No, that's not what this is. The blood ritual was - ah, but does it matter? Not at all.

[He can see now exactly which heartstrings all of this was constructed to tug at. That doesn't mean it isn't succeeding, but the act of observing it clinically is making it more bearable. Some sort of rot in his heart that his father and Alexius wanted to cure - all right. Okay. Fuck that, though. He takes a deep breath and lets it spill out, uncaring.]

Quite enough of that. Give me a moment, I'll bring this to an end.