The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 6

† Elex †

Seeing Rence ahead of him, in the hallway leading away from Spencer's private room, Elex knew he could not avoid being recognised nor having to talk to the man. Instead of cowering away or avoiding him, he chose to initiate contact of the 'pleasant' variety, speaking as he passed the man on a brisk walk. "Are you a patient? On your one day off?" he asked, hoping to come off teasing or jovial.

When Rence turned to walk beside him, however, he realised he had skipped straight into 'too familiar' territory. "No. I had hoped to speak with you," he replied, though he had gathered as much from the attempt to keep pace with Elex's longer stride.

"I gather you will not leave me in peace until I do?" he said, turning to eye the man carefully.

"That is correct." Rence proved that by planting his feet firmly and folding his arms in a clear warning that he would not be moved. Then, ruining that facade of angry, unshakable strength, his face dropped into something more shy and embarrassed, as he reached into the satchel across his chest and extracted a piece of paper that he held out. "Here. The books that were stolen from the library have been found. If you present this claim form to the Royal Guards garrison tomorrow evening you will be able to reclaim them," he explained.

That was a surprise. Not at all what he had been expecting. And, for some reason, it softened his mood. "Thank you." Elex took the slip of paper and placed it into the pocket of his jacket, before heaving a sigh. "Shall we take a walk, then?" he suggested, gesturing to the expansive grounds of the hospital that were at their disposal.

At Rence's nod, he led the way to his favourite part of the garden, asking as they walked; "What is it that you so desperately need to say to me? I do not want any apologies or excuses. That is not the reason I told you how I felt." And it truly was not the reason. "I simply realised that, if we had spent twenty years not speaking, perhaps voicing my thoughts now would prevent spending twenty more in a similar agony," he explained, trying to remain rational and logical, without allowing his emotions to get the better of him again.

"You seem to have the wrong impression of me," Rence blurted out, all of a sudden, cutting off anything more Elex might say. When he raised an eyebrow at that claim, Rence continued. "My husband was a man who owed my father a great debt. However, he was unable to pay that debt with money. Everything he owned was tied up in complicated vampire laws. Anything he had inherited from his father was not rightfully his, nor was anything he had accumulated throughout the years. It must all be put into a trust, passed from one family member to the other, but without enriching them financially," he began, sounding quite clinical.

It was a word he would never have associated with Young Rence. And, in that moment, Elex realised that they truly had become two separate entities in his mind. One, the loving and open Young Rence, who was free with his heart and words; the other, the strong and proper Guard Thilil who did his duty, no matter whose heart it broke.

"That is a strange law. And one that I have never heard of," he confessed, wondering if Guard Thilil had stopped low enough to invent a law he was not expected to know was a fabrication.

But Rence shook his head and said; "It is an ancient law, one to ensure that rich families remain the elite of vampire society, but are financially poor unless they find their own wealth within their lifetime. Then anything they earn is added to the estate."

Elex almost admitted out loud that he had heard of such a thing, but did not know it was a law. He had assumed it was part of the unspoken vampire etiquette, passed down through the generations to ensure that each successive generation was as scandal free as possible, to protect the family name.