Chasing The Cure

Chapter 27: Blood Magic

"Wait a moment," Archie blinked. He was still not over the first revelation, only to be shocked by the second one. "Mother? You are Sir Christian's mother?"

"He did not tell you about our relationship either? How typical of him, my youngest son." The witch clicked her tongue as she shook her head in disappointment. "My name is Celeste, the mother of your friend and...a knight, I see? Just as I had expected from you, Christian."

"I'm...I'm confused," Archie spoke once he realized that Sir Christian was not going to respond to his mother's comment. He was not even meeting her eyes, his gaze fixed on the floor as he stared at his shoes. "What the hell is going on here? How did you know my father? My mother said he was a soldier and died in war—"

"Lies," Celeste scoffed. "Or I suppose she did not know the truth either. Like I said, your father was quite the heartbreaker."

"Where is he?" Archie asked.

"Dead," Celeste did not beat around the bush. She hummed, looking over at Archie's bow as she grazed her fingers over it. "You have his weapon, yet you do not know who he is. Who you are."

"This was my father's bow? But Sir Christian—" Archie tilted his head to look at his friend. He could not make sense of anything. "You gave this to me."

"It belongs to your family," Sir Christian replied. "I only gave you what was already yours."

"My family? Did you know my father too?" Archie questioned again.

Guilt took over Sir Christian's face as he nodded, not meeting Archie's eyes. He did not know how to face the stable boy, and Archie could not believe what was being revealed. He could understand why the knight kept the secret about him being a warlock. But finding out that he knew Archie's father... Archie could not help but feel betrayed.

It was clear now that Sir Christian had known more about Archie than he himself did. Was that why the knight became friends with him? Because he knew who Archie was? Was everything built on a lie?

It made sense. Why else would a knight of his standing show so much interest in the stable boy? Why was he always guiding and protecting him? For the first time, Archie felt that Kenric had been right to be wary of him.

"I wanted to tell you, Archie, please believe me when I say that I never wanted to lie to you. But the time was not right and I had to keep some things from you," Sir Christian spoke, his voice desperate.

"I never knew him," Archie whispered. "Mother...she never spoke of him. She would scold me and tell me to be quiet whenever I asked and I always thought it was because it was too painful for her to talk about him. And now I fear it was because she did not know anything about him either. But you knew. You knew who he was. You knew him. Yet you kept shut about it."

"Archie—"

"How could you? How could you pretend to be my friend while keeping such a huge secret from me?" Archie scoffed in disbelief.

"I will tell you everything, I swear. Once we are out of here, I will lay it all out for you. But just trust me when I say that I did what I did with the truest intentions possible," the knight replied, but Archie could not trust him anymore. "Everything that I have ever done... coming to the capital, becoming a knight—it has all been for you, Archie."

"I really did open a rather nasty door, did I not?" The witch butted in before Archie could say anything back.

Even though Archie had known that his father was dead, it still hurt to hear it again. He had no family left whatsoever. Well, none other than Kenric. And when the witch first mentioned his father, a little hope ignited deep inside him. For a moment, Archie wondered whether he was still alive, only to hear the same thing that his mother had always told him.