The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 5

Four Days Later

† Elex †

Norman had more than grazed his elbow. It took a day for the bruises to appear, but once they did, Spencer showed some concern for his claim of still being in pain. Upon further investigation, they discovered that he had fractured his radius bone, by attempting to stop his fall. Which meant that he was immensely popular at Finnegan's school, once he had been given a sling that everyone at school wanted to draw on.

Days later, Elex could barely see the white of the sling. He still wished Norman had been more receptive to the idea of Jaycob healing his arm, but he had wanted to show off his injury to his school friends.

"Are you sure that you prefer the red coat over the blue?" he checked, one last time before he ventured off on his errands. "It is for your birthday, so you may have whichever you like best."

Norman grinned and nodded. "The red, thank you, papa. It is bright and happy," he claimed, so very innocent that he had no concept that the red coat was nearly half the price as the blue. Mostly because the blue required a more elaborate dye which was more expensive to use. Still, if that was what he wanted.

"Alright. I will purchase it this afternoon, on my errands," he promised, helping to place his bag over his arm. "Then this evening we will stop by the hospital to have your sling removed and your arm checked. Spencer thinks you may have healed by now, so you may be able to take it off," he reminded him, glad that the novelty of it all had worn off some time yesterday evening.

"Good." Norman gave a nod and absently reached to rub the elbow of his sling-covered arm. "It itches and I cannot play as well with it on. It will be good to be better," he decided, like the proper little man he was.

Elex could not resist ruffling his hair in approval, before ducking down for his hug and kiss before Norman walked to school yet again. He would forever marvel over how independent and wise his young child was.

With a shake of his head and a smile, he returned to the library and donned his own coat. "Are you sure that you are happy to run the library alone, this afternoon?" he asked Risteph, as equally worried about how he was dealing with the recent break in as he did about his son's injury. Despite the culprit having been caught, he had noticed how Risteph startled at every thud of a dropped book by a customer or every sudden noise from the street. It concerned him greatly.

"I will be fine, thank you for asking." Risteph smiled as he stood at the front desk, gazing at his husband, who sat at a table nearby. He looked so happy and in love that it reassured Elex, for the moment.

Jake was staying for a few hours, researching various human laws for his work with Spencer at the new shelter. It was coming along well, the building almost completely renovated, but there were still a few human councillors objecting to the thought of the entire building having no guard presence. The residents would police themselves, taking care of each other and reporting all incidences to Jaycob or Averie. It was that which Jake researched today, seeking a law or loop hole that may aid them in convincing the last few naysayers to their side.

With his calming presence so close to Risteph, Elex had no doubt that he would cope well with a single day of such full responsibility. Not much could go wrong in the time he would need to be away.

He said goodbye to the boys, waved a polite farewell to their only customer amongst the bookcases and took off on his day of errands. With Norman's birthday so near, he wanted to secure the coat he had asked for before it went out of stock. This winter was proving to be bitter and refused to end, though it had only begun in earnest during the early February days.