The Red String Of Faith

Chapter Five:

Jamie couldn’t believe his eyes, standing before him was his father. "Father," he accidentally blurted out loud without realizing it until the man spoke.

"I’m sorry consort, Jamie, I’m afraid that I’m not your father; my name is Jeffery."

How stupid could he be? There was no way this man was his father. Didn’t his father die when he was twelve with him by his side? But the man sounded just like his father when he spoke. Jamie pulled himself together and apologized to the man.

Jeffery saw the sad look in Jamie’s eyes. He wanted to comfort him, but he couldn’t yet.

"Do I really look that much like your father, consort Jamie?" Jeffery asked.

"Yes."

"If I look that much like your father, then I guess it’s okay for you to call me father."
Jamie’s eyes widened with surprise. He looked at the King questioningly. Sebastian gave him a nod.

Jamie didn’t know what to say. This man was not his father, but he was kind enough to let him call him that. "Thank you for allowing me to call you father, your highness, King of Aislin."

Jeffery patted Jamie’s head with a smile, then turned toward Sebastian. "What we discussed earlier, I would like it if you kept it a secret."

"Of course; you have my word on it," Sebastian promised.

"I’ll see you later tonight at the court dinner, consort Jamie." Jeffery then left, closing the door behind him. Once outside the door, he closed his eyes, taking a deep breath. This time he would make things right.

"Jamie, did you need something?"

Jamie nodded, realizing that seeing the other King who resembled his father had distracted him. "I wanted to say thank you for having your men bring over my father’s weaving machine."

"There is no need for you to thank me for that. After all, I did promise you that I would have it delivered here for you." Sebastian leaned back on his chair. "Jamie, is that all you want to tell me?"

"Yes, your highness," Jamie said as he fidgeted in his seat. He was beginning to feel a little bit awkward now that he was alone with the King.

The door to the parlor then opened before the King could respond, revealing Nicholas.

"Your highness, may I have a private word with you?"

"Of course Nicholas."

Jamie stood up, relieved that Nicholas had decided to come at the right moment when he was starting to feel awkward. Jamie bowed and made a quick exit.

Nicholas closed the door after Jamie left. "Your highness, did you not invite Jeffery over, knowing very well how I feel about the man?"

Sebastian put one leg over the other. "Nicholas, shouldn’t you have forgiven the man by now for leaving you at the altar?"

"Like hell I will! Just thinking about it makes my blood boil in anger."

A low laugh escaped from Sebastian. "Nicholas, you will have to put your hate for the man aside. I invited him here for my wedding, so I suggest you behave."

"Why? Why did you invite him?"

"Because he has the right to be here, and I think that Jamie would love it if he was the one to give him away on his wedding day," Sebastian explained simply.

Nicholas couldn’t believe that his King would go this far for the boy. Damn, he wondered what the boy had done when he met the King ten years ago. He sighed in defeat, it was useless to argue with the King once he had made up his mind on something. Wasn’t that what his brother the King first consort said to him when he was still alive? Nicholas gave his King a frown.

"Fine your highness, since you put it that way, I have no choice but to put my hate for the man aside," Nicholas gritted out, then left the parlor in a foul mood, slamming the door as he went.
--
At the court dinner that night, Jamie sat beside the King, while Eli sat next to him. Jamie took a look around, noticing that his dad was not in the dining court. He wondered why. Did he miss something when he was healing from the poison during those three days?

Sebastian stood up and raised his glass of wine. "I want to announce today, that my brother Theron, will be getting married to the King of Siren." Everybody stood up and clapped their hands happily. Sebastian smiled. Jamie wondered if this was the reason his dad was not present.

When dinner was over, Jamie went back to his room. On his way, he saw a young boy around Devin’s age peeking from behind the other side of the wall. He wondered who the boy could be.

"Which one of them is the consort?"

"I don’t know. All of them that came out are pretty to me, so it’s hard for me to tell which is the consort, brother."

"What are you two doing?" Demetrius asked when he spotted the two young boys.

"We got caught." They both spoke as they turned around.

Demetrius stood with his arms crossed and legs apart, a look of disapproval on his face.

"Do you two remember what happens to those that peek at other people’s consorts?"

The two boys nodded their heads. "We are sorry, teacher; we promise not to do it again."

"You better not. If I catch you again, I will report you two to your father. Understood?"
The two boys nodded their heads and left in a hurry. Demetrius shook his head at the two curious kids

"Demetrius, I see that you haven’t changed at all since we last met."
===================
Jamie couldn’t wait to start weaving again, and that was what he did the next morning before his lesson with Demetrius. He was right in the middle of it when Demetrius entered his room, the lesson plan in his hand and beside him was a man he hadn’t seen before.

The man went right up to him. "Hello cutie, want to get together?" The man said with a wink and a smile that showed off his straight white teeth.

Jamie shook his head and looked at Demetrius.

