The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 1

June 12th, 2112: 16 Years Old

† Harrington †

After two long years, it was finally time for Harrington to experience sunshine again. Not the heat of the sun, nor the bright light it once managed to emit, but the warmth and the startling singularity of being close to Camryn.

Closer than close. This would be their first true courting evening. The first night they would be allowed to spend together, without a chaperone and without a decreed distance between them.

As he paced the hallway of his home, Harrington tried to keep his anticipation under control. It had been two horrendous years since he first felt what it meant to be a life mate to a vampire and he had never been allowed to share the kind of proximity to Camryn that would allow him to feel it again. Not once.

He remembered the night Camryn first came to his home, just one week after discovering their bond to each other. He had met Harrington's father outside of his work as he left his afternoon shift, despite the heat and light of the hour making Camryn weak. They had discussed the matter of the life mate bond as they walked, before allowing Harrington only two minutes to stand in the front doorway and speak to Camryn himself. Even then, the guard had stood three paces from the door, in the middle of the street. He had explained the agreement he had made with his father; that he would only court Harrington once he turned sixteen and only then after three months of chaperoned meetings that his father would attend.

When he had wished for more time with his father, when he was just fourteen, that had not been what he intended. But, it had proven to be bearable. His father had sat in his favourite chair, excused early from work due to the 'royal decree' of a life mate bond taking precedence, while Camryn sat on one side of the room and Harrington on the other, so that they could talk.

Talking. Harrington sighed and paced some more, as he thought of all the talking they had done over the last few months. From the age of fourteen, Camryn had been sending him letters and gifts, as was tradition for courting couples where one was considered underage. Though it had been nice to receive expensive books and gifts that he loved, because Camryn knew him so well, Harrington had craved these private evenings alone together more.

Even talking during their chaperoned evenings had been awkward, because Harrington was so aware of his father's presence in the room. And, though their relationship had improved immensely thanks to the extra time together, there were things he wanted to say to Camryn that could not be uttered near his father.

Today, he would finally be allowed to say them.

When the knock on the front door came, Harrington was ready. He rushed towards the door and opened it, smiling to see Camryn on the other side. "Good evening," he said, so unclear about the rules of this 'traditional' courting that he barely knew how to behave.

"Good evening, Harrington." Camryn's smile was warm and a little relieved as he took a step forward and waited on the doorstep. This was the closest he had been to Harrington in an age. "Should I speak with your father before we leave?"

The question shook Harrington from his thoughts and he was able to laugh. "No. In fact, father took my mother out for the evening, so we are completely alone," he explained, wishing Camryn would do something about that. He had never been more aware of the guard than when they were alone and this night, this moment of being entirely alone with him in a house that was unoccupied, offered so many possibilities.

"Then perhaps we should depart?" Camryn replied.

With a sigh, Harrington tried not to feel too disappointed. He offered a nod and grabbed his coat from the stand he'd left it on, prepared for a quick getaway when he thought his parents might still be home. Whether they were home or not, he really should have known better than to think Camryn would take advantage of the privacy.