Chapter 20

Emil felt his mouth go dry. “F-Father… I have no idea what you are talking about,” Emil started, trying to sound as sincerely surprised as possible.

“Lord Badeaux told me that the servant said you were with the knight and the jester. That you were sitting in the knight’s lap…” it sounded like Elric possibly had more to add to that but couldn’t bring himself to say it.

“F-Father, you know Lord Badeaux! He loves to spread rumours and gossip, most of which are untrue! You shouldn’t just go believing everything he says!” Emil appealed, taking another step towards the desk and gesturing with his hands despite the fact his father couldn’t see him.

“I know this of course, so I wanted to validate any truth to his words. So, I had guards watching your balcony every night since,” now Elric slowly turned around towards his son, and Emil could see how his face was contorted with a scowl of fury. “And what do they see last night, but you and your wife climbing down a rope from your balcony and hightailing it across the garden and leaving the estate.”

Emil swallowed deeply but stayed silent. There was nothing he could say to defend himself, after all.

“You are lucky that Barkley pleaded with me to let you get a night's sleep before what I am about to do to you,” Elric said, his expression calming slightly. 

“Wh… What are you going to do to me?” Emil asked in a small voice, anxiety creeping up his back. 

“You have shamed our family for the last time Emil,” Elric’s tone betrayed his barely contained anger. “I am finally disowning you. You are to be cast out of the Rosenthorne house, never to return. You will lose all claim to your inheritance. You will get nothing from us. You will leave today.”

Emil's eyes went wide. He had never even considered being cast out as a possibility. He had never thought about the possibility of losing everything. “B-But father, wait-”

Elric put up a hand to silence his son. “There is nothing you can say to change my mind, Emil. This decision is final.”

Emil fell quiet, and then glanced away from his father’s intense gaze. “Wh-What about Julie?” he eventually asked in a soft voice.

“Your marriage to her will be annulled. She will be sent back to her family to marry off to another noble,” Elric explained, seeming to have calmed his anger slightly.

Which meant that Emil would likely never see her again, he realised. And she would be forced into a probably unhappy marriage, when she could have stayed more or less happy, or at least comfortable, with him. And it was all his fault.

“Now, get out of my sight, and out of my house. Barkley,” Elric called out, and his servant quickly stepped into the room behind Emil. “Escort Emil off the estate grounds immediately. Then send a message to the Ashdown’s to come and collect their daughter.”

“Right away my lord,” Barkley responded with a bow, and then ushered Emil quickly out of the room.

Emil felt too stunned to say anything as Barkley led him through the house and to the front entrance. It felt like he was hardly inhabiting his own body as he walked, his mind spinning. Soon enough, without even realising it, Emil found himself standing at the front gates of the Rosenthorne estate with Barkley.

The head servant let go of Emil and stepped off to the side, quickly reaching into a nearby bush. Emil watched him with distant confusion as Barkley pulled something out of the shrubbery. It was a small leather rucksack, which he pressed into Emil’s arms. As Emil was looking down at the rucksack with confusion, the servant pulled something else out of his pocket. A small leather pouch tied at the top, heavy with unknown contents which clinked inside when pressed into Emil’s hand.

“I’m sorry that it has come to this. Good luck young master, take care of yourself out there,” Barkley said sympathetically as he squeezed Emil’s shoulders, before gently pushing the young man out the gate.

The gate shut behind Emil, and he stood there for a moment, staring blankly down at the coin pouch and rucksack he held in his hands. Eventually, he swallowed deeply, stored the pouch away in the sack, which he found mainly contained some of his clothing, and then slung it over his shoulder. Then, he started walking.

He knew the way to town well by now, having taken the road each night he and Julie had snuck out. He spared another thought for her for a moment, wondering how upset she was about to be when she found out that he was gone, and she was going to be sent home. But there was nothing he could do about that. He trudged onwards.

Of course, there was only one place left for him to go. Once he reached the town, he hiked up the hill to the castle. The gate guards gave him funny looks when they saw him but didn’t try to stop him entering the castle grounds. And then he started searching. It didn’t take him long to find them. They had a tiny tea table set up in the sun in the courtyard.

Maerwynn was the only one facing the direction from which he approached, and so was the first to notice him. “Stinky!” she cried out happily, which caused Thedrick and Beowulf to both twist their bodies around and look at him in surprise. Emil gave them a weary smile and a small wave.

“Emil? What are you doing here?” Beowulf asked in disbelief, quickly getting to his feet and closing the distance between them.

Emil sighed and glanced away. “My father kicked me out…” he muttered.

He could hear Beowulf intake a sharp breath at that news, and soon the big man reached out and grabbed Emil’s hands, lifting them up and holding them in his own between their bodies. “But Emil… isn’t that good news?” he asked hesitantly, clearly confused. “Doesn’t that mean you are free of them?”

“B-But… I lost everything… my inheritance, the influence of my family name… I have nothing now…” Emil explained, trying to fight back the tears that threatened to finally start spilling.

“It’s okay Emil! You have us,” Beowulf said, now pulling Emil into his arms as the noble started to sob. Beowulf walked back over to the others and took a seat on the ground next to the table once more, holding Emil against his chest.

“But… Julie…” Emil whimpered once he finally found his voice again. He felt awfully guilty about having to leave her behind.

“Hey hey, it’s okay Mimi,” Beowulf comforted with the nickname he had started to use for the noble. “It’s not your fault, don’t blame yourself.”

“Beowulf… what am I going to do?” Emil asked as he sniffled, looking up at the knight through tear blurred vision.

“Well, I’m sure Cassian will let you go back to your old job of being a guard,” Beowulf said, squeezing Emil reassuringly.

