Chapter Twenty-Five #3
Nikolai stepped into the room. Athdara, who had been watching Creston curiously, noted the child entering the chamber, but it didn’t immediately register that it was Nikolai. She hadn’t seen him in two years, during which he’d shot up and filled out. He was growing up.
The boy came near the bed, looking at her, and suddenly burst into tears. “Athie!”
Athdara let out a cry of recognition as Nikolai ran to her, throwing himself at his sister.
There wasn’t a dry eye in the chamber as Athdara and Nikolai wept in each other’s arms, with Athdara telling him how big and strong he had gotten and how handsome he was.
She told him how proud she was of him and how very happy she was to see him.
Nikolai just sobbed.
As the tender scene played out before him, Tay turned to Creston and Cruz with a smile.
“Well done, lads,” he said, a little misty-eyed himself. “I cannot believe you actually found him.”
Creston, too, was smiling at the pair, while Cruz was rubbing his eyes, pretending he wasn’t tearing up.
“We share your surprise,” he said. “But he was right where you told us to look. He has been an acolyte at St. Bartholomew’s and no longer lived on that farm. The priest who mentors him—Father Joseph—almost ran Cruz and I through. He thought we were bounty hunters come for the boy.”
“He’s a Kenilworth-trained knight,” Cruz put in. “When we mentioned the child, he pulled out an enormous broadsword and tried to fight us.”
Tay chuckled. “Clearly, you were able to reason with him.”
Creston nodded. “We did, but the caveat is that he insisted on accompanying us to Blackchurch to make sure we were who we said we were,” he said. “I’ve left him in the common room with Aamir and Payne and Fox. They’ll set him straight.”
“Indeed,” Tay said, his gaze moving back to the bed, where Nikolai had stopped weeping and was furiously wiping his face as his sister spoke softly to him. “Does he know why you brought him here? Because of his sister’s injury?”
Creston nodded. “He knows,” he said. “We just spent five days on the road with him, Tay. I think you will be surprised at how mature this lad is. He knows everything, and he has definite opinions about it.”
“Oh?”
Creston looked at him, a glimmer in his eye. “He will make an excellent duke.”
Before Tay could reply, he could hear Nikolai’s voice over Athdara’s. The lad was shaking his head and repeatedly denying something.
Tay moved to the end of the bed. “My lord?” he said to Nikolai. “I am Sir Tay Munro. I am a trainer at Blackchurch. Your sister and I… We—”
“You are to be married,” Nikolai said without hesitation, looking up at Tay. “I know. Sir Creston and Sir Cruz told me. They said that you and my sister are to be wed and that you will help regain my castle. But you won’t.”
Tay’s brow furrowed. “We won’t?”
“Nay,” Nikolai said. “Because I am going to do it myself.”
Tay didn’t say anything. He looked at Athdara for her reaction, but she was looking at her brother.
“Niko,” she said softly, “you must be kept safe so that you may assume your role as the duke once we have evicted Atilla. He is holding your castle for himself, and we intend to chase him away. We—”
“Nay,” Nikolai said again, more firmly this time.
He was looking between his sister and Tay as he spoke.
“You have already risked yourself. You are hurt because of me. I do not want you to be hurt again, and I have decided that I should be the one to regain my castle and my lands. They are mine, Athie. I want to get them back myself. I would be a terrible duke to let my sister fight for me.”
“That is not true,” Athdara said. “You are a great hope for our people, and—”
“Listen,” he said, cutting her off. “Listen to me. I will not be a boy forever. I will be a man soon, and I want to train at Blackchurch so they can teach me how to regain my castle. You are my sister, and I love you, but this is my fight. It is not yours. It is not your husband’s.
It is mine, and I will fight it for myself. ”
Athdara didn’t know what to say. She looked to Tay, who had the faintest glimmer of approval in his eye as he looked at Nikolai.
Tay looked over his shoulder at Creston and Cruz, who had heard the same thing on their ride from London—five days of Nikolai telling them that the battle for Toxandria was his fight alone.
Therefore, they nodded in approval. Nikolai de Ghent wanted to be a man and regain his own duchy.
He didn’t want to rely on his sister. He wanted to rely on himself, as a good and noble duke would.
The knights understood that, even if Athdara didn’t.
With the Blackchurch knights at his side, and even Father Joseph of the First Blood of Christ’s Holy Name beside him, Nikolai could go on to perform awesome deeds.
That was exactly why the Blackchurch Guild was there—to train. To create distinction. To shape the world they lived in by teaching men to do great things.
Aye, Tay understood that all too well.
“Are you sure, my lord?” he asked Nikolai. “It will not be easy. Training is difficult.”
“So is taking back my castle,” Nikolai said with all seriousness. “I am not afraid of training. I am afraid of losing Toxandria forever.”
A smile tugged at Tay’s lips. “Very well,” he said. “But the final decision is your sister’s. She must approve, because she is your guardian and you are not yet of age. If she agrees, I will train you.”
All eyes turned to Athdara on the bed, but her gaze was on Tay.
She could see the warmth and honor in his expression, the admiration for this young boy who was determined to take back that which belonged to him.
Nikolai had indeed grown in the past couple of years—he’d matured.
He’d learned to reason and to think of others.
He didn’t want his sister fighting his battles.
That seemed to be a de Ghent trait—fighting one’s own battles.
And Athdara was going to let him.
“You will make an excellent duke,” she whispered to her brother. “Papa would be so very proud of you.”
Nikolai held her hand tightly. “Then you will let me?”
Athdara kissed his little hands, so very grateful to be holding them again. Nikolai was here and he was safe. That meant everything to her.
The House of de Ghent would survive.
“You are a de Ghent, Niko,” she said softly. “Take back what is yours, and I will stand beside you all the way.”
Nikolai beamed, displaying several missing teeth and several new ones. He was, indeed, growing up.
And Blackchurch would be there to help him.