The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 5

Then Harrington looked up at his saviour and gasped. "You are bleeding!"

Camryn frowned and reached up to touch his face, only to glance at Harrington when his fingers came back clean.

Pursing his lips, he poked his guard in the side and watched him wince in surprised pain. "You were stabbed!" he accused, removing himself from Camryn's arms to escape into the front room.

It only took a moment to request a pitcher of water and a cleaning cloth from Jerrey, which he already had prepared, no doubt thanks to Spencer's parting warning. This time, Harrington had no protest to Spencer's interference. Not that he usually did. This time, however, it meant that he could return to Camryn immediately and clean the wound on his side.

He found his guard sitting, looking bewildered, as he waited for Harrington's return. "Remove your shirt, please," he asked, as he pulled the second chair closer and moved the chess board to give him somewhere to place the pitcher of water. When he returned his attention to Camryn, he had not moved. "When I want to see you naked, I will not stab you to do so. I will simply tell you what I want," he promised, both in warning not to be silly and in warning that he would be forthright with his needs, when he was ready to face such a thing.

Right now, he had more pressing matters to concern himself with.

Camryn willing removed his shirt, revealing his bare chest, so that Harrington could wet the cloth and begin cleaning the blood away. It was likely to heal within a few hours, most likely after Camryn's next feed, but that did not mean there was no risk. Infections could still kill vampires, if a wound was contaminated. And no one knew what that 'pick-pocket' might have used his knife for, if he had cleaned it since or if it had been deliberately contaminated.

Anything was possible, so Harrington felt no shame in worrying as he cleaned the wound and wrung the cloth into the pitcher, when he was finished. The amount of blood that he had cleaned away was astonishing.

"I thought you were not returning for a few days," he recalled, eyeing Camryn carefully as he lifted the second, clean, cloth Jerrey had given him and dried the area he had just cleaned.

"The King decided to return early, as his business had been concluded. I had just left him at the hospital, to return home with Spencer, when Jaycob told us that you were calling for him," Camryn replied, looking up with concern.

Sighing, he stepped back and allowed his guard to replace his shirt, as he had done all he could without proper medical supplies, which would no doubt not be needed. "I was startled. I heard footsteps following me and the man seemed menacing. I did not know there was a back door leading into the back room here until it opened or I would have taken it and there would have been no danger," he reasoned, unable to meet Camryn's eye as he realised how awkward it was to admit that he had called for help.

At his age, he should have been able to deal with the man himself. But he had never been a fighter, no matter how hard his father had tried to teach him. He knew how to throw a punch, but that was all. And, logically, it was no match for a man with a knife.

A gentle finger touched his chin and tilted his head up. "I am glad you were wise enough to call for help," Camryn reassured him. "I am glad that you knew Jaycob would come for you, when you thought I could not."

Smiling, he gave a nod of understanding and acceptance for those kind words. "Thank you for understanding. Know that I would never choose Jaycob over you, but I also appreciate that you would never ask me to choose between you," he said, too embarrassed to meet his gaze. "If I thought you could have heard me, I would have called for you," he promised.

"I know." Camryn stood and cupped Harrington's face in both hands. "I cannot put into words what it means to me that you say such a thing. All I know is that I will never forget the fear I felt when I heard you were in danger. And I will never forgive myself for not knowing about your shortcut," he explained, looking as devastated as Harrington had felt when he thought he might die without seeing Camryn again.

Smiling faintly, Camryn brushed his thumb across Harrington's cheek and looked so sad that he could do nothing but follow his heart. Pushing up onto his tip toes, he pressed his lips to Camryn's and breathed a sigh of relief when the pressure was returned.

He almost rejoiced when Camryn was the first to part his lips and caress Harrington's with a gentle kiss. Instead, he reciprocated until they were lost in a moment of unrestricted passion, sharing kisses so tender and heart-warming that he would never ask for another kiss in all his life if only this moment would last forever.

But it could not. Just as gently as it had begun, Camryn cupped his face and broke away with a smile. "You have won this battle, darling. I cannot deny it any longer. But for anything more, I must insist we wait until you are of age. And perhaps, we should not mention this night again, when you came to such danger and I was bested by my own recklessness," he decided.

Refusing to allow that, Harrington shook his head. "No. I was the reckless one, not you. There is no shame in defending someone you love, nor in being so concerned for their safety that you neglected your own," he argued, because he knew exactly the reason for Camryn's distraction.

"No," he said, with a smile and a hint of agreement. "No, there is no shame in that." He brushed a swift kiss across Harrington's lips before holding out his hand. "May I still walk you home?"

"Of course." Harrington clasped his hand tight and lifted the borrowed items from the table to return to Jerrey on their way out. Then, he would allow Camryn to walk him home, mentioning nothing of the fact that he had just confessed his love for him.

Later, when he was alone, he would scream with joy and relief. For now, he focused on the happy, light feeling that encased his very soul in knowing he was loved.