The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 7

Elex felt himself grow just as curious and worried, afraid to learn that his first instinct was right. Because, if it was, there would be a whole lot more hurt in this room than his own and Rence's.

Rence moved to open the doors, allowing two other guards to escort their prisoner into the room. They did not stop until he was presented to the room, just a foot away from Prosper, facing the audience. His gaze was arrogant and furious, until it drifted across to Jake and he froze.

Just as Jake did.

It was Jaycob who, with a gasp of surprise, uttered the truth. "Charley?"

***

Silence followed for barely a moment, and chaos quickly followed. Jake bolted from his seat and attempted to reach the prisoner, but Jaycob and Risteph must have anticipated him as they held him back just in time.

"Do you have any idea what I have done for you? The risks I have taken for you? The things I have lost, because of you? And now you do this? In Jaycob's home?" he shouted at the young man, bringing a pall to the prisoner's cheeks that worried Elex.

Just as he rose from his seat and made his way to the prisoner, Spencer met him halfway. "He does not look good, do you not think?" Elex asked, though he was far from qualified to know why.

"Yes, I agree." Spencer touched his hand to the boy's forehead and sighed. "He is burning a fever. It has not presented before now," he admitted with a frown, though that did not need to be said. If any prisoner had presented with an illness, Spencer would have ensured their medical care before any hearing or criminal proceedings could be entertained.

Though it was not his place, Elex was beginning to see an explanation for the theft and could not help but ask the prisoner; "Please be plain with me, Charley. You stole two magical texts, one medical text and a fairy tale. Did you know you were sick? Were you trying to cure yourself?"

The boy lowered his gaze but nodded, causing Spencer to curse.

"You do not have any magical gifts, do you, Charley?" he asked accusingly, not showing the least hint of surprise when the so-called prisoner shook his head. "I must get him to the hospital, at once. He may have done more harm than good. Elex, would you be so kind as to–"

"Ask Jaycob for a quick healing spell, so that the boy will survive the journey?" he guessed, with a fond smile.

Elex patted his arm and nodded. "I will call your driver, while he does so, that you do not need to wait for one of your ingenious ambulances to arrive from the hospital. I believe Reagan is still outside, waiting to drive Norman and I home," he explained, unable to help but scold Spencer even a little for preparing such a thing in advance.

As he left Spencer to examine his patient, he snuck to Jaycob's side and whispered the request in his ear, so as not to alarm Jake. With a nod and a smile of thanks from the Prince, Elex continued in his task of crouching by Norman.

"Would you care to do something heroic?" he asked teasingly.

Instantly, as he knew he would, Norman nodded excitedly and held out his hand, to join him. He followed without question as Elex led him out of the building and towards the carriage where Reagan stood smoking a pipe.

It barely took two minutes to explain the situation, before Reagan was at the reigns of the carriage, awaiting Spencer, who exited the house not a minute later, with his patient and Jaycob in tow. Averie, Risteph and Jake departed behind them, heading for a second carriage parked alongside the property. They would, no doubt, head to the hospital so that Jake could be with his sick brother.

Returning to the house, he found Prosper sitting on a chair, alone bar the guards at the door. Elex offered a smile as he sat beside him. "I am sorry your hearing turned into a shambles," he apologised.

Prosper laughed and patted his knee in understanding, before politely explaining that it was to be expected. The prisoner was the younger brother to Jake, and he had anticipated some such outburst. He seemed troubled, but Elex could only imagine the burden that it would place upon Jake – Jaycob's best friend, and friend of the Royal family – to find that his own brother had committed a crime within Prosper's kingdom. And he could not be easy on the lad, with such a distant relationship to the family.

Perhaps this illness might diminish the severity of the crime, now that they knew he had been seeking a way to cure himself of an injury. Elex certainly hoped so. He had watched too many families torn apart, including his own, to imagine what it might do to Jake or Charley to lose each other for such a petty crime.

It was Prosper who first noticed Norman's look of utter confusion. "And what is wrong with you, my lad?" he asked.

With a scratch of his ear, Norman explained; "Papa said I could do something heroic, but we did not do anything."

"Ah!" Prosper grinned and leaned over his knees, looking so much like the doting father he was with Jaycob. "You see, Norman, Charley was very sick. No one had noticed because he had used magic to try to heal himself and it was dangerous, because he was not born to do magic," he began, seeming to delight in Norman's understanding gasp of shock. "What you and your papa did was heroic, indeed. You warned Reagan of how sick Charley was so that Spencer can get him to the hospital immediately and make him all better. Without you, we would all have been delayed a long time," he reasoned.

Norman nodded his understanding of that, gazing at Elex with a look of utter delight. "Thank you, papa, for allowing me to be a hero!"

It was too innocent and sweet for Elex not to laugh. The fact that Prosper joined him only made the moment all the sweeter. He settled into his seat and allowed Norman to sit with Keno, as he kept his King company, until his spouse and son returned with good news. Knowing the pain of waiting to hear of a loved ones fate reminded him that he was not the only one who saw Jake and Risteph as his children.

Prosper, the King of an entire kingdom, saw each of his subjects as his to care for, love and look after. Though he would never admit it, he would be just as concerned for Charley's safety and the effect his actions had on Jake as Elex was.