The Royal Series 0 - A Royal Archive

Chapter 6

† Serafina †

How many times must she have to hear about how brilliant Jaycob was? How many times would someone pretend to sit with her, to hear about Serafina's thoughts and wishes and cares, only to wax lyrical about Jaycob?

She had thought, for two weeks now, that Elías would be different, but it did not prove to be the case. He was just as in awe of Jaycob as everyone else. She might have forgiven him for that, if it was merely because of his mother, but there was no doubt in her mind. Elías idolised Jaycob for what he could do, for his magic, for what he had done, and all that he stood for.

It was too much.

Serafina turned away, trying to hide the unexpected tears, as Elías kept talking, having no concept of what his words did to her heart.

"I have been in touch with Risteph in these past months, since he discovered my existence," Elías revealed, much to her surprise. "It was my mother who wrote to your father, to tell him of the connection between us, in the hopes that together Risteph and I could repair the tear in our family. Do you know what he has told me?"

"You know I do not," she challenged, bitterness seeping into her tone. And, this time, she did not care if he heard it.

Elías sighed and shook his head, once more. "I had hoped that some sense might have shown you the answer by now," he said, as though she should have been smarter. "Risteph has told me that he has never been happier since losing his knowledge of magic. He knows it exists and what it can do, but he has no memory of ever holding it in his hands nor seeking to own more. He only knows that magic has brought him pain.

"Jaycob cured our family of a generations old curse when he used magic against Risteph. He freed him from the expectations of our fathers and our families," he continued, saying that as if she should have known better, which was beginning to get on her last nerve. "Using the magic the way he did, out of love and understand, kindness and compassion, he broke the hold over my mother's magic. She was instantly cured, as her magic returned to her, but she also wept for near a day."

"Why?"

Elías threw his hands up and spoke to her like she was an idiot – and, honestly, she was beginning to wonder if she was, from the continual way he kept expecting her to know things. "Because she had felt Risteph, when all that Jaycob held clashed with what Risteph used against him. She felt both of them, in that moment. She knew their souls and their hearts. She knew that both were innocent," he reasoned. "My mother told me that she had never felt a purer light or heart than Jaycob. But that Risteph held the potential to be just as pure, if he could be turned away from the dark path his father had set him on. She wept because Jaycob had given him that chance."

And, there it was again, how wonderful Jaycob was. How he had performed miracles and made everyone happier and more complete than they had ever been. When would it stop?

"And now he is happy, Serafina. He is wed to a man he loves, still a human and still without magic, but content to be. And it has healed my mother's heart to know that we – she, my cousin and I – have been released from the curse of the family we were shackled to until Jaycob came into our lives." Elías turned to stare off into the fields ahead, again, smiling to himself as though he has been freed from something and not Risteph.

Serafina sighed and tried to follow his gaze, wondering if that thought was true. Perhaps Elías had found himself free of burden, free of expectation and free of the shackles of his family heritage because of Jaycob's acts. Despite that, she had not heard anything that told her that she was appreciated or needed or wanted in her family. All she heard was more praise for Jaycob, who was already the favourite of her family.