, ‌Rose. I was the Knight Commander for The House De Sang. It was 518 A.D. when Maëlle De Sang-Morningstar recruited me as Lady Giselle's personal guard and escort. I was one of France's most powerful and ruthless knights. It was known where ever my boots marched. a path of destruction would follow. After a while, I tired of war, so Maëlle's offer was enticing, and I took it."

Christopher stopped speaking. He was weary of telling Rose too much if Dante hadn't told her of the De Sang's history. Rose sat up and looked over at him.

He scrunched his eyebrows. "Has Dante told you anything about his family?"

She nodded in acknowledgment of Christopher's question. "He has, and it's unsettling," Rose replied.

"I see, so then I'll continue. If I know Dante well enough. He probably told you every gory detail." Christopher rubbed at his eyes with his free hand. He could well imagine what Rose knew.

"Maëlle contracted me to ensure Giselle's safety, and to help her remain in power. What had started as a duty turned into something more. Giselle and I had become romantic. Maëlle had great expectations for Giselle and herself. I wasn't part of their plan. We should not have been involved, but it had grown into a beautiful relationship. Despite the possibility of me being taken to the gallows, we continued the affair."

"Then Gautier De Sang de-throned Giselle, and everything went to hell. He placed Dante as the heir and Count of the house. A family battle ensued, and Giselle got caught in the center. Or at least I was led to believe that in the beginning. When Dante came to power, he became my liege and ordered me to leave the chateau with several other knights. We were sent to patrol a neighboring town raided by rogue mercenaries."

"It was a rouse Dante set up for us to be away from the chateau when he attacked the family. If the knights were there, your father would have been stopped. My Order, The Knights of Rose Croix, would have deferred him to the king for judgment. Not letting Dante run amuck, playing judge, jury, and executioner the way he did."

"When we returned from the patrol a few days later, I found Giselle being beaten and assaulted by some of the newer knights Dante had brought to the chateau once he seized power. I took Giselle and locked her in my quarters, assigning Sir Kane Alexsander to guard her." Christopher stopped speaking to gather his thoughts and started twisting a piece of Rose's long, wavey hair in his fingers. He could not keep his hands off of her.

"The same Lord Alexsander from dinner with Giselle was a fellow knight?" asked Rose.

"Mhm...," Christopher hummed and nodded. "The same. He is also more than that. Since I can imagine you have already figured out Kane is not human, I will fill you in on what he really is. That man is one of my brothers. Kane is the Archangel Azrael. He is an angel of death like myself, except his job, is to escort souls to heaven or the underworld. I take their life, and he delivers them to the destination. Kane is the ferryman over the river Styx." Christopher explained to Rose and then continued his story.

"We questioned the knights who violated Giselle. They said Dante told them to have their way with her. I went to locate the Count after finding Giselle in the knight's quarters, ravaged and savagely beaten the way she was. It still brings out my ire. If we had not returned sooner, she would have been taken apart at their hands because of that bastard."

"Armed with the information, I wanted to exact my pound of flesh from your father, but fate had other plans for me that night," Rose observed as Christopher pinched the bridge of his nose, trying to repress a terrible memory. Then he continued to speak.

"I cornered Dante in the great hall and drew my sword to sever his head from his shoulders, and he told me why he had punished Giselle the way he did. It stopped me dead from slaughtering him."

"I returned to my room to interrogate Giselle with the information given by her brother. She admitted she had agreed to her mother's plan. To be violated by her uncle Gautier in return for retaining her title. In my anger and rage, I pitched Giselle out of my room and told her she deserved worse than what Dante had given her. It ended my relationship with Giselle and my friendship with Kane."

"Sir Alexsander had other ideas and would not let the Count's knights touch Giselle again. He barricaded himself and Giselle in a storage room for four days to prevent her from being tortured further. I guess she fooled him and convinced Kane she was not at fault. The story was said he sang to her like a nightingale while they were caged in the room."

"I will say Giselle was a victim of her mother's deviant ambitions and did not deserve to be destroyed by Dantes's knights. She was so young then, her will could be easily bent and manipulated."

"After slaying the Knights that had assaulted Giselle, I left Dante's chateau in France, traveled here, and joined Cedric King of Wessex in founding the country of England." Christopher again fell silent. Rose determined he was trying to craft what he would say next.

"I remember that day now and know my actions were wrong. I should have taken Giselle out of that chateau and helped her hide from her brother. Instead, I left her to suffer in eternal servitude to that vile monster. If I had just shown Giselle an ounce of charity. I believe it would have made her different from what she is today. I lacked compassion for someone who was mentally and physically broken and deserted her in her most significant time of need because of my headstrong pride and strict morals." Christopher leaned his head against the loveseat and stared at the ceiling; he looked lost in his thoughts.

"Do you still have feelings for Giselle? Are you in love with her after all this time? You talk like a man who is longing over a lost lover," stated Rose.

Christopher pulled Rose tighter into his side. "No, my love for Giselle and her spirit both died that day. What you are hearing is my regret for not doing what was honorable." Christopher replied to Roses's assessment.

Rose positioned herself to face Christopher as she spoke. She wanted him to know she did not care about his past wrongdoings. "We all have made poor choices that we regret, and there is no way to correct it once it's done. So, stop berating yourself. Remember, sometimes regret is a good thing. It helps us to not repeat our mistakes."

Christopher glanced at Rose, shaking his head. "I wish that were true for me; I'm a failure regarding women. Love, I'm not good for you. If you're as wise as I believe, then you should stay away from me."

"It's a little late for that, don't you think?" Rose jested.