“But he hates me!” Emil wailed, burying his face in Beowulf’s chest.

“No he doesn’t Emil,” Beowulf reassured, patting him on the back. 

“B-But… if I rejoin the guard, I might be sent off to the frontlines now! Since the only reason I wasn’t was because of my parents!” Emil pointed out in a panicked tone. “I can’t go to war Beowulf! I don’t want to die!”

“Calm down Mimi, it’s going to be alright,” Beowulf said rather firmly, continuing to stroke his back. “Maerwynn can officially make you a royal guard like me, then you can stay here with us.”

Emil leaned back slightly to look up at Beowulf, sniffling pathetically. “I guess so…” he said uncertainly. He didn’t really know if he had what it takes to be a royal guard, but he would do whatever he had to in order to stay with Beowulf and Thedrick, and not get sent off to war. The idea of fighting on a battlefield scared him terribly.

Suddenly Emil felt something pressing against his back, and then Thedrick’s head appeared on his shoulder, the jester having thrown his arms around the noble from behind. “Welcome back Mimi!” he said, pressing a painted cheek up against Emil’s affectionately.

****

Emil was surprised with how sympathetic Cassian had been when they approached the officer and explained the noble’s situation to him. He had been happy enough to get Emil instated as a royal guard, and Emil’s duties went straight back to being ‘royal playmate’, as if nothing had really changed.

He got his old room back as no one had been moved in there in the meantime, though he didn’t really have much stuff to fill the space anymore. His parents had most of his fancy clothing and the expensive armour they had once bought him. The only noble clothes he had left was the set he had been wearing when they kicked him out. The clothing that Barkley had packed for him was just a set of plain casual clothing and a set of nightclothes squeezed into the rucksack.

He was issued with a set of utilitarian guard armour, mostly leather with a metal chest plate. Emil saved the money that Barkley had given him for now, in case he needed it later, not wanting to waste it on frivolous things like he was used to doing. Though now he was actually getting paid for being a guard, something that hadn’t ever been the case before as his parents had always provided him with money even when he was away from home all those years.

Emil still felt guilty about what he could only infer happened to Juliana after he had been disowned. Eventually, with some encouragement from Beowulf, he attempted to write her a letter in apology, and to try and find out how she was doing. He never received a reply, and he couldn’t even know if his letter reached her or not. He hoped that wherever she was now, that she was okay.

Maerwynn had her new handmaiden now, though she didn’t seem to like her much. Perhaps she just missed Effie though. Though with her two royal guards and jester father around her most of the time, there wasn’t really much need for the handmaiden. She mostly did things like make the bed and help dress the queen each morning. After she was dismissed in the evening, Emil and Beowulf would feed the two little vampires before bed.

It seemed as though, in this case, royal guard also meant royal blood bag as well. Maerwynn always wanted Emil’s blood, and who was he to deny an order from his queen? Perhaps there really was something different about noble blood, he wasn’t sure. But he would cradle the small vampiric monarch in his lap while sitting on the bed as she fed, while Beowulf did the same with Thedrick. The two vampires were quite adorable when they were quietly feeding.

After Maerwynn finished draining him, and Beowulf was getting her into bed, Emil made to leave, but the little queen demanded that he stay.

“Will you read us a story, Emil?” she asked with pleading eyes, grabbing a book off her nightstand and holding it up towards him.

Emil looked at her in confusion. “Why me?” he asked.

“Because Wulfy and papa can’t read!” Maerwynn stated. Emil blinked a bit in bewilderment, and then looked between Thedrick and Beowulf. Beowulf had ducked his head in embarrassment, his cheeks going red as he awkwardly rubbed the back of his neck with one hand.

“Oh,” Emil said softly, gently taking the book that Maerwynn was pressing into his hands. “Wait, you too Thedrick? I thought you were noble!”

The jester shrugged. “I never really took to the whole, uh, reading thing,” he said, now looking a little sheepish himself.

Emil sighed and shook his head while opening the book, as the rest of them got comfy in the bed, Beowulf and Thedrick on either side of the tiny monarch, and Emil taking a seat on the foot of the bed. Then he started reading the story to them, Beowulf listening the most keenly, Maerwynn closing her eyes and relaxing, and Thedrick looking like he was trying to keep still.

Eventually Emil ended up laying down on his stomach to relax while reading to them. The two vampires had fallen asleep quite quickly, though Beowulf was still awake and listening intently. Emil started to feel sleepy himself, his eyelids getting heavy as his reading was punctuated by more yawns.

Emil stirred slightly at one point to find himself wrapped up in Beowulf’s arms. He must have dozed off, and the big guy must have pulled him into bed with the rest of them. Beowulf’s steady breathing as he slept soon sent Emil back to dreamland as well.

Until Beowulf suddenly jerked awake and sat up, which quickly roused Emil from his sleep as well. Emil thrashed around a bit, trying to sit up himself and get his bearings. He felt Beowulf grab him and squeeze him close to his chest to settle him, then Emil opened his eyes and looked across the room.

Cassian stood in the doorway to the room, holding a candle and looking slightly breathless as he stared at the group of them in the bed.

“Cass?” Beowulf asked blearily, letting go of Emil to rub one of his eyes.

“Beowulf. You need to take Maerwynn and Thedrick and get out of the castle now,” Cassian instructed firmly.

“Wh-what? Why?” Beowulf asked, he and Emil now both properly sitting up and looking at Cassian with confusion, while the two vampires stirred beside them.

“Tybalt is sending guards to kill the vampires,” Cassian said, and now Emil could properly see that the officer’s eyes were wide with panic.