The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 4

May 22nd, 2113: 17 Years Old

† Harrington †

"He is quite boisterous tonight, is he not?" Jaycob laughed, as the cat crawled across his lap, chasing the feather he dangled on a stick.

Harrington sighed and rested his head on his hand, as he watched the pair playing, quite happily. He was grateful that Jaycob had offered to care for the cat while Camryn was out of town. He had been away on duty for a week, now, guarding Prosper at an event in a neighbouring village. They were having some trouble with a rogue vampire tormenting the locals.

It was a week before his seventeenth birthday and Harrington could not have been happier. The only thing that could have made the week any better would have been having Camryn home, but it would only be a few more days until that blessed event. He could cope until then. He had done well, over the last year, to always understand that Camryn could not take him on every errand for the royal family, not even when it took him away for days or weeks at a time.

Having Cammie, the cat, made it bearable. He had truly grown in the year since Harrington had first chosen him from the litter and brought him home. He still remembered holding onto the little fellow on the carriage journey home, while Camryn fed him sips of milk from a medical dropper they had bought in town. The poor thing had been the runt of the litter, too small and not strong enough to play with his fellow litter mates. He had been curled in a corner, scared of their antics, when Harrington first set eyes on him. At the same time, he and Camryn had pointed him out and said; "Him. He is the one for us."

And they had been right. As was Camryn when he asked; "Who else would choose or care for a little runt, who is scared of his own siblings, than someone who loves to take care of sick animals?" The smile that had accompanied the words, the pride in his voice, had made Harrington fall just a little more in love with him. If such a thing was possible.

"Harrington!" Jaycob laughed as something hit his nose and made him blink.

He looked down and frowned at the cushion that had woken him from his thoughts.

"You are so in love," his friend said, with a fond smile. "I forgive you for ignoring me, only for that reason. If it was for something frivolous, I would set the cat on you," he warned playfully, chuckling as he gently lifted the cat from the sofa and placed him onto the floor, where he quickly trotted over to lie at Harrington's feet.

"What was it you asked me?" he wondered, since there had to have been something that he failed to respond to.

Jaycob grinned and heaved a faint sigh. "Nothing important, my friend. I think you are far happier in your world of romance than you would be as my magical test subject," he confessed, poking fun where it did not belong.

"I would be happy to help you, you know that," Harrington argued, shaking his head at his friend. He still thought himself too much of a 'freak' and too different. If he did not stop thinking that way, he would never be happy. "What would you like to practice?"

A shrug was Jaycob's only reply, as he sank back into his chair and looked out the window into the dark evening. "To be truthful, Harrington, I have not a single idea of what I would like to practice. I only know that I should practice. But, though it may sound conceited, I have to admit that there is nothing I am struggling with so much that I need to practice," he said, rolling his head across the back of the chair until he met Harrington's gaze again.

Seeing how lost he looked, he sat forward and made a suggestion of his own. "Very well. Then, why do we not head into town and enjoy a game of chess at the Promise of Pleasure? We can visit Jerrey and Jake, maintain your winning streak, and enjoy a night out of the house?" It was preferable to sitting here with one wallowing in uncertainty while the other mooned over his absent love.