this is how I would’ve introduced a redemption arc for inkheart!basta if he wasn’t *clenches fist* despicably evil….jk i still love him
“Basta,” Fenoglio murmurs the name, casting a wistful look out the window. “He wields a knife as well as he wields his tongue. A heart so dark it could plunge the whole world in eternal night — he avoids the light, for fear of the blood-stained conscience that haunts him like a shadow.” He raises his brows, as though impressed with himself. “Yes, a fearsome fellow.”
“And vile!” Meggie adds, indignant.
Fenoglio regards the girl for a moment. “He was only a few years short of you when Capricorn took him in.” He pauses. “Heaven knows if his mercy saved him or killed him.”
As his profound remark hangs in the air between the two of them, the portly author studies the fresh scar etched into the tabletop. The wound is deep and jagged, and Basta’s hatred spills out of it like blood.
“Although,” Fenoglio starts again, almost as an afterthought. “Mind you, I never wrote it, but I always wondered if, perhaps, with a bit of love and patience and early intervention, he might not have turned to such evils.”
“Well,” Meggie huffs. “It’s much too late for that.”
“Oh, Meggie,” Fenoglio laughs. His voice is airy, his words are coloured with hope, but his eyes are almost sad. “Don’t you know, dear?”
He scoots his chair forward, beckons the girl closer, and drops his tone to a surreptitious whisper.
“Love is never too late.”