The Hathway Kingdom (Book 2)

Thirty.

~Thirty. ~

The journey to Hathway was torture.

They hadn't taken their usual mode of travel as the Professor was with them. They had, however, taken the fastest horses that Romulus owned. They had left the Professor's poor horse back in the care of Romulus' stable master as the poor creature had all but bolted when it had seen him. As soon as Lizbeth had suggested taking a different horse, it had relaxed, and the Professor had chuckled as he had said goodbye to it.

Romulus sighed as he gave his own horse another carrot, which it all but gobbled up in an instant. They had stopped to allow the horses a chance to rest as well as the Professor, who had gone from being pale to an ugly grey as they rode. Romulus watched the older man as he sat down heavily on a fallen log and buried his face in his hands. He couldn't tell out of the two of them, which was more distraught about what had happened, but he could tell that the Professor was taking it rather hard.

He jumped as his horse nudged his hand before he chuckled and pulled out the treats he had hidden in his pocket for his horse. He gave the horse the treat that it was ferreting for before he stroked its neck and looked towards the Professor again as his sister led her horse over to stand beside him. They both regarded the Professor in silence for a moment before Lizbeth spoke up.

"He's been with her family since he was a child. Her uncle helped raise him into the man he is. And then when Larissa came along, he begged her uncle to let him be her tutor," she said as she glanced at Romulus when he looked at her.

"Why?" he asked her, and Lizbeth sighed before looking back at the Professor as Theodoras walked over to him and offered him a drink.

"From what Larissa has told me, he was great friends with her parents. Both of them. When Larissa's father died, the Professor had been beside himself, but he pulled himself together for his friend and was by her side almost every day. The only day that he wasn't with Larissa and her mother, was the day Queen Emerald died," Lizbeth explained, and Romulus stiffened.

He'd been there when his father, the former Emperor Falconer, had received the news of their deaths. He had not been the best of friends with Emerald or her husband, but he had been close with her uncle, the former King of Hathway. His father had mourned for his friend and had gone to the funeral alone, leaving Romulus to his studies back at home. He'd wanted to go with his father, but he had been denied that request and told that his studies were more important at the time.

"I remember hearing of that day. Father was beside himself. You had gone away with mother the day before," he said, and Lizbeth nodded her head.

"The Professor was beside himself when he learned of the Queen's death. Larissa told me that he'd made her father a promise to protect them both and, when she died, he felt that he had failed," Lizbeth said before she looked to the Professor, who looked ready to pass out.

"From what else I heard from Elissa, Larissa's maid, the Professor made an oath to Larissa's mother on her deathbed to always protect Larissa. From his expression and the way that he is acting, I think he is fearing that he will fail once more," Lizbeth went on to say and Romulus frowned at the thought. The idea of Larissa being in the kind of trouble that he couldn't get her out of was disturbing enough. The thought that the Professor thought it was his fault unnerved him even more so. Taking in a deep breath and letting it out slowly, Romulus turned back to Lizbeth.

"We should go," he said, and she nodded her head before he mounted his horse again and left her to gather up the others.

He reached the border between Hathway and Falconer a few hours later and when he crossed the border, he gasped. The sky was dark, the air cold and unforgiving. The whole situation was anything but inviting and it would have made any first-time visitor turn around to go home. He could see a farmer in a distant field, ushering his herd of cows towards a barn for shelter. He tugged on the reins of his horse, bringing it to a stop as the others joined him before he turned on the Professor.