“Welcome back, sir. I trust your journey was acceptable.” The man in black smiled, his white teeth gleaming by the light of the morning star. He took my bags through the long hall, where silver armors spoke of ages past, and guided me to my room where I hung my coat and hat on the back of the oak door.

“I will prepare dinner,” he said.

He had been faithful all these years, unlike the others who had abandoned me for their own. They could love as I could not.

As dinner was served in the candle-lit dining room, my faithful servant stood by, as if to guard my soul. He stayed as he always had, not wanting what I could offer in riches alone. As is my custom, I offered him a seat, to dine with me as a peer. As is his custom, he quietly declined, preferring to stand and watch. Usually I would not argue. Many times I have tried, but always he would insist on finishing only what I did not want.

“My good and faithful servant,” I said, “please sit.”

So, for the first time since I was a child, I watched him sit down. I thought of our long history. “Remember, friend, when we used to sit like this and you would coax me to eat my vegetables?”

He smiled. “Yes, Master, I do.”

“You promised to hold and guide me as a father. This you have done. And for that I thank you.”

He stared at me through his strange eyes. “I have not forgotten anything, sir. You are as strong as your father was. You are more than your father even hoped for you. But you have become enemies with yourself. You have grown without love.”

“I am very old,” he said; for the first time, I noticed the lines of age on his face. “As I raised you and your father before you, I am compelled to carry out every one of my promises. I have an obligation to your heritage to commit one last act.”

He stood up, and picked up a knife out of the calf on the table and pointed it at the portrait of my father behind me.

“Your father grew with love and lost it. You continued where he left off. But you have never known love, nor have you tried to find it. To help you find love: this was to be my duty, but I have failed. One of us will die today,” he said with tears in his eyes. “It gives me no pleasure, but I have sworn to do this.”

He moved so quickly that I had no chance to stop him. He turned the blade inward, driving it into his heart. He collapsed to the floor, where I knelt to hold his head to my heart. I pulled the knife out of his body and wept for the first time, realizing that I had never truly loved him. As the light in his eyes faded, I pushed the blade into my own chest.