"Micheal, if you value your life, I suggest you get away from the King’s consort."

Micheal backed away quickly. He then turned to Demetrius, glaring. "Why didn’t you say something before I went up there and made a move on him Demetrius?"

"You didn’t give me a chance, Micheal. You went after him like a hawk; before I could even say a word."

"Demetrius, who is he?" Jamie asked, drawing their attention back to him.

"He’s Eli’s brother, Micheal."

Jamie looked passed the two of them, to the door where Eli stood with his arms crossed and a frown on his face. "Eli, is he really your brother?" Jamie called out to him.

Both Eli and Micheal looked nothing alike. He found it hard to believe that they were brothers at all. Jamie saw Eli give him a nod, before he went over to his brother and pulled him out of the room by the ear.

Demetrius shook his head, smiling at the boy in front of him. "You knew that Eli was there, didn’t you boy?"

Jamie nodded his head. "So did you, Demetrius — or else you would have stopped him from approaching me."

Demetrius laughed at that. "Well, I wanted to get even with him from last night," he said, placing the load of books he had in his hand on the table.

Jamie stopped weaving and made his way over to the table for his lesson. Sitting down, he looked at the books on the table. "What are we learning today?"

"I thought that today you’d like to learn about the Zhanthia people. You are going to be our King consort in four days from now."

Jamie nodded his head eagerly, wanting to learn the way of these people. Demetrius began, while Jamie listened and wrote down what he thought was the most important things for him to keep in mind. Jamie was concentrating so hard that he didn’t even notice when Sebastian entered the room with Jeffery.

"Demetrius, I have a question?" Jaime asked, not looking up from his paper.

"What would you like to ask?"

"Why does the King of Zhanthia have black wings while you and other Zhanthia have white wings?"

"Black wings are a symbol of a royalty with power. White is for us who are born with no special powers and cannot rule the country."

"Demetrius, you said before in your lesson that there are three kinds of Zhanthia. What exactly do you mean by that?" he asked, looking in Demetrius’s eyes.

Demetrius smiled at the question. The boy was pretty sharp. He paid attention to every little detail. "The three kinds refer to the black wings, white wings and Silver wings, Zhanthia."

"Demetrius, I haven’t seen any silver wings Zhanthia since I’ve been here."

"That’s because they are wiped out. During war, forty years ago, they were the most sought after mate for all that had laid eyes on them. I heard from my teacher that they were a really beautiful sight to behold when they spread their wings and flew." Demetrius sighed. He would’ve liked to see one.

He didn’t get to finish, for Sebastian chose that very moment to distract them from their conversation. Jamie and Demetrius both bowed to the King and his guest when they saw them.

"Demetrius, you can continue your lesson tomorrow," Sebastian told him.

Demetrius gathered the books, bowing to his King, then left.

Jamie saw the King of Aislin studying his father’s weaving machine. He went up to him. "It belonged to my father," he explained.

Jeffery reached out and touched it lightly. Jamie thought for a moment there that he saw sadness in the King of Aislin eyes. Jeffery withdrew his hand and turned to Sebastian. "I think that we should get going."

Sebastian agreed. "Jamie, today you will be going into town with Jeffery. Eli is waiting outside in the courtyard for you."

"May I ask why?"

Sebastian took Jamie’s hand in his, bringing it to his lips, he kissed it."Today you are getting fitted for your wedding robe. It’s tradition that all bearers wear a robe on their wedding day."
--
Arian stood, surveying the court yard. He saw the King lift Jamie up and place him on the horse. He couldn’t help but feel a bit of jealousy over his son. He hoped that Jamie knew how lucky he was to be a consort. And to cherish every moment of it. His eyes widened when he saw a man that looked like his ex-husband walk into the court. He got on a horse, and then rode off with Jamie and the King’s second consort, Eli.

Arian closed his eyes and shook his head. That couldn’t be Jeff. Jeff was dead. He died ten years ago. He must’ve been seeing things, he surmised. The whole thing with Leon was probably getting to him, and affecting him. That was it.

"See someone you didn’t expect to see?" Nicholas commented as he walked passed Arian. He smirked and went to wait for his King in the throne room.

A tall man with black wings stepped out of the shadow and approached Arian. He wore a cunning smile on his face. "Tell me Arian, are you willing to do whatever it takes to be a consort?" The man asked as he approached Arian.

Arian looked up, eyes locking with cold blue ones. "If you are willing to do what it takes to be a consort, take my hand and I will make your wish come true."

He wanted to be a consort. He wanted to be Leon’s consort. He would do whatever it took to be Leon’s consort, he finalized as he took the man’s hand without any hesitation.
======
Sebastian sat on his throne, petting his wolf like usually as he waited for Nicholas to report to him.

"Your highness, he is here in the city," Nicholas said with a deep, worried frown.

"Who?" Sebastian asked, noting the seriousness.

"Conor!"