They saw the heavy, inevitable cost of their profession. Because of that shared, unspoken bond, the Vanguard warriors were fiercely protective of him. They excused his prick behavior because, in their eyes, he had paid the ultimate blood tax. He had earned the right to be bitter.
Warchief Veylara knew this. She was a warrior herself, and her hands had been tied by this collective Vanguard sympathy for years.
In fact, the only reason Veylara had recently been able to punish Thorne and strip away some of his political influence was entirely because of Sol.
When Sol had beaten Vurok in the dirt, he hadn't just won a fight. He had revealed his foundation. He had anchored a Lord Blood spirit.
