He wanted to know.
“May I ask you a question, Theo?”
“Please.”
“Whydidyou come to see me? Is it more than simply meeting me?”
Theo didn’t seem to have a quick answer for that. He shook his head and shrugged, looking at his feet as he tried to come up with an answer.
“I am not sure,” he said. “As I said, I did want to meet you, but I loved my parents. They were good to me, so I am not looking for another father or mother, but I suppose every man has a right to know where he came from.Whohe came from. I wanted to see for myself.”
“Are you satisfied, then?”
Theo nodded. “I think so,” he said. “But now that I am here… would it be too much if I wanted to come to know you a little better? If you do not want me to, I completely understand.”
“I would be honored.”
That seemed to ease Theo’s mind a little. “And your children… I only have older sisters who are long since gone. I’ve never had any other siblings.”
“How would you like me to introduce you to them?”
“What do you mean?”
“What should I call you when I introduce you?” Creston asked. “Brother Theo? Cousin Theo? Theo from France who has randomly come to visit?”
There was a smile on Theo’s lips as he considered the questions. “You would let me meet your children?”
“Is there a reason I should not?”
Theo shook his head. Then he sighed and stood up. He took a few steps, pacing away from Creston, considering his question. In the end, he snorted with soft irony.
“I always thought my father was a warlord from France,” he said. “Raul has a lineage that goes back centuries. I was proud of that. But when he was gone, my mother told me that Raul was not my father by blood, that my real father is a knight from England named Creston de Royans. I never intended to seek you out until I met a knight at court who had trained at the Blackchurch Guild and one of his trainers was a knight named Creston de Royans. That is how I found out that you were a Blackchurch trainer. Surely there could not be two Creston de Royans in this world. So I came.”
“And here you are,” Creston said. “What is it you wish to know? That I am the Earl of Sidbury? That makes you the son of an earl. And our family? Descended from the Northmen who plundered the area of Roian, France, many centuries ago. Family legend says that we are descended from the leader of that raid, a man named Golden Helgarth. He married a local woman and had twenty children, or so the tale goes. You have a very proud lineage, Theo. It is your blood and you are entitled to know your history.”
Theo pondered the information, hearing about his true lineage for the first time. “All the way here, I was wondering if I was somehow betraying Raul by coming to meet you,” he said. “My father was a generous man. I do not think he would condemn me for it. I hope not.”
Creston stood up, facing the young man who seemed perhaps a bit overwhelmed by the conversation. He thought of what to say to him, hoping it would be of some comfort.
“When I married my wife, she was pregnant with another man’s child,” he said. “It is no secret, so I am not divulging unknown information. When she told me about the child, I immediately thought of Mary, carrying my child, and I prayed she had married someone who would treat my child well. It seemed that I was in a similar situation, preparing to raise the child of another man, and I had nothing but love and acceptance for the child because that is what I wanted for you—love and acceptance.”
Theo was listening closely. “Was he the stillborn you mentioned?”
Creston nodded. “He was,” he said. “But the point is this—had Quinton grown to manhood and wanted to seek his father by blood, I would have encouraged him to do so. There is a natural desire for a man to know his lineage, and I understand that. I hope his father would have accepted him, and, to be honest, I would not have been threatened by their relationship purely because I am secure in my love for my son. A man can have two fathers and, I believe, he can be richer for it. I would hope that Raul de Betheny would believe the same thing.”
Theo thought on that a moment before smiling timidly. “You are very wise,” he said. “I miss that about Raul. You remind me of him a little. Truthfully, given that you are a Blackchurch trainer, I rather imagined you to be a barbarian. Christ, was that an insult? I did not mean it the way it sounded.”
Creston started laughing. “You were right,” he said. “What we teach can sometimes be barbaric. But we are a collection of the most civilized, educated, and experienced men in the world. I hope it does not shame you that I serve here.”
Theo shook his head quickly. “Never,” he said. “In fact… part of the reason I am here is because I was hoping to explore the possibility of training here. Everyone knows that Blackchurch knights are the most elite warriors in the world. Imagine whatI could take back to Charles’ court were I to be Blackchurch trained.”
Creston shrugged. “If that is something you would like to discuss, I am happy to do so.”
“Would you be training me?”
“There are several different trainers and each one teaches certain skills, but to answer your question, I would teach you a certain segment.”
“What segment is that?”
